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 Having had some tasty food for dinner, we made our way back to the upper levels where the sunlight had been replaced by a myriad of artificial lights.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