Day #2
Singamerica:
An early start to the day again, as we head over to Universal Studios for a few hours, today we had Dad’s wife joining us. Priced much better than our theme parks, $70 gets you in, and all the rides are free. After a few taxi rides, it has become apparent that the drivers love talking politics. Whether they know what they’re talking about or not is another story. This morning, we had a hotel breakfast buffet at Novatel, there was the usual selection of eggs, bacons, breads. Then you had some Asian dishes there as well, noodles, seemed pork buns .. mmm … but the bacon, it’s weird and tastes like no bacon I’ve eaten. It was supposed to be pork bacon, but in Singapore there is a lot of chicken bacon and turkey bacon due to the muslim population.
So we get to Universal Studios and as to be expected, it’s all quite American, and done very well. We started with a special effects studio simulating a hurricane. This was pretty cool, with lightning and water, and ships and burning water. They love fire and water here, so much so, that they put fire on top of water, it’s all very exciting. Before I came, I had pretty much been convinced by Dad’s wife to go on the Battlestar Galactica roller coaster, I hadn’t actually been on a roller coaster in about 20 years, so I was rather hesitant. But I lined up for the 15 minutes, and along the way found out the ride lasts barely more than a minute. Once it started, I swore for perhaps the first 10 seconds, and then all the fear was gone and it was a nice pleasant ride. Pleasant, much the same way falling off a 3 storey building would be pleasant.
Since I’d survived the biggest, fastest roller coaster there, I had no problem going on the next one, something to do with one of those Mummy movies. It was pretty cool, in the dark, with things jumping out at you, walls closing in on you and some nice lighting effects. At one point, the whole cart lurched sideways, I think that one hurt! After 2 roller coasters, I think they put my hip out.
For lunch, we had some good old fashioned American burgers at an 50s diner style place, Dad was pleased since he doesn’t get to eat burgers often, and they were very good burgers. Then we saw what was possibly the worst musical ever created, called Monster Rock. Thankfully it only went for about 25 minutes, but Dad enjoyed sleeping through it. It wasn’t even improved with the explosions.
There was a Transformer ride there, and as much as I hate the movies, it would have been interesting to see what it was all about. However, a 90 minute wait made it not worth bothering, as a 90 minute wait for anything generally convinces me to not bother.
Rancho Relaxo:
So the afternoon was a bit more relaxed, as we wandered around Sentosa, sat for a couple of hours at the beach with a few drinks while watching fake surfing. That’s something I want to do next time I’m here, along with fake sky diving! We also went to another MerLion, this one big enough to walk up the top and stand on its head, with a great view of the island. I also held a big arse white python of some kind, it was kind of rubbery.
We stopped for coffee at some place. Oh, I didn’t mention earlier, but after several coffees, damn are the big. The cafe lattes are generally in a glass larger than those reserved for iced coffees … and that’s a small! The cappuccinos will usually be about twice the size of those back home, in cups the size of bowls. This does not actually make them taste all that great tho. After 2 days, and 3 coffees, I’m about ready to give up on them altogether.
For dinner, I had some high expectations ahead of me, as Din Tai Fung dumplings had been well and truly talked up. Being a dumpling connoisseur, they had some work ahead of them. But even with all the hype, increased by the fact I’m in Asia, they were some damn fine dumplings. I’m glad to say tho, that Melbourne is up there with these guys.
As night set in, we had a couple of things to see, one called Sea Shanty Songs … or something like that. I was expecting some old men with beards to come up singing in gruff voices about their hardships. But no such luck, a bunch of people came out, in what seemed a performance on par with the Rock Musical at Universal studios. Thankfully after about 5 minutes, their unrelenting happy dances slowed and they started talking to laser fish (no, not sharks with frikkin’ laser beams attached to their heads – I wish). But instead, a pretty sweet laser and water show. Oh yeah, don’t worry, they also added fire and explosions. Then we went and saw a far inferior water light show … more fire burning on water. Right about now, being tall is great, I think I’ll miss being tall when I get back home and have to go back to being a short arse.
By this point, I’m pretty much a local now as far as public transport is concerned. I’m pushing my way onto the trains, cutting people off, fitting in great. There is also a lot of security in Singapore, at some point I stood in one place, and counted 6 cameras pointing at me.
