This Christmas, my Aunt & cousins cannot go home in the Philippines by Christmas so instead of them going here, they asked if I wanted to join them go to Singapore & Malaysia. Of course, its a YES!
It's the first time I will ride a plane ALONE, yup always with someone I know (for at least a week or so before our flight, recall HKG last Feb!) So that 4 hour flight MNL-SIN was so boring and nerve wracking as well. I almost emptied my iPod's battery since I was watching movies via Philippine Airline's myPAL player, their in-flight service which allows you to play music, watch movies and even check your flight's status in the comfort of your own device. I really enjoy this service!
As I arrived in the airport I somewhat felt some similar presence (well staying in the airport for more than 6hrs before makes you feel at home there right?) I looked for my (not so) little cousins and found them. We rode a taxi bringing us to my Aunt who's waiting for her friend for us to ask a big favor of leaving our luggage while we roam around Singapore. After that huge favor, we went straight to Marina Mall
Marina Square Shopping Mall is located in the heart of the shopping,
dining, entertainment and cultural hub of the vibrant Marina Centre. Flanked by 3 world class hotels - Mandarin Oriental Singapore, Marina
Mandarin Singapore and Pan Pacific Singapore, Marina Square is a mere
stone's throw away from the famous Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, the
Singapore Flyer and in close proximity to the Gardens by the Bay. It is
also accessible by the City Hall, Esplanade and Promenade MRT stations. Marina Square offers 5
https://www.marinasquare.com.sg/about)
exciting levels of shopping with over 200
specialty shops comprising fashion, F&B, children & lifestyle
concepts. The Mall's operating hours are from 10am to 10pm daily. (Source:
As we went to the food court we ordered at Ba Kuh Teh, since my cousins just love the food their, 3 of us shared the meal. After lunch we went up to the Science Museum (we did not go inside but we did some picture sesh with the picturesque view.
After we decided to go to Gardens by the Bay, my uncle wanted to show me how it looks in the day & also at night (which we will do on the 3rd day).
A national garden and premier horticultural attraction for local and
international visitors, Gardens by the Bay is a showpiece of
horticulture and garden artistry that presents the plant kingdom in a
whole new way, entertaining while educating visitors with plants seldom
seen in this part of the world, ranging from species in cool, temperate
climates to tropical forests and habitats.
The Gardens is led by a multidisciplinary team of professionals who
have been involved in the greening of Singapore and had worked alongside
international and local experts to develop the Gardens. It has an
in-house team of skilled landscape designers, horticulturists,
arborists, engineers, plant health, garden and turf management experts,
as well as plant research and orchid breeding professionals, who
leverage on the extensive global network of plant sources cultivated
during the development days, to continuously curate and grow the
Gardens.
Gardens by the Bay has earned numerous awards and accolades
including the World Building of the Year in 2012, the President’s
Design Award (Singapore) in 2013, the Outstanding Achievement Award by
the Themed Entertainment Association in 2014, the Largest Glass
Greenhouse (Flower Dome) in the Guinness World Records for 2015, and the
TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2016. These achievements are
testament to the ongoing excellence of the Gardens and spur the team
towards attaining greater success.
(Source:
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/our-story/introduction.html )
After almost a day spent in Gardens by the Bay, we headed to the Merlion to get that compulsory tourist shot!
The body symbolises Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing
village when it was called Temasek, meaning 'sea town' in Old Javanese.
Its head represents Singapore’s original name, Singapura, or ‘lion city’ in Malay.
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| The poem about the Merlion |
Today, you can glimpse this legend at Merlion Park. Spouting water
from its mouth, the Merlion statue stands tall at 8.6 metres and weighs
70 tonnes.
Then we headed back to my aunt's friend to get our luggage, and headed off to the terminal to Johor Bahru. We were fortunate enough to be able to get services of a private rent-a-car driver. He knows a bit of Filipino yet speaks Bahasa Melayu fluently. He's actually a Malaysian with a Filipina wife from Bicol. He resides in Singapore yet has a guest house in Johor Baru for rent.
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| While bustling the busy streets, I enjoyed still my road trip thanks to FlytPack! |
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A good travel companion during long traverse travels abroad is FlytPack. Rented the kit for the Asia Package where you could choose 2-3 destinations. Of course I did Malaysia & Singapore for this. It's Unlimited and very affordable. The FlytPack team is also accommodating I messaged them before my flight & during my trip (since signal was lost when I reached Johor Baru... It itakes time to reconnect from the new country by the way by a couple of hours)
As we were riding I then knew that the gateways to JB are actually 2. We were closer to the busiest one, so it took us hours on the road. We left SG at around 7pm and arrived at JB around 11pm almost 12am actually. We weren;t able to roam around JB since we came in a bit later than we expected so we just bought food from the local restaurant down stairs & ate in our rented appartment. We stayed at KSL resort.
It's a condo-tel situated near Legoland Malaysia. It was a nice place and their staff are quite efficient & are able to speak in conversational English. We eventually learned that those units that are rented off are actually model units that are listed for rental since not much people are viewing the units. I actually told myself that if I get big bucks, I might even consider buying a unit there and put it up on AirBNB or something.
After some resting and showing my pasalubongs (from Pinas) to them which was the contents of my luggage (I had 2 strollers, one my usual Violet Voyager lugage & another medium sized stroller full of Filipino food & supplies they needed.) we slept I stayed in one of the rooms all alone by myself. I really loved how peaceful my sleep was there, how I wish I could sleep again for another day or at least just spend the rest of the following day there.
But if I did, I will miss the fun out in Legoland Malaysia. Only me & my 2 cousins were off to Legoland my aunt & uncle went to buy some stuff/pasalubongs in a nearby mall and tried to go around the city.
Tips:
1. you can buy discounted tickets with taxi driver's coupons, though we bought ours from our rented car from SG.
2. Food inside the park is a bit pricey but pick the family meals its better than the individual ones.
3. You can actually bring water bottles inside but no outside food, and unfortunately there are no water fountains like Disneyland so I suggest to buy their Legoland bottle which you can refill in with juice or softdrinks for a discounted price. We actually loved how practical it was than buying softdrinks individually.
4. Get a map. Unlike Disneyland, where in you get one place to another without even noticing it, Legoland can make you lost, treat it as our local destination here in PH, Enchanted Kingdom only bigger! (again I was refering to the landscape not the facilities FYI)
5. I recommend you spending the whole day there, well at least from opening till closing and don't forget to make your own lego!
Then we went back to SG still with our rented car service. This time we passed by the other connecting bridge going to SG.
We stayed at Race Course Rd. which was like a Mini India street in SG for that night. But before calling it a day, we went to Orchard road.
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| That Epic Ice Cream Sandwich (SGD 50) :P |
Then for our last stop that day, we headed out to Gardens by the Bay to see it all lit up by night. My uncle said that the boys were also not able to see it lit up so yeah we went there again. Unlike the day before where it was all so sunny & hot, the view of Gardens at night is really magical.
Since it's Christmas, they have this additional display of lights in the Supertree Grove which was called "Christmmas Wonderland". It has a certain ticket for the place, but since we went in during closing hour the staff just let us in, actually everyone were lead inside.
We headed back to our hotel & rested.
The following day we were off again to Gardens by the Bay (again).
Gardens by the Bay comprises three distinctive waterfront gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central.
Bay South, the largest of the three gardens, opened in 2012. With
its award-winning cooled conservatories and iconic Supertrees, Bay
South has placed Singapore squarely on the international map and is a
source of national pride. Within Flower Dome, the ever-changing floral
displays including crowd favourites such as Tulipmania, Orchid
Extravaganza and Blossom Beats bring the beauty and diversity of the
plant kingdom to life for all to enjoy.
Bay East, the second largest, offers a tranquil respite from
the bustling city and a stunning view of the Singapore skyline even as
it unfolds over the next century. This green space is open to the public
and has immense potential for future development as a waterfront
garden.
Bay Central is the garden which will serve as a link between
Bay South to Bay East when developed, with a 3km waterfront promenade
boasting stunning views of the city.
(Source:
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/our-story/introduction.html )
This time we're off to view the Flower Dome & Cloud Forest.
The Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry
climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts
of Spain and Italy. Here, you'll discover not only the amazing beauty
of these plants and flowers, but how they have also adapted to the
cool-dry environments. The Flower dome is around 1.2Hectares which is about as big as 2.2 football fields put together. It is housed by 3,332 glass panels of 42 different shapes and sizes were needed to cover the whole 16,000m
2 surface area of the dome. The Flower Dome has a humidity of60% – 80% & a Temperature Range of 23šC – 25šC.
(Source:
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/attractions/flower-dome/facts-and-figures.html )
Then we headed out to the next dome, The Cloud Forest.
Cloud Forest showcases plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000
metres above sea level. It features a 35-metre-tall mountain covered in
lush vegetation, shrouding the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.
Take the lift to the top of the mountaintop to discover the unique
biodiversity and geology of cloud forests, and then take a stroll along a
walkway in the clouds for an aerial view of the canopy and mountainside
below.
(Source of Texts:
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/attractions/cloud-forest/facts-and-figures.html )
The dome has 9 zones for you to enjoy.
Then we headed out to our hotel again to get ready for our flight to KL.
We arrived KL at around (time) but since the airport is far from the city, we came in our hotel a bit late already. We stayed at Little India (again), but this time in KL.
We headed out to the nearest mall which was also connected to the train station (sounds familiar noh?) and ate our dinner in the food court. Then we headed back to our hotel to get some ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz
Morning came we were able to get some good nights sleep. We headed out to Central station where we had our brunch.
Then after that we rode a train heading to the Petronas towers. My Aunt & Uncle decided to book a ticket for the Petronas Tower tour that afternoon, so we only spent the day around the area.
Since it was still early we decided to ask some locals on other tourists spots that we can go to, we were given 2 options, we decided to go to the shopping district near the area.
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| Ice cream before boarding the bus! Twin Cones near the Twin Towers! |
we can actually walk to there or ride a bus, which is actually FREE! After roaming around we hurried back to the towers for our tour.
The tour has an audio visual, orientation on what to see & the dos & don'ts inside the towers.
Soaring to a height of 451.9 metres, the 88-storey twin structure is
Kuala Lumpur's crown jewel. Majestic by day and dazzling at night, the
PETRONAS
Twin Towers is inspired by Tun Mahathir Mohamad's vision for Malaysia
to be a global player. Together with master architect Cesar Pelli, the
international icon powerfully captures the nation's ambitions and
aspirations.
(Source:
http://www.petronastwintowers.com.my )
Our last day in KL, we were off to the Batu Caves.
Batu Caves (Tamil:
āŪŠāŪĪ்āŪĪு
āŪŪāŪēை) is a limestone hill
that has a series of caves and cave temples in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. It
takes its name from the Sungai Batu (Stone River), which flows past the hill.
It is the tenth (Pattu in Tamil) limestone hill from Ampang. Batu Caves is also
the name of a nearby village. (Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves )
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| Don't eat food while going up, the place is full of monkeys they'll steal your lunch! |
After that we headed back near our hotel for lunch. Me and my cousins were so tired we decided to stay in the hotel while my aunt & uncle went off to the souvenir shops. I in the mean time, fixed my luggage & told my cousin what was inside the "pasalubong luggage" & made some bilins for him to tell his parents later on. After fixing my stuff I went off to dreamland as well.
We headed back to the nearest restaurant for dinner.
The morning of our flight we headed to the airport. Good thing we were in the same terminal & gate numbers are not that apart from each other. So we were able to say our good byes even pass the immigration gate.
It was a nice experience for me to fly in solo & such a unique experience to go to 3 different countries in one day (MNL-SIN-JB) and do a cross country road trip.
And yes it's so liberating to be backpacking in another country (or should I say countries). Tiring but definitely worth the experience.
