Wander With Armie: SENTOSA

November 17, 2011

SENTOSA

Sentosa, which translates to peace and tranquility in Malay (derived from Santosha in Sanskrit), is a popular island resort in Singapore, visited by some five million people a year. Attractions include a two-kilometre long sheltered beach, Fort Siloso, two golf courses and two five-star hotels, and the Resorts World Sentosa, featuring the theme park Universal Studios Singapore

Sentosa was once known as Pulau Blakang Mati which in Malay means the "Island (pulau) of Death (mati) from Behind (blakang)".

Through the 1980s and 1990s, a number of pay-to-get-in tourist designations were built on the island, most of which the local people found uninteresting. Consequently, there was a joke that the name Sentosa stood for "So Expensive and Nothing to See Also".

In 2009, construction of a new foot bridge began. The S$70 million Sentosa Boardwalk includes themed gardens, shops and eateries. There are covered walkways and travellators along the boardwalk for rainy days,S$1 admission fee into Sentosa is charged.

The boardwalk, officially opened on 29 January 2011, will provide visitors an alternative mode of travel to reach the island

Sentosa can be reached from the Singapore mainland via a short causeway or Cable Car, which originatesfrom Mount Faber and passes through HarbourFront en route to its final destination.

The island is also accessible by Sentosa Express monorail It has three stations on Sentosa and one on mainland Singapore. Opened on 15 January 2007, the northern terminus of the line is at the VivoCity shopping mall on the mainland and the southern one is Beach Station on Sentosa Island. In Vivocity, the mainland MRT is in turn served by the HarbourFront MRT Station of the North East Line and the Circle Line. The journey takes four minutes.

Within Sentosa there are three bus services, identified as Blue, Yellow and Red lines, and a tram service called the Beach Train. Since 1998, passenger cars have been allowed to enter the island.