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 .... -
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