Esplanade Drive
Today, we walk onto Esplanade Drive. We are entering the Marina Bay area. The Esplanade complex highlights this area with its hard-to-miss architecture. The spiky metallic twin domes resemble twin durian fruit when seen from afar. These twin domes house a state of the art concert hall, theaters, rehearsal studios, and an art exhibition hall. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra plays regularly, often with world renowned guests. The spiky roof is made of variously angled aluminum shades. This technique maximizes the use of natural light and shields the glass roof from the heat of the sun. Not only this creates a visually artful and futuristic appearance but also a purposeful engineering achievement in energy efficiency.
The Esplanade waterfront is another favorite destination. During the weekdays, professionals from the adjacent financial district descend here to do lunch at the trendy bars and restaurants. Tourists do their requisite pose in front of Merlion, the lion-fish Singaporean icon. At night, the view of the lit Merlion in front of the backdrop of the city skyline and its sparkling reflection on the calm sea water provides the perfect ambience for having a formal dinner with business associates or a romantic dinner with the significant one!
Temporary barriers were constructed along the five kilometers of city streets to make up the F-1 circuit. Over 1500 light projectors were used to turn night into day on the track, providing clear views for the drivers and over 100,000 spectators. The route went across the man-made harbor and then went back into the city entertainment district. Like Monte Carlo, the Singapore circuit had many 90 degree turns and a few long stretches with top speed of 300 km/h. The F-1 drivers had to slow down to about 100 km/h at the Fullerton corner and then they accelerated out towards top speed again.
Raffles Place
Today, we are in the Central Business District (CBD). This packed urban jungle is filled with the world’s most powerful financial houses and banks. Looking up through my car’s panoramic tilting roof, I can see the reflections of the buildings. Inside this shadowy urban concrete jungle, we lose our sense of direction immediately. Singapore roads are not in grid. There is no convention to the road naming or the road construction. Roads meander and cross other meandering roads. To top that, most narrow streets in CBD are one way.
Boat Quay
After many turns, the concrete urban jungle thins out. The view of Singapore River emerges in front of us. We arrive at an area called Boat Quay. This place is known for its riverfront outdoor restaurants, bars, and traditional restored shophouses with colorful shutter windows.On weekday evenings, people descend from the CBD skyscrapers and they follow aromatic smells of world cuisines at Boat Quay.
Foodies find Singapore to be a culinary goldmine. The ensemble of homegrown delights and traditional dishes of Chinese, Indian, and Malay origin, can easily be found throughout the city. Some favorite dishes include chicken rice, laksa (lemon grass vermicelli soup), char kway teow (stir-fried rice flat noodle), yong tau fu (stuffed tofu), roti prata (pancake bread) , satay (sliced barbequed meat on skewer), and nasi lemak (coconut rice with accompaniments). They are not only delicious but also very inexpensive. On the opposite spectrum, restaurants offering haute cuisines from nearly every corner of the world complete the Singaporean menus. From unpretentious hole-in-the-wall places to grand palaces with bird’s-eye panoramic views, restaurant designs are just as diverse as the menus...
Story still continues: Part 3
Full story: DV-Singapore
More Pictures: Gallery DV-Singapore
Multimedia Map trip
-Andreas. D
Driving Vacation
Today, we walk onto Esplanade Drive. We are entering the Marina Bay area. The Esplanade complex highlights this area with its hard-to-miss architecture. The spiky metallic twin domes resemble twin durian fruit when seen from afar. These twin domes house a state of the art concert hall, theaters, rehearsal studios, and an art exhibition hall. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra plays regularly, often with world renowned guests. The spiky roof is made of variously angled aluminum shades. This technique maximizes the use of natural light and shields the glass roof from the heat of the sun. Not only this creates a visually artful and futuristic appearance but also a purposeful engineering achievement in energy efficiency.
The Esplanade waterfront is another favorite destination. During the weekdays, professionals from the adjacent financial district descend here to do lunch at the trendy bars and restaurants. Tourists do their requisite pose in front of Merlion, the lion-fish Singaporean icon. At night, the view of the lit Merlion in front of the backdrop of the city skyline and its sparkling reflection on the calm sea water provides the perfect ambience for having a formal dinner with business associates or a romantic dinner with the significant one!
Temporary barriers were constructed along the five kilometers of city streets to make up the F-1 circuit. Over 1500 light projectors were used to turn night into day on the track, providing clear views for the drivers and over 100,000 spectators. The route went across the man-made harbor and then went back into the city entertainment district. Like Monte Carlo, the Singapore circuit had many 90 degree turns and a few long stretches with top speed of 300 km/h. The F-1 drivers had to slow down to about 100 km/h at the Fullerton corner and then they accelerated out towards top speed again.
Raffles Place
Today, we are in the Central Business District (CBD). This packed urban jungle is filled with the world’s most powerful financial houses and banks. Looking up through my car’s panoramic tilting roof, I can see the reflections of the buildings. Inside this shadowy urban concrete jungle, we lose our sense of direction immediately. Singapore roads are not in grid. There is no convention to the road naming or the road construction. Roads meander and cross other meandering roads. To top that, most narrow streets in CBD are one way.
Boat Quay
After many turns, the concrete urban jungle thins out. The view of Singapore River emerges in front of us. We arrive at an area called Boat Quay. This place is known for its riverfront outdoor restaurants, bars, and traditional restored shophouses with colorful shutter windows.On weekday evenings, people descend from the CBD skyscrapers and they follow aromatic smells of world cuisines at Boat Quay.
Foodies find Singapore to be a culinary goldmine. The ensemble of homegrown delights and traditional dishes of Chinese, Indian, and Malay origin, can easily be found throughout the city. Some favorite dishes include chicken rice, laksa (lemon grass vermicelli soup), char kway teow (stir-fried rice flat noodle), yong tau fu (stuffed tofu), roti prata (pancake bread) , satay (sliced barbequed meat on skewer), and nasi lemak (coconut rice with accompaniments). They are not only delicious but also very inexpensive. On the opposite spectrum, restaurants offering haute cuisines from nearly every corner of the world complete the Singaporean menus. From unpretentious hole-in-the-wall places to grand palaces with bird’s-eye panoramic views, restaurant designs are just as diverse as the menus...
Story still continues: Part 3
Full story: DV-Singapore
More Pictures: Gallery DV-Singapore
Multimedia Map trip
-Andreas. D
Driving Vacation
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