I was a tween when I first visited Singapore (but I don't remember exactly how old I was or what year it was), and in short because I'm lazy, it was far beyond expectations. I got to visit the Singapore Flyer and Universal Studios. The MRT was fast and easily accessible.
On July 2019 (I think), my mom asked me, my dad, and my younger brother if we want to go out of the country again, this time with a choice of either Singapore or Hong Kong.
I chose not to go to Hong Kong because...well, I felt nostalgic towards Singapore and I might get confused if I go to Hong Kong. Good thing I stood by my decision because of the Hong Kong protests that happened later, and I don't wanna get caught in the crossfire or thought of by the police as a protester.
My main purpose for going to Singapore, however, is to meet with one of my friends from our old home Minecraft server, whose username is NachoPizza. Besides Minecraft, we share a strong interest in the Pokémon games, and he knows a bit about Fire Emblem as well. We co-wrote two guides for our Minecraft server, and lots of players liked them.
I admit, though, that I was nervous before meeting him because of my lack of social skills and I didn't know if he acts differently outside of the Internet.
I'm not the type to talk about my vacations to others because I find it pointless--talking about a vacation is not the same as actually going on vacation. So, since I'm lazy, let's get started.
Preparation
My university, UPOU, trolled me with a short vacation--from ~6 weeks to just 3 weeks. However, those 3 weeks were shortened because I finished my school work for the previous term a few days before their extended deadlines.
I was hopeful that I could have a Singapore vacation without thinking about school work, but nooo, the next term started one week before our trip.
So, because I refuse to study anywhere besides home, I finished all of my school work in just two days.
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| "But nooo, that didn't work out, did it? So guess what? I get to break my promise too!" Original video by GunVsGun |
I brought...way too many clothes to the point that my backpack alone weighed more than 4 kg. Combined with my other bags which held a tablet, a DSLR camera, and a Nintendo 3DS, I had 5.75 kg worth of luggage. Since the weight is concentrated on my shoulders, it was a pain to carry all my bags at once, so I made a lot of martial arts noises while squatting, standing, or taking bags off to save my energy. This is why, in my Fire Emblem: Three Houses post, I said I'm poor at heavy armor.
(Imagine if Coach G-Force made me do the "jacket on, jacket off" drill with my heavy bags.)
Side note: After my Singapore trip, I tried jogging on the treadmill for 5 minutes at 7 km/h with a 25 lb weight in my backpack. It hurt my back and shoulders a LOT...but funny enough, I didn't get sore the next morning.
I ordered 6 cheese breads at my mom's bakery franchise in case I go hungry on the way to Singapore. I got tired of eating after having 4 on the car ride to NAIA, but I ate them all anyway, and I got stuffed.
but i got hungry anyway upon landing at Singapore--i didn't want to bring extra food because my bags are already fully loaded and i didn't know food is acceptable in luggage inspection (intentional bad grammar)
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| Hey, look at me, I'm an Armored Knight (Dad took this picture with my tablet, and yes, its camera sucks) Taken in Changi Airport in the bus stop at Terminal 4 |
I ordered 6 cheese breads at my mom's bakery franchise in case I go hungry on the way to Singapore. I got tired of eating after having 4 on the car ride to NAIA, but I ate them all anyway, and I got stuffed.
but i got hungry anyway upon landing at Singapore--i didn't want to bring extra food because my bags are already fully loaded and i didn't know food is acceptable in luggage inspection (intentional bad grammar)
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| I don't like filling up forms with a pen, but hey, they have a death penalty! |
Day 1
Dad booked an Airbnb near Aljunied, but...well, he and my brother were furious about it. First off, we didn't know how to open a lockbox after entering the code, so, after wrecking our fingers and tools by fiddling on the darn thing to no effect for about 10 minutes (my pen even broke), I looked up a YouTube video (the room had Wi-Fi and we were given the password) and successfully opened it.
Then they got furious yet again because of the electrical sockets being different from the ones we have here in the Philippines, so we couldn't plug in our chargers.
My dad wrote an angry but vague review and led us out of the Airbnb to book a hotel stay. I don't know how Airbnb works, but we weren't given a refund despite barely touching the room.
I think Mom and Dad did not know where our hotel, Hotel Boss, was, so we looked for a taxi, but many of them were occupied.
I didn't want to get my bags dirty, so I kept them on my shoulders and felt like an Armored Knight for about 30 more minutes. Well...at least I was still able to run, but I couldn't jump properly.
When we got into the taxi, I was weirded out by how the driver is on the right side of the vehicle rather than the left and how the left lane is used when going forward instead of the right, akin to British vehicles and streets. (In the Philippines, we have American-style car and street layouts: the driver is on the left side, and we drive on the right side of the road.)
But hey, traffic isn't that bad, and we were fast! These drivers are really good at making turns quickly and properly. On the other hand, I slow down a LOT when turning.
Anyway, we settled in Hotel Boss a few minutes later, which is in Lavender this time (we skipped Kallang station, which made me surprised because I imagined the stations to be very far from each other).
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| How my brother set up the desk. |
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| The bed I...er, hijacked. I was so tired that I simply put down my stuff here lazily. It's my way of...marking my territory. |
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| Some people like views like this...so here you go. I'm lazy. |
We ate dinner at this nearby restaurant called Founder Bak Kut Teh...which serves meats that I found weird like "organs" and "feet".
I went for fried beancurd (tofu) because it's the only familiar one. I like tofu. (yeah i'm probably a soy boy (intentional bad grammar))
No other significant events happened after that. We were all very tired upon going back to the hotel room. I just played Fire Emblem Heroes until I fell asleep.
Day 2: Universal Studios
I did very little planning before going to Singapore, other than the stuff I'm bringing, especially when about to meet with NachoPizza. I got surprised when I was told to wake up early to prepare for Universal Studios on this day.
When Dad rang the doorbell, though, I immediately awakened and picked up my sling bag (which contained my tablet) and camera bag. (I left my Nintendo 3DS behind.) I did this to prepare my body for moving quickly and to avoid falling asleep again.
Interestingly, my brother chose not to come. I'm not sure why, but I know he hates traveling.
I'll skip ahead to lunch time: We ate at this...er, "foodcourt" called Food Republic, which has a variety of stalls selling lots of native food.
For this and the rest of our family food trips, I let Mom and Dad choose where to eat. Even though they let me choose, I wanted to spare myself the frustration of having my ideas rejected because of reasons like "you eat that too much" and "let's try something new" (they're the higher authority, anyway, so they always make the final decision), and I wanted to stick close to the group to avoid getting lost in the crowd of people and winding pathways.
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| I forgot to change the exposure settings after taking the nighttime cityscape photo above. I was in a hurry to take most of these photos so I don't fall behind the rest of the group. This is a chicken cutlet (tonkatsu), by the way. |
We went straight to Universal Studios afterwards, and...well, more photos because I have to. Mom and Dad (but mostly Dad) were walking very fast and maintained mobility while taking pictures with their smartphones, so I struggled to keep up while walking like a normal person and properly aiming my camera. I often ran to regroup.
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| It's almost mandatory to take a picture of the Universal Studios globe. |
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| I used the continuous shot feature of my camera to take shots rapidly while holding the "take photo" button; kinda like a machine gun. While doing so, I ran around the Universal Studios globe because I suck at choosing camera angles. |
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| Me want cookie too (intentional bad grammar), but one is SG$2.50, and my dad said no. A typical parent answer that still frustrates me. |
I remember the Steven Spielberg thing from the last time I went to Universal Studios, so we went there after a Sesame Street ride. Problem is, I knew there were fire effects and the possibility of getting wet (especially because my sling bag's zipper is broken), and we went very close to the action, so I was very nervous. It simulates a Category 5 hurricane, similar to Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) which hit the Philippines.
I assumed that most, if not all, effects in movies are computer-generated. So when I went there, I was surprised of how real everything felt--the room heated up when fire appeared, and there was even fire in the water. (HOW!? Is it actually gasoline?) A huge ship appeared at the end and bumped the fence separating the scene from the audience, making a splash of water.
We then took the Transformers ride which simulates a battle against Megatron on some kind of car. It drove around several 3D screens, as if on a high-speed car chase. Even if the car barely moved in reality, it felt like moving at high speed and bumping things. The scariest things are when building chunks are flung towards the viewers and when Megatron is "grabbing" the car.
Well, at least bumping things in that ride is not the same as bumping a real-life car...which would be far more painful.
We didn't do much of the Ancient Egypt part because I'm terrified of whatever roller coaster is in that pyramid. I HATE roller coasters and would rather be poked multiple times by syringes or be told to take an exam.
We just did that driving thing with the snakes and bugs.
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| A portion of the driving ride thing. A lot of rides don't allow pictures -_- |
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| Hytale dungeons better look as good as this. |
We went around the Jurassic Park part quite a lot because I'm familiar with two of the rides there. First, we took the Canopy Flyer, which is kinda like an upside-down roller coaster--the seats are under the rails. The line was super long, so I "hijacked" the free Wi-Fi and played Fire Emblem Heroes...and it certainly made the wait feel shorter.
Right before riding, I was nervous of my stuff falling off, so I wrapped my arms around my bags tightly. Thankfully, they have shelves for temporarily storing bags.
I can't remember how I enjoyed the ride as a tween because, as a young adult, I made loud martial arts noises as the vehicle moved at high speed up and down while tilting--I felt like I was about to fall off. Dad, on the other hand, cheered like a little girl, saying things around the lines of "Whee!" and "Yippee!"
When Mom asked, "How's the ride?" I replied, "I died."
Actually, I wanted to ride again for some weird reason (like I have a death wish), but I don't want to wait out the long line.
We then took that boat ride which takes riders through some kind of dinosaur zoo. There were fast currents and a lab entrance that puts the riders near the open mouth of a T-rex, but the riders escape on a steep slope that felt like a roller coaster ride, which I was NOT prepared for, and the lady to my right got soaked while I, who was seated on the middle, barely got wet besides my right sock. Thanks to my mom for lending me her jacket! (She did not ride because she got super dizzy after the Canopy Flyer.)
We saw Waterworld, which was a live, action-themed performance. The special effects were more terrifying and realistic, but I got lazy to talk about it here.
We were running out of time since Universal Studios was about to close, so, after a quick snack break, we went to Far Far Away, and the first thing Mom and Dad did is...you know...
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| I didn't wanna invade people's space, so I took this shot with my arms fully extended upwards. RIP arms. |
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| No, this is not CGI. This is not the medieval era, either. It's actually a 4D cinema, but I sure as heck wanna raid this thing if it had actual defenses. |
Ah, fudge it, I died...a bit less. Interestingly, I didn't shout "HA!" as much. If only I can have a "meh" face like Mr. Bean on a roller coaster ride... He even fell asleep.
We
(Something about the Puss in Boots ride)
The last ride we took before leaving Universal Studios is...the Sesame Street space ride, for some weird reason. I still wonder how they pulled off the floating vehicle effect when I didn't see any rail on the bottom. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough--it could be on the top of the vehicle...
We bought some Hershey's Nuggets--chocolates with almonds inside. Needless to say, I gobbled them up quickly in the hotel room.
But before the hotel room thing, I was curious about this Head Rock VR thing I saw in brochures around Resorts World Singapore. There was a "VR Room" with a "zombie slasher" game.
But, in the end, I chose the "Robin Hood" part, which is actually not a VR game--it's real archery. I already know boxing, so I want to be able to attack from far away without using environmental objects. So here's my target after shooting 9 arrows: (One fell on the floor)
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| Crappy archer! If only I could practice infinitely at home, I could get better at this... |
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| I like many things with -katsu at the end. Don't judge me. jk |
Lastly, since the parents and kids were in separate hotel rooms and Mom and Dad were asleep, I snuck out of the hotel room to scout Yishun, where I think NachoPizza lives, since I was preparing for when he wants to meet there. I had a Singapore Tourist Pass, so I was able to ride infinitely until it expired.
Problem is, the MRT closes at 12 midnight, so I was only able to explore the area surrounding the Yishun station. I like how it's close to both a park and a busy road.
The round trip took roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes in total.
End of Part 1.
I got lazy to do Part 2; I got hooked into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas since Rockstar Games gave it for free through their launcher. Also, curse you, school work.
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