Singapoh's days out..



And the Journey began..



I just got back from my short vacation, well actually it wasn’t that short anyway. I spent four days in Singapore (officially Singapoh for me now) with some of my office besties. we've planned this trip since a year ago. And like usual, some of besties cancelled their trip, oohhh u girls missed the parteeehhhh *LoL*. I think its gonna be a loooonggggg post, so seat back and enjoy the popcorn.

first day at Singapoh, after arriving at Changi, we went to the hostel that we have been online booked before. we stayed in the hive backpacker hostel. i can't wait to see the hostel. well call me 'ndeso' but i never stay in hostel before and so excited to feel it. It located in little india area, quite far from the downtown. But luckily, the MRT Station is right across it, so it doesnt matter for us. I wish i can stay next to some 'bule2 ganteng nan imut or cutie chinese', but oh but we have to spare the floor with vietnamese bikers. and they were not in young ages :(. Because we travelled in 7, we got our own room, 3 bunk beds and one extra bed. After put all the luggage and made a quick 'washy washy',we went for the first itinerary, shopping!! So the itinerary were : bugis, chinatown, clarke quay (based on the nearest MRT line). Well I have no intention of going shopping anyway, so when the ladies were busy spending their money, I just looked around and took some pics. fortunately, there was Titis that accompany me, so we were taking pics and bought some snacks from the street hawker nearby. The crowd in Bugis were soooooo crowded. I cant stand the crowd so me and titis decided to wait the girls in the alley behind the kiosks.This is my tips for u, if u wanna buy some souvenirs, buy it in Chinatown. The price is quite cheap depend on The Bugis'. the products are more variative, plus the crowd wasnt too scary for its open aired (The Bugis is in arcade). So we spent the day with shopping (I bought some things that my friend asked me to buy and few souvenirs for my fam and friends), taking pics, and ended it in Clarke Quay, had dinner and met up with mimi, Titis Singaporean friend.unfortunately i couldnt grab the turkish Ice Cream, because we were too exhausted to walk and we had to catch the last MRT, huhuhu...

Escaping The Bugis' crowd..

2nd day, we went to Orchard, Marina Bay, Museum Peranakan, Merlion Park. Busy doing the photo session in Orchard, Me and titis did some pose like we used to see in The Sartorialist, hihihi..When I made a line in Cotton on's cashier (clothing shop), suddenly they played Edward Maya's song. Oh i cant stand it and started singing. And a handsome guy in front of me turned his body and asked me how come i know that song. And both of us surprised that we are indonesian. Well a lot of Indonesian there, but it still surprising thingy for us. Unfortunately we didnt ask for each other contact. So, hey u handsome guy, everytime i play that song its always u that pop up in my head!!* I wish he read this post*

The Sartorialist Wannabe..

Then we went to Marina Bay, lil bit lost because we took the wrong MRT station. enjoying the hootttt weather there, took some pics. Then Titis had to go back to Indonesia because she didnt take the office's leave. So we were saying goodbye there, she went to the Changi and we went to our next stop, Peranakan Museum. We passed the helix bridge and the science museum in our way to the museum. A lot of museum in Singapoh and i wanna visit all of them. But we didnt have much time there so I have to choose, oh noooo :(. Actually the distance between the museums isnt that far, because most of the museums in Singapoh is located in one area, so we only have to walk approx. 5 mins to reach the next museum (at least there are 5 museums in that area), though another museums are located in another area. But still I have to choose, because for one museum it could be took min 2 hours. After a lil bit lost (we took the opposite direction, hehe), finally i could do my fave thingy, the museum's look around. Why I choose museum Peranakan?well im crazy with cultural thingy, and very concerned in Peranakan history (I made an Indonesian Peranakan writing for my cross-culture  psychology  task while in college) ,so I wanna know about the Peranakan culture of Singapoh. it's only me and one of my besties that did the tour, the rest?they waited us outside for about 2,5 hours. hehehe, u ladies took a very enough rest huh??

And I was soooo hepi there. The museum is a 3 storey old colonial building. They provide complete information there. With all the displays, the writings and the audio visual thingy. The museum is divided  into 10 gallery, from the Origin Peranakan history to the death tradition of Peranakan (I screamed in that gallery, hahaha, that’s quite scary for me), and in every gallery they provide an audio visual information that explain us about the gallery's theme. In some gallery, like in food and feasting gallery, u can hear a voice recording of people talking in the dining room while u looked at the dining room display. My friend saw some hologram appearance. Well I didn’t know the hologram’s look alike because when I went there its already gone and I have to wait for the next hour to see it. In every gallery, there also an emboss station. So I can emboss a paper that was given by the receptionist with the Peranakan symbols like flower, butterfly, insect. Etc. They also provide us with the meaning of each symbols. It’s quite fun, especially for children. 2,5 hours wasnt enough to spend there. in fact, to make it quick (before i got yelled by all of my besties out there :p), i only took pics for all of the written information there (we allowed to take pics but no flash). The admission charges isn’t too expensive, we just have to pay for $6, and if we take the Asian Civilisations Museum and Peranakan Museum joint ticket, we pay for $10. They also give discounted admission charges for full time students, senior citizens aged 60 years and above, and visitors aged 6 years and below. In Friday, this museum give special free admission charges from 7 pm – 9 pm to children aged 6 yo and below, senior citizens aged 60 yo and above (locals and PR only), and for all Singaporean students and teachers (local and PR only). This museum provide us with free guided tours for public daily except on Public Holidays and Open House days. Unfortunately we came there in wiken, so we couldn’t be guided. I do envy the way Singapoh manage their museums. They provide us with complete informations, a lot of brochures and bulletins, and they apply procedures to protect their artefacts. I took some brochures, and in the back of one of it is written ‘help us to recycle. Return this visitor guide to the museum;s front desk at the end of ur visit’. Cool, huh. Well comparing with museum in Indonesia?I think we have to learn a lot from Singapoh. I just remembered when i Visited some museums in 'kota tua jakarta', it also located in old colonial buildings, but our government dont manage it well. There are no sufficient infos in each Indonesian museums, and I think they just put the artefacs elsewhere. They also don’t do the right procedures there. How come visitors can touch every single historical thingy there???I cant stand it!!



Museum geek..



After that we went to the Merlion Park, the landmark of this country. But unfortunately, the Merlion statue was under renovation. So we have to satisfy with the little Merlion Statue (as high as my body), hahahah i cant stop laughing when I remembered the mimic of my besties (even me myself got shocked and just 'ndlosor' on the stair because we have already tired that day), in fact i laugh while writing it now :D. But thats okay baby, we kept taking pics there with a beautiful backgrounds like Fullerton hotel, Esplanade, Singapore's flyer and Marina Sands Sky with its laser lights. I think Marina Bay is more beautiful at night than at noon with the light at the Marina Sands Sky, the Sing’s Flyer and the light on the helix bridge. I kept busy setting my camera to get the best shot of it (well im still learning with the night shoots). After some trial and errors, I finally made it, but when I asked some stranger to take my pics with those buildings backgrounds, the battery of my camera was empty!!!oooohhhhh deeeeeemmmmmm. I wanna act like tourists that have to take pics of them with the landmarks of the city :(.



Singapoh night shoots..



Then we went back to the hostel. Actually I still wanna go to the Clarke Quay and taste the turkish Ice cream. But my feet won't compromise. I were sooo fuckin tired, and we still have a day to go through. So we went back to the hostel, since we cant stand with our feet, all of us barefeeted walked from the last MRT station to the hostel, huahahahaha..I think we will considered as poor travellers by the native. Fortunately that was already late so we didnt meet a lot of people.

We went to universal Studios in the 3rd day. Well im not quite interesting to go to a theme park, except Disneyland I guess, hehe..And the worst is, roller coasters are everywhere. They also provide another attractions, but in every sections there always be a roller coaster, whether high speed or low speed. Me myself only ride in 2 high speed roller coasters, after that?well that quite enough for me. I think Dufan is better than this place, hihihi..But I quite entertained with the buildings set there. I can made my own photo sessions :p. So that was our last day in Singapoh, and we had to go back to Indo the next day. So saadd, but the next day’s weather helped us to let the Singapoh away. Because there was a superb cold, greasy and hard rain in the morning. Hahaha, we left Singapoh not in its best weather :).

Well I think I enjoy my vacation there. Some unpredictable things happened, but that’s the art of travelling rite? I love it. I love the city, the easy mass public transportations, the city plan, the superb cutie Chinese (hahahaha), the clear directions (u don’t have to be worry when u get lost), the buildings. But I do miss Indonesian food there. And I was fortunate that I have great besties that also great travelling mates. We’ve travelled together to some places and we’ve through many unpredictable things. And still get the fun. like Tim Cahill’s quote :

‘A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles’.

Travel in Crime

I think I have to go back there again and enjoy my own itinerary, which means visiting the museums, going to the park, capturing the buildings, hanging out in local place, eating in more street hawkers, exploring the little India *believe it or not, we stay there but we weren’t exploring that place!*, well act like native Singaporean lah.
And the hostel? we stay right across the main building. And everytime we wanna take brekkie, hot water, make coffee or tea, or ask for something from the receptionist, we have to go across to the main building. Aaaannnddd…In our last nite, we just found out that actually there is a cozy common room right next to our building!!ooohhhh shiiiaaattteeee, then why should I kept my hunger in the middle of the nite haaahhh?All I had to do was just goin downstairs and made some food rite?huahahaha, its kinda funny bin ‘nyeseg’ also. And we also got new neighbours in our last nite since the Vietnamese bikers had already checked out in the morning, and guess who they are??they are Javanese, come from Jogja!!weladalah to adoh2 ning luar negri kok ya ngobrole jowo meneh -.-.
Oh yeah, I almost forget. When we arrived in Singapoh and had to queu in Sing’s Immigration, suddenly the officer came to me and asked me a question ‘Have u ever been to Africa before?’. And he gave the question only to me. a lot of people in the line, and he only asked that question to me. After we passed the immigration, all of my besties just had a superb laugh. Hiks.
See ya in the next travelling. And look for the unpredictable funny things that will happen next. And enjoy the travelling blues syndrome afterward also*LoL*
Ps. We met a handsome bule in our hostel. He look alike Reza rahadian, but I think he is gay because he was with a ‘pretty’ guy. Sigh.

Where is the next destination??mmmm...I wanna see Indonesian beauty more and more, even though Indonesian Travelling journey is much more expensive than goin abroad, hihihi...