Since the opening of The Helix leading to the Marina Bay Sands on 24th April 2010, Catherine and I had been wanting to bring Darius there for sightseeing. However due to me falling sick last week, our plan was postponed to this past Saturday.

After our experiences with the new Circle Line stations during the Circle Line Discovery event, we decided to take the MRT to the Dhoby Ghaut Station on the North-South line before transferring to the Promenade Station on the Circle Line. Since the station is just next to the Millenia Walk, it would be very convenient for us to reach The Helix and its neighbouring malls. If we had alighted at the City Hall Station, we would have to walk through the CityLink Mall and Marina Square before we could reach The Helix.

Though alighting at the Promenade Station had certainly made our travels much easier, I was quite surprised to see that the station was very deserted. In fact, the Circle Line appeared to be under-utilised, judging from the sparse number of passengers at the various stations and on the train. Perhaps many people are still unaware or uncertain about the accessibility these new stations provide.

Darius and I at the quiet Promenade Station

When we stepped out of the station into the newly opened PARCO @ Marina Bay, we were faced with a rather deserted shopping mall. Since it was a new shopping mall that is easily accessible by a MRT station, we had expected to at least see some crowd there. But no, shoppers were lacking which the mall was needing them most.

The mall consists of three storeys, the first two making up of fashion shops and the PARCO store itself. On the third floor, there were several interesting shops specialising in cute and rather unique Japanese stuff, such as stationary and tidbits.

Over on the other end, there was a food area compromising of several Japanese-themed restaurants which serve more than just Japanese food, such as western and Italian food. We were tempted to have our tea break there but reconsidered after seeing the high prices (e.g. a plate of Katsu Curry Rice for $20+). It just wasn’t worth it to us as we would have been able to find better deals for the same food from other restaurants in the vicinity.

PARCO @ Marina Bay

Meanwhile, Darius was happily roaming around the rather empty and spacious third floor while Catherine checked out the stores. We also patronised the MPH bookstore located there and got some books for him. Coincidentally, there was a 20% store-wide sale going on so we had gotten some good deals. ^^

As the mall is connected directly to Millenia Walk, we crossed over there and headed towards Marina Square, which was just a stone’s throw away. As we were craving for some Japanese food, we decided to check out this restaurant called Mr. Curry, which was a subsidiary of the Waraku organisation.

As its name implies, Mr. Curry specialises in curry rice, specifically Japanese curry. After we settled down, we discovered a 1-for-1 offer for DBS/POSB cardmembers (offer lasts till end of June 2010) and we ordered a Katsu Curry Rice and Crab Omelette Curry Rice, both dishes at the price of one. I also got myself a mango float which tasted great!

Delicious and reasonably priced

Darius was in a jovial mood after we took off his shoes and let him move around a bit on the cushioned seats. We also had fun playing with him as we placed a packet of wet towel above his head, which he would try to balance before breaking into a brief laughter when the towel fell off his head. ^^

He loves the 'something-on-my-head' game since he was a baby

The dishes arrived shortly and we fed him some of the crab omelette and rice, which he enjoyed eating. The omelette and curry sauce tasted nice, the latter having both sweet and a little spicy taste to it (we had ordered the Original-flavoured curry).

The only downside was probably the less-than-fulfilling portions of the katsu (pork cutlet) and the rice, and that made us wanting to come back for more curry soon! Maybe that’s a marketing strategy to keep customers coming back? ^^|

All of us had a great time at Mr. Curry!

With our stomachs more or less filled, we were ready to head outdoors across the bridge leading to Marina Bay Sands — The Helix.

It was a 10-minute walk from Marina Square to the bridge and we could see a crowd from some distance away. Several ice cream peddlers were there to help satisfy the sightseers’ desires to cool themselves down, and their businesses were brisk.

Anyway, compared to our recent sunny days, the weather on Saturday was pretty cooling as it was a cloudy afternoon. We were even expecting it to rain soon but fortunately it didn’t.

Darius pacing through The Helix

There wasn’t anything spectacular with the bridge actually, except that its the world’s first double helix curved bridge, not that it really mattered to us. The views of the Singapore River and the city from the bridge were nice though, and the cooling winds blowing from the waters were certainly welcomed.

Darius saying 'Water' when he saw the river

It was a 10-minute relaxed stroll across the bridge and we ended up along the road leading to Marina Bay Sands, where a new casino had been opened following the Resorts World Sentosa. As there was still much construction going on alongside the roads, the walk there wasn’t exactly a comfortable one. Across the road was the magnificent hotel.

When we finally arrived at Marina Bay Sands, we were quite disappointed as there wasn’t really much to see. Yes, there were many high-class boutique shops (many were not opened yet anyway) but basically that was it. The building was very huge but the main attraction was just the casino, at least for now.

As we made our way across the mall, we arrived at a small open area where we could see the Merlion and its vicinity. Quite a nice view, but not exactly worth the journey that we’ve taken. Many of the structures were still under construction.

We didn’t stay long and made our way back towards Marina Square soon after. Over there, we came across a Malaysia Travel Fair in the atrium and enquired about the A’Famosa resort at one of the stalls. We were already planning for a trip there next month to celebrate our wedding anniversary so it was timely for us to stumble across the fair. It didn’t take long before we signed up a free-and-easy package. ^^

Looking forward to more fun during our trip together ahead! ^^

One of our objectives that day was also to find a light-weight buggy/stroller for Darius, so that we could use it for short trips in our neighbourhood (and also for overseas trips). It would be much more convenient and comfortable for us to carry a compact and light stroller, especially when either Catherine or I is going out alone with Darius.

We soon found and bought a stroller that met our requirements and expectations at Kiddy Palace. We have actually been looking for one for quite a while already so we were glad to have finally ended our search. Unfortunately though, we had forgotten to use our shopping vouchers that we had gotten some time back, so looks like we will be be back at Marina Square soon again for more shopping (and more curry)! ^^|

Related posts:

1. Dazzling and Fruitful Trip to Marina We’ve received quite a number of red packets from our...
2. Our Trip to Northpoint’s New Wing Catherine had read about the new Yishun community library opening at...
3. Food Tasting for Darius With only a week to go before our Langkawi trip...