Crapping on a yak.....overland to the other side of the world and the rest: Day 190 – 07 February 2010: Sentosa Island dummy run

Sentosa Island is a purpose made tourist resort a one stop monorail ride off the main island. Though of course much of Asia has developed a strong tourism industry, it is easy to experience the gritty hard realism of life for most people. Sentosa Island, on the other hand, is a place constructed solely for leisure purposes and it is easy to find it a bit tacky, with its man-made beaches with people floating on surf boards on eternally flat sea with the only swells being generated on shore in a wave pool. It’s funny then that this island was once called ‘Pulau Blakang Mati’, which translates from Malay into ‘Island of Death from Behind’.

The main attraction as of my time of visiting is the aquarium. After my diving experience in Thailand, especially swimming with Bull Sharks, it is hard to get excited about aquariums even though there are some intimidatingly proportioned fish on display. Having said that, I would never have dreamt of petting a ray while diving, although some might say this is a sort of animal harassment. Not me though, as I am far too curious. They are slimy and squishy if you want to know, but this might be just because that’s exactly how I expect them to feel.

Part of the aquarium experience is a (pink) dolphin and (fur) seal show. I remember being delighted by this sort of thing when I was a child, but I have been conditioned into thinking that this is some sort of cruelty. In reality, they might be quite bored in the relatively confined spaces they inhabit, but they probably enjoy doing the shows and there are several of them a day.

The artificiality of the island does leave me cold after a while, but in the distance I can see an exciting looking roller coaster looping up and down, with heads nodding in the seats in synchronicity with the g-force. I walk towards it trying to find an entrance, but quickly become directionally disorientated until I ask one of the wandering Island staff where I need to go to get to it. He answers that it is inside the still under construction Universal Studios theme park. No wonder I couldn’t hear any screaming from the nodding heads, as they are just test dummies.

Back on the main Island, I have dinner with Gary and Laurie by the canal leading to the harbour front. Amongst the ex-pat pubs here are a row of restaurants offering a variety of deals, none of which are cheap: A free starter, or 20% off plus a free round of beers, or somesuch, but it’s still at least double the price of somewhere on the back streets. I have some seafood, which is fresh but not particularly memorable, while Gary opts for a steak. Laurie is in a quandary, as Singapore is such a mish mash of cultures she is not sure what will satisfy her policy of eating only local food, so she opts for a burrito. Or maybe not.

Personally I would have opted for a Singapore Sling, although if I had decided to go to Raffles, the place of its origin, it would have set me back a day or two of my daily budget. Big John and Tracy, who have become accustomed to taking advantage of relatively cheap ‘Five Star’ hotels when the opportunity arises, had this experience at number one of their things to do in Singapore.