Singapore Flyer

Today, we took a family trip to the Singapore Ministry of Manpower Employment Pass Services Centre.  That's a fancy name for "Place that Makes Us Official So That We Can Get a Car".  When you think of government offiices, "Speedy" and "Prompt" are not normally words that spring to mind. Fortunately, we weren't at the DMV or Post Office today, and prompt they were.  In fact, we arrived early and were leaving at our appointment time.  Piece of Cake.  We don't yet have the actual employment pass (it will arrive on Wednesday), but we're one step closer.  One step closer to a car.  To a bank account.  To a cell phone with a local number, which might be nice since we our home phone isn't functional yet, either. 

 Did I mention a car?

(Really, we've managed quite nicely thus far (7 days) without a car, but it would be nice to buy more than one bag of groceries at a time.)

The office was adjacent to Clarke Quay, and we enjoyed watching the boats on the river. B3 especially liked them..."Boat!!!"...."Water.!!,"  He yelled. Over and over and over again.

I've been in awe of these windows since I saw them on Pinterest , so I was thrilled to spot them across the river.  I'm going back someday to go gawk up close. AK calls it the "rainbow house", and she was a big fan, too.  Click HERE to see an incredible shot of them. 
After our appointment, we ate lunch and walked over to the Singapore Flyer.  Since we can see if trom our condo, we thought we might should experience it while we had a chance. AK had already asked about it - more than once,  and she announced that it was "a good way to celebrate the start of Kindergarten!"  I wonder if she'll still be dragging around that excuse to celebrate at Christmas?

The Flyer is the world's largest Giant Observation Wheel and stands 165 meters tall.

 Heights normally don't bother me at all; I've ridden the similar London Eye (twice) without so much as a second thought.  But today, it was a little scary.  OK - I was a bit freaked out.  Maybe it was seeing B3 ricochet from side to side of our little capsule, banging on the windows and doors.  Or, perhaps it was the conversation we had with our realtor about the one time the Flyer has stopped.  The time when the people in the cars had to rappel down. 165 meters. Rappel. Did you get that? 

The views were really great, even though it was a hazy day.  It was fun to get a different perspective on all of the parks and buildings that we see out of our windows at home. 

Our building is the blue one with horizontal white stripes. 

 Tunnel under construction

Birdseye view 

 Ben's office complex - Suntec City

Formula One race track with our apartment in the background.

AK has already asked if we can go back for another ride.  It's a little too expensive for us to go often, but we'll be ready for another flight when we have visitors.  Who's first??