zags travels

I didn't explore much in this visit. After the class I went mainly for dinner.

Friday, we just walked around the area, to Raffles Hotel. One place of interest in Singapore. A very expensive hotel with British colonial architecture.

The hotel...

...and the doorman

But on weekends I went to places like the Bird Park, and last weekend the zoo. It's an interesting place. They have polar bears and also penguins. I saw kangaroos and lemurs.

I touched and stroke a lemur, it was cute, and its fur was soft.

He's so beautiful I wanted to touch him...

Poor thing...

We spent the day there walking. Had lunch there and continued the walk because there were still animals we hadn't seen.

I was surprised to see penguins in Singapore - first at Jurong Bird Park, and then at the zoo. I thought only the Japanese who brought and keep penguins in Osaka Aquarium are the crazy ones...

I wanted to go to WOMAD the evening, but we left the zoo tired and still had to move our bags to another hotel (yes, it was again on personal account). I might be crazy to be thinking of dragging our stuff and going by MRT. So maybe it was a good thing that the concierge who helped us with the bags just carried them outside to a taxi. He expected a tip, which I found unusual in Singapore.

So we checked in at Robertson Quay Hotel, a budget hotel just beside the Singapore River, not far from Clarke Quay. It was our second time staying there. The room is small and the shower room is too small but since the hotel rate is relatively cheap, that's what we got. (Sadly, if we convert the rate to our currency we could afford a 4- or 5-star hotel in Bandung.)

We ended up not going to WOMAD. Since the ticket was not cheap for us, it was not worth going when we had only a little energy left. I'm not likely to go to night events in Jakarta. Traffic and safety/security issues if going home very late at night, especially by public transportation. Too bad, because I like arts events. &*)#&*!&$ In Singapore I feel free to go almost anywhere anytime with convenient public transport and safety/security in most places. Now back to real life with many limitations.

We went back to Jakarta Sunday afternoon. And today I've been in a terrible traffic jam again, as if this city was saying "Welcome back!" to me. I don't smile nor swear - there's no use.

Our airplane arrived at Changi Airport at about 1am - so it was already Saturday, August 19. And as we had already booked in advance, which was really difficult to get a budget hotel for the 2 nights, we took a ride to the budget hotel in Geylang area. I know, it's a red light district. I wasn't so worried since I don't feel unsafe. I was excited when were entering the street: first I saw a lady-boy, then a few women, all of them with distracting makeup and clothes that obviously showed everybody who or what they were. I felt like taking my camera right then to take some shots of them, but I was tired and I wasn't sure if it was OK for them. So when the car had stopped we just got our bags, paid for the ride, and went to the hotel's reception counter.

It was Hotel 81 Geylang. We saw the no-smoking notification there saying that smoking was prohibited in the hotel premises. When we entered our room, it smelled smoke! I was too sleepy to complain and move to another room.

The weekend began. Went to Little India, ate at Tekka Center - we only had very little Singapore currency, and was surprised that we spent less than S$10 total for our meal for two. Out of curiosity I converted it with our currency and unfortunately it's still considered expensive IF we compare eating at the same kind of place/traditional market bldg in our city. We went to Mustafa Center to get something for my mom.

We visited Jurong Birdpark and watched the falcon show (wow, those birds were so great). We also saw flamingos, pelicans,... We were so tired then, and we had an appointment for the dinner with D's boss (oh). So I didn't know until later that we missed the nocturnal birds area where they make the day dark as night so the birds are awake and we can see them flying, hunting for food, and hear them making sounds.

Photo taken with mobile phone camera.

It was a relief that after 2 nights in the small hotel room in a red light district, and dragging our luggage to the MRT station, down and up the stairs, we finally arrived at a much better hotel. Spacious room with soft fragrance we smelled as we entered the room. Of course this is because starting Sunday I'm on company account so I'm staying at this hotel. What a relief. Our room window faces Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, and we can also see the Merlion statue further away. It's especially nice at night. We always leave the curtains open. It's very beautiful when the curtains are open and we turn off all lights in the room.

View from my room window

Swissotel the Stamford. Direct access to Raffles City mall, and just above the City Hall MRT station - an interchange station so it's even a double convenience. The downside is, we have to pay extra S$20 per person per day to use the gym and spa. Silly. So we didn't use the gym/spa.

Monday
Had dinner at Bugis Junction, then saw a movie, The Breakup, starting 9.20pm. Back at the hotel around 11.30pm, met up with my cousin from KL who was here just to pick up his sister in law at the airport then would ride back to KL.

Tuesday
Dinner with D's ex-colleagues. They're now working in Singapore. There were 8 of us plus a 3-year-old boy. Had fun chit-chatting.

Wednesday (today)
Dinner with James & Elaine at Newton Circus/Food Centre. It's a place with many food counters with many seafood and some Malay, Indian, etc. It's an open place with many tables outside (not under the roof). Nice place, but so many people. Always difficult to find a place to sit at meal times in Singapore. Back from there we (me & D) just stopped by at Ben&Jerry's to enjoy a little ice cream while watching the water fountain...

Can't believe I'm going there again in only 3 months! My last visit was May. It's an assignment from the company. After leaving the office for a week working as a committee member for the international geosciences conference, I'm not going back yet to the office next weekdays. I don't think anyone is missing me, unless there's a problem that needs my help, ha! I'm leaving tonight, so hang on guys, I won't be back until the end of this month. (No one from the office is supposed to read this blog though.)

Since the big quake happened in Yogyakarta, my friends asked me about my family. As far as I know none of my family or relatives were in Jogja. My family are all right in Jakarta. I am really sorry about what happened to people in Jogja, I hope they are given the strength.

Yesterday we didn't get the tickets for "Da Vinci Code", we made a booking online for today's 11:30 show. We wanted to watch it here in Singapore because they said the film was censored for 15 minutes in Jakarta. Is it real? I don't know. But today we finally saw the film. Felt so long, not as enjoyable as the book.

After that we had lunch and made a phone call to my relatives in KL, then visited my uncle at the hospital. Orchard Road was horribly crowded!! Even worse than Jakarta in the weekend. And we could tell there were many Indonesians there, maybe they went here for weekend and shopping (the Great Singapore Sale)? I heard Malaysian students are on holiday too. Plus other tourists. Terrible. Too crowded. We couldn't even walk straight without bumping other people.

Glad to leave Orchard Road! Today we didn't do "touristy" thing. Just spending the day enjoying ourselves. Still many things to do. Such as the Night Safari. Maybe next time, hopefully.

Friday, 26/05/2006

Finished early and again thought about visiting my uncle in the evening but didn't make it. From what I remember from the afternoon till evening my day trip was aimless. I went to get the Hard Rock Cafe Zippo lighter my friend asked me to get for him - that was why I went to Orchard Rd. No other reason except that and visiting my uncle. But again When I reached the hospital it was too late. The hospital security officer was locking the doors and there were a few lifts and I didn't know which tower I should go. It was already to late to try to reach my cousin so I left and went back to my hotel. After all I wanted to have a shower and get myself representable(?) because Didi was coming soon

He finally arrived! Nearly one week by myself is enough - I had enjoyed "freedom" with myself :-p and for the weekend it's nice to have someone with me. He arrived late in the evening. Late at night we (actually he) got hungry so we went out to find some light food. I know that was not important to tell, I was just glad to have him there.

Sat, 27/05/2006

My last day at Carlton Hotel. After breakfast we finished packing and checked out. Business trip was over, and I would be on personal account so we moved to another hotel.

Robertson Quay Hotel. We got a big discount from the Internet. This is a budget hotel, located by the Singapore River. My room window looks out to the river view - nice. The room is small, it reminds me of Villa Fontaine Hotel where I stayed in Tokyo. And the shower room is very small, which reminds me of the bath room in Weekly Mansion Kameido in Tokyo. All are budget hotels. But frankly speaking, even with this discount rate I got here, back in Indonesia I could get a 4-star hotel in Bandung. Hehe...

View to Clarke Quay from my hotel room

The hotel is only a few minute walk to Clarke Quay. The nearest MRT station is Clarke Quay but we must take 90 stairs down (and up when going back). No escalator nor lift, unless we take another entrance/exit which is a little further.

Didi's first day here and he wanted to shop for IT stuff! Huahahahaaaa.....!! The nearest is Funan, so we walked there. And guess what, we bought some stuff - they're cheaper than in Jakarta!

Then we went to Kampong Glam's Arab Quarter cuz Didi hadn't been there. And again I spent the late afternoon at Jamal's cafe, Deli Moroccan, on Bussorah Street.

From there we went to Orchard Road. No real shopping except for some crazy stuff I won't write here. The clue is: it's in Lucky Plaza

We went back when our legs hurt already and still had to climb 90 stairs up to the exit of the Clarke Quay station.

After having a shower, AGAIN Didi got a call/sms from his boss and AGAIN he had to prepare some slides! Yuck. It happened in Bali, now it's happening again! Arrrgh.

Past midnight we went down stair outside to the hotel's "Beach Bar" by the river. We sat there enjoying some snacks in the night outdoors.