Tag Archives: Singapore

Mommy and Daddy aren’t particularly into cars, and thus an auto show doesn’t hold a ton of interest for us. But you know who is particularly into cars? If you guessed we’re talking about Nyan Thomas, you win!

Last weekend was the Singapore Auto Show. It was held a convention center an easy 10-minute bus ride away, and tickets were cheap, so we figured we’d give the boy a fun afternoon. Mission Accomplished!

It was, I suppose, a typical car show (I have to suppose on that point, as this was our first such show). Lots of new cars and trucks on display, most of them available for people to climb in and pretend to be driving. A few tall models standing by some of the cars, and plenty of salespeople ready to pounce if you show any interest in a particular car.

(Any interest? No. Why? Cars here are expensive! One car on show was a Ford Fiesta. A very basic car. In the US, they retail for $15,000, give or take. In the UK, you can find one on the lot for about £10,000 (which happens to be about US$15,000). This Ford Fiesta in Singapore? S$105,000. That’s the equivalent of about £52,000, and also the equivalent of about US$84,000. So, no – no interest.)

In any case, Nyan loved it. We had serious trouble getting him out of there when it was time to go – just like we had serious trouble getting him out of any particular car or truck. Only thing that worked was to point out another car or truck nearby, at which point he’d climb out of one and head right to the next. But hey, the kid had a blast, so who are we to complain.

Some photos:

And here he is inside the cab of that delivery truck, explaining what he’s delivering.

No, not really. But a place here called Gardens by the Bay — a sort of high-tech botanical garden, and one of Daddy’s favorite places in Singapore — pulled out all the stops for Christmas. Holiday lights were everywhere, and a couple times a night they turned on some snow machines, which belched out large flakes of fake snow. How could we resist a draw like that?

First, let’s take a look at some of the lights. Gardens by the Bay has these things called Supertrees — tall metallic tree-shaped structures that have plants growing up their sides. They’re really cool on a normal day, and even more so in fancy lights:

Here’s some photos of the snow storm. And a video too:

We all had a great time, in spite of the icy fake snow that turned the field into a muddy mess, and in spite of the tremendous crowds that meant it took us an hour to get served dinner at the on-site restaurant, and half an hour to get a taxi home. Here are a few more shots of Nyan being Nyan:

And let’s take another look at some of the lights, shall we?