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Looking back to the mainland from the Fort Siloso cable car.
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| Sentosa Island isn't far from the CBD. |
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With work finished for the year Sam and I headed over to Singapore where we were going to jump on a cruise ship and float around Southeast Asia for the next three weeks. Before we would board our ship though we had a few days up our sleeves in Singapore. At the end of 2017 we had stayed near town, at the flash Marina Bay Sands Hotel and explored around the area, but we didn’t have time to get out to Sentosa Island. I had promised Sam that next time we came to Singapore we’d stay at Sentosa and explore the islands attractions over a few days, so with 4 nights before the ship sailed here we were.
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| There is a very flash marina near the W. |
It was a little surreal checking into the W Hotel to think that only 24 hours before I’d been at work back in Melbourne, the humid tropical air immediately made us feel as though we were on holidays though. I’ll talk a little about the W Hotel towards the end of the post but needless to say it was a very comfortable place to put our heads down.
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| 24 hours ago I was still at work back in Melbourne. |
Sentosa Island is a reasonable sized island being just under 5 square kilometres and is actually home to an small enclave of wealthy locals as well as thousands of tourists. We were right up the eastern end of the island at the W Hotel which is where most of the locals on the island appear to live. With a few days up our sleeve we jumped onto the free 'hop on hop off' bus first thing this morning, the bus giving us a good look at the island as we’d arrived after dark last night. After our informal bus tour we jumped off near the Big Merlion and wandered over to the Merlion Plaza explored a bit around there. This is the main tourist area on Sentosa really with Universal, the casino, the aquarium and Imbiah Lookout all being fairly close at hand, along with numerous shops and cafés.
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The large Merlion after which the Merlion Plaza is named.
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| There are a few different cable car routes on Sentosa Island. |
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| Heading out towards Fort Siloso from Imbiah Lookout, on the cable car. |
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We decided to head out to Fort Siloso this afternoon, so after gaining the top of Imbiah Lookout via an extensive series of escalators (there was also steps if you felt that way inclined) we jumped onto the cable car that headed across the island to the fort. From the cable car we got good views out into the Strait of Singapore with hundreds of ships queued up waiting to dock and closer at hand we also looked down to one of Sentosa Islands three artificial beaches, these beaches are probably the only ones that you’d consider swimming at in Singapore I think.
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Passing by AJ Hackett's bungy jump at Siloso Beach on the cable car.
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Like the fort, the skywalk is free.
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Leaving the cable car we caught a lift up to access the 11 storey high Fort Siloso Skywalk, this skywalk is free and walking through the tree tops is a nice way to get access to the higher parts of Fort Siloso. Sentosa Island was formally called Pulau Blakang Mati (which in Malay translates to 'Island of Death Behind') and was originally a British fort and then a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp with a bit of a gruesome history. Now days Fort Siloso has been restored and, with numerous information and audio visual displays it makes a fascinating place to check out.
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The Fort Siloso Skywalk.
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Fort Siloso Skywalk.
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Fort Siloso
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The tunnels at Fort Siloso.
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Unfortunately the guns were facing the wrong direction in WW2.
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Fort Siloso
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| Fort Siloso tunnels. |
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Wandering around through the tunnels and passed the old gun emplacements was a reminder of harder times, it was hot and steamy just walking around with a camera so I can only imagine why the British soldiers though of this place. Ironically the guns in the fort were facing out to sea when the Japanese arrived overland from the north so the guns had to be quickly turner around, needless to say it wasn’t long until Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese. Actually one of the must sees at Fort Siloso is the Surrender Chambers were a great audio visual display brings to life both the Allied surrender to the Japanese in 1942 and then the Japanese surrender back to the Allies in 1945.
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The extreme western end of Sentosa Island, looking out over the entrance to Keppel Harbour.
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Fort Siloso
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Fort Siloso
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The Surrender Chambers are a must see spot at Fort Siloso.
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Surrender Chambers, Fort Siloso.
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Fort Siloso
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There is a population of Plantain Squirrels at Fort Siloso.
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| Fort Siloso |
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Probably the main reason we stayed on Sentosa was so we could visit Universal Studios, Sam in particular was very excited to visit the amusement park. Whilst I was initially luke warm on visiting Universal Studios as soon as we started wandering around and jumped on a few rides the inner Feral Kid came out and I had a great day too. For me the rides were the main reason for visiting so we shelled out for an express pass which allowed us to bypass the sometimes long queues. The best ride being the Cylon roller coaster followed by the Human roller coaster, the Cylon had us strapped in standing up while the Human is the more traditional sitting down job. The other stand out ride was the Revenge of the Mummy ride on which we pitched and plunged our way around, sometimes in darkness.
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OK, here we go....
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The park is split into different precincts, this one is New York.
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Ancient Egypt
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Far Far Away
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New York
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New York
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| Yep, it's snowing! |
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One thing I noticed about the rides at Universal was that they were very ‘tight’ for me to shoe horn my ageing body into, waking up the next day it felt like I’d done a few rounds in a boxing ring as pretty well everything ached. Being Singapore it was hot too, so a full day out here shepherding the kids around will take it out of you I reckon. With no children in tow we called it a day by mid afternoon and retreated to the huge pool at the W.
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I suffered for the next few days after shoe horning myself into these rides.
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Sci-Fi City
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Sam up-skirted a pharaoh!
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Far Far Away
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The crowd had a bit of attitude ;)
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We paid for an express pass to get on the rides a little quicker, I'm not a person who enjoys queues!
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Just like being back at work (hey Karen!).
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| I'll try and visualise this when I'm slogging it out above the Arctic Circle in the rain and snow later this year. |
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On our last day on Sentosa Island we decided to visit the Sea Aquarium. The entry to the aquarium also includes entry to the Maritime Museum which you pass through on the way to the aquarium. Both the museum and the aquarium get the Feral tick of approval, they are both informative and very well presented. The Sea Aquarium also has a few scheduled shows that are worth checking out if you have children with you. You could easily lose half a day checking out both the museum and the aquarium as there is a lot to see, staring at the fish in the huge glass walled tanks never gets boring…well for me anyway.
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Heading down to the Sea Aquarium past the Lake of Dreams on Sentosa Island.
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There is a great audio visual presentation in the Maritime Museum.
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The Maritime Museum.
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The Maritime Museum explains the history of the Silk Route.
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The Sea Aquarium.
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These aquarium's are a dime a dozen now days - but this is a good one.
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The Sea Aquarium.
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Sea Aquarium
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He looks a little sad :(
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| The Sea Aquarium. |
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After emerging blinking into the tropical Singapore heat in the middle of the day Sam and I decided to head back up to Imbiah Lookout and check out the Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom. This place is obviously run by people who love butterflies and insects but to be brutally honest it was a little bit amateurish compared to the big money attractions on Sentosa. I’m not saying don’t go, but if you do check it out then it’s more like checking out someones hobby, so go with those expectations and you want be surprised.
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There is a lot of educating going on at the Sea Aquarium.
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That's pretty impressive for a kid in Primary School I think.
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My hardcore hiking Havaianas...
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Sea Aquarium
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The Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom was interesting - but a little more amateurish than a lot of the other attractions on Sentosa Island.
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The Dirt.
Sentosa Island is definitely a tourist trap, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good, there is enough to do and see to keep most people occupied for days. Obviously attractions like Universal and the Sea Aquarium cost a bit to visit but with a couple of free hop on hop off bus routes running around the island there is still a lot to see without having to dig into your hip pocket (Fort Siloso being the pick of the free attractions I think). There is no shortage of cafés on Sentosa Island, we generally ate near the W Hotel at one of the many establishments along the edge of the marina, probably the pick of the cafés was Mykonos on the Bay but to be honest we didn’t have a dud meal on any of the nights.
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There are a few larger animals at the Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom.
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There are plenty of nice cafés on Sentosa, this is one called Mykonas On The Bay.
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| The cafés at the eastern end of the island near the W all face out onto the marina. |
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There are a few different way to get onto Sentosa Island, but the most scenic would have to be this cable car from Vivo City I think.
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| You definitely need a good head for heights if using the cable cars. |
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Accommodation.
Like I’ve mentioned we stayed at the W Hotel on this visit, last time I stayed at a W Hotel was back in Santiago in Chile five years or so ago, so it’s been awhile. The W’s are always pretty funky places to stay and this one was no exception, with a menu of different mood lighting, full sized stand alone tub and private plunge pool there was plenty of bells and whistles to keep us amused. One thing that we could of used in our Away Room was a desk or a couch, apart from the bed there was only a very trendy looking chair (that only I could only really fit one arse cheek on), to sit on. Then again maybe middle aged Australians aren’t their target demographic!
Relevant Posts.
Singapore, 2017.
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