Singapore: Sentosa

This is the Day 1 of my trip to Singapore, after settling from our hotel around 10am, we took the underground to Harbour Front from Orchard and reached Vivo City, which was the largest mall in Singapore. We went straight to the top level to check the sky train going to Sentosa island.

But before we hit the island we had a quick snack from Food Republic, which is just beside the sky train.

This is only the 1/3 of Sentosa island, where most of the attractions are located. Color-coded buses and trams are available at their designation stops and they are free to hop on. The other 1/3 is for the Resorts World and Universal Studios and the other 1/3 was for the 2 golf courses and the Sentosa Cove.

They offer 2 choices to experience Sentosa, the Choice of Fun with choose any 3 from Category A plus 1 in Category B or the Choice of Thrill with choose any 2 from Category A plus 1 in Category B.

If you would like to exceed from the given choices, you may add an attraction of your choice too at 20% off published rates. These are only available if you purchase any of the Choice Package only. The price of the packages doesn't include admission to the island.

A card printed with the attractions you chose will be given for verification at the entrance of the attraction. You could use your stored value train ticket at the sky train going to the island for 3 SGD. The sky train use is unlimited, just don't go back to Vivo City or else you will be charged again when you leave the island.

Since we choose to have only the Choice of Fun, our first pick was The Merlion. At the entrance, you will be given a gold coin to use later. Here, there would be a little explanation of why the Merlion was chosen to be Singapore's symbol and its history.

After the short film, you are ask to drop the gold coin given earlier from one of the golden Merlions and check if you are lucky to win a Merlion souvenir. Then take the elevator going up the Merion's mouth or head. This was the view from the head of the Merlion, the Singapore Strait.

Use the elevator again to exit at the gift shop where you could get your free gift from the Merlion. Most of the people had a Merlion fan.

At the back of the Merlion is a park.

Second in our list was the Images of Singapore. Here the history, culture and development of Singapore was explained.

A synchronized film was used to explain how Singapore became what it is now today. The main concept was brotherhood and mixture of 4 different cultures, Chinese, British, Malay and Indians to build Singapore. This has a great production!

This is the walk-in adventure of Singapore's history. Each of the Chinese, British, Malay and Indian cultures, traditions, festivals and way of living are displayed here from the past until the present.

The one we chose from Category B was the Skyride, which is unlimited for the day so a queue was piling up. And since, the last one in our list could be found at the end point of the sky ride, we took off from here.

It was a ski lift, the only difference is that there is no snow. This thing had also a dual purpose, the skyride is one and the other one is for the transport of the luge carts back to the starting point, see the 2 carts dangling below the chairs? cool huh?

The last on our list was the Segway ride, at last I was given a chance to ride one of these great invention, which I was only watching from Discovery Channel. Good thing that there is a mini-trial period first for the first-timers before doing the actual. The trainer would guide you on how to maneuver this thing.

At first it was like riding a bike, finding your way to balance it, so be careful because it might go crazy if your fast and out of control like what happened to one kid, who was over confident and cheating on the trail and crashed his Segway on the ground.

This is a snack bar near the Songs of the Sea, which is a light and water show that is not included from any of the package. This is sold separately and only available at night. There's also a 711 store below the Beach Station.

So we are really tired from the day's activity so we took the tram, which would drive you through the shores of Siloso beach going to the Siloso Point, where the 5-star resort Shangri La Rasa Sentosa is located. This is only 1 of the 11 resort hotels in Sentosa. Don't worry, a ride from the tram is free.

There are numerous pavilions here that are for hire and this is one of them, the Sapphire Pavilion, so if you want to celebrate your birthday, debut, corporate parties, product launch or any event, you could have it here.

Here, you could swim at the man-made beach for free so if you want to experience the beach here in Singapore, you may want to try it! Toilets and changing areas are located throughout. This is only one of the 3 beaches in Sentosa, the other two are the Palawan and Tanjong beach. 

This is the Wave House and it is one of the attractions for the Choice of Thrill. Here you could do wave riding with only 2 attempts for 12 SGD and they say this is one and only of its kind in Asia.

This is the Flying Trapeze, which is also a part of the Choice of Thrill. It's worth 8 SGD per swing. Do you think its worth a swing?

After the tram ride, I was drooling on this dessert displayed on the menu list of the snack bar I showed you earlier, for 5 SGD, you'll have this snow cone topped with sweetened banana. This enough to refresh you from the day's heat but won't satisfy your food cravings. Just don't convert your SGD to PHP or else you wouldn't bother to buy this.

Before we leave, we rode back and forth the skyride. This caught my attention because the building was brightly lit and it changes color too. It was the way that would lead you back to the Merlion.

Overall, Sentosa was a great place to kill time or hang out with family and friends. One day would not be enough to check the whole island and this was only the 1/3 of the island. There are many more to see and visit. It's worth the 3 SGD ride from Vivo City because it includes the admission and transportation from and to the free attractions of the island. c",)