For as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed seeing the Christmas light-up down Orchard Road. It was always a highlight of our December holiday when my parents to take a drive down and take photos with the displays. I'm not sure if it's because I've become jaded with age, but I feel the displays by and large are not as impressive as they used to be when I was a child. But twinkly lights, well, they still hold some magic.
My MIL suggested taking the kids out on an open top bus to view the Christmas lights, and I, remembering the good time that we had doing just that a few years ago (when my sister rented a whole bus!), thought it might be fun to repeat the experience with the kids.
I first checked out FunVee and realised that they were offering a FunVee Christmas Light Up Tour, which included sounded pretty extensive, since it included the Orchard Road Light-Up, Marina Light-Up and the Gardens By the Bay Light and Sound Show. Also included were a River Explorer voucher and a $10 dining voucher. But the high prices -- $39.90 for Adults, $30.90 for Children -- threw me. Especially since our main intention was just to see the lights.
In the end, we opted to try the Hippo Bus Christmas Light Up Tour, which I heard about from my friend Del. This was $10 a head for a 30 minute ride, with buses running every half an hour from 7.30pm to 11pm, and was available only on 20 Dec, 21 Dec and 24 Dec. We squeezed it into our full schedule anyway.
On the night of the tour, there was some confusion at the beginning as we couldn't find the ticket booth, which was not at Midpoint Orchard where they said it would be. We rapped on the door of the bus to ask the guide and even he was puzzled. It later turned out that the ticket booth had been shifted to Union House, two buildings away. Fortunately we were still able to squeeze unto the bus though we did end up with seats near the back. Still good for viewing the lights, but not so great for pictures as the metal railings got in the way.
But the best part about being up on top was being up close and personal with the lights. The children tried numerous times to stretch up to grab them, but failed to. Thankfully. The tour did feel rather short though, since half of it was spent travelling along Orchard Boulevard, which was undecorated, to get to Tanglin Mall. The contrast when we rounded the corner was quite startling. It was all quiet and calm on the parallel street, but once we turned the corner onto Orchard Road, there were lights and people all around. I was also surprised to see that there were plenty of live street performances which were on-going. Guess I haven't been out to town much at night lately!
All too quickly, our ride came to an end. Noey wasn't too pleased about having to get off the bus and at that point, I too thought that it was way too short for the $10 per person that we had to pay. So will I do it again? Probably not, unless the ride is longer. Or if we1 charter a whole bus and take everyone out for a spin. The bus comfortably sits 55 on the upper deck so it might be a fun thing to do for the whole family!
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