The Caudle Family: Sentosa Island for my birthday!

Warning! This post has too many pictures!! I really narrowed it down too... Sorry.

Today, we went to Sentosa Island! According to the website, it is Asia's favorite playground. It was our first time there. We wanted to go to the beach and just check it out. There are several amusement parks... A Universal Studios, Animal and Bird encounters, A Nature Center, Underwater World, Butterfly and Insect Kingdom, and the list goes on. There are tons of resorts. You probably get the idea, but if you want to know more about what is on Sentosa, check out the link above. We just wanted to go to see how to get there and where it is, and to check out the beach.

From our condo, it takes about 40 minutes to get to Harbor Front MRT, which is the transfer place to Sentosa Island. Pretty much anywhere in Singapore is about 40 minutes by MRT/bus or about 15 to 20 minutes by taxi. We took the MRT today. Once at Harbor Front, we decided to take the cable car over to Sentosa. You can walk across the bridge, take a train or bus or taxi or the cable car.

Here is our cable car approaching our loading zone!

And we're in! I have to admit it was a little scary! It's really high up and we're over the water. The views were amazing, and it was pretty quick.

That's the city skyline in the background. It was a hot morning and the haze is from the steam.

That's where we came from.

Sentosa Island!

This is the Hard Rock Hotel (can you see the little sign?).

Our cable car is heading into that white building.

Just a view along the street. It's very lush and green. It feels very tropical.

Have I mentioned how they drive on the left side of the road? I'm getting more used to it, but every time we cross the street I look the wrong way first.

From where we arrived on the island, it was a little bit to the beach. There is a free bus service that goes all over, so we took a bus part of the way and then took a cab the rest of the way. We could have taken the bus, but we were too excited to wait for the next bus to come.

There are three beaches on Sentosa. One is geared to families and kids, it's called Palawan Beach. That's where we went. One is for sports, like sand volley ball and other activities, Siloso Beach. And the third beach is Tanjong Beach, it is for relaxation and tranquility.

We crossed the big rope bridge! It was very narrow and really moved a lot with all of the people on it. It was fun!

Over the bridge is the southern most point of continental Asia.

The map shows where we are. The big yellow is Singapore and the little red tip at the bottom is Sentosa and the orange label is pointing to our spot. I'm sure you can't see it!

The water was just the right temperature to be refreshing but not cold. The sand was so soft! The girls found little shells and seaweed and made a pile of their collection. The beach was busy, but not too crowded. Delightful.

I didn't manage all of the letters...

This one needs some explaining... There are 2 things that just don't happen here. There are never any napkins served with meals. Sometimes, they put out a little box of Kleenex. No napkins. Also, there are never any paper towels in the bathroom. Sometimes they have the little hand dryers, but not always. Never towels. I think they probably reduce paper waste by tons every day. So, it's a good thing.

Today, we were surprised to find napkins served at our lunch! Wow. I had to take a picture.

This is Scott, at our beach restaurant enjoying a Singapore Sling. If you come visit us, you will have one too. They are delicious!

A pirate showed up at the beach just after we had lunch! They were teaching a pirates dance to the kids. Who do you think joined right in without a moments hesitation?!

Madeline of course! Here she is doing some kind of growl or something. There was a fun little splash park on this part of the beach. This evening at bedtime Madeline told Scott: "Dad, I met a real pirate today! She was so nice and taught me a dance!" (she meant the girl helper to the costumed Captain Palawan).

Waves!

We met a lovely Norwegian family on the beach today. The kids worked together to dig a hole (Scott too, obviously).

Then they made a mountain.

After our time in the sand, we headed over to the showers and got all of the sand and salt off. It was time to start our journey back home.

We took the bus and the cable cars back over to mainland Singapore. Once there, we stopped for dinner before boarding the MRT to our home.

We had conveyor belt sushi!! We sat in a booth and the inside of the booth had a little conveyor belt that traveled along next to us. Little plates of sushi went by and if we saw something we liked, we picked it up. So fun!

Back at our local mall The Nex, we had to stop at the Icing room! A birthday must have birthday cake! I saw this place, the first time I was at The Nex and I knew it would be a favorite with my kids. They have beautifully decorated cakes and treats for sale, or you can decorate your own! So, of course, I needed my kids to make me my birthday cake.