Orchard Road and the Gardens by the Bay

I knocked off work a bit early today (I earned it - have been working till midnight some nights this week!) with the intention of getting in before dark and going to do some exploring.  However once I got back to the hotel, I was dripping with sweat and the pool looked very inviting, so I got in for a bit then chilled on the sun loungers.

After an hour or so I decided not to be lazy, and caught the free shuttle bus to Orchard Road.  If you've been to Singapore or read any guidebooks, you'll know that this is THE shopping metropolis.  It is exactly how the guidebooks described - busy, throbbing and glitzy.  When I first stepped out of the MRT station, all I could hear was alarms - I thought a shop had been broken in to.  I realised no one else seemed concerned, and it dawned on me that the 'alarms' were actually birds screeching overhead - and boy what a racket they were making.

Every shop you can think of is here - it's a huge road made up of massive malls either side and very exclusive hotels.  Most of the shops are designer brands, so I didn't bother going into them, and ended up instead in Lucky Plaza mall.  It had thousands of tacky tourist gift shops, many beauticians and lots of cheap shoes and clothes.  It reminded me of a big inside version Peckham, minus the butchers and hair floating about on the street.

Here's a few photos:

christmas is coming
Mini McDonalds!
very long queue for newly opened krispy kreme

inside Lucky Plaza mall
i am sure this has been photographed
a million times by tourists!
a Maserati
         followed by a Ferrari (just after a parked Lamborghini)



orchard road

Ion Centre

After a while I got a bit overwhelmed and seeing as I wasn't there to shop, decided I wanted some peace and quiet.  I jumped onto the MRT and headed to Bayfront, to see the Gardens by the Bay.  I am so glad I did (even if I did get bitten to death by mozzies - totally forgot to put on the repellent).


MRT station

MRT train, so clean!
 The place is amazing.  I saw it in the dark, but would like to go back during the day too.  First of all, you get incredible views of the Marina Bay Sands hotel.  I was up the top of this the other day, and I honestly think it's the most incredible building I have ever seen.  I am totally in awe of it.  It's so huge, and such an interesting design.  It looks like a ship has been dropped from the sky and landed on some buildings.  Or a giant ironing board - your choice.

The gardens themselves are lovely, I had a romantic walk for one.  The centre piece is these weird tree like space structures - I felt like I was in Avatar or something.  They light up different colours to music in the evening, and the largest middle one has a bar on top.  The rest of the gardens are split into sections with different themes.  I think the Chinese garden was my favourite as it had a water feature, and I do love a water feature!  The Gardens are separated from the road by a large lake, which has huge dragon fly sculptures dotted across it.  The smell of the Gardens was divine, no idea what it was but it was lush.

view from the bridge to the gardens

avatar!


inside marina bay sands hotel

There was a bit more to look at but I was fed up with the mosquitoes so decided to head home as it was also getting late.  I started to walk the 3k home when I realised the light and laser show outside the hotel had just started, so I grabbed a seat and settled down to watch. it was amazing! They create a screen from water spray and project images on to it (i think that's how it works anyway).  It was very cheesy - I think there was a story behind it and it was basically a baby and how he grows from a baby to a toddler to a boy to a man, gets married etc.  It was played to music with light and lasers in time to the music, and the whole thing was beautiful - it made me a bit emosh!!  There was even fire and bubbles!  I took a bit of a video of it but it's about a million megabytes so I don't know if it'll upload.   If you want to take a look just search for 'Wonder Full Marina Bay Sands" on youtube.

show about to start.....

and oooooooooh

lights and bubbles




On the way home I walked through Clarke Quay and it has such a great night life - every pub and bar was playing the sort of music I wish they would play back home, and it made me really wish I had some friends out here with me to party with. So if anyone fancies a trip out here in the next 6 weeks....... ;-)

Comments

  1. Love reading this darling,so glad you're experiencing all this - just wish it was the holidays so we could come out and visit you :(

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