Monday, September 14, 2009

Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 1 - Singapore Flyer and Lau Pa Saht

Related posts in series:
Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 3 - Dinner with Colleagues
Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 2 - Singapore Malls


About time I got this post up ^^. It's the 25th of July 2009, and up on our itinerary we are to head to the Singapore Flyer, my Aunt and her family won't be coming with us but we'll be meeting with our friends Che and Mon. The Singapore Flyer in essence is like a giant Ferris Wheel where you are taken high high up to view the city in all it's glory. I suppose that a night view would be better but since we're running against the clock and to be fair we should consider the day ride a different experience, this isn't so bad at all. Hope nobody here's afraid of heights, eventhoug to some extent, I know I am!

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The meeting place is in Raffles City Mall, that's at MRT City Hall Station. And here I took some pictures of the area while we wait for our designated tour guides for the day ^^.

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It's somewhat cloudy, not so great for pictures but the temperature is great (Singapore standards :p).

Singapore Flyer
After the meet up, we took a short cab ride to get there. You need to take an elevator (a lift, if you're British ^^) ride to get to the top then cross a walkway to actually reach the loading section. Before actually getting on the ride, you will be asked to pose for a photo which you will get to see after the ride.
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Different groups of passengers were put together in a unit to maximize capacity and revenue. And as a safety measure, directly below the loading area is a safety net.
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Before getting on the ride, you can pick up an audio device (forgot to take photo of the darn thing) that will serve as your guide. This device is synchronized to a channel and as you go up it will narrate some history of the sights that you will see around you. You can either put it near your ear or use the headset provided.
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Oftentimes the device will ask you to use the compass above you as reference.

I listened to the device only for a while since I was going all over the area for photo opportunities.
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The mechanism that holds the capsule rotates along with the capsule, making it stable and swing-proof.

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Several parts of the city are still under development. Singapore may be small but it's going to be one developed and busy city.

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These are just miniatures (hard to tell from the photos).

After the ride you can check out the store for souvenirs. Here, you can also claim the photo you took earlier. You can choose among 4 kinds of backgrounds, 2 of which are photos of you and the inside of the capsule in either day or night shots while the other two are shots of you inside the capsule from a distance while capturing the view of Singapore. I think the souvenir photo costs around S$30-S$40 is placed in a big card holder of sort.

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Notice the "No Picture Taking" sign?


Lau Pa Saht
It's only past 10am but everybody is famished since we didn't get a chance to have breakfast. We headed to this place called Lau Pa Saht, a food center that looked like a hawker's hall, something that is common in Singapore. In this place, there's no shortage of food choices.

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We ended up trying a Malaysian stall whose owner was nice enough to give us special discounts for their Cereal Prawns (highly recommended!) and Black Pepper Crab :9.
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Happy V! You won't be disappointed if you're craving for a certain Filipino fastfood ^^.

Now that we've had our fill, it's about time we head to Orchard to get our money changed and finally be able to shop.

Related posts in series:
Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 3 - Dinner with Colleagues
Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 2 - Singapore Malls

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