S'pore Experience 1

*this is the first of a three-part post.

" Life is either a great adventure or nothing. " - Helen Keller

" Singapore is a fine city. "

The highlight of my holidays this break, the much-anticipated trip south to the home of the Merlion, Singapore. Singapore, and the first thing that came into my mind was that, it had been more than ten years ago since i last stepped foot on that foreign ground. The memories of the previous visit were soon fading, but as i revisited some of the places, i realized that the images were still intact.

The second thing was, painfully, the financial part. Singapore's currency rate is higher than Malaysia's, so everything we had planned to do came with the price of more than double the actual. Surfing through the Net, searching for an accommodation, my heart sank looking at the high prices. Thankfully, N and Y were coincidentally going there too and they invited S and i to join them at their relative place. And of course, there's AirAsia with low rates, everyone can fly and this trip kicked off! Introducing the fantastic four: N, Y, S and me.

- Marina Bay Sands
This place is luxurious! Surrounded by futuristic building design, this place is worth a visit. Recommendation: Go during the night will be much more amazing with the city lights in play.

The four of us, in front of the Marina Bay Sands area.

Inside the shopping area. It's like Pavilion, but slightly better.

With the city as background.

- Esplanade
Another place for shopping. Window shopping. We spent a short time visiting the area. We were more interested with the scenic view of the city and from here, we could see the Merlion statue. The Merlion was having a sore throat, so no water fountain out.

Notice the Esplanade at the left of the picture. Looks like a durian.

- Singapore Flyer
One of the biggest, we could see the entire city of Singapore and beyond! Comment: It was pricey and if you're on a tight budget, you might want to give this a pass.

They built and decorated the platform of the Flyer nicely.

A thirty minute ride, one rotation, in an air-conditioned surrounding plus with the view of the city surely gave us time to rest our wearing feet and to enjoy the ride before continuing our sight-seeing tour around city on foot.

- Bugis Street and Bugis Junction
Having visited two of the higher-end shopping location, this place gave us the chance to actually purchase something. At reasonable prices, this place offers good souvenirs and food along the way. Recommended visit.

At the entrance of Bugis Street.

In Bugis Junction. I liked the concept of this shopping area. Gave that sense of, what do you call, overseas.

- Boat Quay/Clarke Quay and River City
These places come to life at night. There were cafes by the river and lit to excite. Also here was the ride similar to the G-Force, but since we weren't fully prepared for this extreme ride, we vowed to come back next time to ride on this. Recommended a visit.

By the river, dusk.

River point. On this bridge, the view of the river side was amazing.

Getting dark amplified the atmosphere.

Quickly took a picture with this.

- Orchard Road
As always, this place was amazing at night. Liked the lights, shopping again. Recommended.

Posed with the shopping statues.

Resting, on the fountain, along the road.

Posing in front of a replica of the C Ronaldo statue. I don't even like him but because of the WC fever, i wanted to, evil eyes, make people envious.

> Mass Rail Transit, MRT vs Light Rail Transit, LRT
Having used the MRT most of our time during our stay in Singapore, it is just saddening to see how our Malaysia's LRT system sat in comparison. We failed, miserably. The MRT system is super good, and we need not worry if it's too crowded because even if it's still was, we managed to get into it. There were many coaches per trip. And the mentality of the people, going out first before new ones enter, was something the Malaysians need to follow.

A map of their integrated MRT system. 4 lines at various interchanges. And to get to their airport via this, we don't need to take as long as 45 minutes- which was something my friend and i should be very much grateful of. If not, we won't be back in KL soon, but that's another story.

The only thing that we have, that's better in my humble opinion, was the atmosphere inside the train. To be honest, the atmosphere inside was rather tense. People don't talk much in the train and usually, they'll just read a book (a healthy habit, no doubt) or blast their iPod into their ears or be engaged to their handphones or PDA. I'm not saying i prefer noisy environment in the train, it just felt so, quiet.

> Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle
This is a must try! You can find this at any food court or hawker centre. It's something that's not in Malaysia, so that could be another reason why i liked this food on the first official night of our stay.

Enjoying my dinner.

After all was done, we headed back to the house. It was an exhausting day, and it was only the first, we had already complaint of aches on our legs. But, it was all worth it. The places we visited really opened our minds to futuristic possibilities and shopping, as i'd like.

wc10&Singapore Part 2 coming soon...

= Onto World Cup. Why are my teams clashing against one another? First, Germany and Argentina. Germany won by 4, should be their lucky number, and will meet Spain in the semifinal. I'm hoping Germany will ride on their fantastic play and win the cup. On the other side, Brazil lost to Netherlands. Brazil was amazing, their passing were beautiful but mistakes caused them dearly. Anyway, Brazil still need to find the oomph that brought them glory back in 2002. Looking forward to the semifinals- Uruguay to kick out Netherlands, as revenge! *evil smile*