Day6, Sentosa Day2

Today we had passes to go to Universal Studios. I expected us to get done with the place around 3PM - post which we decided we would go to the city side and catch the Escher display at the museum near Marina Bay Sands (we had set our eyes on it when we had gone there on Sunday). I did some research online and found out that it is best if you go early to U.Studios so that you avoid the queues that form for the rides. So we started for the place around 9:45 and made our entry at 10. You enter the place onto Hollywood :) There is a Minion store (I decided to stop there while exiting to buy stuff), there are places to eat and other fancy stuff to do. On the left side at the end of the street is Madagascar !!! As soon as you take the turn you can see the ship in which the 4 of them left the zoo. And there is a boat ride that takes you along a journey of theirs where they are doing some nonsense - was pretty cool :) There were some more "locations" that they had in the area and I ensured that we saw everything :)

After Madagascar, we entered Far Far Away and went for a 4D ride with Shrek, Gingerbread Man, that good-looking-evil-prince-dude and a few more. Was pretty neat - got the feeling of legs being grabbed, spit being sprayed on our faced, fireflies buzzing right next to our noses and what not - all this while Shrek and Donkey go on a quest to save Fiona! We then went on a small roller coaster called Puss in Boots - was pretty exciting :D

After this the route takes you to The Lost World (I was super excited about this place).
Dinosaurs everywhere!!! The most thrilling ride over there was one called Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure.
The basic theme is that we are visiting the park when there is a flood and raptors are loose !!! We were warned beforehand that everyone on the boat will get wet or very wet - so we dumped out stuff in lockers that they provide outside the ride (10 dollars per hour). If you go as a couple the chances of you getting your ride faster are higher as they look for groups of 1 or 2 to fill up a boat. The ride is super exciting, and there is one point when a T-rex is about to eat you up and you plunge down a waterfall!! As luck would have it, myself and Sudhir were the ones who got completely drenched :D All in all a super fun ride :) Sudhir had pre-decided to go for rock climbing that's there in this zone, and he did just that :)

After the Lost World, we went to Ancient Egypt. I have always loved Egyptian stuff since I was a kid, and this was paradise for me :) Took pics next to every single statue of Ra, Imhotep, Iris, Tutankhamen etc ... *lost far away look* Anyhoo, we went on this ride called the Revenge of the Mummy - a roller coaster in pitch blackness :D Basically Imhotep wants our souls and is chasing us in the ride, and there is a point where we actually go backwards at full speed !! Sudhir kept screaming "Take me Imhotep, take my soul" :D At the end of the ride, when we saw the pic that was taken, Sudhir was the only one with a huge grin on his face, while everyone else was screaming :D

After this we went to Sci-Fi city and went for the Best.Ride.Ever. Wow, the Transformers ride is insane. You wear the 3D head gear and are in a van of sorts that moves in all 3 axes in a 20 metre track - but it seems as though you have travelled kilometres because of the 3D graphics and movements !! The ride's concept is that you are signing up with Optimus Prime to fight Megatron and you are going through the city helping defeat the evil guys. There is a part in the ride where a huge metallic cat stomps on your vehicle, and you move with so much intensity
 you feel as though you were actually hit by that thing ! After the ride, I was unable to walk straight due to vertigo :D We went for the ride again, stood in the queue all over again :P This time, we watched the ride without the goggles on all the time and realised that the effects are because the whole wall is a massive dome and there are screens where the video is playing - hence no matter where you turn your head, you are in the middle of all the action. This ride is totally worth your time in Universal Studios. Definite must-go, no matter how long the queue.

After this, we entered New York, saw some street performances and did a bit of shopping at the Minion store :)

We got done with this place around 2:30PM, post which we took the train to Marina Bay Sands to visit the museum and see the Escher exhibit. Escher was this dude who made all those infinite paintings/drawings. The infinite staircase is his brain-child. The exhibit begins with how he began his works and what all influenced him and his works through the years. There is one section where you can try to build an image using shapes and their mirror images. Above that there is this long painting that transforms from a chess board to another chess board, while changing shapes to birds, houses, skies etc in the middle. While I was trying to view this and act all classy, I decided to lean on the wall to get a good view. I did not realise that the damn wall was slanting - and I landed on the floor with a loud crash and has several people stop mid-tracks and turn around to see who disturbed to delicate sanctum-sanctorum level silence of the place. I lifted myself off the floor with what little dignity I had left in me, while Sudhir was rolling on the floor laughing his ass off.

We finished the gallery (did not hurry up, mind you - in spite of the embarrassment I caused myself), and then decided to go to the mall once again to kill some time. We were famished and decided to eat Snickers that we were carrying with us (as food at stalls in Sentosa are freakishly expensive). We got done and then in the mall I wanted to have something to drink, and Sudhir reached for his wallet only to realise that IT WAS MISSING !!!! We ran outside thinking that it might have fallen while we were eating, but we did not find it there. I thought we should check at the Museum - just in case it fell off there (Even though Sudhir was quite sure there was no chance of that). In the reception, the guy took our details and then told us that someone had indeed found a wallet - which contained Sudhir's ID card (hence name and ownership of the wallet was verified); and that we could go collect it from the concierge counter in Marina Bay Sands. Luckily I was carrying our passports around with us and we used that as proof to collect his wallet. All his cards and money were intact in the wallet !!! Wow, we were so damn impressed with the honesty in this country :D

Sudhir is super relieved after getting his wallet

After collecting our stuff, we walked around the place. We passed by the "Affordable shops" I was secretly happy that I had shopped at Bath & Body Works the last time we were there as the sale was no longer present :P 

We then realised that we have some time on our hands and that we could finish China Town as well. So, we were off to China Town. I needed to buy some quilting equipment for my mom, and as per Google, China Town had a shop which sold the stuff I needed (quilt cutter and quilt board). We found the shop and let me tell you, it is paradise for people who love to stitch and embroidery. Threads, beads, knives, scissors, sequins, boards, cloth rolls - everything under one roof. I got the 2 items my mom wanted and also got her chalks (which are used to mark cloths for cutting) and the bill was 20 dollars - which i thought was reasonable (amazon.in had similar prices, but the reviews weren't good - hence I was buying it from here).

We walked along the streets of China Town, picked up souvenirs here and there and then had dinner. The reason I write about dinner is because Sudhir had biryani :D

All in all a good day - we weren't too exhausted, and the break we were getting from all the walking at the start of the trip was helping our sore feet. We gave up on wearing our Vibrams as we realised that they are not for whole day wear for walking - you end up landing on your heels due to which they hurt more. So floaters / chappals it was and our feet felt much better. Either ways, our Vibrams were wet after the Jurassic park ride and we had washed them with soap to get rid of the smell from constant wearing for 5 days :-|

 

Singapore Day5

Woohoo !!! We were on our way to Sentosa *excited jig* We started off around 930AM and took the MRT to Bayfront - from where we caught the "Sentosa express" to get to the island!! The train is a monorail and is super cute :D

Check in time at the resort is 3PM - we had decided to go there, leave our luggage at the lobby and finish The S.E.A. Aquarium post which we would check in. Sentosa island is gorgeous ! It's kinda like a circle with spokes that has different attractions at the end of each spoke, with shops along the way.

We went to Michael Hotel (where we had done our booking along with the visit packages). In case you want to know how to go about this, you can go to this page and book using your MasterCard (they have some discounts running for master cards). They have other discounts and stuff, but I thought this will be most useful given that we get day passes for 2 people to the main attractions there. 

We went to the aquarium - super excited as the pictures on the website were incredible ! wow .... the entire thing is almost completely underground. As you begin your journey, you start at the shark tank. There are hammer heads, big whites, killers etc etc etc. And it's so damn scary as you feel as though they might be able to break the glass and get to you :D The aquarium follows a path where you get to see all enclosures and there are varieties of species that you get to see. Some underwater creatures are butt-ugly, while some are so gorgeous with their colours .. Every creature moves with such fluidity and is so graceful; we got to see this at  a point in the middle which is like a huge view point. You can sit on the steps and just watch, watch manta rays, sting rays, manatees, schools of fishes etc swim past in their tank. It's just to relaxing and calming. I think we sat there for some 15 minutes !

In the centre of the gallery there is this huge cylindrical tank where there are tonnes of fish. This tank is the one that features in Finding Dory !!! Actually S.E.A aquarium is the location the movie is based on !! We saw so many Dorys and Nemos - it was awesome. There was this school group that had come to the aquarium and I was totally able to relate to their excitement when they saw Nemos and Dorys swimming past in their tanks :D

After we got done with the aquarium we realised that it was only 2PM and we had the rest of the entire day to ourselves and we had NOTHING to do !!! I started getting all depressed thinking that we are wasting time and ... you know, the usual whining. Then we saw ... a CASINO ! walked in, showed our passports and started gambling. Ok, we didn't gamble exactly, but we went to the slot machines. I put in a 2 dollar note, each swipe was 2 cents - made 0 money :( Sudhir wanted to have a go, and we didn't have any more 2 notes. So we collected all the chillar he had and I went to the money counter to get notes in their place. In front of me a woman was exchanging a 1000 dollar note - OMG. I sheepishly handed over my coins and got 3 two dollar notes. Went back to the machine Sudhir was at and what do you know ! On every note, this bum made a profit !! On the first note, he exited when he got 2.48, one the second note he made some 4 odd, and on the last one he kinda got some jackpot where he won 40 dollars !!!!! Immediately removed everything and went and got m.o.n.e.y. :P

Walked around the place feeling all stud like, went to gambling tables where people were throwing money ... I now completely understand why people say gambling is addictive :-|

We got done around 4PM post which we decided to explore the island. We saw the Merlion where we did the usual tourist-y stuff of taking pics :) Walked down to the beaches that are there in the resort, lazed about there for a bit while soaking up some sun and beach waves. There are 3 beaches there - kinda like Goa but much smaller in size and all are linked to one another.
We bought tickets for this show called Wings of Time - read raving reviews about it. The show began at 7:15 and we were enthralled until 7:35 ... Amazing 20 minutes - worth every dollar spent. The show is about these kids who stumble upon a sleeping giant bird which can fly through time and who shows them how the earth was built. The spray of water was used as a canvas for the laser show, there were solid pieces of plastic that were used as his wings / rocks etc throughout the show. If you guys go to Sentosa, definitely go for this show. 

We got back to our room after grabbing some grub from the cafes, and literally passed out from the exhaustion :)

 

Singapore Day4

Ravi had office - owing to it being Monday. I graciously offered to make all of us breakfast, french toast was on the menu. I rummaged through his kitchen cabinet and used every single fancy named powder I could find :D As Sudhir and I were going to the bird park, we packed 5 of them for us to take.

We had gone through the Bird Park website to know if there were any shows that we might like to catch and found one at 11AM. So we left at 945 - guessed that would be enough time. En route we realised that the journey is taking much much longer than we expected and I was praying that we would be able to make at least one of the shows at the place. We got off from the MRT at the Jurong bird park stop and then needed to catch a bus to get to the park. Sudhir installed this app called MoovIt - which is an app that helps navigate with details of the country's public transportation. Google maps is also quite good over there - I used that instead. 

We just about entered the park at 10:55, ran through it and managed to grab seats for the High Flyers show. It was, INSANE !!!!!! They had pelicans, toucans - of multiple varieties, parakeets, parrots, ibises ... I can go on. All of them wonderfully trained to do exactly what they were asked to do !! Members of the audience held hoops and these birds actually flew through them and went back to the stage, ate from people's hands; a parakeet even SANG HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and that was not all that it was able to sing or speak !!!!

After a thrilling show we walked around the entire park. There is this enclosure of sorts where you can walk through and there are birds flying all around you, walking in front of you minding their own business !! There was this peacock and Sudhir was taking a video and talking to it in Hindi. I went up all stud-like and told it "Abbe, ankh dikha"; and what do you know !! IT OPENED IT'S FEATHERS !!!! We were like OMG this is insane man! Who would have thought !! :D I think that was the high-light of, at least, my day :)
The bird park has vultures, kites, eagles, hawks (birds of prey) and loads of pretty birds :) Read in several places at the park that there is no colour combination on a bird that you cannot imagine. 

We got done with all enclosures at around 3PM post which we decided to go to Bugis street - heaving heard so much about it. So we reached the place and noticed that it looked almost exactly like Fashion street - the only difference being that the top floor of the place was air conditioned. Yes, there were staircases at multiple points on the ground floor/street that led to an AC upstairs where different items were available. So Bugis is a place to do your trinket - souvenir shopping. Had read / heard a lot about it and I was expecting something fancy; but it was pretty much a normal place where you can buy 24 keychains for 10 SGD, 4 t-shirts for 10 SGD etc. We bought a lot of stuff to give to folks back in India and then started back home.
Met Ravi for dinner at Raffles Quay and then proceeded home. Were pretty tired from all the walking and we needed to pack - as we were headed to Sentosa for 3 days the next day !!!

I got to touch a Toucan !! Was super scared it might nip my fingers off

Raffles Quay at night :)

Singapore Day3

Phew ... After an exhausting day at the zoo, Sunday was the day we had to relax and get the local sight seeing and shopping done. We decided to take stuff from 31st and 4th Nov and finish them off on Sunday --- we needed to cover. This was too much planning for Sudhir to handle, I tell you - so Ravi and myself figured stuff out.

My feet had started hurting due to the Vibrams pressing against my ankle, and Sudhir suggested that we get the Scholl heel filler for shoes to alleviate the pain. We were to first go to Little India (where Mustafa centre is) :) :) and do cheap shopping as per Singapore standards. I'm pretty sure everyone is aware that Singapore is not a cheap place to shop / live in - it is one of the most expensive cities in the world. This being said, we got on the MRT and went to Dhoby Ghaut, from where we changed lines onto the North-East one to get off at Little India. Before flying, I had read articles about how the country had done its bit for Diwali - there were Diwali themed MRT trains, one street was covered with Diwali decoration etc. As we exited the station onto the main street, I was like "OMG ! This place is from the article I read !! Look at the decorations on the road for Diwali!!!" The entire street was covered with Indian-y decorative stuff and we could see that at night, it would be lit with LED bulbs.

We started walking down the decorated street a bit and spotted ... Guess what - MTR !!! And Sudhir was like "Duuuudes! we HAVE to eat there" - already the fellow had begun craving Indian food - and we were not even quarter into the trip. We went in, and like good children stood in the queue. The place was jam packed on account of Diwali - full of Indians and some foreigners. I ordered Rasam-idli, Ravi had Ragi dosa and something else, while Sudhir took the special meal :D

The food was awesome!!! Though I think this was more because of the fact that we had been having fancy food all along, and somehow... I don't know, you crave eating food that you grew up with after some time. Anyway we got done and then watched Sudhir take his time to go through 3 courses of food. The icing on the cake according to him was the curd rice that they served in the meal :D

Me going "DUUDES! This place is awesome!"

We walked down to Mustafa Centre which is "YUUUGE" (as Trump would say it). It's a massive structure - it has like some 6 entrances and apparently in the '80s contributed to a large chunk of Singapore's GDP ! It has 4 floors dedicated to electronics, accessories, health and personal care, jewellery, watches, stationery, clothes, phew, the list goes on and on... and obviously I wanted to see each and every one. Started looking for stuff from my "must buy" shopping list, while Sudhir and Ravi went to the electronics section - typical "guy mentality" I tell you. I didn't find quite a bit of what I wanted but still managed to pick up some things for my mom, dad and me :P

After we got done with a bit of shopping and checking out all the levels, we took the MRT to go to Bayfront (from where we decided to walk to Esplanade and Suntech city).

At Bayfront, we started walking towards Suntech city out in the open as Ravi told us the buildings are pretty impressive.

In that place, Ravi did some google-ing, so that the 2 guys could avoid walking too much as I had a pretty big list of shops-that-I-had-to-see. He found out that Sephora is there in Suntech city mall, so it is not like I HAVE to go to Orchard to buy stuff. I started jumping about saying - YES lets go !!!  He also told me that there is a Marks and Spencers at Esplanade. Why M&S ? Well, ever since he told me that he has a bathtub, I had been making them take me to all possible Watsons and Guardians that we saw while roaming around to see if I could get bubble bath. And we had absolutely no luck. I told him that I know M&S has the goods and that they smell amazing as well, due to which all this research was being done as to where is an M&S store. We didn't spend too much time in the store as we had  a lot of ground to cover. I found the Bubble Bath, and picked up 2 bottles (one was a gift for Subhi) and started off from there to Sephora at Suntech city :P

On reaching, I told them to go off on their own while I would do my special-much-awaited-shopping at my own sweet pace, post which I would join them, wherever they were. The Sephora there was massive (I think all their outlets are huge given the number of brands they carry). I had a few brands in mind from which I wanted to purchase a few things - brands which are not available in India. Got a Tarte blush (in shade Risque), Tarte eyeshadow pallet and a Benefit contour kit. Yippee !!! I even went and got a membership card. Lol, sadly the one I have in India won't work here,

Super thrilled seeing the brands I wanted to buy at Sephora

so got it off in Subhi's name (with my details of course). After spending a chunk of money, I step outside and what do I see ? These 2 bums standing there - with accusatory looks. Why ? Coz they had nothing better to do than to waste time waiting for me and according to them, I was the reason for it. And being who I am, I started feeling super guilty for taking so much time there and forcing them to get bored :-|

My sense got the better of me, I shrugged it off and told them that we should proceed to the next mall. We went to Esplanade Mall (which looks like the national fruit of Singapore - a durian) and looked around inside almost every single shop :P

We then started walking towards the biggie - Marina Bay Sands. On our way Ravi was insistent that we eat popcorn at Garret's and I was like - what's the big deal man. And he gave me that "wait and watch" look.

Oh.

My.

God.

The entire underground subway connection route was smelling of butter and cheese and corn and multiple delicious aromas. The popcorn is to die for. You get salted, caramel and cheese and even a mix of the last 2. Damn! wish they had stores in India.

Carrying the pack of popcorn and grinning like morons we started entering Marina Bay Sands. OMG OMG OMG !!! It is so bloody enormous and full of so so so many shops that we cannot even dream of affording !!!

Burberry, Givenchy, Armani, Also, Jimmy Choo *pauses to catch breath* Swarovski, Dior, Bvlgari, YSL, Tiffany and Co... You guys get the drift, right ? I think the only affordable places in that mall were Sephora, Bath and Body Works, the food court restaurants (some of them at least), Starbucks and maybe one or two more at max. Unfortunately, I didn't go to the Sephora there, having just splurged around 145 SD at the previous one, but I did go to the BBW store :P They had an offer going on their Signature collection (buy 4 and get 6) - so I went and got 6 pieces - had already decided who was getting what :)

Post this, we went up to the roof to take a look at the view. What I loved about the terrace is that there was soft jazz music playing from speakers that had been installed there, and people  lazing about minding their own business and ... It looked extremely peaceful and relaxing ... :)

On the left we could see the Singapore Flyer, while on the right there was the Marina Bay Sands hotel (the one with the ship on top with the Infinity pool).

By this time it was around 6 in the evening - boy does time fly when you are shopping, I tell you. Ravi was like there is this brilliant light and sound program at Gardens By The Bay (which was behind the hotel) and it would be better if we started walking there so that we could grab a good view point for the show which was to start at 7:15PM. We walked in to the pier and started doing all touristy stuff and amused the s**t out of the other tourists and locals :D

The weird lotus shaped building behind us is the Science museum where we decided to go catch the Escher gallery show that was on display.

Once we got done with our nonsense, we started walking. We walked, and walked, and walked some more until we finally reached the place - and I was exhausted by then, what with all the shopping and excitement and walking!! We entered and realised that this place also has tonnes to see, and we decided that we should do it the next day after the Bird Park.

While walking through this place, Ravi realised that the bridge where people were gathering to see the show did not have as good a view as he had had the previous time he came with Subhi. So we decided to find it. But by this time our feet were killing us again and I decided to plonk off on some random walkway that was there which gave a decent view of the place and which didn't have too many people - and most importantly it was right where we were at that point of time. We just sat off there and I decided to bug Sudhir with my spoils of the day *evil grin*

And then .... the entire place plunged into darkness, and the show began. Wow, it was spectacular - the music and the way the lights worked sent shivers down my spine. There were several songs from Chicago, and a few more popular ones as well, and the lighting work on the trees portrayed the mood of the music magnificently.

After this we walked back to Marina bay Sands and watched a fountain show going on at the waterfront!! The reason why the show was unlike anything I've seen before is that the water was sprayed to form a screen of sorts on which the show was projected. After we got done, we realised that it was getting a little late and that we should catch some dinner. Initially it was decided that we would go to Raffle's Bay, but as that was too far Ravi took us to a closer place that had a restaurant called Muchos. At that place, Ravi told me that Subhi had ordered a drink the Singapore Sling and that I should try the same - as it is a Singapore favourite, and is in the top 10 drinks of the roll and all that jazz. Fine, I ordered it. Jesus Christ ! IT SUCKED !! It was the worst thing I had ever tasted in my entire life ! I cannot, for the lift of me, imagine why people would make such a foul, evil tasting beverage and force people to pay for it !!!! I asked the waiter to take it back, ordered an orange juice and was happy :-|

Lamborghini showroom and I got to touch a car :)

Ravi and myself before the Gardens By the Bay show started