The Bub in the Belly

We touched down in Singapore, safe and sound, at 3.30 am this morning. I'll do a proper post recording our trip once I've sorted the photos (from two cameras, two phones and one handycam!). Let me pen down the boring logistics first, with some added colour on account of my falling sick.

On Thursday, before the trip, I felt the beginnings of a sore throat, which for me is usually brought on by too many late nights (not enough rest). There was no opportunity to remedy the situation because we were scheduled to be at the airport at 5.40 am. A variety of things (work at the office, packing, checking the house) kept us from having an early night and by the time we got into bed, it was past 1 am. Richard forced himself out of bed at about 4.30 am while I staggered out of bed at 5 am. We had hoped that Ryan would remain asleep but he woke with me. I guess he sensed that something special was happening.

From there, it was non-stop action. Ryan remained awake throughout the flight and all the way to our hotel in Disneyland. Our room wasn't ready yet so we decided to take the shuttle bus into the Disneyland theme park for lunch and a walkabout. Our bags were left with the concierge at the hotel, which meant that Ryan spent his first ever day in Disneyland in his pajamas! We didn't go into any of the "lands" (decided to do those the next day). We stayed on Main Street, USA, had lunch and did some shopping at the souvenir shops. Watched the street parade at 4 pm and also managed to get a photo with Mickey and Minnie!

We came back to the hotel in the evening. Our room was quite nice, with some interesting touches - like a birthday cake (made from a handkerchief) for me. Ryan finally succumbed to sleep just before 7 pm, having been awake and active for nearly 14 hours. Richard and I stayed awake for the fireworks at 8 pm which we could see from our room (we took an upgrade on the room to get the view). Then, Richard went down to one of the hotel's food joints and got us our dinner, which we ate in our room while Ryan continued sleeping.

We slept till almost 10 am the next day, and once everyone was (finally) out of their pajamas, we hopped over to the other hotel (there are two) to check out the breakfast offerings there. Walked around that hotel a bit, which was quite different from ours. Ours was themed as a 1920s Hollywood hotel with touches of art deco. This one was in the style of a castle, Victorian/English. After our walkabout, it was back to our hotel for checkout, luggage deposited with the concierge, and off to the theme park again. We spent the whole day there, exploring all the "lands", starting with Toy Story Land. We came back to the hotel for buffet dinner and saw the fireworks again (sitting outside in the hotel carpark) and this time Ryan was wide awake.

By the time we got to our hotel in the city, it was 10 pm and it had been a very long day. Ryan hadn't napped at all but showed little signs of slowing down. Richard and I, on the other hand, were more than ready to hit the sack. I did not have the best of nights that night and on Sunday, after more non-stop action at Ocean Park, it was little surprise when I was rewarded in the evening with a leaky nose and a serious sorethroat, which only got worse throughout the night. We cancelled our plans to have dinner at The Peak and opted to go around the corner from our hotel to a popular Cantonese restaurant instead (turned out to be quite a yummy meal). I didn't get much sleep that night on account of my blocked nose so Monday was lowkey, although physical activity was still the motto of the day - we checked out, went for brunch and explored a couple of shopping malls (Harbour City and IFC Mall). Then it was back to the hotel for our airport transfer at 4.30 pm. When we got to the airport, we were told that our flight had been delayed. Ryan had a short 2-hour nap in my arms after which we went searching for dinner. We did the mandatory airport shopping before we settled in for our long wait for our flight.

I was half-dead when we finally boarded the plane and three-quarters a zombie by the time we landed. Ryan was delighted to be home - straightaway he went looking for his Youtube and his phonics songs, while Richard and I did a bit of unpacking. By the time Ryan was willing to go to bed, I think it was close to 5 am. I was happy to be back in my own bed and on something that wasn't moving (no plane, no train, no bus, no taxi).

I had an appointment at 10 am, and we had a few errands to run so, once again, we didn't get much rest and my state of health continued downsliding. I did manage to pop in to see a doctor so, hopefully, with the medication he prescribed, I'll be back in full force soon. I also got in a short nap while Richard popped in at his office for a while.

Ryan seems to be absolutely fine. I continue to be amazed at the massive amount of energy that young toddlers have. Here's a shot of him while we were having a break at Starbucks in Harbour City. He was dancing, singing and yabbering on. I, on the other hand, was trying to close my eyes to rest whenever he wasn't looking. We did manage to make the most of our last day - picked up some books and some clothes plus some gifts.