Birthday Trip/ Treat! (15–17/10/11)

I haven’t been to Singapore for more than 3 years…

I only made up my mind and did all bookings a day before my departure. Such an “ad hoc” trip isn’t my style right? Actually the reason was, my birthday this year fell on Sunday, I thought I will be crazily party till late so I took a day off on Monday, which is the next day, but ended both of the plans that I made with my friends have to be cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances”, but I can’t be sitting at home for that weekend, so, [light bulb], I am gonna to force my good friends in Singapore to celebrate with me.

This time, I’m talking the Aeroline, love at 1st sight, I took the bus which is depart from Corus Hotel, quite close to my house and I do not need to confuse myself whether I am taking the right bus or sharing the station with other passengers who are going to different places, I like thing to be straight forward and exclusive. Another plus points are, the fares are so much cheaper than taking an aeroplane, which both transportation providing similar or in fact, Aeroline’s services are even more exclusive, as there are lesser passenger, and there are plenty of departure time for you to choose, averagely 9 trips a day, 7 days a week. Those who are close to me know I hate taking aeroplane, buses are more “steady” running on the road compare to aeroplanes flying in the sky! You know what I mean…

RM174 (inclusive of tax) for round trip, 1 meal included for each trip, mineral water is provided, each seat is equipped with TV for movies, songs, games and etc... low density, if I’m not mistaken, less than 30 passengers in a bus.

I watched 2 Chinese movies that I’ve missed in cinema, I Know a Woman’s Heart by Andy Lau and Gong Li and Detective B+ by Aaron Kwok. The road trip was absolutely a pleasant one, all I could remember was I had my lunch in the bus, driver stopped at a R&R along the highway for toilet break, custom checks @ both countries, when I finally finished those movies, I was already in Singapore!!! (approximately 5 hours travel time).

The bus stop @ Harbour Front, just next to Vivo Shopping Mall and there is a direct MRT to my hostel, Hangout @ Mt. Emily, which is in Little India, and only 4 or 5 stations away from there. Of course, 1st thing 1st, check in to hostel. One thing I like about Singapore is, comprehensive map available in each MRT station, good security, Singaporean speaks English, hence I never have to worry about locating a place, getting myself in trouble/ danger when walking on the street or finding a place or language barrier when asking for direction.

I called my friend when I arrived, so, one of them (Soo) come to meet me @ the hostel and we walked to Rochor Rd where it is famous for the soya milk and fritter as tea. Well, I will think that I can get a better one in KL/ any place in Malaysia, but I’m happy that I finally got to catch up with friend.

We continued our journey (still walking) to Bugis where later another friend (Choo) was going to join us for dinner. We passed by this famous Guanyin Temple @ Waterloo St. (四马路观音庙), and it reminded my time when I was working in Singapore, the office was just a street away and every 1st and 15th of the month in lunar calendar, I will either go office earlier to pray at the temple or I pray during my lunch time. The day when I went to Singapore was Renunciation Day of Guanyin, so, the temple was jam packed with not only the local people, but tourists too… 

After we met with Choo, we had difficulty in choosing a restaurant, 1st constraint was time, I’ve got a show at 8pm at Marina Bay Sands theatre (another friend, KaWeng booked me the ticket while I was booking my bus tickets) and they were going to watch Premier League somewhere nearby too. 2nd issue was, they were trying to brought me to the best they had, and they have so many in minds end up we went to this Chef Daniel’s Kitchen, because they said their signature cod fish and braised duck were the best in town. 

We were the earliest customer, but, unfortunately, both of the dishes that they wanted to order to me weren’t in their menu that day… huh? What a “lucky” day, and mind you… this was just the beginning of my “lucky trip”.

This restaurant served fine Chinese dishes, we finally picked the 4, salmon, braised pork knuckle, spring chicken leg and pork belly… Soo’s friend joined us for dinner too, 4 of us, 3 guys 1 lady, frankly speaking, the portion were too big for us, we were trying so hard to gulp in everything, I think it wasn’t so bad if we had more time to taste the food. Moral of the story, don’t be too greedy and should take time as an important consideration when come to fine dining.

After finished the dinner, I was in trouble, 1st, Marina Bay Sands was quite a distance away, 2nd, it was rush hour, 3rd, I hadn’t change to a proper attire to the show (I was still in my shorts, polo T and sport shoes), 4th, I’ve got only 30 minutes to be @ the theatre, so, if I go back to change, I might not be able to go in until Act II, if I didn’t change, I doubt they allow me to go in. At last, I was few minutes late, but the show haven’t started too, and they allow me to go in with my shorts & polo. Woohoo!!! 

The show is awesome, awesome… flawless, the actors interacts with audiences too, so you see sometimes elephants walked between the audience seats, birds flying everywhere, they even add in local language in the lyrics and all of them have great voices and expression and acting. No regret spending the money for the show.

Before sending me back to my hostel, we all met again @ Geylang for… dim sum supper, not women.

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I slept until I woke up by my biological clock, had my breakfast which was provided by the hostel, online checking my mail and fb updates with computer and internet provided by the hostel in the common and activities room. By then, actually both of my “tour guides” (Soo and Choo) had already finished they routine exercise, and we arranged to meet up for lunch before the tour to attractions.

I was craving for Thai food… so here we go for my 1st birthday lunch treat!

1st attraction in the itinerary - Esplanade. They asked me if I ever been to the “Durians” (outlook of Esplanade is like durians), they were surprised when I said no. Last time I was there to work, I didn’t travel much around the city.

The art displays in the hall.

We went up to the rooftop and saw some youngster hanging out there… Well better than they spend time in front of computer or loitering in some inappropriate places or doing some unhealthy activities. 

            wow… I’m really a tourist!                                                            with Singapore Eye at the back

2nd attraction – Merlion. Yes, sorry to say, I never been to Merlion before too!

The medium and small one, there’s another big one in Sentosa, where we will be going later.

Left pic: Captain Explorer – this unique transportation can swim on the water and run on the road, it brings tourists around to see the city, ticket isn’t cheap though.

Right pic: The city is beautify by creative arts, I especially like this wall which has a lot of faces making into a few beautiful paintings.

3rd attraction: Marina Bay Sands. My very competent tour guides even brought me to cross the Double Helix Bridge from Esplanade to Marina Bay Sands. Actually this bridge and painting that I mention above remind me of Melbourne, when I was there a year before, I saw the similar designs.

Marina Bay Sands, the 6-star hotel + casino + shopping mall, which has special exterior design, the local said, the ship which looks like a blue whale connecting the 3 towers has no tail, means, when people gamble in the casino, the whale only take in money with no “excretion”. LOL. There is actually a Sky Park and swimming pool, tourists got to pay, if I’m not mistaken SGD20 just to go up to enjoy the view from top. Of course, it’s not a must-do activity, I rather save the money for food.

For me, I like the lotus shape building sitting next to the towers, it’s actually an Art Science Museum which has not open yet.

Since it’s my birthday, my tour guides were asking me to try my luck in the casino. I’m a tourist, I don’t have to pay to go in but they are PR, they need to pay an entrance fees of SGD100. So, I went in alone. At first, I wanted to place a bet, my budget is SGD50, mean if I lose, the most, SGD50, if I win, whatever the amount I win from the 50, I will take and go, the min bet in the casino is SGD25 per game, but all of the table with this min bet were all full, left those table with min bet of SGD50 and above available, but… lol I was too timid, and stingy too, I don’t dare to take out the money to bet… so, after few round of observation (observing how other people playing and appreciate the beautiful interior design in the casino), I decided to keep the money for my shopping of wedding gift to my god-sis who is getting married this Christmas. Phew~

5 attraction – VivoCity

Look at both of the displays, aren’t they very similar? Left: in Vivo City, right: in Shanghai (I was there in Aug). Coincident? Copying? or actually both was created by the same artist?

We just stopped by Vivo City to have our early dinner before heading to Sentosa Island. They introduced this authentic China cuisine which the food is really very unique and nice. (Side track a little, when I came back from Singapore, I saw new outlet of Putien is opening up in One Utama Shopping Mall soon!!! Yeah!!!).

                                                                                                      Sweet & sour century egg (糖醋皮蛋)

       Braised pig intestine (九转小肠)                                             Signature Putien Lor Mee (莆田卤面)

We also ordered a vege and a crab roe with bean curd (forgot to take picture of the bean curd). Putien was celebrating their 11 anniversary too, so, we received this gift of appreciate when we settled the bill.

5th attraction – Sentosa & Universal Studio. There are 2 ways to travel to the island, by train or pedestrian bridge. We decided to take train in and walking out afterward. I was lucky at first, I’ve “earned” a 2-dollar note in front of the globe, then we found out that that day has no firework and Crane Show due to maintenance or something… I can’t believe to do their maintenance on a Sunday?!

Happy Birthday to the Best!!! Yes, I’ve made it!!! Thanks to my dad and my mom… bla bla bla

Came to the Casino, ok, was still thinking should I give it a try! I’m no a frequent gambler, although the min bet in this Casino is lower, if I’m not mistaken only SGD10 per game, but… haih~~~ I rather spend it somewhere, I don’t think I have luck in gamble. To reward my “coolness”, I bought myself a Hard Rock T-shirt!

I love the statues, Adam & Eve, did you notice there’s a small red apple between their legs? They are very cute!

While walking back to Harbour Front (VivoCity), we stopped by a wine house for drink… non of us is a wine drinker, we didn’t know which is good and which is not, decision was made by the manager, he recommended this Spanish wine, he said this wine which was made in 2006 is ready to taste now. He mentioned something like this wine was stored in barrel for 3 years and 2 years in bottle, so, it is in its best state to taste now, he assured that I’ll love it too… Nice? Nice gua… hehe, I am not a good wine taster.

Of course I can’t be letting the guys to pay the bills for the whole day, I insisted to get the bill.

What a memorable birthday! Thanks guys… Thanks to Choo’s girlfriend too for allowing her boyfriend to accompany me the whole day.

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I must also blog about the hostel that I stayed too. I like staying in hostel when I’m travelling alone, more cost saving. This time I stayed in Hangout, Mt. Emily, it is located in a very strategic location, it’s actually between 2 MRT stations, Little India & Dhoby Ghaut, walking distance to some pubs and restaurants too, I can even walked to Bugis Shopping Mall from there. I like about the room too, very clean and tidy, en suite, modern design, comfortable bed and equipped with locker too.

My bed and breakfast, only SGD40/ bed/ night.

The breakfast place

The lobby and check in counter

Laundry room, got to pay for doing the laundry but it’s free to use to iron.

Recreation room has a cozy corner to watch TV and has a pool table next to it as well. 

Coffee and tea are free flow, has hot water supply and microwave oven too.

Computer and internet connection/ Wifi are compliment services in the hostel too.

The rooftop, although there isn’t any swimming pool, but it has this little shower corner, sun-bathing beds, tables and chairs for you to hangout. 

The entrance and outlook of the hostel.

P/s: I lost my watch in the hostel, I was too careless. I took off my watch in the bathroom instead of locker, then I couldn’t find it again the next morning.