Sgp Trip: Sgp Flyer + Gardens by the Bay

Before going to Singapore, I also booked Singapore Flyer tickets online through the website. Because there was F1 race that weekend, apparently only those who had a pass to watch the F1 race could go up on the Singapore Flyer on Friday, Sat, and Sunday. That was why I decided to book the tickets for Thursday. I figured that hubby would be able to see some parts of the F1 race track from the Singapore Flyer cabin. 

I got 10% discount by buying the tickets online (only had to print out the tickets and bring them with us and exchange them with the real tickets at the entrance). The price after discount was 29,70 SGD/person. There was also an option to dine out inside one of the cabins, but I didn't want to spend too much time there because we still had places to see/visit.

Anyway, here's the Singapore Flyer link.

It was a bit tricky to find the place because that day they had started blocking the roads in preparation for Friday's F1 race. However, that was also interesting because we could still walk across parts of the track and see what they were doing he he he he...What I loved about the Singapore Flyer experience was that the cabin was big and it has air conditioner and they didn't make us wait for many people to jam into the cabin, so we only shared the cabin with two other people. It was nice being able to walk around the cabin to see different views and take photos from different angles.

Here are some photos taken from inside the Singapore Flyer. You can see part of the race track as well as the F1 stand. Notice some chairs and table in the cabin below us? That's the dining cabin.

Notice the two domes at the far back? The taller one is the Cloud Forest Dome, whereas the shorter one is the Flower Dome. We were planning to visit that place next. 

We walked across the Helix Bridge towards Marina Bay Sands. Here's a photo of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (the one with the boat-like shape on top) and on the left you can see the Helix Bridge.

We found a lift towards Gardens by the Bay, which actually overlooked the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Here is one photo taken from that bridge (when we were still inside the building).

Now here are some outside views from the bridge towards Gardens by the Bay. Before finding the ticket booth, we had to walk past lots and lots of different themed gardens, like the Chinese garden, the Malay garden, etc. However, we didn't really stop to take a look at them because I knew it would too much time. 

In the pic below, you can see that we were walking along the outer bridge from Marina Bay Sands Hotel (the building on the left) and there's the Singapore Flyer on the far right. 

We hadn't bought any tickets yet because we weren't sure how many places we wanted to visit (at first I was thinking of only visiting one of the two domes), but when we got to the ticket booth, we found out that we could buy tickets to two conservatories for 28 SGD/adult, so we chose to buy them (there wasn't a long queue at the ticket booth). First we visited the Flower Dome and then the Cloud Forest Dome. It was worth the money! I'm really impressed at how well they designed both places. But best of all, inside both of the domes was cool! After walking around in the heat, it was lovely to be able to enjoy the beauty of the plants/flowers without having to sweat ha ha ha...

Click here to find out more info on Gardens by the Bay.

Here are some photos from the Flower Dome.

Here are some photos from the Cloud Forest Dome.

We went up to the fifth floor and walk along the walkway. I felt kinda woozy when walking along on the side of the walkway because you could see what was below and it kinda wobbled if many people walked on it at the same time, so I tried sticking to the middle part because it felt more steady walking there ha ha ha...

Here's a view from the fifth floor walkway...and notice that in this photo it looks like hubby was photobombing the almost-kissing couple HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Then we went down to the third floor and went back down to go out. The photo below shows the walkway on the fifth floor above hubby.

Funny thing was that when we had finished the tour in the Flower Dome, we entered the souvenir shop (the souvenir shop is in the middle of the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest Dome exits), a girl chased me because she wanted us to buy the photo(s) that they had taken of us. When we first entered the Flower Dome, a photographer took a photo of us (just like what happened before we entered the Singapore Flyer cabin), but I managed to say to her, "Ah, we're going to visit the Cloud Forest Dome first."

The truth is, I didn't want to shell out more money to buy photos like that because I had bought some photos of us from the Singapore Flyer souvenir shop already. I chose 4 wallet photos of us (we could choose 2 different backgrounds) and it cost 30 SGD. Good thing she didn't chase us again after we got out of the Cloud Forest Dome HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Sgp Trip: BreakOut Escape Game + Alive Museum + Spa

Okay, let me now continue sharing about our Singapore trip. A few days prior to our trip, I booked two tickets for Alive Museum at Suntec City Mall because they were offering a discount. The original price was 25 SGD/person, but I paid 20 SGD/person. 

Here's the link to the museum: Alive Museum

There's a similar 3D Museum in Sentosa Island, but I figured going to one would be enough. At least in the website it was stated that it'd take approximately 1,5 hours, so we wanted to use the rest of our time to do other things.

Here are some fun photos that we took. Unfortunately it was a bit dark inside at some parts, but you get the idea. Thankfully the place was rather empty, so we could take time posing and laughing he he...

The last day in Singapore, we didn't know what else to do before our evening massage session, but the night before, I browsed through tripadvisor to find out what kind of activities we could do and this BreakOut Escape Game was listed as number two, so I booked a spot online (didn't have to use credit card to book, only an email address). As was stated in tripadvisor, it was a little tough to find the place, but at least there were some information desks in Chinatown, so we kept asking for direction until we found the place. The price per person was 22 SGD for the weekend. 

When we arrived there, we were given some locks and puzzles to solve and one of them was a kind of Rubik's cube, though it was in a different form. Hubby tried it and he solved it in no time. The game master told us that he tried it for 5 minutes and then gave up. He also added that hubby was the fourth person who managed to solve it since January (when they started opening up the place).

Here's the link to the site: BreakOut Escape Game

Here's the bus stop right in front of the place (the place is located on the second floor). 

Here's a photo of us after we failed to escape LOL LOL!!!!

Yep, unfortunately we failed. We chose the "Forever Young" scenario (go to the site to read the intro). Basically speaking we had to enter a room where we had to find clues and solve the puzzles to find the key that enabled us to get out of the place, but we ran out of time already, even though we did ask the game master for some clues during that time (there was no limit, we just needed to press the button to get clues from the game master). There was also a spare key hidden in the room in case someone had a panic attack or something like that, so they could grab the key and use it to get out of the room. 

What we loved about it was that at the end of the game, the game master asked us if we wanted him to show us how to escape or not (if we wanted to try again, we'd get a discount). Because we lived too far away, we opted to be shown how to solve the whole thing. It was really done in a clever way, I must say, but I can't say anything much here because I don't want to ruin the fun for anyone who wants to try it out he he he he he...but I think it was worth trying, though I feel that it'd be more fun to do it with more people. After all, the suggested number of players is 4-8. All in all, it's highly recommended and I'd love to try this kind of game again next time, because next time we'll know better ha ha ha...

By the way, before I forgot, we had a massage session at the spa near our hotel. I recommend the spa because the massage was great PLUS they forbid any kind of illegal offers (no triple price offers), so we felt safe and secure. I booked the session the day before for the both of us. They had a couple's room and I spent about 43 Euros per person for a 1,5-hour massage.

It's called Tang Dynasty Massage & Spa.

Indo/Singapore Trip Highlights

If you wonder why I've been quiet, it's because we just had our summer holiday and during that time, I wasn't online much. I had prepared some blog posts prior to leaving, scheduled at different dates so that this blog wasn't empty for too long. Yesterday we came back with a cold. Actually the cold had started already at the end of the trip, but it got worse when we arrived home. So trying to take it easy and rest before going back to work.

Here are some brief highlights of our Indo/Singapore trip:

1. When we booked our trip, we had no idea that it would coincide with F1 race in Singapore. So hubby was really excited about it, especially because I read that people could try on the race car simulator, though I didn't know whether one had to book beforehand or pay to try it on. 

In one mall we found a Ferrari car simulator and saw the sign saying that one had to spend at least 250 SGD (€ 150) in the Ferrari merchandise store before one had a chance to try it on. Yikes! No way in hell were we going to pay that much just to try it on. No wonder there weren't a long line of people wanting to try it out.

Lucky for us, we went to another mall where they had two Renault car simulators and turned out anyone could try it for free (just for one lap). So I got hubby to sign up twice ha ha ha...actually anyone who had the best record could win a pass to go to a kind of after-party place, but we didn't care about that because we didn't have time to attend the party anyway. All that I wanted was for hubby to be able to try it. 

The first time around was at around midday and before he tried it, there was a store worker taking photos of the contestants and right after he was done, he received a copy of the photo for free. There was also a free photo-printing booth next to it where people could take photos in front of an F1 race car for free. Here's the free photo that they gave us:

A few hours later after we had lunch at the mall, I dragged hubby back to the same place and asked the girl in charge if he could try it again and she said yes. Hubby was too shy to try it again, but I knew he wanted to try again, so I pushed him to sign up again ha ha...This time there was no photographer, so we were lucky to have come earlier when the photographer was there. :-D

2. One funny thing happened on our last day in Singapore. We went out in the morning, gave our room key to the receptionist, and when we got back in the afternoon, hubby said, "We would like our room key."

Apparently the receptionist heard wrong. She replied, "Oh, I'm so sorry, but our rooms are fully booked today."

Hubby was shocked, so he stared at her in confusion. He wondered if they had given our room to someone else or something like that. I told the receptionist, "We're here to get our room key. Room number XXX."

The girl blushed and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Here's your key." LOL LOL!!!!

3. A few people asked us if we had had kids and a few neighbours told me to "hurry up and make kids"

When I told hubby about it, he said, "You should have told them that your husband is your child." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHH...Bless him! Imagine people's faces if I say such a thing to them he he he he he he he...

4. When we got back home and hubby was unpacking his backpack, he suddenly started laughing out loud as he took out an object. A pair of tongs. Yep, when he was packing to go to Indo/Sgp, he hadn't noticed that there was a pair of grilling tongs that he had used earlier to grill in Kelujärvi in the bag ha ha ha ha ha ha...

5. While browsing through stores in a mall, we spotted a winter wear shop and decided to go in. We found some good winter jackets at least half the price of similar ones in Finland and we found two that we liked, so we didn't hesitate to buy them. The shopkeeper said that they had a discount, but I wasn't sure how much, but even a small discount would make me happy enough.

Turned out the discount was 32%. Imagine that!!! I was shell-shocked and happy when I realized that we had saved SO MUCH money. 

The price for my jacket was 159 SGD (about €95) and hubby's parka was 199 SGD (around €120). Total price: 358 SGD (around €215). Discount: 114.60 SGD (around €68). End price: 243.40 SGD (around €146).

€146 for two good winter jackets?!?!?!?! We couldn't believe our luck! :-D :-D :-D

6. I had a haircut in Indo in a beauty salon at a mall. The price for a haircut + wash and blow = 47,000 (€3.20). I think the cheapest haircut in this town is €18 - 22. 

7. Cheap full-body massages in Bandung (ranging from €11-15 per person for a 1.5 hour full-body massage) and the one we had in Singapore was €48/person for a 1.5 hour full-body massage. 

OK, I'm going to stop here for now and tell you more about our trip later. :-)

Bandung, Singapore, Sodankylä

Having lived in Sodankylä for around 1,5 years and THEN go back to the big cities, I find myself feeling new emotions.

Let me share some statistics first so that you get a better idea, OK?

Sodankylä - population density: 0.8 inhabitants per km².

Bandung - population density (2004): 14,976 inhabitants per km².

Singapore - population density (2008): 6,489 inhabitants per km².

In 2000, I went to visit Singapore for 6 days. Back then I still lived in Bandung. When I was in Singapore back then, all I felt was AWE since the country was SOOOOOO clean and everybody was SO swift and efficient.

Last October, when I went to Singapore, at first I still felt the awe about the cleanliness and the efficiency, but after some time, I felt that they were all SO rushed! After 2 days, I wanted to yell, "Calm down, everybody! Why are you all in such a hurry? Why don't you stop and smell the roses?"

I just felt agitated by the fact that everybody was such in a hurry to go here and there, especially around the MRT area. Boy oh boyyyy...

You should understand that here in Sodankylä, the LONGEST queue at the supermarkets here is probably ONLY SIX people at one go. Usually when I go to any supermarket, there are only 2-3 people in front of me...and the supermarkets aren't even big!!!

So it seems that I'm getting used to living in a small village, since even when we went to Rovaniemi last Saturday, I felt slightly frustrated already when we tried to find out where we could park the car and for how long we could park it there. It reminds me of the time when we went to Pori last July and R2 and I went downtown on our own. We had to turn round and round and round and round just to find a parking space that fit our schedule.

It seems to me that in big cities, it's SO easy to lose time since there're more and more people, less space, more traffic jams, so it DOES make sense that people are more in a hurry in big cities...it's really getting to my nerves after some time. I felt SUCH a relief when we got back to good old Sodankylä.

glitter-graphics.com

What's the point of this post? Nothing. Just to share my experience he he he he...R2's second brother went to Tallinn in Estonia the other week and he said to us, "There were SOOOO many people there and I felt choked. I felt as if I wanted to shoo those people away since I had so little space!!!"

I understood his words completely. We're too used to having so much space here in Sodankylä that the big city overwhelms us if we stay there too long. In each place we stay, there are good and bad sides. But it's funny to know that I used to think I wouldn't survive in such a small village since I was used to the city life filled with malls and plenty of theatres and factory outlets...I'm GLAD I can really fit in here, not just for my sake, but also for R2's sake...since if I'm unhappy here, it'll make him unhappy, too. :-))))

Underwater World Singapore

My mind is blank now, so let me just share some pics of Underwater World Singapore. This is located in Sentosa Island. We went there by the cable car from Mount Faber. The first time I visited Singapore in 2000, I didn't take the cable car for fear of the cost (since I had such a limited budget) and back then I found a package deal that included the Sentosa Bus ticket from some points in the city towards Sentosa, so we took that bus to go there.

This time I was determined to take the cable car, so we went to the ticket booth and we were given a choice to buy a package again. This time it included two round-trip cable car tickets and then tickets to go to Underwater World, Dolphin Lagoon, and 3D Cinema thingie. It was well-arranged, I must say. The minute we arrived in Sentosa Island, we were told to follow a tour guide. So we went on the air-con bus and it took us to those places. The tour guide was SO funny and professional!!!

Here's a pic of me riding the cable car:


2nd pic: Saw this gorgeous bird near the entrance of Underwater World, so we grabbed our camera right away to take a pic of it he he...







This below embryo picture is actually VERY interesting as you can SEE the embryo MOVING!!! Unfortunately we didn't take any video clip of it he he he...but if you go there and it's still there, you've gotta really check this one out!!!



Why am I grinning on the below pic? It's because I was standing on a moving part of the floor, so I had to RUN on the spot for a while until R2 managed to take a pic of me HE HE HE HE...


Next pic: I told R2 to put his hand in the front so that you can see how big it actually is.