On this occasion, I will share my experience late last year when I visited Singapore with my younger brother and female cousins. Our main destination at that time was Malaysia, but before leaving we had also agreed to visit Singapore because the cost and time required were not too large (about 6 hours of travel with a bus fare of 300K IDR (~20 USD)).
Initially, we planned to travel in the evening by bus, so that we would arrive in Singapore in the morning and return to Malaysia in the evening (we decided not to stay overnight in Singapore, as the cost was quite high, and did not fit into our budget). Unfortunately, the bus trips at night were full, so after much discussion, we decided to leave by the earliest bus (around 6 am) and return by the latest bus (around 11.30 pm). Assuming we would arrive at 12:00 pm, we felt that 10 hours of sightseeing in Singapore would be sufficient. But unfortunately, there were many obstacles that we did not expect.
Firstly, the tire of the bus we were traveling in a burst on the expressway, making our arrival time 1 hour later than previously scheduled. Next, we were also detained for quite a long time at immigration because we had to queue for a long time and fill in some kind of electronic health card (which is related to covid). The queuing time was actually not too long, but because we forgot to buy a special data package for this country and the wifi connection there was not very good (maybe because it was used by too many people), the process of filling in the card and queuing took 3 hours.
After finishing immigration, and with only 6 hours left, we decided to move straight to Orchard Road using an online taxi service. The journey took about 30 minutes, and when we got there, we immediately looked for a place to eat.
I order this food in one of the foodcourts that is located in one of the malls in Orchard Road and it cost 8 SGD per portion. The flavor is very delicious and fits my tongue. I think the portions are also just right for the price, especially the chicken which is very fatty and rich in spices.
After we finished looking for food, we decided to go to the Merlion Statue using the MRT. We exited the building and followed the directions on the map to get to the MRT station. We also stopped in front of a mall and took some pictures. On that occasion, the photo I took was of a sculpture that resembled 3 people who were being chatted up.
It turned out that from the MRT station we still had to walk for about 10 minutes, and we did so in a bit of a hurry. While walking, we passed through many places, ranging from riverbanks, to passing towering buildings. Even though we were in a hurry, we didn't want to miss the moment, so on several occasions, we stopped for a moment to take some pictures.
After finally arriving at the location of the Merlion Statue, we were all quite amazed at the view that was presented before us. 3 towering buildings with a building erected horizontally and resembling a ship. This building is known as Marina Bay Sands an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Around the building, you can also see the ArtScience Museum building, which is no less unique in shape with the dominance of white color. In addition, a large Ferris wheel can also be seen in the distance.
It was very crowded, especially since it was the end of the year holiday, which I think made it even more crowded than usual. After enjoying the view from the Marina Bay Sands building, we walked a few dozen steps until we finally reached the icon of Singapore, the Merlion Statue. It was quite difficult to capture a proper photo of this statue as there were so many visitors crowding around it. I finally decided to take a picture of the statue along with the crowds.
After spending about 1 hour and a half at that location, we decided to continue our journey to Bugis Street to buy souvenirs. But unfortunately, because my mobile phone battery had run out and the power bank I brought was also running low on capacity, I didn't take any pictures at that location. After shopping for about an hour in the Bugis Street area, we finally decided to move to the bus terminal that would take us back to Malaysia. The bus station was quite crowded and luckily we had enough time to rest while waiting for our departure.
Even though it was full of challenges and things that we didn't anticipate, we still enjoyed this very short trip. At least, we still got to visit one of the country's most iconic locations. A little advice for everyone who want to visit this country and other countries, it would be better if you check the prerequisites to enter the country in detail so that what we felt in this story does not happen to you all.
That's all my story on this occasion, I hope you enjoy it and see you in other travel stories. Thank you!
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