Surprising Singapore
December 24, 2006 | 12:00am
Any way you look at Singapore, one thing is certain: the place is never the same way twice. As a city that takes pride in its flux, Singapore thrives on change and seems always set to take the world by surprise. Perhaps the best evidence of its changing face is how a Malaysian I met recently used the word "funky" to describe Singapore’s appeal as a destination.
As if sprung from its straight-laced cocoon, Singapore has made successful inroads as a top Asian destination – and not just for its reputation as a choice venue for meetings and conventions.
When flower petals rained on Singapore’s nine millionth visitor this month, marking a record number of visitor arrivals to the city-state, it was a portent of bigger things to come in a place where the wind of change is evidently blowing.
Take, for instance, the upcoming opening of two casinos in 2009 and 2010 following a decades-old ban on gambling in the city. If development happens as planned, one of these casinos will become part of a 49-hectare resort that will also be home to a Universal Studios theme park, and a huge outdoor marine park on Sentosa Island.
Now, that’s Singapore in a whole new light for you.
These days, there are just a lot more things to love about Singapore than there were, say, two or three years ago, whether it’s the attractions, the food, the entertainment, the shopping, or whatever guilty pleasure might be your thing.
It’s a discovery that our group of young newspaper and magazine editors and writers, cozily referred to as the "awesome" tribe, were only too happy to make on a recent gustatory and adventure ride to one of Asia’s tourism jewels.
Never mind that a tour of Sentosa Island, the Underwater World or even the Night Safari was not on our itinerary; Singapore was right there at our feet just waiting to surprise us.
Allow me, however, to play favorites, and pardon me for not being all too crazy about Crazy Horse, the "erotic cabaret" which I am told gives Singapore the distinction of being the largest venue in the world — and the first in Asia — of the 100-minute spectacle off dance, lights, and perfect human form and movement (Do I hear RJ Ledesma joining the "Good Girl" chorus while grinning from ear to ear?).
Although ’tis the season for lists on what’s naughty and nice, let me run down an all-nice-nothing-naughty list of my favorites in the Lion City – and I don’t mean Sentosa Island:
It’s a branding coup of stratospheric proportions, if you ask me: DHL gets its brand up in the sky with Singapore’s first helium balloon ride that provides a bird’s eyeview to one of the world’s most spectacular cityscapes. This 10-minute ride is definitely worth taking if only to see Singapore’s splendor in a nutshell. (Come to think of it, the time saved touring the city from one hotspot to the next with this neat ride can actually go to shopping time on Orchard Road!) Tickets are priced at $23 (adult), $13 (child) and $2 (toddler).
Speaking of branding masterstrokes, here’s another one: The Carlsberg Sky Tower, which is no different from the Ocean Park Sky Tower in Hong Kong. The Sky Tower in Sentosa Island is another way to get high in Singapore and see the city’s great skyline from a height of 36 storeys, four storeys below DHL Balloon heights. Admission to the Carlsberg Sky Tower costs $10 per adult and $6 for children under 12 years of age.
For acrophobes who don’t relish the idea of an airborne adventure, there’s another way to do a city tour of Singapore by land and on water – the Duck Tours. Singapore has both Hippo and Duck Tours, but it’s the Duck Tours amphibious adventure on a Vietnam War craft that combines both city and harbor tours. Docking at the Suntec City, the vehicle cuts through heritage sites of Singapore by land and then splashes into the water en route to the Merlion Park. The guides also do a great job of entertaining tour-goers with gimmicks on board. Very Western.
Believe it or not, I had my first taste of crabs — and stingray — at East Coast Park’s Long Beach Island. Not the type to fidget with "difficult" food that takes more effort to solve than to eat, I never had crabs until I laid my hands on Singapore’s Chili Crabs. The dish, as popularized thereabouts, is served with sweet bread biscuits that you dip in Chili Crab sauce for an irresistible tang that stays on long after you’ve left the city. They actually serve stingray at Long Beach Island and probably even in other seafood restos at the East Coast Park, and believe me, it can really leave you breathless.
The East Coast Park is actually one of Singapore’s top attractions, luring three times more tourists to its fold than the Philippines ever welcomed in any year. It’s also the most popular beach park in Singapore. Besides its melange of seafood restaurants, the East Coast Park also has the Ski 360degree park, where tourists and locals flock to cable ski, wakeboard, or to watch the experts do their thing. The cable ski system is propped up by a cable that runs counter-clockwise around a lake, reaching top speeds of 58kph. By the way, the Filipina attendant at the park was quick to volunteer that the Philippines had its own cable ski park – touted as the best in the world – at the Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex, which we found out has been driving up much-needed tourism numbers in Bicol.
In the tradition of the great Sydney Opera House, the Esplanade Theater is one of Singapore’s great landmarks and venues for staging world-class performances. You don’t go missing the Esplanade when you tour Singapore as its durian-inspired structure is a sight to behold. Luckily, we were there when the Vienna Boys Choir was set to perform before a full house of tourists and locals. How the audience burst into wild applause and approval when the boys started singing, "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…" in a take off from the popular ditty from Walt Disney’s The Lion King. Lovers of theater, take note: The Esplanade stages The Phantom of the Opera in March 2007.
The new Sentosa Luge & Skyride at Sentosa Island is the stuff of joyrides and broken hearts that children take again and again and again till their folks say it’s time to go. The luge — part go-cart and part-toboggan — is the first in Southeast Asia, and while it’s probably no more than a minute long, the ride provides the sort of thrill that lingers. It’s one excitement after another as a skyride takes you back to the start of the tracks after the luge attack. The ride costs $8 per person for one luge and skyride and $15 for two luge and skyrides.
The last time I was in Singapore a month ago, they were still finishing up Vivocity, the largest retail, entertainment and lifestyle destination in the city, and the St. James Power Station, Singapore’s largest one-stop nightlife destination. Both were scheduled for opening by the end of this year.
There’s an amazing storehouse of surprises still waiting to be unraveled in a place that never stays the same way twice. As they say of the gravity-defying luge ride at Sentosa, "once is never enough" in swinging, surprising Singapore.
Indeed, a brand-new Singapore awaits.
As if sprung from its straight-laced cocoon, Singapore has made successful inroads as a top Asian destination – and not just for its reputation as a choice venue for meetings and conventions.
When flower petals rained on Singapore’s nine millionth visitor this month, marking a record number of visitor arrivals to the city-state, it was a portent of bigger things to come in a place where the wind of change is evidently blowing.
Take, for instance, the upcoming opening of two casinos in 2009 and 2010 following a decades-old ban on gambling in the city. If development happens as planned, one of these casinos will become part of a 49-hectare resort that will also be home to a Universal Studios theme park, and a huge outdoor marine park on Sentosa Island.
Now, that’s Singapore in a whole new light for you.
These days, there are just a lot more things to love about Singapore than there were, say, two or three years ago, whether it’s the attractions, the food, the entertainment, the shopping, or whatever guilty pleasure might be your thing.
It’s a discovery that our group of young newspaper and magazine editors and writers, cozily referred to as the "awesome" tribe, were only too happy to make on a recent gustatory and adventure ride to one of Asia’s tourism jewels.
Never mind that a tour of Sentosa Island, the Underwater World or even the Night Safari was not on our itinerary; Singapore was right there at our feet just waiting to surprise us.
Allow me, however, to play favorites, and pardon me for not being all too crazy about Crazy Horse, the "erotic cabaret" which I am told gives Singapore the distinction of being the largest venue in the world — and the first in Asia — of the 100-minute spectacle off dance, lights, and perfect human form and movement (Do I hear RJ Ledesma joining the "Good Girl" chorus while grinning from ear to ear?).
Although ’tis the season for lists on what’s naughty and nice, let me run down an all-nice-nothing-naughty list of my favorites in the Lion City – and I don’t mean Sentosa Island:
The last time I was in Singapore a month ago, they were still finishing up Vivocity, the largest retail, entertainment and lifestyle destination in the city, and the St. James Power Station, Singapore’s largest one-stop nightlife destination. Both were scheduled for opening by the end of this year.
There’s an amazing storehouse of surprises still waiting to be unraveled in a place that never stays the same way twice. As they say of the gravity-defying luge ride at Sentosa, "once is never enough" in swinging, surprising Singapore.
Indeed, a brand-new Singapore awaits.
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