I just returned from Sentosa on Tuesday.
I like the old sentosa much better; the Sentosa during the time when I was a little kid. It felt much more adventurous, more spacious, more clean, and fun was much of its emphasis.
First there was the monorail system, a good and systematic way to get around. It is easy for one to get off station by station to explore the island. Now, it is destroyed and replaced with head spinning bus and tram rides.
I also remember that there used to be nature always by my side in Sentosa. Now Sentosa is just a gigantic construction yard.
Most importantly, there used to be a sense of cohesiveness among the attractions of Sentosa last time. There was ambience on the island. Now, it feels like every attraction is just 'plopped' here and there. like placing dots on a computer game map. For example, walking along the road of the beach, there is now a coffee house with water attractions every now and then. It feels as if everyone manages their own business in the business compounds, and everything outside their doors has absolutely nothing to do with them.
I'm not sure how to describe this, but I think this will do. Imagine trying to create a jigsaw puzzle. The right way would be, get a big picture, and slice out the different pieces. However, what the current Sentosa now is like this:
Beaches carve their own jigsaw pieces, Resorts and Accomodation try to carve theirs, Shops try to carve theirs, same for Transportation and other attractions, while Resort Worlds Sentosa come up with their own puzzle frame and squeeze all their pieces into the frame.
To be direct I will compare the new Sentosa with Escape 'Theme' Park.
The main attraction of the island seems to have turned into shopping and dining, a place for tourists to burn their cash, rather than a place for family fun. Especially with the advent of Resort World Sentosa, money spending has turned into a theme.
The shattered remnants of old Sentosa reside in my memory. I used to have a wish to go down every monorail stop and visit their attractions, especially volcano land (which my parents told me that I visited it when I was even younger but I was too scared to open my eyes) , but I never had the time to. No more monorail.
I also recall wanting to fly by tying myself to helium balloons. When I realised I could not fly with one balloon, my dad somehow got the whole bunch of balloons from the balloon man and we brought them home.
Where has Fantasy Island gone too???
Everything that I mentioned happened when I was quite young, so I only had one impression of fantasy island before it was gone. It goes something like this:
Just imagine the brown stuff are cliffs and the river is filled with lots of families and children in floats.
I like the old sentosa much better; the Sentosa during the time when I was a little kid. It felt much more adventurous, more spacious, more clean, and fun was much of its emphasis.
First there was the monorail system, a good and systematic way to get around. It is easy for one to get off station by station to explore the island. Now, it is destroyed and replaced with head spinning bus and tram rides.
I also remember that there used to be nature always by my side in Sentosa. Now Sentosa is just a gigantic construction yard.
Most importantly, there used to be a sense of cohesiveness among the attractions of Sentosa last time. There was ambience on the island. Now, it feels like every attraction is just 'plopped' here and there. like placing dots on a computer game map. For example, walking along the road of the beach, there is now a coffee house with water attractions every now and then. It feels as if everyone manages their own business in the business compounds, and everything outside their doors has absolutely nothing to do with them.
I'm not sure how to describe this, but I think this will do. Imagine trying to create a jigsaw puzzle. The right way would be, get a big picture, and slice out the different pieces. However, what the current Sentosa now is like this:
Beaches carve their own jigsaw pieces, Resorts and Accomodation try to carve theirs, Shops try to carve theirs, same for Transportation and other attractions, while Resort Worlds Sentosa come up with their own puzzle frame and squeeze all their pieces into the frame.
To be direct I will compare the new Sentosa with Escape 'Theme' Park.
The main attraction of the island seems to have turned into shopping and dining, a place for tourists to burn their cash, rather than a place for family fun. Especially with the advent of Resort World Sentosa, money spending has turned into a theme.
The shattered remnants of old Sentosa reside in my memory. I used to have a wish to go down every monorail stop and visit their attractions, especially volcano land (which my parents told me that I visited it when I was even younger but I was too scared to open my eyes) , but I never had the time to. No more monorail.
I also recall wanting to fly by tying myself to helium balloons. When I realised I could not fly with one balloon, my dad somehow got the whole bunch of balloons from the balloon man and we brought them home.
Where has Fantasy Island gone too???
Everything that I mentioned happened when I was quite young, so I only had one impression of fantasy island before it was gone. It goes something like this:
Just imagine the brown stuff are cliffs and the river is filled with lots of families and children in floats.
***
Seeing how construction roamed the island and how money-centered Sentosa has become on Sunday, my mood was off to quite a bad start. My family and I took a tram down to Costa Sands Resort in front of Siloso beach. We booked a small room with one bed, and a kampong hut. From the moment I stepped into the hut, stale and wooden air wafted into my lungs. This was not very good.
I can't bear to put too much effort into this picture. It is too dull in reality. Those two things at the sides are double-decked beds.
I can't bear to put too much effort into this picture. It is too dull in reality. Those two things at the sides are double-decked beds.
We then moved on the other room, whose main composition was concrete, rather than wood. Other than being more spacious, and having a little more furniture, it was not much more comfortable. The floor was tiled (This statement might have more meaning if I added that the floor was not carpetted).
Tiled = Dirty Resort
Carpet = Hotel
One thing I like about a carpetted floor is that it shields your sight from dirt and dust on the ground, and your feet, because the floor feels furry no matter what. So it feels less disgusting living with it, unless it gets wet of course.
After settling our bags down for a while, my dad, my brother and I went to visit the Luge and Skyride.
The sentosa luge requires not fuel to run at all. It simply zooms down an inclined track, which I like because unlike the Daytona Go Kart at Escape Theme Park, it does not vibrate up and down and it is free of nausea inducing exhaust. Although it is rather expensive, 12 dollars per ride should one buy a single ride, I like driving (in games at least, not that I can drive a real car anyway).
The dreadful part of it is the Skyride. One can purchase a Skyride ticket without going for the Luge, but not the other way round. If one wants to take the Luge, one has to take the Skyride back up. One can, however, take the liberty to walk back up the slope on foot, but then he will still have to pay the fee for a skyride ticket.
Dangling above the treetops, exposed to the scorching sun, we could not wait to get off the Skyride each time we took it. The scenery didn't alleviate the tormenting wait, because it refused to change so we eventually got bored of looking at the same things.
At night, we immersed ourselves in the comforting chill of the evening water of the swimming pool at the resort. I immersed my head in the water, saw nothing but patches of blurred balls of lights at the walls. The water was ridiculously murky, and it was only when I rose I felt the sting in my eyes. The floor was scattered with dirt, and thus we eventually moved to the 2 metre end of the pool to avoid our feet from touching the floor.
After bathing, my family and I settled to watch some television, and my mum, my brothey, my maid and I moved to the kampong hut to sleep.
Horrible. The bed was horrible. The pillow was horrible. The air was horrible. I lay on the bed wrapped up in the furry blanket, occasionally adjusting its coverage over my body for maximal mosquito blocking to ventilation efficiency. But the hard bed and lousy pillow remained a problem; my neck ached severely from sleeping on them. In cruel collaboration with the poor ventilation of the hut, I had headaches, and could not sleep for 2 hours. I got one more pillow stacked on the first pillow for more neck support, afterwhich I managed to drift off to sleep.
I dreamt that it was once again a school day, and I was going to school on the bus with the usual person.
I woke up the next day, and my family and I prepared to set off for the Universal Studios.
The sentosa luge requires not fuel to run at all. It simply zooms down an inclined track, which I like because unlike the Daytona Go Kart at Escape Theme Park, it does not vibrate up and down and it is free of nausea inducing exhaust. Although it is rather expensive, 12 dollars per ride should one buy a single ride, I like driving (in games at least, not that I can drive a real car anyway).
The dreadful part of it is the Skyride. One can purchase a Skyride ticket without going for the Luge, but not the other way round. If one wants to take the Luge, one has to take the Skyride back up. One can, however, take the liberty to walk back up the slope on foot, but then he will still have to pay the fee for a skyride ticket.
Dangling above the treetops, exposed to the scorching sun, we could not wait to get off the Skyride each time we took it. The scenery didn't alleviate the tormenting wait, because it refused to change so we eventually got bored of looking at the same things.
At night, we immersed ourselves in the comforting chill of the evening water of the swimming pool at the resort. I immersed my head in the water, saw nothing but patches of blurred balls of lights at the walls. The water was ridiculously murky, and it was only when I rose I felt the sting in my eyes. The floor was scattered with dirt, and thus we eventually moved to the 2 metre end of the pool to avoid our feet from touching the floor.
After bathing, my family and I settled to watch some television, and my mum, my brothey, my maid and I moved to the kampong hut to sleep.
Horrible. The bed was horrible. The pillow was horrible. The air was horrible. I lay on the bed wrapped up in the furry blanket, occasionally adjusting its coverage over my body for maximal mosquito blocking to ventilation efficiency. But the hard bed and lousy pillow remained a problem; my neck ached severely from sleeping on them. In cruel collaboration with the poor ventilation of the hut, I had headaches, and could not sleep for 2 hours. I got one more pillow stacked on the first pillow for more neck support, afterwhich I managed to drift off to sleep.
I dreamt that it was once again a school day, and I was going to school on the bus with the usual person.
I woke up the next day, and my family and I prepared to set off for the Universal Studios.
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