Singapore's First Timer

I think it’s been a year. I write this in advance in case I don’t have time to write after my holiday ends.

So at the night of December 6, my dad called me. The conversation was like this.

“Cha, di x ada apa?” (x is the place we keep the passport)

“Oh? HEHEHE NDA DI SITU YAH. TUNGGU.” I was so sure that the thing that my father was looking for are the passports. I was utterly happy because we had no plan to have a year-end holiday since we had one in July. My dad then revealed we are going to Singapore! I was crazy happy because duh, Crazy Rich Asians syndrome. The movie has changed me a lot.

My dad bought the ticket from Surabaya to Singapore. I then recall a YouTube ad on tiket.com’s promotion. Maybe that’s why. Our SUB-SIN ticket is around IDR 500.000,00 (Jetstar).

It’s hella cheap for an international flight.  My dad then bought Makassar (UPG) – (SUB) Surabaya for my mom and youngest brother.

As usual, I’m in order to create the itinerary and plans. After few talks we decided to spend 3 days in Singapore. It was so hard because I myself is confused. It took me around a week to make the itinerary because of the other thing I needed to take care of.

So our UPG-SUB flight was at December 17^th, 11.30 AM. The flight took time around one and an half hour (1h30m). And then we got picked up by my dad (He was already at Surabaya with my second brother from December 16^th) to the hotel for a few-hours rest.

The hotel in Surabaya was The Square. It was after i arrived then I know it’s in front of the Petra Christian University. In the ground floor, they have a Europe-like decoration and it’s so cool. Yes I was so norak that time. It was really cool. I’m not lying.

After few hours, we then head on to the airport for our flight. We also stopped by a mall to exchange the money. Around 5 PM, we arrived. Note that our flight was at 9 PM, and we thought the 3 hours check-in rule still applies. But after arriving, the staff said the check-in counter would be opened 2 hours before the flight. While waiting, we had our dinner at HokBen. It is located in the Juanda International Airport T2.

The flight to Singapore from Surabaya took time around 2 hours. In Jetstar, you can buy the Singapore SIM card for $12, the data plan is 100 GB Internet, 1 GB for roaming to few countries and also free call for many minutes. The provider is StarHub.

Arriving at Singapore made me in awe. I totally act like someone who saw an airport for the first time. The design is modern without leaving the nature accent behind.

One thing I first notice and still the thing I love the most from Singapore is how fast everyone walk. For your information, I walk real fast and my friends sometimes whine when they walked with me. People also looked at me like I’m a weirdo if I walk with my normal pace. And it won’t happen at all when you are here because that’s how people walk.

Even if we arrived at 12 AM (Singapore local time), the immigration is still crowded. The immigration process works as how other country does, it’s just we needed to fill a paper regarding our basic information and give it to the immigration staff in the process.

After that, we activated the SIM card we bought in the airplane at the UOB Bank booth and then headed to the hotel.

The kitchen

Our first hotel was Jamilla Boutique Inn. It was actually a dormitory concept hostel. The price started from $23 for a person in a 4 person-dormitory. It’s located near the Little India, precisely at Awali Street.

For me myself, the dormitory concept is quite nice. It has a lounge for the guest to mingle. It also gives complimentary breakfast in the kitchen (bread, tea, coffee,etc.) every morning. The shared bathroom was also quite nice.

The reason my dad booked it was because we arrived midnight and needed a place to rest before moving to our next hotel. Yes it’s our thing to move from one hotel to another sometimes.

A wefie in front of Masjid Sultan

We had a breakfast around 9 AM and then walked to the Little India area. We stopped by a 7/11 (how to write seven eleven) to buy an EZ-Link card. One card costs $10 with $5 balance in it. It can be used for MRT, Bus, etc. Kampong Glam was our first destination. It took us a ten minutes walk from the hotel. We strolled around and then stopped by Masjid Sultan, the most prominent landmark in Kampong Glam.

My mom met up with a friend of hers and then we continued to have a brunch at Zam Zam Restaurant. It is one of the most famous halal food in Little India, and I bet Singapore.

In the mid of ordering foods, the clock showed 11:30 AM and then we came to a realization that the check-out time was 12:00 PM. So I ran to the hotel with both of my brothers to check-out. The luggages were kept at the lobby then we walked back to the restaurant.

We had few Indian dishes such as prata (Idk if this is the same as canai or no but it tasted the same for me), chicken curry, mutton masala and murtabak. The taste was so authentic and so does the place.

Haji Lane

After eating, we walked a bit to Haji Lane where it served a very fresh, colorful and bright vibes to the eyes. Almost all of the store was instagramable (as how milennials said), it also sells unique and varies stuff such as clothes and hobbies thing. There was also this Supreme gun! But it was $29 ugh rip my wallet. I didn’t buy it tho lol.

After strolling around Haji Lane, we walked back to the hotel to took our luggage and walked to the bus stop to go to our second hotel. We took the 130 bus if i’m not mistaken.

Our second hotel was Ramada by Wyndham. When we arrived, my dad directly went to check-in and we rested for around 10 minutes. We then went out (again) to Bugis Street.

While we were on the bus there is this strange event happened. I was sitting in the very front of the bus when there were these 2 men enter the bus. One of them whispered “I bet she’s Makassarese.” I heard it but never in my mind I thought it was me. But when I started speaking, he suddenly said “See I’ve told you! She’s Makassarese!” (The conversation occurred in Bahasa anw)

We had a lunch and shopped few things at Bugis street before continuing to Merlion Statue. Because what's a holiday to Singapore without visiting it, duh.

When we were on the way, I saw CHIJMES which was the place I really love because of Crazy Rich Asians. It is the place where Araminta and Colin had their wedding. Too bad until our last day at Singapore we don’t go there. BUT WE KEPT PASSING IT UGH.

After tooking too many photos, we had some snacks at 7/11 (where my broke fellas at). We then took a bus to Orchard.

Orchard Road really is a shopper paradise. You can see all the big brand lined up along the street. At the time we were there, there was a Disney Light event where it has a lot of Disney’s characters photo booth (YES IT’S SHINING GUYS. AAAAAAAA.) So I took photos at Donald and Daisy’s, also Minnies. I was planning to took few in the Princess section but it was too far and my legs feel like popping out.

After few hours, we decided to go back by train. We then used the MRT from Orchard to Novena station. From the Novena station, we rode the hotel’s free shuttle. Oh and we had a KFC dinner that night because we had no idea on what to eat.

The next morning, we had a breakfast at Subway and went straight to Resort World Sentosa for a day at Universal Studios Singapore *inserts screaming gif here* We went with a bus until VivoCity. The moment we arrived at VivoCity, an RWS bus also there. So we went to Sentosa Island with just $1.00.

After taking few proof shots aka a picture in front of Universal Globe, we entered the Universal Studios AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I kept jumping for a minute, no lies. I was so happy.

We rode quite a lot rides, from the easy until the most thrilling ones. Their taglines “Ride the movies” really is true. I had soooo soooooo much fun. My dad said it was the best $300 he ever spent. The foods are quite pricey. The average price for a food is $12. We ended our visit by watching their Christmas show.

We went back to VivoCity by a free RWS bus and then had dinner at VivoCity. We had a dinner at a mee restaurant called “Encik Tan”. This is one of the halal place I would recommend to you guys. The foods are affordable with a generous portion.

After eating dinner, we went straight to the bus stop and then something silly happened. We entered the right bus number, but wrong bus stop. In Singapore, they named the stop with place name, or Opp place name. We should’ve ride the 145 bus from Opp VivoCity, instead we rode the VivoCity one. We realized that after few kms.

So we quitted the bus at a VEEEERY dark and quiet place considering it was still 10 PM. We were confused for almost half an hour after realized that we should take the bus from the opposite.

Our last day at Singapore was used to visit Mustafa Center. I don’t know what were we looking for that day… The only thing I knew is my dad came back with a new luggage. This Mustafa Center is like a hugeeeee supermarket where you can find almost everything. I mean it. From branded watches, make-up and cd vinyl. I wanted to buy a cd vinyl but I don’t even have the player. Cries.

We headed back to the hotel after few hours to take our luggage, and then went to the Queen Street Station for heading to Johor Bahru (JB).

When we arrived in the station, the bus is already there. My dad bought a Causeway Link 1 bus ticket using EZ-Link. The trip from Queen St. to Woodlands Checkpoint was around 30 minutes. When we arrived, we proceeded to the immigration and then continued with another bus, with the same route. As long as we still have the ticket.

The trip from Woodlands Checkpoint to Johor Bahru Checkpoint is actually so short, but a traffic jam occurred that time so it took around 20 minutes. We entered Johor Bahru via the immigration and then went to the JB Sentral for a lunch.

Note that the Causeway Link 1 is actually from Queen St. to Larkin, but the airbnb we booked is closer to JB Sentral than Larkin. So if your destination is JB Sentral, you can also take the CW1 instead of CW2, but it’s more expensive than the CW2.

After the lunch, we took a Grab to the airbnb location, blablabla and here I am, writing a new and exciting story in case I forgot it in the future.

Icha’s tips!

• Look for a flight promo oftenly. It’s okay if the origin city is not from your city. You could check the plane ticket from your city to another city. Connecting flight Is a thing for a traveller.
• The EZ-Link is really useful in Singapore. If you want to travel like a local most of the time, I recommend you to buy an EZ-Link. There is also an optional for tourist, the name is “Tourist Pass” If I’m not mistaken, but I don’t really know the details. One EZ-Link card can only be used by one person only.
• If you want to take a bus, pay attention to the bus stop details because it’s quite tricky sometimes. If you don’t, you could ended up like me.
• Try looking for a promo Universal Studios ticket online like Tokopedia, Bukalapak, etc. But you need to be careful because there are so many scammer these days. My dad saved around $10 for each person. If you want the seller link, i’ll give it to you.
• Out of every accent I ever heard, I swear Singlish (Singaporean English) is the hardest. Practice to listen to it If you have time lmao.

My Johor Bahru story is actually soo sooo interesting, even for me. Mayhaps I will write it after I arrive in Kuala Lumpur. Ciao!

P. S. This is my first time writing a whole post in english so please mind the grammar and diction. xoxo