Saturday, April 29, 2006

Loved you & leaving you Singapore!

Most areas in Singapore were very clean and modern looking. They had a pretty good public transport system there. The MRT (tube) was a heck of a lot cleaner & carriages were a lot bigger than the ones in London. It also seemed pretty safe and no beggars (bonus). We could get pretty much everywhere we needed to go using the system.
Not to mention the home of the fabulous Funan Digital Life Mall - shall be back very soon for a visit!

SO IS THIS THE VISITORS CENTRE?

Hmm.. might be!

McDONALDS MENU - SINGAPORE

MACCIES MACCIES MACCIES
Beef Fantastic
Chicken Fantastic
Double Fillet Burger

It may seem like we have been sponsopred by McDonalds but heck we were glad for a proper Maccies menu again. No beef in India was a killer(not to mention no bacon). But after our first Big Mac and the free internet access on offer, all was forgiven. Not to mention our ordering of big breakfast meals delivered to our door 24/7, "I'm loving it".

Friday, April 28, 2006

Cable Car journey to Santosa.. i mean Sinagpore.. err ..Mount Faber!


On the way to Santosa Island we decided to claim the island in the name of Trehan-Young. That was until we got to the other end of the journey & saw the stunning Singapore Skyline & thought: "Ooh that's kinda close" - we discovered we were still in Singapore. We had got on the wrong cable car which took us in the wrong direction to Mount Faber. Another cable car journey later we were ready to take on Santosa!

On Mount Faber:











The famous Merlion on approach to Santosa:

Santosa Island: Underwater World

He was a huge ugly thing!


Santosa Island: Musical Fountain & Laser Show



We watched a musical fountain show which featured a light show, projected onto a fountain. It made use of music, huge 2d/3d animated projections, fireworks, smoke and all sorts. Also at one point, the huge Merllion in the background began to shoot lasers out of its eyes. It was amazing.

Cinemax:
We went into this dome shaped cinema that had these moving mechanical pods for us to sit in. The pods would move as the show developed. The first film was a little like a rollercoaster ride which was ok. The second was full of dinosaurs running around everywhere and was pretty cool. The ride didn't half throw you around though.

Santosa Island: Dolphin Lagoon


The Dolphin show was great.. such intelligent creatures.

Memorable Moment: Santosa Island


Whilst watching the dolphin show, a couple of peacocks walked right up to me and started squawking at me. I assume the cheeky little buggers must get fed by the locals.

SANTOSA ISLAND

My b-day treat was Santosa island, and it was faaaaantastic. I loved every part of the day.
The day began with taking a scenic cable car trip to Mount Faber, where we stopped to take a look at the breath taking views of the Singapore skyline.
We then took the cable car back across past Singapore further to Santosa Island - where we had the most memorable day of our huunymoon so far.
Seeing the creatures of the ocean at the Underwater world, was great alone, but at the touch pool we experienced the feel of a stingray and a shark.
We went on to the Dolphin Lagoon so see the intelligent creatures performance, after the show we stepped into the water with them which was lovely.
By the time we left the Dolphin Lagoon we got caught up in the tropical showers, so decided to pay a visit to the Spa Botanical instead and have a pampering afternoon. The massage from the waterfall in the floating pool was so relaxing we then finished off in the warm mud pool which was soo ooohhhh!!!Didn’t want to leave.. But we had a finish off the day at the Island with the Musical Fountain Laser show, which was needless to say also impressive.
After taking the cable car back to the mainland Singapore, the day was brought to a perfect end by our meal at one of the many restaurants located at the Raffles Hotel.

The famous Singapore Sling


Created behind the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore

Here is the recipe for those cocktail lovers out there..

30ml Gin
15 ml Cherry Brandy
120 ml Pineapple Juice
15 ml Lime Juice
7.5 ml Cointreau
7.5 ml Dom Benedictine
10 ml Grenadine
A Dash of Angostura Bitters
Garnish with a slice of Pineapple and Cherry

The Ghost of Raffles...

Notice how the arm is transparent..
oooh - spooky!!

DINING IN THE SKY


They were for the purpose of a candle lit meal for two, high above Santosa. How romantic! It was considered but we had a reservation at the Raffles for the evening.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

SINGAPORE SCIENCE CENTRE


At the enterance there was a little park area with a huge metal fish sculpture. The park had loads of little windmills, corkscrews and other mechanisms. Oh and a Ronald McEinstein selling his usual scientific wonders for burgers.

Inside there were loads of funny little gadgets. They had the usual stuff such as floating footballs over air jets, cogs, virtual illusions and such likes. They also had some more interesting stuff such as an illusion that made it look like your head was on a plate, sitting on a table. There was also this cool face morphing, distorting machine. It made some cool images. They also had a tornado generator and a mechanism that created the American Indian style smoke signals.


Imax film:

We decided to leave the main museum for a while to attend a film in their Imax cinema. We needed to use a stamp on ourselves on the way out so we could get back in later. Bobbi decided that the perfect location for this stamp was my forehead. Anyways we went in to watch the film on ancient Greece which was pretty informative and well done. The Imax really made you feel like you were there, travelling through the environment. Well worth the money.


Crappy Simulator:

There was this poor quality simulator ride outside which we tried. It was one of those that you see at theme parks. It was one of the most poor experiences we have ever wasted money on. We may as well have sat in front of the TV while having someone shake us a bit now and then. Still, there was some cool stuff in the rest of the Science Centre, although there were a few too many boring information films scattered around. Most often it was more fun pressing the button to start the movie than actually watching it.

Science Centre: Elastic Surgery

Do i look fat in this or chinese?...... Or Frankenstein?

Bobbi plans world domination at Summit

whilst speaking on the goal of human existence.... she had a alot to say on sleeping.

Are we sitting comfortably??

Then i'll begin....

Dont we just look wonderful!

BOTANICAL GARDENS

After getting off the nearest bus to the gardens, we ended up walking stonk loads to get to the main entrance. By the time we got there we were so sick of walking that it kinda lost its charm. We walked through the first couple of gardens before we decided that it sucked pretty badly and went on to somewhere else. There was the occasional nice touch such as a little cave waterfall which was good for photies.


(Actually that was all my fault (Bobbi) new shoes! Sorry Sweetheart)

DIRTY TOWN

We weren't too far from the red light district where there were plenty of women hanging around, complete with groups of pervey men staring at them. As we walked past there were loads of dodgy massage parlours. There was also one place called Gayworld Hotel, although as you can imagine we didn't pop in to find out exactly what went on in there.

ESPALANDE THEATRE

There was a really cool looking theatre in the City Hall area of Singapore. It was a large chrome structure and looked really bubble like. It also had a nice atmosphere outside with some pretty water features. There was a collection of pretty cool artwork inside also. It looked as much a gallery as it was a theatre.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Memorable moment: Night Safari

We went into a fruit bat enclosure where it was quite dark. Sure enough it was full of these big fruit bats, all just hanging there. At this point Bobbi turned around and said "Watch out careful your quite close to that one" whilst pointing at a bat a few feet away. She didn't however notice that there was one bat so close to her head that she could have been wearing it as a hat. I then started filming it while it was looking right at me. It was looking right at me… longing for the fruit in my veins.


When we were about to enter the enclosure there were a couple right behind us & Bobbi screamed out for dropping our precious little camera. As we had just half entered, this caused for the couple behind us to also scream out in sequence in fear of their lives.



NIGHT SAFARI

We decided to check out the famous Singapore Night Safari. The environment was pretty cool, with little rope bridges and shacks etc. We seen a lot of the animals via the park tour bus. We were taken past a bunch of partially lit enclosures and seen things such as lions, tigers and fat hippos. We seen this thing called a 'slow laurence', which was so damn slow I wondered why it bothered moving. We also had a chance to get off the tour bus and walk out as far as we liked. Most animals were pretty motionless. Probably so tired because we had woken them up for our night time safari.

Night Safari - bongo burgers…
There was a fab little restaurant called bongo Burgers at the entrance - where we of course ate.. Just thought it was a regular beef burger with a fancy name.. Until we met the bongo's in the Safari later on..

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

MORE MALL MADNESS

Went into one place where we found a brand of clothes called Wankos. At one point an assistant walked over to sell her products. It took all the energy I had to contain the inner child in me and not to burst into laughter.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Orchard Road

The famous Orchard Road - Home for all those shopaholics out there.. Son' you'd love it.

The Raffles Mall

CHINA TOWN

Went to the highly recommended china town for a look around. There was a really nice temple there called the Sri Mariamman Temple. There were also lots of little shops selling little ornamental bricker-brack the likes that my mother would love to fill the home with (and my father would equally hate to have in the home). We also had people chasing us offering massaging services (this time the regular kind of massage).

Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple

This was one of the more impressive temples in China Town. Bags and bags of detail, so much going on!


MALLS MALLS MALLS

Fantastic shopping areas, loads of stores. We went to Suntec City Mall where there was a huge landmark fountain, called the Fountain of Wealth. Sadly it was closed until the day we leave for some reason.
Instead we visited this garden area called Koi Garden in the lower mall. Loads of big fat fish. Very pretty!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

ASSISTANCE PLEASE

In one of the stores and I was in need of some help. I asked some guy who looked very managerial to me. Turned out he didn't actually work there. Bobbi thought this was very funny. Then later Bobbi was shopping for some shoes and did exactly the same thing, although this time the person she asked was a 10 year old little girl. Her defence was "Well people are so small here".

FUNAN DIGITALIFE MALL

Wow there is a place here called Funan IT Mall. It has 7 floors of IT and technology products at great prices (my dad would love it here). We walked out with a brand new laptop (a bargain I may add). As we were walking around a lot of assistants would tell us the specifications of the laptops.

We were at first quite suprised that they claimed that some of their products came with shit graphics cards. Don't they get in trouble for swearing at the customers?, we thought. But later we noticed that it was just their accent and they were saying the word SHARED not shit.
Oh and the sweet icing on the cake was the free wifi access at their McDonalds.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

FOOD 1ST IMPRESSIONS

Wow they really like their food here. Walking around at about 11pm, all of the restaurants were filled with people. It was so busy. We hit language barriers occasionally here but generally ok. Food was pretty good but also had some odd things on the menu such as an entire page of fish head dishes at one place, as well as frog porridge. We also noticed that they tend to like karaoke quite a lot here although we haven't been in one of the karaoke bars yet.

ARRIVING IN SINGAPORE

Already a feeling of euphoria as we have left India. Feels good to be somewhere that seems more modern and a lot more clean.
This has to be one of the worlds most fantastic airports, every need is catered for.
We have found that you can tell a lot about a place by its airport. As we got off the plane and into the airport we noticed some free internet terminals. Wow free internet!! An unmonitored amount of time later we stopped and thought "hang on, how long have we been here using the net". We then darted through the airport 'about to miss-a-flight style' arriving at the baggage reclaim to find our luggage still going round on the conveyor belt on its lonesome of course!