Alex and I have both always wanted to visit the Marina Bay Sands. Nearly every time we're in Singapore, we have lunch at the top, but we have both always wanted to stay and enjoy everything and finally visit the infinity pool on the 57th floor. His Christmas gift was a one-night stay for 2 people and thankfully he asked for me to accompany him!
Our early check in was greatly appreciated and the view was incredible! Straight out over the Gardens by the Bay.
We had a late lunch at the rooftop restaurant Lago and I'm pretty sure Alex got a steak, but this is how the plate looked a few minutes later.
At least the cheesecake lasted long enough for a picture!
After lunch, we were ready for the main event - we suited up to visit the pool! Everyone was coming and going in their white robes so we made sure we had the right uniform.
Incredible!!
And SO cold!! It also happened to be one of the most pleasant afternoons ever in Singapore, so we weren't even hot and sweaty when we got in. We soaked in the views and enjoyed the people watching until we finally had to get out and warm up.
Thank goodness we discovered the hot tubs! They're on the back side facing the gardens and they were lifesavers.
We had decided to enjoy everything the Marina Bay Sands had to offer (except the casino), including the restaurants and the mall and we never actually left during out entire stay. We found a great burger place in the mall and discovered their milkshakes are a meal on their own! This one had a whole ice cream sandwich on top!
We headed out toward Marina Bay after nightfall to enjoy the scenery.
This has to be the coolest Apple store in the world. You can reach its little island by escalator from inside the mall or take the bridge over the water.
What an amazing, iconic hotel.
We caught the light show in Marina Bay and it's always impressive.
The fun fountain that we lovingly refer to as the toilet bowl. You can see the underside from inside the mall. And fun fact - when the water isn't flowing, the sound resonates so well that you can hear people whisper on the other side.
We also caught the light show at the Gardens by the Bay from our own room! It was really a perfect day. We even found a little grocery store to stock up on goodies like Arnott's to take home.
Breakfast at Spago on the rooftop was just what we wanted the next morning. Alex had asked to wake up at 7am so we didn't miss a minute of fun but I didn't have the heart to get him up quite that early.
We didn't waste any time getting back into the pool to enjoy the sunshine, though! It certainly made it easy to get in the cold water, but not much...
Of course, we spent our last few minutes in the hot tub again and could have spent the entire afternoon relaxing here, but sadly we had to check out of our room.
Our time as guests may have ended, but our explorations did not. We checked out the food court for lunch and found the most incredible chandelier over it.
We decided to visit an interactive exhibit at the Art Science Museum.
Each room had a way to interact with the art, either by touching it and changing it...
...or creating your own and adding it to the collection!
The LED tunnel was magical.
Next stop was the flower domes at the gardens and our timing couldn't have been more perfect. As soon as we got inside, it started pouring outside and it was mesmerizing to watch.
We enjoyed some really lovely plants and flowers, including this mum that was as big as my hand.
These stone plants were unreal.
The beautiful waterfall in the rainforest dome was so tall. There was a whole Avatar exhibit going on throughout the dome so plenty of extra sights to see.
The lines in the back were fake, but the flower is real!
As were these beauties.
The rain stopped, we wandered back to the sands before we had to leave for the airport, and someone decided to spend some Christmas money at the cool Apple store. The deciding factor was that tourists can claim their tax back at the airport!
Alex and I had a pretty unforgettable trip and really enjoyed our time together. Exploring a mega hotel was a lot more fun than having wisdom teeth removed! And thankfully our delayed trip home from Mentawai didn't affect this one at all, but we were happy to put the suitcases away and enjoy the last few days of the Christmas break.
