Sentosa Island

The Carlsberg Sky Tower on Sentosa Island
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Well after a lazy start to the day (surfin the web, playin pool and doing our laundry - yes mum's you read correctly!!) we headed out to Sentosa Island, an adventrue island located not far from the main districts of Singapore. It was only 5 stops on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit (link) - a far superior version of our Tube) and a short walk to the cable car which would take us up to the island itself. The cable car, which went inland first via Mount Faber, gave us some breath-taking veiws of the city, Sentosa Island and the vast port that is the basis for Singapore's economic growth. Fleets of cargo ships wait out at sea for there turn to dock and huge cruise ships dock for the night at one of the world's grandest ports, and the best way to view all of this is defintiely up in the cable car. We got the glass bottom for a bit extra (true travellers!!) but i'm not sure that was worth it. Maybe it was worth it for us as it increased Ad's nerves of heights that little bit more but overall not really - you just get to see the road below a bit clearer! Upon entering the island we were, in true theme park fashion, guided through a gift shop. Nat and Ad had a shop around while I went to research what was where and Paul tried on silly hats (hopefully a video link for this on YouTube is to follow). With all the choice of animal shows, sky towers, beaches and beautiful gardens we decided to go straight on "The Luge - part go-kart, part tobaggon, pure excitement!"  which was a downhill 650 metre track on which the rider gets a plastic seat, attached to 4 wheels with some Harley like handlebars, that double up as steering and the braking system. After a lot of safety chat (very common in Singapore) and a tutorial of how to ride the luge sensibly, the rider gets their hand stamped as a certificate and off they go. We, of course, bombed it down, weaving in and out of Chinese familys and Singaporean school girls who were trickling down, no doubt enjoying the views and getting full value for their money.

View of Singapore from the cable car (with Nat's face in the way!!)
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For us, it was all over in no more than 15 seconds. But we had 2 more goes at it (a 3 for 2 offer was in force) and after a chairlift back up to the top (a bit weird without ski's) we rode our second one straight away. This time we could miss the tutorial (as we were fully qualified) and skip straight to the front. The race amongst the boys proved to be a bit more exciting now we had got the hang of it, sadly the camera the end was broken so no photo-finsih to tell us who won. What we do know, is that Natalie was way back, having pit-stopped to fix her clothing (her top half was exposed yet again!).

Posted by George

All of us heading up on the chair lift, for another go on the Luge...
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Rather than go straight back up to the top, we decided to get on a bus down to the Pink Dolphin show - but we were 15 minutes late so had to sack it off. Right next door to the show was a beach with a rope-bridge over to "The Most-Southernly point of Asia". As you look out on to hundreds of boats from the viewing platform, you quickly realise that its not "The Most-Southernly point of Asia" as there are two smaller headlands which stick out further than where you are standing!! Another chair lift up and we grabbed a slice of pizza and headed for the Insect and Butterfly garden on Nat's request. After a museum like tour of some fossils and dead butterflies, you head into this tropical garden with dozens of beautiful alive and well butterflies amongst the flora and the waterfalls. After a few snaps, we headed back out for our 3rd Luge. This time it was my turn to be way back in the field. I can't tell you who won the race as I was no where near the front, after having engine failure and therefore a bad start. So I gave my eyes a treat and this time enjoyed the view on the way down. Maybe it was due to my luge slowness, Adam's toilet stops or spending way too long looking at some butterflies but we managed to miss the next and last dolphin show. Bit of a shame really as these Pink Dolphins sounded quite interesting. Not to worry, our next port of call was the Carlsberg Sky Tower where we enjoyed panoramic views of the island and surrounding areas, much of the same ones as the cable car. After a beer with a resident peacock that was being chased around by some over-excited kids, we walked through the garden, passed the Merlion and headed back on the MRT, thoroughly cream crackered.