Walking Trip in Singapore
For my long weekend break in the end of April, I paid a visit to Singapore for two and a half days. One of the reasons was to attend a chalet for my game's guild, and the second reason was to see places that I once visited 11 years ago. Of course, I have quite an amount of friends in Singapore that I wanted to meet some of them too! ❤My trip was considered pretty much a budget trip, where my expenses breakdown are as follow:
- Bus tickets: RM 110 (To and from Boon Lay - Kuala Lumpur)
- Accommodation: Friend's house (which really saved me a lot)
- Chalet: SGD 25
I've spent a total of 100SGD within Singapore, which excludes the above, and includes:
- Transportation in Singapore (MRT and bus): Around SGD13
- Pompompurin Cafe: 40SGD
- The rest are on meals and souvenirs.
 |
| Each day we stray further from God by doing stupid sh*t |
DAY 1: Where all the Touristy Stuff Happens
I took a night bus from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and arrived at 3am. Since I'm staying with my friend, and somehow I was lucky to find out that the bus stop is right opposite of my friend's place, it wasn't much of a trouble. ❤
Since it was a short stay, I also didn't bring much besides some clothes to change in my backpack, plus an additional tote bag (which was INSIDE my backpack), so there wasn't even anything to unpack to begin with! Both my friend and I are in Japanese 2D hell so we talked for some time, rested and woke up at 8am, hopped onto the public bus, got our breakfast and begin!
SPOT 1: Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple (Buddhist Temple)
 |
| Buddha Tooth Relic Temple |
This temple has five different levels, and its style gives the vibes from the Tang dynasty - with red and white walls on the outside, and all the reds and gold insides. It also has a theater and a tea house. They have a large stupa that is said to be made of 320kg of gold, where about 230+ kg of it is donated by their devotees. Their relics can only be seen from the public viewing area.
I have also read online that they also offer weekly tours that are FOC (register here) and conducted by the temple's volunteer guides, lasting for about 2 hours. I don't think we had the time for tours so we just prayed and headed to our next destination.
SPOT 2: Sri Mariamman Temple (Hindu Temple)
 |
| Sri Mariamman Temple |
Said to be the oldest Hindu temple, we were amazed that there were so many people here by the time I arrived. There were a lot of beautifully-colored details on their walls, that were made by Indian immigrants in the past. This temple is dedicated to Mariamman, a goddess that cures illnesses and diseases with her powers. I was also told that in the past, this temple was also used to for Hindu marriages. Over time, the temple has been restored numerous times.
SPOT 3: Chinatown
 |
| Chinatown |
The Sri Mariamman Temple was located in Chinatown, and since we arrived, why not taking some time to stroll around? So we walked around, look at the stalls (some were still opening, some were still closed), but there were definitely a lot of food. Then again, we were still full so we didn't grab anything for our tummies (we planned to visit the Pompompurin cafe with another friend later, anyways!).
 |
| Main road of Chinatown |
I was also looking for some traditional Chinese medicine that I used to ask my relative to buy, but unfortunately I couldn't find it in Chinatown anymore. After that, we were thinking of taking the MRT to Clarke Quay (and I just knew that it's read as Clarke 'Key' instead of Clarke 'Kuih', SMH what have I been doing with my life), so we walked our way there! But before that, we had a classy spot to rest in Park Royal hotel.
 |
| Pretty food from Park Royal Hotel |
SPOT 4: Clarke Quay
Funny thing happened: We took the MRT from Chinatown and arrived Clarke Quay MRT station, but after that, we walked towards the opposite direction, and went all the way back to Chinatown MRT station because we weren't using a GPS and I was also being a cheapo thinking that getting a SIM card for only 3 days is not practical (and not economical too) LMAO.
 |
| The moment when I see this building again, I KNEW something was wrong |
We were like "OMG HAHAHA we should have just walked instead of giving MRT our money" and ended up spending a dollar in McDonalds for some ice-cream. Let's be honest: Singapore has hot weathers just like Malaysia too. Ice-creams are definitely live-saving!
 |
| Clarke Quay, where you can probably drink and fall into the river if you are too drunk |
Somehow, we found our way to Read Bridge (or Malacca Bridge) and arrived the land of bars! Though this place would look a lot nicer at night (for its pubs and bars), we were thinking that it wasn't so far away from the Merlion, so we just decided to walk past here and look around! The walls around here are colorfully painted, and not to mention, the smell of pizza is really nice, too!
 |
| Not much of the places here are open during the day, except really few of them |
Another friend of mine, Melissa said that Wednesdays nights would be great for the ladies if you are dropping by Clarke Quay. ;)
SPOT 5: Elgin Bridge
After looking around the colorful buildings, we walked our way to Elgin's Bridge. I was expecting to be able to have a great view of the bay from this bridge because there were people giving reviews on getting nice views from here, but due to the weather it didn't go too well. The bridge is still nice, regardless!
 |
| Elgin Bridge |
On the way, we also passed by the Former Hill Street Police Station. Probably not open during the day/time of my visit because I can't see anyone there, but we walked around and took some photos. They seem to have a nice gallery that I wasn't sure if I can walk in to have a look.
 |
| Inside the Former Hill Street Police Station |
SPOT 6: Victoria Theatre
And so, we moved on, and continued walking to the Victora Theatre. On our way there, we walked past the Parliament of Singapore, and arrived Victoria Theatre! Statue of Raffles was also nearly.
 |
| Victoria Theater |
SPOT 7: Merlion
My legs decided to scream "I AM TIRED", so we walked across the Anderson Bridge and had a good rest in Starbucks.
 |
| Starbucks |
While chit-chatting with my friend and having my matcha frappuccino, we utilized the wifi to login to our precious Japanese games. ♡
 |
| Drizzling tbh |
Then we walked to Merlion to have some funny shots. I mean, isn't this shot something complimentary for tourists?
 |
| That Complimentary Singapore Tourist Photo |
SPOT 8: Esplanade
Esplanade isn't far from Merlion, so we just walked our way there and took some photos. Exhibitions were also in the esplanade too! After looking around, we walked our way to the MRT station. The walk felt very long, probably the longest walk to the MRT station that I had in Singapore?
 |
| Inside of Esplanade - Art that I will never understand |
And so we move to Somerset!
SPOT 9: Pompompurin Cafe @ Somerset
My friend is a Burmese, and it was interesting to talk about various kinds of topics. We also laughed at some station names, like Bras Basah (because 'basah' in Malay language means 'wet') so we were like 'oooh wet bras' lol because we had no idea how the name 'Bras Basah' came. Then again I was also thinking...
1) Asians love their rice so much and rice is also 'Beras' and could sound like 'Bras' when you say 'beras' very quickly
2) You need to wash the rice before you cook them so maybe it's also why they are wet?
So we self-concluded that it's probably because of wet rice (*'▽')
That aside, we met up with our friend Miuna in Somerset for the cafe! Another friend of ours, Martha, was supposed to join us but she couldn't make it here physically because her dad's health condition (weep weep). Regardless, the experience in Pompompurin Cafe was fun (burnt a hole in my wallet though, I never had a meal that costs 40SGD in my life tbh) with the plushies and everything are so cute! I also get to have a small mug (I can put my spaghetti gravy in next time) to bring home. It'd be fun to visit with friends so I recommend visiting with friends and take some hipster photo, if you'd like!
SPOT 10: Gardens by the Bay
Moving from Somerset, we decided to visit Gardens by the Bay for the metal structure trees. I was thinking about walking on their OCBC walkway that is mid-air, but then again a part of me was also feeling so lazy to walk anymore so the three of us just stayed on the ground levels and chill.
 |
| Sunset by the Bay |
We also caught sunset near the bay area and went home. Since I am visiting Singapore, my friend Aoi decided that we should have a long bus ride, so we had a bus ride that lasted for almost an hour from Buono Vista, all the way back to Boon Lay! We had dinner and the rest of the day was playing mobile games in the room together lolol
DAY 2: Food - Chalet
I woke up feverish because I walked in the rain on Day 1. It sucked, but I also dragged myself out to meet my friends for food _(:3J
Food Place #1: Genki Sushi @ Somerset for some really fun sushi experience
We have decided that we'll have sushi (because tbh, I really won't think that local food in Singapore would be fascinating because Singapore and Malaysian food are pretty similar and I can just get them at home anyway).
Genki sushi had multiple branches, we went to the one in Somerset. The restaurant has the designs that resembles the JR shinkansen railways. Each seat is like a station, and you will be ordering via an iPad. Later on, your food will arrive on the shinkansen! You'll collect them and press a button to send the train back after you've done your collecting. The food here are pretty nice too! Though some of them seems to be overrated (especially their mentaiko fries), but eating with friends is always nice.
Food Place #2: Icelab @ Orchard for Bingsoo
So full after eating sushi! And later on, we walked around to get some medicine (unfortunately still couldn't find it) and dropped by Tokyu Hands. There were a lot of Japanese stores around this area, but the pricing compared to Japan can be a little... scary (probably due to import taxes?). We also got ourselves some bingsu (or Bingsoo, 冰酥) from Icelab.
Then, we headed to Orchard road to Kinokuniya @ Takashimaya building and Sephora for some makeup products. Although I am not a card holder, the service that I received in Sephora Malaysia and Singapore are different. The staff in Singapore, if not occupied, would always seem ready to help. I was looking around for some brow products, and one of the staff came to help. I even obtained some advise on how to draw my brows more properly. As for the staff in Malaysia that I have visited, they only seem to approach you when you ask for help. There are good and bad in this, because there are just times where I just wanted to look around and I definitely do not wish to be disturbed and make any sort of conversation at all, but the experience I had in Singapore was really nice!
Headed back after the food, and purchased my ticket for the following morning to return to Kuala Lumpur.
 |
| Why is the sky so clear when I leave Singapore :( |
What I've realized is that, I am really reliant on my friend in Singapore because I honestly have no idea how to get around without the internet. I also feel that I learn to be a lot more independent when I have to do certain things myself as compared to how it was like when I was in Japan on my own. I also feel that I have better personality growth when I am really travelling on my own, so I will definitely try to get out from my home and go out for more trips! (Settling down on a job is more important now though)
People also asked me what I think about Singapore, whether there would be anything that I dislike. I think the thing that I would dislike the most would be their Wi-Fi in MRT stations. It takes time to get OTP and everything, and by the time I finished keying my details, the train has arrived so... I don't see the point of providing free Wi-Fi where tourists can't really use it. :(
Some people would say that Singaporeans can be really cocky, but my friends in Singapore are all warm and nice, and some are punny too! If you approach someone to ask for help, you would still be able to get some forms of help, but maybe not from everyone. It's understandable that Singapore is a very highly efficient country so people here are working on a fast pace, maybe so fast that sometimes emotions would be placed aside so don't feel too disheartened and take things too personally.
I guess that's all for this post! Until next time! ☆
