The Jewel, Changi

 

Our hotel for the night is a stone's through (one MRT station) away from Changi airport. The room is pretty nice and we has some time during the afternoon to cool off in the pool. The pool wasn't as nice as the previous one because it's in full sun and the water temperature is not as refreshing.

The last item on our tourist list was the Jewel at Changi airport. The hotel is across the road from the MRT station so it was pretty easy to hop on a train to the airport. The Jewel is located in the middle of the Changi airport terminal complex. It is outside the airport security check points and is open to the public. The only way to view it from inside the security zone is on the monorail (see video below).

We arrived just before dusk which allowed us to see the Jewel in daylight. It has a glass roof that shares charactoristics with the Cloud Forest Dom at Gardens by the Bay. The roof curves into the middle and forms a conical waterfall with some assistance from a recirculating water supply.

The water then plunges into a vortex and vanishes below ground.

The water fall is surrouned by a healthy jungle interlaced with pathways on multiple levels. A considerable portion of the plants were awash with colourful flowers.

We found a food court in one of the lower levels. Having had some tasty food for dinner, we made our way back to the upper levels where the sunlight had been replaced by a myriad of artificial lights.

The lights constantly change colours creating a dynamic art show.

It was a pretty spectacular and fitting finalie to our Singapore adventure. It was getting late so we made our way back to the hotel. We have to be out at the airport fairly early in the morning for our flight back home  to Perth,

Vivo City

 

The air conditioning in Vivo City was a welcome relief. We wandered around the vast complex. There wasn't too much noteworthy other than the ToysRus store.

Now this is a serious toy store. ToyRus vanished from Australia a few years ago so it was a bit strange seeing this one, and it is vast!

Something slightly irritating about Singapore & especially the shopping malls, is the lack of places to sit down. We did find this small spot to take a load off our weary legs. A week of walking around in the heat & humidity has taken its toll.

We popped out onto a viewing deck from one of the upper levels. From the deck, we looked across the water over to Sentosa Island.

Another storm was closing in and it arrived so quickly that it caught us out and out of position. The temperature plummetted. Luckily, we were able to find shelter but couldn't get back inside the complex until the torrential rain abaited.

Eventually we navigated our way back into the shopping area and stumbled into a small hawkers market on a lower level of the complex. There were only a few people in there so there were plenty of places to sit. The food was pretty good and a reasonable price.

After lunch, we hopped on a double decker bus (much to Harry's delight), and managed to snag seats up top right against the front windscreen.

The bus carried us through Chinatown and back to our hotel.

Our bags were waiting for us as we'd left them at reception before we set off this morning. We're staying out near the airport tonight. We have one last tourist attraction to visit tonight & an early flight tomorrow that can do without the hour commute on the train before hand. And so off we went for one last walk from the hotel to Fort Canning Metro station with its familiar statues at the entrance.

Marina Bay Shoreline

 

Today is our last day in Singapore. We woke to similar stormy conditions to those one our first day. Luckily, we'd pretty well ticked off almost all of our must-do activities. We were at a bit of a loss of what to do with the weather not being the best. Eventually, we decided that we'd catch the train to the Marina Bay Sands and walk around the Bay shoreline as far as the Merlion.

Our walk started outside the Marina Bay Sands shoppes and we meandered our way past the Artscience Museum enroute to the Helix Bridge. The grey skies weren't especially conducive to photography.

The Helix, as it is officially called, is a pedestrian bridge linking Marina Centre with Marina South in the Marina Bay area. The design represents a DNA double helix. This impressive structure fabricated from approximately 650 tonnes of Duplex Stainless Steel.

 

Having traversed the bridge, we navigated around a waterfront construction site toward the Theatres Bay The Bay complex.

This style of statue, depicting life in Singapore long before the trading compaines came to the island, are dotted all over the city. They are quite the contrast against the overwhelming modern technology surounding them.

The Merlion was very busy with tourists. It is the iconic landmark of Singapore, so it stands to reason, I guess.

Close by, the Melion cub sits under the shade of some small trees. The tiling is done with recycled broken plates.

At this point we were done. Somewhat out of ideas and wanting to escape the humidity, we decided to go back to Vivo where we could be comfortable in the air conditioning and be assured of options for lunch.

Right on cue, a bumboat full of camera weilding tourists cruised past.

As we wandered past the entrance to The Fullerton Hotel, we spotted this orange statue. For once, Harry was impressed with the modern Italian art work more than we were.

Singapore National Day Fireworks - Rehersal

 

Every Saturday night for a couple of months in the lead up to Singapore National day, the government puts on a rehersal for the main event.

The event started with a demonstration by the military with barges in formation creating a bridge. Next up were a couple of Apache helicopters breaking he rules of physics (above).

The Apaches were followed by a cops & robbers chase on water by the Water Police. A short time later, a couple of jets appeared out of the sunset with a roar.

After a short delay, it was time for the Fireworks.

It was a pretty impressive firework display for a rehersal.

Time for a quick snap of the Helix Bridge before heading back to the hotel. We were lucky enough to find a couple of decent take-away pizzas from one of the bars our hotel complex.

Bird Paradise

Bird Paradise is the newest of the Singapore Zoo complex and was only opened last year. The reviews were decent, but we didn't really know what to expect.

Initially, we spent some time visiting the Winged Sanctuary, located near the entrance. This area contains smaller individual aviaries of endangered birds. There are over 20 species of hornbill, beside other exotic birds from around the globe.

In the centre of the complex is the multi-story Penguin Cove. The enclosure for the Gentoo & King Penguins is surrounded by visitor access areas which were very popular because the building is air conditioned. Today, it was a welcome restbite from the heat.

We realised that the Winged Predators show was due to start, so we hurried to the stadium.

They put on a pretty good show with plenty of different raptors flying around the amphitheatre.

The Karakaras were familiar to me having seen them in South America so very many years ago.

Other birds taking flight included vultures and Maribou Storks.

The Crimsen Wetlands enclosure was the most enormous aviary I have ever seen! There were flocks of flamingoes and other water birds such as spoonbills and ibis.

There were also large flocks of seemingly every one of the Macaw species.

We found plenty of other less boysterous parott specieas as well.

Fatigue had the better of us in the end. We'd been on our feet for hours and the heat in the northern part of the island was really starting to take it's toll. So we meandered our way back to the entrance via an extensive maze of aviarys before catching the bus & train back to the hotel pool for a cool off.

The Bird Paradise complex was pretty impressive over all. We lamented that we didn't have the entire day to take it a bit slower and take it all in.