Fake plastic beaches

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Today we got up at a sensible time (not telling you what that is, you'll only laugh) and went to Sentosa Island.

Sentosa is located just off the Singapore mainland and we went over on the cable car. It is kinda Singapore does Disney in a way - it is a themed island, full of water parks, hotels, restaurants, and underwater world, Dolphin display area, golf courses, museums etc etc

It is also the site of the Southernmost tip of "continental Asia" a somewhat dubious and daft fact to be honest! However it was probably the closest we will come to standing on the equator on our travels - it is just 136km south of here.

We tried to blag some deckchairs on the fake lagoon beach - but ended up getting accosted by the local shop owner and forced into buying his drinks to keep the seats!

Afterwards we headed to the Underwater World and despite several occasions when we wanted to throw annoying little Japanese rug rats in with the sharks we did have a good time.

The main highlight is an 83 metre underwater walkway which allowed us to see up close all the fish and sea life. They have a huge collection of sharks and rays. They also have a collection of Giant Japanese Spider Crabs which can grow up to 3.5m accross - they were wicked. We also spent some time in a section allowing us to stroke and touch many of the critters. One of which Mum G will be ecstatic to know was a Sting Ray.

After the UW World we headed down for the Dolphin Display, grabbing an Indian meal en route!

Unfortunately the heavens opened just before the show, and we thought it might be cancelled - but thankfully when it rains here it only does so for 15 - 30 mins at a time. (and it really really rains here!)

The Dolphins were pink - pretty common in the South China Sea and in and around the Pearl River Delta. We could have taken a trip when we were in Hong Kong to have seen them in the wild if we had had more time. The Dolphin show was full of them jumping in the air (best part of 5m) throwing basketballs around, running accross the water on their tails etc.

Sentosa's random bus system eventually got us back to the Cable Car system, and we headed back through town to the hostel. Tomorrow we head to Cairns, Australia. Strewth.

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