Backpacking Day 3: Marina Bay Sands and Merlion Park
and finally, for the last part of my Day 3: Sightseeing at Marina Bay area.
From Harbour Front (NE 1) ride to Chinatown (NE4) transfer to its Downtown Line (DT19) and alight at Bayfront Station (DT16).
From the DT16 station, there's a passage to The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. Our trip wasn't luxurious enough for us to stay/check-in at the very famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel so we have to be satisfied with taking pictures inside The Shoppes and with the hotel for our background. Loljk. We don't have the means YET to stay there even for a night.
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| Upon exiting the MRT station, you'll be greeted by this man-made canal (Yes, inside the mall!) that has operating wooden boats called Sampan which you can ride for a fee. I don't have the budget to experience this nor do I want to; I was just looking forward to see the mall's rain oculus. I've seen a picture of that giant bowl where water passes through so I was hoping to have a picture taken with it but... |
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| Do you see any water from it? :(( Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it wasn't operating when we went there. But let's look at the silver lining, this is another reason to come back to Singapore! |
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| A picture of The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands' facade. The fact that I kind of set foot in the world's most expensive building was an accomplishment in itself. Soon, infinity pool, soon. May kasamang pagbabanta 'yan saka papa-sexy muna ko. hahaha! |
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| Across Marina Bay Sands is Merlion Park. Across! Across! Myghad, I am loving this walking tour so much. |
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| That lotus flower-like/white structure is the ArtScience Museum. A lot of people are in the area. Some just waiting for time to pass while spending time with friends and family, some were alone and some were exercising. This is actually one thing I liked about Singapore. Coming from a country where your business is mostly everyone's business too, sometimes you just want to feel that other people aren't minding whatever it is you're doing. And our last SG walking tour started there. Wooo, kanya-kanyang paraan, kanya-kanya kaming technique sa paglalakad so we could reach the Merlion Park alive and not die of exhaustion halfway. :))) Kalurks. It took us around 20 minutes of brisk-walking to get to the other side. |
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| There were a lot of joggers in the area so it was an okay place to brisk-walk. Hindi kami others. hahaha! We thought that it's too close to hire a cab yet a little bit far to walk but whatevs, we still walked. We skipped going to Gardens By The Bay even if that was closer to The Shoppes thinking we could just go back there after Merlion Park. But while walking along this part, we saw that Marina Bay Station (NS27) was closer. So naturally, Gardens By The Bay? Next visit na. Two days spent in Singapore and our PHP 3,000.00 budget weren't enough to go to and explore all tourist spots. Wala kang papatulan muna na kahit ano. Hanggang tingin na lang most of the times. But, I shall return!! Kanina pa ko paulit-ulit na babalik ako. Gets, life, gets? I shall return! Wiser. Braver. Stronger. Bolder. Fiercer. Sexier. Richer! Hahaha! :)) |
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| And we were already halfway!!!!! Marina Bay Sands Hotel (the one with boat-like structure on top), ArtScience Museum, The Shoppes and Singapore Flyer. We were rushing things that time since our bus back to Malaysia was scheduled at 10 PM; hence, the brisk-walking. But now that I think of it, we should have walked counter clockwise and passed through the Helix bridge and Singapore flyer. That way, we would've seen more of SG. Pero, aarte pa ba kung pwede naman kami bumalik? HAHA. |
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| We arrived! |
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| A lot of Fullerton something in the area. Not that it's a bad thing though. |
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| Singapore Flyer, Helix Bridge and ArtScience Musem Panoramic Shot Helix bridge, for pedestrians, is really beautiful at night. I guess this first visit just showed me the places that I'm going to look forward to next time... saka pag may maganda na kong camera. :))) |
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| That structure that looks like Durian is The Esplanade or the Theater by the Bay. |
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| A part of Singapore Central Business District skyline taken from below nga lang. hahaha. |
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| They say that a trip to Singapore isn't complete if you don't have a picture with the Merlion. Dami kong kuha rito eh, wala nga lang matino. :)) Merlion is a mythical creature with a head of a lion and a body of a fish. According to Wikipedia, it is a combination of MER "sea" and LION representing Singapore's origin as a fishing village and Singapore's original name Singapura which means lion's city. The MRT Station closest to Merlion Park is Raffles Place (EW14) and (NS26). |
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| Marina Bay Sands Hotel, The Merlion, the Boat of the River Tour and of couse, moi. :) Should you have s$22.00, you might want to try Singapore River Ferry Cruise. A forty-minute cruise that would take you to Marina South, Marina Bay, Boat Quay, Clark Quay and Robertson Quay. FYI (Hindi ko kasi alam kung ano 'yun kaya ako na ang naghanap ng sagot), quays are structures built on the land next to a river. |
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| Patikim lang lahat lahat!! It's expensive in Singapore so if you're also in a tight budget, hanggang tingin na lang tayo talaga. hahaha! Pero ano naman, diba? Wala naman yan sa dami ng attraction na nabayaran, basta nasa SG ka at nakapasyal ka. hehe |
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| Time to go back to Ang Mo Kio since our bus that would take us back to Malaysia is leaving at 10 PM and we have to be at Golden Mile Complex by 9:30. Uhm, past 7:30 PM na ata to. Intense two hours. We hailed a cab from Ang Mo Kio to Golden Mile to lessen the travel time. I really hope that there comes a time when Filipino taxi drivers copy Singaporean drivers when it comes to giving of change. We had a change of s$.05 and instead of just pocketing that small amount (which is normally the situation in the Philippines kahit paminsan P 20.00 pa nga), our driver took his container of coins and gave us our change - he got no more and no less of what's indicated in his meter. Also, even if Golden Mile was a little bit far from Ang Mo Kio, he didn't ask for additional payment nor did he take advantage of us being a tourist. Ang sarap pala ng feeling na mag-taxi na alam mong babayaran mo lang 'yung presyong nandun sa metro. Tipong hindi ka na maiinis sa nagpapadagdag na driver kesyo traffic, kesyo masyadong malapit, kesyo masyadong malayo. At mas masarap pala ang feeling na mag-taxi na hindi ka papababain o hindi ka papasakayin pag hindi gusto maghatid ng driver sa lugar na pupuntahan mo. Also, thanks to our driver for being our tour guide (somehow) on the way to Golden Mile. |
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| Haaay, time to say Goodbye, Singapore. It was sooooo fun while it lasted even if we got lost for a lot of times because of your complexity. :))) THE REST OF OUR MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE (MIS)ADVENTURES LINK: HERE. |
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