The Singapore Flyer has had feng shui experts in a spin. The big revolving wheel at Marina Bay has been turning the wrong way, according to them. And now, to satisfy these masters in the ancient Chinese practice of arranging elements of the environment to promote fortune and health, the wheel has been reconfigured to turn the opposite way - at a cost involving a six-figure sum.
The 30-minute ride started going the other way last Monday.
Until then, since its opening in April the wheel had risen to face Singapore's business centre and went down on the other side overlooking the sea and the eastern part of the island.
Trouble was, this meant it was turning its back on the financial district literally.
'A number of feng shui masters had approached us to tell us that the Flyer is on the perfect site to pick up the good qi (energy) flowing into Singapore, but it was going in the wrong direction,' says Mr Florian Bollen, Singapore Flyer's chairman. 'The Flyer was going against the sun and taking fortune away from Singapore.'
Those comments from several feng shui masters four months ago led to the decision to change the direction of the 'wheel of fortune'.
The Flyer is run by Great Wheel Corporation, a locally headquartered company that develops and operates similar wheels and observation platforms worldwide.
The cost to rebuild the sensors in the system and resolve other technical implications was not specified except that it was a six-figure sum.
Mr Bollen hailed the directional change as 'the completion of a perfect movie', giving a much better story of Singapore.
The new experience starts with views of beaches and housing estates in the east and ends with the business district. And when the upcoming Marina Sands and financial centre are completed, it will take in that as well.
The wheel's about-face is not the only change at the five-month-old attraction which celebrated selling its one millionth ticket a week ago.
A compass has been installed in each capsule to help visitors orientate themselves to the cityscape. And a new visitor centre, managed by the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore and the Association of Singapore Attractions, allows foreigners to obtain tourist information, book a hotel room or tickets to other attractions.
Another change has been the installation of a 4m by 12m model of the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort being constructed along the same coastline. It is on the roof garden of the Flyer.
Passengers on the descent will see the model rise above the skyline, superimposed against the backdrop where the integrated resort will stand.
On the Flyer's new direction, tour guide Wong Wee Tee, 54, says: 'In the initial direction, you were first wowed by the city and then bored as it turned to the other side. It's better to see the scenic area first, then the exciting skyline.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 9 August, 2008.
