12 Jun 2005: Exploring Singapore like a tourist

Musical fountain, show time. 


Spectacular sights? 

Let me start this post with two photographs taken at the Sentosa musical fountain. Sentosa is Singapore’s premier island resort getaway. Its name "Sentosa" means peace & tranquillity in Malay language. I was told that Sentosa is a must-visit destination for tourists and a popular recreational playground for local residents.

On Sunday, one of my friends from overseas, Jo., came to visit Singapore. She came with a tour group. As we all know, tour groups have tight schedule. My friend, Jo. will only be in Singapore for the afternoon and evening of 12 June 2005, and the afternoon of 13 June 2005. There was not much possibility for me to take leave from work on 13 June 2005 as I have meetings with clients scheduled on that day. So, I was left with 12 June 2005 to attempt to catch up with her.

I got to know that Jo. would be visiting Sentosa on the evening of 12 June 2005. Her tour guide was kind enough to allow her to contact me, and we confirmed a date and place to meet up while her tour group was visiting Sentosa.

It has been a while since I last visited Sentosa. I was early and her tour group had yet to reach Sentosa, so you could have guessed it, I went around taking some photographs. Not my best photographs. I wish I had taken out my newly acquired tripod that day. This is to announce that I have just recently brought a tripod. I don't suppose it is the best in the market, but I think it should generally be able to serve much of my photography needs. Anyway, I did not bring the tripod out on 12 June 2005. I figured I wanted to travel light, and to focus on catching up with Jo. and not on photography.

To view the photographs that I had taken, please visit my post titled Travelling like a tourist: 12 June 2005 found on my other blog.

I waited for quite a while before I got to meet Jo. at the ferry terminal of Sentosa. Her tour group had reached Sentosa just in time for the night show at the musical fountain which would start at 7.40 p.m. I did not speak much when we met. As you would probably have figured out, I do not like making small talks. Yet, it was nice and heart-warming to meet and spend time with a friend, though actually I do not know Jo. for a very long time.

I caught the show with Jo.. There is not much to do at that part of Sentosa than watching the show at the musical fountain. Afterall, I was told that the tour group would leave Sentosa at about 8.10 p.m., which is approximately the time that the show would end.

I had last watched the show with Mystic when we took up the Night Hippo tour. That time, I remembered there were some technical faults so the images did not come up the way that they should be.

When I caught the show on 12 June, it seemed that there were no technical faults, so all images looked better. So scroll up to the top of this post to view a few of the photographs which I had managed to take towards the end of the show.

After the show, Jo. managed to get the tour group to give consent for me to join them on their bus. The bus would take the group to the Sir Stamford Raffles landing site. I felt a little awkward being the very few Singapore citizens on the tour bus. I think probably only the tour guide and the driver were Singapore citizens? It felt as if all attention were on me! Maybe that was my imagination. Anyway, I guess I have to be thankful. Being on the bus meant more time to catch up with Jo. I got to know that almost everyone in the tour group knows one another.

Jo. took the bumboat ride from the bumboat pick-up point nearby the Sir Stamford Raffles landing site. I waited. We had some time after her bumboat ride, so I showed Jo. and one of her relatives to take photographs of the Supreme Court.

Next stop was intended to be eating time to experience Singapore's foodfare. I went along and treated Jo. to satay. I guess that was the least I could do as a host?

I think the tour guide has been nice. He shared humorous stories on the tour bus. I suppose the folks in the tour group like him for his hospitality, service and sense of humour. They broke off into laughter on several occassions, and many thanked him throughout the journey.

I parted with Jo. when the tour bus took her to her hotel, after I showed her up to her hotel room and tried catching a little bit more with her.

So it was a kind of short meeting up with Jo. and I ended up feeling as if I was exploring Singapore like a tourist.

Sometimes, I have thought to myself that I won't mind being a tour guide to share Singapore with the rest of the world. I do know too much talking and interaction with people may drain my energy. Anyway, if I do end up a tour guide, please bear with me for being a more reserved one, but engaging too.

Lastly, here's reminding you to view more photos at: Travelling like a tourist: 12 June 2005