Everything was planned months ago and the moment I was waiting for so long finally came. Aboard the plane, I felt so excited as to what awaits us there- meeting the family we haven't seen for almost a year, visiting places I haven't been to, and simply escaping the tedious routine of everyday expat life.
We were quite anxious if we are going to see our family there already waiting for us, as planned because some things might have gone wrong while we were already traveling and there was no way they could contact us. But thankfully, at around 11am, we met our family in the airport.
It was nice seeing Mommy and Daddy, my sister Jho and Karl's mom, Mama Sarah. It has been a long while since we've last seen one another and this is a great opportunity to get together and enjoy a vacation altogether.
We hailed a large taxi that carried us to our hotel which was not really that good to be honest. The rooms were too small considering it was already a family room. But anyway, it was just nice to have a place to stay. The first thing we did was unpack and gave the "pasalubong" to everyone. We then went out to have lunch and we ate in a small eatery near the hotel, each meal costing only 3sgd apiece.
We searched the nearest train station and was surprised to know that it was quite a good few minutes' walk from the hotel. We bought tickets and went aboard, planning to go to the city to have a city tour. We reached Suntec City Mall and were not able to find the supposed city tour and just went to the Esplanade instead. We took pictures at the amazing durian-shaped theater. But we were all so exhausted from the plane travel that we just went back to the hotel shortly and took a nap.
Jojo arrived at the hotel early in the evening and we all head out to dinner. Our parents head back to the hotel after dinner while Karl, Jho and I went with Jojo to Clarke Quay.
It was a very nice night clubbing area, everywhere was full of party crowds. Clubs were lined on both banks of the water and people were strewn everywhere. We roamed the place, took pictures and caught a bus back to the hotel.
We woke up late in the morning, get dressed and head out again. We had lunch at Suntec City and stayed there while waiting for our time in the Duck Tours. At 4pm, we went aboard the amphibian-style vehicle and toured a portion of the city and went into the Singapore reservoir. While on the water, we managed to get a good view on Singapore's significant landmarks such as The Singapore Flyer, The Esplanade, The Floating Stadium, the ongoing construction of the very first casino in Singapore and the Merlion which was unfortunately under construction at the time because it was struck by lightning a couple of weeks back.
After the tour, we went on foot through the city and reached the Fountain of Wealth. It is believed that if you walk around the fountain three times clockwise while touching the water, good fortune will await you. And so we tried.
We reached Makansutra, a place that offers different Asian cuisines. Though we were not that hungry yet, there were no leftovers from our hearty meal which consisted of Singapore's stir-fried noodles, grilled prawns and crabs, squid and stingray, chicken barbeque and a whole lot of other delicious stuff.
Again, our parents went back to the hotel while we went at Jojo's place, awaiting the time to pick up Ron from the airport. At 11pm, we went to the airport to pick Ron up. It was nice to see my youngest brother who was now obviously taller than me. We had a few snacks at the airport and went back to the hotel.
On our third day, we prepared for our Sentosa trip early in the morning. We took a couple of MRT rides until we reached Vivo City, where we had various transportation options to get to Sentosa. There was the bus, the monorail or the cable car. We opted for the cable car which was $14 each, a round-trip ride from Vivo City going around Mount Faber and The Jewel Box then heading to Sentosa.
The cable car ride was definitely an exhilarating experience. It was dubbed as the longest cable car in the world and its height was definitely out of the ordinary. I had height fright at first but it became very exciting.
We reached the Imbiah Lookout, an area in Sentosa where Tiger Sky Tower, Images of Singapore, Luge & Skyride, and a whole lot of other attractions can be found. It is also where the famous Daddy Merlion, the biggest of the Merlions is situated.
We had our lunch first at The Arches restaurant in Imbiah where we met Marx with his girlfriend Leah, Karl's childhood friend. After lunch, we took a lot of pictures in the entire area, with its breathtaking views and landscapes.
We rode a bus going to the Underwater World, the oceanarium holding exotic sea creatures. After exploring the deep seas, we headed to the dolphin lagoon, where pink dolphin shows are being held. The pink dolphins displayed their amazing talents in playing balls, waving their flippers and jumping high into the air.
Sentosa was really a good place but unfortunately, the weather did not permit us to explore the whole of Sentosa and because our flights were during that evening, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and went straight to the airport.
We went first to Terminal 2 where our flight to Dubai should be but when we were about to check in, we were surprised to know that our flight was scheduled at 1240pm the following day, and not 1240am. And so we went to the Budget terminal where our family's flight will be leaving. We stayed there while waiting for their boarding time and when their time to depart finally arrived, it was another sad goodbye. I knew that we won't be seeing each other again soon but our last three days together were good enough to cherish during the next months apart.
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