We don't travel frequently with the children. Other than cost, it's mainly worrying if they could take being away from comforts of home for up to 1 week. Usually if we go to foreign country, this is the amount of time 爸爸 like to spend to explore. So most of the time we go cuti-cuti Malaysia. Singapore is the first time we go for near to 1 week.
Overall the children are very happy. They had been chatting and cheering about it since we confirmed our flight and hotel. They behaved as promised, only occasionally slip-up when too excited or too tired, which are understandable. Especially 弟弟 is used to taking afternoon nap, but during the trip he missed all the naps. We should have started to train him to miss the nap 1 or 2 weeks before the trip.
The first hotel, Hotel Michael, is quite child-friendly in the room. Of course the lobby is fancy artsy type for adult taste. But the room really impress me as not much glass/glassware and a friendly bathroom. Most impressive is the footstool which the children when they brush their teeth. The breakfast is good too with a wide variety of choice. I'm really unlucky as unable to eat much due to tummy ache and diarrhea.
The 2nd hotel, Marriot Hotel, is swanky 5-star type. However it is not child-friendly. What I meant by child-friendly is the amenities in the room and thinking for the children's well being in common areas. Being child friendly is not about having a kids' room with toys and games but the room or common restaurants is totally meant for adults. The room is full of glass deco's, glass table top, even a bottle of wine and wine glasses in the room. Bad for folks like us with children. Every time they put their glass on the table, it clanked and got me worried of causing a crack. The bathroom is even worse. The hangers for towels are so high up that I cannot reach as I am short. Perhaps Marriot Hotel is meant for gwai loh which are tall, thus the design is only suited for them. Eventually Asia took over as economic power and now they have to start marketing to Asia too. The sink is too high for the children and no way they can reach the taps. End up 爸爸 devise a temporary "stool" by overturning the waste basket. Bad idea as 弟弟 fell over losing his balance. Poor dear. However the bed is super comfy, and you know why? It's because there are a couple layers of mattress protectors.We needed to iron dry some clothes and the ironing board is totally not working. Guess swanky guests do not need to iron their own clothes.
Breakfast at the cafe is quite good with variety, but the replenishment seem a bit slow. There are many types of milk, but when we needed it, it's all gone. No one at the waffle station and since we don't know how to operate the machine, we didn't have waffle the first day. Only from 2nd day onwards a kwai loh is there to make the waffles, so we manage to get some. The one food that children enjoyed the most is ice-cream, but I find it weird that ice-cream is offered for breakfast. Coffee and tea selection is superb, whole cabinet full of tea bag selection. Food is good too, but I prefered the ones at Hotel Michael as not so many people. Perhaps due to the promotion they are having at Marriot Hotel that's why there's a lot of folks there, wrestling for breakfast. Too bad to say the cafe tables and chairs not suitable for children.
Honestly I wouldn't like to stay there next time we go to Singapore. The hotel is a octogon shape. The room itself is not a square or rectangle. Typically in feng shui, we are taught to have a square or rectangle shape as having a odd-shape room or house means there are insufficient "qi" or something. Perhaps knowing that gave me an uneasy feeling staying in odd-shape room, even for a couple of nights. The path coming in to hotel has lots of water feature, so perhaps the hotel did look into feng shui. However every time we go into lobby I felt very stressed as the tables are again fancy glass top, there are vases and near the drinks corner there are more glass, for wine or drinks maybe. Even the display shelf is a torture as I am so stressed about the kids pulling something off in their excitement (toys and glass mugs are near side-by-side). I'm guessing not many children go there with their parents thus no one thought anything of it.
As for other places, most of which are tourist attractions are good, public toilets are clean except for the one near Boat Quay. After all, that area is famous for its drinking and pubs (went in a toilet near MRT with ppl's puke in the sink and 姐姐 was with me. She asked me why people vomit until so dirty and didn't clean up, so how do I explain some people got so drunk they don't know what they are doing.
The public transport is good, the malls are even better. Even food seem more affordable if we earn and use S$. We didn't go shopping even though it's Singapore Sale due to lack of time. Most service staff are good too, local staff have a lot to learn from those over the causeway. Perhaps with their strong currency they can attract more talents to work there. Only among the public crowd the display of kiasuism shows its face for a brief moment :)
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