Oh what a night!
We were picked up for our tour in the hotel lobby by Jag, our incredible guide, a few minutes before 5 o’clock. Small tour bus, to accommodate what I think turned out to be about 18 people. SO much nicer than a crowd of 30-40, that’s for sure! With all the people at the light shows, I don’t know how large groups manage.
Jag, our lovely guide, is a native Singaporean who is of mixed Malaysian/Indian descent, and speaks five languages. With a Singapore military background, she is definitely a very capable woman, with a great sense of humor! We picked up three more groups of people – about 10 French doctors and families, three Germans and two Aussies, all of whom turned out to be very pleasant people and lots of fun! Jag commented afterwards, as we were returning to our hotel, that not all groups were as pleasant and friendly as ours and sometimes just sit and stare at each other! Odd!
Once we were all collected, we headed towards the river and Clark Quay (pronounced “Key”) for our first stop, the boat trip. Lovely boat and great 35 minute trip along the Singapore River and out into the harbor – both Clark and Boat Quays are lined now with former “shop houses” – two story buildings built by the Chinese where the shops were on the ground floor, and families lived above. Most of the Singapore shop houses were destroyed in the 60’s as Singapore achieved independence and were “cleaning up” the area, but fortunately, someone had the sense not to destroy them all, and this area has now been turned into an incredible eating/restaurant/tourist area that is visited by both tourists and residents alike.
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| Clark Quay were we picked up the boat |
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| Clark Quay! |
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| Pushing out into the river |
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| Lots of modern high rises in the background |
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| Old banks in the foreground |
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| Old shop houses and river bank |
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| As you can see, many options for eating! |
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| Former post office, now posh hotel! |
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| Loved this sculpture! |
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| Mangrove growing to the river! |
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| Merlion from the marina |
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| Another view of the Marina Sands |
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| And the Esplanade |
Hopefully you can tell from the photos what a lively and attractive area it is. There are some former government buildings – several built in honor of Queen Victoria, upon her passing (it was still a British Crown Colony then), which makes for a really lovely area.
We very much enjoyed the river cruise, and the chance to see the Merlion from a different angle! As I wondered previously when Debby and I first saw the lion, it had been moved since R and my last trip here! Because, as was pointed out, where the Merlion now sits wasn’t even there then – where it sits, plus all of Marina Bay Towers and Gardens is all on totally reclaimed land! As Singapore is an island, they are having to build out into the South China Sea – which obviously must be working, because you’d never know it to look at it!
Cruised past Merlion and the Marina Bay Sands – three huge hotel towers with the “ship” on top, and then back to Clark Quay. Lovely ride; cool breezes; just wonderful!
Back on to the bus for a short ride back across the river and out at the SCC (Singapore Cricket Club). As Debby and I saw the other day when we were walking to the Raffles Hotel, the stands and barriers are going up for the F-1 Grand Prix that is coming up the first week of October. And it’s held at NIGHT! Scary, I would have thought! We were able to walk along the streets – the track in a few weeks! – for a distance, along the route. Back on to the bus and now heading to the Marina Bay Sands Gardens by the Bay for the first of our two shows. The crowds were enormous – turns out this is September school break week – who knew?!
But Jag had us all organized, and led us right to a good spot from whence to watch the performance in the “big trees.” These 18 HUGE trees are made from iron, and now have plants growing on them, the idea being that the frames will be totally covered in a few years. They do nightly light shows which change monthly. Ours, the new September show, was Fantasy. Jag wasn’t too impressed; she had preferred August’s show, which featured 60’s and 70’s music – but I thought this show was amazing! Lots of Disney, which of course meant lots of John Williams – there were things I didn’t recognize (not seeing any of the latest movies…) but how can you not recognize Star Wars, The Magnificant Seven and Indiana Jones??? It was GREAT! So … watched the show, and from there, back through the crowds to our ever-patient bus driver and the bus!
Love the iron trees in Marina Bay Gardens!
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| Wonderful nightly light show |
This time, around the corner to another part of the Marina Bay Sands – the Convention Center and Shopping Arcade – which, by the way, is like the Venetian in Las Vegas, complete with a “river running through it” – complete with boats, but (thankfully!) not gondolas. Really lovely! Probably 4-5 floors of shops – Debby spotted a 2-floor Gucci, which she thought was pretty impressive. As I wouldn’t recognize Gucci if it fell on me, glad I have a shopper with me to point out such things!!
Out onto the veranda (where a charity event was being held; music LOUD…) and along the pier, now looking back at Singapore, which was fun. People lined up and soon came the Spectra show, which was water and lasers and music. Only lasted about 15 minutes, and while impressive (think bigger version of the Bellagio) but that wasn’t nearly as good (in my view) as our first show. At any rate, then it was back on the bus and starting homeward.
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| Marina Sands shopping arcade ... with river and boats |
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| Spectra show; light, lasers and music |
The French and the Aussies got off at Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center (it was 9:30 pm) but the Germans and we decided to return to our respective hotels. Will return to Lau Pa Sat today or tomorrow, as it looks like great fun, and while we have tried Food Courts, we need an official Hawker Center – but arrived back at the hotel at 10 and that was late enough for us – we’re such night owls!!
So, that’s it for our incredibly enjoyable evening! SOOO glad we chose this tour; fun people, lovely guide and a chance to see SO much!
Off to the Singapore Zoo today!
More later!
m
xxx
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