Smart Travelling to Singapore (2)

21 April 2016

It was our adventure day! Although we started pretty late from apt, I am happy to did that journey. So this day we went to Mount Faber Park and planned to do some trekking to Kent Ridges Park. From Tampines Int, we ride MRT to HarborFront. A little bit explanation, Singapore has five MRT lines: East West Line is the oldest line connects Changi Airport/Pasir Ris to Joo Koon, North South Line connects Marina South Pier to Jurong East, North East Line connects HarborFront to Punggol, Circle Line connects HarborFront to MarinaBay, and Downtown Line connects Bukit Panjang to Chinatown. Each line has its own color, and it’s quite easy for you to notice at what station you should change line. For MRT and bus information, I recommend you to download MyTransport app. It helped me a lot during the trip. It will also notify you when there’s trouble on the transport system, and inform you for some free transport compensation (free bus ride to your destination).

On that day, we ride the East West Line to Outram Park for transit and change with North East Line. But there was a power fault, so we ride a bus to HarborFront for free. We arrived on lunch time so we had lunch on Seah Im FC. I ordered Wantoon Noodle and Egg Prata. I was that hungry. Hahaha. The two meals I ordered has the same price for Albi’s only Rice+Fried Chicken, tho. I won alot. After lunch, we directly walk to Mount Faber Park and started the adventure from Marang Trail.

This trail is a part of The Southern Ridges, a 10-km trail connecting Mount Faber Park and Kent Ridges Park. There are two routes, route A brings you from Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park, HortPark, and finished at Kent Ridge Park. The other route has different from Telok Blangah Hill Park point that it directly finished at Labrador Nature Reserve. We went with the route A. With 10 km distance, we finished 4 hours of walking from the expected 5 hours of walking. The starting point was on Marang Trail with 5 min walking inside a forest. The trail gave some tense to your thighs as it has so many stairs. The second point was Faber Walk with a view to Singapore’s waterfront. After 10 to 15 mins walking, we arrived to Handerson Waves. This is a wood-panelled bridge built 36 m above the ground and you can really see the traffic under the bridge. Bit scary. After Handerson Waves, we had some drink on Sembcorp Forest of Giants while continued the journey to Alkaff Mansion. Alkaff Mansion is a conservation mansion. My favorite part is the next point: Forest Walk. It is a 1.3km of elevated walkway with wonderful view of forest, along with the song of birds on the Singing Forest. After that, we reached another breath-taking bridge: Alexandra Arch. If you arrived on evening, you might enjoy the color-changing LED lights on the bridge. We then entered the HortPark, a park with several unique themes. We stopped on some parks and played a bit. The last point was Canopy Walk. It is already a part of Kent Ridge Park. We end the journey on the Science Park and directly ride the MRT to Tampines. Kind of heavy workout day, huh?

Bird Eye View on Faber Walk

Marang Trail

Handerson Waves

Forest Walk

being playful at HortPark

our favorite spot: TAP WATERRRR

 Arrived on Tampines, we had our dinner on Kopitiam near our block. I ate Laksa and Albi once again chose to be safe with the meals. Hahaha. Laksa is quite similar to Sayur Lodeh in Indonesia, but it really filled me because it served on a really big bowl. It didn’t served with rice, tho, but noodle. Yummeh!!!

Expenditure        : SGD 10.50        (top-up my given EZ-Link Card on Sevel. They charged 50cents)

                                SGD 1                  (canned drink on Mount Faber’s jewel box)

                                SGD 3                  (Wantoon Noodle at Seah Im FC)

                                SGD 1.50           (Egg Prata)

                                SGD 3.50           (Laksa at Kopitiam)

                                SGD 1.50           (canned drink)

Tips                        : If you have more than 3 days on Singapore, never waste your time by only visiting mainstream tourism spot! When I snap my journey on snapchat, many friends asked me where is this beauty place. It’s a satisfaction to experience things only rare people do. Find the information of the trekking adventure here.

22 April 2016

Shopping Time!!! No. It is only for Rama, because Albi and I doesn’t come to Singapore to do gift shopping. Hahaha. It’s kind of street food time for us. We went to Bugis and Albi directly bought a grilled squid at the mall. We then continued to Bugis Street where I found Kaya Toast and end up buying Kaya sauce :3 omg I love Kaya!!! Albi then bought something similar to cilok and seblak in Indonesia. We figured out it’s not that tasty, tho. Seblak still the best! I didn’t buy anything except chocolate that my friend previously ordered. It’s not that difficult to buy those snacks too because we already had some import stores in Indonesia. Only, with slightly expensive price.

Seblak ala Singapore

Kaya Toast

We went back to Masjid Sultan because the boys had to do Friday Prayer. Then we back to Bugis and had our lunch at Bugis Village Hawker Centre. I didn’t eat because I had enough with the toast. The rain fell quite hard so we waited before approaching the Bugis MRT station.

We ride the MRT to Bayfront and headed to Merlion Park. It was full of tourists, as always. We only took some picture and sat there for about thirty mins. We then decided to go to Esplanade Theatres to see a rehearsal from the performing artists. It is a free-theatre with different theme day-to-day show. I was bored that we only sit there lol. We were waiting for my friend, tho. David, a NTU-student, my good friend that I met on IOAA. We met at Clarke Quay and ate on Hooters, the only affordable restaurant. Their food range from SGD 6 to SGD 50 and above. A light warning for you who are on budget travelling, restaurant in Clarke is quite pricey so it’s good for you to bring some bread or foods while enjoying the riverside on the evening. On 9 pm, we went home directly as we recognized that Tampines will be so much crowded.

David and I

Clarke Quay Riverside

Expenditure        : SGD 2                  (Kaya toast)

                                SGD 1.30           (canned drink)

                                SGD 18               (some sandwich on Hooters)

                                SGD 10               (top up EZ Link: a shXX I prefer STP)

23 April 2016

I love adventure, so I love this day when I finally went to Punggol Waterway Park and witnessed once again how amazing Singapore government has arranged their parks. It’s only Albi and I went to Punggol. The waterway park is cool I wish I had bike when I was there. Before I went there, I only want to take some pictures on Instagram Tree, but it was gone. But I got this soothing and relaxing moment when I walked along the waterway, read the story of Punggol (they provide a story on the wall), crossing the adventure bridge, even seeing people jog there made me happy. Plus, it is sooooo green it is good for my eyes! Albi and I got the chance to try LRT, the smaller version of MRT with shorter railway. Punggol is located on the north-east region of Singapore, the last station you’re going to stop if you take MRT there. It is still a developing area, but it’s already pretty and amusing.

view from Waterway Point

We continued our day to Little India. Albi really want to try Indian food, so we do some research about the Indian restaurant there. We went to Andhra Curry which is really close to MRT station. The food is really nice I love it. I love the Naan!!! It’s cheap for Singaporean, but not really for a budget traveller because the food range around SGD 10. I tried Chicken Gongura while Albi tried Nattukodi Iguru. My food is spicy it almost similar to spicy opor in Indonesia. The food is filling, tho.

After that, we ride the MRT to Dhoby Ghaut and walked along the Orchard Road. Didn’t buy anything except Garrett (the famous popcorn) and didn’t get the chance to try ION Sky because the queue is quite long and we run out of time. After ION, we directly went home and be prepared for our flight.

Expenditure        : SGD 12               (Chicken Gongura)

                                SGD 2.50           (Plain Naan)

                                SGD 16               (two medium Garrett)

Tips                    : Try to arrive at Changi Airport one or two hours earlier than your boarding schedule. I regret to not be able to explore more as it planned before. Don’t ever miss this out because Changi Airport has really good service for the passengers. The best time to visit Punggol is on sunrise or sunset. It is the most attractive spot to see the sunset in Singapore. Plus, if you want to try IONSky, check their schedule as it might be closed for private events.

And that’s my story where I really speak Singlish to local people, I really did. When I speak Singlish, I got no difficulties to get their best service while Albi experienced some not-good moment with the waitress. They speak fast, just like the other foreigner with English as their first language. My suggestion is, put aside the habit of saying ‘excuse me’, ‘sorry’, or even the use of complete sentence like ‘I want to buy blablabla’. They wont wait you patiently, to be honest. When you order some food, for example, merely say this ‘uncle/auntie/sister/brother, one hainanese rice, please’ or when you’re at a restaurant you can just say ‘i got a grilled mutton blablabla’. If you’re used to go abroad, you also get used to how fast their work is. Cmiiw, tho. Happy smart travelling!

Additional tips: never compare IDR with SGD or any other currency when you're about to buy something. Just buy what you want. For me, under SGD 10 is still considered cheap. Unless your local currency is USD or Poundsterling, never ever compare. :)

Smart Travelling to Singapore (1)

Singapore is indeed one of the closest Indonesia's neighbor country. This city-state has many to offer to tourists as it has lots of spot ranging from heritage centre, parks (I seriously love this one), to shopping destination. I recently spent six days there with my two friends, Albi and Rama. Fortunately, I didn’t have to think about accomodation since we stayed on Rama’s cousin apt. On this vacation, Albi and I took major parts on deciding the destination. Since we’ve visited Singapore before, we want the different Singapore taste, though the main reason was: maximizing happiness by minimum payment. So we did some research to what can we visit/get by free, cheap good meals, and learn the country’s transportation system. I’m going to write with time-based what I experienced here. I also listed my spending each days so I hope it’s going to help whoever read this blog.

18 April 2016

We bought a budget flight ticket on October last year which I slightly forget how much it was, but I guess it’s around IDR 500k for a round-trip. We depart from Jakarta (CGK) and fyi, AirAsia has moved its counter to T3. It wasn’t a good start because we had to wait upto 3hrs of delay. On 4.40 the plane just took off, the flight was 1h50mins, and we arrived in Singapore (SIN) on 6.20 if I’m not mistaken. Singapore is one hour earlier than Indonesia, mind the time difference. As we arrived, I could directly accessed airport’s wifi although it requires some password that would be sent to your local number (I’m using Simpati). Please always be ready with your passport and ticket for multiple checking on the airport (on departure) and immigration check (on arrival). As there has been so many Indonesian going to Singapore, the immigration officer will kindly speak Indonesian to you.

We stayed on Tampines neighborhood so we had to get MRT. The MRT station on Changi airport is located on T2. For MRT and Bus access, I reccommend you to take Singapore Tourist Pass (STP). It has one-day pass for SGD 20, two-day for SGD 26, and 3 day for SGD 30. Each pass comes with a refundable deposit of SGD 10. It’s different if you got EZ-Link; it costs SGD 12 with SGD 7 value for use. The left is non-refundable, but you could save your EZ-Link for another trip to Singapore as it has 5 years lifespan. When you choose to get STP, use it optimally because you can go anywhere without worrying how much left in your card. For a EZ-Link user, you could use it to purchase TransCab and other outlets and services that basically could be access here. That evening, I took the 3-Day Pass and directly went home because we definitely exhausted.

Expenditure        : SGD 30 for 3-Day STP

Tips                      : Bring a tumblr because you can find drinkable tap water almost everywhere, to save your money. If you’re lucky, the water might be cold which is very refreshing.

19 April 2016

We went to Jalan Pisang on Arab Street area to join Rama’s family lunch invitation. We ate on Hj. Maimunah, a famous halal restaurant. This one serves Malay food, but also has Rendang on its menu.  After lunch, we split with the family and went to Arab Street. We visit some famous places like Haji Lane and had salah in Masjid Sultan. This area has many small boutiques and stores that sell unique things with quite cheap price. The afternoon on Singapore could be very hot it reaches to 36 Celsius, wear your shades and light clothes, keep hydrated.

Three kids are happy getting free big lunch 

Oh, I bought local simcard (Singtel) on Sevel here. I bought Singtel for Tourist for SGD 15. It packed with 4GB local data, 100 local sms, 500 mins local calls, 30 mins international calls, and active upto 5 days. Singtel is the best provider, but you can also try others like StarHub (they provide free 100GB data). When you buy a simcard, the seller will need your passport to input your data. A surprise came up after I purchased: I got 3 free portable charger. Yes! I got three!!! *happy*

mainstream spot: Haji Lane

around Joo Chiat Rd

After salah, we went to Joo Chiat Rd to find Katong Antique House that latter we couldn’t find. It was so hot and we walk until we decided, that we cannot find the housing. I got some pretty pics, tho. Hehehe. From Joo Chiat Rd, we went to Garden by the Bay. We took a bus to Eunos, the nearest MRT station. From Eunos station, we headed to Bayfront station, took the Exit D, and walk to the Garden. You must be familiar with the icon of this garden: the super tree. I was too tired to talk that I kept silent during walk, until we stopped by McD to get some lunch. After lunch, Rama went to his family house while Albi and I stayed until the light show over. I was amazed with the light show. It’s beautiful!!! I love the ambiance, the songs, the people, the smile. The best part was I got to enjoy the show right across the super tree so I could saw the other smaller super trees. It is indeed magical, I even asked Albi to come again another day.

a super cute corner at McD Gardens by the Bay

under super trees

After the show, we took the MRT to Chinatown, without any working devices because my phone was out of battery and it had some trouble when I charge it. We stopped on the Telok Ayer station and walk around 10 minutes to reach the most famous hawker centre on Singapore: Maxwell Food Centre. It was our first hawker centre that we got on its almost closing hour hahaha. Unfortunately, some stalls were closed because it’s pretty late. It closed at 10 pm. Done with our meals, we directly went home. Fyi, Tampines is one of the most crowded neighborhood, located on the last two MRT station of East West Line. So everyday, I went home very tired because sometimes I had to stand and the train was always almost full. But it’s still much much better than KRL, don’t even compare. Lol

Expenditure        : SGD 6                  (shared cab to Jalan Pisang)

     SGD 1.30            (a drink at Sevel)

                               SGD 5                  (shared simcard)

                               SGD 5.70            (McD combo menu consist of ;burger, fries, drink)

                               SGD 3                  (Roasted Chicken Rice at Maxwell)

Tips                        :  It's preferable to wear long clothes when you're around Arab Street, especially if you want to pray on Masjid Sultan. If you wear shorts, you can take kain batik/sarong in front of Masjid to cover it, but to avoid awkward situation, wear long one. Do simcard sharing when you go in group. The provided data (4 or 100 GB) is more than enough to spend for a week. Use tethering facilities so other phone could access the internet. Hawker centre is the other name of food centre with lots of food stall that serves main food from SGD 2. Spent wisely, don’t only have chicken rice/hainanese rice. Order some noodles or other food that cheaper but filling. Your visit to food centre could also be your culinary time. Some Singaporean food worth to try: Hainanese Chicken Rice, Kaya Toast, Laksa, Chilli Crab (pricey), Carrot Cake, (any) Mee, Roti Prata, Naan, and I could keep write those deli food basically just try many many foods!

20 April 2016

MY HAPPIEST TIME: THEME PARK!

Three of us went to Universal Studios Singapore with Rama’s brother, too. From Tampines station, we transit to Paya Lebar station to change to Circle Line and get off on HarbourFront station. The station located on VivoCity, the largest mall in Singapore. We went back and forth as we decided to buy ticket first and back to VivoCity to have lunch. It’s quite tiring because we walk through 670m Sentosa Boardwalk, tho there are some travelators. After we purchase our ticket, we ate on Kopitiam at VivoCity. It’s similar to food centre so you can choose your own preference. We bought some bread, too, in case we got hungry at the park. If you’re on budget travelling, eating on USS is not a recommendation as the food sometimes be overprice. But you can find fastfood restaurant such as McD or Subway on the RWS area.

I got to say, I enjoy USS because it contains several zones that I love. From Hollywood to Madagascar zone, I love Sci-Fi and Far Far Away. The first journey is on Hollywood where I met Mel’s Dinettes and Minions. I missed out the photo session with Minions but just realize it when we finished the journey. Sad. We entered the Spaghetti Space Chase (New York zone) and it was fun hahaha no tensity, tho.  And I missed Sesame Street photo session when I just arrived to the queue. Double Sad. As we walked, we moved to Sci-Fi City where we ride our first 3D coaster ride, Transformers 3D Ride. Unexpected! I love this coaster because it somehow distract our fear of coaster to the battle movie. Totally want to ride this over and over again hahaha! As it rains, we moved to Far Far Away because any outdoor rides were closed. We watched Shrek 4D Adventure that made Albi asleep at the end. Hahaha. The happiest moment was; when we finished watching the 4D show, the Puss in Boots ride opened! The happiness is doubled when I got a photo session with the Puss!!! Miaw :3 Well, I ride almost all the coaster except the Battlestar Galactica which shivered me out just when I stand under those giant-longest coaster. BUT I REALLY WANT TO RIDE ACTUALLY :( IT’S SO THRILLING!!!! The boys went, tho. Shame on me. After USS, the boys ate on McD (again, guys? I don’t recommend).

on my favorite zone *welcome home, Princess* hehe

the only one I didn't ride *shame*

I had my dinner on Seah Im Food Centre. Again, I want to try foods as many as I could. Rama and his brother went home first because he felt dizzy. Again, Albi and I being the wanderlust strolling around like a Singaporean. Two days on Singapore has changed my English accent to a bit Singlish but I rarely use it. It went well when I talked to the seller and when I could respond to their Singlish fast, I got a satisfaction. *SelfProud* I must suggest, it doesn’t matter what kind of accent you use as long as you could respond them fast, they will understand, so practice your English too. Sometimes, you must be lucky to interact with Malay as we share pretty much similarity on mother language. But when you interact with Chinese, well, I got to say, it’s much better for you to practice your English long before you depart. It is also useful when you plan to go overseas, any other English speaking country. In Seah Im, we found so many halal stalls—from Malay to Indian one. I got Fried Mee with Ikan Bilis (similar to Ikan Teri in Indonesia, but not salty).

Expenditure        : SGD 74               (USS)

                               SGD 3.50           (Fried Mee)

                               SGD 1                  (shared iced coffee)

Tips                    : If you’re not the type of walker, take a cable car from HarborFront to Sentosa Island for about SGD 13.

Round of Happiness