Day 4 – Singapore – Monday 29th March 2010

 

What a last day in Singapore? Couldn’t have been better. Everything went exactly to plan. Bit of a lazy start. Val did a load of packing while I, err, hmmm, did something else. We needed to sort out on-line check-in so went to see the concierge who did it for us. But before that we had to sort out the extra day that idiot-brain at TravelBag forgot to book for us. Took a while but eventually we checked out for the first four days and checked back in again for the last day. Having attended to the bureaucracy we went across to our favourite mall and had a bit of a last mooch about. Val decided to purchase a nice pair of shoes she had coveted on our first visit.

We had a spot of lunch and relaxed for a while and then set off to Sentosa Island. Weather was a bit flaky today so on arrival we decided to experience our first Segway adventure before it rained. It was brilliant. The phrase “Duck to Water” comes to mind. Got on and just did it without any trouble at all. We soon zoomed off around the landscaped circuit. Got to go around twice which doubled the fun. A truly excellent adventure.

It then started to spot with rain so we went to the pictures. This is billed as a truly interactive experience and is called 4D Magix. The film was a pirate adventure starring that bloke from the original spoof airplane disaster. You know the one. Captain Over. Can’t remember his name. Eric Idle was the first mate. The seats have six degrees of motion and are equipped with some interesting features. Like for instance when a load of crabs came out of the screen and attacked us you could feel then crawling around your feet. When water was chucked over you it really was (only a bit but enough to make you jump). All good fun.

We then tried to go up the Sky Tower but the poor weather meant the thing was closed for a bit, so we went on the Luge. This was equally brilliant. You sat in a cross between a luge and a go-cart. The big thing was that you could slow the craft down and steer it. Soon got the hang of that so once again we chucked ourselves off down the concrete hill. The photo on the right is just a part of the long downhill track that was quite wide in places to facilitate overtaking.Soon overtook the wimps in front. Enjoyed that.

We then returned back to the top on a chairlift that also returned the luge back to the top. It was exactly like the one we saw in Queenstown on South Island. I wish now we had gone down that one. Anyhow, after we got back to the top the Sky Tower was back in business so we went up that. Great views but the poor visibility made photos a bit hit and miss. Still most enjoyable, mind you. The photo on the right is taken from the chairlift, of the chairlift, with the Sky Tower visible at the top of the hill.

We then had to wait quite a while until it went dark so we mooched around and had a drink and went on a nature walk and mooched around a bit more. Then got the bus to the beach and joined the heaving throng who were congregating to go in to watch the light show. This was called “The Songs of the Sea”. They had built this set out on the water, a Malaysian village that looked like one of these ethnic villages you see on Tele with wooden huts stuck up in the air, on stilts. There were hundreds of seats built like a Roman Amphitheatre facing this set. No backs to these seats, just concrete benches. No cover so good job it had stopped raining.

The production started off a bit naff with a bunch of kids messing about on the beach but eventually the science took over and the special effects were pretty good. Lots of water, sprays, jets and cascades all artfully lit with smoke and lasers projecting moving images. These were excellent. Some were full colour, not just the usual green laser light. As things progressed we had lots of fire effects and finally fireworks to create a spectacular finale. Made a great end to the holiday. I took loads of photos and video clips but they don’t look that impressive when reduced and shown in the blog. What I forgot was that we went on the mono rail so here is a photo of the two of us on the monorail and a shot of the red beast itself.

Had a bite to eat on our return and Val has more or less finished the packing while I wrote this. It is now 10:15 so I’ll now knock off and add a few photos and publish this and check emails. I mentioned the flight details last night so I won’t repeat them again. Just not looking forward to tomorrow but can’t be helped. At least we are not with BA. That would be tricky. Don’t think I’ll blog again but you never know. Been nice chatting. See you soon.