Reminiscing My Last Trip to Singapore

My last trip to Singapore were around last year July, to be exact, utilizing long weekend in Indonesia around those period. I went to Singapore with 2 of my friends, and we decide to do some fun in Singapore, even though there was not as much entertainment that we can choose from.

We went for a really "typical" Singapore trip: Garden by the Bay, Universal Studio Singapore, Orchard Road shopping (walking.. to be exact), Art and Science Museum, and food hunting.

There were some highlight that I REFUSE to forget; making this one of the best trip I've ever felt for such a long time:

Had our first lunch in Boon Tong Kee and I've had THE MOST MINDBLOWING ever fried tofu in all my life. Try to recreate them at home but fail miserably. The rest of the meal? Standard. I'd go crazy for the tofu all over again.

After lunch, we went to the most touristy spot in Singapore imo, Gardens by the Bay. We went to Both of the main attraction of course!! Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. What a best way for tourists to enjoy Singapore to the maximum.

Despite the sarcasm, great timing made us swooning over all the beautiful tulips in season, though.

My friend's minion polacamera match well with the yellow tulips.

Not to forget to take wefie as well.

Satisfied with the tulips, on the other weird side of the flower dome where the tulips are, however, were lots of weird shaped succulents all over the place...

and with some of them weird shape, we refuse to comment furthermore. "Just enjoy the nature", they said.

Finish with the Flower Dome, we continue straight to the Cloud Forest side. Not finding anything interesting, we've decided to do some weird pose photo shoot all over the place.

Flower Dome still is the winner from this whole garden-y setting.

Aaand that's it for the first day.

For the second day, we went to the USS, and take our typical photos of USS too! by forcing other Indonesian group to take pictures of us (in exchange for them as well of course! We're not that bad..)

Real holiday proof? Checked!

Not to forget inserting here my friend's weird angle photos that I took that day as well hahahha making them look like minions. In a good way of course!

One of the highlight of my USS trip this time was that I able to conquer BOTH of the roller coaster after chickening out on one of them several years ago. S-A-T-I-S-F-I-E-D! Not that scary though, come to think of it.

The rest of our USS trip were fun, but just okay. One of my friend were very satisfied with the amount of minion statue that she can take picture of.

We had our scrumptious dinner afterwards at Tonkotsu King Ramen, which was very famous in the area and we queued for around 1 hour if I'm not wrong.

It was good, confusing whether it was really good or we're just ravenous. Haha. Either way this meal satisfied our longing for a warm good food after one long day playing in USS. And that's it for the second day!

On our third day, we finally found the winner lunch of them all: Swee Choon Tim Sum.

Appearance-wise were not as good as we've expected, but taste-wise?? MAJESTIC. Tim Ho Wan go away la. This one's very, very nice with reasonable prices for their whole menu. Me and my friends agreed that this place were the winner of all the meal we've ever taste in Singapore this time. Can we go back again, please??

Super satisfied with our meals, we continued our final trip to Art and Science Museum before our flight back. It was...just ok.

Nice, but it was everything you've ever seen on the internet, so it was a little bit underwhelming. Some installation were quite mesmerizing though. 

Will we go again? Don't think so.

The downgrading mood from Art Science Museum was well closed by my repeat share of Oyster Omelette that I ate in the airport.

Must have one in Singapore.

And that's the wrap for whole of my Singapore trip last year!! 

It was such a long trip ago (blame my lack of updates, again), however I feel that this one was the most exciting and fulfilling one as well until now, since this was my first trip WITH my friends after I've gotten used to do solo trip to every other country that I've been to. Solo trip has its own perks though, but having a trip together with the right people and the right amount of people (this! is important) will make those trip far much more unforgettable as well. And I'm very, very grateful for this one.

So, when will be our next trip again??

Impulsive Sunny Singapore! (part 3)

Finally the 3rd post of the Singapore Trip! Getting a little bit bored cause I’m planning to share in only in two posts but somewhat the post got longer and longer aaaand longer and I have to divide it into 3 posts. Don’t worry, this final post will be much more shorter than before.

We spend the last day only in the Orchard Road, since my mom and dad hasn’t go there on the 2nd day and I wanted to go there to, so we prepared the whole day  to sight see Orchard Road. Unfortunately, the weather is not ok and rainy at that day so it gets very crowded inside the buildings or besides the pedestrians. It’s not comfortable at all.

And what’s worst? We barely know that in the weekend (I’ve visited this on Sunday) most of the Singaporean housemaid (from Indonesia, Philippines, and so on) all go shopping and hanging out around this area (especially Lucky Plaza) and it gets very crowded WTF. They sit around the pedestrian, talking snobly and so on makes them looks like some kind of afternoon whore around Orchard Road? Not too mention their fashion, very tight clothes, animal prints, blingy accessories. Worst sight ever. Geez. Really, really breaks down the whole image of high-end Orchard Road.

Anyway, I’m not gonna discuss about that anymore. It brings back bad memories hahaha. Here in Orchard Road we’ve visited mall by mall. Takashimaya, Paragon, Lucky Plaza (duh!), Tangs, and finally Ion Orchard. The best mall I can say is Ion. My bro bought 1 Vans shoes here, I bought 1 Forever21 shirt. This mall is not as high end as the other (sold LV, Chanel and so on which is so fucking expensive) but still is branded yet affordable such as Zara, Forever21, Vans, Uniqlo, and etc. Great place this one.

Didn’t manage to take so much photos. Photos below taken specially in a no-crowded place (which is somewhat a lil bit hard to find haha)

Photos at Ion, eating some kaya toast:

And this! Is one famous $1 dollar ice cream! It’s located before Lucky Plaza. It is very delicious you have to try! The ice somewhat very soft and not too sweet It’s perfect. (sorry for the blur photo alright)

Finished and tired from Orchard, again we had our early dinner at Whampoa, took our bags from the hotel and went straight to the airport. Had a little fun in airport! Taking photos, eat laksa (while waiting) and went to the boarding gate.

Singapore Changi Airport is so great, It looks like mall to me.

Anyway, I’ts a great trip in the end! I can’t say this is my best trip ever. I never like Singapore that much from the start. Besides it’s famous Sentosa Island, USS, Marine Sands and Gardens by the Bay, every tourist spot is quite the same. Hawker food, malls, zoo. There’s nothing much to see here. 4 days is more than enough for me, unless you still want to visit several tourist spot such as Jurong, Sentosa, The Zoo, etc. Somewhat these famous spot isn’t appealing to me hahaha. Not to mention I was in a worst flu ever during my visit to Sg so I got this annoying headache ALL the time, decreasing the enjoyment on my trip *sigh*

So, this is my detailed final total family expense for these Singapore 4 days holiday and notes about it:

I can say my family save MUCH. We ate mostly in Hawker Place, not shopping too much, just a little bit over on transportation fare but I see that is quite normal.

Some tips to travel to Singapore:

• Most of Sg statement Buildings and famous spots eventually better be be at night such as Gardens by the Bay, Merlion Park, Esplanade, Marine Bay Sands, Singapore Flyer, even the Luge Skyride. It will be much more beautiful at night it emanates sparkling light, especially Gardens by the Bay. The Super Tree will shine so beautifully. But since my camera ISO in dark is so bad we decided to visit all of the spot at morning or noon. Too bad I can’t see all the lights. And have no stamina to travel at night (duh!)
•  Almost all places reachable by MRT or bus, don’t worry to get lost here. Sg is a small country. Get lost and you’ll be found in no time.
•  Bought your umbrella! It will be so hot in the noon not to mention a sudden rain can comes along after the hot passed.
• Eat on Hawker stalls. You will find zillions of them! Hawker stalls in Sg is the best: they are mostly indoor, taste very good and clean, and most of Sg foods can be found on the Hawker stalls! Save much money, satisfy the tongue!
• Other suggested traveling spot in Singapore: Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park, All Attraction in Sentosa Island (Marine Park, Songs by the Sea, etc), Singapore Botanical Garden, City Hall/Chijmes, Singapore Flyer, MINT Museum of Toys, Singapore River Cruise, and many other places I don’t know yet J

For overall, the trip was fun, but I think not THAT exciting due to my headache all the time and short travel time thus I couldn’t go to more places than I expected. Maybe will go to Sg again 10 years later or so for traveling in the future. Wait until they have several new travel sites to go and I will be there again, but not at this short time haha!

See you in my next post!

Nb: Oh, and here are some random (mostly food photos) that I’ve manage to take while I’m there. Enjoy!

Fried oyster with egg.

Wanton Mee.

Fishball Noodle.

Impulsive Sunny Singapore! (Part 2)

The next day, me and my brother went to Universal Studios while my mom and dad decided to go on separate schedule from us. My mom said is useless for her to go there since my mom never had enough nerve to play on something extreme such as roller coaster and such WHICH is the main point of the USS, so she decided not to go along with us. So, I recommended my parents several trip route to sight see  look for the itinerary on the last post.

For USS, there are several ways to go there. You can go to the details here

I personally prefer to go by Sentosa Express through MRT because my brother wanted to use the MRT since in Indonesia there is no MRT (which in my opinion is it’s kinda the same like ordinary train in Indonesia, only, it is much more organized and clean. Developed country, duh!).

Once arrived on Harbour Front MRT station, just search for Sentoca Express sign since it’s sign were EVERYWHERE and it’s impossible for you not to notice it. The Sentosa Express station located on the 3rd floor of Vivo City. Buy the ticket from the machine there ($3,5/person, for (bolak-balik) route on the express) and just went straight the gate.

Universal Studios Singapore is on the first stop of the Sentosa Express, called Waterfront Station. Take off from that stop, just follow the crowd there and in no time you’ll see this statement USS globe in the middle of the area and along with several shops around it!

Before that, I suggest you to go to information centre to take some brochures about attractions and the most important is this Sentosa Map Island (contains all the info about island routes and attractions and each of it’s fare, REALLY USEFUL):

In USS, there area is parted to 6 several movie themes with their own attractions. Here are Universal Studio Singapore map complete with its attraction map list (just click to enlarge) :

picture courtesy of www.vendyxiao.com. Big Thanks!

I personally recommend you guys to arrive earlier before opening hours  which is 10.00 (arrive around 09.00) to first take photos as much as you can on the globe (while it’s still quiet and not much person arrived yet) and queued on the front gate after that. It will get very long around 10.00.

Why I suggest that? Because after that I recommend you to run as fast as possible to Transformer The Ride 3D which in my opinion the best attraction so far in USS and if you slow to arrived on this attraction, the queue will be very, very long! *sigh. After that you can go along the routes cause the queue I find for several attractions is quite normal (except in Rapid Adventure which quite long enough).

Here are several photos I managed to take (consecutive from SciFi, Egypt, Jurassic, Far Away, Madagascar, Hollywood and New York)

A jurassic themed restaurant, even they sell the Triceratops tumblr. SO cute!

Gates to Rapid Adventure:

Lots of souvenirs:

Watching the Donkey Show:

Into the Madagascar:

Back to Hollywood and New York:

This is a recommendation on which attraction is a must-ride in USS: 

• Sci Fi City: Transformer The Ride 3D, Battlestar Galactica (both of them and yes I’m an adrenaline junkie) 
• Ancient Egypt: Revenge of the Mummy (the indoor roller coaster IS scarier) 
• The Lost World: Rapids Adventure (I’m fuckin soaked in this!), Canopy Flyer, Waterworld 
• Far far away: Shrek 4D Adventure 
• Madagascar: A Crate Adventure

I found that for young teenagers and adults maybe it’s more exciting to play around SciFi, Ancient Egypt and The Lost World since it’s attraction is more thrilling and adrenaline-pumping while most of the children prefer to go to Far Far Away and Madagascar since their attraction is more mild and cute-type (and quite boring in my opinion).

For Hollywood and New York, nothing much there except tons of souvenir shops (and Carnaval which unfortunately I can’t see them cause I visited USS on weekdays and Carnaval only on weekend or special holiday), several children attraction, eating place and so on. It’s just exciting to take photos there due to it’s unique environment setting.

Bought the statement magnets, bag and a Shrek Hat. Just can’t stand the cuteness.

Personally I find it very hard to take photos with the character which randomly appear from nowhere cause once It’s appear there will be like tons of people start to queue to take photos. Nah, I don’t have enough stamina for that.. Just laughing and walk away. 

Feels like we played on USS enough, my and my bro decided to exit at about 3 p.m and went straight to Luge Skyride via Sentosa Express again, take off at the last stop: Beach Station.

Bought the tickets for 5x ride each for $28 per person, we played this attractions until bored enough haha. It's very easy to ride the Luge and very exciting when you screeching around the route!   

Here are some photos of Luge Skyride, the look from above the skyride and the luge road routes:

Too bad we are too tired to wait until night comes so we decided to play as fast as possible and went back to the hotel. It’s said that Sentosa’s view at night from the skyride is beautiful but blame it on USS, we don’t have much more energy left to wait until night. Not to say to meet up my parents in Newton Food Center!

We finally had dinner at Whampoa again and found out that my mom and dad had dinner there too -____- 

Even later I was told that they didn't follow my trip recommendation! They only went to Chinatown for a while, bought some food there and spend most of the time inside their room. What the hell hahaha my parents stamina is the worst alright.

Other shits I collect from my today trip: Luge tickets, MRT card, and Sentosa Express tickets.

Anyway, an exciting trip for a day! Sleep as fast as I could to recharge more energy for tomorrow another exciting trip: to Gardens by the Bay.

You can go here by simply taxi, or MRT that stops at the Bayfront Station. Just follow the path and you’ll exit right in the middle of the garden J It’s quite amazing!

Here are some photos when I took the Garden Voice Tour:

 The famous Super Tree and Marine Bay Sands:

Recommended route: go straight to the souvenir shops to buy a $1 conservation map here just like this before go to the conservatory (I bought another souvenir, a refrigerator magnet that shows mini Gardens by the Bay map):

Map front and back:

the Mini map! Just click to enlarge:

Take the garden tour ($5/adult, $3/children) which will take you around the garden and at the main ticket booth near the conservation area for the final stop. After that buy the conservation ticket for $28/adult and $15/child (for Singaporeans, it will be cheaper) for 2 conservatory. You HAVE TO BUY THE TICKET because the main attraction and gorgeus things all both on the conservatory area! The Flower Dome (which shows you so much beautiful flowers and gardens) and The Cloud Forest (with it’s cool man-made waterfall and forest wonders).

The conservatories ARE amazing.

Some photos in the Flower Dome:

In the Cloud Forest:

It’s such a wonder why Singaporean can build a conservatory as advance as this hahaha. Anyway, after we had lunch here (there’s food court here so son’t worry) and we went all through the the conservatory, we've decided to go on to see the other side of main tourist spot: Marine Bay Sands.

Then something stupid happened. Gardens by the Bay and Marine Sands Bay (The Hotel) is somewhat connected by a bridge. We tried to walk around the fucking big garden only to find the bridge, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful due to SUPER SUPER HOT weather at noon and after walking and sweating for almost half an hour, we gave up and called taxi. One family ZERO stamina WTF hahahah

We didn't go up to the Sky Park above the Marine Sands Bay Hotel because it’s still so hot at noon, or either we are very lazy and it'll be not useful since it's not night, what's the point not to see those beautiful light sparks from the sky? So we only walked around the mall. The mall is quite amazing you know! There’s waterway in it and we can rent a boat to sway through it!

The casino inside:

Marine Bay Sands Shopping Mall from the front gate:

But still, it’s a mall, and malls everywhere is the same. Almost 4 p.m and already fucking tired (and bored), We went straight to People Park (since it’s near, in Chinatown), bought some food there for dinner, took it to the hotel and eat together!

Somewhat what a great and warm dinner! We had so much fun eating together like this hahahah. 

Sorry for very fucking long post I've just realized it.

(continue to part 3.. Keep on reading guys! The tips, recommendation and total budget trip on next post!)