Friday, December 10, 2010

KL-SINGAPORE













The journey from KL to Singapore took about 4 hours including coffee break at Ayer Keroh and fishcake noodle lunch at Yong Peng. We reached the Woodland causeway around 1:00 p.m. Our timing really sucks. It was a Saturday and there was a massive long queue going into Singapore. It took us nearly 2 hours to clear the immigration check point and to get an Autopass. It must have been at least 15-20 years since I last drove to Singapore. Fortunately, we had a trusty (borrowed) GPS to guide us. Following the mechanical voice guidance we easily navigated our way to 3rd Auntie’s apartment in Choa Chu Kang without much hassle. My only grudge with the GPS was that it took a long time for the satellite to locate its global position. The 2 aunties took us out for an early dinner at a restaurant within the old turf club that night. After that the 4 of us took the MRT down to Orchard Road to see the much touted Christmas Lights.

The next day, 4th Uncle’s daughter picked up Ah Mah and SC to visit the old relatives. With only 1 day to cover the whole of Singapore, we wisely asked ML to check the tourist map and decide on the itinerary while I handled the logistic. We took the MRT to the Science Centre (boring recommendation) and from there proceed by bus to Chinatown (another wrong choice). Everywhere you turn in Chinatown and People’s Park you see Chinese migrant workers and retired senior citizens, very much like our Petaling Street in KL. The food we tried at the Food Court tasted rather mediocre. The only saving grace was the dessert stalls that offered a wide variety of colorful and mouth-watering desserts.

The esplanade at the Marina Bay will be a nice place for a stroll in the late evening and night but we were dead tired by then. ML’s obsession to ride the Ferris wheel could not be fulfilled because of the ongoing maintenance works. We took a taxi ride to an MRT station and from there proceeded back to Orchard Road for dinner. After 12 solid hours on the move, nobody was keen to shop. The only shopping we did was the last minute buying spree at the Shopping Centre near 3rd Auntie’s place. Actually there was nothing worth buying but coming back empty handed was not an option so the ladies went into a shopping frenzy in a nondescript Japanese shop. The heavy water cushions were supposed to have a cooling effect but definitely not suitable for use in the car. If you park the car under the sun you will end up sitting on a hot water bottle. It might be comfortable if you are driving in Japan during the winter months.
simon
10 dec 2010

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