A Cougar in Clarke Quay

Marina Bay Sands rooftop infinity pool

During Kara's visit (you might remember she is my brother Greg's fiancee), we decided to rent a room at the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel, solely so we could hang out at the rooftop infinity pool for two days.

Just for background, the Marina Bay Sands is the most expensive standalone casino in the world, at the cost of $8 billion, and is the largest public cantilevered building in the world.  It is kind of cool.

Kara and I took the kids over in the afternoon, checked into our room and hit the pool.  It was a Tuesday, and it was CRAZY crowded.  Let's just say our first impression was less than stellar. It was like the neighborhood swimming hole on July 4, but crammed with people who do not understand the meaning of personal space, kids who embody the reason I dislike most kids, and idiot adults trying to swim LAPS.  All in a pool clearly not meant for lap swimming, and if you can't raise proper children, leave them at home with the helper I know you have.  Let's face it, you come to this pool for the view and for the cocktails.

Which brings me to my next point.  I don't know about you, but if I'm paying $20 for a mojito, I expect to be able to taste the rum.  Even a little.   So I convinced Kara that this was unacceptable and she, being a decade younger than I am, needed to ask the bartender politely to top us off a little.  To say "no dice" is an understatement.  The next two hours were spent plotting our takedown of the hotel.  You would have thought Kara asked him to comp our room, give us a free steak dinner at the Joel Robuchon restaurant and loan out a tiger for our wake-up call... not put a splash of liqueur on a drink they are making a 90% profit on.  The only saving graces were awesome spring rolls and french fries.  I can't even believe I wrote that.

After throwing on some clothes, we walked around to the other side of the bay to visit the famous Merlion statue, and the kids got some ice cream.  The Marina Bay area is really just gorgeous at night, and we truly enjoyed our walk around.  I just love these pictures:

Sophia's favorite popsicle stand - Cooper is not a dessert person, just a photo hog

The baby Merlion, big guy is in the back being renovated

    

Playing the part of the average tourist here, Sophia is holding up the Marina Bay Sands

Just beautiful.  Weird but beautiful.  The lotus-shaped object is the ArtScience Museum.

The overpass on the way to Merlion Park

Again, on the way to Merlion Park, not sure what this is though!  But I love disco!

    

So we went back to the hotel, Jason met us after work and we all ended up giving the pool another go after it got dark.  I'm very happy we did.  This time the crowd was manageable (it was actually relaxing) and the view was amazing.    Do not think for a second think we forgave them for the previous mojito incident though.  A good view does not make up for that, my friends.  When we got back to the room, I was *this close* to letting my anger go when I saw how cute my kids looked in the hotel robes.  My gracious husband then took the kids home, leaving us ladies a night out on the town.  Oh boy.  

Jason and Cooper

Sophia and Kara being silly

I definitely don't look this cute in a robe!

Kara and Ming

The MBS has lots of restaurants but really, no *fun* bars, and these ladies were looking for fun.  So we headed to party central AKA Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a really nice area on the river with tons of restaurants and bars...the place you want to be seen when you're 25. Bring it on.

 By the time we even headed out it was 11pm, which is not far off my bedtime so I was a little nervous.  We were starving so we picked a small pizza place to grab some late dinner, and then everything I predicted would happen proceeded to happen.  First, Kara made friends with the bartender and the chef and got both of their life stories.  (see pics)  We did a random shooter (colorful, right?).  Then we made our way to a bar, the Highlander, with a live band, and proceeded to make friends with all of them.  (in the way that you can make friends with people you hang out with for a couple of hours in the dark, while drinking beer)  Okay, Kara definitely infiltrated their little group way better than me.   I was just concentrating really, really hard on keeping my senses and being a respectable wife and mom.  I still hung on every word of the people telling me I don't look 39.  Lie to me, lie to me, ALL NIGHT LONG.  I will believe you.

Some kind of Kahlua shooter, too girly for me.

Seriously, who is that guy?

See...I exist!  I'm with the band!

Best.Picture.Ever.

So after watching Kara work her social magic, and belting out some Bon Jovi tunes as loudly as we possibly could, I forced us out by 2am.  Take my advice, nothing good happens after 2am.  Especially when you're wearing very high heels that you wear twice a year (go back and read THIS POST).  While typing I can see my crutches leaning against the couch.

So the next morning, Jason brought the kids back to the hotel on his way to work and we had another enjoyable day at the pool.  It wasn't too crowded and we were smart enough to stick to the bottled beer.   We followed pooltime up with a late lunch at Mario Batali's restaurant, Mozza.  The pizza was excellent, and trust me, it's really hard to find good pizza in Singapore!  We went there because Jason and I had been there before, and they served Victory Beer!  (my brother works for Victory, a craft beer brewed in Pennsylvania).  But as I assume is normal, they rotate their craft beers so it wasn't on the menu (6 months later).  So Kara left the comment card:

It was a good time, but I think I've seen enough of the Marina Bay Sands for a while.  I am, however, dying to go back to listen to that band again.  I guess I should get out the Wii karaoke during my recovery -- I have *just* a little room to improve on "Livin on a Prayer".  Just a little.  And Jason cannot wait to listen to it.