Seeing Sentosa from the sky

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During my first visit to Singapore, I opted to skip the typical tourist spots but I was with my parents this time so I chose to visit one of the major tourist draws: Sentosa, an island resort in the southern part of the country. Because we had a very limited time allotted for seeing Sentosa, we chose to do the fast way, via cable car which provided a generous bird's eye view of the place.


Inside the cable car, we were happy that there was ample ventilation and that the cable car had transparent sides. We could take as many photos as we could. Daddy was taking photos with his iPad (so that the pictures would also be huge) while I was using my trusty Canon Powershot SX720 HS for the long shots and my mobile phone for group photos.


As the cable car moved away from the forested area and glided closer to the water, we were surprised to see three islets; beyond these islets were many ships and what looked like an oil refinery at the back. I just found the sea here exceedingly crowded. 


The beach we were looking out turned out to be Siloso Beach. It's apparent that outdoor activities and sports were concentrated in this area. It may have been named after Fort Siloso, which was used by the British to protect Singapore from a sea invasion. 


Siloso Beach appeared to be the place for people seeking an adrenaline rush. There's a platform for bungee jumping (don't count me in!) and for zip lines. For the people avoiding their fear of heights, they were content with walking on the golden sand and over the floating bridge.


I'm not sure if I'd be interested in swimming here, despite the calm waters. The sight of ships nearby suggests that the water gets deep quite fast. But I'm sure that it's safe; I'm just used to beaches that aren't quite as busy as Siloso Beach.


Aside from seeing Sentosa via the cable car, we also rode the Tiger Sky Tower. It's a slowly rotating platform that allowed us to get a 360-degree view of Sentosa. I saw the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore and the Adventure Cove Waterpark with the Sentosa Gateway (bridge) in the background.


I also Shrek's Castle inside Universal Studios. Behind it was the Serapong Golf Course. Because we were at Sentosa only for half the day, we weren't able to visit all these places. Hence, I was happy to at least view them from the sky.


Tiger Sky Tower is the highest viewing tower in the country, ascending 131 metres, it not only showed us the view of Sentosa but it also gave us a view of Singapore's Keppel Harbour. It separates the mainland Singapore from the country's southern islands (like Sentosa). I saw the busy container van yard which explains the ships that I saw earlier.


Beyond the containers and cranes of Keppel Harbour was a view of Singapore CBD. It just indicates how small this highly industrialised nation really is.


On the other side of the bridge, I noticed the marina at Keppel Island. 


As the Tiger Sky Tower's platform started descending, I first noticed the people standing on top of Sentosa's Merlion statue. I didn't know that people could go on the lion's head!


On a clear day, I bet that the tower can also provide views that go all the way to Indonesia and to Malaysia, given Singapore's proximity to these two countries. Safely back on the ground, I thought that it's time for us to see the rest of Sentosa.

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