Singapore Trip

Hi Everyone,

I went to Singapore with my family recently to attend a function. At the same time, my family and I also vacationed in Singapore and spent time visiting Orchard Road and Sentosa Island within 2 days. We arrived at Singapore on Thursday and we only have Thursday and Friday to visit the Singapore places of attractions.

When we arrived in Singapore, we were impressed by the efficiency of the baggage system as the airport. Our baggage were ready for collection immediately after immigration. All the baggage were already there when we walked to the baggage carousel from the immigration counters. We then went to the taxi stand and the Singapore taxis are ready for us. Took the Ssangyong van and arrived safely at Somermet on Grand Cairnhill Residences.

Somerset on Grand Cairnhill Residences located on Cairnhill Road is within walking distance to Orchard Road, the shopping street in Singapore. It is just about 2 minutes to Orchard Road from Somerset. We past The Heeren on the way. The taxi stand is located right in front of Somerset as well. Singapore utilises Korean cars for taxis such as Hyundai Sonata Diesel, Ssangyong and Kia with the exception of Toyota Crown. The taxi drivers are quite friendly as well.

Orchard Road is the shopping street of Singapore. Down the street from Somerset, Takashimaya Departmental Store is on the right.

Takashimaya Departmental Store

Opposite Takashimaya is Paragon, another shopping centre which Metro is one of the tenants.

Paragon

We ate at the Din Tai Fung restaurant there known for its Shanghai Siew Long Bao. It was quite nice. 

Din Tai Fung

Further down the road are Tang Plaza and Ion Orchard. Ion Orchard is the newest shopping centre in Singapore having some of the luxurious brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana and Dior. The underground Orchard MRT Station is located at Ion Orchard too. The main tenant of the Tang plaza is of course Tangs. There is also an Isetan branch before Ion Orchard.

More shopping centres are found on the left of Takashimaya. Orchard Central is located opposite the road. There are some fashion brands there too. Opposite Orchard Central is the Centre Point. The main tenants for Centre Point are Robinsons and Cold Storage. John Little, another departmental store is located near Centre Point also.

Orchard Road will be lit up at night. All the Christmas decorations will be lighted up. It is a very beautiful sight. Unfortunately, I did not take the pictures of the colourful Christmas lights at night.

These are some of the brochures that we collected during our trip:

The Official Map of Singapore (Can get it at the Airport or major shopping centres or tourist spots)

Sentosa Island Map and Attractions

We went to Sentosa Island on Friday. We took the MRT from the Orchard Road station to the Harbour Front station to go to Sentosa. From Orchard Road, we need to change trains at Dhoby Ghout station to change to the North East (red colour) MRT line to go to Harbour Front station. From Harbour Front station, we took a Sentosa shuttle bus to go to Sentosa Beach Station where the bus stop is located. All are very convenient. In fact, the ticketing officer at the Orchard MRT station came to check with us if we have bought the tickets. Then at Harbour Front bus stop, another Singaporean man told us where to buy tickets for Sentosa shuttle bus (SGD$3 per person) and where to queue up for the bus. They were very friendly to us. The network map for the MRT and LRT systems in Singapore is at this website, SMRT Website - Network Map.

During the shuttle bus ride to Sentosa, we also passed the Resorts World Sentosa construction site. It is about 70% completed. It has an amusement park as well. Below is the site:

Resorts World Sentosa (Genting Sentosa)

At Sentosa Island, the management provides shuttle bus services to travel along the attractions which include Imbiah Lookout, Siloso Beach, Palawan Beach and Underwater World. Not only does the management provides the shuttle bus service, we can also visit Sentosa Island via the MRT at VivoCity, opposite the Harbour Front MRT station. This is the information about the transport services on how to get around Sentosa Island.

We took the Beach Tram at Beach Station and it brought us along Siloso and Palawan beaches. Along Siloso beach, there are grand restaurants, bars and hotels. At the end of the Siloso beach is where the Underwater World is situated. I have been to Jakarta's Ancol SeaWorld and it is better than Underwater World. There are more attractions at Ancol SeaWorld in Jakarta. In Underwater World, you get to see the different sea creatures such as fishes, jellyfish, sharks and giant octopus. There is also a Dolphin Lagoon but there were no shows on that day. Instead, a sea lion show was being performed. The show lasted only 5 minutes. In Ancol, it lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. There were more tricks performed by the sea lions at the Ancol's SeaWorld. Had lunch at the Kowloon Food Express at Underwater World. A ticket at Underwater World costs SGD$22.90 for adults and SGD$14.60 for children between 3 to 12 years old.

After Underwater World, we took the shuttle bus to Imbiah Lookout. There were a lot of attractions at Imbiah Lookout such as Butterfly Park and Insert Kingdom, Tiger Sky Tower (Observation tower), Images of Singapore (history of Singapore), Sentosa Nature Discovery and The Merlion and Merlion Walk.

  Imbiah Lookout

We only went to look at The Merlion. It has the Singapore's Merlion statue and you can take a lift up there to see the island of Singapore. It costs SGD$8 to go up. We only took several pictures there and off we go home after that.

Tiger Sky Tower

Images of Singapore

The Merlion

We had dinner at Jumbo Seafood at Raffles Boulevard on our first day there. It is situated at the Riverside and near Clarke Quay. We were given aprons to wear when the crabs were served. The food are excellent, different from what we usually get from KL.

Me wearing an apron during crab eating

After our Sentosa trip, we had dinner at Dian Xiao Er. It is a Singaporean restaurant serving authentic Singaporean dishes. The signature dish is the roast duck cooked with 10 herbs. The food serve here is excellent. All tasted great and it is not that expensive. Dian Xiao Er is opening a branch at Mal Taman Anggrek at Jakarta. Perhaps, they can consider opening here in Malaysia. We also ordered Claypot Beancurd with Seafood, Tung Po Yuk, Spare Ribs and several other dishes. I recommend this restaurant to you when you are in Singapore. It is located at 203 / 204, Level 2 Marina Square, next to the Marina Mandarin hotel. It is also opposite the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Dian Xiao Er at Marina Square

That's all.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo