singapore trip : 2 nights on the coach, 1 night in singapore and 2 days roaming around..

i was back from singapore yesterday morning, safe and sound.. but i must warn you it's such a long post as i wrote about the trip in one post, don't want to seperate it this time.. ready? here we go!

on friday, i left my shop around 10 am for home to get on the coach with py, jiab and joon in klong-ngae. we left home around 1.20 pm and got on the coach at the market around 1.50 pm.

..we stopped to stamp the passports at sadao border.. still early and not too many people yet..

but it was a very long queue in malaysian border.. we got stuck there around 1 hour..

..and eventually back on the coach.. it was a long way to go now...

the coach stopped for toilet and snack quiet often, so we didn't need to worry that we would explode while travelling through the long night.. and the coach was also equipped with toilet inside..

we arrived in singapore immigration office before 6 am. as it was saturday morning, there were not so many people from malaysia rushing to cross the border to work in that early hour.. still there were some going into singapore to work..

upon arriving at the bus terminal in golden mine, first thing first we looked for a ticket office to buy us tickets back to hatyai on the next day. at the first office we went inside, we were told that all the seats were fully booked ..shit.. we walked into another office and were told that their double-deck couch was still empty and we were the first to book thier seats.. happy having tickets to go back home, we went to the road side to hail a taxi to waterloo street..

i remembered it vaguely from coming here 2 years ago so i told the cab driver to just drive to waterloo street and i would tell him where to get off.. in 5 mins, we were in front waterloo hostel and went straight to 7th floor.. i couldn't remember which floor to check in, so i went straight to the kitchen to ask the same guy who worked there 2 years ago where to check in.. it was on the 4th floor.. so i left the luggage on 7th with joon and jiab and went down to 4th floor with py..

the guy at the reception was not mr. siva, the one i contacted when making the booking but i managed to negotiate with him to let us take a shower, leave our luggage at the reception before going out for sightseeing and come back to check in later.. after taking a shower, we went downstairs to the food court to have breakfast before heading to sentosa island..

i had some euro left from my euro trip and wanted to exchange into sing dollar as the rate was much better than exchanging thai.. so we went to a shop near 7-11 to exchange money.. and then to 7-11 to buy some snacks for py..

..and here we went with a map in hands.. first place was the nearest mrt station..

..we took mrt from dhoby ghaut to habourfront station..

we walked to vivocity shopping mall, took an elevator to the 3rd floor and looked for the ticket counter for sentosa express..

before taking the elevator, we passed this 'candy empire'. we had to walk very fast, not wanting py see it..

..at the express station, we didn't wait long to board the express into sentosa island..

..got off the express at beach station and took a tram to underwater world..

in time to watch sea lion

we watched sea lion show before walking inside the underwaterworld.. after seeing too many fish, we were hungry, so we had lunch at a foodcourt near the souvenir shop.. feeling full, we walked out to the road side to take a red line bus back to the first station to walk around taking photos..

we left sentosa around 1 pm.. back to the hostel to check in..

see? first half day in singapore, py was knackered and sleepy..

after joon and i left py and jiab at the room to take a nap, we left to buy a baby stroller and a carseat.. checking the location and direction with mr. siva, we walked to another mrt station; bugis station.. he told us to got off at eunos station and take a cab from there..

getting into the cap, we told the driver the name of the place and the address. he had no idea where the shop was but lucky that he knew the road.. i had only the address in hand but didn't have the map.. the cap driver kept driving and we kept counting the building from number 60 until we found number 69 on avenue 1, bedok road.. it was like finding a hidden treasure... the driver was cheerful and kind, so he played along when we counted the building..

..and finally we saw the sign! the cab driver dropped us there, wished us luck and speeded off..

here we were.. 2 sister in pram and carseat land!

we walked around and around looking for the brand my sis wanted to buy.. she made a very good reseach before we came here so it was not so hard to find what we wanted.. after so many trials and demonstrations, we eventually picked one of them.. paid, packed and left for waterloo hostel.. i felt like out mission was completed after leaving the store..

taking one pram and one carseat back to the hostel was another adventure.. first, we had to carry them to cross the flyover to the other side of the road to hail a cab. my sis carried the carseat and i the pram.. we waited a bit long for a cab. finally getting one, after getting inside, i chatted away with the driver.. he asked who the pram for. i told him it was for my sister's son. he asked if we worked there. i said no and told him that we came here on a night bus from hatyai just to buy a pram and a carseat. he laughed and said i was joking. i told him i was dead serious but he still didn't believe me. he told me the reason we had to wait long for a taxi bc it was time for changing shift and most of the taxis were heading back to their office... he dropped us at the nearest stairs at eunos mrt station and wished us luck.. still he didn't believe our mission..

getting off the mrt at bugis station, we hailed another cab to waterloo.

when our taxi reached the hostel, we saw py and jiab just walking back from 7-11. they looked energized and cheerful and ready for a night out.. we brought the pram and carseat to our room and tested the pram with py.. then got ready to go out seeing christmas lights at orchard road..

firstly, we planned to take mrt to orchard road but seeing that we had the pram and didn't need to carry py on our backs when she didn't want to walk, we decided to walk leisurely along the road to orchard road..

there were so many people in orchard road walking in and out of department stores, along the road seeing christmas lights, meeting with friends or just watching people.. the deeper we got inside, the more the people we saw.. after we were done with the light here, we headed to suntec city.. but first we had to find a mrt station.. i kept asking people along the road until we found it.. we took the mrt to city hall station as it was the nearest one to suntec building.. getting out of the tube, we walked along the underground walkway to suntec.. along the way, various kinds of chic shops and restaurants were lined up.. every inch of the area was well-used to suck dollar from shoppers' purse..

the underground walkways were connected to famous building around the area, so we didn't need to surface to the ground to check the location. we just walked and followed the signs..

..here we were at suntec.. we came here to watch the dancing fountain and light show at the fountain of wealth..

when it was time for dinner, we looked for a food court.. there were plenty of yummy and international foods to feast on..

after dinner, we walked to look for the exit.. we finally left for the hostel around 9 pm.. actually, i wanted to go to bugis street to see the night lights but it was showering outside and we didn't want py to get a cold so we decided to hail a cab and called it a night..

..sunday morning..

before breakfast was ready, i came down with py and jiab to take some pictures at a hindu and a chinese temple on the other side of waterloo street.. i knew that there were temples around there bc last night i told the cab driver to turn the wrong way, in stead of turning left, we turned right.. but the good thing was that i had another cool spot to take pictures..

..we walked and crossed the street to another side to see the early worshipers of the temples.. there were also graffiti on the walls opposite the temples too but i keep to post on another post..

..when we got back, the breakfast was ready..

after our shopping mission was completed yesterday, today we had only the fun and adventure ahead of us.. today plan was city tour.. we had a full day for it before catching a night bus home..

so after breakfast, we hailed a cab to mustafa. it is the best 24hour-shopping mart in singapore.. the shopping complex open 24 hours and offers many services such as Foreign Exchange, VISA Processing, Travels Booking, Gold Mart and all kinds of shopping item available under one roof. (but it has way too many entrances and exists - kla was lost last time when we were shopping there and i had to go to security room to look at the tv short-circuit to look for him.. when we finally found him, he looked so sad and helpless!)

we planned to shop at mustafa and get back to the hostel to pack, take a shower and check out before lunch.

so after shopping at mustafa, we came back, checked out, left our luggage at the reception and headed to singapore flyer. riding the biggest ferris wheel was my second intention to do in sigapore after our carseat and pram shopping.. if i managed to ride the singapore flyer here, i wouldn't have too strong desire to ride london eyes when i travel in england.

singapore flyer claimed that it was the biggest and highest ferris wheel in the world.. that was why i wanted to try once..

leaving the hostel, we took a cab again.. when getting there, the cab couldn't get inside as the road was blocked for 41k-marathon run at the flyer premise.. the driver had no idea that the road was blocked, so he had to keep on driving along the road and it was very far to make a u-turn. the meter was at 4.8 dollar when we arrived at singapore flyer but it kept running when we passed it.. the driver was so nice to tell us that we paid him only 4.8 $ and asked us where we wanted to go instead of the flyer.. i told him to drop us at merlion.. instead we got dropped in front of raffles hotel and he told us it was not far to walk from there to merlion..

..from the raffles hotel, we walked around taking photos and find the way to merlion..

from the back of raffles hotel, we crossed the road at the traffic light and then merlion was right in front of us..

..after merlion, we walked to esplanade to find the way to singapore flyer.. we didn't have a map, so we just walked along the road from where the marathon runners were running.. they were running from the ferris wheel to the raffles hotel.. so it was easy for us to find the flyer..

..this woman was cheerfully rooting for the marathon runners..

..now merlion was far on the back of us..

..we kept on walking until the wheel was getting bigger in front of us..

upon arriving, i walked straight to the ticket counter. the fare was 29.50 $ for an adult (around 700 bath -- cheaper than london eye) but i checked before coming here that they were having a promotion for buying 2 and free 2.. you just had to show 4 passports to them..

the staff kindly gave py a kid's singapore flyer journal to enjoy her ride while being up there.

..so we paid only 59$ for all of us (354 bath each).. it was wayyyy cheap for the experience like this..

(anyone going to singapore, i suggest you check sigapore tourism before going, there will be some kinds of promotion like this all year long.. so your travelling will be more fun and cheaper!)

..before getting high, we wanted to try an ice cream at the gelatissimo..

then we took an elevator to the second floor

taking pictures along the way

here we were in the capsule! (actually, it's not a capsule.. it's a cylinder intead!)

here we are at 165 m. high from the ground!

each capsule has a 28 person capacity ..from up there we could had a glimpse of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia..

when getting on and off, we had to walk into/out of the moving capsule.. it didn't stop but moving slowly..

after 30 min ride, we came down to the first floor and looked for a cab. seeing that we still had few hours left, we hailed a cab and headed to mustafa again!

..at the ferris wheel on the first floor..

the first cab didn't want to go, so we had to wait for another one.. when we arrived mustafa, there were quite a lot more people there. joon and jiab went around looking for what they wanted. i stayed with py who was sleeping soundly in the pram and waited for them at the tea alley.. we were there for 2 hours, happy and pleased with the shopping, then we headed back to the hostel..

..mustafa is in little india..

we got back to the hostel for a shower and our belongings.. we paid mr. siva 5$ more for the shower and for leaving our stuff there.. started packing again and then hailed a cab to golden mine to catch the coach home..

reaching golden mine and getting of the cab, we were very surprised seeing tooooo many thais sitting talking, drinking, getting drunk on the steps in front of the coach offices, by the road side and inside the building. it felt like we were at morchit. we heard thai speaking, mostly the accents were from the north and northeast.. at first, we thought they were waiting to board the bus to hatyai but instead they just ganged up drinking together after a long day at work..

they sat, ate, talked and drank like they were at home partying for songkran or new year.. when we went inside the building for toilet, we saw a lot more thais singing karaoke at an open karaoke bar with a mini-stage in front of a telly. there were shops written in thai, a disco called thailand disco, pubs, bars, restaurants.. it would look scarier to us if we were not thais..

the double-deck bus finally left golden mine at 6.30 pm shap.. first stop was singapore immigration and then malaysian's.

..final photo before leaving singapore border..

at 5.30 am, we arrived at another side of malaysian border. the coach stopped for an early breakfast and waited for the immigration office to open.. we got off the bus at klong-ngae and reached home before 8 am.. sound and sleepy..

another trip, another wonderful experience and another dream came true. being an auntie, i dreamed to travel overseas with my niece and nephew to show the big outside world to the little eyes.. py was happy and fun visiting singapore. many things were exciting and fun to her. she came back home and told her grandpa that she had a great time sightseeing in singapore and would bring phun with her when she went there again.. i guess we had implanted the travelling gene inside her now..