Singapore with Thinh

Saturday, July 12, 2025

My flight landed in Singapore just before noon. I felt somewhat rested, though still sleepy from the long day of traveling. I hurriedly made my way through the automated passport control and then baggage claim. Thinh was waiting for me after baggage claim – complete with an iced latte from Starbucks (he knows me so well!). We gave each other a huge hug and kissed one another (though nothing too much since Singapore is still rather prudish). It was so nice to finally be back together with him – I really dislike being away from him while I travel.

Thinh and I took a Grab car over to the hotel so we could drop off my bags. The hotel is the usual one that I stay at whenever I’m in Singapore and one of my favorite things is the wonderful air-con throughout the hotel. There’s always a blast of refreshing cool air whenever I enter the lobby, and the rooms are delightfully cool throughout the day/night. We then ordered another Grab car so we could head out to Sentosa… and finally experience Universal Studios together!

We arrived at Universal around 14:00, which may seem late in the day, but the park was open late this evening, thus giving us plenty of time to enjoy the park. Thinh is not one for thrill rides, but I thought I could coax him onto some of them during the day. Despite my best efforts, he wouldn’t ride the Battlestar Galactic rollercoasters, but he did agree to do the Mummy dark-ride coaster. He was so adorable during the ride – clutching onto the lap bar for dear life as the car zipped through the dark.

We then did the Jurassic Park river raft ride (my favorite in the park). The queue was very long, so we opted to take the single rider line, even though that meant we wouldn’t be able to ride together. Thinh got a solo spot in a raft first and I had to wait several minutes before I was given a spot. I got soaking wet by the end of the ride and had a wonderful time! Thinh was waiting for me at the exit of the ride.

He and I were both feeling hungry and I suggested we get a turkey leg to share. He’d never heard of this delightful food and I managed to buy the very last one at the food stall. It wasn’t as giant as the turkey legs at state fairs in the States, but it was enough to tide us over for a little while. Thinh was skeptical at first, but was quickly won over after his first bite. I then suggested that we ride Thinh’s “favorite” ride, the Treasure Hunters. This has been a long-running joke because of how incredibly… dull the ride is compared to everything else in the park. It was fun to finally get to ride it with Thinh, though even his company couldn’t make the ride any more exciting. Universal Studios should be ashamed of this ride…

The theme park was incredibly crowded today and the queues for the majority of the rides were very long. We walked around for a little while before stopping to get a proper lunch at the 1950s-style diner. After eating, we rode Elmo’s Spaghetti Space Chase and then the Transformers ride. We walked around the park a bit more and did the Shrek theater ‘ride’ before deciding to call it a day.

Thinh had never seen the water and light show at Marina Bay, so I suggested that we go watch that this evening. We took the metro over to the mall, which was packed with people! Most of the doors leading onto the outdoor terrace were blocked and we thus had to follow the huge crowd as we funneled through one door to get outside. The area was predictably crowded, but we managed to get a decent spot to watch the upcoming performance. As we waited, a small fireworks show began over the bay, which neither of us has expected. Soon the water show began at 20:00, and we discovered that we had been waiting at the wrong side of the terrace. We rushed over to get a place to view the show and were lucky to get a decent view. Thinh enjoyed watching the 15-minute show and recorded much of it on his phone. When the show ended, an even larger fireworks show began! It was very impressive spectacle that we both enjoyed watching.

We had planned on heading over to Gardens by the Bay to watch the music and light show there at 20:45, but the mall was far too crowded to allow us to reach the gardens in time. Instead, we walked around the mall for a little while to let the crowd die down. Thinh needed some supplements and other items from a pharmacy, so we stopped there to do some shopping.

Thinh had found a large food court nearby that was supposed to have very good food, so we decided to head over there for dinner tonight. The original plan had been to take the metro, but the station was far too crowded, so we ended up walking instead. The food court had dozens and dozens of food stalls selling all manner of foods, though the first few that we went to were sold out of the food that we wanted. As with Marina Bay, the place was packed with people which was starting to be a little overwhelming for me. I grabbed a table while Thinh went to find a stall that was selling food we wanted to eat. He eventually returned and we enjoyed a very good meal together.

The two of us then walked to a nearby metro stop and went back to our hotel for the night. Thinh had to be up early the next morning for his flight back to Hanoi, so we didn’t stay up too late once we got back. It had been a wonderful day together and I was so happy to be back with my husband.