Sarang Rimau

Another night asleep in a proper bed - lovely. Woke up refreshed and ready for another packed day.

We left apartment about an hour later than planned. Caught MRT to HarbourFront and walked through the enormous VivoCity shopping centre. We knew that the cable car across to Sentosa from Mount Faber was shut for maintenance so caught the Sentosa Express monorail.

We were packed in but thankfully it was only a few minutes ride. The first stop was for Universal Studios and the Aquarium. This area was really busy but most people were heading for Universal.

It was already very hot so we were relieved to get into the aircon of the aquarium. Twenty years ago Jonathan and I both scuba dived in the old tanks at the Aquarium with the sharks and fed the rays cockles from our palms. This Aquarium is a new one on a different site.

The largest tank is enormous and holds 18 million litres of water. It houses the largest collection of mantra rays, barracuda, various shark species, various other rays and too many other fish to name. We spent a good time just watching and trying to capture the perfect photo.

There were also smaller tanks with native species such as the seahorses, various species of jellyfish, moray eels and my favourite sea dragons.

The last tank where we walked through a glass tunnel, was home to 100 sharks including a fierce looking sand tiger shark, who just seemed to be slowly cruising around. The aquarium was very well set out and interesting. However it was busy and so many people want selfies with the fish which can take ages as they try to time photos.

Next stop after a much needed caffeine intake was the beaches. These were very different to before. They are now lined with beach clubs and hotel areas with sun beds and splash pools. It was incredibly hot but we still headed for the Southernmost point of continental Asia. We crossed the rope bridge and climbed the pagodas and looked out to sea across loads of huge tankers.

We were depleting our water supplies rapidly. We headed for our next activity the Singapore Luge. We had three rides each booked which includes a chairlift back up to the top.

They were great fun with four different routes to choose from. Jonathan and Ben were obviously racing which is strictly forbidden. We were all sweating buckets after the second ride. As we went to join the short queue for our final descent we spied a couple of Alpine shirts in a fenced off area. Then we noticed that one of them was Pierre Gasly with Simon Lazenby from Sky Sports.

We hurried to the barrier and stood watching them getting ready for a luge race. There was a short man next to them who I assumed was a child who maybe had won a competition to race with them. It’s only when he turned around I realised it was Yuki Tsunoda!

They were being filmed having a race (naturally) which will be shown on Sky over the weekend. The four sweaty Europeans in the background with helmets on is us! We have since checked the Sky footage and we can be seen in the background but also we are on the chairlift in the background of another shot.

We stood around for about 30 minutes taking photos and filming videos. Jonathan had a joke with Simon, who then led Yuki straight past us to the kids height chart to check he was tall enough to race alone. As a fellow shortarse, I thought rude!

They had all gone by the time we came down for our last ride but it was a great surprise to actually see a couple of drivers so close up.

By now we were very hot and sweaty and decided to forfeit the cable ride to the top end of the island. Instead we walked across the causeway and headed for Boat Quay.

We sat on the riverside with a jug of tiger and a couple of ciders before deciding to find a curry for the evening. We walked down Boat Quay and decided on the Maharani Restaurant which I think we may have eaten at before.

It was delicious. We had starters of onion bhajis, samosas and honey potatoes. For mains we each had a curry dish, with a basket of naan breads and rotis. We also had a second jug of tiger.

After a really lovely meal we walked along the river opposite Boat Quay. Singapore really is a beautiful city at night. We went to investigate how close we could get to the track. We saw Zhou and his entourage walking around and then Bottas cycling around on his own.

We headed to see the Merlion to find it’s rather fancy these days. No longer just white but has various colours projected on to it.

By 1030 we were beginning to flag somewhat so headed back to apartment. Straight to bed as it’s another long day tomorrow for day one of the Grand Prix.

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