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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Sentosa Boardwalk, Sentosa Visitor Center, and USS Globe, Singapore

It was the very first time I brought my sister and her family to other country. This was due to their profession, and commitment in both, the parents and the kids. Since they have never been to any other foreign countries, I lured them with the nearest country first, Singapore. I actually promised them that it will be cheap but fun, like what we normally did.

So I told her to prepare RM1000 for a complete package of 5 (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 infant), from fuel, toll, bus, train, food, accommodation, entrance fee, up to shopping, from KL to Johor to Singapore, and back to Johor and KL. Ha dah macam travel agent tak pekena kakak sendiri. Hahaha! Then I asked them to do a group passport, which was way cheaper, valid for a single entry (RM200 for a group of 5 to 20 pax). For those kids below 12, please bring birth cert as well ya. Click here for more info on group passport.

Similar to what I’ve planned and recommended for my sister, I tabled out the same budget to my two stepsisters, who live in Seremban and Johor. Initially, they had no issue, obliging to MY plan. When I said MY plan, they must follow MY way. I had a big doubt at first, since they haven’t been to any foreign country before, but looking at my stepmom, I thought it would be fun if she can have fun with her biological daughters, sons in law, and grandchild. So, why not. The more, the merrier.

But out of nowhere, a week before the trip, I received a big spank on my face, when one of the son in law, started to play “he-knows-all” game. Ouch, big mistake, bro! He kept on asking why we should get in by bus, how do they carry the baby, this and that. Even worst, he told me that they will only do one-entry-Malaysian-Passport, right at the Singapore Immigration. What the hell was that? Halo, what year are you living now, bro? How can you enter Singapore, when you can’t even go through Malaysian Immigration? *Slap forehead*

And so I told them, not to proceed. If they insist, please go on their own. I don’t roaming, so try your luck to find where we are. Period. (My sister actually wanted them to go on their own, to see whether they can get through or not, coz she has done it (group passport) a week before. Hahaha!)

They finally decided not to go, at all.

Pak Ein and his wife? They still actively travel. Almost becoming a yearly traveler (wahhhh!). As usual, there was no objection from both of them on the budget and itinerary, as long as there is one slot for shopping time. Hahaha!

Both families, overnight at my Palmiera Cacatoos for few nights, before we drove to Johor on Thursday night. It was a smooth drive, before we finally reached Johor and traced the Homestay Larkin, with the help of GPS. Read here for Homestay Larkin experience.

After a huge frustration on Malaysian Team in AFF Suzuki Cup, we went out for dinner at mamak restaurant, somewhere around the area.

The day after, I opened the window and sighed. It was heavily raining! I believed Singapore was raining too. Pasrah dan redho. We checked-out and handed in the house key to the owner, who happened to live opposite the homestay. With the help of GPS, we drove to the Larkin Terminal, parked next to the market building (RM5 per day), crossed over and walked towards SKS bus.

We paid RM2.70 each and hopped on the bus. I saw smiling faces of my sister and her family, but my stepmom had the widest. Well, this plan initially popped-out because of her. She kept on telling me that Pak Ein didn’t want to bring her to Singapore, coz he said “nothing there”. Knowing my dad’s history, we know that he used to live in Singapore when he was playing drum with Tentera Darat for quite sometime. He infact, had a Singaporean girlfriend and my stepmom was continuously teased him during the whole trip. Hahaha! So when I told her that I was going to bring her to Singapore, she jumped happily and hugged me. Aww…

The traffic was quite ok coz we chose not to join the morning crowd. We took our own sweet time (my sis brought stroller) and went into the immigration process, successfully. We then hopped on the same bus and headed to Woodlands, where we had to queue for almost half an hour! Before us, there was a group of 30 Malaysians, who were going for a short trip around Singapore with Muslim tour agency. Haih…
After gone through all the process, we hopped back into the bus and headed to Kranji Station, where we hiked on MRT, straight to Vivo City. Beforehand, we purchased two EZLink Card (SGD15 each, with SGD5 as non-refundable deposit) for my niece and nephew, to top other 6 cards that I borrowed from #TravelholicAwesome. Wasn’t that great? J

At Vivo City, we had lunch at the food court, where we opted for Japanese Bento, while Pak Ein and his wife chose Chicken Rice. Pak Ein, biasa la, nak nasikkkk. An hour later, we took a train to Harbour Front, and stopped right before the Sentosa Island.
Instead of getting to Sentosa Island via cable car and express train, Hubby decided to use the Boardwalk, to experience the scenic walkway with garden-themed under the canopy. And the most amazing thing is, they have travellators almost 70% of the passageway! It seems so perfect, especially for stroller, and elder people. (Anyhow, pets are not allowed here.)
From afar, we can actually see the Sentosa Island signage, buildings, and roller coaster tracks. On our right, there were two huge cruise ships and few water taxis, looking stunning over the sea. Though each of us carried a bag pack, we still enjoy the panoramic view via this passage. We occasionally stopped to take pictures and videos, ignoring the heat of the sun.
Once we reached the Sentosa Island entrance, we had to pay SGD1 for the boardwalk ticket. Since we had EZLink cards, it was a smooth entrance for the whole family. We stopped at the Sentosa Visitor Center and took the map pamphlet. We took 10 minutes to refresh ourselves in this air-conditioned building before we started the exploration of Sentosa Island.
Since all of us came with bag pack, we need to find big huge locker to keep it. At first, no sign of lockers outside the USS. But thank God, we finally found one, just next to the outer gate of USS entrance. We took the biggest locker and paid roughly SGD10 for a day. Actually, my niece really wanted to enter the USS, but we had no extra time to do so. Maybe next time, with her other cousins. So they just had a memorable photos in front of the big blue famous globe. Jadilah... 

12 comments:

Farikica said...

Hi Biqque,

X masuk USS lagik sekali...? what a big family u have here... sangat meriah...the baby looks as if he knows how to read the map..ha..ha.. so cute!

Supermeng Malaya said...

group passport tu buat kat immigration mcm proses biasa tu ke?

Biqque said...

farikica, i have bigger than this actually :) my other sis and bro didnt make it.

tak masuk, sbb dah masuk aritu kan. lgpun takde masa, n tak ramai tak best plak.

kilfie tu mmg, suka buat muka hahaha!

meng, group passport tu semua kena hadir utk tunjuk muka. bwk details. process mcm biasa,tapi seminggu gak la nak dpt. check here : http://www.imi.gov.my/index.php/ms/perkhidmatan-utama/dokumen-perjalanan/dokumen-perjalanan-kumpulan

Twilight Man said...

You are really a very good traveler and that makes you an excellent tour guide! Honestly I found my strips to Singapore to be quite costly due to their hotels and meals. OMG!
I have many relatives and friends in that republic but I still prefer to live in hotels. I will be attending a wedding next month and will look up your tips as usual. Ha ha ha!

Twilight Man said...

adoiii....spelling error!!! I didn't strip in Singapore ok. Muahahahahaha

Biqque said...

twilighttttt hahahaha! sometimes its easy to roam on ur own kan? coz people just dont know how we travel and might not be ok with our style...for me, the cheaper the better BUT not la so cheap like tempat ayam hahahaha...

Arlida Abdullah said...

Wow, family trip of 8? Mesti pening kepala nak handle semua orang punya well being kan?

My sister came to France+her hubby+her 2 kids and i played tourist guide, memang peningggg!! hehe

Biqque said...

arlida, itu baru family of 8, we used to have as big as 20+ camtu hahaha...

wow, untung kakak u :) i teringin ni nak pegi France :D

Orga said...

dah macam tentera dah aku tengok ko biqque, semua kena ikut arahan kan, hehe...tapi takper, tentera yang lembut, lagipun plan untuk happy-happy kan :)

Ely Hasrul said...

comelnye kilfie!!

Tirah kang masuk sama ngan Sami lah.. tunggu Sami cukup tinggi dulu..

Ako Retna said...

wah broadway dah cantek..
my first time jalan situ, baru je open n still banyak yg derang baru nk hias that path...

Biqque said...

orga, they have no experience, and when they have none, aku tanak org yg ngada2 susah2 buat hal. titik. hehehe.

skin, kilfie tu kelakar sgt hahaha. tirah tu lama2 sok mmg adik dia lagi tinggi dari dia la...

ako, ooo ye ke...tu pun still ada yg dok repair lagi...

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