Metro

Saturday October 10, 2009

Swinging Singapore beckons

By ANDREA FILMER
andrea@thestar.com.my


SO there I was, strapped inside a three-man, open-air steel capsule attached to two 35m rubber bands (bungy cords) and hurled suddenly at 200km per hour into the sky.

I could have sworn we would be lifted to the top of a 35m tower to be bounced around a little.

HEART-POUNDING: Sentosa Island’s Luge and Skyride is a two-in-one ride where you race down a 650m paved slope and then hitch a ride on the Skyride up to where you began

There are no words to express the sensation and shock of the G-Max reverse bungy ride.

I cursed out loud and screamed from the top of my lungs, in no state to appreciate the breathtaking view of Clark Quay from up there.

In short – it was incredible!

Which, coincidentally, is the word I would use to describe the city-nation of Singapore.

TRENDY SHOPS: Beautifully restored shophouses line both sides of Bussorah Street.

Small, with few natural resources and a population of just 4.8 million people (one-third foreigners), Singapore has emerged as an economic powerhouse on nothing more than creativity, drive and foresight.

This thriving metropolis attracted over 4.6 million tourists in the first half of this year.

The Singapore Night Safari was our first stop upon arriving in Singapore on low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia’s inaugural Penang-Singapore flight on July 1.

The 40ha dense secondary forest was majestic in the dark, containing 1,040 nocturnal animals of 120 species.

The camera had to be put away as flash photography was strictly prohibited because the night-grazing animals are very sensitive to light.

BREATHTAKING: View of the skyline from Singapore Flyer. The upcoming Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands Casino is on the left and on the right are the Waterside Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay (twin circular structure) and the Marina Bay Floating Platform with its colourful grandstands

Among the animals that stood out during our tram ride were the hyenas, the enormous African hippo and Chawang, an Asian bull elephant which we saw munching on tree branches.

The next day started with a walk down Kampung Glam, Singapore’s Malay-Muslim enclave.

We strolled down Arab Street for a look at Masjid Sultan (Sultan Mosque).

The towering white and gold structure, constructed in 1826 and rebuilt in 1928, is Singapore’s largest mosque accommodating up to 5,000 of the faithful.

A close look at the mosque’s huge golden dome will show that it sits on a ringlet of glass bottles.

“The mosque was financed by the Muslim community. Poorer Muslims sold used bottles to raise funds and some of the bottles were incorporated into the structure,” said our tour guide Mohamed Yusoff.

From the mosque, we walked down Bussorah Street lined on both sides with beautifully-restored shophouses which are now trendy tourist shops offering a variety of traditional clothes, handicraft and souvenirs.

The Malay Heritage Centre housed in the former historical seat of Malay royalty – Istana Kampung Glam – was our next stop.

This palace, commissioned by Sultan Ali Iskandar Shah in the early 1840s, is now home to nine galleries showcasing the culture and history of Singaporean Malays.

We switched from the historical to the modern at our next destination where we had a 360-degree view of Singapore from the world’s largest observation wheel – the Singapore Flyer.

The view from the clear bubble capsules on the giant ferris wheel 165m in the sky took my breath away.

The new Singapore Grand Prix F1 pit lane was one of the first things I saw from up there, followed by the Singapore Strait dotted with large and colourful ships and the upcoming Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands Casino (with a 1ha rooftop garden 55 storeys up) set to open early next year.

Next on our trip was the Sentosa Island Resort.

Children should not miss out on the Sentosa 4D Magix where they can venture into a treasure island. Watch out for Captain Lucky, he’s the bad guy, and get ready to be rained upon, attacked by bees and poked by crabs.

The Luge and Skyride was really something unexpected. In this two-in-one ride, one can race down a 650m paved slope on a luge cart and hitch a ride on the Skyride all the way up to the starting point, an experience not for the faint in heart. I was surprised at how fast the luge carts could go.

We finished our visit with a stroll down Merlion Walk to an outdoor viewing gallery for an extravagant pyrotechnic musical light show called Songs of the Sea.

We watched in amazement as a tale about a magical tune was brought to life by live performers and a giant 40m-high water screen.

Jets of sea water are shot strongly into the air to create a gigantic screen on which lasers and light effects give life to Princess Ami, the tiger fish Oscar and his cheeky sidekicks Moonfish, Octopus and Seahorse.

The 25-minute show was also animated by 69 jets shooting water 40m high and 20m flame blasts lighting up the night sky.

Songs of the Sea is held twice a night every day of the year.

Don’t forget to get one of those adorable Oscar plushies to remind you of Singapore.

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