I finally visited MBS (Marina Bay Sands) this afternoon, but the experience was sadly quite unpleasant and disappointing. For a five-star hotel, the whole feel of the hotel lobby etc unfortunately felt very marketplace-like to me. Perhaps the crowd cum check-in chaos was due to MBS' national day package - reception counters were overwhelmed, the whole place was really crowded, with snaking lines of unhappy customers and even crosser customers at the counters. What a nightmare it must have been for the poor service staff. The long lines also revealed the ugly side of some S'poreans - apparently one lady blatantly jumped queue to get to the front. And while Lady No.1 was being served by MBS staff, Lady No. 2 behind her (when it became her turn to be served at the adjacent counter) couldn't restrain herself from giving the queue-jumper a piece of her mind. Drama... As many of the hotel guests looked/ sounded like locals, was also wondering to myself why so many S'poreans so rich...

Premises-wise, I have to concede though it is pretty nicely designed etc. I esp liked the trees in huge pots lining the main walkway connecting the 3 towers. The glass panels high up also let in abundant natural light. Also free-rode on someone's guest pass to go up to the 57th sty Skypark - have to admit the view was pretty spectacular and pool quite out of this world... but given the high density of people up there, it was just too off lah.

I also managed to chance upon a pretty decent bakery/dessert place Sweetspot and bought a really yummy big crunchy cookie for only $2.50. Many shops remained unopen though - while those open for business had to deal with construction dust (quite visible at some shopfronts). Eeks, I wouldn't really want to go back there till at least half a year later. Perhaps then it will then live up to all the hype.