Saturday, May 16, 2009

Day 5: Realizing a Dream

O-M-G! I was about to realize a dream! (For some, this maybe just a trip to Quiapo, but for me, it’s fantasy land!). I don’t know, but ever since I saw Sentosa in a TV show, I had always wanted to visit it. And now, after years of waiting, I am about to experience it first hand.

We only had few things with us when we went there:



We needed to have a place to stay in singapore. Our friends Tanya and Paul instructed us where to find the cheapest hotels. Here it goes:

“The bus will take you to Lavander street. From there, go to the nearest MRT station (which is kelang) and alight at Gelang station. There are a lot of cheap hotels in gelang. Get a room and then go back to kelang station. then, look for the MRT line that will take you to sentosa.”

Wheeew!

“Also, you need to remember that the bus will have 3 stop overs. First, meal break. On the second stop, you just need to carry you passport and show it to the immigration. Then on the 3rd one, you need to carry with you all your baggage and enter Singapore.”

With all these information, I know that we are ready to invade Singapore!

Backpacking in Singapore

We arrived at Lavender Street in Singapore at around 2:30pm. It was more that 4 hours of travel time but it was worth it (we just slept on the bus that’s why hahaha). I was worried that we were not going to be able to watch Songs of the Sea since I thought that the show starts at 4pm. We still needed to find a hotel to stay in.

At lavender street, I asked verna if she could see any mrt station in any direction. Guess what, she said there was none in sight!

We approached the very first person that we saw on the street and asked for direction. He was friendly and pointed us to the correct way (though he said that that might be a 20 minute walk from where we stand).

After a few minutes of walking, I saw Hotel 81! Me and Tanya were searching days before of the cheapest hotel in Singapore and hotel 81 is one of them. I was relieved and we immediately crossed the street and enter that hotel. I was confident that the price was right (hahahha) but the lady said that the it’s 180 singapore dollars per night (almost P6000)!

You must be kidding me! Of course, I did not say that. What I told her was that, I was browsing the internet days before and I thought that it was only 60 singapore dollars per night. She politely told me that it is 60 on their other location but not in hotel 81 at Lavender Street.

But the next thing she did was awesome! She booked us in another hotel (Value Hotel) which only cost us 69 sing dollars! And the best thing about that hotel was that it was near a bus stop! Who could ask for more?

We went in Value Hotel at Baliester Street and unloaded some of our stuff. We were on the first bus (Bus number 145) that will take us to sentosa island. The lady at value hotel told us that it might take 40 minutes before reaching our destination. That was not a problem since we enjoyed the view so well.

Here is our first shot of Singapore:



I was inside a moving bus, that’s why.

Sentosa Island

Finally, the dream was now a reality.

Who would have thought that this island was a fishing village before? I know that there were lots of things and sight that can be discovered at sentosa but due to the limited time, we were not able to visit them all.

Here are our pictures:









Wrong Grammar

I don’t know what this place is called. All I know is that people who wishes for something writes it in a paper and leaves it there.

So let me baptize it with “Wishing Tree”. (lol)





I went around reading what people could be wishing for while verna took the opportunity to pose with the birds hahahaha!

I saw this one and I know that someone from our part of the world did it since it’s in Tagalog!



Encouraged by what this person did (naks), I also wrote something. It was to show gratitude to the one who made this trip possible…Tanya.



And then, the unthinkable happened! We thought of making a mark and there was no other way to do it but to write something as well!

Brace yourselves! You are about to see something that even science will not be able to explain.

This is what I wrote:



I do not know what came in to me. Maybe the place is really magical!

A simple subject-verb agreement… I know.

So to anyone who had read this and will visit sentosa anytime soon, please oh please, correct my sentence.

Tanya, I know that you will take Nanay to visit this place sometime soon, please change “was” to “were”. The paper is located at the first tree on the left.



To the person who will correct this “writing on the tree”, thanks. (please take me out of the pit I am currently in hahahahha)

Songs of the Sea

I was so relieved to find out that the first show time of the Songs of the Sea was 7:40pm. But of course, I already secured us two tickets to the show even if they told us that no refunds will be available just in case the show cancels due to rain.

At 7pm, we were already at the venue and patiently waited for the time they will usher us in.





Inside, I was wondering what these nipa huts were there.



Waiting for the show to start, we took pictures of the surroundings including us hehehhe





I was only expecting a show that uses the water as the white screen where they will reflect all different images. But I was in for a big surprise!

The show was a theater play! Being a lover of the stage, I envied those who performed. I would want to audition! I can play the part of the rock please!





It was the story of the sleeping village. When Lee sung (if you can call it singing), he saw an image of a sleeping princess.



Wanting to awaken her, he planned to go to the village but he was warned by these creatures:









Lee kept on singing and awakens the Volcano, Spirit of Light and Lady of the Sea. (I apologize that I do not have pictures of the Spirit of Light and Lady of the Sea due to technical difficulties. I was prepared that I ran out of batteries.) (Loser!)

All the villagers were thinking as to why Lee was not yet able to awaken the sleeping Princess. Oscar the fish suggested that everybody sing and that might save the princess from the spell.

Of course, it worked.

This show was truly magical! All the lights, water, sounds plus fireworks… wow, it’s awesome. Everybody who plans to visit Singapore should definitely watch this show in Sentosa. It’s as if you are in a Hollywood movie. Amazing!

I bought a DVD copy of the show but due to laws, I know that I won’t be able to post it here. I tried searching it in youtube and it’s in there.

After the show, we went to their shop Oscar and Co



And scored these:

At the Hotel

The hotel was worth every penny (69 sing dollars). I can compare it to a 4 star hotel here in country.

We enjoyed the free mineral water, coffee and of course, watching in their XX inch flat tv. We forgot to take home with us the soap and shampoo but we took the toothbrush hahahah!












Since we do not have any alarm clocks, we used the television to tell the time. We had it running the whole night! Luckily, when Verna woke up, it was only 8am. We were up and running at 9.

Day 6:Merlion Walk

Bus number 130 took us to Merlion walk. From the bus stop to the merlion park, it was still a 5 minute walk.

So we took pictures of the way there.





Their opera house:







This is not the merlion but the merkitten (kidding! I don’t know what this is called but I called it such since it was way smaller than the real one).





Here’s the real Merlion and we did goofy poses with it:





Monday, May 4, 2009

Different Folks, Different Strokes

We met a lot of people along the way. And we took pictures of them hahahah!







For the both of us, it was an amazing journey. We just knew where we wanted to go but not knowing how to go there. But with the help of simple English words, we did it heheheh.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Day 7: Back to Malaysia

This journey had truly been memorable. We went to new places that only God knows if we are to visit again.

But of course, no tour will be complete without shopping!

Tanya took us to a high end shopping store called Metrojaya.







We love the place since it was crowded. You can try fitting all the clothes that you want without any salesperson following your every move!

And this day will not end without us checking their shoes!







The shoes that we love but we can't buy hahahha:



That truly was one heck of a shopping experience.