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Saturday 17 January 2015

Marina Barrage

Date of visit: 26.10.2014



King Luis had a programme at St. John Headquarters at 8am.  I didn't want my precious son to travel by public transport, so I asked his father to drive him.  

His father was reluctant "After dropping him off then how?  I drive back home and then drive back to fetch him?  So troublesome.  Or gong gong loiter around?"

"I keep you company ok?"

And he was like "Ok lor, we sit at coffee shop until 10am is it?".

--__________--|||

8am wee morning, no shopping centres are open except for Mustafa, but it's too far away from St John Headquarters at Beach Road.....  We need to find a place nearby enough to kill 2hrs.  Where to go?  Where to go...... After some brain storming, Marina Barrage was perfect.  It's near enough to drive over and we had never been there before.  Settled.

So, I had to wake up early to take care of 2 baby boys, *yawns* but being a mother and wife is like that one, I 认命 already.  We had bread buns and milo for breakfast with our eyes half open, drove over to St John Headquarters, dropped King Luis and we went morning pak tor at Marina Barrage.

MARINA BARRAGE
8 Marina Gardens Drive Singapore 018951
Image from www.pub.gov.sg/Marina/Pages/

Marina Barrage was built upon the vision of Mr Lee Kuan Yew back in 1987.  The dam was constructed and was offically opened in 2008.  Providing water storage as well, it is Singapore 15th reservoir.  It's another great place for strolls, cycling, jogs, watching dragon boats row by and it's FREE!

Here we were!

The first thing we saw was this water feature.
Suppose to be sprouting out some fountains I think, but was under repair.

Yayness to plenty of parking lots.

There's a western cafe on the second floor but it ceased operation, thus this is the one and only place to eat at Marina Barrage.

Was curious about what's within Marina Barrage Pump House, but crossing over the dam was even more exciting.

Our familiar Marina Bay Sands (MBS) from a different view, it's such a beautiful icon.

This bridge is 6 metres wide.

Back view of my old kid.

The reservoir that we see here gathers water from 5 waterways - Singapore River, Kallang River, Geylang River, Rochor Canal and Stamford Canal.
Cleaners picking up rubbish with a net.  Why is it so difficult for people to behave themselves and stop throwing rubbish into the water, I don't understand....

The sky was grey, so's the water.  It was good in a way that I did have to worry so much about the UV rays >.<

At the other end of the dam is this huge machine.
For carrying boats??

Another shot of MBS, this time Gardens By The Bay and Ferris Wheel fully captured.

I am quite obsessed by the architecture.

Nice long plot of plants and flowers as a divider between water and land.
They are more plants beneath which I didn't take pictures.  Those plants act as filter beds to filter the water, keeping them clean in a way.



These tree looked norm and green from a distant....

Upon close-up, they have cute whitish flowers that lines up vertically in a very neat manner.
Amazing.

Palm trees are huge here.

Not only they are huge but full of clusters of palm fruits.


Happily running towards.....

..... the pond!

It was a joy to see such a happy doggie.

We strolled on, with each other, didn't hold hands, he was too sweaty, I was too busy with the camera lolxx...


Beautiful.....

Just as I was so mesmerised by the surrounding, my hubby whispered calmly at my ear -
"Mummy, there's a snake in front of you."

Despite of him telling me in a almost nonchalant tone, I screamed like hell:
"AAAAAAAh.......WHERE?! WHERE??!! WHERE?!!?"

Then got scolded "I thought you not scared of snakes,  why you scream until like that?!!"

I wasn't scared, just shocked.
It's just a tiny foot long snake, felt so silly to scream >.<

I chased after it to take pics while it wriggled in top speed into the bushes.

Since there is foot long snake, we can't be sure there aren't any meter long ones, oh gosh...

My trips to nature or gardens walks are always full of encounters, heehee...

Spotted a garden lizard, watching upon the waters in a most graceful posture.  Too cute, lolxx..
At that moment, I wished I had a proper camera to zoom in.



I was spending a lot of time taking photos, admiring flowers and looking at people's doggies.
We couldn't make it to the end within 2 hrs time frame.

Spotted a few shrubs full of flowers in pastel hues of pink and purple.  The fragrance was magical!

The petals were very fragile, like tissue paper.  I doubt they can survive a heavy rain.

A stream, though man-made, it's pretty, covered with lotus.


I made hubby stand under this plant.
It will be pure coincident accident if that durian looking fruit decided to drop on his head lolxx....

Anybody knows what fruit is this?

Spotted some plants with lots and lots of tiny orange berries.




Dragon boats, rowed by girls, omg..... all tanned.  But they were young, so they can afford to be tan.
I am a staunch believer of Fair = Beauty.  I have some friends who prefers sun-kissed complexion.  They looked energetic and lively at their 20s.  Now most of them are around 30s or 40s, the glow just turned sallow with pigmentation, omg....

We made a U-turn back when we reached Sheares Bridge.

Marina Barrage Pump House, seemed quite far, brisk walking back took about 20mins.

View from the 2nd floor of Marina Barrage Pump House with an overall view of the bridge.

Sustainable Singapore Gallery at the 2nd floor.
The moment we stepped in, we were relieved from heat, it's so cooling inside....


Nice place for children to visit for excursions to learn where our water supply comes from.


Some displays are very interesting.

There is this big model of the dam but it's under maintence T___T




The sprawling roof the the Marina Barrage Pump House is size of 4 football fields.

Clear blue sky was nice, but without much clouds, there was nothing to tame down the sun.

We walked down along the long slope, the sun was at it's most powerful, can melt.

Pic taken from the slope.

At the end of the slope, WATER!!! fountains.

Was really very tempted to get myself drenched, the heat was unbearable....

Visit of Marina Barrage ended with wet feet.  If not for the mission to pick up King Luis, we would like to walk over to Gardens By The Bay for satay.

Singapore may be small, but there are many places to explore, some are less known, some just never cross your mind.

Thanks for reading ^.^


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