I always learn something new about myself each time I travel, either good or bad.
Aside from the exciting feeling of being in a new place, learning about life outside your daily life makes you see it on a new perspective every travel.
Wanted to tour out of country and set aside my #PinasMuna wandering mind, I was able to score promo tickets last January that fitted the "long weekend" last February, with my travel buddy. Well, we filed some VL for this 6-day tour, so much for the 8-5 day jobs.
We usually prepare our DIY itinerary on our own so research of the go to places, what to eat and what to do and don’ts are a must. So it's like, doing your full-time job, the hectic one, at day then the itinerary at night. lol As much as possible we travel on a shoestring budget but not eliminating comfort and safety.
Thoughts of traveling on a new place may give stress to one mostly if you are not familiar with the area. Giving some tips I learned through this and my other travels, is what I can share. I have been in your shoes, so I relate on those bugging inside you.
Thoughts of traveling on a new place may give stress to one mostly if you are not familiar with the area. Giving some tips I learned through this and my other travels, is what I can share. I have been in your shoes, so I relate on those bugging inside you.
For out of country destinations, spend money on their currencies or by USD will be the scenario, so have that peso exchanged. You may have it converted locally before you fly out (which I prefer). You can reserve your
desired currencies at Czarina (848-6113; 848-1072) by calling them and you may picked it up at the nearest branch to you. Convenient and competitive exchange rate (I think). Another is if you need additional pocket money, convert your peso to USD, it may be much easier to convert it to the local currency of the country you are in to than our peso. When you're a frequent out of country traveler or is planning to be one, you might want to buy $$ whenever the exchange rate is lower, so you have flexibility in exchanging it to the local currency you will be in. Just weigh in how the lower exchange rate is to you. Like when you have an extra few thousand peso to spare, buy a $100 or so when you think the exchange rate is competitive to you.
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(Since I am doing the tri-city, converted my peso to SGD and RM. I have a few CAD so I brought it too and those Pesos are for the travel tax.)
Making the itinerary in detailed or just the specifics will depend on the person. Well for the budget travels, every detail counts because every coin spent counts. I usually check for possible and interesting tourist spots, and its impact on my tour. If it’s a bit expensive for your budget, find any alternative way to experience it. If none, well it will be a go or nah decisions, which will it be? J
Still went to our usual day, me from the office day job. Just had to leave early because of possible traffic (grrr). My uncle offered or so I told him (haha) to accompany me to the airport, which was very convenient because of the alternate routes we took to avoid traffic.
We web checked in two days earlier to get possible good seats. No need to buy paid seats, just book it early. Although there’s a least chance of getting a window seat if you’re at it and not being able to pick which specific seat you’ll be in. It will be getting seats from the front which I think has better leg room than the back seats. Another is the convenience of not having to walk up to the middle of the plane for your seats. Now with early web check in, just be sure you are 101% sure you are going to this trip and no cancellation conflicts can happen. The moment you web check-in, it is considered you are flying and you cannot re-book it if you can't make it on that flight.
DAY 1 KUALA LUMPUR
When in a new place, explore.
We got the last flight bound for Kuala Lumpur and arrived at KLIA 2 at wee morning the following day. Looked around for a bit to explore KLIA2 before finding a place to spend while waiting for the first trip going to Kuala Lumpur. Went early morning to KL Sentral via bus. KL Sentral will be our transfer point going to Batu Caves, the first in our itinerary. We took the KTM Komuter to Batu Caves which is located just a few walk from the last station (Batu Stn).
The feeling of early morning mist, wandering feet, new world to see, learn a new culture, expound that history, chance to get lost, disappointment on your expectations, discovering more than what you imagined – ideas that rushed to a traveler’s mind as you enter that gate. Marks the start of our trip!
Spent just near an hour at this place, cause we decided not to climb the 272 heart racing steps. :( Scaredy cat got me retreating back. Was afraid of the idea of taking the flight of steps down when I am at the top with nothing to hold on to haha. Also I was a bit cautious with previous vertigo attacks. hmft.
Batu Cave was considered one of the largest Hindu temple, so there are times of the year that this area is visited of hundreds of people for their festival. Going here early in the morning is so refreshing and you get to play with the pigeons at the open area just near the Murugan statue. Bring some food like bread to feed them. :)   
Our next stop was Genting Highlands (Resorts World Genting). We were not supposed to included this on our itinerary due to the tight schedule but what is trip to KL without going up 1,740 meters (accdg. to Wikipedia) via cable car. The emotions I've spent on the ride up was totally worth it haha! Spent a couple of hours at Resorts World. Just toured around, brunch and gallery sightseeing. Detoured going back to KL. Since we didn't get to buy return tickets earlier, we rode the bus going to a different MRT but still has a connection at KL Sentral. Yup, buy your return tickets early to avoid the hassle.
Found the hotel after getting lost. Dead tired due to long walks and hot temp outside, we freshen up a bit before going to KLCC to check if we can already buy Petronas Skybridge tickets for tomorrow -- which was not possible when we got there. When you're on a new place -- try their food. And we did! Although not at the famous Jalan Alor food strip. It was actually just a short walk from our hotel and the prices can be very affordable. But we weren't sure if it was safe -- for our tummy. We tried good food at their local restaurants, even tried the difference the known fast food from the same brands we have here in Pinas. haha Well they have chicken rice at KFC -- which we only have white rice. 
DAY 2 KUALA LUMPUR
DAY 3 SINGAPORE |
Arrived early morning at Golden Mile Complex, near Beach Road, Singapore. We were too early to savor the beauty of Singapore. Got there around 5 in the morning despite the delay at immigration. Since we will be able to check in at around 2 in the afternoon, we already planned to leave our bags at InnCrowd cause they offer a bag locker service for a day or two. It was few blocks away and very near to Bugis Station. We started our escapade doing morning walks along Orchard mall strips and Somerset area. It was too early for mall hours which we'll need to buy tickets for our remaining 2 day tours, so we're off to Marina Bay next. Continued exploring the area from Marina Bay to Merlion Park via Helix bridge. If you were not that familiar with the area, here's a piece of advise -- ready your legs and feet for a walkathon. Wear comfortable footwear, or if you have a bike haha, the better. Bring water bottles and a cap too, might get freaking hot as the sun goes up.
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| Helix bridge |
DAY 4 BATAM ISLAND
Despite dead tired feet, we still managed to wake up early. Thank you phone alarm. Readied ourselves and walked to Orchard Station which is roughly a near kilometer away from the Condo. Rode the MRT going to Harbourfront. There are ample signage pointing to the ferry terminal. Looked for the ticket carrier booth for our boarding passes. Had few SGD converted to Indonesia rupiah. Their monetary value is low compared to Peso that you’ll have a million Indonesian rupiah when you converted roughly your three thousand Philippine pesos.
Got a tour package for this tour, we weren't sure what to expect for this day. Just wanted to go on Batam, for unwinding ... massage ... shop. We got here expecting more
DAY 5 SINGAPORE
This will be our second to the last day of our tour. We’ll fly out tomorrow back home. I miss home but I know I’ll miss this city big time. Started our day early as usual. No moments wasted. Breakfast muffins came from the store we ran into last night, good stuff. We had the same route as yesterday’s, to Harbourfront. But this time we proceeded to Vivo City. The mall was still closed since we’re early but there are a bit of people around the subway then at the mall, either tourists like us or making it early to work. Monday morning rush hour was starting to form. ‘Twas hard to look for the train entrance despite of seeing the monorail from afar. There were just few passengers as we rode and entered Sentosa Island, probably because it was still early. As planned, we found our way to the beaches first. Wanted to explore this part of the island first before going to USS. Was able to go to Palawan beach first after a few walks from the monorail station, which helped my crying feet lol. They have made an excellent work for this man-made beaches which is just a cry walk from the city. Changed to swimming outfits and found a paid locker at the washrooms to store our stuff, not really much to leave but we really just need to bring a tote for towel and other beach necessities. If we could only have this part of the itinerary for the whole day, would really love to spend it sitting along the shore doing nothing. Made a mental note already of coming back here for Sentosa Island only. Despite our schedule, we we’re still able to spend few nice couple of hours at the beach station. Had lunch at a small cafeteria near the beach. Their prices are more affordable than within USS. Tasted good, big servings and friendly people too. Washed up and proceeded to tour the rest of the beach station. There are free trams that we hopped on for a short trip at the end of this part of the island.
Hopped off to the monorail entrance to transfer to USS. It was just an hour after lunch and we had the rest of the day to spend here. Luck is with us that there weren’t so many tourists that time so most of the rides were with few people in line or no lines at all. For those few rides with longer waiting time, we skipped it first and proceeded on the next one on map then come back for those again. We were able to ride all except for two rides, the mummy because we need to deposit our stuff in a locker, for a fee. We weighed if e’ll give it a try but naah, a bit scared for the pitch black rollercoaster ride. The seconf was the twin rollercoaster, well not too brave to ride it haha. We were able to finish all before 7 in the evening, included souvenirs shopping.
Hopped off to the monorail entrance to transfer to USS. It was just an hour after lunch and we had the rest of the day to spend here. Luck is with us that there weren’t so many tourists that time so most of the rides were with few people in line or no lines at all. For those few rides with longer waiting time, we skipped it first and proceeded on the next one on map then come back for those again. We were able to ride all except for two rides, the mummy because we need to deposit our stuff in a locker, for a fee. We weighed if e’ll give it a try but naah, a bit scared for the pitch black rollercoaster ride. The seconf was the twin rollercoaster, well not too brave to ride it haha. We were able to finish all before 7 in the evening, included souvenirs shopping.
We nearly forgot about the Tiger Skytower that is included from the package we’ve bought. Went straight to it after we left USS. Bye Universal Studios. After a series of outdoor escalators going up, we we’re still able to catch one of the last ride up. It goes up to a very tall flagpole and has a 360 degrees view of Singapore skyline. The sun was at it’s final setting as we started to rise up but still it was a wonderful ride seeing the places you’ve been to above air, like having a mental praise to yourself, “Oh I’ve been to that, and that too.” Riding it before the sun goes down would have been the best view. So much for forgetting about it.
DAY 6 DEPARTURE
We targeted to check out early to give ample time to explore the airport. Haha. Left around 6:30 in the morning and it was still dark. We took a cab because of our backpacks. I asked to drop us off to Dhoby Ghaut’s station. We’ll be riding the MRT to the airport. Wished this is this convenient in the Philippines. At the station, was actually looking for the one going to Changi Airport, then realized that we were on station short for that transfer. My bad, with so much running on my mind, I forgot to specifically tell the driver to drop us off to City Hall Station, were the transfer to the train going to the airport is. Anyway, rode up to that station and off to the airport.
A huge airport with so many activities to do for the pasengers. After passing through immigration, it’s official. I’m about to leave you Singapore. Thank you for those valued treasures you added to my memories. You made my long weekend getaway really great. Being honest here. New experience and perspective in life and culture.
There are numerous activities to ease your waiting. Movies and game consoles at the upper level. Nice structure, mini gallery, and boutique stores to lessen boredom. There were some lower extremities massage chairs which we tried and really helped our sore feet. After the usual waiting game, we rode the plane bound to Pinas. After that different culture we had been exposed to, it is still a different feeling to be back to your motherland. Like a young working adult in the city, missing the old parents back home.
This travel may had not been the most economical for us, but with that experience we can be ready for the next in line travel. Tailoring it with our learning on this one.
For expenses reference, you may check the link on the upper left of my blog. :)
