Basically PauAu: 2014

After 7 looooong years, we finally had another family vacay out of the country!

Thursday: August 21

NAIA Terminal 1. Okay. I would say a lot of bad things about our airport but that would just ruin the purpose of my happy blog post.

At 4:00 pm, through Singapore Airline Flight SQ919, we were bound to Singapore!!! The 4 hour flight wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. At first, I was pretentious enough to bring out my Experimental Psychology reviewer which I thought would be helpful since I'm missing out on school but then I gave up on it. My seat was spacious and comfy enough for me to do other things than study. I managed to watch 2 in flight movies. The Other Woman and The Amazing Spiderman :D Also, they served a very tasty snack/ dinner. So who am I to complain about the 4 long hours?

This was dinner. <3

Finally, touchdown Singapore! Welcome to Changi Airport. The greatest airport I've seen yet.

This was around 8:30 pm so we took a taxi to our hotel. We were lucky enough to get a cool taxi driver who suggested good places to go while in the city and he had a really good talk with my uncle about food. Steve Lee, limo driver. Hi Steve!!!

We got to our hotel at Killiney Road. The Orchard Grand Court. We checked in and got settled in but there was no time for resting. We were out and about in a matter of minutes.

Killiney is just across Orchard Road so we did some quick sight seeing around the area and had a late second dinner. =))

Friday: August 22

So I'm absent from school but I was up by 7 am for the greatest reason ever! I am 18 years old but I was so excited to go to Universal Studios. Eeeeeekkk! I'm such a nerd.

We were out of the hotel by 8:30 am and off to Sentosa we go.

A little discussion with the map

Figuring out the SMRT route

Our MRT stations should be like this!!!

After a few minutes or should I say a lot of minutes figuring the map of the SMRT out we arrived at Vivo City station. It's really cool how their MRT stations are connected to the mall. From Vivo City station we tackled one of my mom's greatest fears. Heights. We crossed to Sentosa via a cable car ride. To everyone it was fun and the view was amazing, to my mom, it was drastic and torturous. Hahaha.

You can see, mom doesn't like heights.

Back on land, she's happy again

We went straight to the Waterfront Station and directly to Universal Studios! YAAAAYYY!!

Tita Jinky in line for tickets

Usually I'm the annoyed and KJ one when it comes to the number of pictures people around me would like to take but this day was different. I wanted pictures. And I wanted lots of them everywhere.

The first ride we went to was Transformers and can I just say, THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!! It was so cool I couldn't shut my mouth about it for days.

After the looooong line and looooong wait for Transformers we ate lunch at Loui's NY Pizza Parlor at the New York area (obviously) of the theme park.

We saw a show called Waterworld at the Lost World area after lunch. It's a live show which included death-defying stunts, explosions and a whole lot of water.

Discalimer: If you're going to watch this and you don't want to get wet. Don't sit at the first 10 levels of the stadium because they're really gonna go to you and splash you.

Our next stop was my favorite. The land of Far Far Away! Yes, it's Shrek and Fiona's home. While walking to this part of the theme park, I kept on asking, "are we there yet?" (if you watched the movie, you'd get it.)

Got a taste of Fairy Godmother's potion

Next is the land of Madagascar. I like to move it, move it! =)) Me and my 15 yr old sister were childish enough to ride a freaking Madagascar themed carousel on our own free will. :D

Mommy! <3

I love this family picture of ours.

Next stop is Hollywood. Another ride you shouldn't miss is "Lights, Camera, Action!". In this ride, you get to experience the function of an empty sound stage in the setting of a hurricane through the direction of Steven Spielberg. This is more than a 4D ride. You're actually there! It's awesome.

After the long day inside Universal Studios, before leaving Sentosa, we had to go to Candylicious. It's a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" dream!! All kinds and types of candies can be found there and it was a tough decision to make.

This is her, confused.

Contemplating

To cap the day off, we met up with my uncle's friend for dinner at Somerset.

I already miss the home made lemon iced tea

Saturday: August 23

Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy. I didn't drink but I felt hungover. I was sooo tired from all the walking yesterday but this day was another day of looooong walks.

We started early in the morning to travel from Somerset to Raffles Place to go to the Merlion Park. Any Singapore trip would not be complete without a picture with the merlion.

Quick fact to those asking, like me: Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name—Singapura—meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

Moving on, we then went to Marina Bay Sands and went up to the 56th floor to enjoy the view of Singapore from the Marina Bay Sands Skypark.

My mom, attempting a jump shot.

Next on our itinerary was Gardens by the Bay. We entered two domes. One is the Cloud Forest and the other is the Flower Dome. Know more about these domes at http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/content/gbb/en/the-gardens/gardenmap/map.html

Sofiiiiii!!

It was a tiring walk within the domes but we have to keep going. After taking a quick lunch at Food Republic in Marina Bay station, we went to Promenade, where in we can fine the Alive Museum inside the Suntec Mall.

This was a major photoshoot.

We finished at around 5pm and decided to go back to the hotel but before that we made a quick stop at Kopitiam along Killiney Road.

Kopitiam Menu

It was back to the ball game by 8:00 as we went around Clark Quay wherein we had dinner and quick tour.

Craaaaaabbbbsss!!

Sunday: August 24

By this day, everyone was pretty much exhausted but we had to maximize our last whole day in Singapore.

Someone's overly excited.

We first went back to Sentosa since we just passed by it when we went to Universal. First agenda was the Tiger Sky Tower. It's the highest observation tower in Singapore. It was 360ft high so by now you would know how my mom reacted to that. =)) From the top of the tower you would practically see all of Singapore.

Next, while my parents were at the Images of Singapore. Tricia, Tita Jinky, Tito Derrick and I went to Sentosa Skyline Luge and Skyride . It's technically an altered go-cart type ride. After the 1.2 kilometer track the only way back was through the skyride. It was either that or walking. So we took the skyride back. FYI, it was only me and my sister on one ride. Imagine the horror!

This was pretty fun!

Even the adults do it

We lunched at Vivo City and immediately went back to touring.

Little India was our supposed first stop but upon exiting the MRT station we found that it was raining so we couldn't really go around that much.

Happy with Sofi!!

Next was Chinatown. Finally, the rain stopped. Here was where we bought some of our souvenirs. They also had pretty constructions which I enjoyed while walking along the streets.

Here is also where we found the famous wafer ice cream that everyone told me to try. So at first I got a raspberry ripple on wafer for a $1.20 but after that I just had to try it on bread too. =)) So I got a chocolate mint on bread for the same price. :D

I scream for this ice cream!

That night, we decided to visit stores along Orchard road once again.

Monday: August 25

We're going hooommme.

After our fun stay in Singapore, it's time to say goodbye. :((