Monday 15th June 2009

A bonus 'day off' luckily Grozzie's help was not needed at work today sooooo :)

A day trip to Sentosa Island was in order, and our little 'Canadian' rev kite was coming with us :)

We took the purple line on the MRT to HarbourFront. A short walk through the mall following the signs for the cable car, took us outside to Tower 2. We bought tickets for a special glass bottom cable car for two, then boarded the lift.

First stop The Jewel box station, Mount Faber on the main land.

The cable car spits you out of the high rise building at quite a speed and it's very disconcerting being in the glass capsule with just the trees below. Already high and climbing to Mount Faber at 105m. We get out and take in the panoramic views from the top. (didn't find the small Merlion though).

After a wander around we went back to the station to get in another glass bottom cable car and make our way back to Tower 2, only we didn't get out, we stayed in and went all the way through and out the other side and carried on our journey suspended high above the city across the straits, right over a huge ship and onto Sentosa Island.

The mighty big Merlion was waiting to welcome us amongst all the construction work!
Luckily this time the view wasn't restricted by the fog from Indonesia.

And so we spent a crazy day on Sentosa Island. There are too many attractions to see in one day.

First stop, drop off a geocoin in the geocache (it's a game) met a nice dragon which we wouldn't have seen.

We went down the many escalators at Imbiah station and relaxed in the shade below the massive Merlion.
The huge long water mosaic feature is still here which was fun to walk along (called Merlion walk).

Our walk continued down to the beach station and along towards Palawan beach.

Finally we made it to the bridge with the sign stating "Southernmost point of Asia Continent".
Time to get "Little Red" rev 2 kite out and have a bit of a fly.

It was surreal to be here and fly this little kite which originally came from Canada, in the swirling winds.

Hot, humid and hungry we decide to grab a photo by the sign and pack the kite away. We crossed over the rope bridge and climbed the tower on the little island. Took in the views, stopping often in the shade.

Ok now we really must go find a place to sit down and have some hearty makan. We enjoyed watching them make fresh noodles the traditional asian way, adding various sauces to your bowl, boiling the noddles and adding them and more sauces and frying the dumplings. It was fantastic and good value for money in Koufu food centre, Palawan beach. Best lunch so far :)

After much walking it was good to rest in the relative cool and drink plenty of water.

That afternoon we were hoping to go on the luge and skyride, but none of the lockers were big enough to put the kite inside, so after much walking around we got a bit blue about that. We walked all the way to Siloso beach  stopping at a place out of the sun where peacocks roamed, and back to Imbiah station.

So to cheer ourselves up and cool off we went inside and took the Merlion tour. Learn all about the Singapura history. Climb to the very top and look out from the top of his head. Pull silly faces while having your picture taken inside his mouth and having a lucky token to redeem for a gift. We received lovely Merlion coasters and a very much needed fan :) Ok feeling refreshed again, we pass an indian guy with a huge snake enroute to a tour around "Images of Singapore". It was nice and cool in here and we let the huge coach parties storm ahead barely even seeing any of the exhibits!

Time was pressing on and we had a pre dinner 'work' appointment, so we travelled back on the cable car to HarbourFront. Having a slight wait for the special glass bottom ones as they are equally spaced about 1 in every 10.

Back at the hotel we drop the kite off, we dressed up a bit and head back out in a taxi to Royal hotel on Scotts road.

Met a colleague upstairs in the bar. What a place, with candles everywhere and the twin sweeping spiral staircases either side. It's naughty nibbling on wonderful spicy bar snacks before dinner. Anyway, a good meeting and we went off to catch another taxi.

Now you can't claim to have visited Singapore without going to the infamous Raffles hotel.

And this is something I had been looking forward to for a while.
It was a long walk around from the famous front of the hotel to the Long Bar, but worth it as you climb the dark wooden stair case on the first floor. It was busy but not so busy we didn't find a comfy sofa in the corner... crunch crunch crunch... what's this it's like walking on.... oh peanut shells.

Singapore slings ordered (and everyone in the room was drinking the same) we start to tuck into the overflowing pot of monkey nuts on the table

D'oh I wasn't doing it right, I was placing the empty shells on the table... sweeep right, onto the floor they go. It's the only place in Singapore you can get away with making a mess/littering on the floor LOL

Oh my, now I'm no fan of pineapple but wowser the Singapore Sling cocktails here in the traditional setting tasted like no other, and it's not overrated at all. I loved it.

The ceiling fans swooshed back and forth but unlike the old days they are now all motorised.
I was checking out the bar snacks, it all sounded so wonderful but we had thought about trying to find the Indian restaurnt at Boat Quay with the rooftop view.

I can't remember how we got to Boat Quay, must have walked it! Honestly those Slings didn't taste alcoholic.

Anyway we didn't find the Indian restaurant because of all the touting. So we settled for one and had a nice view over Boat Quay at ground level instead. I had a biriyani and tandoori roti, and Grozzie had a dansak or similar, with a side order of okra. It was all pretty standard Indian cuisine, nicer than in UK, but I prefer our home cooked curry.

We walked back and decided to find the MRT station at Clarke Quay.

An odd situation happen under the bridge, a guy was doing something weird on the floor by the wall and another guy was holding out a knife. He didn't seem very aware of what he was doing. No harm done they were just putting up posters in the tunnel for the River Festival!

We made it to Clarke Quay and got the train 'home' after an exhausting day :)

[total number of images taken today: 367]

.......more adventures on the next page....