Singapore (September, 2012)

We arrived in Singapore on Friday afternoon and went straight to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  Unfortunately, the Marina Bay Sands doesn't belong to any hotel loyalty programs, so we had to pay for it out of pocket.  We really wanted to stay there to experience the famous open air infinity pool overlooking the Singapore skyline on the 57th floor.  Only guests of the hotel can use the pool, so we decided to suck it up and bear the cost.  We had booked a large Orchid suite (97 square meters) for $507.40 Singapore dollars (~$412 USD), but were upgraded to an even larger Marina suite (200 square meters - ~1800 square feet) on the 54th floor upon arrival, which made the rate seem more bearable.  The room was amazing.  The room had its own private gym (inside the room), a full dining room, 4 flat screen TV's, 2 spacious balconies overlooking the city, a huge living room, office, and an incredible master suite.

After exploring our room and picking our jaws up off the floor, we headed up to the 57th floor for some dinner and to check out the infamous rooftop pool overlooking the Singapore skyline.  There were hot tubs, plenty of courtyard space, restaurants, and the most incredible pool any of us had ever seen.  Spectators can't access this area of the hotel, you must be a guest.  Being able to hang out in this area was an incredible experience that everyone should do at least once in their life.

We got up in the morning and enjoyed our buffet breakfast on the 57th floor, which was included in the room rate.  We then spent a few more hours playing in the infinity pool before checking out and making our way to the Sheraton Hotel, which was paid for using 4,800 SPG points plus $90 USD.

We then walked to Newton station and ate some Indian food (the kids loved the garlic Naan, yellow rice, and butter chicken), caught the mass rapid transit (MRT) train into China Town and wandered the streets a bit.  The sun was beating down on us pretty hard and it was time for a break, so we headed back to the hotel for some swimming in the pool for the bigger kids and a nap for Zander.  Late afternoon, we were off to the Singapore Night Safari.  We got some burgers, watched the fire show, walked the fishing cat trail, then went to the Animals of the night show.  We then caught the tram for the Safari, which was the highlight of the park.  The kids were exhausted and all fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel.

It was a very late night by the time we made it through the bus line at the Night Safari, onto the bus, back to the MRT station, and took the short walk back to the hotel.  We had to be up early to catch our 7:20 am flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.