Tour in Singapore!

My Taiwanese friend came over to Singapore for a visit and I was a tour guide for 2 days! It was tiring yet a refreshing experience for me! Both of us have planned the itinerary for quite a while but it wasn't finalized until a day or two before she arrived. 

Day 1 Itinerary: 

- Gardens By The Bay

- Chicken Rice at FEP 

- Orchard Road

- The Merlion Park

- Bedok 85 

Let's start!

Our first stop was at Gardens By The Bay. We got there early and it was good because the domes were empty! This was my 2nd or 3rd visit and I probably would not visit again unless someone wants to cross the OCBC Skyway Bridge with me. I would pay $5 just to cross the bridge! (Why doesn't anyone want to cross it? :( ) 

Getting there:

- Take the Circle Line, alight at Bayfront Station.

- Follow the signs and you need to climb a flight of stairs before you reach the ground level.

- You should be able to see a shuttle service station. (Don't be like me and ignore it unless you want to walk under the scorching hot sun for 10-15 minutes.)

Ticket Pricing for Flower + Cloud Forest Domes

- $20 for local residents

- $28 for visitors 

With a peacock at the Flower Dome!

The iconic waterfall at Cloud Forest! 

(See what I mean by empty? No one blocking your shot! :D)

We spend about 2 hours there which means we still had plenty of time before our next stop! I had to decide on the spot on where we should visit next because I thought it would take us 3-4 hours! (Okay mainly because we just toured a round in each dome without stopping.)

I was famished as I only had a slice of bread for breakfast just before I reached the hotel! Our next stop was Far East Plaza for chicken rice! We had to queue before getting our seats because it was lunch hour. (But hey! Queuing for food in Sg, checked!)

Next, we walked the streets of Orchard! It was really humid so we settled at a cafe for ice-cream! 

(Sorry, no photos for the section above.)

Thereafter we proceeded onto "The Merlion Park"!

Getting there:

- Take the Circle Line, alight at Esplanade Station.

- Follow the signs and you will find an underpass at CityLink which leads you to the Esplanade. 

- Go up 2 escalators and you will be at the ground floor. 

- Exit, turn left and walk straight down. 

There are other ways of getting there but I used the Esplanade underpass as that was the only route I was familiar with and you could get a shot with 2 durian structures! ;)

1 of the durian-like structure!

 A mandatory shot with the merlion! :D

(Could have stepped slightly nearer for this!)

Testing out my panorama shot on my phone. 

We sat there over 2 hours chatting and admiring the view as it turns from day to night scenery. From where we sat, we could see the Merlion, Esplanade, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Floating Platform, Singapore Flyer, ArtScience Museum and Marina Bay Sands. 

(I will stay in Marina Bay Sands and visit the Infinity Pool one day!)

It's amazing to see how far Singapore has come over the past 49 years. I mean, it's not easy at all. 

And if you just look over to other side, you could see the CBD area. 

And......It was time for dinner!! 

Bedok 85

- Take the East-West Line to Bedok Station.

- Take the escalator down after you tap out and make a right turn.

- Take another escalator up and you will see Bedok Mall on your left and a bus stop straight up. 

- Take Bus 222 and alight 5 stops later. 

Satay! 

5 sticks each for pork and chicken!

 Sambal Kangkong!

 Carrot Cake with Sweet Dark Sauce.

I prefer the White version! Who's with me?! 

BBQ Chicken Wings!! 

I can eat this every day.

Bak Chor Meeeeeee!

Am I the only one who likes the soup version?

I've tried from both stalls in a week and I can say... they both taste the SAME.

It's not DIE DIE MUST TRY but I like it because it's a little tasteless but yet tasty at the same time. (Do I make any sense?)

But of course, I hope it could be more tastier.

Day 2 Itinerary:

- Chinatown 

- Temple Street 

- Bugis Street

- St Andrew's Cathedral

- Chijmes

- Tanjong Pagar (Korean BBQ!)

Dim Sum at Tak Po for brunch!

Getting there:

- Take the North-East Line to Chinatown Station.

Address:

42 Smith Street

Singapore 058954

Chee Cheong Fun, Siew Mai, Prawn Dumpling, Egg Tarts, Malay Cake and Paper-Wrapped Chicken! 

Custard Bun :D 

Century Egg & Pork Porridge! 

Texture was very smoooooooooth.

Frog Leg!! 

I prefer this dim sum shop than Yum Cha because the food tastes better and it's cheaper over here! Service is better here as it's hard to get the attention of the waitresses at Yum Cha. I feel a lot more comfortable over at Tak Po. 

Have you guys tried Tak Po before? Let me know! 

I've patronized this place a few times and it never leaves me feeling disappointed! :)

There were Koreans seated next to us and we wanted to help them with their order but.... we need to brush up on our Korean!! 헐.... 

We walked around Chinatown and managed to get some souvenirs for her family!

Dessert was next!

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert

63-67 Temple Street 

Singapore 058611

Getting from Tak Po to here is just a 2 minutes walk away.

Peanut Paste for me.

With the downtown line already in operation, getting from Chinatown to Bugis is so convenient!! It's just one end to the other! 

Bugis street for shopping it was but I was quite surprised as she didn't buy anything! I was really shocked because she used to buy so much stuff over in Seoul or rather everywhere! She told me it was because she lost interest in shopping for clothes.. :(

St Andrew's Cathedral and Chijmes were next! 

Getting there: 

- Take the East-West Line to City Hall Station.

- Turn left after you tap out.

Having living in Singapore my whole life.. I've never been to St Andrew's Cathedral much less to say that I didn't know it was open to public. 

 Chapel. 

 A lot of churches are very modernized now so its quite rare to find such arrangement.

Some of the church members were seen decorating the place for a wedding that's going to take place soon. You can see tourists entering in and out of the place too!

CHIJMES is just a 3-5 minutes walk away from St Andrew's.

The place was under renovation so we didn't take much photos. 

Last stop, Tanjong Pagar! 

But first, dessert at Group Therapy Cafe. 

(My 3rd time over there!) 

The Korean BBQ restaurants are only open from 5:30 or 6pm onwards so we decided to have desserts first! 

Ice-Cream Waffle with Maple Syrup.

I like their Red Velvet Cake!

It's not too overwhelming.

I decided on "Superstar K" because I've been there 2-3 times and it's good! (I've yet to try 2D1N though.)

It opens at 5:30pm and there was already a queue! Thankfully, they have this booking system which is through an iPad(I assume?). Just key in the no. of pax, contact no. and your booking number will be send to you via SMS. There will also be an automated call to let you know when your table is available. Pretty cool.

There's a LOTTE mart nearby for you to kill time.

Luckily for us, we were among the first few in line so we only needed to wait for about 3-5 minutes for them to get ready for business.

We included Korean BBQ in our itinerary as we wanted to relieve the memories we had over in Seoul as that was where we knew each other! 

You know every time when I'm having a Korean meal, it just brings back so much memories and feelings. I definitely would make a trip back there soon either alone or with another friend because part of my heart is still there and it will always be there. Plus, the friends I've made over there are so wonderful!

Yun啊，这次你能来新加坡我感到非常兴奋。希望在这2-3天， 你玩得很开心也填满了肚子！虽然是我第一次当导游，有不足的地方不好意思哦。以后有机会希望你能再来， 然后我们再去找美食！下次见面也不知道会是几时。。一年？两年？在新加坡，首尔或台湾？无论如何，我们一定要保持联络哦！

애드너 

In every relationship, effort has to be put in. In this case, though we may not see each other and probably will not meet in years to come but we still managed to keep in contact! A friendship like this is hard to come by and we should cherish it. 

失去才懂得珍惜, 对吧？

This is why we should really treasure the times we spend with our family and friends. 

Alright, I shall end off. 

Goodbye and I hope you guys enjoy reading it! :)