A Visit to the Top
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A Visit to the Top of the
Marina Sands Hotel, Singapore
 We had seen the Marina Sands Hotel from Beez Neez as we passed the
city of Singapore, I told Bear that I would take him to the top, wow. The hotel dominates the skyline and can be seen
for miles.
 Workmen working in
the pouring rain (seen from one of our bus tours).
 Not a job Bear would rush to apply
for...............These cleaners were being swung
about in the wind............
  Still at it the next
day.
  We climbed out of our trishaw and
headed to the Mall beside the Marina Sands Hotel.
The ice rink was just having a once
over.
  The glitz and glass was quite something, as was some of the outfits.........
 All the chic
names in fashion are in this shopping complex. We followed the signs and
found ourselves in the hotel, joined a queue and paid forty pounds to head up to
the 57th floor for a cocktail and canapés (included in our
tickets).
 Bear looking
gorgeous. Thank
you.
    Chums, canapés and
views.
 As I was swinging the
camera around taking in the views..........Melian
appeared. What random chance.......
 I mentioned to one of
the hotel ladies that as semi-circumnavigators we had met this group of sailors in Indonesia and Australia. Her face
lit up and she told me to invite everyone from the drink only side to the snack
side. I did say there were quite a few, “I’m the duty manager and I say it’s a
smashing opportunity, enjoy”. How lovely was that. Antares, Max,
Grasshopper, Indian Summer, Tehani-Li, Belle Vita, and a few new ones to
us. What a party.
 We were standing by the tables and
chairs (seen in white) at this end of the building. The people seen are a storey
below having paid for a different ticket. This picture is taken from an article
we well remember written by Lucy Ballinger for the Mail Online.
25 June 2010:
If you fancy a dip in this pool, you'll need a head for heights - it's 55 storeys up. But swimming to the edge won't be quite as risky as it looks. While the water in the infinity pool seems to end in a sheer drop, it actually spills into a catchment area where it is pumped back into the main pool. At three times the length of an Olympic pool and 650 feet up, it is the largest outdoor pool in the world at that height. It features in the impressive, boat-shaped 'SkyPark'
perched atop the three towers that make up the world's most expensive hotel, the
£4 billion Marina Bay Sands development in
Singapore. The Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, estimated to have cost £2 billion when it opened in 2004, was previously the world's most expensive hotel. But with its indoor canal, opulent art, casino, outdoor plaza, convention centre, theatre, crystal pavilion and museum shaped like a lotus flower, the Marina Bay Sands has taken its crown.
Infinity pools give the effect that the water extends to the horizon. In reality, the water spills over the edge into a catchment below, and is then pumped back into the pool. The pools have two circulation systems. The first functions like that of a regular pool, filtering and heating the water in the main pool. The second filters the water in the catch basin and returns it to the upper pool.
The owners have also commissioned five well-known artists to create works of art to 'integrate' with the buildings. Among these is a 40m-long Antony Gormley sculpture made from 16,100 steel rods. The whole thing weighs 14.8 tons and it took 60 people to assemble it in the hotel. Artist Chongbin Zheng created Rising Forest which is 83 three metre high pots with trees in them. The pots were so big the artist had to build a customised kiln the size of a small building to make them in. Last night, the world's most expensive hotel was given a launch party befitting it. Singing legend Diana Ross performed for 2,500 VIPs in the resort's Grand Ballroom and pop singer Kelly Rowland headlined an outdoor concert.
The opening celebrations also featured a death-defying relay. Seven teams of three participants each scaled the three towers before sprinting across the 340-metre long Sands SkyPark, where the infinity pool is located, to the finish line. The resort will employ 10,000 people directly and generate up to £48 million each year. Entrance to the casino alone is nearly £50 a day - but an average of 25,000 people have visited the casino daily since its initial phased opening two months ago. Thomas Arasi, president and chief executive officer of the resort, said he expects to attract an astonishing 70,000 visitors a day once it is fully open. It was due to open in 2009, but was delayed thanks to labour and material shortages, and funding problems due to the global financial crisis.
Sunset from the top.
The hotel as we looked up from the Gardens by the Bay and later on in the evening.
ALL IN ALL ARCHITECTURALLY AMAZING AWESOME AND SPECTACULAR |
