After arriving at Changi in the morning, we went to our hotel to see if we could check in. Our room was not ready yet as it was still pretty early so we dropped off our bags and headed to Marina Bay.
It was hot out but mostly cloudy with a nice breeze as we arrived on the west edge of Marina Bay. It also seemed rather hazy, not the best conditions but at least it wasn’t raining!
We walked to the east towards the famous Marina Bay Sands casino and hotel. Along the way, there were various sculptures and Christmas decorations.
It was around 10am and there were very few people around. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!
We went inside the mall portion of the Marina Bay Sands to take a look around. It was pretty well decorated with lights everywhere and many Christmas trees!
After lunch, we returned to the Marina Bay Sands and headed up the escalators to the pedestrian bridge that leads to the Gardens by the Bay on the opposite side of the hotel.
We took a detour at first that leads to the front side of the mall structure. There wasn’t really much to see there though and it was blazing hot in the afternoon sun. We made a quick retreat!
The pedestrian bridge goes directly through the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The facade above the entrance is an interesting shimmering wall made up of many reflective metal tiles. They make the shimmering effect by moving a bit with the wind. Perhaps a video would have been better than a still photo here!
We then headed into the hotel. Oddly, the walkway doesn’t have a way down inside the hotel.
We continued through to the other side to the far end of the walkway to take a quick look at the Supertrees in the Gardens by the Bay. We then turned around and headed to the entrance to the SkyPark Observation Deck above the hotel. We will return to the Gardens by the Bay later!
The SkyPark is the rooftop structure that joins the three buildings that make up the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The observation deck is the only area open to the general public, the rest of the large structure is only open to hotel guests.
It was still a bit hazy when we walked out onto the SkyPark. Otherwise, visibility was great. We were originally planning on staying up at the observation deck past sunset. However, we arrived rather early and it would have been a long wait. There was also a good chance of sunset being rather poor due to the clouds.
After dinner, we returned to the Marina Bay Sands just before sunset. The mall looked much nicer in the evening! The lights show up much better when there is less sunlight shining in from the glass ceiling.
We found a small empty space at the edge of the boardwalk along the edge of Marina Bay to watch Spectra, the evening water and light show. Spectra replaced Wonder Full, the previous show, in 2017.
The original plan was to take a video of the show. However, that failed for some unknown technical reason. So I ended up taking a bunch of photos near the end of the show.
After the show, we noticed something interesting. The bottom of the SkyPark is illuminated with snowflakes, making the whole thing kind of seem like a snowboard! And interesting contrast to the palm trees down below!
The ArtScience Museum has some animated projection mapped graphics. Just one is included here. Happy Holidays!
As we headed away towards the west, we looked back and noticed that the water jets used for the Spectra show were on and illuminated in red and green!