Vivo City | Singapore Travel Photo Blog @ travelerfolio.com

Sentosa island, Singapore (Part 1/4)

Sentosa island is not a theme park and is no where near Disneyland; but most tourists visit this key tourist spot of Singapore. One even told me you have not seen Singapore if you have not been to Sentosa!! Ok ok! Sentosa is a relaxing place to go to, but be prepared to pay entrance fees for most of the major tourist attractions. =P

Recently my buddy gave me free tickets to see this island again. So I went with her. Sounds cheapo right? That’s right! LOL! Perhaps because it’s not the first time I went Sentosa…

Anyway, after looking at our photos from Sentosa, who knows? You may want to see Sentosa yourself too!

How to go Sentosa?

We took Sentosa Express monorail at VivoCity shopping mall on the mainland. Fyi, the nearest MRT to VivoCity is HarbourFront MRT Station. The monorail ride only takes around 4 mins.

You can also reach the island via a short causeway from Singapore mainland. If you drive, park at Cable Car Station Car Park or Beach Car Park. If you take a taxi, drop off at Taxi Drop off point just before the Cable Car Bus Stop.

Photo taken from the monorail while crossing to Sentosa. Look at the gigantic Christmas tree at VivoCity. You know Christmas is around the corner!

If you want to enjoy the view from a higher ground, board the cable car at Mount Faber / HarbourFront Centre to Sentosa. Do you also see cable cars in the picture above?

Sentosa means peace and transquility in Malay. It only has an area of 5km². Do you know that it was named Pulau Blakang Mati, which means “Island (‘Pulau’) of Death (‘Mati’) from Behind (‘Blakang’)”? So as to speak, it was called the island of the dead. One account claims that it was due to an outbreak of disease that almost wiped out the settlers of the island. Anyway, now the island is “growing” due to land reclamation. =D

It’s easy to tour around the island by Sentosa Bus, Sentosa Express and Beach Trams. We headed to Palawan Beach and crossed a suspension bridge to an islet which is the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. Sounds exciting right? I still don’t know why it’s called that way. Isn’t that point located in Indonesia? Please enlighten me!

Now we are looking from the observation deck on the islet, the Southernmost Point of Continent Asia! Still wondering why it’s the Southermost point of Asia…

Located at the Imbiah Lookout zone, the Tiger Sky Tower was previously called The Calsberg Sky Tower. Both Read More »

Posted by eunice Posted in Sentosa, Singapore Comments (28)

Mid-Autumn Festival (Part 1/2)

Tonight, the moon is at its fullest and brightest for 2008. It’s Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), a day that falls on the 15th of the 8th Chinese lunar month for celebration of togetherness and abundance. The festival is also known as Lantern or Mooncake festival as you will see beautifully lit lanterns everywhere, and Chinese families and friends eating mooncakes (月饼) together while appreciating the bright full moon.

Oh man, these are really fierce “Power Rangers” lanterns with vampire fangs! The Ultraman lanterns are cuter!

Traditionally, Chinese lanterns are made of paper and lit by candle light. When we were young, we loved to play with fire, lighting many candles along the pathways. Due to fire safety reason, nowadays, children usually carry battery operated lanterns for fun during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many battery operated lanterns play music too!

Can you spot the “Powerpuff girls” and “Stitch” lanterns?

This roaster design lantern is one that is lit by candle light. I like this kind of translucent plastic material for lanterns.

Pomelos are also eaten on this day. And mini yams too!

The mooncake market is fiercely competitive; bakers always come up with new mooncake receipes. There are ice-cream mooncakes, jelly mooncakes, mooncakes filled with champagne, etc. These pictures were taken from the mooncake bazaar at Vivo City.

Not only the mooncakes should taste good, they should be packaged nicely like a gift box too. While these lovely mooncake boxes are good for your eyes, you pay alot extra for that.

Sale of mooncakes packaged with Chinese teapots and tea leaves.

A mooncake is usually round or rectangular with thick filling of lotus seed paste surrounded by a thin soft crust. Some may contain salted duck eggs, just like those shown below. The green mooncake is one with snow skin (unbaked skin) and like the name suggests, it needs to be kept refrigerated!

Mooncakes come in different shapes, sizes, colours, fillings and flavours. Some non-traditional mooncakes (or are they really called mooncakes?) are agar agar filled with custard (just like the big round purple “mooncake”). These mooncakes are baked by my auntie. I’ve almost finished them while blogging, can’t resist the temptation while snapping this shot! My cholesterol level has skyrocketed!!

The traditional Chinese pastries below are for the celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival…

Beautifully hand painted lanterns by children.

Beijing Olympic mascot – FUWA!

Rows of lovely hand-painted lanterns hanging around the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at Chinatown.

Oh ya! All of the above photos are taken from Singapore, mostly from Chinatown. Read Mid-Autumn Festival Part 2.

Read posts on Singapore Attractions | Chinatown.

Posted by eunice Posted in Festivals & Events, Singapore Comments (22)

Singapore Food & Shopping Paradise

Singapore is definitely a shopping paradise; you can find cheap and good items all over the city. Though there are mid-year sales and final-year sales going on every year, I would say that sales are literally going on all year round. Shop till you drop!

And did I mention Singapore is a food paradise too? You name it, we have it. Food centres are everywhere to make sure that you never miss your meals! Apart from Chinese, Malay and Indian food, this cosmopolitan country has a wide variety of food that includes Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian, American, French, Vietnamese, Mexican, Italian, Swiss, German and a long list to go…