Singapore 2024

Sunday17November

Return to the business center on the edge of Marina Bay.

The Marina Bay business district regularly transforms into a circuit for sporting events. On November 17, 2024, it hosts the "Run for Kids", a family race whose proceeds are donated to charities.

The Skypark of the Marina Bay Sands caps the three towers of the hotel. Its most recognizable part is the cantilevered observation deck, which extends 66.5 meters beyond the nearest tower. Located on the 57th floor, it constitutes one of the largest public viewing platforms of this type. The design had to incorporate complex movement joints to allow the hotel towers to oscillate independently. We will be there tomorrow evening!  

The dome of the Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay or the "durian" with its more than 7,000 triangular aluminum sunshades. Nearby, the Singapore Flyer stands 165 meters above the city. We will be in one of these capsules later...  

The One Marina Boulevard and its greenish glass facade. It houses the headquarters of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the national trade union center of Singapore.

This marina covers more than 42 hectares of surface area.

The Merlion, mythical creature with a lion's head and fish's body, whose name is a contraction of the English words "mermaid" and "lion". The lion's head refers to the original name of the city, Singapura, which means "lion city" in Sanskrit, while the fish body evokes its past as a fishing village. The statue is almost 9 meters high.

The Merlion is besieged by walkers who compete in ingenuity to obtain the "selfie" of the day...  

Behind the windows, the little tourists have 66 meters of void under their feet...  

Statues by Chern Lian Shan, on the square of the SGX Center.

We hadn't seen it yet, the two huge greenhouses, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. We will visit them later.

Right photo, the Supertrees, vertical structures that mimic the function of trees by providing shade and collecting solar energy. It will be tomorrow that we will climb to their peaks.

We are approaching the Ferris wheel. At its feet, the Formula 1 circuit passes here. For now, no racing car in sight except for this Sunday jogger.

And let's go for a ride on the wheel. One of these capsules will take us 165 meters above the ground.  

Before entering the capsules, there is a small route in the galleries of "Through the Lens of Time", where a small robot guides us through a digital journey.

The Singapore Flyer, with its 165 meters, was at its inauguration the highest observation wheel in the world.

Let's go, let's get into the glass cylinder.

Each cockpit is not fixed to the structure, but is mounted on bearings located on the outer periphery of the wheel. A motor dedicated to each capsule ensures its rotation on its own axis, constantly maintaining it horizontally.  

The vast expanse of water in the foreground is the Marina Reservoir, a source of fresh water created by the dam of the same name. Beyond this barrier lies the Singapore Strait, an international shipping lane where many merchant ships wait. This strait connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, a strategic crossroads for Singapore in world trade.

The Formula 1 Grand Prix track.

We are almost at the height of the skyscrapers and the Skypark of the Marina Bay Sands.

Not many people today, we have the whole capsule for both of us.  

The Singapore National Stadium with the largest retractable dome in the world. Stretching over 310 meters, its roof can open or close in about twenty minutes.  

The Singapore Strait is one of the busiest maritime highways on the planet. Hundreds of ships, from oil tankers to container ships, wait at anchor there every day before reaching the port.  

The domes of the Esplanade... It is only from here that I realize that the "Durian" is not alone, it has been cut into two halves! Thank you for the smells!    

We are at the highest point! 165 meters! It's off for the descent.

The Gardens by the Bay park combines the two monumental greenhouses, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, and the Supertrees.

Zooms on the city.

The steel arches of the Flower Dome.

The clouds are threatening. A big thunderstorm will surely fall on us! With all these metal structures, it is high time to get out of the wheel!  

And bam! The deluge arrives! The wheel is immobilized and a bride quickly goes back to shelter under the protection of her groomsmen.  

We eat on the go at the foot of the tower while the clouds empty, then resume the walk with our umbrellas...  

The Helix bridge and its double helix structure, a reference to the DNA molecule. This pedestrian walkway leads, among other things, to the ArtScience museum, shaped like a lotus flower.

At the foot of the giant lotus flower, the business center buildings are reflected in the water lily pond of the ArtScience museum.

These water lilies invite us to continue on the green theme. We will therefore be able to join the large greenhouses, Flower Dome and Cloud Forest!