SENTOSA: An Island off the main land of Singapore. Housing the famous Resorts World, beautiful hotels, extravagant houses with their private beaches, and the Universal Studios Singapore.
In recent years, the beautiful lights on the waterfront at night, the architecture, the additions of new hotels, casino, and famous theme park has bumped Sentosa up to be one of the MUST VISIT tourist attractions in Singapore. When one does a google image search of Sentosa, they get the glamorous lights, beautiful mansion houses, incredible architecture. Although these additions have definitely spruced up Sentosa, it is not what immediately comes to my mind whenever I think about Sentosa.
Going to Sentosa was a highlight in my childhood. Mostly because it meant a day of fun at the beach, with the whole family, and more often than not it would involve staying in one of the older resorts there - Siloso Beach Resorts or Costa Sands Sentosa.
Other memories include going to Palawan Beach - the most popular beach in Sentosa - for beach activities during various camps, and "school's out" days. It was never about the glitz and glamour as what most tourist imagine it to be.
When my UK roommate (who was such an AWESOME roommate btw!), Sophia, came over to Singapore for a visit, instead of going to Universal Studios as most tourist would, we decided to take it old school!
Having not gone to Sentosa to have fun in such a long time, I almost forgot what there was to do apart from the newly built attractions. Sophia, Jerald and I took the monorail into Sentosa from Vivocity and alighted at the Beach Station. Luckily, the information centre was located at the entrance of the station, and we found out that with the Sentosa Day Play Pass, for a price of SGD$59 we could go to 5 different attractions - WAY cheaper than the sum of the price of each!
The first attraction we headed for was the Luge and Skyride Combination. Even though it's an event more geared towards younger children around 10-13 years of age, we kind of did have fun. We chose to take a Luge (sort of like a cart) down the longer route - dragon route - and then enjoyed a nice Skyride above the trees back to our original point.
After our Luge ride, it started to get a little drizzly, and felt like it was going to rain. So to hide out from the rain, we decided to head into the S.E.A Aquarium. I've been to the aquarium probably about 4 times now, and I have always been just as impressed. Partly because I'm pretty obsessed with dolphins, so I could spend the whole day just standing in front of the window watching the dolphins swim by.
Before we entered the aquarium, there was this section of exhibits show casing the different cultures, heritage, and artefacts depicting the life of travelers and immigrants from all over Asia and parts of the Middle East. I never understood why this was placed before the Aquarium, but most people never really stop for long to give the exhibits their time because every one just wants to see the fishes, and SHARKS - the first thing you see when you step into the Aquarium!
Apart from the dolphins, the jellyfishes in the multitude of colours have always caught my attention. Every single time I went to the aquarium, I stopped and took photos of the jelly fishes. I have no idea how many photos i've taken of them in the last 4 times i've been into the S.E.A Aquarium. Honestly though, aren't they just too cute?
For our third attraction, we went up the Tiger Sky Tower and caught and incredible Bird's eye view of Singapore's Harbourfront area, part of the mainland, and the whole of Sentosa. Something I have yet to see in my 21 years of living here! That was pretty incredible (although slightly hazy weather meant not the best visibility).
After seeing the entire of Singapore from above, we went to have food in Toastbox. Toastbox serves typical Singaporean food, and people usually go there for breakfast. But somehow I have this theory that Toastbox in sentosa has a slightly different menu than the regular Toastboxes on the main island of Singapore. I could be wrong. What I know for sure though, is that it is slightly pricer, but still cheaper than a lot of the eating places in Sentosa.
Another alternative would be going to the food centre in Resorts World to try some Malaysian/Singaporean local dishes - which we did too! Char Kway Teow is my weakness in life.
TIP: Bring your own food to Sentosa! You could always have a meal, picnic-style, on the beach!
Another attraction/experience we went for was the Parajump. I didn't find it exceptionally scary. Even though they said we were jumping from a height of 6 stories, it was over in 2seconds I could barely react before my feet touched the ground. I'm quite an adrenaline junkie, which could be why I didn't find it all too scary, someone with the fear of heights might freak out a little before the jump.
Eventually, the Sun began to set and we had 1 last attraction we wanted to go to. The Wings of Time.
When I was younger, this water + light + fountain show was called the musical fountain. Over the years, the show has changed in terms of its content, effects, etc.
I don't quite remember how the show was like in the past, but I remember watching a different version to the one I watched that night. Regardless, watching the fountain show isn't for the story. One simply goes to catch fireworks, light effects, and water blazing out in various formations.
Its well worth it though. I think the effects are pretty cool.
Sadly, the weather wasn't brilliant that night. By 8pm it started pouring, and we were pretty much soaking wet despite having an umbrella over our heads. So the 3 of us just watched the water fountains show in the rain. Talk about literally experiencing the water effects.
TIP: 1) Check the weather forecast, 2) Remember to go early enough so you get a good seat!
Visiting Sentosa old-school style and going to some of the attractions I used to go to when I was younger definitely brought back memories! Even though the USS Theme Park and Resorts World, hotels, and the entire area of Sentosa Cove is pretty incredible and glamorous, I much prefer going to the older attractions (ok a mixture of old and new) and remembering Sentosa for what it was like in the past.
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