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| We couldn't leave USS without a picture of their famous entrance |
PREPARING FOR THE
TRIP
Plane Tickets
My mom booked plane tickets months ago and the tickets were
on promo. I suggest that if you want to go abroad or any place for that matter,
check promotions online. If you book ahead, you will definitely get your
tickets at cheaper prices.
Cash
I won’t tell you the exact amount I had with me on the trip
but I am gonna say that it was a lot for a person like me who doesn’t work for
a living. I started saving from late June to August and most of the money I got
initially was from my allowance, sacrificing Shakey’s mojos, chocolate cupcakes
and movies at Robinson’s Movie World. My initial goal was to raise P10,000 and
I achieved that goal in less than a month so I pushed myself further. I worked
as an online tutor and whatever salary I got, I just saved in the bank and
never withdrew. Those were the main sources of my pocket money. Hard work does
pay off and I was able to raise a good amount so I can buy…guess what? Makeup.
HAHA. As for changing money, I was able to change my peso not once but a few
times and in quite a few different places, so nothing specific.
Academics
Of course I had to settle everything at school before I went
away because I would be absent in all of my subjects for a meeting or two each.
Good thing that the 26th, which was my birthday, was a holiday. I
had excuse letters printed out and signed by my mom. Then I gave out copies to
my professors and fortunately, they were considerate. My groupmates in a couple
of my subjects were also understanding considering that we had a few tasks to do
that week.
Luggage
I had such a hard time preparing my luggage. I admit, I am a
heavy packer and I would bring with me different pairs of footwear for every
possible outfit which is crazy. I brought a couple of dresses, a lot of shoes,
two extra hand bags and a whole lot of other stuff. It wasn’t very ideal but I
managed to get away with the heavy bag at the airport.
Itinerary
ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH. It’s a lot more convenient to plan
ahead of time so when you arrive there, you’d know where you want to go and you
could get a good estimate of the amount of money you’ll need to bring. Also, it’s
better to book your tickets (plane, bus, theme parks, museums, tours) online
and just print your receipts to avoid long lines and changes in prices.
Researching will save you both your time and money, trust me.
ITINERARY
Day 1 – August 21, 2013
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| At the beautiful and huge Changi Airport, Singapore |
5:55 pm Supposed flight (Cebu Pacific Airline) to Manila
but we were delayed for about 3 hours
10:03 pm Arrival
in Manila but we weren’t able to catch our flight (Cebu Pacific Airline) to SG
so we were rebooked for free on the next flight the next day
WARNING: THIS PART IS A RANT. It
was such a stressful day because we wanted to catch our international flight
but all the domestic flights to Manila were delayed due to the really bad
weather. When we arrived at NAIA, we approached the ground staff to check if we
could still board for our international flight and they said yes. So we hurried
to the counter so we could check-in. On the way to the far counter, we heard
the intercom calling any more passengers for our flight so we were really
hoping that we could still ride on that plane. When we arrived, the staff asked
us to wait so we were thinking that they would process our documents so we
could still leave that night. 30 minutes passed, 45 to almost an hour and
nothing was happening, no staff said a thing and we were literally STANDING BY
THE COUNTER waiting for them to attend to us, yes for almost 45 effin’ minutes!
My parents were being too modest that night and to my surprise, it was me who
was almost yelling at the staff. I asked a couple of times, NICELY, about our
flight and they kept telling us to wait. Other passengers who came even later
were attended to, foreigners were given faster service, but us? NO. F*ck that
airline! Excuse my harsh terms. After almost an hour and after showing them my
rage, they FINALLY attended to us and told us that the airplane fucking left
without us, like DUH!? That was an hour ago! They told us that they were
booking us to the next flight early in the morning. They could have just told
us that earlier instead of giving us false hopes and making us look like idiots
standing by the counter waiting for mother effin’ grace! It was their fault and
they didn’t even feed us with free effin’ Jollibee plus accommodation! Since
our flights were both in the same airlines, they were supposed to give us free
accommodation because of the delayed domestic flight, but NOOOO! Sigh. DONE.
Day 2 – August 22, 2013
2:30 am Check-in at the airport
2:50 am Paid travel tax (PHP 1,620 for adults and 810 for
minors) + 200 processing fee
5:00 am Boarding
I just have to say this, without any bias, the plane sucked and was no
match to PAL’s international flight. The ambiance was a no go and the chairs
were very uncomfortable. It was an international flight so I was kind of
expecting something better. Their domestic flights are even better.
8:46 am Touchdown Singapore
9:41 am Left to Bukit Batok where Tita
Amor’s house is
10:00 am Arrived at Bukit Batok
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| Tita Amor is sitting beside my mom and the one beside my sister is her husband |
Tita Amor is my mom’s friend way back in the College of Law. She
happens to be a Runggiyan and a UPVTC alumna which was surprising. She was
sweet and generous enough to accommodate us inside her home in Singapore where
only she and her husband live. It was a nice cozy place. She also taught us how
to get around. I was able to stash various maps of famous destinations and even
MRT stations of Singapore. Singapore is a small city and it has a VERY
EFFICIENT transportation system so even if you’re a tourist, it would be super
easy to visit all the hotspots there.
12:36 pm Johor Bahru, Malaysia
2:30 pm Arrival at Legoland
Our first destination was Legoland which is technically in Malaysia but if we were to travel from Kuala Lumpur to Legoland, it would take us longer than traveling from Singapore. Our tickets were bought online and most of the packages online offer pretty much the same rates. We had lunch at the bus station for buses that go to Legoland. Most of the food there were spicy so my sibs and I weren’t able to eat anything.
Legoland is in Johor Bahru, the capital city of the state of Johor
which is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The Lego-inspired theme
park is fairly new so the whole place was still being developed. My sister and
I wanted to try all the sick rides like their roller coasters and all. We all
had so much fun.
5:47 pm Leave to Singapore
6:20 pm Malaysia Customs
7:00 pm Singapore Customs
It was a little tedious to travel back and forth Malaysia and Singapore
because we had to go down and up our buses again and again to have our
passports checked. One good thing – we all had so many stamps on our passports!
 |
| A picture inside the Flyer |
7:55 pm Arrival at Lavender Station
8:05 pm Paya Lebar Station
9:00 pm Ride the famous Singapore Flyer!
It wasn’t hard to look for the Flyer. All we had to do was look for the
station nearest to it and walk for a few minutes. We could see the beautiful
night view of Singapore. We also took a lot of pictures!
9:30 pm Finish
riding the Flyer
10:20 pm Arrive at Bukit Batok
Day 3 – August 23, 2013
8:45 am Left Bukit Batok
9:00 am Rode
the MRT to go to the meeting place for our bus to Universal Studios Singapore (USS) which was in Sentosa Island, just 10-20 minutes away from Singapore City
12:07 pm Went
off to USS
 |
| We ate at this burger restaurant |
 |
Sentosa Island, Singapore has four stations, each featuring different
attractions, malls and hotels. USS is only a part of Resorts World Sentosa. Our
USS tickets again, were booked online. It was quite pricey but the adult tickets
had free S$5 USS Merchandise Coupons and S$10 Food Coupons which we could use
in any store inside the theme park. I also had my money changed in a bank
called CIMB if I remember correctly. I had a pretty good deal. If you’re
wondering about exchange rates, don’t ask me. It’s pretty complicated!
USS is a theme park inspired by the popular movies of Universal Studios
like Transformers and Madagascar. It was one heck of an experience. Transformers:
The Ride was THE BEST ride I’ve ever had. Seriously, if you happen to be there,
don’t miss that one. The long line was worth it. I haven’t had the time to take
a lot of pictures inside because I had way too much fun. We also bought
souvenir items and I got a good deal for Charles.
7:40 pm Watched the Songs of the Sea
8:03 pm Head to Harbour Station
8:30 pm Ate at the Food Republic
9:05 pm Rode a train from Harbour Station to Buona Vista
Station, Singapore
 |
| Ayam in Waray-waray means dog! HAHA. |
The Songs of the Sea is a sort of musical water show comparable to the
one being shown at the Ocean Park in Manila. The one in Manila is so much
better. After the show, we ate at this food court. We then headed back to
mainland Singapore.
10:00 pm Arrive at Bukit Batok
11:03 pm Leave Bukit Batok
11:30 pm Arrive at Keypoint Station
12:00 am Left for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Our days in Singapore were over but we weren’t able to go around the
city and explore other hotspots. We had pre-booked tickets for a bus to Kuala
Lumpur. We also had to make some stops at the customs but the ride was pretty
smooth and fast. It took us about 4 hours to arrive to Kuala Lumpur and from the
last stop, we were fetched by my Tita Malou, my mom’s sister, and Tito Kim, her
husband. They have lived in Malaysia since forever and my two cousins, Abigail
and Joshua are with them of course. They had a car but they rented another one
so we all could fit because Singapore and Malaysia’s laws do not allow more
than 5 people inside a car, driver included. So we headed to their home
Day 4 – August 24, 2013
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| My Tita's building; I know it doesn't look decent but it's an old condo and it really is very nice inside |
5:05 am Arrive at Tita Malou’s house
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| My cousins and their almost adopted sibling |
9:45 am Travel to Genting Highlands
11:37 am Ride cable car to Genting
11:55 am Arrive at Genting
3:33 pm Exit the Outdoor Theme Park and eat the Pizza Hut
5:00 pm Ride cable car back to station
5:35 pm Head back to KL
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| SPOT ME! |
 |
| This was another sick ride! |
6:45 pm Visit a temple inside a cave
7:50 pm Kind’s Palace
8:16 pm Joy ride to Solaris and entrance of KLCC
9:18 pm Head home
9:40 pm Arrive at Tita’s house
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| The gang |
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| No bias here, but I really think this is a great photo! |
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| My parents feeling exhausted |
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| Me and my beautiful cousin, Abby |
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| At the King's Palace |
Day 5 – August 25, 2013
10:20 am Head to Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC)
10:45 am Check-in at the Twin Towers
11:45 am Finish the Twin Towers tour and
shopped at Sephora, Suria, KLCC
Tita Malou scored us tickets a few days before to see the Twin Towers. It’s important to book ahead to make sure that you get your slot. To be honest, I wasn’t very fascinated with the view from the Twin Towers. I was more amazed with the infrastructure and the design. We pretty much only took pictures inside. What I did after was of course, a lot more interesting! Finally, SEPHORA! More details in another post coming up.
1:30 pm Head to Aeon
1:50 pm Lunch at McDonald’s Aeon
2:40 pm Head to Putra Jaya
4:45 pm Arrive at Putra Jaya
 |
| My parents doing their selfies |
One interesting fact about McDonald’s Malaysia: bottomless softdrinks! I
could buy coke for lunch, save the plastic cup and come back in the evening for
refill! HAHAHA. Anyways, Putra Jaya as I understand it is the city that serves
as the federal administrative center of Malaysia. The immigration office is
there, the office of the prime minister/president is also there, and lots of
other attractions. It’s a very clean and organized part of Malaysia. The
infrastructure and the arrangement of the buildings, streets and pretty much
everything are amazing. It is however, quite a long drive but it was worth it.
5:16 pm Central Market
8:00 pm Sogo
9:30 pm Head to eat
10:13 pm Eat at a sort of eat-all-you-can shabu-shabu place
11:43 pm Head home
11:53 pm Home
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| Tito Kim doing the cooking |
When we arrived back to KL, we went to the Central Market which is a
small building where you could find souvenir items being sold in different
stalls. You have to look for the best store that offers the cheapest price
because most of the stalls there pretty much sold the same things. I also
wanted to buy a few more items so we went to a mall called Sogo and went to eat
at a shabu-shabu afterwards to celebrate my birthday in advance.
Day 6 – August 26, 2013
9:05 am Head to ride a bus back to Singapore
10:00 am Ride the bus to Singapore
The last day was spent for traveling. We arrived in Manila a little too
early for our flight back to Tacloban so we did a little shopping in Duty Free.
We arrived home in the evening.
OTHER TIPS
Singapore VS Malaysia
I can’t really compare the two countries thoroughly because I’ve only
been there for a short amount of time. But judging from the whole experience, I
would say that Singapore is definitely a lot more organized than Kuala Lumpur.
The transportation system, as I’ve mentioned, in Singapore is very efficient.
The city itself feels so safe and it’s a lot cleaner that Malaysia. It is
however small so you could kind of tour around in a day or two. Malaysia is a
HUGE place and there are many hotspots to see. If we were only traveling alone
in Malaysia, we would really find it hard to go around. Luckily for us, my mom’s
sister already lives there so she was the one who really served as our guide.
As far as prices go, products in Malaysia are definitely a lot cheaper, like A
LOT. So if you want to go shopping, better do it in Malaysia than in Singapore.
Currency
It’s so difficult to calculate how much money I’ve lost when I kept
changing my money from Peso to Singaporean Dollar to Malaysian Ringgit then
back again. Of course, it depends on the current exchange rates.
Budget
Your budget would depend on your planned itinerary and the kind of trip
you are going for. If you want to go there for pure relaxation, I think you
better prepare a lot more money. If you are the backpacker type, I’d say PHP20,
000 each is enough for tickets to theme parks, shows, transportation, museums, food
and a few souvenir items. That is of course relative to our itinerary. That
doesn’t include the plane tickets, airport tax and accommodation. But if you
want to go shopping for other items, you could bring some more money.
What I would do and where I
would go I had a chance to go back
We weren’t able to go around the city so if I went back, I’d definitely
check those hotspots out. I think I’d also do a little more shopping (if I had
the money) and I would go for a hotel in Sentosa, maybe Hard Rock! HAHA.
AMBISYOSA! Saka na lang pag mayaman na
ako.
That is it for my trip to Singapore and Malaysia. I really hope you
found this helpful if ever you plan on going there! If you have any questions,
comments or suggestions, you can always leave them below or send an email. Just
click Contact in the navigation and fill the form up! Watch out for the next
two posts coming up: OOTD’s and a Haul!
Ciao!
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