Lets Soar With Eagles

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Visiting Singapore; Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Resort & Casino; Resorts World Casino; Sentosa Island, Singapore; Sky Park; Sky Garden; Din Tai Fung.

Visiting Singapore; Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Resort & Casino; Resorts World Casino; Sentosa Island, Singapore; Sky Park; Sky Garden; Din Tai Fung.

During our last visit to Singapore, we were fortunate enough to have our friends offer to show us Singapore by car for two days.

Our Friends in Singapore

They picked us up at the airport and on the way to our hotel, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, we were able to see many of the changes in Singapore’s beautiful skyline and downtown area.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel is an integrated resort totaling 20 hectares of land which includes the hotel, shopping, a casino, and much, much more, located along the shore of Singapore’s Marina Bay.

The developers, Las Vegas Sands, states that this is world's most expensive standalone casino property totaling about $8 billion Singapore dollars! When it was completed, it was the world's largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines.

Marina Bay - Photo is Courtesy of the Internet

This fabulous hotel includes three massive towers with 2,561 rooms, a 1,300,000 sq. ft. convention & exhibition center, a 1,000,000 sq. ft. shopping mall (The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands) with over 300 retail stores, an Art & Science Museum, two large theaters (The Sands Theater and Grand Theater with a seating capacity of 1,680 people and 2,155 people respectively), six premier chef restaurants (including: Cut (by Wolfgang Puck), Waku Ghin (by Tetsuya Wakuda), Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza (by Mario Batali), Guy Savoy (by Guy Savoy), DB Bistro Moderne (by Daniel Boulud) , two floating Crystal Pavilions, and a 6,500 sq. ft. skating rink.

Stretching across the three towers of this complex is a 1,120 ft. long SkyPark with a maximum capacity of almost 4,000 people and an impressive 490 ft. infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 220 ft. This swimming pool is situated over 625 ft. (191 meters) above ground and holds over 375,000 gallons of water.

Sands Resort Swimming Pool

The lobby of this stunning hotel is the largest lobby I have ever seen in the world. In my lifetime of travel around the USA and world, I have probably stayed at more than 1,500 different hotels around the world, so believe me when I say, this lobby is huge.

Sands Hotel Lobby

A very sweet and friendly staff member at Check-In !

The staff at the reception area are well trained, courteous, kind and very helpful. I mentioned I would be enjoying my birthday during my stay, and reception arranged a nice surprise for me up in my room, and boy was it delicious !!!

First Class Service for my FREE Birtday Cake .... Yummy!

Happy Birthday Cake for Me !

Of course, we had to relax after our arrival, and there is no better place to just that other that the infinity pool at the top of the resort. Plenty of room for long swimming laps, for relaxing in the pools’ water fountains, benches, and the jacuzzi’s. From the pool, you will enjoy incredible sights of the Singapore sky line, and the sights in the pool area are very nice as well!!!!

What a Beautiful City View !

More Great Views

Peace and Tranquility at the Sky Pool

From the Sky Park and our Hotel room, we were able to get several nice pictures of the area around this fabulous Hotel & Resort, such as the Sky Garden Park.

Sky Garden

Later on that afternoon, they took us to Sentosa Island, and then a wonderful dinner that evening. The Island was renamed from Pulau Blakang Mati to Sentosa Island in 1972. The island can be accessed from Singapore city by car tunnel, by cable car, by monorail and by foot. In 1974, the cable car was built linking Sentosa to Mount Fabar in Singapore. The (10) years later in 1982, the monorail was opened in 1982, and the causeway bridge was opened in 1992. The monorail was closed in 2005, and a new high speed “Sentosa Express” opened in 2007. Finally, the foot bridge for walking pedestrians opened in 2011.

The island has had tourist attractions for decades, and these attractions generate about 20 million visitors per year.

Entering Sentosa Island on the Causeway Bridge

Sentosa Cable Car

Sentosa Express Monorail

Sentosa Cable Car

Entrance to Sentosa Beach

Maritime Experimental Museum & Sea Aquarium

Most famous is the tallest Merlion statue in Singapore. The merlion has been a marketing tool and is widely used as a mascot and national personification of Singapore. You can even find images of the Merlion on many Singapore postage stamps.

The Famous Singapore Merlion on Sentosa Island

Resorts World Hotel was a huge undertaking and the developers spent almost $5.0 Billion USD on this project. Not only are there six (6) hotels with a total of 1840 rooms. And a massive 15,000 sq. ft. casino, but there is also many fine restaurants, spas, a large shopping mall, a Marine Life Park, a Maritime Experimental Museum and Universal Studios Singapore!!

After dinner, my wife just had to go to find delicious durian back in Singapore.

In my last blog, I showed several photos of the durian that they purchased, opened and ate, but like I said in that blog, durian is just not for me.

As many of you know, I do collect casino chips and enjoy some gaming experiences at casinos. This trip, Singapore has two of the larger casinos in the world at the Marina Bay Sands and at Resorts World on Sentosa Island. This was a lucky trip for me because at the Sands Casino, I won a few hundred Singapore dollars at the casino, but at the Resorts World Casino, I won over $1000 Singapore on one hand at a table game. What a great way to help fund our vacation to Singapore!

By the way, photos inside the casinos in Singapore are prohibited.

Entrance to Resorts World Casino

Beautiful Orchids Everywhere in Singapore

Below are some of the Casino chips from the two casinos that I collected from the gaming tables during my visit.

My Singapore and Sentosa Island Casino Chips

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The next day, we did have a chance to go shopping at the many, many shops at the Marina Bay Sands Resort.

A glimpse of the Marina Bay Sands Mall

Leaving Hotel Reception to our Hotel Room

On Display in the Mall

We found a store there that rented either a red or yellow Ferrari by the hour. (We also found one of these Ferrari rentals in Dubai as well.)

Ferrari Ultimate Drive

Later that evening, we saw both of these incredible cars parked outside the Sands Hotel!

Actual Ferrari's for Rent at Ultimate Drive, Parked outside the Hotel

When we found a Din Tai Fung restaurant in Singapore, we had to stop and enjoy a nice snack. This is one of our favorite restaurant chains, and we have eaten at their stores in the US, Taiwan, China and now Singapore. If you like Xiao Long Bao dumplings, Din Tai Fung has some of the best in the world!!!!

Din Tai Fung

We also tried some local food during our stay.

Local food Famous for their Southeast Asian Chicken dish

Delicious !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Singapore, Marina Bay, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Sands Marina Bay Casino and Resort, Westin Stamford Hotel, Boat Quay, Clarke Quay, Hot Stone Restaurants, Durian fruit.

If you read my earlier Blog of “My Top 10 Vacation destinations around the World” posted in January 2013, the modern and delightful country of Singapore was listed as #5 on that list. Since then friends of ours recently invited us to Singapore for a 3 day vacation while we were traveling in Asia on business and pleasure. The Singapore International Airport, in my opinion, is one of the finest in the world. There is much to see and to do in this very large airport including fine shops, restaurants, lounges, etc., and when you eventually find your way past Immigration, your bags are usually there waiting for you. So many other airports make you wait up to a half an hour or more for your bags.

My previous visit to Singapore was in November 2008 strictly for business. During that trip, I stayed at 5 star Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Marina Bay. This was a wonderful hotel, and just across the bay was the new Sands Hotel/Casino resort under construction. I knew then that I just had to come back and stay at the Sands Marina Bay Resort and visit their casino after it was completed. More on the Sands Casino and Hotel Resort at Marina Bay in my next blog posting.

The photo below is from the Mandarin Oriental, Marina Bay website, and of course this was taken more recently after the Sands project was completed.

Walking the City at Night

City at Sunset

Courtesy of internet (Mandarin Oriental, Marina Bay)

My first of many trips to Singapore on business began in October 1995. During that visit and most of the other 20+ trips to Singapore, I stayed at the Westin Stamford, (now owned by Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts and known as Swissôtel The Stamford). When this hotel was completed in 1986, it was then the tallest hotel in the world.

Courtesy of internet (Westin Stamford)

I loved staying at the Westin Stamford because there was a large underground shopping area, a short walk to the subway as well as the Boat Quay along the Singapore River, and a quick taxi ride to the Clarke Quay. Both the Boat Quay and the Clarke Quay are famous shopping, dining and night entertainment areas in downtown Singapore. Each floor is circular and all rooms have a wonderful perspective view of the city. The bar on the top floor is a great place to relax and enjoy a few cocktails after a busy work day. The food and service was superb back then, and I can only hope that under new management, they continue to live up to Westin Stamford’s heritage in Singapore.

Courtesy of internet (Boat Quay at Night)

Courtesy of internet (Boat Quay)

Courtesy of internet Clarke Quay at night)

The Boat and Clarke Quays have great restaurants along the river. Two of my more memorable restaurants were outdoors on a boat docked along the Singapore River at Boat quay, and on River Valley Road at Clarke Quay, that served its meals on HOT STONES. You simply order your uncooked steak, seafood, or other meats and vegetables, and they bring them to the table on a plate along with a HOT STONE, placed on a heavy wood platter. The Hot Stone is heated in special ovens and when you place your food on the stone, the food “sizzles” and cooks quickly and you can cook your food until it is just right for you!

Courtesy of internet (Hot Stone)

“Hot Stones Steak and Seafood Restaurant” located at Clarke Quay has a website and they state:

“…… features a unique dining concept that involves cooking fresh meats and seafood on serpentine volcanic stone slabs. This method seals in the natural juices of the food, providing extraordinary flavour and taste. The restaurant prides itself for giving diners an unforgettable experience by letting the freshness of its produce do the talking.”

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Durian on Sale at a Singapore street market

Most Americans and Europeans that have not traveled to Asia or know people that have done so are missing out on many interesting things to do in Singapore including eating fresh durian fruit after a nice meal at Clarke Quay. On my second trip to Singapore, enjoying a nice meal with my business associates, they started talking about walking down the quay to buy some fresh durian. When I asked them about durian, they of course started laughing and they answered in contradictions such as: “Delicious”, “Best fruit in the world”, “simply disgusting”, “YUCK”, and much more. My closest friend, Shawn, was honestly candid and said to me, “…… durian tastes like HEAVEN, but smells like HELL”. Now I was really curious and said how can something that tastes that wonderful smell that bad???? Now I did not know what to really believe, but I said in candor that we just had to go try this durian.

You pay by the weight and grade of the durian fruit

Durian Fruit after the first BITE!

Selected Durian available for take home

Opening a Durian for our friend

Ready to eat

OK, now that I have your attention, Wikipedia states that: “the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending on the species…….”. Durian trees are large, growing to 25–50 metres (80–164 ft) in height depending on the species…….”.

As we approached this small stand/stall at the end of Clarke Quay, there was a long line of at least 15-20 people waiting to buy a fresh durian. Behind the stand under a tarp covering was several large groups of tables where people ate their durian. As we got closer to the stand, I certainly did not smell anything at all so I was convinced this “tastes like HEAVEN, but smells like HELL” was a trick or sham. The seller reached behind in large crates of durian and selected a fruit. The outer husk is thick and hard so it took a very sharp and long machete knife to hack through the husk to expose the “meaty” fruit inside. The customers used their fingers to poke the fruit inside to determine its ripeness. The vendor did put aside a couple durians and open another for a few customers and once they were satisfied, he opened the rest of the fruit to eat. Inside there are several “pockets” surrounding the fruit so he had to cut open the durian fruit in three or four times.

Once it was our turn, I politely stood behind my friends as our fruit was opened, and I still did not have any indication of an unpleasant odor. We paid for the fruit and he put it on a tray and set it on the table behind him. As we walked around the stall…….”POW”….”WHAM” …… “OMG” …. the odor/smell/stench was totally overwhelming to me.

I have never experienced such a terrible smell in my life and I was not expecting this at all. In that moment it smelled about as bad as stagnant swamp gas, foul sewer gas, or a dead, decomposing rat. I immediately turned around and announced that I was not going to join in and eat durian.

Now, I do not want to offend any of my readers, because I have since gone back to these durian markets with my friends and my wife, and sat down at the same table as they consumed this fruit. I have become somewhat tolerant of the odor, but it still is not on my list of favorite fragrances!

Just so you know, Wikipedia has the following text describing a durian:

“The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour that is strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance; others find the aroma overpowering and revolting. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage. The persistence of its odour, which may linger for several days, has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.”

On every subway entrance in Singapore, as well as other public including hotels, etc., have signs such as the one below that indicates that durian fruit (and other products) are not allowed.

Courtesy of internet

In Singapore there is an area, not too far from the red light district, that has open markets and stalls lined up on both sides of the street for more than a mile or so. (Sorry I do not remember the name of the street.) But below are actual photos I took of some of the markets along with many other interesting Southeast Asia fruits that I DO enjoy eating….