The long awaited holidays were finally here, a perfect time to escape from work and the outrageous monsoon which showed up its ugly face with rain and flood everywhere in the east coast.
Just a day before flying, I caught a cold and fever due to the volatile weather, vomiting twice and showed absolute zero appetite to the Yong Tau Fu dinner prepared by my mother, which all this while, have always been my favorite food. I ended up wearing thick clothes, covered by blanket, lying on sofa like a dead fish until the time I had to get up to fetch my gf to the house so we can depart together to the airport the next morning.
At 3 am, I had to get up to shower and headed to KL Sentral for Skybus to KLIA2.
At that moment, I regretted that I bought the morning departure ticket at 7.20 am.I really needed more rest, or should I regret that I did not take really good care of myself before the trip. I should really sleep early and not lingering under the rain few days before this trip.
I slept in the Skybus all the way from KL Sentral to KLIA2. Upon reaching KLIA2, I vomited one more time, which demotivated me, really. I was not convinced that the trip will end up fun as I expected earlier.
Luckily the sickness was not felt anymore after checking in all the luggage. A little dizzy, maybe.
And by 7.30 am, AK703 finally took off! About 10 minutes later than the schedule.
I bought the window seat for my gf and we got to enjoy the morning sunshine just above Strait of Malacca! It was beautiful, and the air journey was a relaxed one. We were chit-chatting, playing and reading the Air Asia magazine and food menu.
It took us just about 45 minutes to reach Changi Airport.
For the second consecutive year, Changi Airport was named the winner of World's Best Airport at the 2014 Skytrax World Airport Awards and I was certainly excited to be there for the first time. The previous times I entered Singapore by car and of course, no reason to forget the experience of me being detained by the Singapore customs officers at Woodlands checkpoint for capturing photos at the checkpoint which was not permitted.
Anyway, on 24/12/2014, I stepped my foot for the first time on 2 airports - KLIA2 and Changi Airport! Something for me to remember on this date.
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| Managed to snap the control tower at Changi Airport |
The first thing upon arriving, was to buy the tourist pass at ticket counter. Getting around Singapore is a breeze because the public transport system are well connected.
Each of us bought a 3-day Singapore Tourist Pass Plus (STP+) for a total of $60. Quite expensive if we convert $60 to Malaysian Ringgit, but came to think of it, we will depend solely on the public transport throughout the days in Singapore and this pass allowed us to take unlimited Singapore's public bas services, MRT and LRT trains.
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| STP+ and we were given system map of Singapore MRT and LRT |
Good things about the STP+ were that we got a free Bubble Jet Adventure and 1 day unlimited ride on FunVee Marina & Heritage Hopper Orange Open Top Bus Tour for free! Value-added package, now we found these passes worth our $60.
The Bubble Jet and FunVee Open Top Bus covered some favorite tourists' attractions such as Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Chinatown, Clarke Quay and others.
So our first stop was Bugis Junction! First stop was not hotel because check-in started at 2 pm.
We had our breakfast here.
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| Char Siew Pau |
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| Fish ball noodle |
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| Kopi O |
After the breakfast, we headed directly to Bugis Street.
Bugis Street was crowded, it was like our Petaling Street. The only thing that I remembered of it was the Sex Toys Shop. It was funny to visit it with the gf but I liked it. Next time I will be back to the shop for sure.
Our next destination? Chinatown.
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| A Chinese shop selling giant sea cucumber |
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| Chinatown street view |
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| Chinatown street view |
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| Chinatown MRT station |
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| Full of Chinese elements |
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| Chinatown Heritage Centre |
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| It is closed for renovation and will reopen in the second half of 2015 |
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| Notice for closure |
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| Chinatown street view |
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| Chinatown seafood where you can see a lot of white people |
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| Cloudy Chinatown |
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| Outside of Sri Mariamman Temple |
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| Spectacular appearance of Sri Mariamman Temple |
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| At Pagoda Street, Chinatown |
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| I can feel the CNY mood watching the hanging tanglungs |
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| Chinatown Food Street |
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| Chinatown Food Street |
After Sri Mariamman Temple, we arrived at Buddha's Relic.
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| We first arrived at the side of Buddha's Relic |
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| Front view of Buddha's Relic |
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| Magnificent building, a real pagoda |
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| Front inner view of it |
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| Noble Buddha statues |
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| Some incredible cravings on the wall and pillar |
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| The overview of the hall |
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| Solemn and stately |
We spent around 30 minutes touring Buddha's Relic. The back of Buddha's Relic is the Chinatown Complex.
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| Chinatown Complex |
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| Old folks spotted playing Chinese Chess and lingering outside of Chinatown Complex |
One interesting thing I felt about Chinatown in Singapore was its Mandarin name. Normally Chinatown in other places is being translated into 唐人街, here it is known as 牛车水.
Our half day well spent at Bugis Street and Chinatown. We went checked-in to our hotel in Geylang at around 1.15 pm.
After that, we decided to take the FunVee Bus Tour!
The bus tour started at Singapore Flyer, then passed by Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Marina Barrage, Sri Mariamman Temple, Buddha's Relic (Chinatown), Apollo Centre (Chinatown), Clarke Quay, outside Stamford Court, outside SMU, opposite Rendezvous Hotel, The Verge (Tekka Mall), Landmark Village Hotel (Arab Street), Pan Pacific Hotel (Marina Square) and went back to Singapore Flyer again for another pick-up.
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| Get off at Promenade MRT station to Singapore Flyer |
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| Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel |
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| Height 165m from the ground |
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| This was it the open top bus |
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| Marina Bay Sands |
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| Marina Bay Financial Centre - I spotted Standard Chartered |
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| After Marina Bay Sands, spotted Gardens by the Bay from far |
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| The Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay |
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| Reinforced concrete jungle |
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| The Majestic |
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| Clarke Quay Central |
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| National Museum of Singapore |
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| Raffles Hotel |
It started raining towards the end of the bus tour but we had fun enjoying the strong wind and small raindrops at the top of the double-decker bus. It gave us the relaxed and stress-free festive mood!
Then we were back to Singapore Flyer and spent around 20 minutes visiting it.
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| One more photo at Singapore Flyer |
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| My turn |
After satisfied taking all the photos, we walked to Marina Bay Sands. Along the way, we got to see the Helix pedestrian bridge.
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| The double-helix structure resembles the structure of DNA, symbolizing "life and continuity", "renewal", "everlasting abundance" and "growth" |
In Marina Bay Sands, we visited casino and the shopping malls. Felt exhausted especially both the legs.
Nothing special about the casino except that we just stood there, watched people gambling and happily drank the free-flow beverage.
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| Christmas tree in Marina Bay Hotel |
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| Selfie at MRT station waiting to go Merlion Park |
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| The Fullerton Hotel |
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| The night view of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay |
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| Singaporean icon - Merlion statue |
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| Marina Bay Sands at night, simply beautiful |
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| Lion's head and fish's body |
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| Breathtaking night scenery at Merlion Park |
That pretty much summed up our Christmas Eve in Singapore. The Christmas atmosphere was great!
We were famished and exhausted but had lots of fun and laughter together.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
