Singapore 1

Singapore, a small lovely country south of Peninsular Malaysia, was an attractive destination that we visited June 2009. I visited the island for a few times before, but it was the first time for Betty. She went to Singapore first to conduct a workshop at Republic Polytechnic and I joined her three days later. We visited several places, which can be categorized into fun and thrill, historical and shopping trip.

For fun and trill, where else besides Sentosa Island? Honestly, the island didn't change much since my last visit a long long time ago. Port Siloso and Underwater World almost remained the same, while The Song of the Sea, Dolphin Lagoon are new for me, while the beach...uh, felt like getting worse by the heavily dotted ships stretching along the bay. However, all of the attractions were new to Betty! We did a little bit of screening as there were too many tourist's attractions on that small island. We decided to visit the old part of the island first- Fort Siloso, which really brought us back to the history. The exceptionally attractive part of the fort was the wax models, and the description over the role the fort played during War World II. The visit visualized our knowledges and the background of the country. Well everyone, the wax model exhibition is really worth a visit, they looked so real until the guard there scared me, once he moved from his standing post.

Clockwise from top: Gate of Fort Siloso; the entrance; wax-models; underground tunnels; and the model of one of the canons.

The UnderWater World was a attractive tour spot with few hundreds species of fish swimming around us. After the tour, I really amazed by the consistency of the management, which keep UnderWater World nearly unchanged for so many years. I met my old memories in a lot of the corners in that aquarium. The ticket to the UnderWater World is complemented with Dolphin Lagoon, which is 15 minutes away by shuttle bus. The presentation by the pink dolphins was spectacular- flips, spins, tail walk, jumping over the hoop and playing soccer were just like one two three, A B C to them. Well, frankly from both of us, UnderWater World is missmatched to Aquaria KLCC or Langkawi Underwater World in Malaysia. However, a chance to watch the dolphins presentation and visit the old Dugong was still a suprise.

Clockwise from top: Betty tried to reach manta-rays beside "touch pool" of UnderWater World; Pink Dolphin perfomance at Dolphin Lagoon; and fishes, squids, and jelly fish found in UnderWater World.

At night, we watched the "fire and water" show (which we think the Musical Fountain is not a suitable name for it)- The Song of the Sea at Siloso Beach. The stage was set up in the sea while we sat on the beachside, faced the sea, pampered by breeze, , took a great view of the islands far away, and enjoying the show. With blasting fire, splashing water, and blazing laser effects, the show should be rated five stars excellency, with lousy story line. But who cares about the story? Special effects talked louder there!

Great scenes from the Song of the Sea show.

Well, a solid day trip in Sentosa might end up with tiring muscles and souring legs, but not for us. We chose leisure and steady way, with a lot of resting, drinking, talking, and skipped many places of interest on the island (which might be saved until next visit).


Our trip continued...

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