Singapore 360 - Day 8: Singapore Flyer

It's definitely not a thrill ride but I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who hasn't given it or its counterpart in London a try yet. I'm talking about the Singapore Flyer. Well, if you've tried the London Eye and would like to compare notes, then ride by all means.

As for me, I had to chance to get aboard one of those room-sized capsules just a few days ago, when friends made a visit here in Singapore and thought of giving the Singapore Flyer a go. The good thing about its slow movement is that those who are afraid of heights among us didn't seem the least concerned. But they did remain seated during the ride while the rest of us were constantly roving around to enjoy the surrounding view.

I wanted to time our ride just before the sun was out so I booked for 7:30 p.m. I was thinking it would be great to see the best of both worlds — bright and dark. That's not meant to be metaphorical. Seeing as far as Indonesia when it was bright and getting a view of the Singapore skyline when it was dark would've been great. Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy that day and night came sooner than expected.

But the Singapore night skyline was still a great scenery and the view we got from the revolving capsule was different from what we've previously seen from our visits to the nearby high-rise buildings.

I could only wish there was some way for them to keep the glass panels continually clean. The stains get in the way of nice shots.

While I'm at the wishing stage, it would've been great too if there was something going on at the bottom — perhaps fireworks from the floating stage, or F1 cars racing through the tracks. That ought to give you an idea of when you should time your ride.

Of course the Singapore Flyer made the headlines a few months ago when people were stuck for as long as six hours because of some glitch in the power system. In the end they had no choice but to do some sort of rescue operation and rappel people to safety. That must've been something.

We tried to imagine how it would be like if someone were to throw a party there. "Oh waiter, we forgot to ask for water, could you get it up to us immediately please!?!" How about karaoke? We figured nothing was more challenging than answering the call of nature. Our dream ride had to end there.

I guess we'll give the Singapore Flyer a try again when a new set of friends visit.

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