Transit day 1 at Sentosa Island

Arrived late at night and took a taxi straight to the Movenpick Hotel right near the big Merlion on Sentosa Island. We flew in at 2am and slept until late check out. Then we spent the afternoon and evening wandering the island. On the South Side it was clearly in beach mode although quiet, probably as this was during the week. The main set of active people were university students having orientation exercises, all dressed in sets of colored/printed T-shirts. At first I'd wondered if they were religious groups but the number of listed corporate sponsor names was a telling clue. Even since our last visit Sentosa has changed a lot. There is now a family side, with free and paid theme areas - done with pirate themes mainly. Clearly there are large numbers showing up for the nightly multimedia show "Songs Of The Seas" as many signs warned of traffic congestion and voids in the free bus service around show times. The east strip is clearly more adult oriented with lots of bars, clubs and open pavilions. On the northern Singapore-city side the island has been transformed. Last time we were here it was a giant construction zone. Now it is a huge multipurpose indoor/outdoor mall. It includes: a Universal Studios theme site; a fake Malaysian street of food vendors; a modern shopping mall with restaurants, candy shops, a maritime museum; a dock with historic wooden boats; two convention centres; a water feature park and subtly hidden underneath it all: the casino. Finally, out in the water was a large rectangular building of no obvious purpose. Our map indicated it was near where some kind of crane dance light show occurred at 9pm each night so we contrived our wanderings to end there and then. When the time came we were seated on a brick amphitheatre facing out over the water and then watched as the block unfolded into two large mechanical cranes with giant embedded video screens, lights and water jets. All automated and a run time of ten minutes. From there we walked back through the complex to our hotel which had been very helpful in holding our luggage and medicines for seven hours after we checked out. It is this level of service that makes us realise how far behind most Anglo based countries are. There was no hint of being servile that we encountered thus, which sadly seems to be the issue at home. Instead I think the attitude better is of people who are helping to build things - indeed as our ancestors must have done when they were carving our civilisation from the Bush and coastal scrubs. When did that can-do attitude get replaced by the "aw-mum/love do I have to" attitude of modern Australia?