Sentosa via Cable Car

The food tour put Chris into a food coma but I still had a strong urge to explore and see all the things. One of the women on our food tour (Tina) was going to Mount Faber and then onto Sentosa via cable car and invited me to tag along. Mount Faber was one of the possible hiking areas I’d had on my list so we got a car, dropped Chris off at the hotel, and made our way to Mount Faber.

Our driver became extremely talkative after we ditched Chris. I guess Chris intimidated him? Regardless, he talked non-stop on the way to Mount Faber. First up on the list of his topics? The holiday decorations at the Ion: they aren’t nearly as good as they were last year.

Background: we were staying at the Singapore Marriot Tang Plaza which is right across the street from Ion Orchard. Ion Orchard is primarily (?) a train station serving 2 lines but it’s also a 4 story underground mall. This mall is like a casino. There are no windows. There’s no method to the madness so far as I was able to determine. There are signs to and from the train but beyond that? Good luck. There’s also no crossing the street to get to/from this place from our hotel. You have to go underground and enter the mall to reach the trains or just the other side of the road.

I looked a few things up on Google Maps to make sure I didn’t misspell anything in the prior paragraph. Turns out that Orchard Road is “iconic” and known for its high-end shopping. This tracks because when I went a few blocks away to do laundry one day, I ended up in another mall that was across the street from a third mall. Very much not our scene but it was great for train access!

Anyway. Tina and I started asking our cabbie about what made last year’s decorations better than this year’s and learned that holiday decorations are paid for by individual companies/stores. In the States, it’s generally done by the mall. Per our cabbie, some governments will do it as well. I suppose this happens along streets and town centers in the States too but I’m not aware of any decorations sponsored in shared areas like malls.

These aren’t from the mall near our hotel but you get the idea:

The rest of his list involved food and activities we needed to try before leaving which I didn’t do so no need to spend time recapping them. We made it to Mount Faber and snapped a few photos before hopping into the super cool Pokemon-themed cable car headed to Sentosa.

Sentosa is a small very touristy island just off the mainland. It’s home to many activities including a luge, ice rink, Universal Studios, and so much more. Tina didn’t have a plan other than to explore and so we explored! We found a lovely trail taking us to the northwest portion of the island where we got to go to the beach!

Tina wanted to find a place to get a drink and enjoy the view and the closest spot was the Tipsy Unicorn so we went in. I have to say this isn’t my kind of place. I’m old! There was a cover charge and all of the other people (employees included) were young, skinny, and fit. They were also primarily in swimsuits. I was wearing my typical hiking outfit so I clearly fit in well /s

Whatever. There was booze and we got to watch the VIP parade. What’s a VIP parade? It’s the parade the employees do when someone drops a lot of money on booze. Women are holding the letters V, I, and P, and dancing. This is followed by 2 men holding a race car filled with said booze (not dancing) and then 2 more women holding light-up things (booze?). They wind their way throughout the entire property in what is essentially a conga line before making a show of delivering the booze at the appropriate table. I feel like this is a very expensive way to embarrass your friend on their birthday because why else would you do this? Again, not my scene as I hate being the center of attention. That said, the drinks were good and I’ll recommend the place if you want to go to a pool party with a live DJ on the beach.

We got back on the cable car and proceeded deeper into Sentosa where we found a casino and gourmet food court. Did you know that Singapore requires a fee/tax/fine from its citizens if they want to gamble at a casino? Our food tour guide mentioned it: $150/day or $3,000/year. It’s one of the many many many rules in place to protect the citizens. We chose not to gamble but I did stop to snap a photo of the statue in their lobby. The man on the left is very similar to one in Seattle that I walk past every day after work. I kind of wonder if we have the woman in town somewhere. Scavenger hunt?

We wandered around a bit more and found Xmas bunnies courtesy of Citi, the Lego store (check out the cool Singapore builds!!!), and eventually the food court where we dined on donuts/Berliners with live music before heading back to the mainland. Not a bad adventure all told!