Showing posts with label sightseeing. Show all posts
Take a virtual tour of Singapore
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Google Maps has just released their street view feature for Singapore. Street view allows you to see high quality street level photos from major streets. The street level coverage isn't quite as good as in Australia, and the satellite level photos seem to be fairly old but you can still get a good look around.
Where I live
Part of the university campus
The merlion, Singapore flyer and construction of new casino (rotate the image round to see more landmarks)
Orchard road shopping area
Rural Singapore
Rural Singapore 2
Across the straits to Malaysia
Sipping a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Singapore Sling is served at the long bar. It's quite a nice place. When we were there, a very good jazz band was playing. The weird thing about the place is that it is perfectly acceptable to throw peanut shells on the floor!
The drink was a bit of a letdown. It tasted like cough syrup. I think i've actually had better tasting cough syrup. I only managed to drink a few centremetres of mine. The rest went to my friends.
I'm sure I've also had cheaper cough syrup. We had assumed that the price mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide was correct. Not the case. Apparently there had been a price rise. We had also forgotten to consider that tax would not be included in that price (it is included for most things) or that they would add a service charge. In the end it cost S$27 a drink! (AU$21, US$19). My friends were so shocked at the bill that they asked for copies of the receipt to keep as souvenirs.
A tale of two islands part 2: Pulau Ubin
Pulau Ubin is a small, not very developed island to the north east of Singapore. It may be Singapore territory but it is so different to the rest of Singapore. The difference is evident before you even arrive. Unlike the rest of Singapore with efficient, timetabled public transport, the little boats out to Pulau Ubin run whenever there is enough people wanting to go to make it worth their effort. Just behind the Pulau Ubin jetty is a small village. Very little fancy construction there, most of the shops and houses look as though they haven’t been renovated in quite a while. Beyond the village is walking and bike riding trails through the island. Although there was once some mining conducted on the island, it is still largely untouched forest and mangrove- much like a lot of the rest of Singapore would have looked like a hundred years ago. We even encountered a herd of wild pigs, complete with cute little piglets. I like being in the city but it was really nice to get away from it all to somewhere so relaxed and peaceful.
Boats at the Pulau Ubin jetty.
A tale of two islands part 1: Sentosa
Friday, October 9, 2009
Singapore is not just the one big island. Singapore’s territory includes many smaller islands. Two of the most well known are Sentosa and Pulau Ubin. These islands are so amazingly different that it is hard to believe that they can exist in the same country.
The first of the two islands I visited was Sentosa. The crass commercialism that characterises Sentosa is evident before you even arrive on the island. The monorail leaves from inside a large shopping centre. As it continues through the island it passes through the building site for a new “integrated resort” (casino) and theme park. The monorail finally stops at the other side of the island. On the way down to the beach you will probably pass several food carts, mostly overpriced. You can tell Sentosa management has tried their best with the beach. There is palm trees and an assortment of nice little beach bars and restaurants to give it a tropical feel. The hundreds of huge ships sailing close by and the not particularly clean water do tend to kill the tropical island feel somewhat. If the bars aren’t your thing and you’d just like to sit on the beach, you can pay a ridiculous sum to hire a beach chair for a while. Spread throughout the rest of the island are more activities and rides, giving you more chances to part with your money. To top it all off in the centre of the island is a very large and very strange looking statue of Singapore’s mascot, the Merlion.
I suppose Sentosa is a place you would enjoy if money wasn’t a problem and you could ignore how commercial place is. To me it seemed a bit absurd and isn’t something I would recommend to visitors to Singapore in its current state.
Coming up: A tale of two islands part 2- Pulau Ubin.
F1 fever
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
This weekend is the Formula 1 motor race in Singapore. I'm not into motor racing but it is near impossible to avoid if you go into the city. There's lots of stuff going on around town to get things ready. As well as the race, there is also concerts and lifestyle events happening this weekend. While everything is getting set up for the race it is possible to drive on some segments of the track so we did.
(last photo taken from the Singapore flyer)
Dead sea scrolls exhibition
Monday, September 21, 2009
Yesterday I went see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at The Arts House. I had unwisely left my visit to the last day the of the exhibition, which was also on the weekend resulting in it being very crowded. Although the crowdedness was rather annoying and it cost quite a bit (S$20) to get in, it was still worthwhile. While the advertising was focused almost entirely on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the exhibition had several other featured topics. These included very early writing forms and historical Christian books and bible editions. Being a little bit of a bible nerd, i found the bibles bit fascinating.
Part of the display on the influential reformer, Martin Luther.
A page from the Gutenberg bible from 1455. This edition of the bible is notable because it was the first book printed with movable type, an invention that went on to have a huge impact on the world.
Getting back to nature part 2: Rainforest hiking misadventures
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Some friends of mine decided that it would be a good idea to go for a hike through some of the rainforest and parks of south west Singapore. I was assured that it wouldn't be too strenuous. In hindsight, asking someone who has been in the military whether a hike is going to be hard is probably not the best way for an unfit person to get that information! The hike was quite an experience! I don’t do well with hiking in any conditions- let alone 10km including some hills in the tropical heat. I think I drank more water and energy drink than I ever have in any 3 hour period before. We did get to see some beautiful forest and parks which was pretty cool. The craziest thing about the hike was the very last bit. We had aimed to be finished well before nightfall but ended up running quite late so were still hiking by the time it got pitch black. The last segment was a bendy unlit path down a mountain that included lots of steps. Our only source of light was our mobile phone backlights. Thankfully everyone made it back safely.
Unfortunately didn't see any monkeys. That would have been really cool.
Walking through one of the sections comprised of raised boardwalks.
Getting back to nature part 1
Monday, September 14, 2009
Most people think of Singapore as endless urban sprawl. I had heard rumours that there was farms somewhere in Singapore so i decided it was something i just had to check out. I headed off to the farmart centre. The farmart centre is made up of farmers market stalls, some smaller scale farms (fish, bees ect.) and an assortment of random animals. There are some more farms in the area but i didn't get to those. It seemed so very weird watching the tractors drive past and taking photos of farm animals in a place like Singapore.
A goat. The little kids thought it was very cool.
Coming up: Getting back to nature part 2: Rainforest hiking misadventures.
Photos: Singapore at night
Monday, August 10, 2009
(i think that is national day parade rehearsals)
