2 Degree Ice Art

Little Man had been watching Ice Age 2, and had been telling me that he would like to play in an ice playground just like the one at the beginning of the movie. When I learnt that there was an ice sculpture exhibit, complete with ice slides, right here in sweltering Singapore, we naturally planned a trip there. As we were in the middle of a heat wave, and since Little Man loves the cold so much, we just could not give it a miss.

Mr Cuppa bought our tickets (they were having a offer for the adult tickets, and the children entered free the weekend we visited), and I dressed the kids. Jackets were included with the tickets, so we had to rent them for the kids at $5 a piece. Because I'm kiasu (Singlish, literal translation: scared to lose. In this context - paranoid), I dressed the children in their own fleece jackets before putting them into the rented ones. I mean, who knows who's been in them?!?! Also, I wanted to be doubly (heh!) sure that they were warm. It's a good thing I did too, as there were many children there that day, and the jackets they each got were way too big for them.

The exhibit is held in a purpose-built hall kept at -15°C and features some 30-odd pieces of ice sculptures in the form of iconic world landmarks like London’s Big Ben and Paris’ Eiffel Tower amongst others. ept at -15°C and features some 30-odd pieces of ice sculptures of iconic world landmarks like London’s Big Ben and Paris’ Eiffel Tower carved by top ice sculptors of Harbin, China. Singapore's Raffles Hotel and Singapore Flyer make an appearance as well.

The ice were crystal clear, and Mr Cuppa initially thought they were plastic as they did not feel like ice - not slippery, probably due to how cold our fingers were at that point, and because ith didn't melt at our touch.

It was difficult taking pictures while trying to corral a toddler whom I was afraid would slip and fall, and a preschooler who had no interest inthe sculptures whatsoever, and only wanted to get to the ice playground as quickly as possible. That, and it was not so easy to take pictures with smartphones with gloved (complimentary) fingers. Thus our own pictures are dark and blurry. The nice pictures you see in this post were taken from their Facebook page.

Both kiddos had great fun going down the slides. Contrary to what you might think, the slides were not at all slippery, until you near the bottom where there was a slightly steeper section. Therefore, we had to scoot down the slide on an increasingly cold butt, until gravity took over just before the end. I discovered that I slid much more easily when I ensured that I was actually sitting on the long jacket. Also, the slide on the right (looking down) was a little faster.

Little Man also had great fun going down the main slide on a tube with Mr Cuppa. He also experienced 'snowfall' that the 'elephant' blew out. He was having so much fun, he did not want to leave. However, we had to as my feet were freezing from the snow that had found their way into my very weather inappropriate shoes.

All in, it was a very fun outing for the family.

2 Degree Ice Art is located opposite Marina Bay Sands. It is easily accessible via MRT, and will be opened till 15 May 2014. Do consider paying a visit if you haven't already.