Well, the emphasis was more on the Christmas deco, and shopping.
Christmas Tree count : 4
- 1st day -
There is a strange thing bout singapore, they dont really drive their own car much. But no surprise la, their island so small, everything is within walking distance. And plus, their MRT is really really efficient.
After a long 4 hour bus ride from Malacca, we reached the Malaysian custom, strangely enough, their security was really lenient, just get down from the bus then walk over some security-like doors and you're done for the Malaysian part. The singapore custom, however is tighter, mostly due to their drug trafficking laws are extremely severe.
On both occasions, the bus would wait for the passengers and when they're all ready to go, the final destination is Queen St bus terminal.
The terminal is very much in the area of Bugis, one of the busiest district in Singapore. So we took a small walk to the hostel we pre-booked.
Bugis has a colorful past. Originally named after the bloodthirsty race of pirates who prowled in the Straits before the arrival of the British, the area where Bugis Junction now stands was the original home of Singapore's small Hainanese community, famous for their large contribution to Singapore's culinary culture, before they moved to Beach Road in the early 20th century to make use of the docks and seafront. Bugis is a slice of modern Singapore at its most hyperactive: hundreds upon hundreds of shops and restaurants, several attractive promenades and a bazaar selling the cheapest T-shirts in town. It is the place to experience Singaporean consumerism at its finest.
Singaporean backpackers hotel price is quite high. Even though they are meant for backpackers, staying for 2 nights in a dorm for 4, still costs more than RM100 per head, yes they count per head!
After checking in, the shopping addict already dragged me off to the nearest Bugis Junction. It is Singapore's teenage haven, built around the restored shophouses of Hylam and Malay Streets. The building style still looked very much the same like in the past.
We went to KFC, the relatively cheaper food in the food court to cure our empty stomach. The whole afternoon was spent walking and shopping around Bugis Junction and the bazaar beside. At night, we went to take a walk in the busy streets of Singapore
It's all lights and limitless decorations.
An unknown decoration
Look! it's a mirror!
After some tiring day shooting so many pictures, we headed back to the hostel. Before that, we went to check on the price of movie tickets...$9!! walao more than double of Malaysia..gotta think twice if gonna spend that much on Bolt.
- 2nd day -
First meal in the morning, Long John Silver. The first meal and the last meal eaten at this franchise.
After that, we visited the Sentosa Island. Sentosa - So Expensive and Nothing TO See Actually, i can predict what will i face when i stepped foot on this island.
We took the Sentosa Express monorail to reach the station in Sentosa. Our first stop was the Underwater World, Asia's largest tropical oceanarium, featuring a walk-through aquarium with lots of sharks and fishes and many smaller tanks. The admission price was $19.50, about RM40 plus. It was a bad idea, so expensive but nothing to see. I repeat again haha. The walk way was automated alright, but the whole length of the walkway is quite short, relatively short, than the Langkawi's
And we had Manhattan Fish Market as our dinner. LOL
Then we proceed to the Dolphin Lagoon by taking free bus as the ticket bought for Underwater World can be used for Dolphin Lagoon.
The place was so crowded that I became lazy to take pictures. The dolphin show was quite interesting though. Play ball and stuff. You know.
After realizing that we had spent our time on the two most interesting places on Sentosa, that's what we think though, we headed back to Vivo City in mainland.
Shopping, shopping...
- 3rd day -
The 3rd day was declared as shopping day. The shopping spirit continued when we visited Suntec City which houses the the Fountain of Wealth, listed by the Guinness Book of Records in 1998 as the largest fountain in the world.
Fountain of Wealth, Suntec City
This thing was everywhere in the city
The rest of the day? Well, shopping again...and watched movie "Bolt"...then shop again...Haha
We proceed from Suntec City, Orchard Road, then Bugis Junction again.
Fish pond in Suntec
Before evening, we took the bus that at Queen St and headed back to Malaysia. And after I walked out from the Johor Bahru custom, i saw this:
Singapore version of Michael Scofield, he probably didn't how famous he is and how humiliating he made Singapore government looked like.
Fun
Singapore is a major city. Those who always live in the city should avoid. If you wanna see some history, avoid this too. What they have in Singapore, I mean shopping, Kuala Lumpur has too. Perhaps I'm not much of a shopper, but the variety and the fashion here might seem more appealing to those who do shop.Expenses
The standard of living is not that expensive if given you are earning Singaporean dollar. But we're using Malaysian Ringgit, though the stuff in Singapore has almost the same price as in Malaysia (sometimes cheaper) , but when we convert...the sound of sigh.Food and Drinks
Majority of their food are very much similar to Malaysia. You can eat the same thing, better, more delicious and half the price in Malaysia though.Shopping
If you are in Singapore not because of shopping, you've come to the wrong place. Although not cheap, the branded products variety here is insanely vast.Similarity to Malaysia
The only difference? They're using Singaporean dollar.
