Revisit Singapore Part 3: Raffles Marina with Extended East West Line

[Introduction]

I traveled to Singapore in late June for the first time in two years. In addition to famous tourist areas, I went around spots I have never been to before this time. While I have lived in Singapore for a year and half before, I find something new whenever I revisit Singapore. In this article, I will write about Raffles Marina as part of Day 2.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Singapore with Scoot
* Day 1: Don Mueang International Airport
* Day 2: Raffles Marina [This article]
* Day 2: Chinese Garden
* Day 2: Tiong Bahru/Outram Park/Tanjong Pagar
* Day 2: Orchard Road Part1
* Day 2: Orchard Road Part2
* Day 3: Sentosa (Madame Tussauds/Merlion etc.)
* Day 3: Sentosa (Palawan Beach)
* Day 3: Sentosa (Cable car)/Henderson Waves Bridge
* Day 3: Chinatown
* Day 4: Katong area/Esplanade
* Day 4: Marina Bay Sands/Gardens by the Bay
* Day 4: Marina Barrage Part1
* Day 4: Marina Barrage Part2/Gardens by the Bay
* Day 4: Marina Bay Sands etc.
* Day 5: library@orchard etc.
* Day 5: Little India
* Day 5: Bugis
* Day 5: City Hall/Marina area & Return Home

[Travel Date]
2018.06.23-27

[Main Part]

The second day of my Singapore trip started. I spent most of the first day on moving from Tokyo to Singapore on the first day, so I will start the sightseeing in Singapore from today.

Breakfast at Grand Park City Hall

To begin with, I will have breakfast at Grand Park City Hall where I stayed.

The venue for breakfast was “Tablescape”, which was open from 6:00 a.m.

Breakfast was served as the combination of buffet and a la carte menu.

I ordered pancake and fried egg from a la carte menu and picked up some food from buffet menu.

I was surprised to find breakfast in the hotel was far more delicious than I expected. In particular, pancake was so tasty.

When I booked the hotel, a promotional plan that included breakfast for free was offered at the same price with a normal plan without breakfast. So, I chose the promotional plan and found it was a right decision.

Another notable point was that a middle-aged waitress showed great hospitality, so I was able to have breakfast comfortably.

I will write about my overall review of Grand Park City Hall in another article in the last day and there were some disappointments, but as far as breakfast was concerned, I will highly recommend it.

Go to Tuas Link Station with Extended East West Line

I will start sightseeings in Singapore after breakfast. First, I moved to City Hall MRT station and took East West Line for Tuas Link.

The MRT system in Singapore has been expanding every year. Compared with two years ago when I visited Singapore last time, Downtown Line was expanded and East West Line was extended to the West. This time, I headed for Tuas Link MRT station, the newly opened final stop in the west side of East West Line.

The platform. While it was filled with business people for commuting in the weekday morning, the station was calm as it was in the morning on Sunday.

In the train.

I arrived at Tuas Link MRT station. The station was opened just last year, so the design was near-futuristic.

Raffles Marina

After I got off the train at Tuas Link MRT station, I came to Raffles Marina.

Raffles Marina is a membership-based yacht club, including a hotel and restaurants. I have heard of Raffles Marina, but the access to it used to be limited to either bus or car, so I didn’t have a chance to visit it. However, due to the expansion of East West Line, the access became easier, so I decided to go to Raffles Marina this time.

The entrance of the building.

This was a lobby of the accommodation.

I passed through the building and there was yacht harbor.

Although I made some adjustments with Lightroom, the weather was not so good.

What’s the worse, some areas were restricted to enter except for members, so I was able to take photos only from distant places.

Well, I understand the restriction, considering security.

I am just wondering what kind of people are able to have such yachts.

When I looked back, I found another building.

It seemed to be a maintenance facility.

Inside the facility was as follows.

Other snap photos.

Raffles Marina was a little far from the central area in Singapore, but it would be a good idea to spend here leisurely.

When I do some search about Raffles Marina in the Internet, I often see photos including a lighthouse. However, I was only able to take photos with the lighthouse from a distant position due to the restricted area.

Photos from inside the building.

I left Raffles Marina and returned to Tuas Link Station.

It started to rain around this time.

I took East West Line and moved to the next destination.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Raffles Marina as part of Day 2.

Raffles Marina rarely appears in guidebooks, so you may not be familiar with it. However, it seems Raffles Marina is famous as one of the best spots for Instagram among Singaporean. In particular, when you search evening or night view of Raffles Marina, you will find a lot of excellent pictures. Thanks to the expansion of East West Line, the access to Raffles Marina has become much easier than before. So if you are interested in Raffles Marina, I would recommend you visit it.

In the next article, I will write about Chinese Garden as part of Day 2.

[Map]

1 Grand Park City Hall
2 Raffles Marina

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