The first and only amphibious attraction in Asia is fun for the whole family! Ride on the authentic Vietnam War craft that glides on land as well as on sea, with entertaining Ducktainers onboard. Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists can also follow the Standard English tour commentary with running voiced narratives in their native languages.
Experience the new way to explore the city of Singapore… ride through the city of merlion on the Duck. Singapore duck tours have become quite popular amongst tourists. The vehicle is a boat, and a bus, combined into one. Singapore duck tours use these genuine American’s Vietnam war machine to take the tourists on a tour of the city. The Singapore duck tours, an enthusiastic venture of the Singapore Tourism Board, who encouraged its launch after observing successful duck tours in the countries of America, Australia and Europe.
The pickup point of the Singapore Duck Tour is The DUCKcounter @ Suntec City Mall Galleria. The duration of the tour is of 1 hour and frequency of the Tour is Hourly departure in normal weather conditions
DHL Balloons
The DHL Balloon is a giant helium balloon, located on Tan Quee Lan Street in the Downtown Core of Singapore. Sited next to the New 7th Storey Hotel and near Bugis MRT Station, the distinctive red and yellow commercial passenger balloon is the world's largest tethered helium balloon.
History
Launched at a cost of S$2.5 million, the DHL Balloon was a joint venture by Aerophile Balloon Singapore Pte Ltd and Vertical Adventure Pte Ltd, and took one year to plan. The project was sponsored by global courier, freight and logistics company DHL, for which it gets exclusive advertising space on the balloon. The business partners involved in the project worked with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Singapore Land Authority and Singapore Tourism Board to allow public advertising on the balloon, and arrange for the lease for the site at over S$1 million for two years. S$800,000 was spent priming the ground for the balloon, and another S$60,000 for the helium.
On 19 April 2006, 40 crew members took 12 hours to inflate the French-made balloon, which took its first passengers in May 2006. The DHL Balloon is operated by Singapore Ducktours, a Singapore company which also offers city tours on its amphibious vehicles. As of September 2007, more than 150,000 people have ridden on the DHL Balloon, 70% of whom are tourists. Up to 1,000 people ride the balloon on weekends. Its ridership is the highest among all of Aerophile's balloons.
The DHL Balloon's lease on its site on Tan Quee Lan Street will expire on August 2008, and URA has indicated that the lease will not be extended as it has plans for the site. Singapore Ducktours is considering three alternative sites: Beach Road near Park View Hotel, Clarke Quay near Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel, and Gardens by the Bay at Marina Bay. Other plans include relocating the balloon to Kuala Lumpur or Johor Baru in Malaysia. Terminating the venture will cost the company S$1.2 million.
NB: With a capacity of 7,800 cubic metres, Johannesburg and Mexico City are believed to be the largest passenger carrying tethered helium balloons currently in operation.
Ride
Passengers aboard the DHL Balloon can have a bird's eye view of Singapore's Central Area, including the central business district, Suntec City, Marina Bay, Orchard Road and Little India, and as far as Indonesia and Malaysia.Standard flights to 150 metres typically lasts between seven to ten minutes, über flights to 180 metres last up to 13 minutes.
Features and specifications
The DHL Balloon measures 22 metres in diameter, and is filled with 6,500 cubic metres of helium. While it is the world's largest tethered helium balloon, it has been certified as an aircraft. There are only fifteen like it around the world, in cities including Paris and Hongkong.
As the balloon is anchored to the ground with a metal cable, it only ascends and descends vertically. The DHL Balloon was approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to ascend to a maximum altitude of 180 metres, or around 48 stories. Flights to either 150 metres or 180 metres are offered. It can accommodate a maximum of 29 passengers in its gondola.
Piloting
The balloon, which flies between two to six times an hour, is operated by a pilot within the gondola. A hydro-electric winch system controls take-off and landing. As a safety measure, the balloon is not flown when there is lightning, rain, or when the wind speed exceeds five knots on the ground, as measured by an anemometer, on location.
Maintenance
A crew of six pilots, who work in rotation with one pilot working at any one time, conduct routine checks daily, weekly and every three months on the balloon and its equipment. The helium is replenished every four to six months, and engineers visit the balloon every year to conduct an inspection.
Hippo City Tour
 Singapore's latest City Sightseeing on the uniquely open-top HIPPOtours. The open top double-decker bus guarantees a bird's eye view of the city's top attractions. Without the roof, only the HIPPO can offer you the advantage of a 360-degree, uninterrupted panoramic view of the city showcasing the best of Singapore with 22 strategic stops. The Hop-On-Hop Off System allows you to tour at your own leisurely pace and time.
Operating in the East West direction, it connects the hotels, major shopping malls along Orchard. Major attractions include Botanic Garden, Esplanade, Raffles Landing Site and Merlion Park. Operating in the North South direction, it showcases the major heritage sights in Singapore. Chinatown, Little India, Kampong Glam (Arab Muslim enclave), historical Civic District, etc...
Services: Hop-on Hop-off and about every 25 minute departures from 10am to 5.30pm.
Singapore Cable Car
 The Singapore Cable Car provides an aerial link from Mount Faber on the main island of Singapore to the resort island of Sentosa across the Keppel Harbour. It was the first aerial ropeway system in the world to span a harbour.
The bi-cable, detachable-grip gondola lift system has three stations, namely The Jewel Box Station at Mount Faber, the HarbourFront Station at HarbourFront and the Sentosa Station at Sentosa. Two supporting towers are located between each pair of stations. This distance between The Jewel Box Station and the first tower is about 300 metres, from the first tower to the Harbourfront Station is 400 metres, from the Harbourfront Station to the second tower at 500 metres, and from the second tower to the Sentosa Station is 450 metres long.
History
The Singapore government came up with the idea of an aerial cableway to Sentosa from Mount Faber in 1968 as part of its masterplan for tourism projects in the country. 4 years later in 1972, construction on the S$5.8 million system commenced, and was officially opened on 15 February 1974 by then Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Goh Keng Swee.
During its opening, the system had 43 cabins which required manual opening and closing of doors by cabin attendants. This was increased to 51 cabins in 1976. The show Hawaii Five-O was filmed on the system in the same year, while the world's first Mass Weddings on the cable cars was introduced in the late 1970s.
Tragedy struck the system in the Singapore Cable Car disaster of 29 January 1983, which saw seven people killed when two cabins plunged into the sea after the cableway was hit by a Panamanian-registered oil rig.
In 1988, the system celebrated its 10 millionth rider. It played hosts to the contestants of the Miss World Pageant when it was held in Singapore in 1989, as well as the sportmen and officials who were here for the Southeast Asian Games in 1990.
The system's cabins were replaced in 1994 at a cost of over S$11 million. The new cabins totalled 80, and effectively doubled the system's capacity to 1400 passengers per hour in either direction from 700 passengers previously. The upgrade took 25 days to complete, during which time the system suspended operations.
A year later in 1995, the system welcomed its 20 millionth rider, and quickly reached its 25 millionth visitor just two years later in 1997. The stations at Mount Faber and Sentosa were also upgraded in the same year, while Lego presented to Singapore the world's only life-size cable car cabin based on the Singapore cable car's design.
In November 1999, the Singapore cable car system did another world's first with its glass-bottomed cabins at a cost of S$30,000 each. 6 more of these popular cabins were added in December 2000, giving the system a total of 81 cabins today.
For a week from 16 March 2004, the system conducted the 'Surviving the Sky' Challenge as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations. 34 two-man teams (2 teams withdrew at the last minute) from around Asia attempted the challenge to see who could survive the longest in the cable car for 24 hours a day.
The height of the track rope is as follows:
* The Jewel Box Station (formerly Mount Faber Station): 93 m above mean sea level Tower 1: 80 m above mean sea level
*Harbourfront Station: 69 m above mean sea level
*Tower 2: 88 m above mean sea level
*Sentosa Station: 47 m above mean sea level
The system currently consists of 81 cabins, suspended at least 60 metres above the sea, and about 61 m between each cabin (or one cabin per 15 to 21 seconds). Each cabin can carry a maximum of 6 adult passengers, while the whole system can support 1400 passengers per hour either way. Travelling at a speed of 4 metres per second, it takes about 4 minutes to get from Mount Faber to Jardine Steps, and another 5.5 minutes to continue on to Sentosa. Including the short interval at Jardine Steps, however, it will take 12 minutes on a continuous ride from Mount Faber to Sentosa. In addition, there are 27 red-coloured aircraft warning balls mounted on a telephone rope just above the cableway.
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