Sunday

Sunday was another day of sightseeing downtown.  The Singapore Open Badminton Tournament Finals were on Sunday, so thought we would take in some of the local flavor.  The highlight of the tourney was Lin Dan the current Olympic Champion & the #2 player in the world.  This is the first time he has made it to the finals in Singapore.  We watched a mixed doubles & the women's finals and as we waited for the men's finals..... the announcer said that Lin Dan was ill but he wanted to say a few words to the spectators.  Well, LD barely opened his mouth to say a few words (in Chinese) and the crowds began booing him.  The people behind us said that the crowd was not buying what he was saying.  His opponent was Chinese and it is said that the Chinese decide who will win and that means throwing the match sometimes.  In fact in the newspaper the day before, LD was interviewed and they said he did not show any excitement and he even said that since his opponent was Chinese "it didn't matter who won".  


Lin Dan graciously posed with us!

 The day after the newspaper said that LD has been "ill" in four of his finals previously!?!  Poor LD he was the postor boy for the tourney--with his picture plastered everywhere.

Marina Bay Sands from a distance (the white building on the left that looks like a tulip is the Science Center)

After that we walked to the Marina Bay Sands, it's a huge hotel, casino, shopping, entertainment complex built by the Las Vegas Sands Corp.  It has three towers and perched on top of the towers is what looks like a boat shaped floor.  For a fee you can go up to the "Skypark" which is more than 57 stories high.  It holds 3900 people (it's all outdoors - except a couple of restaurants).  It is longer than the Eiffel Tower laid down and is 12,400 sq meters (i don't do metric but they do here).  Anyway, we paid the fee and it was an amazing view.  There is also a pool there for hotel guest and looks as though they are swimming with the skyscrapers. 

View of one Tower Lobby

57th Floor Rooftop Pool (see the Lifeguard in the Foreground)

Swimmers look like they could float off the top of the bldg!

After that we ate dinner at one of the hawker stalls -- haven't had a bad meal yet!

posted by sharon