Welcome to Singapore! This multicultural country might be small but it definitely worth your visit. You will find yourself in the midst of concrete jungle to the real literal jungle. This is our Singapore Travel Journal from our 3 days short getaway to the Lion City!
You might have a couple of question seeing that picture. Hold on the questions! Let me explain. First, in case anyone wondering, it is Merlion statue which is the mascot of Singapore.
“Mer” the sea and “Lion” which is the animal, lion or Singa in Malay. This mythical creature is the national personification of this country hence the name, Lion City.
Second, you might think I use too much filter on that photo. Too much “fade” or “haze” filter. But no! Unfortunately, it’s not a filter, it’s real life haze. We might have picked a wrong time to visit..
(Sorry for) The Haze!
This journal is coming from while back when we travel to Singapore for Halloween Horror Night 5. Yes, I know it’s a bit (long) overdue but hey it might help someone (or us). Anyway, back to my point, you might know the heated topic in South East Asia around that time. The Haze!
It was basically an air pollution crisis caused by irresponsible forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Back on 2015, the fires spread out uncontrollably due to the dry season around late June and got worst to the end of October. It was impacting several countries in South East Asia including Singapore.
PSI value is the indicator used to rate the air quality. The good air quality range from 0-50 and moderate up to 100. And while we were there, the PSI range between 113-130 which count as Very Unhealthy!
I know that we didn’t cause that forest fires, but since it was coming from our country, we can’t help but feel sorry. Because it was bad, like really bad. We literally can’t see anything far away plus the burning smells in the air was really unpleasant. So, sorry guys! 🙏🏻
Breakfast & Check-In
Now that I had that haze disclaimer out of my system, we can start with the travel journal, shall we? As per usual, we always booked the earliest flight and this time our flight was 06.15am. Flight to Singapore from Jakarta only took less than 2 hours so the first thing we did after arriving was to grab some breakfast.
This was not out first time in Singapore so we already knew how to use the public transport here. MRT system in Singapore is fairly easy to use, you can buy a one-way ticket or buy the top-up card. MRT reach to almost everyplace you want to go as a tourist, so you don’t need to worry about the transport here.
We were staying at the Rendezvous Hotel Singapore. This is more of a higher end hotel but the location was amazing. The closest MRT station, Dhoby Ghaut was just 5 mins walking. Yes, we have a review of this hotel (coming soon!). We dropped our luggage, have a short nap, and then hit the street again.
Stroll around Sentosa
The only itinerary we had for the first day was only the HHN in the Universal Studio Singapore. But the event starts at night time so to kill some time we planned to stroll around the Sentosa Island. Sentosa is an island resort with a bunch of attractions, a popular getaway for Singaporean.
It’s super easy to get to Sentosa Island with MRT.
- Take North-East line or Circle line to HarbourFront station.
- Take Exit E to VivoCity and proceed to level 3 to board the Sentosa Express monorail.
- The island admission already included in the round-trip ticket fare.
VivoCity is a shopping mall, so you can walk around if you like. We also had our lunch here before going to Sentosa Island. They have a food court here with pretty decent meals selection.
Tourist Selfies
I think we were just bored that time because nothing much to see in Sentosa. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of activities to do but since we didn’t really have much time left we can only stroll around. And Sentosa is a pretty big island to go on by foot so we don’t really stray too far.
So what we do when we are bored? We took pictures. Especially taking picture of other tourist taking pictures. #photoception. Some went really all out to take the best angle, some took a “convincing” selfie, some took extra miles to take each other photos.
Scary Nights!
More about the Halloween Horror Nights coming really soon, stay tuned for that. 😉 But what I can say for now it was a really scary experience, for one reason and another.
After that, we were back to the hotel. And luckily we didn’t miss the last MRT from Sentosa. Apparently, we didn’t bring back the bad luck from the Halloween horror. Great!
Marina Bay Sands
So for the second day, we are pretty much being a tourist and a food critics the whole day. Because we didn’t book our hotel with breakfast, we had our breakfast in Tiong Bahru. Then we went to the famous Garden by The Bay, including the OCBC Sky Walk. We will have another review for both of them coming soon!
In the middle of the day, we visited the famous Marina Bay Sands. We have ever been here during our trip to Vietnam because we have a one-day stopover in Singapore but didn’t really have time to look around. So, this time we have more time for window shopping in Marina Bay Sands.
They also have a small canal, like the one they have in Venetian Hotel Macau but way smaller. It’s too small for me to spend my money for riding the boat, so it’s a pass for me. We also exchange our money in one of the money changer here. The rate was alright, it’s not too bad but don’t expect anything from the service.
Afternoon Walk
Then after Marina Bay Sands, we went to Lau Pa Sat which is another food court. But we did take our time walking to the MRT and taking pictures along the way.
I think there’s something about the haze that made the weather somehow confusing for my body. It was hot like the sun was blazing but I can see no sun. All I can see was gray, gray everywhere. #fiftyshadeof…
WONDER FULL Lights on!
After the early dinner in Lau Pa Sat, we were going to the Esplanade area to watch the WONDER FULL. It is a light and water shows at Marina Bay Sands. But the interesting things that it is visible from both side. So you can watch from Marina Bays Sands looking towards the city side or vice versa.
The closest thing I ever watch that similar to this is the Symphony of Lights in Hong Kong. But those both are different in scale. Wonder Full is a mini version of that. But nonetheless, if you got extra time I totally recommend this as it is free!
Then we spend the rest of the night walking around the waterfront area. Snapping here and there. Enjoying the night like the others do before coming back to the hotel. And lights out.
Chinatown Breakfast
The next morning was our last day, so we pretty much have a late start of the day. We have our brunch at the Chinatown area. It called People’s Park.
I think I see Singaporean people as bilingual people, all the people I met can speak at least English and another language. But I remember having a bit of a hard time ordering food in Chinatown as there were some people who can only speak Mandarin. Well, it called Chinatown for a reason tho.
Cheap food, not too expensive, market vibes, people shouting, exactly what you can expect from a Chinatown.
The Star Vista
This is the last place we have on our itinerary and I can say this is the furthest of all the place we visited. It’s located on the northern side and it took around 40mins of MRT rides which is unusual because we usually spend less than 15mins on a single MRT journey.
But the main reason we were coming here was to attend the Sunday service at the New Creation Church. You might ever hear of their senior pastor Joseph Price or you might not. The Star Performing Arts Centre in Bueno Vista is also used as their main worship venue.
The Star is also a shopping mall. So after we attended the service here, we were having early dinner in one of the restaurants there. Then we went straight to the airport by MRT which is a good thing that it’s on the same line so we didn’t have to change train. But it took 1 hour 30 mins to reach Changi Airport,
And that’s the end of our Singapore Travel Journal this time. But to be honest, I don’t think it’s going to be the last tho because Singapore is really close with Jakarta so we might be having another trip in the future. Maybe, just wait and see. 😉 Until then, we also have Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur and more travel journal that you can check out.
Let us know in the comment if you had any suggestion for our next trip to Singapore and check out our social media below for more recent updates. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get notified everytime we post new stuff. Until next time, keep exploring!
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Here’s our itinerary map when in Singapore:
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