Singapore Flyer

The Singapore Flyer costs $29.50 for adults, but my mum had a one-for-one deal so we made our way there on Friday.

For the sake of the two older folks, we took a bus 1-stop from City Hall to just outside Millenia Walk and made our way on foot from there. I wish the experience walking to the Flyer would be improved though. I’d been there once more than 2 years ago and nothing much has changed since then – it’s still a walk along pavements with the heavy traffic zooming past, with no proper signage informing us whether we should cross the road at this crossing, or if there’ll be another one down the road.

But anyway we managed to reach there in one piece – its frankly a bit scary being a pedestrian on the pavement with cars going past non-stop on three sides, as it was at one point in time – and in time to catch the “restaurant capsule” go past:

i tried my hardest not to take non-discreet photos, but the people dining in there must have felt like animals in the zoo as more than a few camera flashes went off.

the colour changes that the Flyer goes through are nicer up close – i find it insufficiently bright from a distance:

i’ve been told that the 30 minute ride is good as just a one-time experience, with the first 10min being spent in excitement and the rest in boredom. i didn’t think it as bad as that however, as time passed by quickly enough.

perhaps taking lots of photos is the trick, like i did, with my attempts to capture the crowd that had gathered below for the Chingay Parade. See how sharp they look? There’re suspicions that the glass magnifies images:

trying to take a picture where all the lines below are lit took awhile too – i actually do quite like the large 春 that was put up to celebrate Chinese New Year:

Marina Bay Sands, of course, was the focus of many photos too. The building of the new downtown has definitely added lots of iconic structures that make the view from the Flyer more interesting.

It’s quite amazing how bright Singapore is at night – Malaysia is a lot less lit up, as is very apparent when viewed from a plane.

i wished i had a better camera, as it was difficult trying to catch Fullerton Hotel. It was either too blurry or would have looked better if i had a wider angle on my camera.

The first of 6 performance area for Chingay, with the ticketed seats on the right and the carpark on the left.

the lights from the floating platform where River Hongbao is held were a little too bright, and the Esplanade seems a lot less obvious at night.

Apparently some say that the Singapore Flyer experience is the best of its kind in the world, beating others like the London Eye or the Eiffel Tower.While I haven’t been on the former (it was way too dear at £15, back when £1 = SGD3) i really liked the latter as i could feel the wind in my air. It’s for the same reason that i love the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka.

I think Singapore’s skyline at night is different from Paris’ too. Singapore’s charm is in the juxtaposition of buildings of different heights. There’s a layered effect to the skyline and the URA has done an excellent job of lighting up the city. Paris, however, had a beautiful night view due to the sheer number of historical, architecturally buildings that are visible like a spotlight at night. The more important ones even have a long, lit boulevard that seems to radiate from the Eiffel Tower right up to it, drawing your attention to all its glory.

I’m not sure I’d say that this is nicer than Paris’ view, but it is pretty darn nice.

you just need a better camera than mine, and steadier hands..

the end.