the Lion City

This is such an over-due post. But, nevertheless, it's out now..:-).

Alright..the idea of visiting Singapore came from none other than me. I planned this trip a month and a half ago - to go before the school holidays so that there would be less crowd. Plus, we also included my sister and her boyfriend as well. And, we will all fly to Singapore. Ok, so, that was the plan.

But, as with most plans, it didn't turn out that way. We could only leave end of May. Then, my sister's boyfriend couldn't make the trip since he had to attend to family commitments during Wesak Day. So, in the end, it was the 3 of us. Oh. why the 3?? Lil Em didn't follow. My MIL offered to take care of Em during that period. So, we thought "ok, we don't need to get a passport for Em then"..heheh..Ash has her passport since 2 years ago because we were supposed to make a trip Down Under for Christmas in 2008 but I fell pregnant, and so we had to cancel that.

So, anyway, back to the 'story'. Even though hubby knew of this trip of ours but he too couldn't give me a firm "yes" as to when and how we were going. In the end, we left most things to the last minute - couldn't make hotel reservations, couldn't book our flights..all I could do was wait. Finally, the wait was over and all plans were only confirmed that Wesak week. We tried booking our flights on AirAsia or FireFly but for the 3 of us, it came up to RM1K!! Totally not worth it. We also tried Aeroline, but it was fully booked (this is 3 days before departing).

As you can see, all modes of transport have been ruled out..including the train. Do you know, it still takes 8 hours by train from KL to SG??? Really...I think they should re-think the trains. Throw out the old engines. Or better yet, throw out ALL trains and get new one. I could go to Jakarta with that speed. I digress.

In the end, we decided to drive. And since we were driving, hubby decided to go on Sunday instead of on a Saturday. So, we drove down. We had to pay the 2 day vehicle entrance fee for Monday and Tuesday which is SGD5 per day. You enter for free on weekends.

We left KL mid-morning after dropping Em off at MIL. Luckily, she's attached to them so there were no fuss, no cries..nothing of that sort to make us turn the car around for her. She was pretty good that morning. We took our leisurely drive. Ash was, as expected didn't know what was happening. She just followed along and slept on the way there. Not the whole time but she napped twice. She's a good traveller. I'm not sure how she'll be on the plane but so far, on the road, she's quite the cool cucumber.

Seeing as how traffic was smooth, we reached SG in 4 hours. By then, it was slightly passed our lunch-time. We drove into the city and to our hotel. We stayed at this new hotel called Ibis. Not your Mandarin, Shangri-la equivalent. But, more of I think Eastin. Anyway, my hubby managed to snag the room at corporate rate so, we got some savings. It was either that, or bunk in with our relos..heheheh..

water fountain at Bugis Junction

We dropped our bags and headed out. 2 blocks behind the hotel was bugis street. The one that resembled our very own Petaling Street. Seeing as how we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, it was jam packed. We decided to skip it and head towards Bugis Junction instead. I regret not taking too many pictures of it. Was too busy 'window' shopping..heheh..

Oh, before heading out to Bugis Junction, we stopped by a mall. Not your ordinary mall because the exterior design looks to me like it was inspired by Lady Ga-Ga's headgear. You'll see what I mean shortly.

what did I tell you?!! Lady Ga-Ga

Again, there aren't anymore pics of the mall cos you know, it's not easy when you have a fidgety toddler with you. Besides, I was too caught up with my 'browsing'..

After walking, and more walking, it was time for dinner. We went to a local cafe at Bugis Junction. We thought we'd give it a try. OK..the only reason why we went in was because they had Sesame Street characters sitting freely all over the place..heheh..

oh look-y....cookie monster decided to join us for dinner :-)

The meal was great. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the Cafe. I'm terribly bad with names. But, we did order this absolutely delish starter below. This is the only food pic I took because I wanted to make them one day (or try to at least)...Was so good, I ordered another plate after finishing my grilled lamb. We both had grilled lambs, the hubby and I. Ash had her kiddie meal, consisted of a couple pieces of chicken nuggets and fries. Then, she had ice-cream. She managed to snag free (colourful) marshmallows and a bottle of M&M's from the chef (or so he claimed he was the "chef").

I'll stop here and continue on with the trip another day. You'll thank me for this : the coming posts will not be as long-winded as this one..:-)