Hi there! :)
I wanna share some stories when i had a trip at singapore with my besties.
So, one of my besties (Cecilia Niek) that we call Niq wanna join her husband on Feb 2014 to Pennsylvania, United Stated, 3 hours from NYC and veryyyy far from here. So she ask us to have vacation together before she left. We re excited, because we never have a vacation together, moreover to outside the country. So we began to discuss when we will be going, and after we agreed Niq ask Wenny her in law to book our ticket by tiger air. They had promotion price before. But, plus plus re become 800k idr per pax. lols. Its fine because we added baggage etc. we are girls, so its high possibility to us to shop.
WE gathered 3 or 4 times before we go, talk and discuss about the itinerary. Iv and Kiky (my brother) recommend many places before we go. Iv gave me the complete itin when he had vacation with his family. Very complete, including the address, the directions, the good places to eat, etc. And ki informed us to watch the show. Garden by the bay show and Marina Bay Sands Show, also Song of The Sea.
its really informative.
well, i just bought 100 SGD from my bro because he still hv it, and i bought 200 USD, just in case.
Before we go, we have problems. unexpected problems.
what are they?
First, Devia Buniarto (Depoy) had her master degree thesis trial schedule on 13th of Jan. So pity. So she couldn't go because of that. Its pity for her and for us. Because she must be want to spent her quality time with her besty befire she go and nervous about her final, and lost her flight money, also we lose one of us. :(
Second, Jess as always have some troubles because her panic. But, not a real trouble actually. She said that she lost her new passport, she just have the old one, but finally she found it. errr..
Third, me. Well, its really silly and ridiculous thing that ever happened to me. I forgot to extended my passport period. Uhhh, how stupid! So, like we know when we visit outside the country, our passport period at least have 6 months before expired, and mine..less then 6 months. so, its expired at 11 june 2014, so the last date i could use that passport is 11th Dec 2013, and i went to Singapore on 11th Jan. Very silly.
Actually, i want to extended my passport period after i back from Hongkong on Oct, but because i have some troubles in office (and because i didnt achieve the dec target and also because i want to spent my quality time with, so i stop selling) so i wait til i got assignment then i will extended. But seriously, i was so forgot that i havent extended the passport and i really forgot that singapore is outside the country and the lagacy is needed. urghhh.. i just knew the day before we go, because of my bro asked about my passp.
So, i asked my colleague..Paula and she said if i just wanna visit southeast asia, it would be fine have have under 6 months period, and ways to convinced myself it would be fine..i search on forum about that, Iv search too. And that forum really help me. Thankyou mr google and friends.
I found on that forum that there re some people who forgot, or they even dunno that they couldnt travelling if they only have 4-5 months left til their pp expired, and some of them lucky enough to passed, and several of them have to pay more. So, some of them who passed said that when they baggage check in they got asked why they didnt they extended their pp, and finally the airline staff ask them to sign the form that the airlines team didnt invlolved and responsible if the passengers have soe troubles there or get deported. And when in sing, no problem at all. And theres one who didnt passed, was because they bought airticket from airasia, and airasia strictky prohibit people to travelling even they just missed several days, for example 6 months - 3 days. the pax told us that he argued to te airline staff and the manager, but still cant travelling, so he have to bought another airticket from Garuda who allow him to fly; but he spent much money because of that. I still feel nervousm because theres no one mention tiger and quite glad because the one who didnt passed was bought airasia instead of tiger. And hopefully i can passed tomorrow morning (i said so with myself on 10th Jan 22.30)
Fourth, Ana get sick. She feel cold and everything and feel not well. :(
Finall, after all the troubles we could go to Singapore, and Iv take us there. Its weekend and coincidentally he was available, and appreciate because he wanna take us to the airport.
Ana looks so unwell, so weak and her stomach hurt and she feel wanna throw up etc, i feel so bad because of it and hope she will recover soon.
Arrived at airport, i was so nervous, but my besties and Iv always comfort me and told me that it would be fine. :) Soon after the check in counter was open, we queued..we re the first passengers who come which is great..we gave all of the passports, and thanks God, the staff didnt say anything about my pp and he just gave the boarding pass just like that. Fiuh.... He even dont ask me to sign any form.
Now, we must queued at immigration and make me even more nervous than before. Iv accompany me, i pray to God and convinced me that it would be fine. :)
But i cant ease all the jittery and anxiousness. >.<
After i arrived at the front, the immigration staff start to introgate me how many nights i will spent there and why i didnt extented my pp period. I told him that i dunno that i have to extend it and it won't valid if less than 6 months. After i explained that, praise the Lord he release me and remind me to dont forget to extend my pp after i arrived Jakarta. Fiuhh..
So after a quite sweet goodbye with Iv, i and my besties left.
We ate breakfast and force Ana to eat something because she looked so pale.
I feel so so relieved. :)
Flight to singapore :)
Arrived at Singapore.
We spent much of our time at Changi, seriously. After we touch down, we re look around..take pictures, shopping, or just window shopping. Jess is the most excited for shopping among all and there re many things that interesting there, i must admitted. After that, we mush through changi immigration, still a bit nervous and fortunately i can pass through.
We took our baggage and we seek things to eat, and we found thai food, got wifi but with low signal so its a kind of useless, order food , 6 sgd each. Then we bought Garden by the bay ticket, 22 Sgd each, for the entry for Flower Dome and Cloud of Forest. My bro said that if you wanna enter Garden by the bay, its totally free..even theres no admission counter that. But in fact, if we want to come in (by the web) you have to pay for that and after we arrived at changi, the adm people also said so, so finally we bough the tickets because its cheaper than we bought there.
So we took MRT to Orchard, not so long. It just 3 SGD actually. You can bought at the counter or just at the ticket machine, its all in english and chinese, so dont have to worry about that. Just choose your destination etc and you got the ticket. Thats it.
But my recommendation is you buy the tourist card, so you just have to pay cheaper that it supposed, like 26 SGD for 2 days and 34 SGD for 3 days but you can use the card for bus and subway unlimited for 3 days, its much worth right? very nice.
We dunno about that at first day we arrived there, and jess just told us to bought the regular ticket, so be it. Jess herself have the different card. Its like all in card where you can use that card for pay bus, MRT, taxi, phone-credit cellular, Sevel, etc. just like when i was in seoul. Very useful.
After we arrived at Orchard, we took taxi to our hotel, that not much far from there. Our Hotel is near Shangrila Hotel, is a 4 stars hotel at orange road which have the so-so environment. The room itself quite nice and big, we order twin share room that consist 2 queen size bed, very big room. Its really not suitable for honeymooners.
well, we have long queued for the taxi anyway, and we spent like 9 sgd for 10 minutes. so expensive!
After we got taxi and arrived at the hotel, we get ready and get rest for a while. Ana decide to stay at hotel because she felt unwell. And we go to china town by bus. We follow the direction fom the receptionist there, across the bridge and seek the bus who got to there. very easy, you can find the board include the destination and the price. So, after 10 minutes we arrived there. China Town was sooo crowded at that time, like very sultry. Like people everywhere, and we must walk to the opposite direction. Its because nearly chinese new year, so many people visit there to buy things and perhaps to celebrate, because usually there re entertainment in china town at that time, and yes there is fireworks there. very rousing. We even cant see what the people sell , like we found so many alley but we cant see the products because too many people, and its make us dizzy. Moreover, jess the hectic girl walk so quick and forgot where the hainam rest is while niq is starving, so we like have a tension there but finally we found the rest near there and we decide to eat there, where not too crowded. Prices on the menu are really unreasonable. They just bought fried rice, one with prawn and another with pork, it cost 12 sgd each include tax, and mine is 10 sgd nett for th wonton soup. oh my! I really dont got why singapore could be so expense these days???
I knew that i have been 16 years never visit singapore, but its really unexpected. Like, super.
After we ate, we take pictures in nice spot and decide to just walk to clarke quay. Clarke Quay is a nice place, there re many restaurants and cafes beside the small river and the environment is nice, You can find many bar and pub too, with the foreigners. We walk around, take pictures, anjoy the night environment and theres a guy who ask us if we want go to the club? Its free, but we deny it and he didnt insist us. how gentle. ;) well, after that we take taxi to hotel , because we took at night its more expensive than usual.
Back to hotel, take bath and line with Iv...
he fall asleep..
Day Two
Well, so we planned already yesterday night that today we will go to sentosa island while wait vivo open, and we agreed even Jess not excited go there. She hv been to Singapore like million times :p , so no wonder she dont have any enthusiastic.Actually i have been to Sentosa in 1997, but bro recently just been there and he said that theres 'song of the sea' show which is great to see. But plan just plan, it isnt going well. You know girls right? It start when Niq's alarm ring at the wrong time, she forgot to change her date and time, and no one of us who activate the alarm, we trust her. So, its not her fault, literally.its our fault too to not being aware. But after that, i and Ana soon have breakfast, a bit quick because we have to catch the time, but then when we re back they havent ready yet, as i and ana expected. so we wait them to apply the make up and get ready, it need much time, and i kinda hopeless at that time, it isnt possible go to sentosa. so, i gave up and just wait them get ready, and remind them every 5 minutes to get ready. While they re prepare, i make the hair do for ana and the girls like it so they queued to get hair do. lols.
After that, we catch the bus to orchard, and from there by MRT we go to Vivo.. Before that we bought the traveller tickets that cheaper than the basic one.And its really good you know, since Niq and Ana get stuck and they have to exit first and enter again ( i help then to tip tap the card to the exit machine) imagine that we just buy the basic, and they have to pay another 3 SGD for nothing. But we already paid 16 SGD for 2 days and we can go by bus or MRT unlimited. hahaha.
Well, in singapore nowadays or by far that i seen its really rare to find the singaporean, i just found indian who are everywhere, indonesian, malaysian (with hijab) and philipinos with tanned skin and sexy suits. AFter we arrived to vivo, we visit the candy shop that Jess recommend and yeah its the heaven for me, chocolate, candy, snacks everywhere but we decide to but later because when we re back home we will through this place too. So Niq decide to get the money from the ATM like i suggested, she hesitate at first, than i convinced that it will be okay. I knew from experience and i tried many times before, you just have to match the logo. Like visa, mastercard or maestro. If the logo is match, you can get the money with the local currency of course. :)
Niq did it and she very happy and i change my money to money changer because i want to bought foods, souvenirs etc. hehe..
After that we find the food court and eat some traditional foods like laksa etc, its much cheaper than in China Town. We talk awalk, look around, window shopping, try the snacks there, very interesting.
After that we go to giant, i recommend yummy goodness to them and we bought some snacks,i bought chocolate and marshmallow! :D and its much cheaper than in the candy shop. Then, we decide go to Bugis.. at Bugis we found yeah china things..just like in Beijing, cheap and interesting. After walk around, we decide to eat dinner at McD. Find something cheap, and after that we go to Garden bY the Bay.
Nah, theres none of us whos been there so its kinda confusing to find the show place.Its free anyway.
After we asked several people and walk and walk and start to giving up, suddenly the show is start and we take a seat and enjoy it. The show is worth to see, very stunning, riveting and baffle. Very worth to see, the light is just fabulous! Garden by the bay is very wide so its not eady to find the places, but then finally we find Flower dome but the staff there told us that we have to exit by 9 pm and come back tomorrow to look the cloud forest. So, we decided to go there and by 08.40 we exit and we want to enter the cloud forest, its closed. And we re very suprised when we look the information, that they closed tomorrow..we beg the staff to come in and they said we couldnt and we could come back the day after tomorrow which the time we back home :( :( we re very upset, but jess is the most. well, at least we could see from the outside. lols.
and we already find ourselves enjoy the flower dome. flower dome is fantastic and beautiful, you can see many kind of plans there and flowers. Its better if you go when theres still the sunlight. it will even prettier, i bet. very nice. :)
and in fact, you must use the flower dome and cloud forest tickets at the same day, you cant use for another day, so even tomorrow is open we still cant go there. very dumb. WE must been there earlier.
But theres nothing to regret, its happened alerady and i imagine that cloud forest's inside just so-so, just to comfort myself :)
After that, we take rest and chict chat. Many things that make me upset, like waiting and wasting times, but i realized that we go here, i go here is for Niq's farewell and the most important for all of these re we enjoy our time together, not the destination but the quality time and it makes me better, because i didnt realize even we miss things but we re stick together, we re having a good quality time together. :)
Back to the hotel, having a great conversation and my parents call me via line, very nice. :)
time to sleep..
I wanna share some stories when i had a trip at singapore with my besties.
So, one of my besties (Cecilia Niek) that we call Niq wanna join her husband on Feb 2014 to Pennsylvania, United Stated, 3 hours from NYC and veryyyy far from here. So she ask us to have vacation together before she left. We re excited, because we never have a vacation together, moreover to outside the country. So we began to discuss when we will be going, and after we agreed Niq ask Wenny her in law to book our ticket by tiger air. They had promotion price before. But, plus plus re become 800k idr per pax. lols. Its fine because we added baggage etc. we are girls, so its high possibility to us to shop.
WE gathered 3 or 4 times before we go, talk and discuss about the itinerary. Iv and Kiky (my brother) recommend many places before we go. Iv gave me the complete itin when he had vacation with his family. Very complete, including the address, the directions, the good places to eat, etc. And ki informed us to watch the show. Garden by the bay show and Marina Bay Sands Show, also Song of The Sea.
its really informative.
well, i just bought 100 SGD from my bro because he still hv it, and i bought 200 USD, just in case.
Before we go, we have problems. unexpected problems.
what are they?
First, Devia Buniarto (Depoy) had her master degree thesis trial schedule on 13th of Jan. So pity. So she couldn't go because of that. Its pity for her and for us. Because she must be want to spent her quality time with her besty befire she go and nervous about her final, and lost her flight money, also we lose one of us. :(
Second, Jess as always have some troubles because her panic. But, not a real trouble actually. She said that she lost her new passport, she just have the old one, but finally she found it. errr..
Third, me. Well, its really silly and ridiculous thing that ever happened to me. I forgot to extended my passport period. Uhhh, how stupid! So, like we know when we visit outside the country, our passport period at least have 6 months before expired, and mine..less then 6 months. so, its expired at 11 june 2014, so the last date i could use that passport is 11th Dec 2013, and i went to Singapore on 11th Jan. Very silly.
Actually, i want to extended my passport period after i back from Hongkong on Oct, but because i have some troubles in office (and because i didnt achieve the dec target and also because i want to spent my quality time with, so i stop selling) so i wait til i got assignment then i will extended. But seriously, i was so forgot that i havent extended the passport and i really forgot that singapore is outside the country and the lagacy is needed. urghhh.. i just knew the day before we go, because of my bro asked about my passp.
So, i asked my colleague..Paula and she said if i just wanna visit southeast asia, it would be fine have have under 6 months period, and ways to convinced myself it would be fine..i search on forum about that, Iv search too. And that forum really help me. Thankyou mr google and friends.
I found on that forum that there re some people who forgot, or they even dunno that they couldnt travelling if they only have 4-5 months left til their pp expired, and some of them lucky enough to passed, and several of them have to pay more. So, some of them who passed said that when they baggage check in they got asked why they didnt they extended their pp, and finally the airline staff ask them to sign the form that the airlines team didnt invlolved and responsible if the passengers have soe troubles there or get deported. And when in sing, no problem at all. And theres one who didnt passed, was because they bought airticket from airasia, and airasia strictky prohibit people to travelling even they just missed several days, for example 6 months - 3 days. the pax told us that he argued to te airline staff and the manager, but still cant travelling, so he have to bought another airticket from Garuda who allow him to fly; but he spent much money because of that. I still feel nervousm because theres no one mention tiger and quite glad because the one who didnt passed was bought airasia instead of tiger. And hopefully i can passed tomorrow morning (i said so with myself on 10th Jan 22.30)
Fourth, Ana get sick. She feel cold and everything and feel not well. :(
Finall, after all the troubles we could go to Singapore, and Iv take us there. Its weekend and coincidentally he was available, and appreciate because he wanna take us to the airport.
Ana looks so unwell, so weak and her stomach hurt and she feel wanna throw up etc, i feel so bad because of it and hope she will recover soon.
Arrived at airport, i was so nervous, but my besties and Iv always comfort me and told me that it would be fine. :) Soon after the check in counter was open, we queued..we re the first passengers who come which is great..we gave all of the passports, and thanks God, the staff didnt say anything about my pp and he just gave the boarding pass just like that. Fiuh.... He even dont ask me to sign any form.
Now, we must queued at immigration and make me even more nervous than before. Iv accompany me, i pray to God and convinced me that it would be fine. :)
But i cant ease all the jittery and anxiousness. >.<
After i arrived at the front, the immigration staff start to introgate me how many nights i will spent there and why i didnt extented my pp period. I told him that i dunno that i have to extend it and it won't valid if less than 6 months. After i explained that, praise the Lord he release me and remind me to dont forget to extend my pp after i arrived Jakarta. Fiuhh..
So after a quite sweet goodbye with Iv, i and my besties left.
We ate breakfast and force Ana to eat something because she looked so pale.
I feel so so relieved. :)
Flight to singapore :)
Arrived at Singapore.
We spent much of our time at Changi, seriously. After we touch down, we re look around..take pictures, shopping, or just window shopping. Jess is the most excited for shopping among all and there re many things that interesting there, i must admitted. After that, we mush through changi immigration, still a bit nervous and fortunately i can pass through.
We took our baggage and we seek things to eat, and we found thai food, got wifi but with low signal so its a kind of useless, order food , 6 sgd each. Then we bought Garden by the bay ticket, 22 Sgd each, for the entry for Flower Dome and Cloud of Forest. My bro said that if you wanna enter Garden by the bay, its totally free..even theres no admission counter that. But in fact, if we want to come in (by the web) you have to pay for that and after we arrived at changi, the adm people also said so, so finally we bough the tickets because its cheaper than we bought there.
So we took MRT to Orchard, not so long. It just 3 SGD actually. You can bought at the counter or just at the ticket machine, its all in english and chinese, so dont have to worry about that. Just choose your destination etc and you got the ticket. Thats it.
But my recommendation is you buy the tourist card, so you just have to pay cheaper that it supposed, like 26 SGD for 2 days and 34 SGD for 3 days but you can use the card for bus and subway unlimited for 3 days, its much worth right? very nice.
We dunno about that at first day we arrived there, and jess just told us to bought the regular ticket, so be it. Jess herself have the different card. Its like all in card where you can use that card for pay bus, MRT, taxi, phone-credit cellular, Sevel, etc. just like when i was in seoul. Very useful.
After we arrived at Orchard, we took taxi to our hotel, that not much far from there. Our Hotel is near Shangrila Hotel, is a 4 stars hotel at orange road which have the so-so environment. The room itself quite nice and big, we order twin share room that consist 2 queen size bed, very big room. Its really not suitable for honeymooners.
well, we have long queued for the taxi anyway, and we spent like 9 sgd for 10 minutes. so expensive!
After we got taxi and arrived at the hotel, we get ready and get rest for a while. Ana decide to stay at hotel because she felt unwell. And we go to china town by bus. We follow the direction fom the receptionist there, across the bridge and seek the bus who got to there. very easy, you can find the board include the destination and the price. So, after 10 minutes we arrived there. China Town was sooo crowded at that time, like very sultry. Like people everywhere, and we must walk to the opposite direction. Its because nearly chinese new year, so many people visit there to buy things and perhaps to celebrate, because usually there re entertainment in china town at that time, and yes there is fireworks there. very rousing. We even cant see what the people sell , like we found so many alley but we cant see the products because too many people, and its make us dizzy. Moreover, jess the hectic girl walk so quick and forgot where the hainam rest is while niq is starving, so we like have a tension there but finally we found the rest near there and we decide to eat there, where not too crowded. Prices on the menu are really unreasonable. They just bought fried rice, one with prawn and another with pork, it cost 12 sgd each include tax, and mine is 10 sgd nett for th wonton soup. oh my! I really dont got why singapore could be so expense these days???
I knew that i have been 16 years never visit singapore, but its really unexpected. Like, super.
After we ate, we take pictures in nice spot and decide to just walk to clarke quay. Clarke Quay is a nice place, there re many restaurants and cafes beside the small river and the environment is nice, You can find many bar and pub too, with the foreigners. We walk around, take pictures, anjoy the night environment and theres a guy who ask us if we want go to the club? Its free, but we deny it and he didnt insist us. how gentle. ;) well, after that we take taxi to hotel , because we took at night its more expensive than usual.
Back to hotel, take bath and line with Iv...
he fall asleep..
Day Two
Well, so we planned already yesterday night that today we will go to sentosa island while wait vivo open, and we agreed even Jess not excited go there. She hv been to Singapore like million times :p , so no wonder she dont have any enthusiastic.Actually i have been to Sentosa in 1997, but bro recently just been there and he said that theres 'song of the sea' show which is great to see. But plan just plan, it isnt going well. You know girls right? It start when Niq's alarm ring at the wrong time, she forgot to change her date and time, and no one of us who activate the alarm, we trust her. So, its not her fault, literally.its our fault too to not being aware. But after that, i and Ana soon have breakfast, a bit quick because we have to catch the time, but then when we re back they havent ready yet, as i and ana expected. so we wait them to apply the make up and get ready, it need much time, and i kinda hopeless at that time, it isnt possible go to sentosa. so, i gave up and just wait them get ready, and remind them every 5 minutes to get ready. While they re prepare, i make the hair do for ana and the girls like it so they queued to get hair do. lols.
After that, we catch the bus to orchard, and from there by MRT we go to Vivo.. Before that we bought the traveller tickets that cheaper than the basic one.And its really good you know, since Niq and Ana get stuck and they have to exit first and enter again ( i help then to tip tap the card to the exit machine) imagine that we just buy the basic, and they have to pay another 3 SGD for nothing. But we already paid 16 SGD for 2 days and we can go by bus or MRT unlimited. hahaha.
Well, in singapore nowadays or by far that i seen its really rare to find the singaporean, i just found indian who are everywhere, indonesian, malaysian (with hijab) and philipinos with tanned skin and sexy suits. AFter we arrived to vivo, we visit the candy shop that Jess recommend and yeah its the heaven for me, chocolate, candy, snacks everywhere but we decide to but later because when we re back home we will through this place too. So Niq decide to get the money from the ATM like i suggested, she hesitate at first, than i convinced that it will be okay. I knew from experience and i tried many times before, you just have to match the logo. Like visa, mastercard or maestro. If the logo is match, you can get the money with the local currency of course. :)
Niq did it and she very happy and i change my money to money changer because i want to bought foods, souvenirs etc. hehe..
After that we find the food court and eat some traditional foods like laksa etc, its much cheaper than in China Town. We talk awalk, look around, window shopping, try the snacks there, very interesting.
After that we go to giant, i recommend yummy goodness to them and we bought some snacks,i bought chocolate and marshmallow! :D and its much cheaper than in the candy shop. Then, we decide go to Bugis.. at Bugis we found yeah china things..just like in Beijing, cheap and interesting. After walk around, we decide to eat dinner at McD. Find something cheap, and after that we go to Garden bY the Bay.
Nah, theres none of us whos been there so its kinda confusing to find the show place.Its free anyway.
After we asked several people and walk and walk and start to giving up, suddenly the show is start and we take a seat and enjoy it. The show is worth to see, very stunning, riveting and baffle. Very worth to see, the light is just fabulous! Garden by the bay is very wide so its not eady to find the places, but then finally we find Flower dome but the staff there told us that we have to exit by 9 pm and come back tomorrow to look the cloud forest. So, we decided to go there and by 08.40 we exit and we want to enter the cloud forest, its closed. And we re very suprised when we look the information, that they closed tomorrow..we beg the staff to come in and they said we couldnt and we could come back the day after tomorrow which the time we back home :( :( we re very upset, but jess is the most. well, at least we could see from the outside. lols.
and we already find ourselves enjoy the flower dome. flower dome is fantastic and beautiful, you can see many kind of plans there and flowers. Its better if you go when theres still the sunlight. it will even prettier, i bet. very nice. :)
and in fact, you must use the flower dome and cloud forest tickets at the same day, you cant use for another day, so even tomorrow is open we still cant go there. very dumb. WE must been there earlier.
But theres nothing to regret, its happened alerady and i imagine that cloud forest's inside just so-so, just to comfort myself :)
After that, we take rest and chict chat. Many things that make me upset, like waiting and wasting times, but i realized that we go here, i go here is for Niq's farewell and the most important for all of these re we enjoy our time together, not the destination but the quality time and it makes me better, because i didnt realize even we miss things but we re stick together, we re having a good quality time together. :)
Back to the hotel, having a great conversation and my parents call me via line, very nice. :)
time to sleep..
