Singapore: final day

We woke late, having finally overcompensated for jetlag (ie stayed up too late), and considered our options for the day. At least one of the adults had to head back out to woop-woop to the Science Centre to collect the bag and jumper that Ky lost out there on Saturday (around an hour each way, roughly).

And we still needed to have breakfast (we ended up back at the same place as our first morning, having chocolate banana prata (Jos), cheese and onion prata (Ky), special thosai (JD) and cheese and mushroom prata (me). The boys also had a Milo dinosaur (mega-Milo-y iced milk) and JD ordered Kofi-O (black, with sugar, no creamer) like a pro.

So what did we consider?

• Zoo? Too hot, and it's a zoo (been there, done that, if we had more time then probably, especially if we organised a Breakfast with the Animals)
• Universal Studios theme park? Really need a full day to really maximise value. Already late start and have early finish (to get to plane)

  

  Ooh, look! Australia!

• Marina Bay Gardens by the Bay? Funky weird, but none of us are really botanists. Another time?

  

  SuperTrees

• Snow City? Nope, closed on Mondays
• Playground @ BigSplash? Quick Google says don't be daft.
• Tiger Brewery Tour? Trip Advisor says the tour is crap, you just go for the 45mins of free beer. No good - only JD drinks beer.
• iFly and Segway Ecotour? Can we get in for a do-able time-slot for the iFly? Yes? We're there!!

So we headed back out to Sentosa Island, this time taking the monorail. In the queue we met Grace and Ray, a couple of Novocastrians, experienced skydivers (1500+ jumps) also heading across to do the wind tunnel bodyflight. I got us all off at the wrong stop, but we all got there eventually.

The mandatory preflight stuff (be there 1.5 hrs before flight time) included an allowance for lateness, plus some videos of skydivers, and a briefing session from our instructor, and American beanpole called Tommy. He went through the main hand signals that would be used (chin up, straighten legs, bend legs, relax) and what body position we should be aiming for. We then had about ten minutes before we needed to suit up (jumpsuit, earplugs, goggles, helmet).

We even got to watch Ray and Grace who were in the group immediately before us. Their experience showed, as did their goofy grins. And then it was our turn. And our grins were even goofier. Two flights each, the equivalent of freefall from 12,000ft to about 2,000ft (somewhat lower than you would normally deploy your parachute at). Fan-bloody-tastic!!! We got the DVD, but haven't been able to watch it yet, let alone convert it to an uploadable format. We'll post it when we can.

After some tolerable lunch, JD and the boys went off to book in the for half-hour segway tour, and I'd head out to Jurong East to get the jumper and bag. Turns out the earliest available slot was for 5:30pm, by which time we needed to be back in town to start heading towards the airport.

Returning to the main island via the boardwalk, we headed off in different directions from the MRT station. JD took the circle line out towards woop-woop, and the boys and I headed back to Orchard Road and the hotel. After half-hour fruitless search for a milkshake later, we ended up back at the hotel a bit before 5pm. JD made it back 45 mins later or so, and then we took a cab out to the airport. We'd allowed enough time to take the train back (1.25 - 1.5 hours), but my feet were desperately unhappy, so we took a cab (25mins) and arrived there more than three hours before our flight time.

All up, a very successful stopover, and I wouldn't be surprised if we come back again (perhaps choosing a time other than the hottest month of the year), and try the things we didn't try, and repeat the things we enjoyed most.