![\"Sentosa](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Sentosa-Island-Merlion.jpg\" "\\"Sentosa")
Sentosa Island Merlion<\/p><\/div>\n
safe as there was a surprise at the end.\u00a0 We went along a couple of semi-darkened passageways, looking at some sea creature carvings, and pictures that had words and poems on them and realised that the piped music was singing the words we were looking at.\u00a0 But shortly the passageway ended at a door with no handle and we were stumped.\u00a0 Looking at each other and saying \u201cWell, this is exciting!\u201d we saw a countdown display above the door saying \u2018the next show starts in 3 minutes\u2019 and, not knowing whether we needed to find \u2018the show\u2019 or it would find us, we stayed put.<\/p>\n
The countdown reduced and a group of Asian tourists joined us and then, magically as the count reached zero, the door opened of its own accord and we went into a theatre with 2 massive, black fabric coated steps and perched ourselves on there in front of a screen.\u00a0 We viewed a little film with Chinese subtitles about the legend of the founding of Singapore and the reason for the Merlion symbol and then that excitement was over \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 A girl greeted us at the far door and ushered us into a lift, checking we had our magic coins with us, and pressed floor 10 while instructing us to press G1 (I think it was) when we came back down.\u00a0 The lift didn\u2019t move and David said something about being conned, but eventually we did feel a little movement.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it was 10 floors though!<\/p>\n
Out we got and followed a narrow path and climbed some more steps and found ourselves with a group of people at the mouth of the Merlion, accompanied by the<\/p>\n
![\"Sentosa](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Sentosa-Island-Merlion-David-May.jpg\" "\\"Sentosa")
Sentosa Island Merlion - David & May<\/p><\/div>\n
compulsory staff photographer.\u00a0 Nobody got to admire the view from the Merlion\u2019s mouth, we just had to put our bags down and pose for the photographer \u2013 once with our hands palm up on top of each other\u2019s and once pretending we were making lion claws with our hands.\u00a0 Very kindly, the photographer also took both shots with our own camera, as he had done for the people before us, but of course instamatic cameras are not set well for taking photos with the light behind you so we did buy his.\u00a0 This is a scan of the professional one and when we got it we could see why he made us put our hands as he had.\u00a0 They added a tiny Merlion!!!\u00a0 The teeth behind us and the view beyond were the real thing though.<\/p>\n
From here we went back down the steps but then around beyond the lift doors and up some more steps before coming out on the very top of the Merlion’s head to enjoy some panoramic views.\u00a0 And to listen to a German family.\u00a0 I adore listening to any language but German is my favourite.<\/p>\n
The German mum had some tiny shorts on and I said to David \u201cWell, I\u2019d mark those as a fail!\u201d\u00a0 The pocket linings were hanging far below the bottom hem!\u00a0 She did have nice legs though so I can understand her desire to have them hanging out in all their glory.\u00a0 The legs, not the pocket linings.\u00a0 I would do the same if I was that shape!<\/p>\n
We admired the view for a while as it was indeed a good vantage point.\u00a0 Take note of the island here as there\u2019s more on that in a while.<\/p>\n
![\"Southern-Most](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Southern-Most-Point-of-Continental-Asia.jpg\" "\\"Southern-Most")
Southern-Most Point of Continental Asia<\/p><\/div>\n
The green monorail arriving at the terminus, plus some of the many ships anchored<\/p>\n
![\"Sentosa](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Sentose-Island-Monorail-Station-with-Ships-Beyond.jpg\" "\\"Sentosa")
Sentosa Island Monorail Station with Ships Beyond<\/p><\/div>\n
in the ocean.\u00a0 There were more to the right and many more to the left, as far around as the harbour (see below) and beyond.<\/p>\n
This photo (below), taken at 180\u00b0 to the one above, looked back onto the mainland and you can see the blue, red and white structure that we presumed to be one of the rides in Universal Studios, though we did not see<\/p>\n
![\"Grassy](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Grassy-Rooves-Universal-Studios-and-Harbour-Cranes.jpg\" "\\"Grassy")
Grassy Rooves Universal Studios and Harbour Cranes<\/p><\/div>\n
anything happening on it.\u00a0 To its left is a sandy coloured structure and you may be able to see that it was a castle of sorts.\u00a0 We were also fascinated by the grass on a few of the building rooves.\u00a0 Growing the salad greens to serve in the sandwiches?\u00a0 And of course all the derricks of the harbour beyond, with yet more ships misting into the ocean.\u00a0 You can begin to imagine how many ships there were in the angles between my two shots and how many were out of sight of the camera entirely!\u00a0 We guess that with no farmland on the island pretty much all of their food is probably shipped in.<\/p>\n
David got sick of the view pretty quickly \u2013 he\u2019s never good at just \u2018being\u2019, he\u2019s got to be \u2018doing\u2019 so we went down in the lift and when we came out the lady was there and told us to put our magic coins into the mouth of a lion \u2013 there were 6 to choose from. \u00a0We both got a printout with a number on it and were instructed to redeem these for our special gift in the shop which was just through a doorway.\u00a0 David handed over the vouchers, and I suspect that the numbers meant nothing, and we were given 2 black, solid (as in not concertina folded) fans with \u2018Merlion Sentosa\u2019 printed on them and a picture of the Merlion.\u00a0 We\u2019d seen the German family before us get a couple of fans and a couple of mouse mats and David was in desperate need of a mouse mat so would have preferred one of those!\u00a0 We then heard the young child creating and it became obvious that she wanted a fan.\u00a0 Opportunity knocks for David and he went and waved his arms around copiously in \u2018giving and receiving\u2019 fashion and assisted \u2018International Relations\u2019 as well as \u2018Parents and Children\u2019s Affairs\u2019 and came away happily clutching a mouse mat, leaving a cheery child and relieved parents in his wake ROFL<\/p>\n
For our next trick we decided to see the Butterfly Park.\u00a0 Sigh!\u00a0 Why do we do these things?\u00a0 Not far from the Merlion was a signpost pointing yet further up the hill so we set off in that direction which involved climbing a decent set of stairs.\u00a0 The man that had given us our gifts in the souvenir shop had said something about escalators to get to the Butterfly Park and sure enough, once up these stairs, we rounded a corner and were met with a sight that looked like something out of a film that would have Heaven at the top!\u00a0 There were 4 escalators with brief paved areas between the top of one and the start of the next and it was quite a sight, stretching up what must have been 8 to 10 floors in front of us.\u00a0 We went up 3 of them to find that the last was out of action with the left-hand side blocked off so that people going up and down had to squeeze past one another as they climbed or descended the hill manually.\u00a0 They were steep steps and it made my head a bit dizzy using them as my brain knew they should be moving but they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Once at the top we found a building, a large paved area, and a few bits that looked like information boards but they were not informative.\u00a0 We looked around a bit but there were no other signs about the Butterfly Park, just advertising for the Singapore Image Museum, which was the building and they charged more money to go in.\u00a0 Mystified, we decided we must have missed an arrow off one of the escalators so went back down again, looking carefully at every landing, but no.<\/p>\n
We ended up exploring the gardens a bit and found a restaurant, which seemed like a good idea, but it was deserted.\u00a0 We\u2019d have liked to have been desserted \u2013 main course and dessert that is, but all was quiet.\u00a0 We found a man who didn\u2019t seem as if he\u2019d wished to be found and asked what time they opened.\u00a0 I think the answer was 5pm or something equally as useless to our cause.<\/p>\n
We stood around, lacking in butterflies and lunch, and wondered what to do.\u00a0 Our only choice was to go back up the escalators, including the stationary one with the horizontal technical expert who was either sleeping off his lunch; awaiting a long-time-coming spare part; or slacking off disgracefully.\u00a0 At the top of the last escalator was a tiny sign with an arrow pointing right for the Butterfly Park.\u00a0 Now why didn\u2019t we notice that last time?\u00a0 We\u2019re both convinced somebody up there had just erected the thing!\u00a0 A few steps further round there was another one!!!<\/p>\n
Only a matter of metres further from where we\u2019d stood half an hour ago, the top of the hill spread out and there were restaurants, caf\u00e9s and who knows what that had all been hiding behind some bushes.\u00a0 We saw a Subway and decided to lunch there.\u00a0 A far cry from the restaurant menu items we\u2019d drooled over half way up the hill but never mind.\u00a0 But this Subway sold all the usual menu items except for the one that I like best so we moved on.\u00a0 There was a pizza and lasagne stall and I asked if they had a vegetarian lasagne but the answer was \u2018no lasagne today!\u2019\u00a0 Next to this was a halal ice cream stall.\u00a0 They sold something meaty as well that I can\u2019t remember because it didn\u2019t appeal so we ended up with a tiny tub of ice cream each for our lunch.\u00a0 The small round table we sat at declared \u2018We are a HALAL certified permise\u2019 (sic), which made me laugh and I took a photo of it to remind me.<\/p>\n
So we’d gone from hopes of a nice restaurant meal, to Subway, to lasagne, down to a small, unaccompanied icecream.\u00a0 Some difference!!!<\/p>\n
While we were eating our \u2018repast fit for a king\u2019 (on a major diet!) we were sitting within inches of the Butterfly Park entrance so had no chance to get lost again.\u00a0 Needless to say, we were photographed on our way in.<\/p>\n
![\"David's](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Davids-Butterfly.jpg\" "\\"David's")
David's Butterfly<\/p><\/div>\n
The butterflies were beautiful, colourful and huge!\u00a0 We\u2019d barely gone through the door (which was chains hanging in streamers that we had to push through) when a staff member put a massive butterfly on David\u2019s hand and accidentally made him jump!<\/p>\n
There were so many butterflies in here it was just stunning and I took so many<\/p>\n
![\"Sunflower](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Sunflower-Butterfly.jpg\" "\\"Sunflower")
Sunflower Butterfly<\/p><\/div>\n
photos that David was practically pulling on my arm to get me to move along.<\/p>\n
Also here, and seemingly very out of place, were 3 large cobras in a not-very-large bird cage! \u00a0With such beauty all around us we didn\u2019t spend a lot of time looking at these fellows.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll keep the butterfly pictures going even though I\u2019m moving on with my words.\u00a0 Through the next door, which had strings of something like plastic wine corks hanging down, was a display of macaws, sulphur crested cockatoos and other large parrots, but this was virtually guarded by staff and we could tell they were just dying to photograph us with the birds so David dragged me onwards quickly.<\/p>\n
![\"David](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/David-and-May-with-a-Waterfall.jpg\" "\\"David")
David and May with a Waterfall<\/p><\/div>\n
There were a few gorgeous man-made waterfalls and someone offered to take our photo against one, which we gratefully accepted.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll make the next picture as large as I can so you can see the number of butterflies that were in the butterfly room.\u00a0 It was so beautiful I could have stayed there all day.\u00a0 I can see 9 and 2 half butterflies in this picture.<\/p>\n
![\"Sentosa](\"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Sentose-Island-Butterfly-World.jpg\" "\\"Sentosa")
Sentosa Island Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom<\/p><\/div>\n
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