Friday, February 19, 2016

Trip to Singapore : Day 5! (Bugis and Merlion Park)

   
Delicious chinese new year cookies, the sound of the booming fireworks, the smell of the loud firecrackers, receiving red angpaos (red packets).. the Chinese New Year season is here! Up till now, it's already the 12th day of CNY! Sorry for being this late, I was supposed to blog about this on Saturday but I've been busying preparing for today's maths test. Since the CNY celebrations are still going on, allow me to send you guys some good wishes here. May you and your family have a blessed chinese new year, good health and good fortune and may everything good be in your way!

Last week, my family and I had been busying visiting our relatives and as usual, we went to the temple for prayers and also went for reunion meals with our relatives during the day and night. The best part of this entire thing is that I got to see my baby niece who got back from Singapore last week. Well, she's back in Singapore now and I miss her so dearly!

I'm not done with my Singapore trip post yet hence I shall continue with it now. This time, I'll be blogging about the fifth day of our stay in Singapore. On the fifth day, we went out to Bugis street with my cousin and baby niece. The main intention of going to Bugis was to visit the Guan Yin temple and that place was quite crowded even though it was a weekday. From what I observed, the Bugis street is also a place where they sell lots of souvenirs, food and beverages at affordable prices. Later during the day, we went over to the Merlion Park.

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We took a bus to the nearest MRT station and boarded the MRT all the way to Bugis.

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Bugis is under the green line.

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We've reached the Bugis street!

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Heading towards the Bugis street.

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It is super crowded here. This place is full of the locals and the tourists. There are many little stalls that sell souvenirs, snacks, food and beverage and etc.

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Well, to be honest, for us Malaysians we might think that the things sold here are quite expensive due to currency conversion issues but for the Singaporeans I guess the prices may be reasonable to them?

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Most of the fruit juices are only sold at SGD 1!

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Bought two cups of lime barley and I've got to say that the price was okay (RM3.02 per cup) but the drinks were too sweet for us. We were literally sipping on sugar water.

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I guess this was some kind of temple (?).

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Little stalls selling flowers along the street.

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We're here, the Guan Yin temple.

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Joss sticks for those who would like to do their prayers.

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A corner for everyone to light up those joss sticks.

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People kneeling down for prayers.

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There was also a Hindu temple called the Sri Krishnan temple.

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Bugis+ shopping mall.

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Next stop, Merlion Park. We took the MRT from Bugis to the City Hall and walked all the way there.

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You can see lots of huge and tall skyscrapers/buildings around this place.

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Amazing view.

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Spot the Marina bay Sands towers! We're almost there.

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Singapore national flags.

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On our way to the Merlion Park, we stopped by this bridge to snap some pictures.

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It's called the Cavenagh Bridge. According to Wikipedia, it is the only suspension bridge and is one of the oldest bridges in Singapore, woah!

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For a second, did you think that these are real cats? I did! These are actually cat sculptures.

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The Singapore river.

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The fullerton hotels are really special. From the outside it looks really exquisite. Their hotels look like those buildings from the olden days. Or are they really buildings from the olden times? Hmm.

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Sculpture of boys jumping into the Singapore river.

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We're reaching soon!

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The Fullerton waterboat house.

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Typical tourist shot venue, the Esplanade bridge.

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Around the Merlion Park were cafes and restaurants.

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There were also cafes or food stalls under the esplanade bridge.

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A mini merlion statue that shoots water.

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That's the real Merlion statue.

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You can get to see the singapore flyer, the lotus artscience museum and the MBS towers across the Merlion Park.

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At first I don't understand what these white balls were for and what they are but after doing a little search on google, it says that these are known as the wishing spheres. The wishes on these spheres are written by the people during the celebration for the upcoming new year back in 2013.

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Esplanade - theaters on the bay that shaped like a Durian.

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The sad thing about our visit to the Merlion Park was that the Merlion was not shooting any water out of its mouth as it was under maintenance! How disappointing. :(

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Well, at least I've gotten the opportunity to visit this place and to take pictures of the statue.. 

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"If you've never taken any pictures with the Merlion statue while you're in Singapore, how could you say you've been to Singapore before?" 

"来到了狮城, 如果你没有与鱼尾狮拍过照, 怎么算是来过新加坡呢?"

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Is this a time tower or something?

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If you look closely, you would notice that this mini Merlion is facing back-to-back with the real huge Merlion statue.

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As the time passes by, the sky is turning darker and darker.

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Stunning view.

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Buildings that are lit up in the late evening.

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Colorful artsy hippopotamuses.

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Hidden colorful whale.

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Oh, there it is!

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This hotel is beautiful.

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In the end, we waited for the bus and went back to cousin's home after that. 



And here's a short video,





It was a great experience as I finally get to see the Merlion statue with my own eyes instead of only seeing it via tvs or the internet.


See you guys in the next post! :)