Singapore: Sentosa | 4everdiscovering

Sentosa a.k.a. The ‘Land of Fun’ in Singapore

Some Call It a Tourist Trap, I Call It Paradise!

As some of you may know, Singapore is a pretty small country. And when I say small, I mean ‘you can see it all in two days’ small. But hey, that works perfect for us for a weekend getaway! It was about a 5 hour flight to Singapore from Taipei, but it was a country Emily and I really wanted to check off of our bucket list. All we really knew about this country was that it is expensive. For a backpacker, it isn’t an ideal place to visit. Most of us are on a budget, and having to make the decision between food and drinks should never be a problem. In Singapore, you definitely have to decide (even though we went a little crazy and splurged on both!) That’s the beauty about teaching abroad; we get to travel, but also have an income. I definitely don’t feel as guilty spending my money like when I did in Europe. I’m living the life of a working girl now, I’m allowed to spend a little too much every now and then!

When Emily and I traveled to Singapore, we spent one day exploring the streets and the landmarks, and one day visiting Sentosa. Sentosa is a small island connected to Singapore, specifically designed for tourists. It is considered the ‘fun’ place to go in Singapore, especially if you are taking a family vacation. It has everything from hotels, to casinos, to Universal Studios. In other words, it is a place where you can spend even MORE money (oh joy). Like the little kids we are, we decided we wanted to go to Universal Studios. If you’ve read the other blogs, you know that Emily and I are trying to make it to every Disneyland in the world. We figured we might as well add Universal to the list as well (really it was just a reason for us to spend the money to go there without feeling guilty). But hey, either way works right?

In order to get to Sentosa, you can choose to take the monorail, cable car, or simply walk across the bridge. We came here twice; the first time we walked, and the second time we took the monorail. The cool thing about the monorail is you only pay once. Once you are on Sentosa Island, you can ride it back and forth for free, however many times you want. See, some things aren’t a rip-off in Singapore. When we walked across the bridge, it only took about 15 minutes to reach the other side. This was the day we decided to head to Universal Studios. Before we bought our tickets, the hostel worker told me there was only about 8 rides, and we wouldn’t need all day. I guess he forgot to mention that some rides had HUGE lines. That’s the price you pay when you go on a Sunday I guess.

My first impression of Universal was how small it was. I remember going in Florida and needing a few days to finish everything. Here, there were 7 different sections of the park with about 2-3 rides/attractions in each one. The biggest attraction was the ONE roller coaster in Sci-Fi City: Battlestar Galactica. This ride was pretty awesome because you could choose if you wanted to be a human or a cyclone. There were two different entrances, and you could choose if you wanted to ride suspended or sitting normally. Naturally, we chose the suspended option (we always like a little more of an adrenaline rush). We tried riding this coaster first thing in the morning, but they were experiencing some technical difficulties. So to make the most out of our time here, we decided to come back at the end of the day (hopefully when the line wasn’t as long). Luckily for us, we made it just in time! Another pretty cool attraction in Sci-Fi City was the Transformers Virtual Reality ride. It honestly felt like we were a part of the action, almost to the point where I wasn’t feeling so good. It was awesome to experience, but I think once was definitely enough for me.

My favourite part about Universal Studios was seeing Shrek’s castle in Far Far Away. I don’t know why, but I was super excited to visit Shrek’s land. They even had his outhouse with the ‘beware of ogres’ sign. The castle was huge and looked exactly like it did in the movies! I always admire the detail that goes into creating these parks. Someone had to study a lot to design them to match the movies. It’s always mind-blowing to see.

Another one of my favourite rides was The Mummy in the Ancient Egypt zone. This was an indoor roller coaster, and boy did it take us for a ride. There was real fire at some points, and mummies popping out behind corners to keep you on your toes. I left this ride with a huge smile on my face, laughing because of how scared I was at times. It’s always nice to ride a new ride and actually be surprised at what is to come. I feel like I have memorized all of the rides at Wonderland and am not as thrilled when I ride them for the 100th time. The Mummy ride can definitely give you a little startle and remind you your heart's still ticking.

Our day at Universal was a lot more exciting than I expected. The hostel worker wasn’t really selling me on going, but we ended up staying the entire day and had a blast. We didn’t get on every ride, but rode all of the ones we really wanted to. Of course being a tropical country, we had a little rain in the afternoon and some of the rides closed down. As soon as there is thunder and lightning, everything stops. That was our time to take a little siesta in the Jurassic Park cafe. What better way to wait out the rain than to take a power nap on a bench? It sounds exactly like the life of a traveller.

On our second day in Sentosa, we had two missions: go to the beach, and try a Singapore Sling. Being located in the middle of southeast Asia, Singapore has a few man made beaches to attract even more tourists (myself included). They actually imported their sand from other countries to try to have the most beautiful beaches around. And boy, were they ever nice! The coolest part about the beaches here was taking a suspension bridge across the water to reach the southernmost continental part of Asia. I’m all about doing things for my bucket list, and making it to this part of the world definitely made the cut! There was even a sign to tell you you made it if you didn’t know. The bridge itself looked like a Pirates of the Caribbean prop with all of the rope and wood. It was a little shaky, but it was only about a foot drop into the water if anything happened. No need to be worried.

Our trip to Sentosa was nothing short of relaxing. We had the best of both worlds: an amusement park and a beach. We could spend one day being the adrenaline junkies we are, and then spend the next day relaxing at the beach. Of course, we tried the infamous Singapore Sling and paid way too much money. But hey, when else could you say you drank a Singapore Sling in Singapore? It was well worth the money (and killed time when we were waiting out the afternoon showers again). At Sentosa, we didn’t fall into as many tourist traps as I was expecting, but still spent a good chunk of money doing everything we wanted to do. If you only had a few days in Singapore, it is definitely worth it to check out Sentosa, especially if you are a beach bum like me! You will not regret seeing the blue water, and sipping on a fancy cocktail to help you relax a little more. That’s my type of vacation!