Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Singapore (GMT +8)

I'm still trying to catch up with this latest blog.... :-)  For some unknown reason, and most of you have already noticed, my personal mini10 has suddenly started working and I've been able to post again. :-)  I have a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the virus/trojan I picked up, thought was cleared by McAfee, wasn't and, may have just 'expired' once the New Year began??

As I write this blog, today is my birthday.  I've had many well wishers on Facebook, thank you, and it's the first birthday I've had in many a year when I've been gone from friends and family.  I enjoyed a quiet dinner in my room before continuing this story.
My birthday dinner via room service!


I'll do my best to recollect Rosie's joining me here in Singapore and our adventures for just under a week over the next couple of postings.
Cookies the kids made for Tom that flew 1/2 way around the world

Rosie left Newark on Christmas day around 1100 for a direct flight to Narita on Continental. She landed in Japan sometime on 12/26, had a 2hr layover, took off for Singapore on a United plane and finally landed in Changi at 0020 on 12/27 - Monday!  I took MRT to the airport at ~1030 for the 35min ride.  Since all train traffic to/from Changi stops at 2300, I knew we would be taxiing back to the Fairmont.
Sunset in Narita, Japan

When she cleared customs, I saw her heading right to baggage claim #47 through the clear glass wall that separates arrivals from the crowds waiting to greet them. She didn't see me at first... too focused on finding her luggage.  Got to admit, I was very happy to see her!  I know, it had only been 3 weeks since I last saw her - we'd just returned from our Key West trip but, nonetheless, I now had a running mate and date!!  She was definitely a sight for sore eyes. :-)

By the time she got her luggage, we hooked up, jumped in a taxi for the 20min ride to our hotel, it was 0130.  We finally got situated and hit the rack at ~0230.  Was gonna be a pretty long first day in Singapore.  Rosie's got a pretty full schedule of activities we'll be checking off her list of things to do/see over the next 5 days.


Monday, 12/27

We were up by 0830 and went down for breakfast at the Alligator Pear around 0930. Was a very odd feeling to actually have someone to do breakfast with... and not just anyone, Rosie! Pretty cool. :-)  Believe she enjoyed the ambiance and the diversity of breakfast fare to choose from.
Rosie enjoying breakfast at the Alligator Pear

After breakfast, decided that the first thing we would do was to head over to the Marina Bay Sands hotel to go up to the Skypark 650' up to take in a panorama of Singapore. Having never taken the MRT to the Marina Bay station via the North/South 'red' line, I thought it would drop us off right at the hotel - boy, was I wrong! Drops you off about 1/2mi from the hotel and casino. So, we had a nice, leisurely stroll over to Marina Bay... a perspective I'd not had of Singapore to date.

I'm really enjoying strolling around the outskirts of downtown Singapore with Rosie... :-) Looking over to our left in to the Marina, it's starting to fill up with white balls - they look like mooring balls - of all sizes.  Not sure what they're for, hmmm, may have to pursue that later?  We could also see the pyrotechnics folks working on the fireworks display in the same body of water.

Continued our stroll up to the casino area and walked in.  As we were making our way through, noticed a couple of interesting features within the structure: a narrow body of water that ran the length of the width of the building on the lower deck containing floating gondolas, and; an ice skating rink at one end of the building with quite a few folks ice skating... very cool!

Meandered our way over to the Marina Sands Hotel's 3rd tower, purchased 2 tickets for the skypark above and, took the elevator up to the 56th floor, ~650' above the bay.  Not the best of days, more clouds than sun but still, quite the view.  On this particular occasion - my 2nd trip up to the skypark - we walked over to the infinity pool.  What a great feature!  Only hotel guests can use the pool and there were a few partaking.  At the right angle, heck any angle, it just looks as if you could swim over the edge of the building to your death! :-)  Spent about 30mins touring around the skypark and headed back down.
Fairmont lobby Christmas tree

The Singapore MRT subway cars are very clean

Strolling along the southern portion of Marina Bay

Just some of the 'wishing balls' in the marina

Large whirlpool feature just outside entrance to Marina Bay Casino

Rosie by the whirlpool

View from the Skypark - 'wishing balls' a plenty

Fullerton Hotel, Merlion Park

On top of the Skypark

Always willing and able to take photos for others

Outdoor bar on top of the Skypark

One of several hot tubs overlooking the Straits of Singapore

Can you believe all the trees on top of a building 650' high?

The infinity pool on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The infinity pool looking towards the Fairmont

Marina Barrage and tons of new construction

Marina Bay and thousands of 'wishing balls'

Life mimicking art :-)

One of many features in the Marina Bay Casino Mall - ice rink


Helix bridge, Marina Bay Sands hotel + casino and science building

Singapore Flyer

Where's Rosie?

After we exited went back underground to cross the multi-lane road between the hotel and casino on our way to walk the helix bridge.  We crossed the helix in order to walk over and take a look at the Singapore Flyer and decide on when and the type of ride we wanted to take. 

As I've blogged in the past, there's a mini-rain forest under the wheel fed by the condensed water that accumulates in each car and then drains into the rain forest pool beneath as each car reaches it's nadir.  Rosie decided to get some close-up shots of the koi and turtles in the pond. As she leaned in to take some photos, she stumbled oddly, nearly fell, caught herself and came up with a nasty looking raspberry on her left knee when she scrapped the volcanic rock lining the pond!  Had she not come up bloody, it would have been quite amusing seeing her stumble. :-)

Instead we headed over to O'Leary's Irish pub/restaurant to catch some A/C, fluids, a light lunch and, to clean off her wound and borrow some bandages.  Enjoyed the respite and after some brainstorming decided to take our first trip over to Chinatown... this time via taxi.  Well worth the $8SG for the ride. :-)

We got dropped off right at Pagoda St and South Bridge Rd just outside the very ornate Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple.  Rosie really enjoyed all the vendors sporting their wares along Pagoda. Strolled up to the cross street, Trengganu St, and cut over just getting a sense of what Chinatown was all about.  I ended up buying 3 dragonfly's for $10SG that balance on their noses and Rosie continued to 'window' shop for the moment.  Walked over to the Chinatown complex and went inside the Buddha Tooth Relic temple.  Rosie did buy some souvenirs inside the temple including some coins commemorating the temple and year of our visit, 2010, and the coming year, 2011.
The author

Skypark with infinity pool behind us

One of the more rudimentary brooms you'll ever see

Close-up of the Hindu temple roof in Chinatown

Singaporean seniors enjoying a board game

Coconut drinks

A sculpted Hokkaido ice cream cone

Strung flowers in Little India - very popular

One of many store fronts in Little India
Sri Mariamman Temple by Chinatown

About the Hindu Temple

Rosie on Pagoda Street

In the heart of Chinatown

Lighting some incense in the Buddha Tooth Relic temple

Buddha Tooth Relic

Outside Buddha Tooth Relic temple

Famous building in Little India

Multi-colored building in Little India

I could tell Rosie was slowing down some so we made our way back to the Chinatown MRT station and caught a train back to the Fairmont.  Was early enough in the day for us to get in a short nap... enough to recharge a bit.  Didn't want to call it a day yet so, we went back down to City Hall MRT and caught the train to Little India via Dhoby Ghaut interchange.

Once we got to Little India, was a little anti-climatic.  Many of the shops were closed down due to extended siesta and we just ended up walking around and talking photos.  Only stayed for about 45mins before heading back to the hotel via train.  Was starting to get dark.

Ton's of places to eat underneath the hotel.  We chose a place called Grandma's and each had chicken rice for dinner with water.  After dinner wandered around a bit in the Marketplace and called it a day.

Before hitting the rack we did our pre-flight planning for Day 2:  Singapore Zoo and Sentosa Island.

A very excellent 1st day!


Tuesday, 12/28

Up early again.  Another mostly overcast day.  Back down to the Alligator Pear for another tasty breakfast.  After breakfast ran back upstairs to pick up our back-packs and camera gear and back down to City Hall MRT for our ride on the North-South Line up to NS16, Ang Mo Kio. Got off the train, crossed under the road paralleling the train line over to the bus terminal.  We were looking for Bus #138 which would take us over to the Singapore Zoo, 30min ride, on the Upper Seletar Reservoir.  Pretty straight forward using public transportation to get to our destination.
SMRT station stop to start our journey to the Zoo

On bus #138 to Singapore Zoo

Here we are

Let's go see some monkeys!

Painted Terrapin just outside Proboscis Monkey enclosure

Proboscis Monkeys

Mr. Proboscis enjoying breakfast

Singapore Zoo has many really cool flowers you don't see in the States

Hanging flowers

More

Side note:  In the US particularly in rural areas, it's not unusual when you're driving around to see a variety of animal types along the sides of roads.  Animals like deer, woodchucks, gophers, raccoons, bears, etc.  No big deal for most of us in the US.  On our bus ride to the zoo, Rosie spied little grey things along the sides of the rural road we were on... they were free roaming monkeys!!  How cool is that?  Not something you'd ever see in the US.  We were both quite pleased with that sighting.
White Handed Gibbon

White Handed Gibbon hanging

Some of the crowd in the Aquatic Amphitheatre

2 other faces in the crowd

Star of the show, a California Sealion

The thrill of a young lifetime

Brown Capuchin

Singapore Zoo specializes in apes/monkeys

Douc Langur in it's treetop home

Entrance to the Australian Outback enclosure

Got to the zoo right at 1000.  We weren't quite sure where the ticket purchase line was so, went right up to 2 young ladies stuffing plastic bags with stuff and asked where we could purchase entry?  They said right here and what would we like as our entry gifts with our ticket purchase?  There were 3 options... I only remember the 2 we picked: I chose the zoo towel; Rosie chose the 'doctor fish' option - a pedicure/cleansing delivered by little fish - which I'd never heard of.
Finally, petting a gray kangaroo!

Another item off the list of things to do before we check out :-)

The gray's were happy as long as you had food for them

Look at that smile...

The 'Crocodile Hunter' is missed by many

Off to see the white tigers

1 of 2 - relaxing on a ledge

Prowling the moat

Gorgeous white tiger

Really enjoying the water

Bought our tickets and headed in.  The zoo's not too big, not too small... felt just right. :-)  You can certainly walk the entire zoo and/or tram the zoo first to check out the major sections before wandering off.  We chose to walk first.  Believe Singapore Zoo specializes in many types of monkeys/apes - and we saw all kinds, including Oran gutans (the workers here at the zoo actually pronounce this particular ape name as 2 words)!  Saw 1 young 4yr old up close and personal. :-)  Oh, and if you want, you can queue up to catch a ride on a handful of Indian Elephants!  We passed on that since the line was long and we'd already done that in the San Diego Wild Animal Park years ago with the kids.
The Orang utan enclosure
Rosie enjoying the Orang utans

A small family of Orang utans

We got pretty close to a 4yr old

White Rhinos in the Africa section

Zebras

Giraffe

We ate lunch here.  Named after it's late, longest tenured Orang utan

You could enjoy an Indian elephant ride

Black and white tapir

If she could have, she would have

Attack of the Dr. Fish!

Close-up of Rosie's aquatic pedicure

What about those Dr. Fish?

In a nutshell: we walked and saw a good chunk of the zoo; saw an aquatic show starring a California sea lion; Rosie got to finally pet a grey kangaroo in the Aussie section; rode the tram around the park, and; did lunch in the park.  One of the highlights of the visit just before we left - the 'doctor fish' pedicure! :-)
On the bus to the Zoo

Ang Mo Kio bus station

Coconuts

White tiger in repose

Not sure this is a yawn...

Steve Irwin and Ah Meng

White Rhino

Zebra conference

Side note 2:  Doctor Fish, aka: Garra Rufa's, apparently, are quite popular in Asia.  Who knew?   Rosie had chosen the procedure for her zoo ticket entry gift... I was initially not interested.  The zoo has a glassed in enclosure near the entrance/exit with 3 to 4 long fish tanks lined up on the ground with seating lined between them for you to sit on and dangle your feet/lower legs into them.  The tanks contain 2 different sizes of doctor fish, small and bigger - appears to be mostly a subjective call on which fish are small and which are big.  :-)  The zoo helpers for this feature recommend new folks to the procedure start off with the smaller fish.  Anyone passing by the enclosure can watch those adventurous enough to try the procedure do so.  Before climbing in to the tanks, they have you not only remove your footwear but wash off with water.  Having done so, Rosie climbed into the fish tank enclosure and put her feet and lower legs, up to mid-calf, in to the small doctor fish tank facing me and a small crowd watching.  The little fish immediately started swarming all over her feet and lower legs!  They're actually going after all the dead skin in/on your limbs!  Rosie was simultaneously laughing, squirming and doing all she could not to pull her legs out and trying her best to describe the sensation!  :-)  The zoo helpers are very happy to take photos of you going through the procedure through the glass panes fronting the tanks.  It was so much fun watching her... I decided to pay my $5SG for 5 mins in the tank and joined her!  Just like with Rose, 100s of little fish started attacking my 2 limbs - tickled like you can't imagine!  We really must have had a lot of exfoliating to have done!  I wasn't satisfied with just the 'little' fish so, I noodged Rosie to join me in the 'big' fish tank... virtually the same sensation, just a lot bigger feeling with bigger little mouths chomping away - tons of them swarming our limbs!  You could almost imagine miniature teeth biting in!  Actually quite refreshing.  Interestingly, Rosie claimed to have phantom feelings of the doctor fish doing their thing on her feet/calves for the next few days.  :-)
Hmmm, fits right in?

Doctor Fish

Not your normal date

Ummmmm, yummy!

For me, the Dr. Fish tickled

A view to the Dr. Fish tank enclosure

Which way to the Zoo?

If you look closely, you'll see a free roaming monkey... :-)

OK, back to the tale of the day.... 

Departed the zoo at ~1330.  Caught the 138 bus back to the terminal.  Thirty minutes later we left the bus and walked back over to the train terminal.  Rode the North South line back to Dhoby Ghaut interchange, switched to the North East line and trained down to the HarbourFront station at the end of the line.

The HarbourFront station happens to be the entry point for Singapore's Cruise Liner terminal, mid-point entry to the 'jewel box' cable car lift to Sentosa Island 15 stories above ground, access to the monorail over to Sentosa Island and, home to 2 very large shopping/restaurant centers, the HarbourFront and Vivo City, sitting right on the water facing Sentosa Island adjacent to a gigantic container ship port facility.
Harbour Front cruise ship dock and Jewel Cable Car to Sentosa

In the Jewel Cable Car

Quite the view 150ft above everything

Had a severe case of 'tingly feet' over water!

Harbour Front and Vivo City

Looking back towards where we boarded the cable car - nice ad above

Sentosa cable car station

37m high Merlion on Sentosa

Rosie liked this shot...

A short respite in the Hard Rock Cafe, Sentosa island

Me and the Merlion

We walked a little of Vivo City before crossing over to the Keppel Towers to buy cable car round trip tickets over to Sentosa Island for ~54SG.  With tickets in hand we elevatored up to the 15th floor and queued up for a car.  The cable cars actually loop from Mount Faber Park through the mid-point of the ride in the Keppel Towers, over the cruise ship terminal, over blue water, and then down to Sentosa Island's cable car station and, back.
Harbour Front with Sentosa Island in the background

View from our Jewel Cable Car

My cable car mate - Rosie

Cruise ship of the day
Pretty fun ride

What a ride!  As most of you blog followers know, I have issues with heights and that was no different on this ride... my feet and most of my other senses were tingling like crazy!  The only things that really kept me grounded on this ride were the camera in my hand and the fact that Rosie, amazingly, was kinda wigging out about the ride once we passed over the 2 cruise ships and were dangling over blue water!  She had to close her eyes to make it through the over water portion... simultaneously amusing and endearing!  Finally, she got a sense of what I feel at crazy heights without an airplane surrounding me. :-)
Another view to the chain of cable cars

Rosie's 'tingly feet' moment over water

Sentosa World Resort and Universal Studios Park

Container ship port and causeway to Sentosa Island

Sentosa Island's got a lot of green

When you exit the cable car on Sentosa Island, the only way out of the facility is through their gift shop... smart marketing.  There's lots to chose from to go see/do on the island.  We didn't have a lot of time to do much.  On the cable car ride over, we saw a Hard Rock Hotel/Cafe and, because of my mini-obsession with visiting as many as I can, decided we would wander over to that for a break and refreshments.  Sentosa Island is also the home of a Universal Studios theme park - sold out that day - and a ginormous Merlion structure that people can climb up to the top of.
Over Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe

Passing cable car

Map of Sentosa


Rosie and the Merlion

Turns out that there are a series of 4 to 5 escalators down to the Resorts World Sentosa and Universal Studios Singapore areas.  The 2 areas are bi-sected by the monorail... go left to Resorts World, go right to Universal Studios.  We went left.  Took a ton of photos of the massive Merlion as we moved further away towards our target, HR Cafe.  Resorts World appears to be a fully integrated environment.  You can walk to anything within it's confines without ever hitting a road.  Pretty neat. 
Another perspective on the Merlion

All 37m of the Merlion

Entering Sentosa World Resort

Lake of Dreams

Rosie in Sentosa World Resorts concourse area

Outside HR Cafe

Once we got to the HR Cafe, went in and sat at the bar - we'd worked up a bit of a sweat.  Like every other Asian HR Cafe I've been in, they won't sit you at a table unless you plan on ordering food.  So, we sat at the bar, had nachos and a couple of drinks while cooling down.  Before we left Rosie and I bought t-shirts and a couple of pins! :-)
The 'Thinker' and I

Glam shot!

Proof of actually being on Sentosa

On our way back in the Jewel Cable Car

Our destination.  You can make our Mt. Faber behind the buildings

Rosie was definitely starting to wear down... our pace and the time difference were catching up to her (and I was a bit tired too).  So, we cable car'd back to HarbourFront, jumped on the MRT and headed back to the hotel.  Got back to the room around 1730 after a very memorable day in Singapore.  Rosie took a long bath and crashed... I went down to the mall area, did some shopping for Tiger Balm and called it a night!

I'm going to post this... getting a bit lengthy. :-)

Rosie's last 3 days later.

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