Marina Bay Sands

Today we visited Marina Bay Sands, which consists of the hotel (three buildings with a surf board arrangement on top), the ArtScience Museum (looks like a giant hand), and the shopping complex.   

 Last year when we visited we went to the top of the hotel, where there is an observation platform and a large swimming pool.    The shops were only beginning to open up in the shopping complex and the ArtScience Museum was still under construction.

Everything has been built on reclaimed land, and there is a proposed high rise building programme beginning to the right of the complex.    When we lived here this was all open sea.    

You can now complete a circular walk (3 1/2 km) from the theatre, to Marina Bay Sands, around past Clifford Pier (now a hotel) and back to the theatre.   An easy walk, except that it was hot, we had to first walk there and walk back to the hotel, plus walk around the museum and shopping centre.   Our poor legs were a little tired when we returned this afternoon. 

 The shopping complex makes Bluewater look very small in comparison.   All the big names (clothes, jewellery, shoes, bags) from all over the world have shops in the complex.    No prices are shown though.   These are the sort of shops where you do not ask the price, you just buy the item desired.   Unfortunately, as pensioners we can only dream of shopping here.    There are three levels of shops, and many side arms.     This picture only shows a small section of the shopping complex.

The hotel foyer.    We decided not to eat here when we saw the prices.     

 The ArtScience Museum was interesting, from the very fact that it combines both art and science together (curiosity, inspiration and expression).   The design of the gallery is inspired by the lotus flower, and has a total of 10 fingers which make up the gallery spaces.    The tallest finger stands at 60 metres above ground.

There are two exhibitions on at the moment, the Titanic,The Artifact Exhibition and Dali, Mind of a Genius.   Both exhibitions are excellent and well worth seeing, i.e. if anyone is intending to visit Singapore in the next six months.   Perhaps the exhibitions are coming your way or maybe they have already been shown London, NZ or Australia and we are a little behind.

 The curved roof collects and channels rainwater through the central atrium of the building, down a 35 metre drop, and into a renewable water supply for the toilets.    There was a thunder storm while we were there and it certainly was very dramatic with all the rain pouring through the hole (see picture above).   It was not raining when I took this picture, luckily, otherwise I would have been soaked!

Walter enjoying his first coffee for the day, beside the skating rink which is made of plastic, not ice.

 The promenade outside the shopping centre.    The fully grown palm trees were not here last year.

Another view of the complex from the opposite side of the water.    

Impressive!