Stanley, the helpful Singapore Stopover Holiday rep, booked me onto a tour that ticked all the right boxes. A harbour cruise (boat trip!), with complimentary tea/coffee (freebies!) and a visit to an island inhabited by tortoises (aaah!). We sailed past many huge container ships (did not realise that Singapore is the world's busiest shipping port in terms of tonnage) and some very swanky and expensive looking apartment blocks. There was also a great view of the 3 hotel blocks (topped by a "sky park") of the Marina Bay Sands resort, which will include Singapore's 2nd ever casino, and the Singapore Flyer observation wheel.
Our main destination was Kusu Island ("Tortoise Island" in Chinese), named due to a legend about a Chinese sailor and a Malay sailor being shipwrecked together. A tortoise took pity on them and turned itself into an island so that they could land there. There were tortoises everywhere - 2 giant marble beasties, and a Tortoise Sanctuary, where numerous tiny ones looked like they were having a wonderful life sunbathing round the edge of the pond.
There is a Chinese temple on the island, which thousands of people flock to every 9th month of the lunar year to pray for good luck, health, happiness and prosperity. Out of season, it's all very low key. I watched as a few Chinese visitors added incense sticks and burned red and white paper at a furnace, all done in reverential silence.
There were some great views of the Singapore skyline, but this time with sandy beaches in the foreground, fringed with what looked like apple trees. After reading a plaque, I discovered that they were "poison apple trees", with seeds that contain poison that act on the heart. The "apples" turn from innocent green, to pink, to black. Eek!
Afterwards, my friend took me to Resorts World "Integrated Resort" (IR) on Sentosa, where the first of Singapore's casinos has now opened, along with restaurants, hotels and from 18 March 2010, a Universal Studios theme park. Singaporeans have to pay S$100 just to enter the casino, though it's free for foreigners. This didn't seem to have the intended deterrent effect, as there was a steady stream of people in the Singaporean queue. Inside (where you weren't allowed to take photos, grrr), the card tables were jam packed with determined punters. I took a liking to one particular hardcore Chinese mama playing pontoon, whose friends stood around her, holding her (many) spare chips. She was very vocal with her whoops and wails!
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