If there is anything I truly hate in visiting a foreign country, especially one that is not so far away from the Philippines, it is that I have to return home after a few days. But at least, I had a full three-day vacation from my cellphone. Indeed, it is in short travels such as these that I can be without my cellphone. Although I brought my laptop, I didn’t need to write a column as it was already a weekend. So it was one of those rare moments that I’m not using my cellphone or my laptop. Three days of just being with the family and our Rotarian friends and best of all, no news from the Philippines!
Yesterday we wrote about our meeting with the other Rotary Clubs in Asia. I asked many of them how they think of the Philippines. Most of our new-found friends politely say that Filipinos are a great people, especially the ones they meet in their respective countries. Our only downside is really, the kind of politicians we elect into office. But most of them also say that politicians all over the world are the same. They get rich while in power.
But one thing that is still very impressive in Singapore is their near-perfect infrastructure where potholes on the road have become extinct! The only bump you hit on a Singapore road is a road bump to slow down traffic. But Singaporeans who’ve never been to the Philippines don’t know what a pothole is. So driving back here in Cebu, you really get pissed when your car hits a pothole. If there is any challenge I would like to pose to Mayor Mike Rama is that his administration should make potholes extinct in Cebu City.
I didn’t visit Singapore in the past few years because there wasn’t anything new to see. Well, Singapore officials were not sleeping on the job. For instance, they have transformed Sentosa Island into a Resort World Casino where the Universal Studios is located. While Hong Kong has Disneyland, which caters to youngsters, Singapore has Universal Studios, which caters not just for children, with their Shrek Castle, but also for young adults with movies turned into thrill rides, like the Jurassic Park Adventure Ride or Battle Star Galactica. These hit movies are now great rides. Admission for adults is S$ 50.
The Battle Star Galactica is a high-tech roller coaster that features two rollercoaster simultaneous rides called the Cylon where riders sit on a small seat with their legs hanging out, while the Human is a sit-down ride. But they are fired together in one of the most exhilarating rides that I have ever tried. There is nothing greater than being on a wild ride with your son and enjoying every second of it! Yes, my son JV and I queued for an hour for this ride that only took 90 seconds flat! But you can’t find any G-forces on any ride on earth except on a high-tech fighter plane.
We also took the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, a ride where we had to queue for almost two hours. Reaching the end of the line, we got in on an overblown rubber tire sitting up with other riders then we float down the rapids seeing all sorts of dinosaurs and into a dark tunnel to scare the daylights out of you. In the end, you’d be totally soaked.
In Universal Studios, we saw a lot of Filipinos, which just tells you that Singapore did the right thing in financially supporting this endeavor, which was stopped due to the 2008 global financial crisis. Sentosa Island no doubt has continued to be Singapore’s tourism drawer, just like their Night Safari and the Jurong Bird Park. There is something that Singapore official did to motivate Universal Studios to invest in Singapore and it was to allow Casinos in Singapore. So now Sentosa has its Resort World Casino and the other Casino is the Marina Bay Sands, which is a tourist drawer on its own.
The Marina Bay Sands casino is an Expo and Convention Center; it has a fabulous and a high-end “For your eyes only” shopping mall and a theater, which currently is showing the play “The Lion King.” It has a lot of chic top class restaurants, like Wolfgang Puck’s “Cut” where my chef daughter Katrina wanted to sample, but we didn’t have the time to eat there.
Marina Bay Sands is the only place in Asia that I know where you can rent a real Ferrari F430 convertible and a Lamborghini Gallardo convertible for S$200 for a 20-minute ride of a lifetime. For those with money to burn, this is a ride you shouldn’t miss! No doubt the Marina Bay Sands is an attraction in itself, especially its terrific view at the Sky Park on the 57th floor where you will see an infinity pool that you can’t see anywhere else in the world. You have to pay S$29 to go up there, but you can’t swim in the pool unless you’re a hotel guest.
Being with a group of Rotarians, we stayed at the Regional English Language Center (RELC) International Hotel that has the biggest rooms I’ve ever seen in a hotel. This center was created by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMO) to promote English language in Asia.
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