Today I woke up pretty early, around 5am, because I fell asleep so quickly last night. I took the opportunity to work on my last blog post while I waited for Hunter to wake up. Once he woke up, we got dressed and then I packed our suitcases as the hotel said they would upgrade our room today on our last night. Once we had everything organized for the day we headed to breakfast around 9am. Again, it was delicious and there was so much to choose from!
My outfit for the day!
Breakfast
Everything is delicious as always
The dragon fruit was one of my favourite things to have each day
After breakfast, we did some planning for the day's activities! Today we were adventuring somewhere new... The S.E.A Aquarium on Sentosa Island! We were trying to buy tickets on Klook, the discount app, but they didn't have same-day tickets, so we decided to just head to the aquarium and buy them onsite. We took a bus to the shipping port where we then had to walk through a mall to get to the Sentosa monorail. The mall was huge and had many stores we like such as Uniqlo, Zara, and Marks & Spencer. There was even the restaurant Hans I'm Glück which we had gone to while in Germany a few months ago. On the top floor of the mall was the monorail that would take us to the island. It was 2 cars long and many people were in line waiting for it. When we got on, it was about a 5-minute ride to the next stop where the Aquarium was located.
The mall with the monorail
Our hotel from the outside. One tower is a hotel the other is residential
The Raffles Hotel across from our bus stop
The shipping port
The control center for the port
The aquarium featured the largest oceanarium in the world from 2012 to 2014 when China then built a larger one. The aquarium contains a total of 45,000,000 litres (12,000,000 US gal) of water for more than 100,000 marine animals of over 800 species. The aquarium has 10 zones with 49 habitats. The centerpiece of the aquarium is the Open Ocean tank with more than 18,000,000 l (4,800,000 US gal) and 50,000 animals. Currently, the aquarium is undergoing many renovations and an expansion is being built which is planned for completion in 2024 when it will be renamed the Singapore Oceanarium!
The entrance
Some fun posters walking to the entrance
Moray ell
Shark
Puffer fish
I thought this was coral initially, but it was a giant clam!
Shrimp
Pom Pom Crab
Wrasse
Dolphins
Tasmanian giant crab - heaviest crab in the world!
Jellies!
Rays!
Manta Rays
Sharks - Can you see the ones hiding at the bottom of the tank almost burried?
Make sure to set your resolution to the highest option for best viewing using the gear icon and the quality option
Lobster
Sea Dragons
Unicorn Fish
Nurse Shark
Reef Shark
Poison Dart Frog
Touch tanks!
We spent about 3 hours exploring the aquarium before we got hungry and decided to head back to the hotel where the lounge served an afternoon tea! Hunter planned the route back to the hotel and we saw it transferred in a train station that had Kazo, a local pastry store that has delicious cream-filled items. Hunter has been craving them for years! We ordered 6 Hokkaido cream puffs and each ate one before continuing on the train to our hotel.
When we got back to our room we noticed our welcome gift had arrived which was local cakes and a diet pepsi. We tried one of the cakes and it was okay, but a little strange. Hunter said it tasted like the hotel smelled, which was a good description.
Cars outside the hotel
Our welcome gift
The cake that tasted like the hotel smelled
Another burrito cake that tasted coconutty
When we went to the lounge they had a nice selection of snacks, which we took full advantage of as we were fairly hungry.
We decided after lunch snacks to go to the pool for a bit where Hunter swam, but I was chilled so I sat in the lounge chairs and worked on uploading pictures to my blog. Blogging is quite a process, but I really enjoy it and love getting to look back on the trips we have taken. The pool was pretty busy while we were there actually, but it was nice to just relax and not be on a schedule worrying about missing out. Sometimes FOMO (fear of missing out) while on vacation hits hard, but since we have already been to Singapore once it is easier to just chill.
While I finished working on my blog and scheduled my email notification, Hunter got a notification that our room change was ready. They said they would bring the new keys up to the pool where we were, but they never came. Hunter then went and got a key at the front desk and switched our luggage before retrieving me from the pool as I was finishing uploading a video for the blog.
The new room was a touch underwhelming, which we have decided is a good way to describe our stay. It was smaller than the previous room and had only a partial view of the Marina Bay. We both would have appreciated it if the hotel receptionist would have told us more details about their "upgrade" and let us know it was smaller with only a slight view of the bay. We would have declined to move had we known. Oh well, it was the last night so it wasn't too big of an issue, just unfortunate.
After moving rooms, we then went to the lounge around 6:30 for hors d'oeuvres. They had quite the selection of food and it was more of a dinner than a snack! Hunter and I were seated at a large table, next to two of the Delta TechOps people we saw the other morning at breakfast. Hunter talked to them some more and found out some about their timetables and work schedules. Since they were American they worked one month on, one month off in Singapore. They were also getting ready to move another new A350 out of their cabin mods process in a few weeks.. While in the lounge Hunter had a soup bowl made for him. When the chef at the station asked what he wanted he said he wasn't sure, so she said "okay I'll take care of you" and made him a really nice bowl! We were not sure what all was in it, but it was tasty.
After eating while we were just finishing our drinks, the staff came around telling us to go get more food before they take everything away at 7:30 when the snacks end. It was a friendly aggressiveness towards going and having more food, but we were both full. It almost seemed like they didn't want to waste food and I wish they would just leave the food out longer and not replenish anything so people eat everything that exists up and not create excessive food waste.
Once we were done at the lounge, Hunter and I went for a walk to the Merlion, Singapore's mascot statue. It was a 10-minute walk but turned into a longer walk for some construction detours.
After visiting the Merlion and getting some awesome pictures, we headed back to our hotel. We took an alternate route and ended up walking right past the exit we needed. It was a while before we noticed but it was a nice stroll in the tunnels. We also passed a strange cafe called Yugoslavia which Hunter found humorous, but they sold Coke Lite and we were happy!
Nissan GTR
When we got back to the room we showered and Hunter started researching airport activities for tomorrow since everyone says there are so many things to do at the airport!
Date: Sunday July 10, 2022
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