Singapore Day 6: Merlion Park & Departure

We love SG! ^_^

     This day concludes our Singapore - Kuala Lumpur trip, but we promised ourselves that we would have photos at the Merlion Park during daytime so even if we were still tired and sleepy from jam-packed day 5, we went to go see the Merlion.

     From Bugis station, we went down City Hall interchange to the red line, alighted at Dhoby Ghaut station and transferred to the yellow line to Esplanade. From there, we walked to the Merlion Park.

City by day

Clear skies

     The morning was so calm and peaceful. The place was very clean and everywhere you looked was a testament to Singapore's beauty. We passed by a lot of skyscrapers and eye catching architecture like the Esplanade, the well-known Marina Bay Sands and the towering Singapore Flyer.

Singapore Flyer & Helix Bridge

The Esplanade

Marina Bay Sands

    After about 20 minutes of walking around the Marina Bay, we finally reached our destination and goal for that day -- photos with the Merlion at daytime. :p

SG icon

     The sun was still preparing for the day ahead and the morning breeze - refreshing when we arrived at the Merlion Park. This time, we chose to take photos on the other side of the Merlion since it was too crowded the night we got there, on our first day. 

     The Merlion is a mythical creature which had the head of a lion and a body of a fish. The lion head symbolizes the original name of Singapore, Singapura which means "lion city". The fish body signifies the city's origin as a fishing village called "Temasek": sea town in Javanese.

    Armed with our tripod, we took (a lot of) pictures in front of Singapore's popular mascot to our hearts content. It was nice that there were only a few others at the park taking pictures. We almost had the place to ourselves. Haha! :D

With SG's mascot ^_^

     It was a great morning! Kinda sad though that it's already our last day in this beautiful city. :(

     We hailed a taxi back to Bugis. We shopped some more before heading to the airport. From Bugis station, we went down Tanah Merah station and hopped on the the train to Changi Airport. Our trip was easy even if we were carrying big luggages! :)

    We wanted to roam around Changi Airport before heading to the Budget Terminal, but time didn't permit us since it's already near boarding time. Before checking-in, we ate first at McDonalds again to get rid of our Singapore coins. It was our first to time to eat a double quarter pounder! And the sizes of their fries and drinks are huge! Our tummies felt like they were going to explode. Haha! :D

Departure lounge

     Did you know? That the name of the Budget Terminal was decided through a naming contest? That the terminal is not included in the numbering scheme even if it was actually the third terminal that opened? That it is able to handle 7 million passengers a year? That Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific, and Firefly Airlines are the only ones that use the Budget Terminal? :p

Free internet

The Art of Foot Reflexology

     The Budget Terminal is clean, spacious and had high ceilings. There are comfortable seats, a spot where you can watch TV, a nook where you can use the computer for free and where you can attach your own laptop and connect to the internet. There are also a lot of food stalls and shops inside the departure lounge. 

Gift Shop

     If you did not have enough time to buy pasalubong for friends, don't fret! There is a souvenir/gift shop in the terminal selling cool souvenirs at the same price in Bugis. If we only knew, we wouldn't have spent our coins at McDonald's! They have cute ref magnets, key chains, bag tags, photo frames, figurines, even jewelry, watches and other fun items! Our friends bought baskets of these stuff. Haha! :D

Goodbye Singapore :(

     Some say that a 3-day stay in Singapore is enough. How come we found it hard to cram all the places we wished to go to and the things we wanted to do in our (almost) 5 day stay? There were still a lot more we liked to have seen! :p
    
     Time flew by so fast during our trip! We had so much fun though our feet ached from all the walking. Well, it's rare that we get to go to these beautiful places so we made the most out of our time there.


What we loved about Singapore: <3
- how clean the city is
- how disciplined the people are
- how friendly everyone is
- how we can drink straight from the faucet! :)
- how easy it is to get to where we wanted to go via the MRT


Some tips we'd like to share:
- always have a plan B. It always rains, especially in the afternoon so better make your itineraries flexible. (the unexpected events that happen sometimes are more fun!)
- wear comfortable shoes. You'll be doing a lot of walking!
- choose a hotel that's near an MRT and that offers breakfast. You'd want to start your day right by loading up on carbs. Hehe! And the MRT is the easiest way to go around the city.
- book your tickets online. You'd save time lining up, especially if you went on a peak day where there are a lot of others wanting to do the same thing. (Like go to USS)
- buy an EZ link card. You'll get discounts, it's faster and more convenient and you'll get the credits left in the card. We should've bought ours -- we thought we won't get back the 5sgd deposit but our friends did.
- be back at the hotel before midnight. Taxi fares skyrocket during the peak hours and from midnight to 5am. There is an additional 35% and 50%, respectively, on top of your metered fare.
     
     We'd like to thank our friends Ces, Zy and She for making this trip more fun and memorable! Doing a do-it-yourself itinerary was hard -- with all the researching, planning, deciding where to go to, and allotting the budget. But, it's fulfilling and rewarding especially when the people we're with appreciate the time and effort we put into making the trip a successful one. It also makes us happy to know that they enjoyed as much as we did! :D
     
     We'd also like to give props to Sir Markie and Jules who became our tour guides! We would've gotten lost without you guys. Hehe! Thank you for going out of your way to be with us on our short stay there, and for showing us around! :)

Here's a list again of our itinerary for our 6 days SG-KL trip: (click on the image)

Day 1: Arrival and Marina Bay Tour

Day 2: Universal Studios Singapore, Chinatown & Clarke Quay

Day 3: Singapore Zoo

Day 4: Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers, Genting Highlands and Batu Caves

Day 5: Little India, Resorts World Sentosa and Singapore Flyer

     
     Thank you for reading and we hope you find our post helpful! We'd be glad to know how YOUR trip went. :) 

Merry Christmas Everyone! :)