A Visit to the Top

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 6 Nov 2016 23:37
A Visit to the Top of the Marina Sands Hotel, Singapore
 
 
 
DSCN0514
 
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.
 
 
DSCN0122
 
Workmen working in the pouring rain (seen from one of our bus tours).
 
 
DSCN0137
 
Not a job Bear would rush to apply for...............These cleaners were being swung about in the wind............
 
 
DSCN0123  DSCN0564
 
Still at it the next day.
 
 
 
DSCN0907  DSCN0906
 
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.
 
 
DSCN0908  DSCN0909
 
The glitz and glass was quite something, as was some of the outfits.........
 
 
DSCN0910
 
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).
 
 
DSCN0911
 
Bear looking gorgeous. Thank you. 
 
 
DSCN0912 
 
DSCN0913  DSCN0914  DSCN0915
 
Chums, canapés and views.
 
 
DSCN0917
 
As I was swinging the camera around taking in the views..........Melian appeared. What random chance.......
 
 
DSCN0919
 
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.
 
 
Marina Sands Hotel
 
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 hotel, which has 2,560 rooms costing from £350 a night, was officially opened yesterday with a concert by Diana Ross.

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 Pool MSH


The infinity pool on the roof is in the 'SkyPark' which spans the three towers of the hotel. The platform itself is longer than the Eiffel tower laid down and is one of the largest of its kind in the world. 

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 Marina Sands resort was designed by architect Moshe Safdie who based it on a deck of cards. Inside shoppers can ride along an indoor canal in Sampan boats styled on traditional Chinese vessels from the 17th century.

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.

 

 

DSCN0922

 

Sunset from the top.

 

 

DSCN0941

 

The hotel as we looked up from the Gardens by the Bay and later on in the evening.

 

 

DSCN1018

 

 

 

ALL IN ALL ARCHITECTURALLY AMAZING

                    AWESOME AND SPECTACULAR