Sentosa Pt.1

I finally stepped foot on Sentosa, I should be awarded with some recognition for my ability to delay plans and procrastinate. Why? Because the first mental note I made to myself when I initially arrived in SG was, make a trip to Sentosa as soon as possible, who knows how long I'll be here. And that was about a year ago, when the monorail connecting there directly from VivoCity has yet to be completed. I rule. Also not forgetting the fact that Malaysians now enjoy a 50% discount on the package, is another factor that lead me to this trip. Now, I am stingy and I procrastinate. I so rule.

The package I bought, yah, the 50% discounted one, includes access into the Merlion, access into Images of SG, access to Fort Siloso, ride on the Sky Tower, one free drink in Skybar, and a free 6R Digital Photo at Merlion (which costs an insane $20, and the package only costs $28). Equipped with TheCard, a few friends of the girlfriend, herself and I made our way there by late afternoon. I have to say that its freaking convenient heading to Sentosa nowadays, like buy the ticket, board the monorail and the next thing you realize, you're already there. So fast can? Even faster than fast food (I am very tempted to put wtf here, but I shall not).

TheCard. As you can obviously notice, I totally forgot to take a picture of it beforehand, hence all the ugly strikes. Apologies...

Standing at 37 metres tall, the Merlion in Sentosa was our first stop, or somehow, the monorail stopped there first and we just decided to get off. The ground level holds numerous displays of sea creatures and its information, quite hard to read because people were just moving through and the whole area were dimly lit, some parts just with UV lights. Then we were ushered into a theatre room, where the story of how the Island and its Name came about was narrated. The funny part, some of it didn't make sense, like how at one point, the beast was an unrecognised creature and next, the island was named after the creature, becoming Singapura. So, the beast can talk or write one is it? Tsk. Tsk. (I read from somewhere else that it was the advisor who told the founder of the creature's name).

Upon exiting, we were instructed to place the coins (supposingly lucky coins) we received from the entrance into some weird looking machines, that will generate a ticket which can be used to claim some gift at the end of the Merlion tour. Took a lift to the 10th floor, first to the mouth to have our pictures taken (the camera used was equipped with a transmitter that instantly send photos taken to the printing counter, amazing stuff) then to the highest level, to enjoy the view, the sea breeze as well as the burning sun. And the tour finally ended in a souvenir shop, how clever... all the photo printing, gift exchanging and souvenir buying activities for the Merlion tour are done here.

The tallest and largest Merlion in Singapore, located in the island of Sentosa. From above, it looks as though its head has been cracked open, brain removed and replaced with antennas.

In the theatre room. There's a screen at the top left showing subtitles in various languages (Japanese, Mandarin and unsure, I think). Pretty neat stuff, huh?

View of Singapore from top of the Merlion. On the left with all those skyscrappers, would be the city centre while more towards the right would be some port (those blue, red thingys are containers).

Nothing is better than a clear blue sky on a trip, except for some air-conditioning, so hot!

The gift exchanged using the ticket from those weird machines. A set of aluminium coasters, quite nice. Everyone else got a fan, which served its purpose on that hot and humid day.

Inside the first souvenir shop. So many Merlions, I guess there's one for everyone.

The walkway and garden outside of Merlion. Nothing much around there.

Next in line was Images of Singapore. First area was filled with replicas of workstation during those yester-years of explorations and spice trading. Then, we were ushered into another theatre, and I have just one word to descrine this one, AWESOME. The initially static images had real-life movements later on, then the screen were made out of thick air, kinda similar to a 2D hologram, which was really cool. After the screening, we made out way through numerous exhibits, from the history to the culture of Singaporeans, from the early 14th up until the 20th century. Quite an elaborate set-up, I have to admit, all the festivals celebrated, races and religions, each having an exhibit on its own, very informative and educational. Schools should really do road trips here, outdoor history lessons. There were even video clips during the Japanese invasion, British occupation and Singapore's declaration, during which, I managed to catch a glimpse of a really, really young Lee Kuan Yew.

In one of the exhibits, there's a door with the toilet sign attached to it and one of us went to open it (unsure whether she's just curious or really needed to answer nature's call). And wadaya know, all of us got a fright because there was a mannequin inside the 'fake' toilet, which was totally unexpected. Although engaging, this place gave us the creeps as well because of all the mannequins being placed here and there, some with sudden but limited movements, like blinking eyes, and hand gestures. And their eyes, they look so the freaking real that it sends chill up your spine. Reminds me of a haunted house. bbbrrr... Much, much walking, we finally exited the exhibitions, into another souvenir shop. Do they know how to make money or what?

Replica of the workstation during those older times. Very old school one.

The four portraits you see up there, had lifely human like movement and features when the show began. Which was totally amazong, and on the platform below, the holographics are shown.

One family, many traditions.

One of the many exhibits, this one depicting the famous Chinese Opera. The eyes, they blink. If I were to take everything, one 256MB memory card, confirm gone.

Last but not least, I learned something there as well, that some Singaporeans worship televisions/monitors last time. Bet you didn't know that as well.

Part 2 will show the remaining places of interest included in the package, Siloso Beach being part of it.