Singapore Birthday Trip - IHG Changi

The flight to Singapore is direct, a little over six hours, and in the morning and early afternoon. We're surprised to see them pouring a Cairanne. It is the appellation of Laurant Brusset's home, he being the maker of a cracker of a Gigondas. They are neighboring appellations.

We've booked into a room at the IHG Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport for the first day. CJ swears he had a good reason but it eludes him now. He surmises that originally the Singapore flight was scheduled to get us in much later in the day.

The first afternoon the weather is unseasonably cold, windy, and lacking Singapore's famous humidity. How cold is it? Children are complaining the pool water is too cold.

We enjoy watching the people react to the cold sitting outside of our room.

The hotel is adjacent to the terminal of our arrival and across the road from one of the others. There are currently four terminals at this gorgeous airport with another under construction. There is no curfew here and planes depart 24/7 near continuously.

Why did this suddenly appear in our room?

CJ calls housekeeping and informs him that at our ages we have no great grandchildren in need of this and soon a very embarrassed man arrives to remove it.

The concierge lounge used to be overlooking the pool on this floor. They have not converted it into the more expensive pool access rooms and moved it to the next lower floor. We visit and call it dinner. Service is excellent and they are serving pizza, Laksa noodles, and enough other stuff to satisfy. The alcoholic beverages leave a lot to be desired. Their red wine offering, a cabernet from Tempus Two in the Australian Hunter Valley is best left to be served at a concert on their grounds. The last time we were forced to drink Tempus Two was at an Elton John concert at Tempus Two.

We pass on brekkie in the lounge and opt for it in the restaurant where reception informed us there were more selections. CJ begins with an Asian brekkie selection.

There is a fruit we do not know. It is purple and covered with prickers like a sea urchin. The fruit inside is delicious, but its cut and break open your own.

The dragon fruit is also "open your own". It's the first time we've seen whole dragon fruit served like this.

CJ spends the morning on the computer fixing the mess he created being inattentive to our trip to Finland and Norway next week. He must book two nights of hotel on the front end and four nights on the back end in Oslo. With this much time he also books a winter train trip through the mountains and to a fjord on the coast to fill break up the four unplanned days.

He decides to take a refreshing dip. The children were correct. The water is cold!

The Christmas tree in the lobby is one of the most beautiful we've ever seen.

We're off to the Marina Bay Sands.