Singapore, journey 2.0

After a month in Bangkok and a month in Cebu, I decided to go back in Singapore.  After two weeks, I had a job offer and while waiting for my visa, I had to travel.  I only had with me a budget of 2 months' worth.  It was difficult to allocate money to all my needs.  It wont be even possible without the help of my friends who have been in Singapore for almost a decade.  Well, I spend most of days in Singapore of either jogging, going to church, watching movies series, but yeah mostly movie series.  I got so bored and my stay in Singapore will have expired soon so I had to go somewhere.

I've met Agne's friends through a badminton game in Pasir Ris.  I found out they're planning to go to Malacca or Melaka.  I thought to myself that would be fun. So I decided to go with them.

The next week, we decided to go to Malacca. Hmmm short trip of this historical place will be full of fun. We went there by bus.  It was not a long journey. I imagined it would have taken us the whole day.  We arrived in Melaka in the afternoon, at it was drizzling.  We were famished to be honest so the order of the day was to look for our hotel and then go on a pig out.  We found Swiss hotel - forgot the exact name but it was not the posh Swiss hotel just an average hotel in  the area.  After finally checking in, we went around the area and found a traditional restaurant.  The call their recipes peranakan / nyonya.  It is a fusion food of the Chinese-Malay and the Portuguese.  Quite interesting how these two very interesting cultures, coexisted and blossomed into a really new and interesting culture.  We enjoyed their spicy food, and filled our hearts with content.  After that sumptuous meal, we were actually tired of the small walk we had so we decided to go back to the hotel, take an hour or two of rest and then later we go out for another walk in this historical place.

After a relaxing nap, we were prepared for the adventure. Haven't I told you, we were avid Pokémon players.  Yes were what you call bugged by the mobile game Pokémon - a Japanese anime turned mobile adventure which is quite interesting. Since it is a new place, it was an opportunity for us to catch new characters an their evolved counter parts. I was so happy to have caught my first Pikachu.  While playing Pokémon in the streets of Melaka, we also had some stops from one place to the other to actually have a taste of their street food.  Since that was a weekend, the whole Melaka strip was so alive with lots of traders.  Some selling electronics, some fancy gifts, some street calligraphies, drinks of different flavors and ofcourse trying out their street food. One which caught my attention was the hello kitty rides. It was ornately decorated with and painted with bright colors and lights.  

The next day was actually spent again with catching Pokémon monsters.  I was not sure if I went to Melaka to be doing that but it was fun. The game is addictive in fact.  Anyway, we went to church and bought some mini gifts.  We went to their historical sites, remnants of Portuguese outposts in Melaka.  Karen and Joseph, had friends in Melaka so we met them in the mall where we had our lunch.  It was another afternoon of pigging out.  We need to be back to our hotel earlier and since we were going to be late if we commute, Karen and Joseph's friend drove us to the bus stop were our coach was waiting. 

Definitely, I'd recommend Melaka for a short vacation because the trip was short, fun and sweet.

A one night affair in Malaysia

MJ came to Singapore and part of our itinerary was to drop by at Kuala Lumpur :D

Yup2! We went to Malaysia via Jetstar on an early Friday morning.  It was a new scene for both of us.  I have been to Johore but KL was more of a city.  It was crowded actually :D  The queue at the immigration was really2 long with so many tourists from the middle east.  I think they love KL so much!  Anyway, we took the KL express and so were like hungry and we arrived at KL around 11 at the KL central.  We looked for a place to eat and we found KFC =)) and we had porridge and coffee.  Our plan was to first go to Batu caves before checking in at our hotel.  After that really quick meal, we went down, ask the information counter and we were able to find the counter where we can purchase our tickets.  KL's metro is quite good actually but very crowded comparable to that of Manila.  Singapore's metro is also crowded but it's so well ventilated.  Anyway, the ride to Batu caves was less than an hour and the train was spacious enough.

We reached the Batu caves excited and the entrance was free.  Batu cave is actually an Indian house of worship for what seems to be a monkey god.  Before you could reach the cave which was situated atop from a rocky mountain you need to climb the stairs of hundred steps.  This was quite an adventure and not for the weaker knees :D  When we reached the top most and entering the mouth of the cave, we were surprised that it's really huge and from the ceiling came some sprinkles of water from the mountain.  I was actually careful not to be hit in my eye or mouth as the place was really full of bats (obviously).  Did I mention the temple is place of worship for some monkey gods? Oh yeah, there were lots of real monkeys along the steps, be warned.  The place was a first time for us and there were some priests doing some rituals for the visitors.  MJ and I were curious what it was about so we tried to actually go inside the temple and the priest began to pray in a different language - I assumed it was a Hindu ritual in Tamil or maybe Hindi.  Anyway, we donated 10 ringgits and the priest gave us a milk and a candle to offer to the monkey god.  I did not get actually what was the ceremony so I just went along.  I think MJ was thinking the same thing :))

Anyway, after the ritual the priest took out some thread and then tied it to my left wrist then he was like murmuring about money and donation and saying 10 ringgit which was really funny because I did not understand what he meant.  He began pointing to the 10 ringgit and then tried to point to my wallet =)) So I took 1 ringgit and gave it to him or rather put it in his mini basket. I did some research and found out that the god was not a monkey as it is Murugan and it's from the Tamil people. A war god who defeated the demon.  So I guess the ritual the priest performed to me is some sort of a prayer to defeat the evils or maybe protection from evils.  Anyway, it was an interesting experience.  When reading about this god, there is a festival for this god and the devotees prepare themselves by eating some kind of vegetarian diet and abstaining from self indulgence so like they do some form of fasting and on the day of the feast they are into a trance state and they pierce their body with some spear or some metallic or wooden sticks.  I think I have seen this in National Geographic which seems really horrifying but to these people its like a devotion to their god and it's quite interesting.  In the Philippines which is mostly Catholic, during holy week, devotees re-enact what Christ did to save it's people buy having procession of penitence where they perform flagellation to the extent of crucifying themselves.  It's actually bloody and scary and seemed painful.  I haven't tried it and I don't want to try it....  Anyway, we descended from the temple after some photo ops and that made it scary as I can feel my knees shaking.  Did I say that there were 272 steps all in all ? Yes, it was a huge relief after we set our feet on the ground.  While taking pictures, there was this creature which suddenly grabbed my water bottle and it was scary.  It was another monkey incident of mine.  Therefore I conclude I don't like monkeys.... After the Batu caves, we went back to KL via their metro.

We arrived at KL central and we looked for the lrt to go to Bunkit Bintang which was where our hotel. We arrived at the station safe but really hungry so went inside the Berjaya mall I think and ate at their food court.  The serving was quite big and so our starving tummies were satisfied.  After that, we trekked the whole Bukit Bintang looking for our hotel. It's a two star so it's not that known.  We asked people around and they do not know what it was and they don't even know the address.  It was hot and crowded and MJs camera was dead! Yeah she accidentally lose her hold of the camera so like it fell when she was about to take a photo :(  Anyway, our last resort was to buy a map. We paid the map for like 10 ringgit and it was a huge one.  We went inside the mall and looked for a place to sit.  As we were scanning the map some lady approached us and she then asked if where we were from.  I just told her that we were kind of lost and we are from the Philippines. She was wearing this Muslim scarf around her head and she was inside the mall so we weren't scared at all.  Then she began to speak in Tagalog and so we were relieved and she helped us find our hotel :) which was so kind of her.  She was actually from Zamboanga and I think she has a stall in the mall. I was trying to connect to her by saying that she's Chavacanno, but then she's actually Tausug :) We thanked her a lot (said in Filipino) for helping us and we bade good-byes :)

We again began touring Bukit Bintang and viola our hotel was found.  We checked in and and after that, we slept =))  It was so tiring waking up in the early morn and trekking around looking for our hotel.  we set our alarm at around 6PM or something and off we went to KLCC to see the very famous Petronas tower.  We actually took the lrt and good think it was a walking distance.  The Petronas tower is a must visit I should say as it is really beautiful :)  We took lots of pictures and since it was dinner time, we decided to eat at KLCC. MJ loved the food in KL =))

After our Petronas adventure, we headed back to Bukit Bintang looking for some night life party but couldn't find a nice one.  We were supposed to meet a friend, a former colleague but he was actually admitted to the hospital so we cancelled.... Anyway, we couldn't find a nice spot so we decided to just call it a night.

The next day was our last day =)) We haven't shopped and I heard shopping in KL is also fun.  Anyway, MJ wanted to go back to Singapore by bus so we had to be at the mall earlier to book our tickets and fortunately we got an early schedule.  We decided to take a bus because we wanted to do some sight seeing but it seems that the sight seeing was not that interesting as all the way, we just see palm plantations.  What else to do was to sleep, good thing we had the lazy boy type chairs in the bus so it was really comfortable sleeping in this moving vehicle.  It was a long 6 hour journey....

We arrived in Singapore just on time to attend a birthday party in our flat and it's another feasting/celebration ;) And yeah, after the party, MJ and I went to Clarke Quay to party together with Janice :D

Johor Bahru Malaysia Adventure

Malaysia would be the second country that I have visited. I was not expecting so much from it since it was not a resort or even a vacation of some sort. It just so happened that Johor Bahru is very close to Singapore.

The plan was we need to be at Woodlands Singapore by 10AM but I wake up at around 8:30 and needed to do the morning rituals. After the morning rituals, I knocked at Olga's door but then she seemed to be still asleep. Anyway I think she was not coming so asked her again and she said that she was not coming anymore. So I left the house and I know that I was late already. I even forgot to take my medication so I need to go back to our unit which was at the 6th floor and this time I was running already. After taking in my medication, I was already sending an SMS to Mamul about where I was already.

I was having some dilemma on what route to take. I was not sure, so I took the MRT going to Raffles for an interchange going to Woodlands. There was a better route and that was going to Jurong East. Anyway, one of the reason that I took the longer route was I haven't been there and wanted to pass by at Yishun where a friend lives. Anyway, I was still at Orchard when the clock struck at 10:10 AM more or less. Mamul sent a message that her friends, whom I was not introduced yet, decided to go ahead. So I thought maybe they were becoming furious or impatient already about me being late and Mamul must have been a little worried already and ashamed. Anyway I was there already so I needed to just go on. I arrived at the Woodlands station at around 10:45AM and I was exchanging SMS with Mamul throughout my trip. Mamul was there at the exit of the station waiting and I was already running in going down. We were walking briskly. There was a long queue already waiting for the bus 950 at the interchange. Luckily when the bus arrived we were able to hop in and rode with comfort as there were still seats available for us. The trip was smooth and we came to the checkpoint for our exit here in Singapore. Everything went good for us also when we had our entry to Malaysia's Immigration. There was not much time to go arond the city so we headed directly to the mall as that was the initial plan. We went to City Mall that was. Since we arrived there at around quarter to 1PM, we directly spotted for a resto cafe. I ordered a spicy chicken with black pepper, a mango mousse, and a glass of mango with watermelon juice. They were delicious. Mamul had meat balls and a chicken salad. Since I had my order coming in late, Mamul shared to me the meat balls. My new acquaintances ordered spaghetti with white sauce, salmon with rice and lasagna. I cannot remember everything as I was minding my own meal. After lunch, we checked some shops and I bought three books written by Stephen King. This is going to be an exciting read :D After we hit some of the shops on the third level, we went to the cinema and check for a movie to watch. We decided to watch "InkHeart" which sounds interesting but personally I would have chosen "The Underworld". Anyway after we have purchased the movie tickets, we went down and check some more shops. I actually bought a ring for my thumb and when I turned around, my companions were not around already. They're gone! Wahahaha. I did not mind it too much because I know we will see each other or meet at the moview house, so I just went around and check more shops. I also watched the stage show for the coming lunar new year. After the show, I went to the cinema since it was like 20 minutes before the show will start. I just waited there for Mamul and her friends arrive. Well I wasn't mistaken and they arrived and told me that Mamul was gonna cry already because I was lost. Hehehehehe. I just said sorry to Mamul for making her worried. Anyway the movie started already. I was enjoying it a bit and there were interesting characters. Just an average movie though but I can be entertained so easily with some witty conversations. I so liked Eleanor :) After the movie, I need to go back to the ticket counter because I left my camera. After that, I had to look for the group. Then I went to the CR and noticed that there were people smoking there. It's very unbecoming of these people. Anyway, I did not have to resort to complaining to an officer so I just went ahead and confirmed what my group mates were talking about. After that, the group decided to eat again. I had no money already and Mamul spared some of her Ringgits. Too bad it's not for free. After we ate, which I find not so okay by the way because of the drink I ordered (hehehehe), we decided to call it a day and we went home bound for Singapore.

It was I think fun all in all. I was thinking of even going back there some other time.