Singapore is a fabulous port! What J liked most about it – was that we could get off the ship and walk to see sights that were incredible.
We were provided with stickers to wear today that read “Still on Vacation” In-Transit Guest Norwegian Sun. The stickers made walking off the ship about 7:20 am a breeze, while others were disembarking with luggage and saying farewell.
We had preplanned our day to walk to the Gardens By the Bay – about a 40 minute walk away. The gardens are beautiful and fragrant with lots of blooming flowers. Many people visit to see two conservatories, the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome as their destination – and that costs $46 Singapore dollars (about the same as CAD) to enter. We knew from both our sisters that there was much to see without paying admission.
The Supertree grove was under construction in 2012- they are plant covered structures that reach 50 metres in height. The Supertress, equipped with advanced sustainable energy and water technologies, function alongside the two domes to release hot, mosit air through their tops.
Our eldest son had told us that Singapore is renowned for developing a healthy riparian habitat along their river system, known to have a population of river otters.
This was our next destination – the Marina Bay Sands. Three iconic hotel towers connected at the top by the massive, ship-like Sands SkyPark, featuring the famous infinity pool and observation deck, a structure longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall and cantilevered over the edge, showcasing impressive engineering to overcome complex structural challenges like wind forces and asymmetrical loads.
I wanted to go to the Sands SkyPark on the 56 floor of these 3 hotel towers. It is a 340 metre long platform atop the towers, housing gardens, restaurants and the iconic infinity pool (featured in the movie Crazy Rich Asians). Our humble access didn’t allow us to see the infinity pool. That is reserved for hotel guests willing to shell out more than $1,000 per night to stay there!
The views at the top were stunning. When I think that we paid $31 to go to the top, that seems like a far better view we got than we would if we went to the top of the Calgary Tower for about the same price! And we got fresh air!
Selfies like this were common.
We then walked through some expensive Singapore shoppes located below ground – with recognizable brand names that were out of our price range. I was on a mission – so we found a more common mall and I was able to find an Apple store – where I bought a slim power pack to give my phone more battery life each day when we travel (and drain our phones of battery while taking photos and using google maps). We used all the Singapore currency we had and I had to charge $1 on my credit card!
We then walked back to the ship in the heat – dripping with sweat!
We went straight for lunch in the Seven Seas Dining Room, and then had the joy of meeting up with J’s sister Jessica and her friend Lynn. We went and scouted out their verandah room
Dinner awaits. I wanted to get this posted while I still had coverage with my e-sim card!
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