Out Playing on Sentosa Island

Before arriving in this tiny, prosperous, SE Asian city-state, all I knew about Singapore was a few pop culture references about its strict and sometimes crazy laws. I thought we better do a little research before going to make sure we didn’t get ourselves into any trouble. We did our best to be good, but still managed to break a few while we were there. Fortunately, we never got caught!

Spitting in Public: Penalty: Up to a $1000 fine. One day we were walking along a path and I saw all the boys (including Jeromy) repeatedly spitting at a post. They had never done this before and I couldn’t imagine why, in all the places, they decided to do it in Singapore. I quickly ran up to them, whispering for them to stop, so I did not draw attention to ourselves, and learned they were spitting at a row of huge ants. Boys will be boys, but I was just glad we didn’t get caught and fined for each occurrence or we may have to cut our trip a little short!
Selling Gum: Penalty $100,000 – 2 years in jail. I did accidentally smuggle a pack through security inside my purse (much to my children’s dismay), but never tried selling it to anyone so I think we are in the clear!
Littering: Penalty From $300 – Public Service. If you are convicted three times of littering you have to clean the streets with a bib that says “I am a litterer.” Fortunately, littering has never been an issue for us, no problems there.
Walking Around Your House Naked: Penalty $1000. No comment.
Not Flushing the Toilet: Penalty $150. I am not going to incriminate anyone in my family on this, but I think I might continue having this rule for the boys in the future.
No Urinating in Elevators: This was never a temptation, but apparently in some elevators they have Urine Detection Devices (UDD) that detect the smell of urine, setting off an alarm and closing the doors until the police arrive. The boys spent some time trying to figure out what would happen if a baby with a diaper happened to be in one…I guess we will never know.
Connecting To Another Persons WIFI: Penalty up to 3 years in prison or a $10,000 fine. We stuck to public WIFI and had no issues here.

With all of those strict laws you may think that Singapore is a boring place to hang out, but we found it to be the opposite! We spent our week there in a hotel on Sentosa Island, which is also known as “Asia’s Favorite Playground,” and we tried to live up to that slogan as much as possible! The island is about 2 square miles and is basically one huge amusement park. Looking back, it’s hard to believe all the things we were able fit in during our stay there, but with the help of some multi-day passes, we did our best to play as much as possible. Here are some highlights from our time there.

Universal Studios

We had a blast at Universal Studios one day. If we didn’t pay attention to some of the food choices (squid anyone) we would have felt like we were in the USA. We had lots of fun on the rides and watching shows.

S.E.A. Aquarium

The Trick Eye Museum

We had so much fun taking pictures at this museum! All of these are optical illusions that make taking pictures incredibly entertaining!

Fort Siloso

During World War II, Fort Siloso was built on what is now known as Sentosa Island, as a protection against attack. It has now been restored and is open as a military museum open to the public.

We enjoyed learning the history, seeing the cannons, and climbing through the old batteries. We even got to play a game of laser tag while we were there, which was, of course, the boys favorite part.