Tim in Singapore - pt 5
Rain stopped. View of the harbor and CBD.
For Tim's last full day in Singapore he wanted to go to Sentosa island. He saw a poster about an international women's beach volleyball tournament that was being held here on Sentosa island this weekend. The tournament was during the afternoon and then there was supposed to be a big beach party in the evening. Tim was up for it. Well, anyone who visits Singapore ends up going to Sentosa anyways.
By the time we had lunch it was getting late. We finally headed over to Sentosa. When we got there, the cable car was a zoo. We ended up waiting over half an hour in line to get over to the island. Then just as we got to the head of the line it started to thunder. Seems to me that the last place you want to be in lightning storm is hanging from a metal cable way up in the air. I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy the trip over to Sentosa island. But we did make it alright. Unfortuantely, just as we got there it started to rain. So we found a table under an awning near the cable car station and had a drink.
I just had to take this picture.
About a half an hour and a Carlsberg later, the rain finally stopped. We headed over to the standard viewpoint of the harbor and the Central Business District. We even saw the guy with the snake that was there when Mickey and Shannon and I were there two months ago. We walked by the Merlion and took the fountain walk down to the beach. Unfortunately, we got there just after the tournament ended. They were setting up for the evening party, but it was in an enclosed area and cost quite a bit to get in. Tim explored trying to sneak in, but we couldn't figure out a way to do it.
We walked by an ice cream stand down by the beach. There was just an awesome picture that I couldn't resist. There was a whole line of little kids sitting on the step eating their ice cream cones. They all had their matching crocs on. They had as much ice cream on their faces as in their cones. Kids are kids all over the world.
Exploring the old gun emplacements.
Tim finally decided to give up on the party. We walked back to the cable car station via the nature trail. Tim needed a chance to see just how corny it was. But when we walked by a side trail to the old gun emplacements on the summit of the ridge we hiked up there. They had some big 15 inch guns up there that defended the harbor. Tim spent quite a bit of time exploring what was left. I almost managed to blunder into a huge spider and web in the ruins. Fortunately Tim warned me just in time. Since it was getting close to dusk the bats came out. They were flying all around the ridge and making a lot of noise. At first I thought they were weird birds, but Tim pointed out that birds don't make that funny chirping sound. Finally we headed back to the cable car. Fortunately for the trip back, we didn't have to wait at all.
Tim has this officer stuff down.
For his last dinner here, we walked down to Orchard Road and ate at an open air restaurant. We had a great view of all the Saturday night traffic along Orchard Road. It has to be one of the best places there is to people watch. We had a great dinner and a nice talk.
The next morning Tim took off for the US. We saw at least two teams that must have played at the tournament the day before. It was a great visit, but as usual I was really sad when he had to leave. Yup, I think I finally have this parent thing down. But we did resolve that since we don't know when we can connect up again, we will work harder to stay in touch via email or whatever. We even figured out a game that we can play via email. We're going to try to do World at War. I am studying it madly so I can beat Tim when he finally connects from Ft. Benning.
