Work in Singapore - At Sentosa Island on 22 November 2008

After our very exciting cable car ride, we finally arrived at Sentosa Island. Apart from the throngs of people, it seems like a really nice place.. especially some of the resorts.. Yes, the place was packed and since we had to board a bus to get from one place to another, it was often a mad rush!

UNDERWATER WORLD
Our first stop was the Underwater World - no prizes for guessing what this place is all about.The place is probably double or a little more the size of Aquaria in KL and it was jammed packed! One thing that really shocked me was the use of camera flash! I always thought that was a big no-no as it was not good for the fish but people were taking pix, flash full on!! Geez, I sure hope the fishies are OK, man.. It'd be a real shame if they were hurt or traumatised in any way..

Anyway, I took heaps of pix (no flash, mind you!) and as much as I'd like to post all of 'em, there would just be too many. So, here's some I've selected for this post - enjoy!

(Above) Shy fish? Mutant fish - these guys were SO huge, it was scary!

Crabbies..

Jellyfish.. it was quite mesmerizing watching them.. even have 'em on video.. so pretty.. till they sting you!

The underwater tunnel..

Big, mean looking fish.. Yeah, you got me.. I really don't know my fish! And, there's the ever shy dugong.. If ever you get to see its face, must go buy lottery! Haha..

Outside, there were some peacocks. Of course, everyone wanted to take pix but I managed to get some pix of my own..

DOLPHIN LAGOON
Next, we boarded the bus and headed for the Dolphin Lagoon to watch the pink dolphins in action. The dolphins were, of course, adorable! They weren't pink per se but were patches of pink and grey. Apparently, they would become all pink as they got older.

Here's one of the volunteers with one of the dolphins. If only I knew, I would've SO brought a change of clothes and would've SO volunteered to go in the water with the dolphins!

THE MERLION
Boarded another bus and headed for The Merlion. Yes, it's replica of the Merlion found at Singapore island but this one is a much, much bigger version (and I think it was of the head only!) Well, to give you an idea of how much bigger... well, we actually go into the Merlion's head! (somehow that doesn't sound quite right.. makes us sound like Voldermot getting into poor Harry Potter's head.. but you know what I mean, right?) One of the elevator stops is actually at the mouth and we went up to the top of head for a really beautiful view!

We started off with a short animated movie that tells the story of how the Merlion came about, then we went on to redeem our free mystery prize - I got a fan.. not a very pretty one but, boy, did it come in handy! Then, we headed up to the top of the head of the Merlion to take some pictures - the sun was setting and it was really pretty.. Then we went all the way down to this boulevard of sorts for a walk about..

This was in front of the Merlion.. and this was one of the movie posters going in to the theatre to view the story of the Merlion..

One of the scenes from the animated Merlion movie.. View from above.. seems like a fishing village - we'll soon find our what this fishing village and that big spray of water is all about..

The beautiful sunset.. that's just me experimenting with the cam..

The boulevard down below, packed with people..

"SONGS OF THE SEA" SHOW
While the rest of the group made it over to the show venue by tram, I walked over 'coz I got caught up buying souvenirs! Remember that pix I took of the fishing village? Well, that actually turned out to be the venue for the show.

The show was an extravaganza of lasers, lights, water screens with projections, jets of water and pyrotechnics/fireworks. I'm just glad I'd managed to take some of the shots since everyhting went by pretty fast!

The fishing village (somewhat eerily!) illuminated with bluish lights and smoke.. part of the pyro set off on the beach..

And, more pyro..

Water & lights..

More water & lights... Water, lights & pyro - I was really lucky to get this shot!

And fireworks.. Lucky to get these shots too!

With that show we concluded our visit to Sentosa Island and we headed back to Singapore island for dinner. Phew! What a day..

Work in Singapore - 22 & 23 November 2008

I was so tired the night before and I just slept off! Fortunately, I woke up at 6-ish, giving me enough time to charge my camera and phone, have a nice shower and get ready at a leisurely pace. We left the hotel after breakfast at about 9.30am and headed straight for the National Museum of Singapore.

I've already been here before during my trip to Singapore in July last year - nothing much has changed but sadly, we didn't get to go to all the galleries due to lack of time as we had a really packed schedule after lunch.


The view of the musuem's dome.. A puppet used in the Chinese puppet show..

Elaborate costumes usually worn in the Chinese operas..

The equally elaborate hair ornaments..

Part of the contemporary art exhibition at the basement of the museum.. sadly, this was all I got to see!!

After the museum, we took the MRT to Little India where we had lunch at this vegetarian, fast food type Indian restaurant called Komala's (not to be confused with the famous Komala Villas ya..) I enjoyed the food and the kids seem to be fine too but I later found out that they really didn't like it (they need their meat!) but ate (what seemed to me) enthusiatically because they we hungry! Aiyo..

My meal at Komala's..

After lunch we had about 2 hours to do some shopping at Mustafa's and for prayers at the nearby mosque - it was hardly enough time to do much browsing let alone shopping!

Next, we headed off to Mt. Faber where we were to catch th cable car into Sentosa Island. The view from the cable car was great but the ride wasn't as long or as high as the one in Langkawi. The one is Langkawi is amazing!

Part of the cable car station.. the car ahead of us exiting the station

Ships from the Star Cruise line..

Development at Sentosa Island by Malaysia's own Genting Corporation.. Coconut trees seen going into the final station..

We went to the Underwater World, Dolphin Lagoon, Merlion Park and caught the "Songs of the Sea" show while at Sentosa - check out my seperate post (W0rk in Singapore - Day 3 at Sentosa Island) on all these places..

We left Sentosa Island by coach at a little past 8.00pm to head for dinner at a Northern Indian restaurant at the Landmark Hotel. We had dinner by the poolside but unfortunately there was an event going on and it was pretty packed and noisy. Still, the food was great and I stuffed myself silly!

Dinner by the pool.. The spread of food laid out before us.. Yum!

We got back to the hotel at a little past 10.00pm. I had about an hour and a half to have a shower and chill before the entire group came over to my room at about 11.30pm for "chat session" (for lack of a better term!) Well, this is an official trip.. so, I had to get feedback from the group. Despite already having a long day, we just had to do it that night 'coz we really didn't have time at all the next day.

The whole group, all 11 of 'em, in my room..

The lot of them finally left my room at 2.00am (yikes!) and as much as I would've like to make a trip down to Mustafa's (they are, after all, open 24 hours!) to do some shopping, I was just too tired and just passed out... again!

We checked out of the hotel at 10.30am the next day and headed straight for the airport, checked in, cleared immigration and just chilled till it was time to board. We reached KL at close to 3.00pm. We said our goodbyes.. it was a tad sad.. and I headed home to crash, yet again!

Overall, it was a pretty good trip, tiring but good.. largely because they were a really great bunch of people.. good sports.. the kids were great - really enthusiastic and so well behaved..