When you go to Singapore, you sure have the urges to go and catch at least a glimpse of the Merlion. Have you heard of the Merlion legend??
The Legend Of The Merlion
On a rocky saddle in the middle of Sentosa's north-south axis, sits the majestic Merlion, half lion, half fish, powerful and regal in mien. Its paternal gaze rests with joyous pride on Singapore, the prosperous island it has protected through the ages.
Legend has it that this rocky saddle just below Mt Imbiah was the seat for the real Merlion, the legendary guardian of Singapore.
Ancient Singapore, known as Temasek, was discovered in the 11th Century AD by Prince Sang Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya empire. He renamed the island Singapura, Sanskrit for Lion (Singa) and City (Pura) after he saw a mighty lion. The prince also heard the legend of how The Merlion came to Sentosa island.
On a dark night long ago, a chill swept over the sleepy villages of Temasek. Thick scudding clouds wiped out the stars. The villagers tossed in restless slumber. Even the night insects faltered in their busy chattering.
The frenzied wind whipped the sea and tore at the trees, threatening the flimsy houses. The crashing waves pounded the beaches, threatening to engulf the land with every passing moment. Awake by now, the villagers, half paralysed with fear at nature's raw power, sank to their knees in prayer.
Suddenly a shout went out.
A wondrous sight was unfolding. The boiling sea sparkled as thousands of iridescent, colourful sea creatures surged towards land. They heard the magical sound of bells, heralding the arrival of something.
A huge geyser spouted from the sea. A great sea beast reared its massive head among the creatures. Phosphorescence dripped from its lion's mane. It was bigger and more graceful than any creature ever seen.
A great roar ripped from its throat and shook the land. With mighty thrusts of its tail, it headed for the rocky saddle. The multitude of sea creatures prepared its path, squirting water from their mouths to smooth the way.
With thunder in its eyes and anger ripping through its body, the half lion, half fish beast fought the thundering skies and blasting wind. Roar after terrible roar ripped from its throat.
The terrified villagers cowered on the beach as the battle between beast and nature raged. Slowly, the wind lost its force and the crashing waves their violence.
In victory, the great sea beast let out one long, last mighty triumphant blast that shattered the sky.
By magic, the clouds and the wind retreated and the sea calmed down. The stars poured out in a mighty wave of twinkling light. Peace swept the land. The mighty sea beast tossed its salt drenched mane, and gazed benevolently on the cowering villagers. The sea creatures broke into joyous celebration.
For a long time, the proud sea beast sat on its rocky throne. What it thought, no one could tell. The tired, happy villagers fell into a magical sleep, peace suffusing their faces. As dawn stole across the sky, the great sea beast sighed a mighty sigh. With a long, lingering look on the island, it flipped its tail and returned to the sea.
As if a spell had broken, the villagers awoke. Rubbing sleep from their eyes, they ran to the sea's edge, looking for the mighty sea beast. All they saw was a long trail, filled with colour and light. The scales of the colourful sea creatures and the dried salt from their bodies filled the trail, catching the rays of the morning sun, breaking the light into a thousand colours.
As if sealed by magic, the colourful trail remained through the years. Each year, the giant Merlion, for that was what it came to be called, returned to Sentosa island by this trail. On those magical nights, it would sit on its rocky throne, watching over the island it loves. At dawn, it returned to the sea.
One year, the Merlion stopped coming. Maybe it knew all would be well. The villagers felt sure that it would return if the island was once again in peril. The Merlion legend became the favourite story of generations of children. children made sand models of the Merlion and its colourful trail, acting out the story with their friends. - Source: Merlion Homes
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| Aslan (From The Chronicles of Narnia) |
Well, we all wanted to make full use of our holidays so, we decided one of the trip would be a to the Singapore's river where we can find one of their famous Merlion attractions. That was kinda a horrible day for me because I was pretty much in agony, having to hurt my legs badly from walking to much. My parents wanted me to go on with them. Partially because, so that I can try help them navigate the way there (Andy thought me a lot in this in how to get where we wanna go. Pretty much very good at explaining).
Meet my 2 brothers, Michel & Aaron bored waiting me to get the routes explanation on how to get to the river.
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| I do not know what are they looking at, at first.. |
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| Voila!! Most probably they are looking at a cruise that got stick in one of Singapore's skyscraper.. |
So we have to cross over to an office building towards a bridge that'll bring us to the other side and then we will be reaching the river already. Now.. Something Weird I found along the way, was that.. These chairs.. Singapore overdo their sense of art. If it's for humour purposes, it's not funny if you decided to land your a** on a bench when you're tired.
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| And he decided to take a pose since this one is not bad.. You will definitely ache your back if you really decided to sleep on this... |
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| Remember This?? |
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| Yea... That Fail Planking post My Singapore Adventure With My Family: Part 1 (Coronation of Epic Images) |
Here are some views of the Cruise-That-Got-Stuck-On-Singapore's-Building in earlier picture..
This was from an end of the river. From this view place, we had to walk all the way to the other end because the Merlion is over there. Can you feel how much agony I felt that time??? Here are random shots on the way there.. I walk slow, so I noticed some things..
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| A Lost Set of Keys |
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| Swimming Tortoise |
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| Small Fountain That Cheated Your Mind & Soul Wondering Whether It's Gonna Shoot Up High Or Not.. |
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| Another of Singapore's Street Art Sculpture |
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| This one is Labeled |
And finally... WE REACH THE SPECTACULAR VIEW POINT OF THE MERLION!!! (=.=) Even if this one is just the medium size, it's still an attraction and it's pack with humans from all over the world.
It took great effort to wait till the people ease up a lil' bit so that I can take these pictures. They're quite annoying you know. The moment when you are ready with your camera in your hands to snap a picture, all of a sudden, a pest pass by or stand in the range of the camera shot.
Some other fascinating views from the Merlion's point..
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| The direction my brother's pointing is where we're suppose to be heading next.. |
After this.. We are on our way to that specific destination my brother is pointing, the Singapore Sky Flyer. Before that, we're gonna stop by at Santec City. On the way.. Some more random shots because I walk slow..
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| Kelisa |
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| Trading Sculptures |
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| More Trading Sculptures |
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| Spectacular River View |
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| A Giant Obese Bird Sculpture |
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| The Weird Naked Guy Sculpture. You should know by now the random dick from My Singapore Adventure With My Family: Part 1 (Coronation of Epic Images) belongs to this guy. |
Merlion plushies are very expensive. Seriously.. But I bought mini Merlions anyway...
Cute huh?? Well.. That's the end of this post.. I hope you enjoy reading this post.. I was actually half lazy doing it. I haven't bath because I wanted to finish up this post first. Hahaha!!
Until Then...
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