(photograph © Kiwidutch)
I’m still taking you with me on our Duck Tour in the city of Singapore.
As we come into the Marina Bay, and cast our eyes toward the famous Singapore Merlion that stands on the other side we are fascinated by the presence of thousands of white balls floating in the water.
They are roped off by a series of buoys (and I think nets) and the Duck Boats don’t venture very close to them but clearly I’m not the only one wondering what all of these balls are for before just as I’m about to ask, another tourist gets in before me and asks the guide if these are artworks or…?
It turns out that before the Chinese New Year (today, January 23, 2012) people can pay for one of these balls and on them they write wishes that they hope to come true. It appears that the bigger the ball you purchase the bigger you wish can be.
So, what you see before you are many thousands of wishes that the residents of Singapore have made. To any of you who celebrate the lunar New Year today, I wish you a very Happy New Year and I hope that you have some wonderful festive New Year celebrations with your friends and family and that all of your wishes come true.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
So what else is there to see in the bay? Our Duck Tour guide also tells us that the next building: the five-star, Swissôtel The Stamford, is the tallest hotel in the world.
There are other buildings that have hotels in them that are taller, but apparently this one is the tallest that houses soley a hotel and where the space is not combined with commercial office premises etc.
At 226 meters (741 feet) I had troubles to get it all into the photograph when we travelled close to it on the road, but when out on the water we got a better view. Wiki tells me that it has 1,261 rooms and suites, 16 restaurants and bars, Raffles City Convention Centre, and one of Asia’s largest Spas.
For me, I find the 11 or so stories of the Rasa Sentosa quite high enough… I’m still making up my mind if I were ever in a room on the upper floors of this hotel, if making up in the morning to the view outside would be a dreamy experience or one of my scariest nighmeres. Jury is out on this one.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
There is also an outdoor stadium that seats 20.000 people…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
… and something that had Little Mr. pointing and getting all hot and bothered about… the clear highlight of the day for a six year old boy is, naturally: a crane lifting a boat out of the water… (I was under strict orders to get the photographic evidence and to post the proof of this wondrous event in my blog) He may live to regret this demand when he’s 18 and I’m looking for suitable blackmail material to keep him in line.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
