We left Kuala Lumpur and head on to the southern part of the region, Singapore. We did a dual purpose stint of sleeping and traveling to another city via the night bus. Saved us a night of accommodation. Pack light. As much as possible if you could only have a backpack and a day bag to avoid the hassle and safety of your stuff.
DAY 1 AT SINGAPORE |
Earlier, the conductor gave us disembarkation cards for us to fill up. Since it was late, I just filled it up absent mindedly. Later I read that we should wrote it on print (did this) and on either black or blue ink. Well what we had is a green inked pen, which I didn’t bother to rewrite. Wrong turn here, during our line up to the immigration officer. She asked to rewrite it on either blue or black. So much for that impression. Then she checked my passport and discovered that it’s my first time entering Singapore. I answered yes for that and she told the two of us to follow her inside the room. Poker face I followed but deep inside cursing why it happened. I can feel my heartbeat audible because of this. Followed her in, then another officer asked for our fingerprints, chatted with us nicely and welcomed us to Singapore. She then stamped our passports and we’re good to go. Whew. For the first time, I was wary of entering a new country for a possible refusal. The bus that we rode earlier left us but I’ve read that if it happens just ride the next bus. The next bus is a double decker one, we asked the driver if we can ride with them. Told us we can rode the upper deck. We met other Filipinos also traveling from Kuala Lumpur then Singapore. Some as family, others as a group. Few minutes after then we are at our last stop, Golden Mile Complex. We alight the bus, still completely pitch black. We managed to know which way to Bugis area through the routes posted nearby.
Carrying our backpacks, we strolled together with few other foreigners going to their accommodation. Our main agenda to Bugis is to leave our backpacks, for a minimal fee, at InnCrowd. It was like a 15-minute walk until we reached Bugis, which is an Indian strip of hostels and food stalls. We passed by the famous graffiti art filled-walls Haji lane, but it was still dark for photo ops. Too bad. Really starting our tour this early, we need to fuel our bodies with food. There was a McDonald’s near the Bugis Station, which was a couple of blocks from InnCrowd. Maps are just very, very helpful, did I say very? It is. In times of wee morning with no one to asked to. Took the MRT going to Orchard. There were switch of trains, which was a bit confusing at first. But very convenient all throughout our tour in Singapore.
Did some morning walk at the Orchard Road. We found the Lucky Plaza where we will buy our tickets for Batam and USS but it was still very early, the mall is still closed. Really liked it here, lost at where we really are. Continued our walking tour and my right feet warned me against more but oh well, I’m still going forward. Decided to tour the Marina Bay area this morning. We looked for Somerset Station, which was a pain in the ass. The map and sign boards were telling us we are very near but we can’t see any of it. Asked some Chinese girl for directions, she just accompanied us to the station where we entered a closed mall at the side, then proceeded to the lower ground for us to see the entrance of the station. The reason why the girl went with us instead of just giving us directions, it’s hard to locate lol.
Last station was the Marina Bay at that time. It is a vast area with an exceptional design. Comprised of very modern architecture jam-packed in one country. There are so many interesting destinations in Singapore that even after a couple of visits, there will still be a new tourist spot you’ll be fascinated. Mornings at Marina Bay were comprised of health buffs running, biking, brisk walking and young Koreans touring.
After I can't make another hundred steps, we really needed to stop the tour. Although we're already at the Merlion Park, my feet is cursing me for such a long walk this early. We were too relaxed to notice we have reached the other side. Since it's lunch time already, we went back to Orchard to buy tickets for Universal Studios and Batam Daytour. I read some articles that it there's an agency at Lucky Plaza that offers much cheaper price than USS ticket booth itself. Went directly to Cebu Air Travel to buy those tickets. They were Filipino so you'll get comfortable. We even got free sim card which the Filipino owner of the store registered for net usage.
Lucky Plaza is like a Filipino hangout of mostly OFW. You won't get homesick cause you'll here Tagalog and few other Filipino dialect within that mall. There's even Jollibee, which most Pinoys miss when they were away from Pinas. haha We had lunch at one of the mall strip along Somerset, i think Somerset 33.
We came back to InnCrowd to get our backpacks to check in at River Valley. The condo we stayed in is conveniently located near Orchard, it was a few blocks walk and the area is great! We'll be meeting our friends based on here in SG at dinner. We dined at i think a hawker area outside Raffles. Food is good. *thumbs up*. After dinner, our next in our itinerary was Gardens By the Bay. We were lucky there is a lighting show when we arrived so we were able to witness these amusing trees come to light and dance with the various music being played.
What is meeting friends without a drink, we decided to transfer to one of Somerset's bar for a drink or two. Beer is good and so is the price. Well, it was worth it though.
DAY 2 VISITED 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, well we hadn't had the chance to see most of the place so I can't say any verdict for the island but for our tour, we could have done more. Anyway, we've spent our day in the island and the tour guide was good. Too bad there wasn't much to see on the areas we've been to.
We went back a bit late because it was only return schedule the ferry had for the day. Dinner was a Chinese takeout from one of the stalls at Vivo City. Headed home
We went back a bit late because it was only return schedule the ferry had for the day. Dinner was a Chinese takeout from one of the stalls at Vivo City. Headed home
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.
This ended our tour of Singapore. There'll be part 2 for sure. A city that is very accommodating to tourists. I think even if you'll be here a couple of times there will still be new places to visit and areas you'll still want to re-visit.
