Sentosa and Vivocity
Today I went to allegedly the southern most point of Continental Asia. There is a sign and it is labelled as such on google maps but this claim makes absolutely no sense to me as Palawan island, off Sentosa island, off Singapore island is North of the southernmost point of Sentosa island. Very confusing, I spent an hour trying to figure this out. I failed.
Sentosa is a theme park island joined onto the south of Singapore by a causeway, monorail and gondola. Universal studios is there as well as a lot of other things.
There are also 3 different beaches the public can access, as well as a lot of private ones and a secretive gated community and golf course.
Today was much much hotter than yesterday, so after I finished walking around Sentosa, I fled into the air conditioning of the giant Vivocity mall, and walked around until the sweat dried before enjoying a frozen lunch.
Before heading to Sentosa I did a lap of Bugis, where the Buddhists are busy preparing for the upcoming Buddha's birthday shopping extravaganza.
Also the South Indian temples were making a lot of noise, with a lot of dodgy looking guys hanging around.
The causeway / boardwalk across to Sentosa has moving walkways, long since abandoned.
Cruise ships, and the gondolas, you will see this view again later with better clouds.
Arriving by foot on Sentosa was underwhelming, a giant construction zone, with diversions everywhere.
It seems to me the goal was to funnel everyone to Universal studios.
The price to get in for the basic ticket starts at $80, but to do anything, you need a PLETHORA of other 'passes' that start from $100, depending on demand, so it is basically at least $180 to get in. And yet despite that, grown adults were jumping up and down on the spot screaming with excitement as the hype guy is introducing a couple of Malaysian slaves brought in this morning in a cage on the back of a truck (look it up) so they can stand all day in the heat in a rubber minion suit.
Eventually I found a way to get bypass the entrance to Universal studios, but everywhere you turn on Sentosa is 'ticket info'.
Madam Tussauds has exactly zero customers. I doubt the Vin Diesel out the front is really made of wax because surely it would melt.
The term 'Mount' is thrown around haphazardly in Singapore.
Look at all the ships!
Adventure world also has, zero customers.
From the top of Mount Imbiah, you can see the old gun battery. I could take out 50 oil tankers, no problem.
There are some decent short trails around Mount Imbiah, with zero other people.
Now it was beach time. No people!
You can go bungy jumping if you enjoy dumb ways to die. They can't even spell bungee correctly, how could I trust them to weigh me, write that down correctly, measure the rubber cable length correctly, strap me in correctly etc etc, get that wrong at any step of the way and your head goes 12 foot into concrete. I saw no one jump.
There are a lot of shops and small malls around, the building on the right is one of those indoor skydiving things where you hope the net over the giant fan does not rip.
OMG I found the missing Malaysian airlines jet. Now I know that everyone takes a photo and says that, and for that reason, I am very surprised this exists as a Malaysian airlines jet and not some made up airline.
The food trucks had zero customers.
The 2nd beach and floaty adventure world had... zero customers.
This is taken from the viewing platform on allegedly the southern most point of continental Asia. You can see a couple of other people on the rope bridge.
Where the hell is everyone? Too hot for the beach?
OK, the third and last beach.
I walked a strange way to get back to the causeway, and was genuinely concerned I was going to hit a dead end as I walked past a freeway onramp and toll booth.
However, there was then a tunnel and a temporary diversion around all the construction work.
The trip back over the causeway was thundery. Nice clouds.
Vivocity is an enormous mall. I spent a lot of time here before a late night flight once, killing time in the air conditioning.
And so to further cool down, acai bowl. It was good, and much cheaper than in Australia.
Orchard Road for Hong Kong food
Somehow I managed to get over 40,000 steps per day for each of the last 2 days, in the heat in Singapore. I think this would be a pretty rare thing to do, so there is photographic evidence below.
Because I had already walked very far today, this evening I just walked further up Orchard road and back. There is a lot to see, mostly far under ground or occasionally in a tube above ground.
I saw a lot of places to eat, all of them with a lot of people lined up, or with a lot of reserved tables with umbrellas left on them. A lot of things you need to do to order food and find a seat when you are alone are far easier in Japan than Singapore. Also it is hard to photograph your own watch on your wrist.
SECURITY ENFORCER ...securing effectively through ENFORCEMENT
Autonomous killbots are out to kill you in Singapore.
I thought I had better take an actual photo of me in Singapore, looking my best.
Now it was time for the tube viewing gallery. I thought it might be a gallery full of tubes, but no, it is a tube to look out of.
The view through the glass tube to the outside world was somewhat distorted.
A lot of the time in Singapore you can get a good contrast of the old and the new.
This is Ion Orchard, one of the flashier looking megamalls.
There are a lot of weird buildings with no guts. The goal of architects seems to be to waste as much space as possible with hollowed out useless bits covered in rotting plants and pink lights.
Here is my dinner, Hong Kong style bbq pork and wonton noodle combo. $7, quite nice.
The walk back was full of buskers, mildly annoying as they block the whole walking area.
Harvey Norman exists in Singapore, to minimize taxes. Which is amusing if you know the histrionics their billionaire owner goes on about in Australia. They also exist in Ireland. That's is all the evidence anyone needs.
And finally... the proof of 40k steps photo. I ended up taking my watch off to get a clear shot. I don't know how all those guys in the Rolex ads manage to get such clear shots of the watches on their own wrists!
The end for now
There are currently 2 comments - click to add
mother on 2025-04-25 said:
I want to see photos of Raffles.
adriana on 2025-04-25 said:
pretty beaches. Everyone must be at work/