Living the High Life

Gardens by the Bay, a photo by Taking5 on Flickr.

Some time back, I blogged about my visit to Marina Bay Sands.

Last night, I had the opportunity to spend the night there. It was a significant night, partly because it was the opening ceremony of "Gardens by the Bay", a new garden in Singapore's new Downtown area. We had a magnificent view of the Garden at night, from the top of MBS, whilst eating a quiet bowl of beef noodles at Sky on 57. The Gardens were laid out like a splendid necklace of lights below, with the two glass domes at the edge of the bay, and the supertrees rising in the midst of the darkness.


But the visit was far more than that. We had great fun visiting the infinity pool on top of MBS, first at night, and then the next morning.  At night, the infinity pool is a magical place.  The water glows from the lights in the pool, and city skyline twinkles brightly behind it.  There's a certain buzz in the air.  People are laughing and talking, splashing away in the pool and in the jacuzzis tucked in the corners.

I went for a swim in the pool early the next morning. It was quite a thrill, as though I was swimming to the ends of the earth only to see this totally different world before me.  At that hour in the morning, there were fewer people in the pool which made it easier to swim around and also to take photos with no one else inside....  It was also a wicked little pleasure, to think that I was enjoying this little getaway from the office, whilst all these people were enduring the morning rush hour to get to their own workplaces in this other universe before me.

Alas, it has ended all too quickly.  Back home now.  But looking forward to the next visit!

The High Life

I finally made it down (a few weeks ago) to the Marina Bay Sands, one of Singapore's two integrated resorts (or IRs for short).  Not, of course, to visit the casino.  I certainly am not going to waste money like that.  But, I did stand outside and peer in.  Not much of a view, and not very pleasant with the odour of stale cigarette smoke in the surrounding air, but nonetheless quite interesting.  Didn't see many people entering but I suppose it was a little early in the day (around lunch time).

I was actually at MBS for lunch at Pizzeria Mozza, one of the celebrity chef restaurants in the IR.  Pizzeria Mozza and its next door neighbour Osteria Mozza are by Nancy Silverton, in partnership with Mario Batalli and both restaurants are famous for their mozzarella, in particular the burrata mozzarella (this rather mouthwatering article tells all about burrata).  We had the burrata for our starter - the absolutely delicious mozza caprese - burrata mozzarella topped with a little pesto sauce and grilled cherry tomatoes (on the vine). The milky cheese, the tart sweetness of the tomatoes, the flavourful pesto - mmmmm...  The pizza too was tasty, and the famous crust was indeed light and elastic.  But the star of the show is indeed the burrata and I'm seriously thinking of visiting the mozzarella bar in Osteria. 

After lunch, we decided to take a trip up 55 floors and visit the MBS Skypark.  This was not without some debate.  Did we really want to pay $20 for a view?  In the end, we decided to do so and max out the time there.  Oh dear.  Did I just sound very Singaporean?  So we went up, and after walking around a bit we sat at the bar there and had a drink or two.  The view?  Well, it was certainly quite interesting to look down at the surrounding areas and to see all the way to the ends of Singapore, but I'm certainly not going to pay $20 again for the experience. 

So that was my visit to MBS.