Flying to Singapore: Malindo airlines being the cheapest option at rather convenient time was the obvious option for us. Might I add that we were pleasantly surprised at the ‘not just low cost’ concept. Entertainment screens and decent food kept us up and un-bored through the 5 hour flight from Delhi to Malaysia. After a changeover, we landed at Changi Airport, Singapore city.
Day 01: Arrival at Singapore Airport, Pick up and transfer to a basic 3 start hotel (From the travel itinerary). Singapore seemed like a city with expansive/clean roads, rather cramped spaces for living (or may be it’s just the hotels), scanty traffic (read exorbitantly and prohibitively high automobile taxes), convenient public transport with MRT/LRT connectivity and of course beautiful and polite denizens. It’s actually a little difficult to digest so much politeness (More so If you’ve just stepped out of Delhi). Our reception staff was rather amused at our amusement with their politeness. Soon we were all laughing for no reason at all. Demographically Singapore is made up of 60% Chinese and 15% Indians (Who are almost Singaporean-ly polite).
Since I was adamant on spending every minute to be worthwhile, we changed and dashed out to visit Little India. Mustafa- A huge, multilevel, crazy shopping centre is like a one stop shop for anything and everything. It’s worth a visit even if just to see all the pandemonium in an otherwise extremely toned down Singapore. After a sumptuous (and cheap) lunch in Little India we headed back to the hotel in time for a scheduled pick up for Night Safari.
The Singapore night safari is (as claimed) the world’s first open air night zoo including tram ride/walking trails through the quasi tropical forest and up-close encounters with un-caged wild animals. Everything from the lighting and to the fencing is thoughtfully designed. There’s also Thumbuakar show-a fire stunt by role play tribal hunks and ‘Creatures of the night’ show – a fun interactive session performed by the animals of the zoo along with their caretakers.
We had dinner at a Chinese hawker centre close to our hotel. These food complexes serve inexpensive (read within S$5.00) and extremely delicious culinary delights to people from all walks of life- Travelers and locals alike. A gamut of options from Chicken Rice, Chilly Crab, Bak Kut Teh, and Satay to the vegetarian Yong Tau Fu dish- are available and totally worth your dime. Some of the more famous ones are- China town, Old airport road, Maxwell road, Tiong Bahru, Chomp Chomp food centre. For street food, it kinda helps if you are a little gastronomical-ly adventurous and a non-vegetarian. For the less adventurous junta, decent Indian food in the many restaurants of little India works well.
Day 02: Singaporeans are particularly punctual and all our pickups were usually before time. This morning it was for a half-day city tour. We glided through Orchard road, Suntec city, Fountain of wealth (Krishh wala). A stop ever at Merlion park where the iconic water spewing Half-fish and half-lion resides. The waterfront is available for boating, and gives an uninhibited view of The Marina Bay sands hotel (read luxury with a rooftop infinity pool and an array of Mc Larens and Ferraris below) and the Singapore flyer.
The ‘gardens by the bay’ area is beautiful after sunset and totally worth a go (More so for the photophiles and shutterbugs). One can take an MRT to Bayfront. Visit the Marina bay sands, cross the helix bridge, head to the resplendent Supertree Grove, the flower dome, cloud forest dome and roam about. PS: We didn’t go there in our day tour.
Singapore flyer is a big giant wheel with the best views of the city. Since I wasn’t very keen on boarding it, I just took a look around. The souvenir shop was home to some very interesting (and expensive) stuff.
One such was the Ang Ku Kueh Girl goodies- A local icon that propagates Singapore’s local heritage and culture through love, kindness, tenacity and gumption. Ang Ku Kueh actually is the Red tortoise cake- a small round or oval shaped Chinese pastry that looks like a tortoise. Uber cute.
Next up was an elevated sightseeing (read: from our bus windows) of the China town area and the Thian hock keng temple (Classic Chinese architecture dedicated to the Taoist goddess of the sea). China town is a culturally rich heritage area much coveted for its food, medicines and artefacts. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum also sees a lot of visitors.
Soon after lunch we were transferred to Sentosa island- a popular island resort. We took a couple of fun rides (little more maybe). The skyride is like a cable ride to an elevated zone where we did the Tiger tower ( revolving view of the whole place) and butterfly park. And then we came back riding the luge (my first time on something like this. yaiyy). Next we took the sentosa express (metro) and dashed to the Imbiah lookout. First stop was the S.E.A Aquarium- One of the world’s finest and largest windows to the underwater world. Hours went by like a minute as we walked by, gazed and awed at exhibits from eye pieces to humungous windows. It’s a very enriching experience with all the visuals and info on the aquatic denizens. Although we did not, one can stay overnight for Ocean Dreams sleepover experience (I’d have loved to).
Next up was Madame Tussauds’ wax museum all glamourous and glitzy with celebrities from movies to sports to politics. In the adjacent Images of Singapore Live- Characters from the history of Singapore walk you through the history and cultural heritage of Singapore followed by a quick little boat ride. Last but not the least for today was the main event-Wings of Time- a colorful story laser show on the beach. We went back and retired content with the eventful day.
Day 03: After a continental breakfast, we headed out for what we missed out on the yesterday- Universal Studios in Sentosa Island. Take an MRT to harbourfront. Get down and walk through vivocity mall and into the sentosa express. Universal studios open at 1000 hrs. It’s wiser to be there on a weekday and ahead of time to purchase the ticket and s-p-l-u-r-g-e. It’s a theme park – 7 zones with different Hollywood/cartoon themes and a plethora of rides. Again, it’s wiser to go to the Hollywood-newyork-scifi city- ancient Egypt- lost world- far far away- Madagascar route and take the bestest rides first. We had to crawl through 1.5 hr queues nevertheless (It’s worth it if you enjoy the ride). Best rides- Battle star galactica (Read Epic), Transformers the ride, Revenge of the mummy, Jurassic park, Shrek 4-D adventure, enchanted airways, Bob the builder, Madagascar crate adventure.
After a super exciting day with all the rides and fun, we were totally drained and headed back to the city. We still managed to get down at Bugis junction and replenished all the lost energy with our fills of sumptuous Japanese food (I can’t spell the names. No it wasn’t sushi). Head out to Bugis street for the best binge shopping in Singapore. From perfectly priced souvenirs to trendy clothes, cheap watches, perfumes et al – it’s all there and very hard to resist.
Tipping in Singapore: It’s not a usual practice to tip although people would probably appreciate if you did. Most hotels and restaurants quote prices as ‘++’ which includes 10% service charge and 7% GST.
GST: Also, you can fill in GST reimbursement forms from wherever you shop and get it reimbursed at the airport when you leave.
Zaìjiàn Singapore.
Day 04: After breakfast and checkout we traveled to Kuala Lumpur by Coach (5 hr journey chosen for the views of the countryside. The flights from Singapore to KL are also quite cheap).
Kuala Lumpur is one of the top 5 shopping destinations in the world and it belittles the whole idea of ‘binge shopping’. Head to KLCC Suria for high end brands and the bling of Petronas towers, Sungei Wang plaza for inexpensive stuff, Berjaya Times Square, Central Market for souvenirs, Petaling street market in china town, KWC-Kenanga Wholesale city for wholesale prices, Reject shops for not-noticeably-damaged goods from high end brands (throwaway prices literally?), Melium outlet etc.
We started with Sungei wang plaza and Berjaya times square. Kuala Lumpur is well connected with different buses (some hop-on-hop-off buses are free) and metro. After treating ourselves to some delicious crab, prawn, and chicken delicacies, we fortuitously took a different bus to end up beneath the soaring Petronas towers which by the way look dazzling at night. We then took a couple of more buses just to go around some more before taking the one to our place. I guess every city transforms into a different kind of enchanting at night and is always worth a ride.
Day 05: After a king’s breakfast (laid out lavishly for the everyday horde of fellow travelers from all over the world setting out on different journeys) we were picked up for a day trip to Genting Highland en route Batu caves. The batu caves are basically a limestone hill with a Hindu shrine atop dedicated to lord Murugan. Malaysia has 7% Indians, mostly Tamils and thus some important Hindu shrines all over. Genting Highlands is a hill resort at an altitude of 6000-ish ft. After a certain point one can take a cable car which takes you over a tropical forest and into the resort. The resort is home to hotels, casino, theme parks, shopping areas, snow world, ripley’s believe it or not museum/shop. Free Buses from the resort run to/fro a Taoist temple- Chin Swee which was worth our while (for the views and the photography).
On our way back, our driver agreed to drop us at the Central market. The Art Deco wet market is a repository of culturally rich and diverse artefacts and food. Best place to shop souvenirs, antiques, collectibles et al. Dinner at the Al-baik-di-bistro nearby was a delightful break from oriental cuisine we’d been gorging on all these past days. Head here for delicious Biryanis, breads, halal food.
Day 06: A Half Day Kuala Lumpur City Tour included short stops at the King Palace (Gigantic and closed for tourists), National History Museum, National Monument, National Mosque (Contemporary progressive architecture- very unlike the Indian image we have of a mosque) , and the Independence Square (the national gallery stands adjacent). Our last stop was a halt at the cocoa boutique (Read paradise) at MATIC (Malaysia Info Centre). There’s a galaxy of incredible looking boutique handmade Malaysian chocolates to indulge in.
The second half of the day was well spent in a short trip to the country side. Kuala Selangor- main attraction being the Kampung Kuantan Firefly Park which is home to 3 out of the 2000 varieties of fireflies. After sunset, as we embarked on a boat ride, sprinkles of fireflies conspicuously lit up the trees on either side. Our boatman brought us real close and let us hold them in our hands. Overwhelming childish joy brightened up every soul young and old alike (Most of us haven’t seen magic since childhood). Ideally this should be followed by dinner at any of the fresh seafood restaurants at Pasir Penambang (small village next to Kuala Selangor).
Day 07: Half the day was spent exploring the rest of the shopping destinations. A decent part of our day was spent in a walk through the Botanical gardens area where the KL bird park(one of the largest walk-in aviaries in the world), orchid gardens etc are major attractions. Soon thereafter was our scheduled transfer to airport. The Kuala Lumpur International Airport in itself seemed like a destination. The coolest parts- A rain-forest in the central dome and an intra-airport metro that runs above terminals and below runways.
Selamat tinggal Malaysia.
We are home with tons of captured moments, tastes of gastronomic explores, and happy memories to be cherished for long.
A major travel suggestion would be that if you can arrange the travel (flights and moving around), accommodation, you are pretty much sorted and will save yourself some dough. Ours was a partially package-tour-organised and partially self designed trip. The hotels, transfers/pickups and few tickets were included in the package. The city exploring on foot/ metro/ bus and shopping was our idea. We didn’t quite leave much time to sit idle.
“Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day.” –Francis Gray
freebirdtales 