A Day in Sentosa

Many people know that Singapore is a city-State-island … all rolled into one. What you may not realize is that Singapore is actually made up of multiple islands. According to Wikipedia (Ok, I admit I use it), Singapore has over 60 islands…natural and via reclaimed land.

I would never have guessed that! I knew of / have visited Pulau Ubin (for kayaking & biking), Sisters’ Islands (boy scout camping), Kusu Island (the turtle island), and a few others. But 60? Quite a list.

The one most people know of, but may not realize is really an island, is Sentosa. It’s just south of the southernmost tip of the main island. Sentosa is basically a vacation island – families come from all over Asia and spend a week…just on Sentosa. Kind of like spending a week at Disneyland. It has zip lines, luge tracks, Universal Studios, a water park, and a whole lot more touristy stuff. The cost will run you Disneyland prices, too!

This weekend Timothy’s scout troop planned a 10 mile hike on Sentosa. The troop does this all over the island, and we’ve had some great hikes (thanks to an awesome ex-runner mom, Katie….She knows every path across Singapore & we enjoy using her expertise!). 10-milers are to earn the hiking badge. Unfortunately, Sentosa is only about 3 miles wide! Which makes it a bit difficult to get the 10-mile requirement!

I was looking forward to the hike, but I also figured it would just be a lot of city hiking, around and around the different tourist attractions…..city walking. Katie is amazing, though. We did use the Merlion as a center point, looping back and around and crossing him a couple of times, and one ‘backtrack’ path, but that’s about it!

We walk across the boardwalk from Harbourfront…it’s free if you walk!

I did get a picture of the Merlion, but it was with all the scouts! Sorry! Didn’t want to post that one! But here’s a picture of our ‘centerpoint’ location: TripAdvisor Merlion picture

Throughout the hike, I was introduced to the off-the-beaten-paths of Sentosa! Some beautiful views!

So here are a few pictures to tickle your interest….none of Universal Studios or the water park! But all the other places you can check out.

The types of views I expected on our city hike:

: Royal Albatross- 4-mast tall ship berthed in Singapore. The ‘only luxury tall ship for charter in Asia’!

: A long dragon fountain-walk, just behind the Merlion. I think this is original Sentosa.

: The other end of the dragon walk….really cool iron work.

: Even this is more greenery than I expected….I did expect the paved walkway through the whole hike.

: The Biscuit Lion! Classic Singapore. This was on top of the original Singapore Biscuit Company’s building. When Nabisco took it over, they moved the ‘lion’ to Sentosa for all to enjoy! The Pioneer Generation of Singapore remembers him.

: Unique items all over the island.

: What I expected….walking around a lot of construction. This will be the New Sentosa Entertainment Centre….can you see the airplane it’s built around?