Lazy Late Update from Sentosa Island, Singapore

Sorry, faithful readers! I nearly forgot to recount my friends' adventures on the beaches of Sentosa Island, Singapore, practically the nation's only resort. It was surprisingly less expensive than we thought -- my friends' faces always fall at the $15 beer in most of Singapore -- but in Sentosa I managed to get a Snapple and water for only $4.50 -- a financial feat!

Anyhow, Sentosa is juxtaposed to a half-finished branch of Universal Studios. The giant "Merlion," a mix of lion and mer-creature, is the symbol of Singapore. I haven't the heart to tell them it's totally a fictitious creature...hopefully they know. :) Sentosa is made possible through imported sand from other nations in Southeast Asia. Beyond the silky sand and gently waving palm trees, you can see hordes of giant container and tanker ships coming into the world's busiest port. Here's a photo:



This is my poor back after 20 minutes of laying out -- LITERALLY ONLY TWENTY MINUTES -- and I had already put on 50 spf sunblock!!! Just goes to show how much more intense the sun is here at the equator:





Besides soaking up far too much sun, C., M. and I went on a hair-raising zipline! The zipline ran from a high point on Sentosa island, over some ocean and finished onto another island!! Here's the track:
























There was also an option to do a wave-rider, or artificial surfing wave. We abstained -- maybe next time.




What was really crazy is that despite our larger American-size, we didn't build up enough momentum to make it to the end of the zipline. The Singaporean staff literally threw us ropes and reeled us in. When two children came behind us and weighed even less, a Singaporean harnessed his hips to the cable and crawled out to pull them back in! I'm fairly sure that would never meet safety standards in the U.S., but it sure was fun to watch!

When we were finished with the zipline, we crossed a creaky rope-bridge back to the main island of Sentosa. We toured through Chinatown to buy last-minute super-saver souvenirs.



Later, just before flying out from Singapore to Indonesia, we visited a factory for Hewlett-Packard. Fascinating, really -- turns out HP manufactures nothing in their factories. Instead they purchase parts from multiple manufacturers and assemble the pieces at their factory here in Singapore. So...what is the value-added, you ask? Search me...