Photo of riverboat at Marina South Pier, by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Everybody in Singapore, and many worldwide, can recognize Marina Bay, now dominated by the cricket stump skyscrapers of Marina Bay Sands. Singapore island has expanded towards and into the sea. Beyond Marina Bay is Marina Bay South.
Walk up the steps from the Marina South Pier station and you come out onto the shore right next to the American paddle steamer with its big bright orange paddlewheel.
I booked one of their wine and food events, Spanish wine starting with a cava.
You hear the creaking as walk towards it.
On board you feel drunk already as the boat heaves up and down on the wash. However, you soon get used to it.
The lower deck has the indoors Tex Mex restaurant.
From the top deck you see the Marina Bay Sands triple towers and the wheel of the Singapore Flyer. As the sky dims after about seven o'clock, the Singapore Flyer starts to change colours.
On Friday and Saturday nights there's music. You can also book a musician for a special event, a theme night, a birthday party, or a wedding.
The backdrop view of Marina Bay and the Singapore Flyer changing colour is enchanting.
The food was pretty good too. Nothing was too much trouble. I am allergic to shellfish so they brought me up a specially made large portion of rice without shellfish. It was too spicy for me, so they made me another plate of rice.
Did I mention desserts?
The port of Singapore is what creates the country's wealth.
The boat is a successful creation of romance and atmosphere. It was built in Singapore in 1990s as a restaurant venue, as the website tells you. It was not shipped nor sailed all the way over from America, but a nostalgic recreation of far away America in the good old days.
What's good about it? I liked the warmth of the orange, the bright cleanliness of the white. The circle of the paddle wheel and its myriad of paddles is a delight. The curves of the balustrades soothe the mind through the eyes. The sea all around and the lights on the horizon - it all adds up to the illusion of travel and escaping from the city to another time and another place with your eyes on the distance.
Marina South Pier is the last station, south, on the red North South railway line. Make the most of this opportunity. Next year the boat will have to move to a new location, as their website explains.
Useful Websites & Information:
MRT Railway TRAVEL
BOAT
Wood & Steel Gastrobar
Santa Fe Tex-mex Grill
Stewords Riverboat
31 Marina Coastal Drive
Berth 1, Marina South Pier
Singapore 018988.
Tel: 6278 5775.
email: Daryl@riverboat.com.sg
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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