Some tourist in our capsule had claimed that the Singapore Flyer was the tallest ferris-wheel thingamy at the time it was built, surpassing the height of London’s Big Eye. Of course, she also went on to claim that the Esplanade was purpose-built to look like a durian. (It wasn’t. It was basically designed by a Kiwi who forgot that we are an equatorial island, and they had to retrofit the spikes to mitigate greenhouse effect and to possibly save it from looking like a pair of housefly-eyes.)

Needless to say, I’m not convinced that this tourist had all her trivia lined up. But the Flyer was indeed tall, and we were treated to a marvelous view of Marina Bay and all its shiny, man-made wonders.

Yes, Tony and I decided to play Tourist for one afternoon.

The Singapore Flyer isn’t cheap. I think I calculated something like a dollar a minute, with a free minute thrown in. And it’s slow – so it’s not like a fun ferris wheel in an amusement park, and you don’t get to lose your lunch on the way down. I also think I was the only Singaporean in our capsule – not that I wasn’t practically a tourist myself.

But we enjoyed ourselves, on the whole. This, despite that fact that on Minute 9 of 30, we caught a whiff of something wholly natural and suss and realised that our sweet, young daughter had done a massive poo.

In an air-conditioned capsule. With no toilets, barred exits, and no easy or surreptitious means of nappy-disposal.

Still. We managed to enjoy ourselves, and Arddun was given enough space to roam. Heh heh.

Hibberds on Singapore Flyer
Top row: Tony and Arddun, the TRUE tourists in our little group; the view of the back of the F1 grid at the starting point. Middle row: Getting higher, and you can just make out a couple of dragon-boat teams training in the water; Arddun, softly singing to them. (“Row, row, row your boat…”) Bottom row: Arddun, poster-perfect tourist; our little family!