The amazing experience at SEA Aquarium (Resorts World Sentosa)

Day 1

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS)

I had visited Resorts World Sentosa several times since its opening, but this was the first time my family and I will be spending a staycation there. Resorts World Sentosa is the latest major re-development on Sentosa Island, along with smaller new developments in other parts of the island, as part of the Government's plan to rejuvenate the tourism offering on Sentosa. Resorts World Sentosa is one of the two integrated resorts in Singapore (the other is the Marina Bay Sands at the Marina Bay area), which comprises of the major attractions such as the Casino, Universal Studios Singapore, S.E.A Aquarium, Dolphin Island and Adventure Cove Waterpark.

The Forum

Casino Main Entrance

Walkway to Casino at The Galleria, Luxury Fashion

Elephant-like Sculpture at The Galleria, Luxury Fashion

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Festive Hotel

We had our lunch first before arriving at Resorts World Sentosa. We went straight to check-in at Festive Hotel, which we will spend the next 2 nights here. Festive Hotel, along with the Hard Rock Hotel, Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael, are located along the central area. They are linked together via The Galleria, Luxury Fashion. There are other hotels tucked within the tropical rainforest setting at the west zone, such as the Equarius Hotel, Equarius Villas (where the awesome Ocean Suite is located too) and TreeTop Loft. Of course there are much more offerings in other parts of the island, such as the famous Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa and W Singapore Sentosa Cove etc.

Festive Hotel is a family oriented and child friendly hotel. At the reception area, there's a Lego store by the side which appealed to many of the children. Our deluxe room is located at the highest level with pool view. The room is quite spacious and furnished with modern facilities, like the king size bed, bathroom, LED TV with international channels, electric kettle, safe deposit box and bar fridge. Complimentary bottled drinking water, instant coffee and Milo are provided as well. Stepping out to the balcony, we got to see the pool, Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael.

Deluxe Room

Bathroom

Balcony

View of the Festive Hotel Swimming Pool

View of Crockfords Tower and Hotel Michael

The Maritime Experiential Museum and S.E.A Aquarium

We did not spend too much time at the hotel room and headed straight to the first attraction which everyone loves, the S.E.A Aquarium. The S.E.A Aquarium is adjoining with The Maritime Experiential Museum, thus the entrance ticket allows you to visit these 2 attractions together. The main entrance leads to The Maritime Experiential Museum, which visitors must pass through before reaching the S.E.A Aquarium.

The Maritime Experiential Museum exhibits Asia's rich maritime history and Singapore's past as a trading port along the Maritime Silk Route. Upon entering the museum at Level 1, the full size replica of the Admiral Zheng He's 15th century treasure ship (Bao Chuan) caught our attention.

The Maritime Experiential Museum (Source: Photo from yoursingapore)

The first area we passed by was The Souk, which refers to the Arabic marketplace. Over here, there are many interactive exhibits of various maritime countries' bazaars, which recreates the prosperous trading scenes. Along the way, visitors also get to see the Jewel of Muscat exhibit, based on the design of the Belitung shipwreck.

Jewel of Musat (Source: Photo from patrickpang)

There's a Typhoon Theatre which allows visitors to experience on board of a ship encountering a storm. This requires a separate admission ticket, and we did not visit it. There's also an outdoor attraction where several full sized replica historic ships are on display. At the end of Level 1, there's an escalator that leads to the basement, where the entrance to the S.E.A Aquarium is located.

S.E.A Aquarium is one of the world's largest aquarium, home to more than 100,000 marine animals. The aquarium is separated into various zones that showcase different marine species in different habitats. The whole area is a bit dim, and the dark blue colour environment gives visitor a feeling as if they are in the deep ocean. At the entrance, we were greeted by the Strait of Karimata & Java Sea, where there's replica of a shipwreck that now serves as a habitat for the tropical fishes.

Shipwreck Habitat

Seadragon

Walking along, we were brought to various zones such as the Discovery Touch Pool with sea star, sea urchins and sea cucumber, the Ocean Journey where we got see the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, giant spider crab and jellyfishes.

Video: Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins

Giant Water Column Reef Habitat

Giant Spider Crab

Squid

Jellyfish

At the end of the walk is the Open Ocean, which is the wow factor for the S.E.A Aquarium. In front of us was one of the world's largest viewing panel (36 m wide and 8.3 m tall), which the tank houses more than 50,000 marine animals, including the manta ray, leopard shark, goliath grouper etc. One would imagine yourself in the deep ocean looking at this magnificent view, with schools of fishes swimming in synchronised fashion.

Open Ocean (Source: Photo from suitcasestories)

Sting Ray

Goliath Grouper

Video: Open Ocean_1

Video: Open Ocean_2

Just beside the Open Ocean is the Ocean Dome, which we were treated to a 360 degree panoramic view of the ocean habitat. The route turned around to the other side where there are more coral reef habitats on display, African Lake zone with freshwater fishes like the tigerfish and the moray eel habitat.

Coral Reef Habitat

Lion Fish

Another popular zone is the Shark Seas, which we would pass through the underwater tunnel and immersed in the water surrounded with 100 over sharks, which includes the hammerhead and nurse sharks.

Video: Shark Seas

After the S.E.A Aquarium experience, we exited the area back to the basement level of The Maritime Experiential Museum. There's an interesting Maritime Archaeology Gallery, which showcase the artifacts recovered from various South East Asian shipwrecks. Just opposite the gallery is the Bao Chuan Cutaway, which shows part of the ship's interior layout. Over here, we could see several compartments to store the precious goods and even exotic animals like giraffes and rhinoceros acquired during Zheng He's maritime voyages.

Bao Chuan Cutaway (Source: Photo from ramblerwithoutborders)

We went back to Level 1, where we watched the Bao Chuan show that introduced Zheng He's maritime voyages before leaving the place.

Swimming at Hard Rock Hotel

We went back to the hotel to change up to our swim suits for a swim. We went to the Hard Rock Hotel swimming pool instead of the Festive Hotel's, because I found that the swimming pool layout is nicer and bigger. The side nearer to the hotel is basically a beach! I believe this is the only artificial beach pool you can find in Singapore. The water is shallow and is a safe place for kids to play with the sand without any fear of strong current or danger at the real beaches. At the centre of the area is the children water playground that comes with a slide. At the far side is the regular pool and there's also a jacuzzi pool and pool bar.

Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool (Source: Photo from skyscrapercity)

Crane Dance

We returned to the hotel room to wash up after the swim. We had dinner at Ramen Play located at The Forum. After which, we headed to the water front to watch the Crane Dance, the world's largest animatronics performance. There is a pair of mechanical cranes, one female and the other male, which dance under the backdrop of special lighting and water effects to illustrate their courtship ritual. The show lasted 10 minutes only, but it was really worth it. We returned to our hotel after the show to end the eventful day.

Follow the links below to the other days of my Sentosa staycation:

Day 1: Resorts World Sentosa (Festive Hotel, The Maritime Experiential Museum, S.E.A Aquarium, Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool, Crane Dance)

Day 2: Sentosa (Palawan Beach, Fort Siloso, Starz Restaurant, Lake of Dreams)

Day 3: Sentosa (Merlion Plaza, Madame Tussuads Singapore, Images of Singapore LIVE, Sentosa Nature Discovery)

Kukup: What to see and do in 2D1N

We had a short 2D1N short weekend getaway to Kukup, a small fishing village located at the southwest of the state of Johor, Malaysia. Kukup has become a popular place among the locals and Singaporean tourists in recent years due to its unique offering of staying in modern chalets built on stilts over the coastal mudflats. There were 10 of us and we gathered at our pickup point in the East at 8.30am before we depart for Kukup via the Second Link by a mini bus.

After completing the immigration checks at the Malaysian side, it took another hour plus of bus ride to get to Kukup, passing through the oil palm plantations. We reached the international ferry terminal (which provides ferry services to Karimun and Batam of Indonesia) at around 11am, which was still early for lunch or check-in to our chalet. We dropped our bags at the seafood restaurant, New Kukup Restaurant, (also the place which we will have our lunch) just beside the ferry terminal. At the end of the restaurant, we boarded the short boat ride along the north coastal area. The boat ride serves as a shuttle service to some of the chalets along the coast and the kelong fish farms.

Waiting to board the boat ride

Chalets on the left and kelong fish farms on the right

Coastal chalets

Boat ride

Kelong fish farms

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We did not alight, but just took a round trip back to the restaurant enjoying the coastal scenery along the way. The lunch was part of the tour package, so it was already pre-arranged. Very soon after we sat down, the dishes were served. Quite a good spread, with fried fish, chili crab, cereal prawns, chicken, bean curd and belacan kangkong.

Seafood lunch

After lunch, we headed straight to our chalet. Our chalet (Qing Hua 清华度假屋) is located at the south side of the ferry terminal and close to the end of the village. We have to pass by rows of houses and shops, all built on stilts over the coastal mudflats. The chalet is actually the owner's house, now converted into a chalet for tourists.

Typical walkway within the village

Qing Hua Chalet

Front view of Qing Hua Chalet

View of the BBQ pit area

View of other chalets

Upon entering the chalet, it gave us a very homely feeling and the whole place was clean and tidy. There are 3 rooms for us, 2 bedrooms and 1 empty room probably meant for playing Mahjong.

One of the bedroom

Kitchen

After some exploring around the chalet, we started the KTV session. Other than the KTV, there's also Mahjong and Carom available in the chalet. Not long after, the owner started serving the tea break snacks, comprising of prawn crackers, curry puffs, soon kueh and green bean soup. Frankly speaking, we were still feeling full from the lunch earlier.

Snacks - Prawn Cracker and Soon Kueh

Other than the indoor activities, some of the outdoor activities that one could do is to visit the Pulau Kukup Mangrove National Park (but was closed for renovation work during our visit), or rent a bicycle to cycle around the village. For us, we simply walked around the village, towards the entrance where there are some shops along the main road. It was low tide, so we could see the mudflats with mudskippers and crabs, as well as a lot of rubbish at certain areas.

Mangrove forest behind our chalet

Low tide - stilts and mudflats exposed

Low tide - stilts and mudflats exposed

Mudskipper

Along the main road, we could find shops selling clothing, children toys, local food products and bubble tea. As it nears sunset, we made our way back to the chalet, ready for another round of food again.

View of the village at sunset

View of mangrove forest at sunset

At around 7pm, the owner started preparing our dinner, setting up the BBQ pit. There was a great spread of food, from the BBQ sting ray, fish, squid, prawns, chicken satay, chicken wings, sweet corn, to other cooked food such as herbal chicken, vegetable, fish balls, sausages, fried chicken strips, local crystal jelly and bubur hitam. The amount of food was so overwhelming that it took us a long time to finish majority of them.

Our dinner

Lots of chicken wing

While having our dinner, we could see many people at other nearby chalets playing with the fireworks and raising the sky lanterns, against the backdrop of the dark skyline. After our dinner, we also fired some fireworks and raised the sky lanterns (the only popular outdoor activities we could do in Kukup at night).

Fireworks_1

Fireworks_2

Fireworks_3

The weather was good and sky was clear, which provided a good opportunity for stars gazing as well. After all these, we continued with some board games that we brought before we decided to call it a day, washed up and went to bed.

We woke up the next morning at around 8am and then the owner had already brought our breakfast to the chalet. There were nasi lemak, chwee kueh, youtiao and hot soya bean drink. We just sat around the table, chit chatting while having the breakfast.

Our breakfast

We did not do much in the morning, so after the breakfast, we simply packed up and prepared for check-out. We had some last minute shopping at the shops along the main road before heading to the same seafood restaurant to have our lunch. The dishes were the same as the previous day, but cooked in different style.

Seawater flooded parts of the main road during high tide

After lunch, we bid goodbye to Kukup and headed back to Singapore.

In conclusion, the trip had provided us a different experience, with the unique chalet stay over the water, playing with fireworks and sky lanterns that we could not experience in Singapore, waves of good food (4 main meals and 1 tea break provided in the package) and the great hospitality from the chalet owner. This is a recommended getaway gathering location for families and friends.

Beijing Summer Palace: The best sites to see

Day 9

We have come to the last day of our China tour and we had to catch the flight home to Singapore at 4.30pm. We still have time to visit one last attraction in the morning, which will be the Summer Palace (颐和园). We first checked out of the hotel and stored our luggage at the reception. We then travel via the MRT from Andingmen Station (安定门) to Beigongmen Station (北宫门). The whole area is very large and the route we have planned is to enter the attraction from the Northern Palace Gate then exit from the Eastern Palace Gate.


Summer Palace (颐和园)

The Summer Palace (颐和园) serves as an imperial garden during the ancient Chinese dynasties, first built by the Jin dynasty, then later further expanded during Yuan, Ming and more notably the Qing dynasty. It centred around the Longevity Hill (万寿山) and Kunming Lake (昆明湖). Many popular buildings and landscapes are located on the slope of the front hill, the rear hill and around the Kunming Lake (昆明湖). The current name Yiheyuan (颐和园) was given by the Qing Emperor Guangxu (光绪皇帝). The Summer Palace (颐和园) should not be confused with the Old Summer Palace (圆明园), which is located nearby east to it. The Summer Palace (颐和园) suffered similar fate as the Old Summer Palace (圆明园) during the Second Opium War, where large parts of the palace were destroyed by the British and French Allied forces. Efforts and resources had been spent on the repair and restoration of the Summer Palace (颐和园), thus visitors won't be able to see any ruins today.

Once we alighted at Beigongmen Station (北宫门), it was still some walking distance to the ticket office at the Northern Palace Gate. We purchased the through ticket to allow access to all the attractions. At the entrance, there were many independent tour guides that offered tour guide services, thus visitors could engage one of them to tour the palace.

Summer Palace Northern Palace Gate

Summer Palace entrance tickets

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Shortly after the entrance, we reached the Suzhou Street (苏州街). The Suzhou Street (苏州街) was built by Qing Emperor Qianlong (乾隆皇帝) to resemble the Jiangnan waterway shopping street. Over here, there are retails shops, restaurants and tea houses by the side of the waterway. It was an unique experience walking the along narrow pathway around the shops. Visitors could also take the boat ride here to the Kunming Lake (昆明湖).

View at Suzhou Street

Boat ride to the Kunming Lake

Panoramic view of Suzhou Street

After the Suzhou Street (苏州街), we continued south towards a square. From here, we started to climb uphill, the rear hill of Longevity Hill (万寿山).

Way up to the Four Great Regions

There's a temple here, known as the Four Great Regions (四大部洲). It was built to resemble the Tibetan Samye Monastery (桑耶寺). Further uphill, we came to the highest point of Longevity Hill (万寿山) where the Sea of Wisdom Temple (智慧海) is located. It's a temple dedicated to Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) and the temple's wall is very eye-catching with coloured shining wall bricks. From here onward, it is downhill on the font hill of Longevity Hill (万寿山).

Sea of Wisdom Temple

The next striking building we could see is the Tower of Buddhist Incense (佛香阁). It is an eight storey high pagoda built by Qing Emperor Qianlong (乾隆皇帝) to resemble the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) in Wuhan.

Tower of Buddhist Incense

Pavilions near the Tower of Buddhist Incense

Entrance to the Tower of Buddhist Incense

It was also been mentioned that the Qing Empress Dowager Ci'xi (慈禧太后) would come here to pray every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. From here, we got to see the magnificent panoramic view of the entire Kunming Lake (昆明湖).

View of Kunming Lake from Tower of Buddhist Incense

Panoramic view of Kunming Lake

View of South Lake Island

We climbed down the steep staircase down towards the Hall of Moral Glory (德輝殿), which is the place where the emperor and empress rest and change clothing before they pray to the Buddha.

Hall of Moral Glory

Further down is the Hall of Dispelling Clouds (排云殿), which was the place where Qing Empress Dowager Ci'xi (慈禧太后) received guests and held ceremonies to celebrate her birthday. There are many treasures on exhibit display, which were the gifts for the Empress Dowager's birthday. We exited the area and came to the courtyard area with stone arch bridge over rectangular pond. This is where visitors could get a good view of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds (排云殿) against the backdrop of the Tower of Buddhist Incense (佛香阁).

Entrance of Hall of Dispelling Clouds

Passing through the Gate of Dispelling Clouds (排云门), we could see the Glowing Clouds and Holy Land Archway (云辉玉宇牌坊) just in front the bank of Kunming Lake (昆明湖).

Over here, we realised the area is much more crowded with tourists than uphill the Longevity Hill (万寿山). We rested a while and continued eastward along the Long Corridor (长廊) towards the East Courtyard area. The Long Corridor (长廊) contains many decorations and paintings of famous Chinese places, mythology and novels. It's worth to stroll along here to enjoy them. At the East Courtyard, there are several halls that used to serve as the residence and administrative buildings for the emperor and the empress dowager. The first one we passed by was the Hall of Happiness and Longevity (乐寿堂). This was the living quarter of Qing Empress Dowager Ci'xi (慈禧太后) when she visited the Summer Palace (颐和园). Just in front of the hall, there's a big strange stone that is believed to be auspicious.

Hall of Happiness and Longevity

Another 3 popular buildings closer to the Eastern Palace Gate are the Hall of Jade Ripples (玉澜堂), Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (仁寿殿), and the Garden of Virtue and Harmony (德和园). The Hall of Jade Ripples (玉澜堂) was the place where Qing Emperor Guangxu (光绪皇帝) was put on house arrest by Empress Dowager Ci'xi (慈禧太后), after his failed Hundred Days Reform. The Garden of Virtue and Harmony (德和园) consist of the 3 storey high Grand Theatre (大戏楼), where the emperor and empress dowager watched Peking opera. The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (仁寿殿) was the place where the emperor and empress dowager managed the court affairs. Further east of this area, there's an exhibition hall known as the Gallery of Literary Prosperity (文昌院), where many of the imperial treasures from the Summer Palace (颐和园) are on display.

Map of Summer Palace near the Eastern Palace Gate

There's much more area around the Kunming Lake (昆明湖) that we had not explore due to time constraints. We left the Summer Palace (颐和园) via the Eastern Palace Gate at around noon time and walked towards the Xiyuan Station (西苑). Just before reaching the MRT station, we had our lunch at the MacDonald's nearby.


Goodbye Beijing

After lunch, we took the MRT back to Imperial Courtyard Hotel (北京花园十六号酒店) to collect our luggage from the reception. We followed the reverse way to how came from the airport on Day 1, by taking the Airport Express Railway from Dongzhimen Station (东直门) to Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 Station. Once we reached the station, we returned the Yikatong (一卡通) to refund the remaining amount in the card. From here, it's time to bid farewell to Beijing. In concluding the entire trip, my wife and I were pleased that we had completed most of the activities according to the plan and within budget. It had been a very enriching cultural and historical learning for us, and we look forward to future free and easy trips to China again.



Follow the links below to the other days of my China tour:

Day 1: Beijing (Yonghe Lama Temple, Shizhahai, Prince Gong Mansion, Behai Park, Gui Jie)

Day 2: Beijing (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Old Summer Palace, Wangfujing)

Day 3: Tianjin (Italian Style Town, Nanshi Food Street, Drum Tower, Ancient Cultural Street, Quanjude Peking Roast Duck)

Day 4: Xi'an (Muslim Street, Drum Tower, Bell Tower, Xi'an City Wall, Defu Alley)

Day 5: Xi'an (Terracotta Army Museum, Da Ci'en Temple, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Tang Paradise)

Day 6: Huashan

Day 7: Beijing (Temple of Heaven, Silk Street)

Day 8: Beijing (Great Wall - Badaling, Ming 13 Tombs - Ding Ling, Shizhahai)

Day 9: Beijing (Summer Palace)