Big buildings of Singapore

Mum and Dad visit was an excellent excuse to have another look at the big buildings of Singapore. 

To be honest, they are not that big, far away from Hong Kong and New York. (The limitation comes from the proximity of Changi airport. So the 3 tallest buildings tower at 280m, smaller than the Eiffel tower!)

Anyway, we started our tour at the URA, the Urban Redevelopment Authority which shows 3D models of all developments plans for Singapore for the next 15 years! (See future buildings in transparent plastic and the F1 track in orange/pink)

After the URA, the tour got more "real", first one of the top 3, the UOB tower on the left. (Great chinese restaurant at the top where my secretary got married)

This one is a more enlarged view of the CBD (Central Business District)

The story I have heard about the 2 buildings below says that they have been designed according to Feng Shui philosophy and that the wind blows in between.................

Occupying most of the following photo is the new supreme court (the old one is currently covered with scaffolding), behind is a reminder of the vertical marathon we did a few months ago: The swisshotel.

Our walk then took us to Parkway Square, a fantastic art deco building, barely 10 years old... The bar and its flying waitresses were already covered in a previous post.

http://basedinsg.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/friday-evening-in-art-deco-world.html

From Parkview Square, there is a good view of the Suntec towers and the hand shape it creates: 4 tall fingers and a smaller thumb. (not the best photo to see the hand shape, I should have gone right below the towers!)

The one before last, Keppel marina. I still can not decide if these towers are actually finished or not... The view is from Mount Faber above Harbour Front.

And finally, the last visit, Marina barrage. The barrage doesn't qualify as a tall building but the view from there on the city centre is quite impressive, first the Singapore flyer

And finally, remaining as king of the Singapore high rises: Marina Bay Sands, its 3 towers and boat shaped top

I'm now heading back offshore Angola so I do not think much more posts will be coming during the next 4 weeks, but we never know...

Afternoon tea at the Raffles hotel

Instead of just being tourists at the Raffles hotel, we decided to experience it properly, so we went for afternoon tea at the Tiffin room.

We were welcome by a pyramid of sandwiches, cakes, madeleines and cupcakes. A waiter in a colonial outfit appeared to offer us different kind of tea, we picked mint tea which was delicious and really light.

Once we had tested all our sandwiches (the usuals eggs, cucumber, ham, tuna and salmon), dad and I moved on to the dumpling area.
Mum decided to give them a miss and went directly for the chocolate mousse! Very quickly, she also pointed us in the direction of some delicious raspberry and strawberry little wonders...
But the king of the day was the bread and butter pudding, its vanilla sauce and marinated mixed berries...

This is definitly the best way to experience the Raffles hotel (close competition with the sunday champagne brunch...)
As we were in need of a walk after that many desserts, we had a look around the hotel and the famous Long bar! (where the Singapore Sling was invented)

 

This month's photo: Stairs

I really thought I would have updated the blog by now but no...

Lots of posts are getting ready but "this month's photo"comes first once again... (There is definitely an advantage to deadlines!)

So, this month's theme is stairs. After wondering between the stairs of our home in London (which made me buy the flat) and the stairs of some temples in Java (potentially on Celine in Paris's blog, I'll have to check), I've gone local, so here are the internal stairs of the famous Raffles hotel of Singapore where I had afternoon tea with my parents yesterday (that will be the subject of another post).

They are grand!

and here are the links to a few more stairs:

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