Ahh Singapore. Every trip down just makes me gawk in awe. I look out of the window of the coach and in my eyes I saw a beautiful, shiny city which captivates me in every possible way. Trash-free, those trees with golden moss covering its bark and twining branches..I brushed away the sparkles in my eyes, in search of any flaw of the city but saw almost none. I suppose flaws can only be seen when you've been there for a longer time (and 4 days isn't really a long time).
Coach arrived at 4+. Zs and I were exhausted from the long journey we just collapsed in the hotel lobby. We stayed at Hotel Value Balestier which was the most decent and cheapest one Zs found and it was not bad. Only minus point there was that the room had no windows. Never knew it could make us so disorientated!
After refreshing ourselves we hopped onto bus 124 literally right outside the hotel which led to
Novena Square MRT station in 5 mins. And from there, to
Orchard!
Ate at Cedele in Takashimaya
Mouth-watering soft shell crab mmmmmm
Curry Aglio e Olio with chicken
Pesto linguine with some fish
Massive moon cake sale at Takashimaya
Every morning Zs would get his Curry O' and I would munch on squid heads before heading down to Novena station
Biggest fountain in the world! :O
Had a walk at Orchard Road before meeting my friends Darrel and Zern at Ion.
At night, we met up with Shen Kiat and Yiwen and we had Vietnamese food at Bugis. I had pho for the first time and I like its texture. We had bubble tea at this place called Koi (or is it 豆?? PS if you turn the chinese word clockwise you'll see it hehe) Longest queue I've seen for a bubble tea store. After that we went to Iluma and had a look around. Took the elevator to 'Sky' level but couldn't see much from up there. Had some fun at the arcade together throwing balls at ghosts on a screen which made my arm ache (until this very moment). Hardcore stuff.
The next day Zs and I went to Bishan to visit his old JC but to our dismay it was closed to visitors because it was voting day :( we should have lied and said we were voting. Oh well. We had nasi lemak for lunch at a nearby hawker stall and it was scrumptious.
We then made our way to the UoB Singapore pre-departure social (which was the whole point of the trip). Got a little lost but thankfully there was a group of youths doing some charity work for the disabled who helped us with directions and we made it in time, hot and sweaty.
Bernice made a good presentation and tried to encourage them to ask questions but haha they all seemed so shy. However when the time came to socialise they felt more relaxed and started asking away. There were 10 or so seniors there and it was good seeing everybody else again, but sadly couldn't catch up with them. Stayed there for the entire afternoon until everyone was gone. Zs and me made our way to Esplanade to grab some light dinner (we had lots of spring rolls at the event).
We had a mind-blasting dessert. Mango sorbet with chocolate custard.
The smooth chocolate and the light whipped cream balanced the zing of the mango sorbet. Gooood times.
It was a Saturday night and they had live music playing. There was also a light show going on at the Marina Sands Hotel that we could see from this side of the river.
View from the flyer. Playing around with slow shutter speed.
Went on the Singapore Flyer. Technically the first time sitting on something this big (first ferris wheel was at a funfair so that doesn't really count). It was a shame that it just rained so the glass were dotted with rain drops..not very good for shots!
Then went to see the REAL Merlion. Why do I call it real is because Zs said there were 5 on the island. Five??? I thought the only one was at Sentosa island (as I recalled going up to the mouth when I was 12)
The following day we head out to
Sentosa Island. We used the Sentosa Express which only cost us $3. Found a nice shade and Zs spread his towel over it and we just laxed. It was extremely hot and the sea was beckoning to us. The water was cool and clean (ahhhh). Kinda forgot about suntan lotion so we got burnt pretty badly. Both of us look like a pair of lobsters (which reminds me of Phoebe from Friends talking about two lobsters in love holding each other by the claw at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU39sqEQOms )
We bought ice cream which cost freaking $5 but we were desperate :/
Chingto took us out to food stalls at Newton. Chilled for quite some time there then picked up Bernice for their 'date' later that night. We were dropped off at Novena where our coach was.
That was the end of our Singapore trip. In summary :
Clean clean clean.
Friendly, selfless, helpful people.
Breathtaking night scenes
Efficient public transport
A lively city
Lovely modern architecture
Felt really safe
Honest taxi drivers
Best things I've eaten in Singapore so far :
1. Wanton noodles at Ion foodcourt. Top notch! As good as Hong Kong
2. Soft shell crab at Cedele. Every time I think about it, I salivate. No joke.
3. Chai tao kway at Newton food court
Altogether I've spent ~$200 just on food, transport and entertainment in 4 days (no shopping sighh)
Finally, here's a panorama pic :) pretty satisfied with it. I love stitching photos.
The Esplanade Theatre, Singapore Flyer, Helix Bridge, ArtScience Museum, and Marina Bay Sands Casino and Resort
I had such a great time..thanks Zs :) :)
Will definitely go back for another visit :)
