We had arrived in Singapore in the afternoon. First, we used the MRT to reach the hotel to check in and to place our luggage in the room before exploring the city and then we went straight to Singapore Art Science Museum, located in Marina Bay Sands. The area isn’t too big. There are some spots where you can explore and every month they have different exhibitions that you can visit.
Before we were back at the Hotel, we spent some time in Chinatown to buy some souvenirs to bring back home while enjoying the vibes and the crowds. Chinatown is also an instagrammable place to take pictures. If you want to eat cheap in Chinatown, it’s probably better to find a place that’s a bit in the corner since the cafes in the middle are really expensive. I made a mistake myself because I wanted to enjoy the crowds in the middle of Chinatown, but oh well… better to save your bucks somewhere else instead.
On the second day, our plan was to go to Universal Studio Singapore. We took a Grab Taxi to Sentosa to save time and arrive early so we could get breakfast before entering the park. We stayed and played until closing time! Jake really wanted to try Halloween Horror Night since our trip was in early October when the event had just started. But since it was his first time coming to USS I thought it’d be fine to skip this year’s Halloween Horror Night and come back next year. Of course, that was the plan until the pandemic had spread. Well… Now I wish we could have visited it at that time.
There are not many options for low budget breakfasts in Sentosa but we had ordered some laksa and chicken wings with quite good portion before we started the day. The taste was okay and still affordable for us.
We bought the tickets for Universal Studio Singapore through Traveloka for IDR 1,400,000 or around SGD 140 for 2 pax. If you hate to wait for the long queues you can skip the regular lines by purchasing the express ticket in the venue. There weren’t many attractions we had rode. It was quite crowded and a bit rainy in the afternoon so some of the outdoor attractions needed to shut down for a while for safety reasons. We rode Revenge of the Mummy and had to queue for 2 hours! And then we rode Battlestar Galactica (which is my favorite one). We also rode Enchanted Airways, A Madagaskar Crate Adventure, Shrek 4D adventures and for the last, Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase 😆. You can check the complete list of attractions and events that they have in the website.
Not only could you ride and experience those attractions, but Universal Studio Singapore also completed with souvenir shops and cafes. Also, they had snack stalls around and many spots for selfies and to take pictures.
There are some events of street entertainment such as the dancing of penguin madagascar, the dance of sesame street, etc. You can check them from the map that you will get or you can just see the advertisement banners around.
After the very tiring afternoon in the park, we headed to Vivo City to catch the MRT to the city where we had dinner, we got Mala in food republic that tasted really good! Then we decided to go to Orchard Road to sight-see and see what we could find for our loved ones at home. And shopping for some stuff for ourselves too of course!. Lucky for us it wasn’t raining again that night, so we were able to walk back to the hotel and stay dry! Hahaha.
Finally, the last day before we went back to Bali in the evening. We went to Tiong Bahru to get breakfast. We wanted to try the famous French Cafe in Tiong Bahru that’s called Merci Marcel. The price was quite expensive but for the quality of the food, the taste and relaxing vibes that we got it was well worth it. The cons of the place is that the place is small so sometimes you need to wait in line to get in.
We took a stroll in the Tiong Bahru area and took the MRT to National Museum of Singapore. For me, the trip won’t be complete without a visit to the museum and to know the history behind the place that I visit.
Just on the other side of the road from National Museum of Singapore, there is a Historical Garden named Fort Canning Park. This place once sited the palaces of 14th century Kings and served as the Headquarters of the Far East Command Centre and British Army Barracks. The decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 was also made on the hill, in the Underground Far East Command Centre, commonly known as Battle Box. Nowadays, you can visit Battle Box as one of the museum spots in Singapore which is located inside the area of Fort Canning Park.
And one last time we walked back to the nearest MRT station to pickup our luggage from the hotel and fly back to Bali! I wish I could share more of our experience in Singapore but since it was already a year ago, I forgot some things that I wished I could share. Good thing is I’m trying to be productive and being active again while writing in the blog so hopefully I can share with you, hope that everybody can live normally and travel the world again!
Love,
Ayu & Jake
Wander and Explore 