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!


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 ^^.




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.

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.

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.

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.


The mechanism that holds the capsule rotates along with the capsule, making it stable and swing-proof.


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


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.


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.




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.


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

Read more...

Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 2 – Huge Huge Sentosa

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 1 - Daiso (in Vivo City)
Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 3 - Dinner with Former Colleagues

Whenever I hear people talk about Sentosa, I couldn’t quite imagine what the place looks like. It’s kinda hard to put together for me because of the variety of “attractions” they mention such as a beach, rides, restaurants, shows. Apparently, Sentosa is made up of a huge chunk of reclaimed land which is composed of several areas boasting different attractions. It's July 24th 2009 in Vivo City mall, Singapore, and we just had our lunch ~ now it's time to get going again!


The Plan
The way I see it, it’s impossible to visit every single location in just a day or two as some of the attractions can take an entire afternoon for you to complete. You can zip through everything but where’s the fun in that ;) ? Btw, make sure you bring your own bottled water to rehydrate yourself, drinks will get expensive inside.

The prevailing rate at that time was for S$38.90 (adult) or S$26.90 (child), you can choose a combination of any 3 Experience Category and 1 Adventure Category from all of the available Sentosa Attractions. Our package included the following:
Images of Singapore
Sentosa 4D Magix
Gogreen Segway Ride
Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom

Skyride and Luge is another recommended attraction but we did not include in the package because it was more affordable as a separate ride compared to the rest.

We also got the tickets for the show,Songs of the Sea. Regular rates at S$10, but for S$15 you can choose from 2 combos:
Combo A: Songs of the Sea ticket + Oscar Meal (Choice of Popcorn/Nachos/Hotdog + Drink)
Combo B: Songs of the Sea ticket + 6" Oscar Plush Toy
Note: If you have dinner plans, I recommend getting the toy instead as there are only two time slots for the show - 7:40pm and 8:40pm.

Train to Sentosa
Access to Sentosa is done via dedicated train line. It should be possible to get there by car, if not, it won't be long until this is possible as you'll see in the images I captured below. At that time, we have 4 stations including the one we are on: Sentosa Station (Vivo City), Future Developments (under construction), Imbiah Station, and Beach Station. Each one can still be divided into smaller areas.






Sentosa expansion plans - a promising roller coaster can be spotted



Sentosa also has it's own Merlion. This one is huge! That antennae at the top reminds me of Camp Big Falcon from Voltes V, could it be...?



Images of Singapore
The location for the first attraction is in Imbiah. Going past the Merlion and going up the mountainside, we find... Sab pointing the way ^^, thank goodness there are escalators.

To start with, a guide will take you to a room with a stage similar to watching a small play, but instead you will be presented with an impressive digital show as introduction to the next segment of the attraction. In the center is a device which sprays mist and captures light to materialize the image, pure coolness, it's a lot better seen live. Then the four portraits take turns in explaining the different cultures that merged in what we now know as Singapore.




It's also amusing to listen to the accents of our narrators heehee.


Afterwards, upon exiting the room is a long sequence of halls containing figures which I think are made of wax. It shows in more detail the different races and their cultures, like a museum.









Sentosa 4D Magix
The featured film during that time was the Pirated Pirate show (sorry I forgot the real title -_-'). We were warned that the movie wasn't all that good, but we decided to give it a try instead.


No point in taking pictures here as without the special 3D glasses, everything will be a blur

After watching the show, I can only compare this to the Opera House at Hong Kong Disneyland, where you watch a 3D movie while the theater simulates the actual environment by spraying water, blowing wind in your face, and 3D sounds by setting a speaker on both sides of your head. I definitely enjoyed the Disney one more.


Gogreen Segway Ride
One of my most favorite experiences ^^. Using these wheels makes you feel "futuristic"! You lean forward to move forward, same with backwards, push the handles sideways to turn... you get the drill.


Here's Ji to show you how it's done... and what not :p


Songs of the Sea
A performance done along an artificially made beach, BEWARE MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

The show starts off with a cast of actors singing various songs in their native tongues until one of the songs revealed that a beautiful asian girl is under a curse and has been sleeping for some time, a handful of “sea creatures” (or rather, mascots) claim that the curse can only be lifted with the singer’s help.

This show appears to be originally the light and fountain show that was introduced in Singapore a while back where light effects are used like a projector while water fountains are sprayed upward to make them visible, appearing 3D. It’s actually very cool once the light show starts and is worth checking out if you’re visiting Sentosa.
Note: I managed to record the show (except for the intro) in my digicam, however it's too big to upload as of yet. Check back later as I will find a way to compress and upload it ;).


Skyride and Luge
Already late for our next commitment but there’s no way we're leaving Sentosa without trying out the Skyride and Luge :D. Normally you take the Skyride first because it takes you to a higher point of the Sentosa resort. Then you ride the Luge downhill using a sled like apparatus and allows you to steer it, the experience is like a combination of sledding and karting – A MUST TRY.




End of Sentosa...
But the day's not yet over as we'll be meeting my former colleagues next for dinner and some yummy dessert :9. Hope we're not too late yet because it's way already past 8:30pm which is our meetup time *puff*.

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 1 - Daiso (in Vivo City)
Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 3 - Dinner with Former Colleagues

Read more...