After a fun day at Universal Studios, we spent day 8 of our Singapore trip on Sentosa Island again. On this day we had some fun at the beach and did a few of the other attractions available on the island.

 

After breakfast at VivoCity, we made our way across to Sentosa Island. On this day we decided to catch the monorail so that we could get closer to the beach. However, the day before we did walk, so thought I would include some photos of the Sentosa Broadwalk. The boardwalk only takes about 5 mins and is currently the only free way onto the Island. However, I believe this may change, since there are pay stations as you cross over. If your visiting Singapore Universal Studios, Trick Eye Museum, Adventure Cove Water Park or Marine Life Park, walking across is probably the best option, since they are closer to the bridge then the monorail station.

 

So anyway we took the monorail to Beach Station and on our way down to the beach we came across the Flowering trees. These colourful glass flowers were made by B. Jane Cowie, who is an Australian artist, living in Singapore. As we continued towards Palawan beach we came across this large grass area across from the beach, which it used for events on the island.

 

Our first stop was Palawan beach, which is known for its fine white sand and palm trees. This is only one of three beaches, but I think its the most ideal beach for families with small kids. This is because its close to many restaurants, shops, bathroom/showering facilities, and it has many family friendly attractions, including the Palawan Pirate Ship,  KidZania Singapore and Animal and Bird Encounters. You can also take a suspension bridge to Palawan Island, which is the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. Unfortunately the day we visited the bridge was being worked on, so Marco swam across instead. I would have joined him but I had O who was a bit scared of the water.

The beach was so lovely and relaxing and I even spotted a school of fish swimming along the shore line. In the nearby flower bushes there were these enormous honey bees, which were quite pretty. I also saw one monument for the second world war effort on this beach.

 

While we were still in our bathers we visited the Palawan Pirate Ship. This water playground was a lot of fun. If you don’t have kids though you will be turned away. This free water play area is designed for kids 3-10 years old (and their parents). There are two water slides, water guns and a huge bucket that fills up and drops water every so often. There are staff stationed here who supervise the area and remind people that they can’t swim unless they are wearing bathers. Besides the pirate ship, there is a another little playground, which is perfect for toddlers.

 

After we got dry and changed we headed towards the centre (left side) of the island for lunch. On our way we passed the Palawan Kidz City, which I really wanted to visit. Unfortunately, Octavia would have been to young to do a lot of the activities, which are aimed at 4 and 6 years olds.

In the centre there is another Merlion! I was very happy to see this, since the other Merlion at Marina Bay was covered for maintenance when I took the River Cruise. The Merlion is the legendary guardian of prosperity for Singapore. It is 37 metres tall and is half lion, half fish. It lion symbolises the folklore of  Prince Sang Nila Utama’s rediscovery of lion (singa) and City (pura) and the fish tail symbolises ancient fishing village of Temasek. It is said that it would visit the island every year to guard its well-being. However, one night there was a terrible store and the Merlion magically fought the storm and protected the island. You can buy tickets to go inside this Merlion, which has an the informative gallery, cafe to get some refreshments and a great view of Singapore.

 

In this area there wasn’t a great choice for lunch. We were here because we had plans to visit the attractions near by. I planned for us have lunch at Joe & Dough, but noone could tell me where it was. It restaurant has since declared itself closed on Google, which makes sense now. Other then that we could only see KFC and a 7/11. Luckily with some determination I found a Singaporean eatery down behind one of the buildings. Its a bit confusing down here since there are three named restaurants in this one area. Only one was open when we were here for lunch though.

The Beaver’s Cafe is an all day cafeteria serving local dishes, desserts, beverages. The menu offered a small variety different Singaporean dishes of various cuisines. I took the chance to finally try the Roast Hainanese Chicken Rice and Marco had the Chicken Naan Set. Octavia just picked at what she liked, which was mainly the bread. I quite liked the Hainanese chicken, it was just a shame that it was served cold. It did come with a lot of greens, which was nice. Marco really enjoyed his, but it was a little too hot for Octavia. This lunch was relatively cheap and pretty good considering KFC was the only other option here.

 

Next stop was Images of Singapore Live and Madame Tussaud. We had actually bought our tickets for both attractions on Klook, costing SGD20 in total (or $23 with Marvel 4D experience). This saved a lot of money since one adult ticket to Madame Tussaud is $32 online or $42 walk in, however these prices also included Marvel 4D.

Since it was quite busy we did the Spirit Singapore of  Boat ride first, followed by Madame Tussaud and then then Images of Singapore Live. The boat ride was really quiet short and not really exciting. There was no voice over telling you why you were seeing the installations, but it is free with the experience. The Images of Singapore Live was fantastic. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos, but I do recommend it. You are lead by actors from different eras in Singapore history and who tell you the unique story Singapore. They are interactive and do a great job of bringing you back in time.

 

Madame Tussaud Singapore is my first experience in a wax museum. It has always been a dream of mine to visit a Madame Tussaud, so you can imagine I was pretty excited. The museum  has a variety of well known people who are living or deceased It begins with world leaders, followed by world athletes, film and TV legends, musical performers, and A list celebrities. I’m not a crazy fan girl but I did find it amazing standing next to different well known people and getting a better idea of their size and dimensions. They just look so life like and getting photos with them is quite fun.

Just outside the we found a nice man with a large snake. Marco and Octavia had fun holding it and touching its soft scales. I prefered to just take the pictures.

 

Afterwards we headed down to the Festival Walk to do some shopping. The shopping wasn’t very exciting, since its all high end designers. So instead we went back to VivoCity for some more affordable shopping and later dinner.

 

 

I did want to share a couple of things more things we did at Sentosa the day before. After we visited Universal Studios, we had dinner at the Malaysian Food Street. We had to schedule dinner here that night because the following night it was closed (Wednesday).

This hawker centre is designed like an Asian old-town and is filled with different Singaporean specialities. What I loved about this place was every that nearly every stand had a information about a particular speciality they make. So if you new to Singaporean food you can read a bit about the dish and see a picture of what its going to look like.

We ordered a few dishes to share including the Roti Canai, Chicken Satay and Char Koay Teow. Everything was so delicious and fresh and I got to tick a couple more dishes off my list.

To drink Marco ordered a coffee milk drink and ordered a cold Barley drink. This was the first time I had tried Barley Water and it was actually recommend to me by another girl in line. I asked her what she thought of the Chrysanthemum tea, but she preferred the barley. The barley water is really delicious and sweet. I have read that it’s an acquired taste, but I don’t think so. Marco and O would take a big sip everyone time I ordered one and they loved it too.

 

After dinner we watched the free live performance, the Crane Dance. This show is on at 8pm every night at the Waterfront. It is a beautiful performance of two mechanical cranes that fall in love and transform into real birds. Their movements are so gentle and delicate and so touching to watch. The cranes are brought to life with lights and water effects and large screens on their chests. At the end there are some fireworks as well. I really enjoyed this performance and I would highly recommend if your nearby.

 

Have you visited these attractions and dining spots at Sentosa?

What did you think?