Singapore day trip

We had numerous stopovers on our way home, one of them being Singapore.  We spent the day in the architecturally diverse city, and marvelled at the creativity on the skyline.  

In the photos below, see if you can spot a shopping mall in the shape of a durian fruit, the Singapore high court (which looks like a mini White House, except that it's grey and green), a 'boat' sitting on top of three towers. I know, improbable right, but if you look hard enough you'll spot it!

Marina Bay Sands is the name of the eye-catching architecture above (not really sure what to call it, a tower, a skyscraper, a boat?!).  It's a fairly new building, opened in 2010, and is the world's second most expensive building.  Pretty much it's 55 storeys of lux hotel rooms, with a ship on top, housing a 150m long infinity pool and mini forest, commanding a massive view of either the city scape or the boats out to sea.  When we finally found the lift, we had a giggle at the number sequence on the buttons.  Yep, we zoomed up 57 floors in only a few seconds, our ears popping on the way up.  The three towers are joined by the floating boat structure, which apparently is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall. It's impressive!

Spectacular 360 degree views greeted us.  Between Marina Bay Sands and the deep blue sea is a 101 hectare garden, complete with two bubble-like glass houses (one cool-dry and the other cool-moist), and sculpture after sculpture, all oversized.  We saw a grove of 16 storey tall tree sculptures, with solar catching technology, and walkways through the top of the trees to an opulent cafe.

If you're into shopping, Singapore is the place to be.  On a 15 minute stroll downtown, we passed four massive shopping malls.  We looked around the Marina Bay Sands 'Shoppes' mostly.  We're not tons into buying stuff, or having to store it, but it was window shopping heaven.  One Rolex was going out the door for $250 000 NZ, which was a little out of our league.  Funnily enough, it's overdose of diamonds made it utterly unattractive.

There's a canal that runs through the shopping complex, you can pop into the world's largest Louis Vuitton boutique, or skate at the 600m square indoor skating rink (on synthetic ice).  In the mall there are two theatres, seating a combined total of almost 4000 theatre-goers (that's a lot).

The time had come to head home.  Seeing the Air New Zealand staff at Singapore (and Melbourne) airports was cool.  They were a smiling ray of sunshine in the otherwise monotonously blank faced crowd that is Asia.  Kiwis are so cool, we love to connect, we love to share stories, and we know how to live meaningful lives.  We're looking forward to heading home.  Home ... maybe the sweetest word that exists!