From a Small Island to a Smaller Island

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A few weeks ago, we drove over to the island of Sentosa (which is linked to Singapore by bridge, as well as monorail and cable car).

Sentosa has long been a kind of weekend getaway for Singaporeans and tourists, as there are various sites on the island that are worth visiting (eg. Underwater World, Musical Fountain, a huge Merlion statue, Fort Siloso, beachfronts, etc).

However over the past two years, its attraction has been considerably enhanced by the completion of the integrated resort, called Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), together with Universal Studio theme park. Several new hotels have also been opened, eg. Festive Hotel, Hotel Michael and the Hard Rock Hotel.

RWS is owned by the Genting Group of Malaysia.

This is what Resorts World Sentosa looks like ...

In there is a theatre ...

Here's the covered "main street" area, which has many shops and eateries ...

I can vouch for the food in this Irish pub ...

At one end of the street is the casino entrance. Anyone keen to try their luck?

We did not go into Universal but went near the entrance to take this photo. We plan to visit the theme park in September when my daughter comes back. More photos at that time.

With my sweet tooth, I naturally chose to patronise the candy store and bought some chocs and some popcorn ...

Well, there you have it. A nice visit to the Resorts World Sentosa.
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On Top of Singapore

Recently we decided to explore the newly opened Marina Bay Sands integrated resort (IR) facilities in Singapore. This was the second IR to open on the island state, the first one being the Resorts World Sentosa, which opened its doors on the Lunar New Year.

The MBS buildings are certainly impressive structures, and for the past year we had been observing the three towers growing higher and higher, and finally the horizontal boat-shaped structure was put on top. I have no doubt it was quite an engineering challenge.

Well, here are some photos from that day ...

The above was on Level 1 of the mall & casino building, where a canal had been constructed to give short rides to the visitors.

Next we bought tickets to take the elevator to the Sky Park, as they call it. It cost S$20 per adult, with discounts for children and senior citizens.

The picture above shows the two orbs making up the Esplanade theatres, while on the right, you can see the seating and performing areas that will be used for the annual National Day celebrations.

I must admit the view from the Sky Park was much better than from the Singapore Flyer, the big wheel that we visited about 1.5 years ago. You can get a sense of the relative size of the Flyer as compared to the MBS tower in the photo above.

This view above is overlooking Clifford Pier and the Financial district.

And this one shows the Marina Barrage in the background.

The other section which was interesting was the swimming pool.  As you can see, the pool goes almost to the edge of the building, and gives the impression that if one is not careful, it's a long drop down to earth. Looks scary but it doesn't seem to bother the swimmers and sunbathers.

Anyway, enjoy the scenery ...
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