Monday, December 29, 2014

Singapore Day 1 - 24/12/2014

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.

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.

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.

Char Siew Pau
Fish ball noodle
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.

A Chinese shop selling giant sea cucumber
Chinatown street view
Chinatown street view
Chinatown MRT station
Full of Chinese elements
Chinatown Heritage Centre
It is closed for renovation and will reopen in the second half of 2015
Notice for closure
Chinatown street view
Chinatown seafood where you can see a lot of white people
Cloudy Chinatown
Outside of Sri Mariamman Temple
Spectacular appearance of Sri Mariamman Temple
At Pagoda Street, Chinatown
I can feel the CNY mood watching the hanging tanglungs
Chinatown Food Street
Chinatown Food Street

After Sri Mariamman Temple, we arrived at Buddha's Relic.

We first arrived at the side of Buddha's Relic
Front view of Buddha's Relic
Magnificent building, a real pagoda
Front inner view of it
Noble Buddha statues
Some incredible cravings on the wall and pillar
The overview of the hall
Solemn and stately

We spent around 30 minutes touring Buddha's Relic. The back of Buddha's Relic is the Chinatown Complex.

Chinatown Complex
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.

Get off at Promenade MRT station to Singapore Flyer


Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel
Height 165m from the ground
This was it the open top bus
Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Financial Centre - I spotted Standard Chartered
After Marina Bay Sands, spotted Gardens by the Bay from far
The Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay
Reinforced concrete jungle

The Majestic
Clarke Quay Central
National Museum of Singapore
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.

One more photo at Singapore Flyer
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.

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.

Christmas tree in Marina Bay Hotel
Selfie at MRT station waiting to go Merlion Park
The Fullerton Hotel
The night view of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
Singaporean icon -  Merlion statue
Marina Bay Sands at night, simply beautiful
Lion's head and fish's body
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.

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