Singapore: Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa

Unfortunately, my hosts here in Singapore have either had to work or have been sick, so I've had the opportunity to see a lot of the Singapore sights by myself. While this has a downside (fewer group photo ops), it also has an upside for the present and an even bigger upside for the future. What's that, you say? Well, the upside is that I got to go to a lot of the modern - yet culturally dead - Singapore sights. The bigger upside, you ask?

Rather than cramming EVERYTHING into a short trip, especially the first time I've been there (i.e. Singapore), I like to leave a few things undone. This not only helps me stay relaxed during my trip, but also inspires me to find a way to return. This time around, I've done a lot (see previous posts and keep reading), but there is so much left to do. Since my hosts, who are much more knowledgeable about the local cultural sights, couldn't accompany me much on this trip, I've saved most of the cultural sights such as temples, neighborhood exploration, and other nature parks.

So getting back to what I've seen yesterday and today on my explorations. Let me just say this: Singapore has one of the most spectacular skylines, one which NO ONE knows about! The whole inner harbor area of downtown has great views of the skyline, which circles the harbor, and there are so many iconic buildings! I've fallen in love:

Art installed along the inside harbor for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Do I smell an Olympic Host City bid in the future? It would be amazing! I was thinking they could have the first Opening Ceremonies all on water, in the harbor, much like Salt Lake City was the first to have the Opening Ceremonies entirely on ice.

Public art installation involving a whimsically misting pipe winding up and down the Marina Bay boardwalk area. Also installed for the 2010 YOG.

Singapore Financial District from below

View of the outer harbor and construction of a new park from the Sky Park of the Marina Bay Sands Casino/Hotel

The Esplanade is Singapore's downtown performing arts center. It was built to be an iconic harbor centerpiece much like the Sydney Opera House. It's quite an amazing structure, but I get the feeling locals aren't as happy with its appeal. Newer structures around the harbor have also detracted attention from The Esplanade, but walking around it is pretty cool as the individual roof tiles seem to change shape and morph.

Financial District view from the Sky Park of Marina Bay Sands Casino/Hotel. It may not look like much, but these buildings are each so unique, architecturally, and the city just keeps building more!

The world's highest infinity pool on top of the Marina Bay Sands Casino/Hotel. I'm already thinking about booking my room for my next visit!

Rooftop pool and gardens of the Marina Bay Sands Casino/Hotel

A cool fountain in the shopping center. The bowl above collects rainwater (I think) and then dumps it down into the pool below a few times during the day. I almost MISSED it!

The Helix Bridge is the world's longest double-helix pedestrian bridge. Unlike the Millenium Bridge, this bridge did not succumb to the effects of harmonic oscillations! Marina Bay Sands Casino/Hotel in the background.

Marina Bay Sands Casino/Hotel on the left. The Sky Park is the long cantilevering bit of the roof closest to me. To the right is the Singapore Artscience Musuem. Unfortunately for The Esplanade, the lotus-shaped museum might be a bit more iconic for the Inner Harbor.

Nope. Not the London Eye. This is the Singapore Flyer. It's larger than the London Eye, but its center is supported on both sides, unlike the Eye, which is held up by cables only on one side. Unfortunately, it was closed, so I couldn't go Flying.

One of the many sculptures around the downtown area. This one shows the transformation of Singapore from a collection of small fishing villages to the booming metropolis and shipping center it is today.

I don't think this sculpture serves a purpose. Haha. It's just funny!

Night-time booms around Clarke Quay, but I wasn't there to see it all lit up. Notice the bright yellow building between the two bright blue ones furthest on the right. Stay classy, Singapore.

Though yesterday's weather was drizzly and grey, today was much nicer. I was able to enjoy the weather out on the beaches of Sentosa, an island just off of mainland Singapore. One of my goals was to see a real Singapore Merlion - the official, government sponsored mascot for Singapore. A Merlion has the head of a male lion and the body of a fish. There is one in the Inner Harbor, but it is currently enclosed in a temporary hotel room, so you can't see it right now. Thus, I needed to see the bigger Merlion on Sentosa.

 

To get out to Sentosa, you can drive (lame), take a monorail (cool), or take a cable car (awesome!). This is a view of one of Singapore's shipping yards with some crazy clouds above in the distance.

Out on the beaches of Sentosa is the...well....you can read!

Sentosa is basically a huge amusement park that you can walk around free of charge. To see or do any of the special activities, you have to pay. I went into the Butterfly Gardens and Insect Kingdom. The Butterfly Gardens were cool, but the Insect Kindom lacked a little bit of....

....life? Sorry Rhinoceros Beetle #3...

Crazy bird in the Butterfly Gardens. Anyone know what kind? Kind of looks like a cockatoo-peacock hybrid?

Siloso Beach on the southern shores of Sentosa

While on the beach, I found a Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop and just couldn't pass up getting a scoop!

Siloso Beach on Sentosa. 606 Reunion of the Future?

Getting closer to the Merlion. This was the top of a really long fountain stretching down to the beach. Fountains spewed and shot water and it was all tiled with incredibly colored tiles. Probably one of my favorite fountains in the world! Okay, maybe not that great. You could tell it belongs in an amusement park, but it was still really cool.

I FOUND MY MERLION!!!! It's really tall and you can go up to the observation deck in the Merlion's mouth!

One of Sentosa's many adventure/thrill experiences. But this little kid didn't have enough momentum to make it down to the bottom, so he ended up just dangling for a while. I got a good laugh out of it.

 

I've posted a few photos of all of the cargo ships offshore of Singapore, but here's a little close-up video of them.

 

All in all, I'm glad I got to see what I did get to see these past few days because it's the kind of stuff that locals don't really go to see that often. Therefore, next time I come here (yes, there will be a next time), I will be able to see more of the cultural and natural sights. Finally, one final picture. It's probably the best I've taken in Singapore:

Nicolas Cage, how dare you tell me "time is precious." Don't you think this thought goes through my head each time I see a movie or even a movie-trailer in which you star? As soon as I see your face advertised for any film, I think, "My time is too precious for me to waste it on seeing this film." And even if I do actually watch one of your films - said, I had no choice on the airplane - I think to myself, "Man, that was a lot of precious time that was just wasted!"

Nicholas Cage: Getting paid to waste your time.

Welcome to the Jungle!

Singapore has a population of 4.7 million, according to the CIA World Factbook, and those 4.7 million live on an island 3.5 times larger than Washington D.C. (population density of ~18,000/square mile) - take that, Roosevelt Park! With Singapore being so small and so densely populated, you would think it would be hectic and overrun and busy all the time, but just driving around in cabs and taking public transport (MRT is awesome!) is really easy and if not during peak hours, kind of relaxing.

Like all big cities, Singapore maintains a large swath of park-land in its city-center. It's kind of like Central Park or Golden Gate Park or Boston Commons...but not really. As part of the Singaporean National Park system, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is only one of two cities in the world that protects a large area of essentially untouched old-growth rainforest (did I mention it rains here about every day?)! Unfortunately, my camera battery started dying as soon as I got to the park, but in any situation like that, I did what I could!

Memorial telling the story of Bukit Timah during WWII. The British were holding back a Japanese advancement. Eventually, the British surrendered Bukit Timah to the Japanese in 1942, and the rest of Singapore along with it. After the war, Singapore was restored to British control, who then lumped it in with Malaysia. Singapore eventually reclaimed their independence from Malaysia in 1965.

Really old, thick vines draped everywhere in the rainforest!

My first rainforest friend

Another wicked crazy vine! No idea what it is...

The highest point in Singapore, Bukit Timah Hill. I had some guy take my photo, but I blinked...

Trail of ants going down the road. They bite, too!

Up on the side of the tree is a little green bug. These cicadas were EVERYWHERE in the park and they were so loud!

 

Looking up into the canopy

Plantain squirrels running around everywhere!

One of the funny signs Singapore has illustrating penalties for breaking the law

Long-tailed macaques!

This one has a baby clinging to her chest

This one was very curious to see what was inside this blue plastic bag. When it turned out to be just another rolled up black plastic bag, he got bored, but not after it tried eating the bag.

 

Another baby macaques

A really cool bird that has two long tail feathers

A family of macaques socializing on the rocks

One of the granite quarries at Bukit Timah. Bukit Timah literally means tin hill, due to the heavy tin mining that occurred here.

And a monitor (?) lizard

I wish the photos had turned out better, but the quality of the camera I bought before this trip while mine is getting fixed is terrible! It takes blurry photos and can't focus in the dark. I hate it with a passion. One of my next investments has got to be a good-quality nice camera. Not just one of those point-and-shoot types.

A Fire, Panguni Uthiram, and an Abba Dance Party

We woke up late this morning (Ruth, Matt, and I) and though we were pretty lazy early in the day, excitement picked up in the afternoon when we heard Jacob, Ruth's little brother, saying there's a fire in the trash chute. All of the flats in the HDB (Housing and Development Building) dump their trash down these chutes into a bin on the main floor. If someone, say, throws a lit cigarette down the chute, it can start smoking the rest of the trash in the bin. Since Ruth's flat is on the second floor, we are the first to get smoke rising up out of the bin. This also happened this past Christmas Day and both times they called the Fire Department. The Civil Defense (firemen) arrive packed into a little car called, The Red Rhino.

The Red Rhino. I'm pretty sure I made a Lego Fire Truck that looked like this one!

The Civil Defense putting out the trash fire while laundry hangs from bamboo poles above

The trash fire

With the fire out, Ruth, Matt and I started a few games of Sequence while life returned to normal in the kitchen. Only two games later (which don't take too long), we came out to the dining room for lunch and in that short period of time, Ruth's mom, put together this huge spread!

Not long after lunch was eaten, we had to start getting ready to go support Ruth's cousin as he participated in Panguni Uthiram, a Tamil Hindu festival. It was a completely new experience. Most participants are commemorating prayers of either joy, sorrow, or frustration and do so by piercing their bodies and carrying kavadis, attaching fruit, or pulling a ratham from one Hindu temple to another. During the set-up, there are prayers and blessings bestowed upon the participants and their rathams and a lot of singing, drumming, and chanting. Often, the participants' chests, backs, and sides are pierced by often thick metal spears and sometimes the face, arms, or legs are also pierced. Some attach fruit to their piercings. Those carrying kavadis (see below) will usually have upwards of 100+ thin spears poke into their skin. They are usually harnessed into their kavadis, but sometimes even their stomachs are pierced with the supports of these large metal displays. Anyone pulling a ratham will have their back pierced with large metal hooks. Ropes connect the ratham to the walker's back. The idea of the piercing is to show a type of bodily sacrifice to the gods. Each participant walks a route from one temple to another carrying milk, which is sacred, and upon reaching their destination the milk is poured over the walker as a type of anointment. 

Here's a video of some of the walkers getting ready to start their procession.

Someone getting ready to start their walk. Ropes are attached to a ratham.

Man with oranges attached to the piercings in his body

Man carrying a kavadi. Each tip of the metal spears is pierced into his skin. The kavadis are typically elaborately decorated and often adorned with peacock feathers, which are sacred. All walkers go barefoot.

Ruth's cousin preparing for his walk. They will usually participate in this event one, three, or five times, though some continue each year of their life. This is her cousin's third, and last time, so his ratham (the shrine) was very elaborate.

Getting hooks pierced into his back.

All walkers will have their tongue and cheeks pierced with spears, as well, so during their walk they are totally focused on their thoughts and prayers and their sacrifice.

During the walk, Ruth's mom sings songs in Tamil, the Indian language spoken in southern India, where this festival originates.

Ruth's cousin on his walk, pulling his ratham.

A view along the route from one temple to the other - a distance of over a mile

 Here are some other photos from the festival:

This man went all out. He not only carried the kavadi and had all of the spears pierced into him, but he had the four vertical poles supporting the kavadi pierced into the skin around his stomach and lower back. AND he had hooks pierced into his back and also attached and pulled a ratham during his walk. In this photo he is facing his ratham, which is lit up. His party was nice enough to let our pass them on the route because he was taking his time and had a very festive group of supporters with drums, cymbals, and singing.

...I really hope I did not fall too far from understanding Panguni Uthiram, but if I did, please do not think of me as ignorant. It was a lot to take in!

After Panguni Uthiram, we quickly headed back to Ruth's flat to change our clothes and put on some party ones because it was time to go to her Uncle Patrick's 50th Birthday Celebration. And a party, indeed! We arrived late so there was already a lot of dancing going on - mostly to 80s/90s music, the majority of which was Abba! Ruth has a very large family and everyone there was so friendly and welcoming. One of her cousins is an Elvis impersonator and even performed a few songs for us (no photos of that, sadly). We had a good time dancing and didn't get home until 3am! Talk about a packed day!

The obligatory conga line

Dancing with Ruth's mom

Dancing with this woman. I think her name is Barb?

Ruth and Matt giving their feet a rest

Back at it!

Photo bomb.....GO!