Exploring S.E.A Aquarium @ RWS

Headed out to Resorts World Sentosa's S.E.A. Aquarium today with mom. Upon arriving, we were surprised there was a long queue on the outside. Initially, I thought that since we already had the tickets, we could enter immediately.  Upon querying the staff, we were told that if we want to skip the Q, we need to top up $10 more for each ticket! After queuing for about 15 minutes, we got in...But alas, we didn't realise there's an even longer Q at the basement leading to the aquarium's entrance! It's a nightmare joining the snaking Q!

 

Finally, after a seemingly long 1 hour, the queue seems to move faster & we entered with throng of visitors! It was not easy to squeeze for a space to enjoy watching the sea creatures.... Anyway, such touristy place I would usually just visit once & that's it!

 

Touted as the world's largest aquarium, S.E.A. Aquarium featured more than 100,000 marine animals from over 800 species across 49 habitats. Based on its brochure, there are 7 sections of the aquarium; Shipwreck Habitat, Discovery Touch Pool, Ocean Journey, Open Ocean, Ocean Dome, Moray Eel & lastly the Shark Seas.

 

I had not step into an aquarium for at least a decade! Couldn't even remember when was the last time I went to the Underwater World! I brought both my dslr & Fujifilm compact camera along. Most of my shots were shot using my dslr & it was challenging as the fishes were swimming & people were either blocking or pushing! It only became slightly better after the mid-point, as the crowd dispersed into various areas...

 

Some photos from my 1.5 hours exploring the aquarium to share!

 

Beautiful white leafy Seadragon

Discovery Touch Pool

Stingrays always seems to have a smiley face &

when u look up from underwater,

they are like 'flying' in the water!

Cute eels that like to embed themselves in the sand, with just their heads showing!

Simply love these jellyfish blooping in the illuminated waters

 

Panorama View of the Open Ocean

 

 Huge Manta Ray!

Finding Nemo! My happiest moment was to spot them!

Lovely Purple-Pink!

Lion Fish

New Year Countdown 2012/2013 @ RWS

After almost a day of storm, I tot that my idea of going to Resorts World Sentosa to view fireworks will be dampened. When the downpour stopped at night, Jeannie & me decided to take a stroll into RWS via the broadwalk. It's the first time doing a countdown at RWS as i do not want to jostle at Marina area.

 

 

I packed along my tripod & dslr but I'm not too sure which direction the fireworks would be! We went into the area outside Universal Studios & saw the nice christmas decor at its entrance... Inside the theme park, there's an on-going countdown party too! It had been a long time since I went into RWS & noticed a few new eateries.

 

I led my fren to the Hard Rock Hotel & she commented that the pool is nice... As we stepped into the hotel's lobby, there's a party ambience as people dressed in party gears & a live band was playing. I love the purple & silver balloons decor'. After hanging around for awhile, we went to the crane dance area. I tot that there will not be any fireworks from Vivo City & end up setting my tripod in the other direction... thinking that it will face USS.

 

At the strike of midnight, fireworks were fired from USS & the roof garden of Vivo City. However, I was not in time to do any shooting & could only admire the short bursts of fireworks! The longest duration of fireworks was from the Marina area but our view were blocked by some construction.

 

We strolled home after the event & both of us felt hungry! It was a cold & extremely windy night! I hope 2013 will be a smooth sailing year in all aspects! Cheers! ^o^

From Dusk2Nite @ Sentosa 。。。

It's my 3rd consecutive sat photography outing! Today, joined the 50mm Group organised by Francis for shooting at Sentosa... The idea of doing sunset shoot at Palawan has been on my mind for quite a long while, but didn't materialise...finally, I'm gg Today! Met up with the group at Siloso Beach's Macdonald's for dinner before setting off at 6pm+.  Becos of late comers, when we reached the Palawan Beach, it's already close to 6.50pm! Left juz a short window period for the Golden Hour... Francis only gave us 30mins to shoot the sunset!

When most of the group set up their tripods on the sandy beach, I didn't follow suit...instead, I juz wander around & some creative sand-building caught my attention! There's 'turtles' & 'starfish' lying on the beach ~ built fr sand! Hence inspired me to compose my shots around them.... esp love the Turtle against the setting sun! Simply reminded me of the movie by Sammi Cheng & Richie Ren 《夏日麽麽茶》& the lyrics from its theme song 《浪花一朵朵》 ^o^

As I strolled back to the meeting point, I managed to take a quick shot of this little gal after returning the ball to her.

Supposedly, Francis wana bring us to the top of Imbiah Lookout to catch the last ray of light...but we realised there's insufficient time to do that. So, we lingered another half an hour at the beach to do some night photography. It's my 1st attempt doing long exposure shots at the beach ... setting the tripod on the sand was 'challenging' too! Attempted with 30s exposure for these 2 shots.

Past 8.30pm & after a tram & bus ride to the Merlion/Imbiah Lookout area... we were left to explore on our own for 45 mins. I din like the green laser eyes of the Merlion ~ there's an element of 'evil' & 'creepy'! So, I juz wander right thru to its end & caught glimpse of the 'Song of the Sea' show. When time's up, a few members of the group had left & Francis abandoned the plan to bring us for night-trekking inside the Dragon's trail.

We headed to the Resorts' World's Lake of Dream area & saw lots of people sitting at the amphitheatre... seems like there's some show. I was not aware there's such a performance, besides the Crane Dance! When the lights came on, different elements of wind/thunder/water/fire were combined to bring on a show!  Maybe next time, i shall re-visit for a proper shoot at this area.

We ended the night at Toastbox for supper & drinks...It's really tiring but I got to know some new friends!

Night Photo-Walk @ Resorts World

Met up wif Wei at Vivo for dinner @ Sushi Tei... i like this outlet for its harbourfront view. Initially, we din tot of ordering much but at the end of the makan, both of us were really full! Arigarto to Wei for my post-bday's treat ^o^ Wei managed to do some really nice sushi shots that still make me drool whenever i look at them!

After our scrumptious dinner, I led her to the broadwalk linking Vivo to Sentosa...I'm the tour guide for the evening, haha! We started our stroll at 7pm & took a long time playing photography along the broadwalk... walked from dusk till night-fall! I suggested that we try some self-shots sitting on the wooden platform... quite fun! My fav shot along the broadwalk was the lit-up staircase which seems to be 'starry starry nite'!  We spent an incredible 1hr here!

When we stepped into RWS, we had some fun shots at the Universal Studio Globe...haha! Had visited here a few times, but tis is the 1st time doing nite photography & we din use any tripod! Original plan to bring Wei to visit all the hotels, before coming out to catch the 'Crane Dance' ... but due to our 'slowness', we impromptu changed our plans... we hanged around the main area shooting kids playing around the fountain etc...

By 9pm, we were at the viewing platform to wait for the Crane Dance... due to a slight technical glitch, there's a 10mins delay.  When the show started, we started shooting insanely as it's not easy to capture clear shots of the moving mechanical cranes & the colourful water sprays! It's really tiring but we enjoyed the show veri much! We r also proud that Singapore have such a world-class performance for visitors.

After the 10mins show, we strolled to Hard Rock Hotel... I like the lobby here ever since the last time visited wif ruby! While we were resting our tired feets at the comfy sofa, Wei suddenly asked me if I brought along my 50mm lens... Luckily, I DID! So, it's time to practice portraits shots... I became the 'model', haha!  Wei mentioned that reporters usually do photoshoot for CEOs in such hotel settings... upon hearing tis idea, i decided to pull up my collar to act as if i'm the up & coming CEO, keke! The final shot of me + my twin (reflection) was our fav shot here!

At the end of 3.5hrs, both of us were dead-beat, with aching arms & legs! It's a memorable photo-walk thou!

'Storming' Universal Studio Singapore!

Ring!!!! My alarm buzzed at 7.50am & I jumped out of bed. I'm finally going to visit the Universal Studio at Resorts World this morning! Never tot that I will be going so soon but unnie Clara is nice enuf to let me join in her bro's co's family day ^_^  Juz when i reached Resorts World at 9am, the stormy clouds gave way to a drizzle, then turned into a thunderstorm! We kept hoping the rain will stop soon...

Wif clara's dad & bro, we went into Universal Studio & hung around the hollywood street while her bro went to fetch some brollies... Meanwhile, i took out my cam & started doing shots for them... Only this area is sheltered & the USS staff were nice enuf to lend some umbrellas, but not enuf to share among the ppl.  Hence, each round they led only a small group to the function room. When Clara & me started walking out in the storm, my shoes was 'flooded' in seconds! The 'reward' for walking to the function room was a scumptious breakfast waiting for us! The various types of sandwiches, croissants & danish were really tasty!

Welcome to Far Far Away

After breakfast, we were glad the thunderstorm had reduced to a drizzle & saw the Far Far Away Castle nearby... Saw a Q for the Shrek 4-D show, in fact we juz blur blur joined the Q, haha! Wow! How i like the inside ambience, wif incandescent lights & 'fire-torches' lining the walls! The doors opened; each of us picked up a 3-D specs & walked into a 'dungeon'... This is the holding area where we watched a story intro by the animated 3 Little Pigs & the Magic Mirror... our mission was to rescue Princess Fiona! As we proceeded into the theatre, the 4-D show was really exciting! You can feel ur chairs shaking, water sprayed right into ur face, cold air blowing on ur neck & the most yucky was spiders creeping at ur feets ~ which made us screamed!

Kawaii!

When done wif the Shrek 4-D show, we had fun doing photo-shoots outside the castle... there's alot of visitors crowding around, so it's pretty hard to take pics. But this is definately my fav photo-spot! My poor cam 仔kana the most water today... had to photograph in the rain since this is a rare opportunity! Next, we walked to 'The Lost World', one of the theme areas here. There were a few rides inside Jurassic Park, but we opt out the adrenaline rushing ones, saw rides wif ur feets dangling in the skies, or get yourself wet in the water-rides... So so....clara suggested we go for the kiddy ride on the Dino-Soarin ~ flying Pteranodon, haha! I chose this purple Pteranodon & off we flew in the skies for a few minutes, quite fun actually!

We simply luv the castle!

Moving on, we arrived at 'Ancient Egypt' & many visitors were scrambling to get a shoot of the gigantic warriors mummies guarding the gates. Then, clara walked thru' the area & we discovered a nice photography point... I quickly gathered her family & helped them snap a shot wif the fountain & full view of the castle as backdrop! Suddenly, the storm returned!!! Argg... that's really dampening & luckily there's a sheltered area wif seats for us to wait-out the storm! Her bro & I had wanted go for 1 more show or ride, but clara had no more mood....so we walked thru' 'Sci-Fi City' to 'New York' street area.

Looks Yummy!

Melman the crazy giraffe: "Oh! Dun Shoot Me, I'm camera-shy..."

Over here, I like how the street was decked out & provided more shooting opportunities along the short stretch...Then, we headed to 'Madagascar' for a ride on the carousel! As we route back to Hollywood street, we saw mascots finally making appearance! Woody Woodpecker! We quickly joined the Q to take a snapshot wif Woody... Then, I saw Kungfu Panda! Ah! One of my fav & i dragged Clara to take pic too! We were lucky to be the last in the Q as Panda need to take a rest soon... keke! This rounded up our trip at Universal Studio & after lunch at RamenPlay, I bidded goodbye to them.  Lastly, strolled 1 round at RWS for more shoots bef heading home. It's really a memorable day, esp wif the STORM! Thank you unnie clara ^o^

Pic wif Woody Woodpecker

Maybe we should take up some Kungfu lessons wif Panda too?

"La La La, Merry Christmas Folks!"