Travels by Arnab De

A day at Universal Studios, Singapore. Part I

Due to the present pandemic situation, travelling is not possible. I am sharing my travel experience based on my travel last year.

Universal Studios is a theme park. It features 28 rides, shows and various activities in seven themed zones. It was opened to the public in 2009. Its total area is 20 hectares. The seven themed zones are :

Madagascar
Far far Away
The Lost World
Ancient Egypt
Sci –Fi city
New York
Hollywood .

On entering the Universal Studio, we found the park as a magical, wonderful world with so many enjoyable attractions .

Hollywood is the main entrance to the park. It comprises of a variety of shopping franchise and restaurants based on some of the popular characters from Hello Kitty, Minions, Sesame Street etc.

We took the left side road to reach ‘ Madagascar zone’. Madagascar is a computer –animated film produced by Dreamworks Animation. We took an enjoyable boat ride in the artificial canal when the animated characters of the film talked with us. We also took the marry go round on the movie characters.

After Madagascar , we walked towards ‘Far Far Away’ —looking at the beautiful architecture of the buildings. It consists of Shrek’s castle, “Puss in boots” journey, Pinocchio and many other exciting rides and shows.

Next we reached ‘The Lost World’ —which consists of two theme parks—Jurrasic Park and Water world.

Jurrasic Park is based on American film, Jurrasic Park(1993). Some giant dinosaurs can be seen in the park. This part consists of roller coaster ride, rock climbing activity, river raft ride.We took our lunch at the cafeteria of this park , Jurrasic World. Then we went to the ‘Waterworld’ which is also based on a 1995 film , Waterworld. There are many sports activity in water and sensational live water show.

Hope you enjoyed the journey with us. 😊

Stay tuned for the next part. ✌🏼

HOLIDAYS AT A HILLY VILLAGE
After two hours drive from Mal station along rough hilly road in Himalaya, we reached our destination. We arrived at a tiny village of Todey Tangta panchayat in Kalimpong district of West BengalContinue reading “HOLIDAYS AT A HILLY VILLAGE”
HOLIDAYS IN KUAH
The journey in the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi international airport was amazing as we enjoyed the view of sea at the bottom and before landing clear bluish waterContinue reading “HOLIDAYS IN KUAH”
World Environment Day
The rapid development of human civilization has caused the deterioration of our environment and forests. About 31% of the earth’s surface is covered by forests ( approximately 4.06 billionContinue reading ” World Environment Day”
GREEN ENVIRONMENT OF MIZORAM
On the World Environment Day, I am sharing my views on the green and pollution free environment of Mizoram, situated at North -Eastern part of India, where I travelled last week. MizoramContinue reading “GREEN ENVIRONMENT OF MIZORAM”
Joy Ride on Toy Train of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
A railway communication between a hill of high altitude and plain is a challenging task for engineers. In the year 1878, Franklin Prestage of the Eastern Bengal Railway, foresaw theContinue reading “Joy Ride on Toy Train of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway”

My visit to S E A Aquarium, Singapore

On the second day of Sentosa island visit, we visited famous S.E.A Aquarium and Maritime Experimental Museum. After breakfast, we left our hotel by car and reached Sentosa at 9:30 AM. At first we entered Maritime Experimental Museum. In ancient times , how villagers explored the seas with traditional boats and managed trade with the rest of the world are nicely exhibited in fifteen galleries. One large ship is exhibited in one of the galleries . We spent few hours here and then entered S.E.A Aquarium in the same premise.

S.E.A Aquarium ( South East Asia Aquarium) is the South East Asia’s largest Aquarium. It is the home of 100,000 marine animals of different 1000 species. It was an wonderful and amazing waterworld experience. We saw an amazing shark habitat and their water habitat above the walkways. There were colourful tropical fishes, coral reef inhabitants, jelly fishes in various large aquaria.

Crystal jellyfish or luminescent jellies

We felt like we are in the sea water with the fishes! We enjoyed the aquarium very much.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading.

Stay tuned for more!!😊

A Day at ‘Wenlock’s Down’ and Pykara lake

After crossing Ooty city through Ooty- Mysore highway we reached ,‘Wenlock Downs’ of Ooty. There are lush green amazing landscapes with greenery and calm hill environment.

We reached at the top of a hill and sat on the green grass amid the soothing touch of nature and its calm environment surrounded by thick forests. This site is famous for shooting of films and this is locally known as ‘Shooting Medu’. We spent two hours here before leaving for Pykara lake.

Pykara lake and waterfall is on the Ooty- Mysore highway – 20 km from Ooty . After half an hour drive from ‘Wenlock Downs’ we reached this spot. It is an attractive picnic spot for locals. Pykara river is surrounded by hills covered by lush green pine trees.

From the main road ,we walked towards the river, moved downwards to Pykara fall and witnessed the beauty of the picturesque spot. Boating facility is available and many people were enjoying the ride. We spent few hours here. We returned by a battery operated e ricksaw to the main road. We left the place by car for our return trip to Mysore.

I recommend half day for ‘Wenlock Downs’ and half day for Pykara lake.

My Trip to Ooty from Mysore 🏔

On Nilgiri hills of Western Ghats, Tamilnadu, Ooty or Udagamandalam is a popular hill station in India . Its altitude is 2240 meters above sea level. It was originally a tribal land of Toda. It was founded as British summer resort during British rule. Nilgiri hills or blue mountains is so named because Kurunji flower which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes of the hills a bluish tinge.

We started from Mysore by a hired car at early morning. After one and half hour, we passed Bandipur tiger reserve forest and saw some elephants, peacocks, languars, deers in the forest . After half an hour, we passed another forest, Madumalai. After Masinagudi , we were able to see the view of green Nilgiri hills and proceeded towards the hills. We took the shorter route with 36 hairpin bends. We enjoyed the lovely scenic beauty and steep hairpin bends on the hills and finally reached Ooty. We checked into a hotel and after an hour left for sightseeing.

After half an hour drive we reached ‘Doddabetta’ peak. It is the highest peak located at 2634 meters in the Nilgiri hills and the meeting point of Western Ghat and Eastern Ghat mountains and offers beautiful vistas of the Nillgiri Hill ranges. We walked to the View point and took the view of lush greenery of the mountains. We also took the telescopic view of the lovely scenario. The view point is managed by Tamilnadu Tourism. After visiting a Tea factory at Doddabetta, we came to Ooty city and after lunch we visited Rose Garden.

The Rose Garden was established in 1995 at Vijayanagaram of Ooty on the lower slopes of Elk hill. There are varieties of colourful roses in this garden of 4 hectares. We strolled in the garden for an hour.

The last place to see on that day was the Botanical garden of Ooty. From the Rose garden we reached the Botanical garden within half an hour.

This Botanical garden was established by William Graham Mclvor in 1848 AD in an area spreading 22 hectares . The British used the garden for producing kitchen vegetables. The garden is now maintained by Tamilnadu Govt. Horticulture Department.

On entering the garden, we found lush green lawns, big trees, exotic and rare species of flora. We saw the fossilized tree— which is 20 million years old. We went to ‘Italian garden’ which is an attractive and beautiful part of the park with variety of colourful flowering bushes . Some trees were nicely converted to various types of birds! We saw Fern house with varieties of ferns and orchids . By that time it was evening and we came out from the Botanical garden.

After taking coffee and buying some homemade chocolates from local market ,we left for the hotel by the car.

A day on the Sentosa Island 🏝

Sentosa island is an island resort situated at the southern coast of Singapore. The island is separated from the main island by a channel of water, Keppel harbor. It is one of the most important attractions of Singapore. Man has made the island more attractive inspite of its own beautiful environment– consisting of green mountain, Mount Faber and deep blue oceans.

We took cable car ride to reach the island. When the cable car started, we enjoyed the amazing aerial views of the mountain with greenery, transparent blue river and ocean water . We deboarded from the cable car and reached Madame Tussauds Museum.

Madame Tussauds Museum is the 7th Asian branch of its chain of wax museums worldwide. On entering the Madame Tussauds Museum, we saw so many wax figures of notable personalities __ political icons , film stars, sports icons and others. We had the feeling of looking at the real persons standing before us! After this we saw a 4D film, ‘Iron Hero’ at Marvel 4D hall.

Then we went to see ‘ Images of Singapore’ event. Live actors demonstrated and explained the history of Singapore. Through a unique mixing of live actors and special effects we were back at the time to Singapore’s past from a fishing village and reached upto the present modern Singapore. This was an amazing and fun event to know the country’s history and culture.

After this we took a coach to visit some of the beaches. We reached Siliso beach which is one of the beautiful beaches of Sentosa. It was 5 pm but the sunlight was very intense. Its nature—wide sandy beach ,deep blue water of ocean and lots of sports activities like sky diving, wave front surfing are main attractions of this beach. We sat on the sandy beach and took pleasure in experiencing the natural scenery. There were no crowds only few tourists were on the beach. Ships and cruises were continuously moving on the sea. We felt thirsty but could not get a cup of tea or coffee on the beach like our country. Before evening we left this beach and took another coach to visit ‘Palawan beach’. We spent a little time there before going to see W.O.T.

W.O.T or Wings of Time is a spectacular light show using sophisticated technology of laser light and sound on the sea. This area was crowded with tourisis. We took the open air seat on the beach for the night show. The show started at 8:45 pm. The show is based on a story about friendship and courage which is staged every night two times. We were astonished by laser, fire and water effects set to a majestic sound track. After the 15 minutes show ,we left this place after the whole day programme at Sentosa island for our hotel at Lavender Street.

I recommend to spent one entire day for visiting these sites at Sentosa.

My visit to the Gardens by the Bay.

In this lock down period, I have prepared this blog to share experience of my travel to Singapore last year. Although travelling is not recommended at this moment, we hope to travel in future when everything will be normal again . We look forward to a normal global health situation soon.

On 7th October 2019, myself along with my family members landed at Changi International Airport ,Singapore in morning. After completing immigration formalities, we left airport by a car, waiting for us to take us to the hotel at Lavender Street.

Singapore is a country consisting of only one city. The country has 63 small islands with total land area of 721 sq. km. Total population in Singapore is 57 lakhs. Although in world map, Singapore is a tiny country, but it is highly developed. Human Development Index (HDI) of Singapore is 0.935 which is very high ranking 9th in the world. Like our country, Singapore was under British rule from 1819 to 1963. The country gained independence on 9th August ,1965. Inspite of poor economic conditions and internal disturbances, Singapore became a highly developed modern first world country within a very small span of time.

We are happy to reach such a tiny beautiful country to explore it for the next few days. After lunch and a brief rest , we left hotel by car . After 15 minutes drive, we reached “ Marina Bay Sands” Hotel.

“Marina Bay Sands” hotel is the most iconic 5-star hotel in Singapore fronting Mariana Bay. After reaching the base of the building, I was astonished to see the architectural beauty, wonderful décor and cleanliness of the building. After strolling sometimes at the ground floor, we went to see the sky park. The sky park and Infinity swimming pool are made at the roof top, 57th floor of the building by connecting three tall Towers by a cantilevered platform – making it the world’s largest cantilevered platform.

We reached there by lift. Scenic beauty of the city- Marina bay,Singapore river, Merlion Park, Gardens by the bay, modern high rise buildings can be seen through glass wall.We got a bird’s eye view of the city with tiny ships sailing on Singapore river and numerous tiny cars running on the streets below. We took the lift down and walked to the nearby “Gardens by the Bay” .

“Gardens by the Bay” is a showpiece of garden artistry and horticulture that presents the plant kingdom from around the world in a new beautiful way. The garden’s total area is 101 hectares. The garden consists of several attractions.

View of Gardens by the Bay from Sky Park

At first we entered the ‘ Cloud Forest’-the magnificent climate controlled greenhouse . Awestruck we stood in front of the 30 meters tall indoor waterfall which was once the world’s highest artificial waterfall. How beautiful is the artificial forest and misty tropical mountain with variety of vibrant flowers ,orchids and lush greenery! We took in the view of the mountain, which is surrounded by the diverse vegetation and floral gems that disappear into the puffy white clouds. We reached at the top of the mountain by lift. We returned by walking through the narrow walkways ,winding down the central column , enjoying the soothing view of flora and fauna with water droplets from the waterfall hitting us all over .

It’s another gigantic temperature-controlled greenhouse that showcases themed gardens with exotic plants from five continents.Right across the hall is the ‘Flower dome’ which is the world’s largest column less greenhouse.

We went to see light and sound programme at ‘Super tree Grove’. We strolled around the super trees- 25 to 50 meters tall technical marvel with large canopies till 8:45 pm. At 8:45 pm the mesmerizing Garden Rhapsody light and sound show started –the trees came alive with melodial instrumental music and colorful lights dancing on its tune. An exhilarating experience of light and sound making a creative vision on the trees! After this show we returned to hotel.

Next morning , we went back to ‘Gardens by the Bay’ as we could not visit the OCBC Skyway due of lack of time the previous day. We took the lift to reach the skywalk. OCBC Skyway is an aerial walkway –128 meter long at a height of 22 meters from the ground connecting two towering supertrees. We experienced a unique sensation of floating above the ground looking at the beautiful skyline of the city , its nature,skyscrapers, and different areas of gardens by the Bay. After reaching the end of skyway, we came down and visited other parts of the garden like Chinese garden, Malay garden, Indian garden etc . We saw super trees and the vast exhibit of trees in broad day light with a very different look than the previous evening.

I recommend to visit the gardens in day but must plan to see the Light and Sound show at evening.

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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