Travelling Singapore - Bangkok, my own personal tips

Tickets:
- flight : some of budget airlines like AirAsia, Tiger Airways and JetStar have promos so if you want a cheaper air tickets you should check it their promos often, you can register to their mailing list for promotions update, they will send the promos to your email, choose the one which suits you better, and don't forget to check their carry luggage allowance, and don't forget to buy check in baggage beforehand on the return flight back to your country
- attractions : usually its cheaper and easier to purchase attractions tickets from Indonesia, so when you get there all you have to do is get inside the attraction. some of the hotels and hostels also offers attractions tickets but i find it more expensive than the one in Indonesia.

Public transportation:
- Singapore : in my opinion when you are on Singapore just purchase the EZ link card for MRT, the card can be top up, use for Sentosa express, and you can use it again the next time you visit singapore. In Singapore MRT can take you anywhere on the island, its cheaper than taxis, but it only operates until 12 pm,  so if you are still outside after the closing hour you will have to take the taxi. For MRT map you can take one for free when you arrive at the airport.
- Bangkok : from airport to city, there are two airport line, Express Line and City Line, choose the one who stops nearer to your designated hotel, Express Line did not make any stop until Phaya Thai station, but the City Line makes about 6 stops. If you don't use train often you don't have to but the one day pass. Bangkok MRT ticket machine dont take paper bill so you have to change it to coins in nearby ticket office. Use the river boat also to avoid traffic jam. There is free shuttle to and from Asiatique from Thaksin pier. If you are tourist and wanna go to temples or the Grand Palace, you can take the Chao Phraya tourist boat on 150 baht for a whole day.

Communication:
- Singapore : my preference is use Singtel HiCard, you can purchase it at the airport, at 7-11 or at fairprice store, they have many promotion bundle, for blackberry and for smartphone.
- Bangkok : at the immigration there are true simcard for free, just take one, and top it up later at 7-11 store or family mart store. I also tried happy simcard too because somehow my phone can't read true card, overall it's not much different.

Hostel/Hotel:
- Singapore : in Singapore hotel are pricy, so if you are on a budget, just stay at hostel, choose which one is the perfect for your needs. My personal choice is I choose the one which have private bathroom, because i don't like to wait just to take bath or going to the toilet, not to mention we don't know how clean other uses it and i also choose it by location to MRT. You can use online hostelbooking for it.
- Bangkok : hotels are cheaper in Bangkok, when you book a hotel, decide it based on what facilities does it have, are there shuttle from it to malls or airport, how far is it from the ariport link and if you liked the river you can choose hotels at the riverfront. Specify what room do you want, beds, smoking or non-smoking, some hotels price are including breakfast and some are not.
*in comparing hostel or hotel flight you can use wego website, there you can see which online site offers the cheapest price
*sometime hostel/hotel asks some money for guarantee when you check in, but they will gave it back to you when you check out, this is not a scam don't worry

Itinerary: overall, whereever you wanna go, you can decide first where are you going when you are abroad, but i suggest that it is flexible, you don't have to be fixated to the itinerary you previously make, but make sure, you know how to get there.

Food : don't forget to bring your own water bottle when you go to Singapore because drinking water is pricy here, if you are on a budget you can just eat at fastfood restaurant such as KFC or McDonalds, but if you don't like fastfood you can always go to the mall foodcourt, there are plenty to choose from and its not expensive; or you can also go to 7-11 for instant noodles, breads or even a complete meal, they can warm it up for you

Money: if you happen to run out of money, you can always go to the local bank ATM, check if they accept Maestro or Cirrus card, if they do you can withdraw money from it on local currency. Select the withdraw from savings account and voila you get your money, there are charge about 25k rupiahs on every withdrawal so don't do it too often

That will be all my highlights for this trip, thank you for reading this.

Travelling Singapore - Bangkok (Day 6)

Today plan is going to Universal Studio Singapore.

I purchased USS ticket vouchers from Indonesia, on a bargain price, only 65 SGD, the original price is 78 SGD, and all we have to do is exchange it with the real tickets. We took the MRT, headed towards Harbourfront, went to Vivo City to catch the Sentosa express coach, yo can use the EZ link card for this, it will cost you 4 SGD (for return trip and a day trip as long as you are on Sentosa island), if you dont have an EZ link card just purchased it on the ticketing machine near the entrance. Alight at the first stop, the clock says 10 o'clock, but when we arrived at the designated meeting point with the person in charge of our ticket exchange, he is nowhere to be found. I tried calling him but the phone isn't answered, okay i started to get jumpy all of a sudden. Then i decided to contact the person who issued our ticket voucher, via whatsap, and thankfully she was very helpful, she also helped me contacted the person, and after half an hour we finally met the person, and went inside Universal Studio.

First ride to catch is, Transformers, there was already a line for it, and it took about half an hour until its our turn. Basicly its a moving platform and 3D effect, but it's a perfect ride for starters, I suggests you take the front seat on the ride for better experience. After that we took the ride near Battlestar Galactica, the flying canopy on Jurrasic Park, Shrek's 4 D cinema, Madagascar adventure ride, Spielberg's special effect studio and the new ride Elmo Spagheti Chasing ride. We had lunch at Mel's dine in, and while we ate, outside there was a musical show and people are rounding up to watch it. Another show we catch is breakdancing performance nears New York avenue. We took many photograph, including with some of Universal movie character, shop some souvenirs to bring home, exited the themepark and headed to the giant merlion statue on Imbiah, it is about 15 minutes walking from Universal Studio. There we shop some more and went back to Vivo City.

At Vivo City my friend wants to buy some baby clothes, so we pounder around the mall for some baby clothes, and i wanna buy a suitcase which is on discount there. My accident here was my credit card got declined when i pay for the suitcase, so i borrow some of my friend money to pay for it and search for an ATM to draw money. After two unsuccesfull attempt, out of curiousity i tried one last time, this time i choose the option draw from savings account and finally i can draw money. This is my first time drawing money at overseas ATM, i really dont know how to do it in the first place, so all i try was trial and error. After that we head back to our hostel, put everything we buy and head back to Orchard, i wanna buy some Japanese food at NipponYa ION. We had dinner at ION foodcourt, its almost 10 pm so some of the stalls are closed, but we finally get to eat some singapore noodle for dinner.

We fly back to Indonesia the day after, I check in early because I wanna go to the airport together with my friend, arrived back safely at my homeland Bandung at 4 pm, there was a 15 minutes delay on the flight but the pilot says it was due the air traffic.

Next post, highlight of my a week trip to Singapore and Thailand

Travelling Singapore - Bangkok (Day 5)

Today, the trip plans is flying back to Singapore from Bangkok.

We slept until about 9 o'clock, then preparing our luggage for check out from the hotel then head straight to the airport. Our flight is around 2 p.m. To prevent the same overweight luggage my friend decided to wear her clothes almost altogether, in layers, and it is hot in Bangkok that day. The check out process was also a breeze, and they also gave me the cancelled receipt for my credit card transaction. We took the airportlink city line back and arrived around 12 o'clock. On check in process apparently ground airport duty staff on Bangkok is not as strict as the ones at Singapore, they don't even weight our luggage. After checking in, the immigration process, it is a long line there, almost take us half an hour just to get pass the immigration. No delay on the flight and we arrived back at Singapore safely. We go and take our left luggage first then head to our hostel, this time we choose Hangout @Mt. Emily hostel to stay in.

Alight at Little India MRT, we follow the instruction directed by google map application on phone, reached the Mt. Emily road and its a climb up the hill road, but ... almost at the end of the road after almost 15 minutes walking we haven't seen the hostel yet, only dark pathway and a hill, the sign says it is Mt. Emily park. So we search for a different route on google map, it directed us on another way, this time via the Wilkie road. So its another walk down the hill and going up the hill again, until we reached our hostel it took us about half an hour, walking, thankfully i carried a backpack, but my friend had to dragged her suitcase and its not light. And after we reached our room, there is a map there, and there i can see that from Mt. Emily road all we had to do is climb up Mt. Emily park, and when i tried it the next morning it gave us about 15 minutes walking time cut. Overall the hostel is much better then the first time we had, the room are bigger, bed are better, bathroom are more spacious, they even provide us towels, soaps and bottled water. After taking a rest, we decided to search for dinner, and apparently there is another cuttrough pathway just by the hostel entrance which will take us directly in the middle of Wilkie road. We had dinner at the nearest KFC, only 10 minutes walk. Overall the location is only 15 minutes from Little India MRT, if you know the pathway trough the park. After dinner we had back, copied photos and rest. This hostel had a free breakfast (i didnt get to try it), free coffee and tea all day and computers you can use. There is a billiard table but you have to pay to use it.

Next, is Universal Studio Singapore day.

Travelling Singapore - Bangkok (Day 4)

Here goes, Day 4 (Bangkok second day), the plan today is Tussaud museum - Chao Phraya - Catuchak

Today, unfortunately Pucci catch a very bad cold so she couldn't accompanied us. We decided to take the bus shuttle to Siam because we wanna go to Tussaud museum, the shuttle is free of charge, but its kinda packed up because many people uses it. Tussaud Museum is located at Siam Discovery, it is on the same place with Oceanarium, and on Siam complex there are also other malls, such as Siam Centre, Paragon, and MBK. The ticket price is 720 baht, located on Siam Discovery 6th floor. The museum has many wax statue, from world leaders (late first president Soekarno is there too), Obama at his oval office, athletes, singers, and also the marvelous Doraemon. If you like to take pictures this is definitely the place for you, and it is the only Tussaud in South East Asia. And inside they also have interactive games mostly using XBOX consoles, most are sports, for example, nearby David Beckham statue you will find a penalty kick game; near Justin Bieber you will find a dancing game, near Bie Astar you can find a karaoke box (yes you can sing karaoke inside it), near Serena Williams you can play tennis, and near the amazing Bruce Lee there is a martial arts figthing game. After Tussaud, we have lunch at Otoya in Siam Paragon, and then headed straight to Central Pier at Thaksin to take the Chao Phraya river boat.

If you like going trough the river but confused which boat to take, i recomend just take the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat ride, yes it is not one of those river cruise boat, but it will only cost you 150 baht a day, from 9.30 am to 10 pm, you can take the boat for free for as many rides you want. It will stop at 8 piers, if you wanna go to the palace just alight at Maharaj Pier, if you wanna go to Wat Arun alight at Tha Thien Pier and boarrd the ferry across the river for 2 baht, with the ticket you will receive a tourist guide for which pier to alight. Just remember the Grand Palace is only open from 8.30 am - 3.30 pm, tickets are 350.

After finishing our river cruise, we go to Chatuchak market. To reach Catuchak, just take the train from Thaksin station to Mo Chit station, walk about 10 minutes, and you have reached Catuchak. Its a market, you can get many Thailand souvenirs here at a bargain price, use a calculator if the seller doesn't understand english, the more you buy usually you will get cheaper price. And don't just stay at one stall, there are many stall there, so you might get even cheaper price. After Chatuchak closed around 7 pm, we head back to our hotel. 

At the hotel, we drop off the stuff we buy, and decided to go to the observatory deck at 77th floor. It is actually one of the hotel facility, if you stay at the hotel you can go there for free, but if you don't you have to pay 300 baht just to go up there. The view from there is beautiful, you can see Bangkok city lights and if you wanna go higher you can go to the rooftop bar at the 85th floor. But if you are afraid of heights, i don't suggest you go there. After the observaroty deck closes at 10.30 pm we went back to our room. 

Next is, bye bye Bangkok and flight back to Singapore (Day 5)

Travelling to Singapore - Bangkok (Day 3)

The third day, is our flight to Bangkok (by Tiger Airways).

After breakfast, the instant noodle we bought the day before, we packed up our stuff,check out from the hostel and headed to the airport for the flight to Bangkok. At check in counter, is where the first "accident" happens, which is.... Naomi's luggage is overweight, we didnt purchased any check in baggage because we didn't think it would be overweighted (and it succesfully passed the airport baggage check in in Indonesia) thankfully the lady at the check in counter allowed some of the stuff to be stuffed to my bag just so its not overweighted anymore, because if it is overweight we have to pay about 30 SGD for the excess baggage. Actually Tiger Airways hand carry luggage allowance is heavier then AirAsia's, they allowed 10 kg hand luggage while AirAsia only allowed 7 kg, how is it passed the aiport in Indonesia, no one knows. We decided to leave some of our stuff at the airport left luggage service, so we would not have the same trouble when flying back to Singapore from Bangkok. The flight to Bangkok is about 2 hours.

Arrived at Svarnabhumi airport, at the immigration queue don't forget to take the TRUE simcard, it is free, contains 7 baht inside, where you can top it up if you want to use it more. Before we take the airport link to city, we eat first at Subway, in my opinion, the healthiest fastfood ever existed. This is because the airport link token machine only take 100 baht bill, so in order to change it we decided to have lunch and use the change. There are two airport link connecting Svarnabhumi and the city, The Express Line and the City Line, we take the City Line because it will make a stop at Ratchaparop station, near our hotel. The last stop for airport link is Phaya Thai station. It cost about 40 baht per person from airport to out station.

When we alight at the Ratchaparop station we got confused again because the hotel is nowhere to be found, we booked a room at Baiyoke Sky hotel, this is supposed to be the tallest hotel in Bangkok, so i think it will be easy to find because when it is tall it is easily seen. So we ask the officer at the station, and apparently his English are not so good, so we just pointed the hotel picture we have at the booking form, and he smiles and just walk a little to the wall, and pointed at the building. Apparently because it is too close and too big so we can not see it. And yes it was very close, only about 5 minutes walk from the airport link station.

The hotel check in was a breeze, the minute we walk in there are already a hotel officer who pointed us to the lift and said, lobby, 18th floor, and he pressed the elevator floor button. It only takes about 5 minutes to check in, our room is at the 44th floor. Yes, this hotel is not for those who are afraid of heights, its lowest room are at 22nd floor. The room is very spacious, even the bathroom is larger than our hostel at Singapore. There we tried to contact our Thailand friend, Pucci. We promised to meet up at Thaksin Station, and then go to Asiatique Riverfront together.

To go Thaksin Station, our way is Phaya Thai - Siam - Thaksin station. Apparently, the ticket machine at Phaya Thai station (not the airport link one) only takes coins, so if you dont have any, change it at the ticket office booth near the machines. Here the station tickets are not tokens anymore, it is like a card, you out it inside a machine when you entered the station, take it back, and when you exited the station you put it back inside again. After we met with Pucci, we go to Central Pier, to take the shuttle boat to Asiatique, and it is free, so there are people lining up for it, we waited about 15 minutes. Asiatique basicly an open air riverfront mall. There are ferris wheel there, and also Calypso show too. There we have our dinner, the original Tom Yum from Thailand. And thank you very much Pucci for the treats, if you ever come to Indonesia we will treat you back. After that, we go walking around Asiatique and as the clock almost reaches 11 pm we decided to call the night.

- Next is Bangkok day 2, Madame Tussaud Museum and River cruise -

Travelling to Singapore - Bangkok (Day 2)

And here goes the story for our second day trip...

Today we are planning to go to Marina Bay area, there are some place you can go there, Marina Bay Sands (malls, hotels and Sky Park), Garden by The Bay (when we are there, there is a Tulip Exhibition, it's very beautiful), Merlion Park ( I used to joke around and call it patung singa muntah), and Changi City Link (if I am not mistaken, it is an underground mall).

First, we have breakfast, it is free at the hostel. There are corn flakes, bread (plus a toaster and jam), coffee dispenser ( it has Milo, Caffee Latte, Black Coffee and Tarik Tea) and water dispenser. Apparently there are many Indonesian who stayed at the hostel, so we can easily chat with other hostel guests. After breakfast    its city time. But first, in order not to get "lost" again we decided to buy a local sim card for our phones. We went to Budha Relic Tooth temple first, its nearby only about 5 minutes walk. After taking a few photos, we buy sim card at the nearest 7-11 store. In my opinion it is the cheapest one, we buy the Singtel HiCard, it is 15 SGD, you get 18 SGD inside, Naomi chooses the Blackberry package (its 5 days package) and i chooses the data package (you get 1 GB internet quota for only 7 SGD, valid for 7 days). And there is a bonus, a big black umbrella that comes free with the card, its very useful, Singapore is hot when its not raining. And its also proven to be of use later time.

We then go to Marina Bay station, to get there, from Chinatown, change trains at Dhoby Ghaut interchange, take the train headed to Marina Bay, take exit B and cross the Dragonfly bridge. When we are outside the station, the sun is apparently shining at its brightest, its very hot. And we have to walk about 15 minutes to reach Garden by The Bay, so if you dont have an umbrella, dont forget to carry and use your best sunscreen.  We walk around at the Garden by The Bay first before entering the conservatory where the Tulip Exhibition are. Garden By The Bay actually is a huge park, there are many plants there, even outside the conservatory. The place is even more beautiful at night, with lights and such. After we are tired walking around under the hot sun, we decided to chill inside the conservatory. To enter the conservatory, you must pay about 16 SGD per person. Actually there are two conservatory, but we only go to one conservatory. Inside is very beautiful, and very...cold (there are some Japanese tourist that are saying, samuii - samuii). There are many plants and flowers inside, and of course the Tulip Exhibition, including a fake windmill inside it. Time flies inside the chill conservatory, tummy are crumbling so we decided to go for a lunch. Near the conservatory exit, there are three huge interactive screen (much taller then an adult), you can use it to see what will happen if cut down trees, change forest to housing lands or plantation.

We walk to Marina Bay Sands, its across the Garden by The Bay. Basicly its a huge mall and hotel, with a Skypark on its top floor. We have lunch at the foodhall, no junkfood this time. Here you can find Indonesian food too, such as Nasi Padang and Ayam Penyet. After tummy are full, we go out and walk to the Merlion Park. It is just across the Sands, about 10-15 minutes walking. But when we reached the mall exit door, rain come pouring down, thankfully we already have our defense against it, the free umbrella, but we can not go to the Merlion Park because its raining hard, so we pull back inside to a mall near Raffles Place station. There we walk around and decided to search for Takashimaya and AKB48 cafe, by using the google map. And this time we got it correctly. From Raffles Place station, alight at Sommerset station. From there we go to HMV store in Sommerset 313, and walk to *Scape mall (about 5 minutes walking) where the AKB48 cafe was supposed to be, and you know what, it is no longer there. So we went to Takashimaya buliding across it and walk around it. There we buy instant noodle, the big sized cup, we are planning to eat it for dinner, and went back to the hostel.

On our walk way back from the station, we decided to eat the local food instead. So i ate the real Chinatown beef noodle instead the instant one. On the menu it said beef ramen, but when i ordered it, the waitress (in my opinion she looks like Anne Suzuki) said, noodle not ramen, i guessed thats what they called it there. And Naomi, uses her many coins to pay for the dinner...and the waitress happily helped us count it. After that is straight back to the hostel and sleep time. 

Next is Day 3 trip, Bangkok day 1 trip.

Travelling to Singapore and Bangkok ( Day 1 )

On May 8-14 2013, I went travelling to Singapore and Bangkok with a friend, Naomi. First there are gonna be three of us, but on the last minute, one of my friend, Anita Sekar cancelled the trip because academic reason (she has to met with a certain lecturer). Our travel itinerary is Indonesia - Singapore - Bangkok - Singapore - Indonesia. I am originating from Bandung, and Naomi is from Magelang, so we don't fly to Singapore together. I took the first flight to Singapore from Bandung by Airasia, i waited for Nao for about 2 hour until she arrrived. After we met up, we decided to eat at the airport KFC, then headed to the city. One tip from me, but I guessed everyone knows it by now, water is expensive in Singapore so to cut budget, carry your own bottle and refill it if you find drinking water faucet.

Our hostel is 5footway inn 2 at Chinatown, we decided to take the MRT from Changi to Chinatown, its very easy, just take the MRT from Changi, change trains at Tanah Merah, then change trains again at Outram Park interchange then take the train headed to Harbourfront and alight at Chinatown station. And at the Changi MRT station is where our first "accident" happens. We want to purchased the EZ link card because we will stay about 5 days and Singapore Tourist Pass MRT card is only for 3 days, and we can use the card again the next time we go to Singapore; so we go to queued up for the card at the ticket office, and ... it's on a lunch break so we have to wait for about half an hour until we can get our card. The price is 15 SGD, you can use 10 SGD and the remain you can not, but you can always top it at the ticket office or counter (for minimum 10 SGD). After we got our EZ link card, then we go straight to our hostel. Please forgive if i got the price wrong, i really forgot. 

The travelling time is about half an hour from Changi station to Chinatown station. And here is our second "accident". We alight at Chinatown, but apparently we took the wrong exit ( apparently we mistaken Platfrom A with Exit A) and we walked around for about 10 minutes until we decided to ask someone, we asked the 7-11 clerk and he said, "You have to go back, this is already near Clarke Quay." And so under the hot sun we traces back our way and after 15 minutes walking we found our hostel. And guessed what, it was actually only 5 minutes walk from the right exit, Pagoda Street. Thankfully the hostel allowed us to check in to our room a half hour earlier then the supposed check in time.

Our hostel room is the one with private bathroom, because we don't wanna go outside the room in the middle of the night just for pee-ing or showering or have to wait in line just to use the shower or toilet (not to mention if it was dirty because many people use it). We have to walk a set of stair first before we reach our room, no elevator, its no problem with me because I travel with a backpack, but Naomi carries a suitcase so its kinda troubling, but the hostel management helped her carries it upstairs. The door to the stairs uses electronic card key, but to enter the room they still uses a key. The room is small, the beds are bunkbeds (but its clean, and there are private lamps and electricity outlets on each bed); and the bathroom is even more tinier ( even I, am a small sized person finds it hard to take a shower) and no towels (you can rent it at the hostel if you want). After we take a rest then we starts wondering the city. Our first destination is Orchard.

While we walked to Chinatown station, there are already stalls and stores selling Singapore merchandises at a cheap price, but they are fixed frice so you can not bargain it. Naomi buys pork jerkeys, we dont have that in Indonesia, so she wanted to try it. The train at Orchard Station exits at ION mall, we wonders around it, and then decided to exit the mall and wonders around Orchard. We didn't buy anything yet, merely because we don't wanna carry anything to Bangkok on the third day. Outside we go to Isetan at Scotts, and we got lost when we try to find Takashimaya building because apparently we read the google map the wrong way (yes, another "accidents"). So after our feet are sores walking around at malls we headed back to our hostel, ate at Chinatown McDonalds for dinner. That is a wrap for day one.

If you are on a budget for eating, the easiest is just eat the fastfood like McDonalds or KFC, or just go to the nearest 7-11 store , they also have food there.

- second day at Singapore will be next .... -