apparently the hotel was located at a very strategic area. just across the street from dhoby ghout interchange station, near a bus stop, and within walking distance of singapore mall, park mall, and bras basah rd. that first afternoon we went to explore clark quay though.
clark quay (take mrt or bus number 197 from orchard rd) is famous for it's scenery (riverfront restos) and nite clubs. we're not interested in the clubs other than looking at some of the funny theme (a club called "clinic", with hospital beds and wheelchair as chair... and a drink from your veryown infus? :D), but we are very interested in dining at JUMBO, famous for it's seafood dishes.
the chilli crab was delicious, although other dishes sama enaknya bow. steamed prawn with garlic might sound boring to you, but not in this resto. we wiped the plates clean.after ambush we went for a stroll down to the basement to see the central market. it's a regular market, with a twist. each shop have areas where customers can sit and enjoy the food they just ordered. it's not so much as a resto, cos you can buy them rare to take home, if you want (meat, fish, poultry, veggies, fruits... you name it, they sell it..). now why can't indo markets be like that? :D
sunday morning began as soon as we finished our all-you-can-manage breakfast. this is a smart hotel. they don't cook their own breakfast items (other than fried mee or fried rice and congee..) but merely open frozen or canned food and serve them. which is fine by me. it's still good.
we strolled around bras basah rd, trying to find a bookstore which my brother conveniently forgot to mention is not located at bras basah rd, but instead was called bras basah complex, located at the northbridge rd. thank goodness i have a map. the bookstore (popular bookstore, 2nd fl bras basah complex) is surprisingly huge... they even have an entire floor dedicated to chinese books. the complex itself wasn't such a bad place. most of the stores are music and books store. ooh... on the way we came across raffles hotel, which is one of the most expensive hotel in singapore, i was told.from there we need only to cross the intersection and enter raffles mall, into the citylink mall and suntec mall etc. we didn't go very far though, cos we gotta eat lunch and then head to the esplanade. so we parked our bums at the asia kithen (located at citylink mall, near escalator to esplanade) and ordered pork chop fried rice, luncheon meat fried rice, and pork chop lamien. yuuuummmmyyy! i haven't had porkchop for a decade, and this one wass surprisingly delicious. prices were less than $10 (mine's only $8.90). beware of the non-english speaking waitress though.
the show itself was great. dad managed to get prime seats, right in the centre. love the show!! gak nyesel pergi nonton biarpun harganya gila2an.
a sneak peak of the show.. :p after that we went for a stroll at the waterfront. (come to think of it, singaporeans are so un-creative with names. they have waterfront, riverfront, and harbourfront!!!). it's indonesian nights, with cozy street corner, endah n rhesa, and bonita performing for 3 days. this was their last day so they jammed together in front of a full house.
update: i found the Endah n Rhesa cd!! AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. di duta suara harganya cuma 25rb cing! di sana mereka jual S$15!!
hari ke 3 kita bangun suantai2, trus setelah beres2 koper langsung turun untuk breakfast. habis breakfast pun masih santai2..... tapi toh ya pas turun untuk check out masih jam 10an. gak tau mo kemana... so we went to bugis junction (liar! i knew exactly where to go that day! :D).
bugis junction ini 1 stop setelah dhoby ghout. kalau naik mrt sih cuma sekitar $1.00an (excluding $1 deposit untuk kartunya yg bisa refundable ya). isinya? not quite a big mall.. only 3 stories with basement tapi toko2nya isinya one of a kind semua. kalau mau cari baju2 yg unik2, di sini tempatnya. they have every style, mulai dari yang sophisticated, chic, punk, harajuku, sampai simply tshirts with your own design juga ada di sini. untuk makan, no need to worry. di basement ada semacam foodcourt yang isinya jajanan (kalau gak mau dibilang makanan ngenyangin) enak2 dan murah2. di lantai 2 dan 3 (or is it 3 and 4?) juga ada resto2 dan foodjunction - a more serious foodcourt than the one below). oh i found a stall yang berisi dengan dompet2, clutch, party purse, bags, dan hair accessories made from imitation leather di basement. harga cukup bersaing, big bag $32, purse or clutch $6, bando dan lain2 $4... nyesel banget gak beli bando dan bandananya. lucu2 banget.
bored with the usual mall stuff? worry not. head across the street to the bugis street market. man.. ini lebih gila lagi. they sell virtually everything! well, not as crazy as chatuchak di thailand sih... tapi cukup kumplit. biasanya sih beli suvenir2 di sini. banyak juga yg jual camilan2 menarik dan minuman2 menyegarkan (grass jelly pake es? oh yeah).
after done with our shoppings we head back to orchard rd to spend the remainder 2 hours of our time before heading back to the airport. our feet almost stopped working by that time, so we went to the food republic at wisma atria. tadinya sih plannya cuma untuk cari tempat duduk sambil minum2 es. err..... we did buy the ice (with jelly something2.. enak kok). but we ended up munching dimsums also. 4 items (chicken feet, syomay, bakut, and bapao) for $13.50. not bad. :D habis itu baru deh kekenyangan sampai gak bisa jalan beneran. dad was exhausted, i think ... but he managed to keep up with us. poor dad. the only thing he bought was his presciousssss marzipan chocolates. :D
heading back to the airport cost us less than $2 per person by the number 36 bus from in front of ymca. it took more or less an hour, but it's much more entertaining than the $20+ taxi ride.
well.... i can tell you that a trip with my parents will always be fun, no matter how tiring it could be. at least i knew good food is on the agenda. :D next trip will be equally fun, i hope. oh boy oh boy i can hardly wait. i already got the visa, yang kurang cuma itinerarynya aja selama di sana. oh boy oh boy oh boy. :>
update: i found the Endah n Rhesa cd!! AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. di duta suara harganya cuma 25rb cing! di sana mereka jual S$15!! hari ke 3 kita bangun suantai2, trus setelah beres2 koper langsung turun untuk breakfast. habis breakfast pun masih santai2..... tapi toh ya pas turun untuk check out masih jam 10an. gak tau mo kemana... so we went to bugis junction (liar! i knew exactly where to go that day! :D).
bugis junction ini 1 stop setelah dhoby ghout. kalau naik mrt sih cuma sekitar $1.00an (excluding $1 deposit untuk kartunya yg bisa refundable ya). isinya? not quite a big mall.. only 3 stories with basement tapi toko2nya isinya one of a kind semua. kalau mau cari baju2 yg unik2, di sini tempatnya. they have every style, mulai dari yang sophisticated, chic, punk, harajuku, sampai simply tshirts with your own design juga ada di sini. untuk makan, no need to worry. di basement ada semacam foodcourt yang isinya jajanan (kalau gak mau dibilang makanan ngenyangin) enak2 dan murah2. di lantai 2 dan 3 (or is it 3 and 4?) juga ada resto2 dan foodjunction - a more serious foodcourt than the one below). oh i found a stall yang berisi dengan dompet2, clutch, party purse, bags, dan hair accessories made from imitation leather di basement. harga cukup bersaing, big bag $32, purse or clutch $6, bando dan lain2 $4... nyesel banget gak beli bando dan bandananya. lucu2 banget.
bored with the usual mall stuff? worry not. head across the street to the bugis street market. man.. ini lebih gila lagi. they sell virtually everything! well, not as crazy as chatuchak di thailand sih... tapi cukup kumplit. biasanya sih beli suvenir2 di sini. banyak juga yg jual camilan2 menarik dan minuman2 menyegarkan (grass jelly pake es? oh yeah).after done with our shoppings we head back to orchard rd to spend the remainder 2 hours of our time before heading back to the airport. our feet almost stopped working by that time, so we went to the food republic at wisma atria. tadinya sih plannya cuma untuk cari tempat duduk sambil minum2 es. err..... we did buy the ice (with jelly something2.. enak kok). but we ended up munching dimsums also. 4 items (chicken feet, syomay, bakut, and bapao) for $13.50. not bad. :D habis itu baru deh kekenyangan sampai gak bisa jalan beneran. dad was exhausted, i think ... but he managed to keep up with us. poor dad. the only thing he bought was his presciousssss marzipan chocolates. :D
heading back to the airport cost us less than $2 per person by the number 36 bus from in front of ymca. it took more or less an hour, but it's much more entertaining than the $20+ taxi ride.
well.... i can tell you that a trip with my parents will always be fun, no matter how tiring it could be. at least i knew good food is on the agenda. :D next trip will be equally fun, i hope. oh boy oh boy i can hardly wait. i already got the visa, yang kurang cuma itinerarynya aja selama di sana. oh boy oh boy oh boy. :>
