Notes from Singapore - 4

The day started, oops sorry the afternoon started at strictly pancakes. We are late risers, so breakfast in the afternoon. As I mentioned before, rules are strict and so were the pancakes. Strictness maintained in the fluffiness. Strictness in the toppings. Words cannot describe the strictness of its yumminess. All berries pancakes, all american, sunny side pancakes and cappucino. Happy souls we become.

For the yumm pancakes

All berries pancakes

Next was singapore zoo. And yes there were parents giving their children all info about the pigmy hippos, zebras, orangutan, white tigers. There were kids running around and staring animals. And then there were us. The rare demographics in the zoo. We walked long distances till feet turned numb, till sweat dripped and hunger stuck. Sticky coconut rice, Lasi nemak chicken and some ice cream scoops were comforting. Evening was spent at Marina Bay Sands, walking through the Helix Bridge and dinner at Boat quay. We sat at the riverside place at Clarke quay. Clarke quay gotta be this club hopping place. The best part was people getting their own booze and snacks and sitting across the bridge with friends and loved ones. 

At Zoo

Clarke Quay

Next day was the pack up day. We were awake with sad feeling that the trip was over. Our banal routine was some hours away from us; when we decided to enjoy this day to the full. Since the day we landed; we decided to have breakfast at Toastbox. Kaya toast spread is what we got with us. That day kevin took us to the St. Andrew's cathedral at City Hall; country's largest cathedral. Faith, peace, solace and comfort; you get all of them here.

Breakfast at ToastBox

Faith in God

St. Andrew's Cathedral

With this, the good trip came to an end. At airport, Divs dragged us for the boarding when I was roaming around leisurely and crazy one was looking for duty free stuff ;) I enjoyed this trip bcuz of the amazing company I had. As the trip ended we had loads of laughs packed in our heart and loads of pics packed in the memory card. As the flight was ready to take off we were giggling about our bankruptcy but still we were making plans about what next. We already have so many places and activities in our list. Sometimes I dream about visiting these places and that indeed draws a smile on my face. This is the best part about dreams being viewed in your mind; you can view it with empty pockets. I hope to sign in soon to narrate another checklist. I wish there was a job that paid you for checking your Bucket list :)

Notes from Singapore - Day 3

Everyone visiting Singapore visits Sentosa and so we did nothing different. My travel friend asked me to ditch flyer and that it's waste of time. Tip followed religiously. Instead we took a cable car ride to sentosa. While flyer will show the entire view moving bit by bit, cable car does the same in fraction of few minutes. Things that stay longer are usually not admired :) But cable car experience was worth it. The top view of virgo cruise, resorts,tropical forest view was worth watching. We went to butterfly park where Divs and crazy one clicked pic with Iguana. For some reasons I have this yucky feel for reptiles. So I preferred being behind the lens. 

Cable Car Ride

Cruise View from cable car

Fake Love

We took a tramp to Siloso beach. If you are a sea food lover, you are at right place. This beach was divided into private beach and a long stretch open for all. This beach had variety of pubs and restaurant. Prawn oglio, fish n chips and Singaporean sling is what we had at 'Coastes'. Singaporean sling is this traditional national drink. Not to describe much; we had one more round of it says it all.

Prawn Oglio at Coastes

Singapore Sling - The traditional drink

View from Siloso beach

Yes I ruined the pic

One of the many funky pubs at Siloso

That day was a national day; so we decided to watch the fireworks at marina bay sands. Traffic played the trick. All the roads leading to marina bay sands were blocked and we took the road to orchard street. Orchard street was this flashy street with all the brands. Prada, Gucci, Zara.....and the list goes on. We shopped at TANGS; of course window shopping. And then hogged. 

Walking, then hogging was a continuous loop 

From orchard street we again hopped cab to Sentosa. That evening was spent at Sentosa watching songs of sea. It's like; if go there, you shouldn't miss it. 

We stopped here after Songs of Sea

Divs at Bora Bora

At East Coast Park

Ahh and did I mention that we visited East coast park again. Dinner was at Jumbo sea food besides east coast park; with the chilli crab. What a delight and what an end to the day!! If you love seafood, this place is absolutely recommended. Me and Divs later had this Durian fruit Mcflurry. Awful taste with a pucky feel. Again we sat at the East coast park. The sea breeze and the laughs. That place indeed had some magnetic effect. 

Notes from Singapore - Day 2

Next day we were on our way to Universal studios. At Universal there were those kiddos. Some playing with those bubble guns, some playing in water fountains. There were parents who accompanied these kiddos. In their arms, on their shoulders. And then there were us. Species with our demographics were rare. So Universal had all these funky stuff. The beauty of Universal is something which cannot be captured in a Blog post. Be it pop-corn stall or be it roasted turkey shop. The cool singers. The candylicious store. Everything designed in a funky manner.

At Universal

Marilyn's has great legs :)

We took the transformer's 4D ride; which gives the feel that you have entered into the movie with characters conversing with you. The mummy ride with effects was scary enough to scare people like us ; although our friend told us that bcuz of some technical glitches, it wasn't the mummy ride to the best. And that also reminds me about the roller coaster ride which was closed that day; due to rains and bad weather. Disappointment unlimited :(, Nevertheless Kingda Ka apparently world's tallest roller coaster and Formula Rossa, fastest roller coaster is on my list already. But this would have been a rehearsal for it:)

Asia's largest candy store

Cool singers

After walking for stretches, we had those yumm waffles. Food makes us happy in a way. By any chance we you have feud with us, do treat with us with waffles and pancakes; of course with perfect toppings. More on pancakes later.

Mummy's

 Roller Coaster not operational :(

       Waffles

Shrek souvenir shop was one of the delights. Divs and crazy one picked some stuff and clicked pics with Shrek & Fiona. Did I mention, that Singapore gotta be land of rules and queues. Even for Shrek and Fione you gotta click your cam once. That lady denied me taking pic with Shrek as we already clicked too many pics. I wish my country had that many rules and those queues too. We took cab from Universal to Fullerton. As we were four people, so cab hopping was preferred. We walked long stretches, from Fullerton to Merlyn, took those cliche pics, sipped coffee and hogged while walking. Although tired but our next stop was Bugis street. If you are shopping freak with shallow pockets, you are at right place. We picked some funky accessories and stuff from this place. 

With Shrek the Dude

Fullerton

At Merlyn

Comfort while walking for stretches

Comfortably Numb

And that's how the day was over. Night was spent at East coast park, beach near Tampines, where we were putting up. Before that did I mention that Singapore gotta be place where things are never lost. We heard about those stories a lot. Of lost passport left in a cab and cab driver making an attempt to return the same to our friend. Of lost pendrive returned. Of lost book which was posted to the address mentioned on the bookmark. For us these were hypothetical stories until we experienced one. When Divs left her cell in the cab towards East coast park and the person in the cab asked us to pick the cell from him at our convenience. We were stunned and believed those stories of lost objects. So, East coast park is this long stretch of beach. Lined up with restaurants. This place has a camping spot, however you ought to book it well in advance. We were there with a cup of coffee, sitting on the bench, chilling in the cold breeze. Some silences. Some talks. Beaches in a way tempts me. I can sit over here for hours. Reading or writing. We liked this place so much that even the next night we were here.

Notes from Singapore - The beginning...

The mundane chores were making life quite monotonous. So this trip. For me and the crazy one (my roomie), things were not falling in place since long time. So this trip. Divs had put this bug in my mind that we gals should plan a trip. So this trip. And of course vacation always make me happier, more happier. So this trip.

Although we read, all those economist talking about not to go for foreign trips and to help appreciate rupee. But we ditched their idea. Although, making a plan at such a short notice could put us in cash crisis for the next month. But we ditched that idea too. Personally our list had more adventurous places to visit but tight budget and all gals trip. So we chose a fancy and funky place to visit. And so the travel destination had to be Singapore. When the tickets were booked; I found that Singapore was among one of the many destinations in my bucketlist. So finally, something was getting checked on the elongated, very old bucketlist.

And then started our miscellaneous planning. Making checklist of packing stuff, checklist of places to be visited. Checklist of must go eating joints. You ought to make a checklist; its only after travel you get to know how much realistic your checklist was :) 

We took late night flight from hyderabad to Changi airport, Singapore. We were in jet set go mode but the fact that crazy one's wasn't keeping well was bothering us. Me and Divs, were trying to give comforting words, which wasn't working anyways. So there we landed with unwell crazy one, with jitters that trip gonna ruin even if one companion is unwell. Our stay was at a very dear friend's place, tampines avenues. Blissful feeling. Getting reasonable and comfortable acco in singapore is tough. That's what trip advisor stats and comments reflected.

Divs and Unwell Crazy one at airport

Fish cakes at Absolute Thai

And thus day one started. Our priorities were set. To get well crazy one. We ditched our checklist, and rushed to Raffles medical. While wandering on the streets for Raffles Medical, hunger stuck in. We had lunch at Absolute Thai, tampines central. Absolutely recommended. Phad thai noodles with chicken, fish cakes and chicken fried rice was simply yumm. With stomach full,we reached Raffles medical. Crazy one got her medications. Really don't know if the medications worked or it was psychological effect. Crazy one was fine and our trip moved from the tipping point to allz well.

The remaining evening was spent at Harbour front, then wandering in the lanes of China town and little India. We took mrt from tampines to harbour front. There's hardly any waiting time for the arrival of mrt. Strict rules they have for sitting arrangement, smoking and eating habits in mrt's. And needless to say people follow it religiously. At Harbour front; there was this long stretch of lanes. Food republic. Small and big stalls of all that food which had this uncanny, unusual fishy smell. For us it was just meant for clicking and not eating :) 

Sitting Arrangement in MRT

One of the many stalls at Food Republic

Chinatown, litted with those magnificent red lamps, had these loads of chinese and thai eating joints. Lovely shops for souvenirs, tin tin shop, chopstick shops and lot more. From Chinatown, we roamed around in little India as well; nevertheless it can be avoided. Divs and crazy one had been to Singapore twice, but they didn't rushed neither tried avoiding any place. Absolutely good gals :) But then they say economy of Singapore develops in a geometric progression, so even if you visit it after one year, you will find things changed, more advanced. That's what Divs & Crazy one experienced.

At Chinatown 

At Harbour Front 

All and all, the long day was over, the unwellness was cured and the next day we were awake to tick our checklist. Coming up more...

Kick that damn bucketlist...

This was on my mind since long long ago.To fullfill my bucketlist, before I die.To check each of those tasks, I wanna to do before I die. I exactly don't remember when I started jotting down this bucketlist. It was even before when I watched this movie bucketlist, before this show 'The List' came up on fox travellor, I had my bucketlist. What I learnt in the movie is, I am not gonna meet any Jack Nicholson near my death bed to fulfill my wishes and all you have to work for your bucketlist.

As the days passed, the thingy that kept me worrying on and on was that the list was flowing without anything getting checked. For all our life we will keep on giving reasons of time or money or getting settled. Poor our mind fails to understand that money will always be less no matter how much ever we earn, lack of time remains our critically acclaimed reason and being settled will always remain a myth.

My travel friend says that life is much more than just sipping coffee in the meeting rooms. Somewhere read, Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain -Jack Kerouac. And that's why this bucketlist. Bucketlist of travelling places. Places unheard. Places unseen. Bucketlist of climbing those volcanoes. Bucketlist of riding the tallest roller coaster. Riding the fastest roller coaster. Taking a dip into that deep blue ocean. Meeting your role models. May be life's too short to check this list; but at least you have one.

Bucketlist varies from person to person. When I met this friend of ours who is a commercial pilot, I realized may be my bucketlist is shit for him. Bcuz wats on his bucketlist. To travel Oymyakon where the temperature drops to -30 degrees. Where at times your pee also freezes. He says you guys make plan like that and I will be in for such a plan. Ummm what's the possibility that my dead-body won't be coming back. And what about the pics. How can we click in just freezing cold. Cam lens might broke in such freezing cold. But then sometimes it's about just living that moment leaving everything behind.

So here's wishing me all the best to live that bucketlist. May I see each item checked, while I lay on my death bed. May I meet lot of interesting people while checking this list. May I capture lot of moments in the pics. May I live each moment fully before capturing it. May I capture all the good moments in my notes. And when that first heart beat goes for checking the bucketlist, may I listen to the first one, before the second heart beat intervenes. Bcuz they say, it's that wicked, bitch mind that comes in between two heart beats. May I listen to my first heart beat.