Day 20- Thursday 20th March- Singapore

Sarah was up early, coughing a lot. Her cough seems to be getting better now, but she has the occasional fit when around air conditioning. Hannah and I woke up at 10:30ish and I was very hungry indeed. We decided to walk to Toastbox, a toast restaurant, for breakfast. It was about 10 minutes away, aw=round the corner from Topshop and Starbucks. It was a nice little place; I ordered 'Traditional toast', which was like a toasted sandwich with honey in the middle. The girls got 'Thick toast' which had been cut up into little toasty cubes. After this, we went back to the hotel.
About midday, I went by myself to try and find the post office to send Anna's birthday present. It was difficult to find it, seeing as I couldn't understand the obnoxious hotel receptionist's directions. I asked a man if he knew where it was, but before that, I asked if he spoke english and he seemed offended and therefore unwilling to help. I continued searching, looking for a large building, but eventually found it as a small branch inside a shopping centre. I sent Anna's stuff off as well as a few postc ards. Back at the hotel, we plugged into our iPods for a bit before setting off for an evening out.
We caught the MRT at Bugis to 'Harbourfront', where we found ourselves in a huge shopping mall called 'Vivocity'. From here, we bought tickets to Sentosa.
Sentosa is an island off the south coast of Singapore. It has been turned into a theme-park-resort kind of thing and is pretty much Singapore's main tourist attraction. It is also the most southern point of continental Asia apparently. To get to Sentosa, we had to catch a monorail train for $3. This monorail took us over the channel that separated Sentosa from Singapore and also took us over a huge building site where parts of the resort were still being completed. The views over the city were spectacular. We passed the 'Merlion'- a statue of a lion with the tail of a fish; Singapore's top tourism symbol. This confused me somewhat because I had sent out postcards depicting the merlion as a 10 foot tall fountain in the city. This Merlion was not in the city. Nor was it a fountain. Oh, and it was a hundred feet tall.
We got off the train at the beach and the first thing we did was buy tickets for the 'songs of the sea' show later on. We then walked up towards the Merlion, which was wholly underwhelming. You could go to the top of it for $8, but we decided this would be a waste of money. We continued exploring, finding few attractions and far between. Sarah wanted to go on the luge ride, but $9 is ridiculous. We found a gift shop, but once again, everything in it was a waste of money. I looked at some '3D photo blocks', which were blocks of glass with 3D images engr aved into them with lasers. I chatted to the man selling them about how they were made. He seemed desperate for someone to buy one.
The only exciting part of the park we could find was a Subway, where we had dinner. By now it was 6:30 and we walked to where the show was being held an hour later and waited. The park had

been exhilaratingly rubbish, so we didn't expect high things from the 'Sounds of the Sea' show. We were very surprised. As the sun set in an orange blaze, a mist filled the stage which was set up out in the ocean. The amphitheatre was nearly full and eight very annoying actors came out and mimed a pre-recorder soundtrack. Out on the stage at sea, impressive pyrotechnics were set off and lasers were projected into the mists to create 3D images in mid air. The plot and actors of the show were dire, but the effects used were genuinely very impressive.
We left Sentosa, happy with the show, but also very happy to be leaving such an awful theme park. I really don't understand why so many people were there. It was like Singapore's equivalent of the Millennium Dome.