Category Archives: recreation

Battlestar Galactica: Human v Cylon Reopens at Resorts World at Sentosa

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Battlestar Galactica: Human v Cylon, returns to Universal Studios Singapore after being out of service undergoing upgrades for 2 years.

Located in Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, Universal Studios is the most popular theme park in Singapore. Opened to the public in 2010 it is the first Universal Studio ever built in Asia.

See a few more videos of the Battlestar Galactica: Human vs. Cylon ride.

Related: Universal Studios Singapore – Singapore Marina Bay Sands Skypark – Megazip Adventure Park, Sentosa Island

Universal Studios Singapore

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Located in Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, Universal Studios is the most popular theme park in Singapore. Opened to the public March, 2010, this is actually the first Universal Studio ever built in Asia.

With over 20 hectares of area, there is so much in store for the public to explore. The theme park occupies the eastern part of Resorts World Sentosa. Spend a day exploring the theme park with a total of 24 theme park attractions available to enjoy. There are 7 themed zones with different attractions the interest of the people.

The park is open from until 10:00pm every day. Watch out for the Hollywood After Hours on Fridays and Saturdays from 7:00 pm to 10:00pm for a discounted entrance ticket. Pay only SGD 5 to dine and shop inside Universal Studios. Also, watch out for the pyrotechnic displays 9:00 pm every night.

Themed Zones

• Hollywood
Designed to feel as if you are walking along Hollywood Boulevard back in 1970, the Hollywood zone features vibrant architectural designs and planted palm trees. Of course, the zone won’t look like Hollywood if there is no Hollywood Walk of Fame. And it includes a 1,500-seat indoor Broadway-style theatre that is fully equipped to host plays, musicals and performances

• New York
Designed with post-modern feature of New York City, this zone features the classic landmarks and some impressive cityscape. With neon street lights, the façade of New York zone gives the impression of a lot of fun to be discovered. It is also delivers romantic atmosphere felt in the Big Apple.

• Sci-Fi City
Travel to the future in Sci-fi zone. The park features modern conveniences and futuristic ambience. Experience the thrilling ride of the world’s tallest pair of roller coaster with a height of 42.7 meters. The two roller coasters are based on the television series, Battlestar Galactic: Human vs. Cylon.

• Ancient Egypt
Based on the remnants of Ancient Egypt, the zone is the adaptation of Golden Age Era of Egypt exploration. See replicas of pyramids, obelisks and roaming characters like Cleopatra while raoming around Ancient Egypt zone. This highlights the roller coaster ride themed after the movie by Brendan Fraser entitled “The Mummy”

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Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

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Nature parks are usually not the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Singapore. But Singapore actually has several excellent parks including the Sungei Buloh Nature Park.

Lots of birds at the Sungei Buhlu Wetlands Reserve

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is located on the North of Singapore bordered by the Johor Strait, with a view to Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The reserve, covers an area of 130 hectares, was designated as a nature park in 1989 and gazetted (with an expanded size of 40 hectares greater than the original area) in 2002 and listed as an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003 (Singapore’s first such park).

Milky Stork at the Sungei Buhlu Wetlands Reserve, Singapore

Milky Stork – they are classified as endangered and are also found in Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia.

I actually see these fly over Johor Bahru fairly often in the morning or evening. They mirror the commuters going and returning from work each day.

Malayan water monitor lizard

Malayan water monitor lizard

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Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

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The Gardens by the Bay consist of two large buildings and fairly small outdoor gardens. The flower dome includes a wide variety of flowers from regions around the globe. Both buildings are glass bubbles providing a view of downtown Singapore.

view of the interior of Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands is visible in the background.

An audio tour is available which plays short clips of information on numerous plants found in the gardens. I thought it was worthwhile.

photo of deep redish-purple flower

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Singapore Science Museum

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photo inside the Singapore Science Center

The Science Center in Singapore is focused on providing kids interactive exhibits with science content. It is worth a visit if you like such museums, it is a bit above average for such museums, in my experience. They have the expected IMAX theatre (which has assigned seats – I didn’t notice this until someone made us move).

photo of exhibit with interactive skeleton

As is the case with many exhibits at these types of museums sometimes it seems like they just make something interactive without making it very educational. The skeleton was that way (also people had trouble making it work, making the movements necessary to get it to respond).

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Asian Civilizations Museum

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exterior of the Asian Civilization Museum in Singapore

The Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore is packed with great artworks. See a few photos in this post.

photo of Illustration of Rustam defeating Afrasiyab, 1560, Iran

Illustration of Rustam defeating Afrasiyab, 1560, Iran

This museum is definitely worth a visit for those who enjoy museums. The Asian Civilisations Museum’s flagship at Empress Place opened in 2003. Occupying over 14,000 square metres at the newly-restored Empress Place Building, it houses 11 galleries which showcase over 1300 artefacts from the Museum’s growing collections on the civilisations of China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia/ Islamic. These collections include recent acquisitions as well as artefacts inherited from the historic Southeast Asian ethnographic collection of the former Raffles Museum.

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Buddha Tooth Temple

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Front of main hall, Buddha Tooth Temple, Singapore

The Buddha Tooth Temple is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Singapore. I enjoyed visiting. If you like temples, history and art it is definitely worth a visit. The site includes a museum as well as an operating temple.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is a Buddhist temple and museum complex located in the Chinatown district of Singapore.

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Paintings From the Museum D’Orsay at the National Museum of Singapore

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As I wrote previously the Dreams and Reality exhibit from the Museum D’Orsay at the National Museum of Singapore is excellent. Here are some more photos of a few of the paintings included in the exhibit.

photo of paining by Paul Cézanne: The Bay of Marseille seen from L'Estaque

The Bay of Marseille seen from L'Estaque by Paul Cézanne, 1879

photo of painting by Paul Gauguin: Les Alyscamps

Les Alyscamps by Paul Gauguin, 1888

There is an interesting story behind this painting by Guaguin. Following months of correspondence, Paul Gauguin joined Van Gogh in Arles, France in October 1888. Both were intent on depicting a non-naturalist landscape. The two artists painted some identical subjects to compare their work with each other and chose the site of the Alyscamps to paint and compare.

The painting portrays an ancient Roman cemetery, “Les Alyscamps” or “Elysian Fields” which were located south east of the Roman city walls. It appears that the two men worked together at Les Alyscamps between October 28 and 31, 1888. Van Gogh painted four views, the Les Alyscamps pair and the pair of Falling Autumn Leaves paintings. Gauguin produced two paintings.

Related: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpor – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City – Boston Museum of Fine Arts

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