# Amazing swimming pool in Singapore **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374 "2010-08-25T05:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/1 "2010-08-25T05:31:03Z")
Check out the [photos](http://www.businessinsider.com/take-a-look-at-singapores-swankiest-infinity-pool-2010-7). I had never heard of an [infinity pool](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_edge_pool)before but apparently there are a few around the world. Anyone taken in a swim in one of these? ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/2 "2010-08-25T05:49:16Z")
That’s the pool at the new Marina Sands hotel; I have been up there before and you must be a hotel guest to be allowed in. (Fortunately, my friend was celebrating her brother’s birthday there). The view is spectacular, but alas we weren’t allowed to swim because there was a thunderstorm that day. That’s the catch. Singapore’s weather being so unpredictable, I bet half the time you want to use the pool it would be closed because it’s raining. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/3 "2010-08-25T06:20:01Z")
I’m reminded of what someone said about the Eiffel Tower, that he loved going there because it was the only place in Paris where he didn’t have to look at the damned thing. Same thing with that pool; looks like a nice place to hang out and the view isn’t spoiled by the ridiculous building you’re on top of. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/4 "2010-08-25T06:55:44Z")
> [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](#): > > I have been up there before so…how easy to fall over the edge? because I sure hope nobody would ever build something where it was as easy as it looks in those photos, to fall off the edge. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/5 "2010-08-25T07:02:00Z")
Isn’t there a transparent barrier surrounding the pool? You can see it in some of the photos. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/6 "2010-08-25T07:37:30Z")
Oh, so that’s what an invisible barrier looks like. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/7 "2010-08-25T08:14:45Z")
> [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](#): > > Fortunately, my friend was celebrating her brother’s birthday there That would be a cool place to spend your birthday. I’d really love to take a swim there. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/8 "2010-08-25T10:02:19Z")
Oh, the “new” pool in el Cerro is like that. In Spain most pools are public or clubs; El Cerro is the club my brothers, Mom and my sister belong to. Posh for local standards but only for local standards. I like pools like that because they’re easy to get out of without using the ladders (my elbows lock, making pushing myself out of a pool where the edge is half a yard over the water kind of complicated). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/9 "2010-08-25T10:02:46Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’m reminded of what someone said about the Eiffel Tower, that he loved going there because it was the only place in Paris where he didn’t have to look at the damned thing. Guy de Maupassant, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/10 "2010-08-25T10:38:21Z")
Here’s the [naturally forming equivalent](http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/devilspool.asp). ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/11 "2010-08-25T10:53:53Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > > [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](#): > > > > I have been up there before > > so…how easy to fall over the edge? > > because I sure hope nobody would ever build something where it was as easy as it looks in those photos, to fall off the edge. It would be like falling out of a swimming pool. Essentially impossible unless you do something stupid like sit on the edge. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/12 "2010-08-25T11:42:31Z")
I’ve been in other infinity pools, but never this one. Every infinity pool I have seen has been designed to look like you could swim off the ledge, but there is actually a deck and raling around the pool and the edge of the building. The pool is higher than the deck so when you are in the pool, you can’t see the railing (I’m not explaining it well, and I can’t see the pics at work for this pool). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/13 "2010-08-25T11:46:55Z")
> [@treis](#): > > > [@Aspidistra](#): > > > > so…how easy to fall over the edge? > > > > because I sure hope nobody would ever build something where it was as easy as it looks in those photos, to fall off the edge. > > It would be like falling out of a swimming pool. Essentially impossible unless you do something stupid like sit on the edge. Yeah, the wall of the pool comes up to, well, a fraction below the surface of the water, of course. And even if you did climb over, you’d only land in the catch area just below the lip which collects the water that spills over. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/14 "2010-08-25T12:20:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Here’s the [naturally forming equivalent](http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/devilspool.asp). Ye gods, I get vertigo and sweaty palms just imagining being that guy in that one picture who’s leaning out over the edge to snap a pic. I just don’t think I could look over the edge of that thing. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/15 "2010-08-25T16:30:53Z")
Earlier this year I stayed at Riu Palace Las Americas in Cancun, which has two such pools that are oriented so that, seen from a distance, they appear to merge with the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/16 "2010-08-25T16:42:02Z")
As someone who is terrified of heights, there is no effing way I could do that. No way. Unless someone was willing to make me very wealthy to do it, there’s no way. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/17 "2010-08-25T17:06:15Z")
QFT. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/18 "2010-08-25T20:12:36Z")
Can you imagine if the wall failed and all of a sudden you were swept over the side? Everyone in all the surrounding buildings would see you falling and you’d be in… your bathing suit! ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/19 "2010-08-25T20:51:22Z")
I’m disappointed. I was expecting a pool with the topology of a Moebius strip or something exotic like that. This just looks like a swimming pool with a sunken edge. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374/20 "2010-08-25T21:00:58Z")
I’m surprised the OP hasn’t heard of infinity pools before- they are incredibly common in newer hotels and resorts and such. They are my favorite kind of pool and favorite look. In fairness, though, the pool in the OP is a pretty epic infinity pool. I’ve been on IP’s on cliffs, but never a building. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-swimming-pool-in-singapore/551374.md?page=2)