We were there from Chinese New Year onward, so the city was actually quite quiet due to holiday business closures. It was nice for getting around. Of course the weather is incredibly hot and humid, compared to Seoul. We saw the very exciting Chinatown and Little India; not all that large, but much more active and real than we'd ever encountered
before. Keeping in mind we've barely traveled anywhere.This is the world's largest fountain. It didn't do quite as much as we were hoping, but the laser projection was nice. It's in one of the many many large shopping complexes. Iris' stroller finally wore out, and we bought a new one at Toys R Us while waiting for the fountain display, so that worked out well. Also, beforehand, you could walk around three times and touch the fountain water for good luck in the New Year.
This is the National Botanic Garden. We were only able to see about half of it, but the orchid garden is quite a highlight. You notice that so many things that would be indoors in Canada, are outdoors here. And also that everything in Singapore is "national," because the city is the nation.
We bought a lot of cheap clothes for the kids, some shirts and ties for me, and a Singapore Sling for Aki (bottom left). Aki broke her glasses, but eventually the optical stores re-opened and luckily she could get new frames. Actually, although the shopping is very extensive, it is not particularly inexpensive, at least not in the mainstream Western stores. Maybe it's because of their electricity bill, since they have the a/c on full blast and the doors wide open to the tropics at all times. It's hard to picture a less energy efficient activity.
We enjoyed eating cheap Indian food, Iris so much that she ate part of the spoon (yes, this is a parenting error). Since the remaining bit seemed pretty sharp, we decided to take her in for an X-ray. Apparently plastic dissolves in stomach acid, so nothing to fear. We were in and out of the ER inside 60 minutes, and out of pocket about $90 Cdn, including the exam and x-ray. Sir Raffles was the first colonial governor of Singapore (I think -- memory fading), hence the legendary Raffles Hotel, Raffles Shopping Center, Raffles Hospital, etc. 
One of the main reasons we wanted to go to Singapore in the first place was for the zoos. I think Jamie and Iris liked riding around in their little wagon the best. (Pulling those things around turns out to be harder than it looks, though.) Actually seeing the orangutans climbing around in the free-range treetop habitat was very good. As with everywhere though, the heat and humidity made it hard to keep moving all day long. 
The Bird Park is another major zoological attraction. Since we did it first, it made a really positive impression. Perhaps the most famous attraction, though, is the Night Safari, essentially a night zoo that you walk/ride through after dark, with very minimal lighting. Jamie didn't stay awake too long, but we want all around the whole thing. Some of the animals are just deer, but others like the flying foxes were remarkable and definitely a novelty, even those who have been to many zoos before. Not very conducive to photos, though.We spent a week in Singapore, and didn't have trouble filling the time. If you had a larger shopping budget, you could do even more, but beyond that it's very useful as a jumping off point for all of SE Asia. I really liked the British colonial history, the architecture, the flora/vegetation, and above all the multicultural heritage, which is a deeply-rooted rather than recent phenomenon. For us, with little kids who like zoos and sometimes need hospitals, it was a destination we were happy to have chosen.
