The Flyer and Sentosa

Jan 23

John told me that he had another activity and exploration-filled day in Singapore. He started off early, leaving the hotel at 8am, for a ride on the Singapore Flyer. This answer to London's famous Eye sits near the ocean on Singapore's southern coast. They say it is, at 165 metres, some 13 metres taller than London's and is the tallest observation wheel in the world. Like many structures in Singapore it was positioned with the help of Chinese feng shui and operates with the same principles in mind.

Since it was early there were few people about and John only had to share the gondola with a couple from South Africa who work in Saudi Arabia. And since she was afraid of heights and sat carefully in the very middle, John and her husband were free to roam around the entire gondola to take whatever pictures or videos the wanted.

It was a spectacular day, so unlike the cloudy one before. John took lots of video from the Flyer and hopes that you enjoy the views as much as he did taking them. You can see Singapore's downtown, its opera house that looks likea two turtles with ragged shells and the original colonial buildings built by the British. You can also see that there remains a construction boom. Right now, amongst many other projects, they are building a new casino - the first for Singapore - and convention centre. It will include a whole new botanical gardens. Like everything Singaporean it will be operationalized better than anywhere else. It is almost as if they see what has been done elsewhere and say how can we do the same thing only better?



Next it was off for a cruise on the Cheng Ho, an old style Chinese sailing ship. They cruised along Singapore's west coast and past Sentosa Island that John was going to see later the same day. John talked with a number of couples - the South Africans, and another interesting couple, he from Switzerland and she from Finland. They had travelled extensively and they said that, apart from the road signs, you cannot tell Ontario apart from Finland. He had been in aircraft maintenance so he and John talked planes quite a bit.

John stayed outside to get the views of the coastline and was up close with the hundreds of ocean going freighters who were waiting their turn at Singapore's docks. He also saw more oil tankers than he could have imagined. Singapore is a hib for oil shipments to China, Australia, and Asia in general. It has a number of huge refineries. However, the day was getting warmer and more humid.

After a leisurely narrated cruise they stopped at Kusu Island for 45 minutes. Kusu is Chinese for Turtle and he saw many turtles and tortoises there as the place is a sanctuary as well as being a place holy to Taoists and Muslims. Many people make a pilgrimage to the island at special times of the year. However, there was nothing to eat or drink on the small island so John was happy to get back on board and buy a can of Sprite for $3. He sat and talked to a couple from England on the cruise back.

He went back to the hotel for a bit of a break and uploaded videos to the blog before heading out once again - this time to Sentosa Island. Sentosa is Singapore's family fun island with hotels, beaches, theme parks, rides, and shows and the name means tranquility in Malay. After getting there, John was amazed by the sheer numbers of humanity. You could not walk without bumping into people. The local people seemed well equipped to handle this but if you used Western manners you just didn't get to go where you wanted much of the time and people piled up behind you. In the end, John just had to push ahead but felt he did not really understand the proper way to go about moving because, as he brushed by people, they seemed to startle a little.

John lined up for 30 minutes to take a ride on the Tiger Sky Tower - a round revolving disk filled with people that goes up slowly to give beautiful views of the island and Singapore itself. He took more video here, too. crammed though he was. This was not a highlight of the trip!

However, after that, John went in to see 'Images of Singapore' that definitely WAS a highlight, though he did not take video in it. It was a three part presentation of the history of Singapore. It started with a wonderful five minute film of four men, one Malay, one Chinese, one Indian and one Western (Eurasian actually). They represented the four winds that brought people to Singapore (north from Malaya, east from China, south from India and west from Europe). They talked about the four values on which Singapore is based - family, community, peace, and harmony. John was touched.

The next part, the Singapore Adventure, was a walk through museum with dioramas of life on the island since the earliest times as well as multimedia displays of old photographs and movies. It was chronological and very well done... enough writing for those interested but not too much for those who just wanted to experience history. John was very impressed by the good behaviour of the children, unlike his experiences earlier in the trip. They were exhuberent and having a wonderful time but were not out of control.

The experience finished with Singapore Celebrates, a multimedia showcase about Singapore today. It is obvious that the people of Singapore love their 'city state' country and it was nice to see their pride.

By then it was time to go to the Songs of the Sea, a spectacular live action, laser, fountain, flame, music, computer graphics and pyrotechnic show held on the beach in front of an amphitheatre that can hold 2,500 people. It is the world’s only permanent show set in the sea. It is a fairytail story about a young man named Lee, wh by singing was giving the fire, the sea, and a beautiful maiden back their powers. It was truly impressive! John has asked me to upload a video he made.



Anyway, I am tired just thinking of the busy day that John has had.

TRB