Sunday, April 17, 2011 (Singapore)

IT WAS HOT, HOT, HOT: Sandy and I spent most of the afternoon going to Sentosa Island, which is parked about 500 meters (I've given up on conversions) off the main island of Singapore--very close to the city. It's very touristy and draws a huge crowd. Going there showed us where LOTS of people go for activity and entertainment here. It's billed as "Asia's favorite playground" (a casino helps that.) I certainly cannot speak to the validity of that claim, but it certainly is in the running as "Singapore's favorite playground."
We spotted a very neat "surfing" activity at the Wavehouse. The closeup (above) shows a young woman who was quite adept at "riding" the upward surge of water. The environment photo (right) shows the tight confines in which she operated. We watched her while eating a late lunch. Then we strolled along the beach before heading home, awash in sweat. It was REALLY HOT. According to this chart, at 3 p.m., the day's temperature peaked at 33 degrees and felt like 40 degrees. Hmmm. That doesn't sound convincing.
Let's convert it to fahrenheit. The temperature peaked at 91 and felt like 104 (fahrenheit). Now, that sounds hot.
As distracting as some of the activities are on the land, it's hard to ignore the omnipresent ships that lurk offshore (right). We saw lots of people on the beach and on the barstools and on the rides but saw very few actually IN THE WATER. I think I'd have jumped in, regardless of the unknown quality of the water. It was that hot. So, Sentosa might, indeed, be the "playground of Asia," but it's hard to square that with the fact that it's one of the great "shipping capitals of Asia" (and the world).

WHAT'S A WALL FOR BUT FOR LEANING?: Sandy and I finally used the tennis rackets we lugged here from the States.
We used a court that's perched on the eighth floor of our apartment building. As you can see from the photo above, she is surrounded by buildings, some of which have been creeping upward since we've been here. This is a BUSY place.
We played about an hour. Sandy caught me in a pose (left) that was vaguely reminiscent of a position I took during a lunch break on our 9-mile hike along the Great Wall (right).