For
our last full day in Singapore we decided to visit Sentosa Island.
Sentosa Island was previously a military installation that the city
converted into a giant theme park and playground for the citizens
and visitors of Singapore. There are numerous attractions to lure
tourists, but the two that caught our eye were the Singapore Underwater
World Aquarium and Butterfly Park.
There are several ways to reach Sentosa Island, but the best by far
is to take the cable car from Mt. Faber. The cable car offers some
dramatic views of the city and Sentosa Island. Mt. Faber is not a
terribly high mountain, but it is high enough to offer a good vantage
point of the city. |
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Views
from Mt. Faber |
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| Having
enjoyed the views of Singapore from Mt. Faber Anne and I headed toward
the cable car for the short, dramatic ride across the channel to Sentosa
Island. Arriving at the cable car house we found several people standing
outside, each with a basket containing a good size snake. For a small
amount you could have your picture taken with the snake wrapped around
you. Having missed her chance at the Singapore Zoo to have her picture
taken holding a snake, Anne, ever more the brave one, decided this
would be a good opportunity to do that. She volunteered to act the
effervescent tourist with the snake while I took her picture. What
follows is the sequence of pictures I took of Anne with the snake
draped around her neck. Look at these pictures carefully and observe
her expression change from one to the next. |
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The
unsuspecting victim |
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Wow,
this is cool! |
It's
beginning to wiggle! |
You
better come get this thing
before I throw it on the ground! |
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| I
love this series of pictures. You can see Anne's expression go from
one of "it's OK" to one of near panic. At first she was
at ease holding the snake, that is, until it began to wiggle. When
it began to wiggle she got a bit nervous and couldn't wait to get
rid of it. I'm happy to report the snake made it out safely and never
hit the ground. |
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Arriving
on Sentosa Island we began to explore the different attractions. Fountain
Gardens, Pioneers of Singapore wax museum, the Maritime Museum, Fort
Siloso and the Coralarium are just a few. For Anne and I the main
attractions were Singapore's Underwater World Aquarium and Butterfly
Park. Sorry there are no pictures from Underwater World as it was
without question the best aquarium we've ever visited (and we've been
to quite a few). What was so magnificent about this aquarium is that
you ride on a sliding sidewalk through the main tank, a Plexiglas
chamber completely surrounding you. You have some fantastic views
of the sea life all around you (except under foot). It was beautiful
and quite an enjoyable experience.
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Anne
relaxing for a minute on the dragon's
nose in the park |
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Leaving
the aquarium we headed over to Butterfly Park stopping along the
way to enjoy Sentosa Island's park grounds. Our next stop after
Underwater World was Butterfly Park. To get there we decided to
walk through the park area rather than take the monorail. The park
was beautifully done and we enjoyed the few minutes just walking
and enjoying the sights.
Butterfly
Park is an enclosed area where there are hundreds of butterflies
and moths flying within the enclosure. It was beautiful to walk
so close amongst all the beautifully colored butterflies. Unfortunately
they are not always willing subjects for you to photograph, but
I did manage to capture a couple of good pictures. Enjoy them.
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| I
could have spent the entire day inside the Butterfly Park enclosure.
I am fascinated with taking pictures of all types of animals and certain
insects, like butterflies and spiders. Their coloration's are so beautiful
and difficult to capture accurately on film. As for butterflies this
was the perfect place. They were everywhere and accustomed to humans
chasing them about so it was relatively easy to get some good close
photos of them. |
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Sadly
just as you get everything down pat and really know how to negotiate
a city it becomes time to leave. Much to soon, but the reality of
the trip, that it's only a vacation, sets in and you prepare to
leave this beautiful city and move onto the next destination ...
Hong Kong. Here Anne is sitting and enjoying a last view of the
city from our hotel room before we depart for the airport and our
flight.
Singapore
without a doubt is a beautiful city. Its people were wonderful and
very friendly. Definitely we'll add this city to our list of "I'd
like to return someday" cities. See you on the next page in
Hong Kong!
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