What haven’t I told you about Singapore yet? Part 3
June 2018
In Part 1 I shared curious facts about Singapore. Through video footage and photos I showed to you the nicest airport in the world– Changi, the famous botanical Gardens by the Bay, the Supertree Grove Park with the giant man-made trees. I recommended a very nice, family-friendly hotel Shangri-La as well as a really nice restaurant IndoChine, with its fantastic view from the top of a SuperTree and wonderful jazz music. In Part 2 we went to a shopping mall, which resembled more an art space, we heard and saw a traditional Chinese instrument Sheng, we saw Singapore from above from all 360 ° on a huge Ferris wheel and visited a hawkers center. If you’re wondering what are the last two things, just read in the previous post.
In this third and last part of the travelogue about Singapore, I share with you some of the best attractions for children, and why not for adults. Well, yes, when we visited one of them for the first time, we were a group of adults only, and it was really fun. So, this part is about the Singapore aquarium and zoo.
S.E.A. Aquarium
S.E.A. means South East Asia. You will see there 100 000 marine animals housed in 42.8 million liters of water, organized in 50 habitats. It is located on the island of Sentosa, where the Universal amusement park is located.
Source for this cute map of Sentosa: https://johnnyh.com.au/things-to-do/sentosa-island/
It makes no sense to try to describe the richness of the colours and emotions watching this flora and fauna. You can get a better notion of it from the third part of the movie about Singapore, which I dedicated entirely to the aquarium and the zoo. In it you will see not only sharks, hammer fish and manta ray, but also various colored fish like Dory, Nemo, Gill and other famous cartoon characters as well as sea needles, jelly fish and sea dragons.
On the territory of the aquarium there is a restaurant in which you observe the beautiful smooth movements of catfish, and all other sea dwellers, hurried to some daily business of theirs.
A great joy for the children (and to be honest for adults too) is the glowing cotton candy, which is sold in one of the halls.
You need to reserve a few hours for the Singapore Aquarium. Every moment spent there is worth the attention.
Sentosa Island and water park Adventure Cove
To the island of Sentosa you can go by taxi, metro, named MRT (mass rapit transit), on foot, but also by a rope (well, by cable car). There are resort hotels, beaches, Universal amusement park, and next to the aquarium, which was mentioned above, there is also a water park– Adventure Cove.
We didn’t go to Universal since we opted for the water park. If you decide to take the children to it, (if you’re without a child I don’t see much meaning to visit it), get ready to walk around in a bathing suit and flip flops only. Clothes and all the luggage are left in lockers, because there is water everywhere. We didn’t wear a water-resistant camera, so I can’t show you pictures of it.
The water park offers all kinds of slides, a pool with artificial waves, snorkeling with fish. For me the most interesting attraction was the swimming with dolphins. There is an option simply to communicate with them and caress them. These amazing and kind creatures bring much joy and fun. If you plan to opt for this entertainment, you have to make preliminary booking.
In Adventure Cove every visitor’s weight is duly measured and he/she is accordingly provided with a bracelet of a certain color, corresponding to the weight. At every attraction there is a person who checks it and tells when to descend so that no accidents take place.
We even observed drowning man rescue training. At the first moment, I thought the man was really drowning because he was given first aid by all the rules, with a heart massage. But when he stood up and smiled it became clear what was happening. The coach of the rescue team apologized to us in case we got scared.
If you are looking for a really special and new water experience, there are newer, larger water parks in Singapore, just explore them in internet.
The Zoo
In the Singapore Zoo you can spend a whole day, even a night. I’m not joking. In addition to daily visits, there is also a night tour. I saw commercials for it, but it wasn’t open for visits yet. The park is illuminated with colourful lights and looks like the moon Pandora in the James Cameron’s movie “Avatar”. Now that I think about it, it takes at least two days to see all the habitats.
In the zoo of Singapore animals are not caged, but they walk in large gardens, resembling at best their natural habitat, and some even live freely without partitions. For example, orangutans can crisscross anywhere on the trees. It’s the same with lemurs, some birds and amphibians.
A few years ago, the white bear died, and a commemorative wall for it was still present at her habitat, as for a colleague who had worked with them for many years.
Singapore zoo has one of the largest populations of Proboscis monkeys. It’s the one with a funny muzzle, with the big nose. You’re going to see it in part three of the movie about Singapore.
I have taken pictures of a white tiger, Komodo Dragon, huge Galapagos turtles, free walking lemurs and iguanas – you will see them in the video.
In addition to a stroll through the garden there are shows organized with elephants, birds and seals. They’re at certain times, so check them up in advance. I’ve filmed footage of the elephant show, and I’ve shared it with you in the movie.
In many places you will see messages about protecting the environment, as it was in the aquarium. There are even special reusable bottles that you can fill in with drinking water on fountains scattered throughout the park. We bought two of these for the kids, I checked them, they really are made of the most modern and safe plastic material. We also got alkaline water at one of the cafes.
Close to the starting point of the zoo there is a nice restaurant, you will find at various spots stalls selling delicious ice cream, pavilions selling treats, so you won’t fell hunger at all.
Because the zoo is huge, there is a train that goes around and if you get tired, you can use it.
There are several options to visit the different zones of the park-a standard day tour, a night, safari, mentioned above, river safari and a visit to the birds park. Some tickets are for combined safaris. If you have the energy and desire, the most you can do in a day are the day and night safaris.
Practical Tips
If you want to be permanently connected to the internet while you are strolling around Singapore, you can buy a local telecom card. They sell them everywhere. We chose this one:
We put it in a wireless hot-spot device. The coverage is perfect and the speed is as fast as it should be on any 4G network. Since there were no SIM cards with data only packages in the shop, we took one with a few minutes, but we did not use them. We even couldn’t utilize these 100 GB, but it was the smallest package offered.
The electrical sockets are type G (three flat necks), but there is a C, i.e. European, so we didn’t need adaptors. Otherwise, the current is 230V, at 50 Hz.
One Singaporean dollar equals EUR 0.65. You just cut by half your bills to get the equal in the European currency. If you insist on sharp calculations, download an app. We use Easy Currency.
It would be good to read in Part 1 of this travelogue my tips for proper conduct in Singapore, which despite of its fun form provides valuable info how to behave so not to get in trouble and avoid being fined.
There is almost no crime in Singapore, but this is because there are serious laws that apply with rigor and you just have to behave. I strongly recommend that you read exactly what is not included in this definition! And don’t think you can do anything wrong without getting noticed- cameras are scattered around and they will capture your misconduct.
If you take advantage of my recommendations, I’m sure you’re going to have a great time in Singapore, and you will have wonderful experiences to remember and tell for years. I personally can’t wait to get back there.
For hotel bookings
If you have already decided that you will travel to Singapore, for your convenience I have added a booking.com search box in which you only need to add the dates of your trip and press search. Remember that you retain all your genius discounts and privileges. In addition, booking.com are doing their best to make sure that your expectations as a customer are fulfilled. I’ve described an example about the latter in my story about our stay in Shangri-La hotel.
How to get there?
Check-up for promotions of Qatar Airways with the QR code below. This is how we booked our tickets at very affordable prices.
To make it easier for you to find the places I’m telling you about, view the map and click the pins if you want to get directions.
8 Sentosa Gateway, Сингапур 098269
8 Sentosa Gateway, Sentosa Island, Сингапур 098269
80 Mandai Lake Rd, Сингапур 729826
Good bye Singapore! What now?
Well I can write and talk about Singapore endlessly. No matter how long I write, there will always remain something untold. I definitely thing that I will go back there again, because besides that I could not see everything that I was curious about, I am sure that there will be more new interesting and amazing projects, created the hard working Singaporean people.
Now that I have completed the exotic cycle for Bali and Singapore, I will focus on the Balkans and in particular Bulgaria. There are some interesting places in the Rhodopes mountain, Sofia and especially Plovdiv, which is the European Capital of Culture for 2019. I’m thinking of telling a little more about Belgrade, because I haven’t been able to publish everything about it.
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If you are looking for information about more notable restaurants, hotels, and other places in Bulgaria and the world, view all categories placescases.com.
If you are interested in the topic about The Experience Economy, read my posts dedicated to it and the places that apply its principles in practice.
