Saturday, March 16, 2013

S.E.A Aquarium

So I made it to the S.E.A aquarium this week. It is basically the big aquarium in Resort World Sentosa. I only found out it's called S.E.A aquarium after seeing the guide map which was given to me. Even then, I was wondering what the S.E.A stands for. Then I looked at my ticket and found out it stands for South East Asia. I went during off peak period and so with S$29, I could gain entry into the aquarium and the Maritime Experiential Museum which inludes the Typhoon Theatre. The Maritime Museum and the Typhoon Theatre aren't actually remarkable. I think the entry to Typhoon Theatre have to be purchased separately during peak period. I think you can just skip it. To borrow the Singapore lingo, what I felt after the presentation was over was, "hhmmm, like that ah?!?". I had a group of primary kids watching it with me and I have to say that though their presence was noisy, their screaming did provide a good sound effect during the storm and when our "ship" was sinking. They kinda set the tone to the emotion that one must feel during that situation.

Talking about these little kids. It happened that there were 2 groups of kids on a field trip. One was from a local school and the other was from an international school. I was thinking what it means when you pay more for sending your kids to an international school. While the teachers or guides for the local kids were kinda screaming at them and threatening them to behave, to sit down, to listen, to move along, etc, the teachers or guides for the international school were telling the kids, "come along lovelies" to ask them to move. Ha! I think it's because I'm Asian, so I didn't feel the approach taken by the local instructors was bad. If anything, tough discipline are things that we know very well. There wouldn't be kind words and all. Of course it makes you feel better when people use kind words to you. Who don't like the Malay aunties who pepper their sentences with the word "sayang" when they're selling things to you, right? I do believe how you are treated when you are young will affect you for life. It's just, I think if you're going to spend your life in Asia where things may get real competitive, then it's better if you are educated the Asian way. I guess at the very least, mentally you are trained to be tougher and not be too satisfied with what you achieve.

Alright, back to the aquarium. The aquarium is pretty impressive. The whole thing was actually pretty big and off the bat, that's a good thing. Often time you get disappointed when things are designed in Singapore style, i.e. small like the Universal Studio. However the aquarium was adequately spacious and you will take some time to explore the whole thing. A thought did come across my head that they must have scooped many things from the ocean to create this and that's not very environmentally friendly. By the way, I didn't see the dolphins. Last week, me and la Gioia were joking that perhaps the dolphins along with the pandas secretly died and noone dare to break the news. It's just we've been hearing they're coming / arriving but so far they haven't really been seen in public yet. Anyway I like the aquarium. It does feel like it's a collection of smaller aquariums until you reach the turning point with the humongous window display. Overall I think they did really well. For some pictures from the aquarium, you can go here. If you don't want to click, you can see a few from the aquarium and the Maritime museum below.

The maritime museum is displaying things about sea voyages taken long ago which took the route of South East Asia and they were displaying some items from countries along the way. For Indonesia, they were focusing on the port of Palembang. Then they had batik clothes being hung from the ceiling. Not quite a match if you ask me. These batik patterns seem Javanese, but I can be so wrong.



Then they also have this cross section of a big ship, like one that Cheng Ho may have travelled in and they show how things are arranged inside it, including this life size model of giraffes.



Inside the aquarium, there are many unique things, like these 2 types of fish.



I didn't actually take many good pictures. I don't think I am skilled enough. What is easy to take pictures of is the jellfish and I love how beautifully they moved, so graceful. The ones with the tentacles were like dancing, with their tentacles floating like clothes. Of course they are also so awfully dangerous. Beautiful but how it can be a real pain :)



These tiny ones were difficult to photograph though, but look at this, real cute right? Just like in Hongkong ocean park, their aquariums are lighted with different colours of light.



This one is manta ray from the big aquarium. It's also another beautiful thing. They are like magical cloaks flying.

So that's the aquarium. I'm officially 31 this week until I turn 32 at the end of the month as my Chinese birthday approaches. I just can't seem to take a break, I suppose. My birthday was alright, definitely better than last year, except for the part where I got a bad flu in the evening. I seem to be having runny nose and I sneeze a lot every evening these days. It's weird and it tires me so. I hate feeling unexplainably sick this way :( I have nothing else to report. Life is just as it has been, which is not rosy. I have been feeling pretty pissed off at someone. I just couldn't get why someone cannot, you know like, care a little bit? Someone once told me she's not that sensitive to how people feel and so may not be as caring as a result. I wondered then why don't you try. I guess some people are just like that and this actually annoys me greatly. Like I think I don't deserve this kinda treatment. I think I deserve more respect. I mean after everything, don't I deserve a little bit of respect and be treated in kind? That's why I can get utterly furious knowing things by stumbling upon it by chance in Facebook rather than being told in person. However perhaps in that case, at the very least I got some news, unlike now where I apparently do not deserve to be informed and be better off left hanging. What the hell? Ah see, I am swinging all the time. Either I am really angry or I am really sad. See what I mean with my life is not being rosy? I really hope you are luckier.

:) eKa @ 8:59:00 PM •