I was at a travel blogging workshop when I found out through Twitter that AirAsia blog published my A Day in Osaka post. (Check out the post at the AirAsia blog if you haven’t read it yet.)
A Day in Osaka on AirAsia blog
A big welcome to new readers (and a virtual high five to old readers).
If you have any questions about travelling in Singapore/travelling solo as a female/travelling solo as a shy person, drop me an e-mail : yqtravelling[at]gmail.com, tweet me or even comment down below (unless you’re too shy, I understand that).
When I was in Hoi An, I saw a very curious scene. Boats would carry a large number of motorcycles to nowhere.
I wondered if they were new motorcycles, being shipped from the dealer’s to the wherever they sell motorbikes.
So when I saw one of the boats passing by while I was on the boat ride back to Hoi An from My Son, I looked carefully.
There are people sitting in the boat, shaded from the sun under a small roof while the motorcycles were out in the sun.
I realized that the boats carried the motorcycle drivers and their vehicle across the river. It totally makes sense now. A lot of people ride motorcycles in Vietnam and somehow they need to cross the river.
Singapore, the Lion City, is the smallest country in Southeast Asia but it is also the wealthiest. The country has a reputation of being clean, safe and strict in enforcing its laws.
For many travellers from the west, Singapore may only be the stepping stone to other countries in the region or to Australia. If you do end up in Singapore for only a day, here is a sample itinerary. I would recommend giving the city at least two days so there will be a second “24 hours in Singapore” coming up.
Day 1 9 a.m. 1. Explore Bugis area for food and temples
Take the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) to Bugis Station and head to the Bencoolen hawker centre on Albert Street. Choose between the Chinese, Malay or Indian stalls for breakfast.
For coffee lovers, skip the Starbucks and get a Kopi which is served with sweet condensed milk.
After food, head to the Goddess of Mercy temple, or Kwan Im Thong Hood Choo Temple on Google Map [178 Waterloo Street]. You won’t miss it because of the scent of incense. Outside the temple, there are flower sellers and fortune tellers who will read your palm or your face and tell you if you will have a good life or a bad one.
Temple of the Goddess of Mercy
A couple of doors away is the bright and colorful Sri Krishnan Temple which is over 130 years old. You can visit the temple after taking off your shoes. The statues of gods and goddesses inside the temple are worth looking.
Opposite the temples are stores selling dried food. When you approach the stores, you will smell a unique scent of dried mushrooms and Chinese herbal medicine.
After the temples of Bugis, turn back into the shaded Bugis Street. Inside, there are many souvenir shops and drink stalls. If you are adventurous, at the other end of Bugis Street, right next to the bus stop, is a Chinese food stall selling marinated spicy duck neck and duck feet.
12 noon 2. Arab Street
It is time to head to walk to Arab Street for more sightseeing and also lunch.
On Arab Street, you can visit the Sultan Mosque[3 Muscat Street] which is said to be the most beautiful mosque in Singapore. Tourists can go into the mosque at specific hours.
Sultan Mosque
For food, you can visit the various restaurants on Haji Lane for Arabic food. For Indian food, I recommend Zam Zam Restaurant [697 N Bridge Rd] which also has another branch at the other end of the shophouse lot.
Zam Zam Restaurant
After lunch, you can wander around the area for trinkets and even Sari cloth.
3 pm 3. Chinatown
From Arab Street, the easiest way to Chinatown is by bus. If not, you can take the MRT to Outram Park and change to the purple line and to Chinatown.
I’ve heard many tourists say that Singapore’s Chinatown is the cleanest Chinatown that they’ve visited. Still, the area is a bit stuff so try to be there when the sun is not too high up.
Chinatown
Recommended sights: Chinatown Heritage Centre [48 Pagoda Street]
In this three-storeyed shophouse is a recreation of a typical Chinese quarters in Singapore’s early days. The early Chinese immigrants lived in tiny rooms during the night while they did labor work in the morning.
Sri Mariamman Temple [242 South Bridge Road]
If you did not visit Sri Krishnan Temple in Bugis, there’s another Indian temple in Chinatown. This temple is even bigger with even more painted statues.
Sri Mariamman Temple
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum [288 South Bridge Road]
This Buddhist temple houses the tooth of Buddha. I find the exterior of the temple too “modern”–the walls too white, the paint too fresh and the lines too straight.
There is plenty to eat in Chinatown. Opposite the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is Maxwell Food Court where famous chicken rice stalls are located. I prefer the food court next to People’s Park Complex although it can get really hot in the day.
7 pm 4. Clark Quay
After dinner, walk along Eu Tong Sen Street to Clarke Quay MRT station. This area comes alive at night, although I must warn that the restaurants and bars are targeted at tourists.
If you feel like it, take a boat ride on the Singapore River. I would not recommend this as it is too touristy.
Then take a stroll to the mouth of the Singapore river. You will walk through many underpass and past many bars and restaurants. Use the brightly lit Fullerton Hotel as your guide, walk towards it. On the left of the bank is the Asian Civilization Museum which has a good collection of Asian artefacts (but is closed at night).
After you pass The Fullerton Hotel, cross the road to the Merlion Park. Here, you will find two Merlions–half lion, half fish beings made up by the Singapore Tourism Board.
Opposite, the strangely shaped Marina Bay Sands sparkles. At night, it has lazer shows with light beamed to the sky.
View of MBS from Merlion Parl
Our last stop is the Esplanade, which is the shiny durian (prickly local fruit) building. It’s like the Sydney Opera House, but pricklier.
10 pm 5. Mustafa Center
After the Esplanade, you can choose between going to more pubs, heading back to your hotel and rest or visit Mustafa Center. The nearest MRT station is Farrer Park.
The shopping center is 24-hours and has almost everything you need. If you want to get Indian spices, gold chains, a watch, T-shorts, souvenirs, this is the place.
After all that shopping, maybe it’s time to head back to sleep so you won’t miss your plane.
IF YOU GO
ACCOMODATION
Rooms in Singapore will not be as cheap as the rest of Southeast Asia. As transportation in the city is convenient, it does not matter much where you are staying.
If you only have a short time in Singapore, the best locations will be near the sights: Little India, Chinatown, Bugis, Clark Quay etc.
This list is only a reference:
Five Stones Hostel http://www.fivestoneshostel.com/
Near: Clark Quay
[Disclaimer: One of the owners of the hostel is a friend of my colleague.]
From photos, this looks like a funky place to stay. All dorms and rooms have shared bathrooms.
MONEY CHANGER
Most money changers in Singapore are honest and give rates that are similar (even at the airport), although those inside shopping malls have more expensive rates.
While these are the more famous money changers, it’s not worth the transport fee to reach them just so you could save a few cents. “Best” (everywhere is quite good) places to change money are Chinatown and Mustafa Center.
STAY CONNECTED
Prepaid 3G in Singapore is not as cheap as Malaysia. There are only three mobile operators here: SingTel, StarHub and M1.
Personally, I use StarHub’s prepaid because it gives me 50 (yes, five-zero) free international SMS for the day when I send 5 international SMS in a day.
StarHub has a special Preferred Tourist Prepaid SIM Card with free 300MB data and has S$18 credits for S$15.
I’ll be doing a part 2 of 24 hours in Singapore. Have I missed out any must see sights? Tweet me or leave a comment below.
You know how the west (and Americans) have one night of Halloween to play dress up, ask for candy and honor the dead?
Guess what, we Chinese have a whole month of that but minus the dressing up, candy or playful spirits.
What we have instead is the opening of Hell Mouth and a bunch of Hungry Ghosts.
Welcome to the Ghost Month
Offerings
The Ghost Month begins on the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. In 2012, the first day of the 7th month falls on Aug. 17, Friday.
On the first day of the 7th month, it is said that the gates of hell open and the spirits leave the underworld and come back to visit their families. Unfortunately for homeless ghosts, they would have no where to go and would roam the earth.
To appease these homeless (and most likely hungry) ghosts, the Chinese would burn “hell money” and incense as well as put out food to feed the hungry ghosts. Paper money burning place
Getai
Besides all the money burning, there’s an interesting event happening in Ghost Month.
In neighborhoods in Singapore, outdoor stages are set up. At special days, these stages transform into “getai” or “song stage”. From an old Hong Kong movie I watched, the shows are performed for the benefit of the wandering spirits.
I’ve only been to one getai performance because we don’t have this sort of stuff back home in KK. The getai that I went to had a small stage, which disappointed me. Mini getai
There was a host who told jokes and young sexy singers who sang and danced. The usual female singers for getai are known for their skimpy outfits and high heels.
If you are interested in seeing a getai, the performance schedules for 2012 is available at STOMP.
I suppose the sexy ladies are there for the benefit of the sex-hungry ghosts as well. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear an equivalent Chippendale performances for the lady ghosts. I assume hell does not support equal rights. If I were a ghost, I will petition for a male stripper show.
My experience with Ghost Month
I cannot describe the fear I have of Ghost Month as a child. To the little me, ghosts lurked everywhere in the 7th month and were out to get me.
There are superstitions such as: Never turn back when walking alone at night if you hear someone call your name. Also, try not to go swimming because the spirits of those who drowned will want to put you down to replace their place.
Today, I don’t fear Ghost Month. I have a wish to see a real ghost and get proof of it so everybody else can rest in peace that our spirits do stay back after death.
Do you have a similar festival as Ghost Month back home? Or do you have ghost stories to share? (I love ghost stories.)
Actually I’m not sure if these are socialist party signs but I love the retro look.
We must work towards a successful Vietnam. Even a Ho Chi Minh-look alike is featured holding a plant and shovel.Everyone has the duty of saving those drowning in the pool of poverty. (Not being sarcastic.)Driving on the road to success.I think this is about being a happy family
The part I dislike most about travelling is looking for accommodation. I take too much time reading reviews and worrying about bed bugs.
I ended up choosing Favehotel Wahid Hasyim (pronounced FAV, not fave as I thought it was) because it has airport transport (at an extra cost). Also, it didn’t look like it had bed bugs.
I’m not sure how much extra we had to pay for the transport but it was much more convenient not having to make calls to book a taxi back to the airport. But from the airport to town, you can book a cab immediately at the counter for Golden Bird.
Receptionist
When we reached the hotel after our one-hour cab ride, the receptionist who was the most polite told us that their system was down.
We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant to wait for their system to go back up. We had different rice dishes and they came in cute layout.
The room
We finally checked in after our lunch. We had a room on the third floor, looking out the streets and a tree.
The room is an OK size, with all the stuff you need. I like that they have space above the bed for us to put our things–very convenient.
TV!
Of course, there’s a TV with cable and a desk to do writing. I didn’t writes as much as I thought I would.
Bath room
Toothbrush is provided and body-shampoo (unidentified liquid) provided.
Good location
What I like most about the hotel is its proximity to the Trans Jakarta station which is only a short walk away.
The famous backpacker street Jalan Jaksa is a 1km walk away. On the road leading to Jalan Jaksa, there’s the great peranakan restaurant Kedai Tiga Nyonya and the famous fried chicken place which I’ve forgotten what the name is.
If you are a Google Maps addict like me, please note that the hotel is on the lower part of Jl. K. H. Wahid Hasyim, not on top as stated in the Apple Maps app. I can be quite anal about maps, I realized.
We paid a total of S$107 for the room and the two-way transfer (which was almost as expensive as the room itself).
Summary
Stayed:
Pro: Great location, free Wi-Fi, comfy bed, quiet at night
Cons: Traffic can be horrible if travelling by car–but that applies to most of Jakarta
Other accommodation reviews (for the budget travelers)
As you might know from my blog, I’m a budget traveler. Or maybe I should say, a miserly traveler.
So why am I reviewing the San Jose Marriott? Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those phantom posts about places the writer has never been to.
I had the chance to stay at this hotel chain during my business trip in May to San Jose. I clocked five luxurious nights among the soft bed and fluffy pillows, then I went back to earth in SanFrancisco.
Anyway, let’s head to the review:
Two beds for one person and her luggage
I’m not sure why they always give two beds on business trips for a single traveler. Even if I do invite someone to stay over, the other bed wouldn’t be too useful, would it? ;)
The bed was very comfortable and I spent a ridiculous amount of non-work hours propped up my pillows watching TV (The kids show in the morning were really fun but the shows at night were scandalous!).
Bathroom with a tub!
I do not have a bathtub at home so whenever I see a bathtub, my heart swells with joy. But when taking a bath, I would feel guilty about wasting so much water. Dilemma!
Bath and Beyond’s great smelling set
The thing I liked best about the room was the bath set. The orange-ginger combination smells really heavenly. I kind of regret not buying a whole bottle from Bath and Beyong.
Every morning, I would hide the tiny bottles in my suitcase and hope the room service tips I left were enough to pacify the chambermaids.
My non-view
I had a relatively low floor so my view wasn’t great. I’m not the type to open my curtains anyway so it suited me well.
My room also had a coffee machine that only accepts its own coffee bags. The coffee was really good stuff though, not like the limp coffee found in Southeast Asia. (Heck, even the conference coffee was awesome!)
Now that I’ve finished all my praises, the bad news comes.
I had to pay a lot of money for Internet (well, the host paid for the Internet but the fact that the guest needs to pay for Web access makes me really angry).
Not only was the Wi-Fi expensive, it drops off very often. I would need to relogin Marriott’s page again and again because it cuts me off too often.
A good thing that came out of this was that I had a story idea to work on when I was back at work.
Summary
Stayed: San Jose Marriott
Pro: All the stuff a four-star hotel has, lovely bath toiletries collection
Cons: Not for the budget traveler, the Internet fee is too damn high!
Other accommodation reviews (for the budget travelers)
But I only have myself to blame. Despite all the research on food in Glodok, I didn’t really jot down the locations nor print out a Google Map of Chinatown.
Well, not everything was terrible so here’s a less hunger-inducing version of the Glutton series.
The Good
Indonesian Nasi Bali
The restaurant/cafe at our hotel served quite tasty nasi (rice dishes). Since I’ve never been to Bali, I ordered the Nasi Bali.
The portion that came was quite small but D reminded me that what we have back home are actually supersized.
The whole dish was slightly spicy but tasty. I even had a fish paste on a lemongrass stick which was cute.
Cold seafood
We did a very un-budget traveller thing in Jakarta and splurged at the buffet restaurant of a 5-star hotel. Hotel K. Our handbags needed to be checked and we had to pass a metal detector before we could go in.
The main mean spread was alright. The sushi counter a bit too stingy–salmon was gone and never to appear after one hour. The cold seafood was fine, although I would love to have raw oysters instead.
The redeeming feature were the desserts. My favorite was the sticky toffee pudding.
What I enjoyed most at the restaurant was gawking at the lifestyles (and hairdos) of the rich and famous.
A toast at Blueberry Pancake House
When we were walking in search of the illusive Jalan Jaksa, we passed by this little restaurant. (If it’s in Lonely Planet, I’m not sure how little it is.)
They had a buffet breakfast spread so we got that. They served fried rice, fried eggs, fried chicken, fried potato patty, non-fried fruits. I had a lot of the coffee and tea as well.
Pre-buka puasa set up
While we were at Blok M, the hawkers were preparing to operate after the fasting period. The stuff looked tasty but we had more important food to tend to. Maybe we can come back next time.
Creampuff and strawberries
Not quite an originally Indonesian dish but I enjoyed my cheaper-than-Singapore Bread Papa creampuff at the airport. The organic strawberries I got from the supermarket were a bit too sour.
Drinks
Teh Botol, less sugar
A colleague of mine introduced me to Teh Botol (literally “bottled tea”) before I went to Jogjakarta. The full sugared Teh Botol is too sweet for our liking but the Less Sugar version is like Goldilock’s last porridge. Just right.
Ice coffee
Also from our hotel cafe/restaurant. The ice cream and coffee went really well.
Kopitiam Oei
While walking aimlessly after finding Jalan Jaksa, we stumbled upon this faux-vintage kopitiam. It has a 1960’s feel to everything.
The menu was a fake newsletter, telling people the origins of the place. (“No, it did not really exist in olden days. The coffeeshop is a recent creation”.)
I had two coffees there. The kopi jawa was a really “manly” drink with its dark liquid and coffee grounds while the Vietnamese-styled coffee lack the buttery taste.
I had one too many cups of coffes, as I found out an hour later. I was feeling nauseous for a long time after that.
The Ugly: Why is Bakmi GM popular?
Horrible food at Bakmi GM
I was looking forward to bouncy bakmi and huge meaty siowmay which I had in Jogjakarta. The flavor, the chewiness of everything!
Unfortunately, we visited Bakmi GM. It was the only visible (meaning a HUGE sign) bakmi place around and we thought the quality would be good.
When we reached the first floor of the building, we found ourselves with plenty of other Indonesians. This must mean that the food is good.
Our order was taken and paid on the spot. However, it took a really long time for our change to come back. In fact, our food arrived before the change did.
The avocado juice was incredibly good (as expected of Indonesia). However, the main dishes were not as tasty. D liked her veggie with oyster sauce but the rest were a joke.
My noodles were limp and all stuck together when I poked them with my chopsticks. It was not a good sign. I nibbled on it and discovered it tasted exactly like the terrible noodles I had as a kid.
Flashback of terrible noodles: It was a road trip and mom’s friends drove us to Kinabalu Park. We stopped by a shop for noodles. The dish was too disgusting that we children didn’t have much of it. Mom’s friend (Auntie L) insisted that the noodles were packed and brought along with us to eat later. In the end, I “accidentally” left the gross bad of soggy dough in the changing room. End of flashback.
Our fried siowmay followed. Instead of a fried meatball, it tasted like turnip cake. I felt like sobbing over the meal (mostly caused by caffeine induced overdrive of emotions).
We had to order another glass of avocado juice and pangsit or fried wonton to get the taste of noodles out of our mouths. The pangsit was ok with the meat as sidekick to the fried dough.
Overall, it was not a good meal. I’m sorry for being disappointed.
Can you share locations of good eating places in Jakarta? I promise to write them down when I visit next time.
The longest budget flight I’ve taken was the now-defunct Kuala Lumpur-Paris route. Thank goodness I was sleepy both ways and was deep asleep during the 14 hours trip.
As a veteran budget flyer, here are some tips for a more comfortable budget flight. Tips are based on budget flights in the Southeast Asia region, some other airlines might have more strict rules.
1. Book strategically
Do you know that booking early doesn’t guarantee you a cheap seat? It’s best to book when the airlines have promos. Keep up-to-date with promotions by joining their mailing lists.
A cheap flight makes me happy and cancels out much of the inconvenience of budget flights.
2. One carry on
I’ve reached the stage where I can go on a 7-night trip with only one carry on. It really saves time and hassle when I do not need to check in my luggage or wait for it to come out from the unmerry-go-around.
I cheat at this by bringing an extra large handbag or a backpack that works as a laptop bag but stuff it with well…stuff…other than a laptop.
3. Bring an empty bottle
Most airports will allow an empty bottle (not Jakarta, I found out the semi-hard way) which you can fill with drinking water in the lounge. But only some airports have drinking fountains, which is why I love Changi Airport.
4. Sneak food
Despite my unnatural love for plane food, I don’t buy extra food on budget flights unless the flight at a weird timing like right in the middle of lunch or dinner. I sneak in food that can be munched on stealthily like a ninja.
Have you seen a ninja eat? Never? That’s what I call stealth.
5. BYOEntertainment
I usually bring a book (or my darling Kindle) when I travel. On a budget flight, I pore through the in-flight magazine then ration my book. I also write blog posts or watch videos on my laptop.
You should never EVER play your smartphone game with the speakers on. You can be attacked by ninjas for this.
6. Sleep
If you are blessed with the ability to sleep on a plane, use it wisely and often.
It feels like only yesterday that we took a taxi to the airport [to fly to Jakarta]. Wait a minute… It was yesterday.
-inner monologue
I just came back from a weekend trip in Jakarta. It wasn’t our (D and I) best planned trip but getting out of SIN and smell another country’s air (whether it is fresh or not is up for debate)
I bought the tickets to Jakarta on a whim. AirAsia was having a sale and the tickets to the capital of Indonesia was around S$100 for a return trip.
While we did read up on interesting things to do, we didn’t achieve much. One reason was that there were no tourist maps to figure out where we were. The other was that we didn’t take enough notes. The weather was also too hot.
Enough excuses, here’s a run down of our 30 hours in Jakarta. While I wish it looked like something from the NYT, it’s really just a journal of two people getting lost and eating a lot.
Day 1, Saturday
11.10am Plane arrives on time. Take the airport grounds shuttle to airport. Find counter for pre-booked cab into the city. AirAsia’s 2 minute bus
11.30am-1pm Stuck in traffic from airport to hotel.
1.30pm Hotel system down so cannot check in. Have lunch at hotel restaurant.
2pm Finished lunch. Check in.
3pm Freshen up. Get out. Take Trans Jakarta bus to Glodok, slightly worried about one hour (according to Google Maps) bus ride. They see me rollin’
3.30pm Thanks for bus lane, reach Glodok earlier than expected. Walk aimlessly because of no maps. End up in electronics shopping mall and clothes/phone/lots of stuff mall.
4pm End up in Kota (one bus stop away.) Cannot find entrance to Kota Station, climb like monkeys to get onto platform. Take bus to other end of terminal at Blok M. Stare at Jakarta’s enormous malls while bus zips past. See Pizza Man Statue. Pizza Man!
5pm Reach terminal. Lose way at terminal, walking past interesting pre-buka puasa stalls. Find right terminal.
6pm Reach Hotel K for dinner buffet. Food so so but patrons are very interesting. Rich ladies here are dressed to the nines while there husbands look rich (aka well-fed). Children deck out in kid’s wear section of branded clothing lines. Seafood
8.30pm Leave restaurant. Spend time at bookstore. Buy two Sharpies, a kid’s guide to Arabic alphabets and some stickers for name card. Le shopping
10pm Take cab back. Cabbie almost take wrong direction, directed him to right way.
12.15am Sleep.
Day 2 Sunday
~6.30am Wake up, do morning routine.
7:00 am Go in search of a breakfast place. End up at BlueBerry Pancake House, have its buffet breakfast. Load up stomach with fried rice, toast and coffee. Bread and butter
8.30am Take a stroll on Jalan Jaksa, trying to look for the illusive Tourist Information Center to get a map of the city. Find a shack with “Jaksa Tourist Information Center”.
Man at shack does not have maps but asks if we want a city tour in his car. Decline, continue walking.
9.30am Find retro kopitiam. Have two coffees while enjoying its Wi-Fi–Java coffee with grounds and Vietnamese coffee. KTOey
10.30am Take cab back to hotel. Finish packing everything.
12noon Leave hotel for lunch and grocery shopping. End up at Bakmi GM which has the most horrible tasting noodles–how on earth can anyone swallow that thing?
Head to McCafe for a Mango Frappe. Read. Head back to hotel before 3pm.
3pm Leave on pre-booked car to airport. Napped on airport, waking up at times to answer driver’s questions.
4pm to 6.50pm Reach the airport with a lot of time to spare. Check in. Ate a cream puff and strawberries. Had a half-hour foot massage which left my feet feeling very light. Fly back
First thoughts of Jakarta
My first thoughts about Jakarata were: OMG why is everything so freaking big here.
I swear, the buildings (except residential areas) are all at least five storeys high! All the shopping malls are like gigantic pyramids (if pyramids were cubes or rectangular-shapes).
The traffic is crazy but if your routes are along the Trans Jogja stops, it’s a literal breeze since the bus company has its exclusive “busway”.
Bakmi GM’s noodles were disgusting. How is it possible when Yogyakarta’s Mie Nusantara was so good we visited twice? Do Jakartarians not know what is good noodles? Most disappointing noodles
To end this post on a good note, here’s a photo of a snoozing kitty. <3
YQtravelling 