World famous selfie pool over Singapore
To call anything as pedestrian as a swimming pool “world famous”, is usually going to be an overstatement, since fame is a such a subjective concept. A pool is not a skyscraper, whose height can be measured to say — “Hey, it’s the tallest one of those in the world!” But if we were to chose one swimming pool to designate as the most famous in the world, it would probably have to be the one on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore.
Getting your photo taken here is probably a dream of anyone who’s ever become aware of its existence, since such photos always come out looking Incredibly awesome. But let me show you what it’s really like up there.
1. The Marina Bay Sands hotel complex is undeniably the most recognizable building in Singapore’s skyline — partly because it stands apart from other tall structures of downtown. The hotel looks like the Roman numeral III, and one would be hard-pressed to call it a skyscraper, because of this odd shape.
2. Three 55-storey towers are connected at the top with a giant platform shaped like something between a surf board and an ironing board. It’s on top of this that the famous infinity pool is to be found. Besides it, the rooftop contains a couple of observation decks, restaurants, bars and a night club. But the swimming pool is unique among these attractions in that you must be a guest of the hotel in order to access it. Other fanciness is open to the outside crowds, provided they are willing to pay the price of admission, but the only way into the pool area is with a room key!
3. This wonder of the modern world was built in 2010. Wikipedia claims that the towers are joined to the Skydeck platform with joints that allow for 50cm of give in all directions. But you don’t need me to rehash such boring details. Go check them out if you are interested.
Rooms here start at $300 per night, but once all the taxes and fees are thrown into the mix, you’re looking at a cool $350. During my previous visits to Singapore, I was in town for 3–4 days, and just couldn’t bring myself to spend this much money just to access a swimming pool, no matter how stunning the view. But this time I was only passing through for 2 nights, and decided to splurge, and check out, whether the pool is as amazing as the photos would have us believe.
Inside the towers looks impressive. The lower floors of the towers are connected in a giant atrium — a giant well lit modern space. In contrast the rooms are nothing to write home about. They are clean and simple, but not exciting — a far cry from the stylish luxury of Shanghai’s Park Hyatt.
4. To get to the pool itself, guests take the elevator to the rooftop. The entry to the pool area is allowed only with a room key — each guest must have their own to get in (so get the most you can, when checking in). You also need to use the key to leave, so it’s pretty tight security. It may be possible to sneak your way in there, but I imagine it wouldn’t be easy.
All the guests come in their hotel bathrobes and slippers, but I, being a swimming pool newbie, came up in a button down shirt and my Converse.
But, no matter. Here’s the money shot of the infinity pool: people by the invisible edge look out onto the downtown of Singapore from dizzying heights. It seems like there is nothing between the water’s edge and the 150 meter drop below. The view is enough to take your breath away!
5. It takes a minute or so to take all of it in. No doubt about it, the view from the pool’s edge is hugely impressive. A few hundred feet below you lies the whole of Marina Bay, and the tall towers of the business district on its far side.
6. The pool is divided into three more or less equal parts, and along the whole length of it there is a deck with three levels of lounge chairs. At first it seems like there are too many of them, but pretty soon you realize that the number is just right.
7. The thing is, the rooftop pool is extremely popular. It stands to reason, that no guest who is paying for a room here would want to pass up an opportunity to take a dip.
8. And, most importantly, to take a photo!
9. You can see, by the way, that in reality the water is quite far from the actual edge of the roof. The visual effect of the seamless dropoff is achieved by raising the thin edge slightly higher all the safety layers beyond it. Standing on one side of the roof, you can see the gentle curve of the other end, as it hangs over the 55-storey towers.
10. But, let’s get back to the photos. Naturally, the main goal of anyone visiting the pool here is to take awesome pictures to show people back home. I am no exception here. Paddling around among tourists in chlorine-filled water is a dubious pleasure, but taking that great shot of “a person by the edge overlooking the city”, this is basically why we’ve all paid top dollar to be here. Especially if the person in the photo is you!
11. It’s most entertaining to observe as people slowly wade in with their cameras. I’ve never seen so much expensive photo equipment being so carefully transported on upraised arms. Everybody tries their hardest to avoid any splashing. I always imagined that when a platoon of soldiers cross a river they hold their weapons up in much the same manner.
12. Since the hotel is pricey, you can imagine that the guests here are pretty well off. If you have an eye for photo equipment, you can probably spot some top end stuff, especially in the semi-pro range. People use all sorts of equipment to take their pictures. There’s no shortage of SLRs for instance.
13. There are high-end point-and-shoots as well (this guy is sporting the new Sony RX-100 M5, which weighs in at a cool $1000!)
14. There are also camcorders, and — god help us! — tablets. But the majority of would be photographers use their smartphones. This is probably where those newfangled waterproof models really shine, and make their owners all smug about shelling out top dollar.
15. And of course, every self-respecting guest is hauling a selfie-stick.
16. Such selfies probably come out looking amazing, but to a side observer, the process comes off incredibly goofy, as people try to position this thing just right, and get their best duck face from their best selfie angle, with the best backdrop. This can take a minute, or two, or five… Possibly the selfie fad will pass soon, and we will look back at these old photos with the same discomfort that people from the 80s feel about their haircuts back then. “You see, back then everyone was doing it!..” we’ll tell our kids.
17. Having taken like a thousand selfies, tourists instantly sit down to delete the “bad ones”. There’s not even time to disconnect the selfie-stick. I imagine a fair share of these photos find their way to the Facetagrams of the world right then and there.
18. If you’re feeling really lazy, you can take a selfie without getting your feet wet.
19. …Or you can take photos of the surrounding greenery. Just kidding! I’m pretty sure this is a selfie too!
20. In the morning, to maintain a semblance of a serious pool, one of the sections gets roped up into lanes… you know, for actual swimming. This way, the three people who are actually here to do some swimming can do so. You can spot them a mile away, because they come sporting swimming caps and goggles.
21. Also, they are all Japanese. An by “all”, I mean the three swimmers I saw there during my visits.
22. Others come with kids, who get special floating vests. This looks a bit scary, as if the kid is about to float off the edge of the building.
23. Naturally, there are lifeguards up here. Also a towel station.
24. Oh, and of course you can order a tropical cocktail right to your lounge chair, to sip as you take in the view.
25. There’s even snacks and things. The prices are… impressive, even if you consider that Singapore dollar is worth about 0.7 USD.
26. There is a proper restaurant right behind the pool area. It’s also more expensive. You can sit and look out on crowds of bathers, as they perfect the art of the selfie. If you’re into that sort of thing, that’s enough entertainment to keep you away from your smartphone for about the time it takes to have one meal.
27. The pool is open until 11pm, and if you think that as closing time approaches, the area becomes relatively empty of tourists… well, you’d be wrong! Quite the contrary — all the guests rush to take that last dip, creating major congestion in all the hotel’s elevators. Naturally, I did so as well, otherwise, how would I have known this was a thing?..
Our elevator had quite a motley crowd. There was one guy in a business suit, surrounded by a dozen of older Japanese tourists in bathrobes. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t entirely happy to be in that mosh pit.
28. In order to see this pool in an empty and tranquil state, you should pay a visit just as it opens, at six in the morning. At six on the dot, while the lifeguards are still putting up the swimming lanes, there were exactly zero other guests in the pool area.
Lucky for me, my Singaporean friend xploncuk suggested that I visit the pool at the crack of dawn. Thanks to her, I was able have it all to myself for a bit!
29. I even managed to make a couple of laps, while it was empty. Though my exclusive use of the pool did not last long — the next guests arrived at 6:05. It was still dark in Singapore at this time.
30. Looking on as the sky lights up, while soaking in a rooftop infinity pool is an incredibly beautiful thing. I was so taken by the view, I almost forgot to photograph it. Almost.
31. If you go to the back of the roof garden, you get a good view of the sea on the other side. This is where the sun comes up. There’s always a giant armada of cargo shops parked offshore.
32. This side also has a number of hot tubs. Though they are of little interes to most visitors — Singapore isn’t exactly known for its cold weather.
33. What is very cool is the view you get from the roof of the exceptional Gardens by the Bay, with their elegant biodomes and Super-Trees. All of this is laid out in front of you, and shines magically in the light of the rising sun.
By the way, in case you didn’t read my post about these Gardens, I should mention that the entire peninsula where they and the Marina Bay Sands hotel now stand was an artificial creation, part of a giant land reclamation project, designed to create the Marina Bay, which has now been made into a freshwater reservoir.
34. So that’s the swimming pool. Do I think it’s worth the money I paid to stay at this hotel? Probably not. It’s hard to imagine that I’d ever want to splurge like this again. Singapore has too much interesting stuff, to spend your days sitting by the pool, no matter how amazing the view is. But I definitely won’t regret trying it out.
After all, if you stop taking selfies for a second, it’s actually quite beautiful up here!
More on Singapore: How it became a sovereign country against its will.
Originally published at levik.livejournal.com.