Part 2

Hi people!

Continuing my story...

Was pretty blur at going through the immigration - just followed the crowd. However, once reached Kranji MRT, I was "home" again. The MRT reminds me so much of London's tube. Very easy and convenient. Doreen, I'm reminded of the saying - "Mind the Gap" but of course, here there's no such saying but the saying "Door Closing", followed by "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep".

There was no trouble waiting for my cousin sister, Lee May, at Ang Mo Kio. We had breakfast at it's "central". "Central", from what I learned from Lee May is a place whereby all the usual necessary shops (supermarket, makan place, library, etc.) are situated. I keep forgetting to speak in Mandarin. Most of the folks here speak Mandarin and Hokkien.

I decided to sleep instead upon reaching Lee May's flat (shared with 3 other housemates) since there wasn't any major interesting place nearby to roam. Wah... I "accidentally" fell asleep sitting on a small coach. First time like that.

After dozing 3 hours, we were ready for jalan-jalan. Our first stop was Bugis Junction - the place I missed last time. The enclosed air-conditioned shops were quite impressive. The prices even more impressive....

There were two two-dimension buildings not far away which was really something to look at (by day or by night - like a piece of paper).

Throughout the day my cousin sister took us to Suntec City (really big) passing by Raffles Hotel and Marine Parade. I love Marine Parade. Such a nice place to walk, jog, cycling, roller-blading, have a picnic, a nap, dating.... There were a number of youngsters preparing for a barbecue. For us we had some "sushi" stuff purchased/belanja by Lee May at Parkway Parade nearby. Before that, we "experienced" one of the community libraries there. High tech library. Got all those inquiry booths (just use IC), automated borrowing booths, video to lend back, books, magazines, internet... New books and magazines, all free to be borrowed.

Getting back on the bus, along the Geylang Road (forgot the spelling), there many pubs as well as makan places. I was just pooped upon reaching the flat. Slept from 10 something till 8am the next morning. Tak pernah tidur begitu lama punya...

To be continued tomorrow... (sorrylah - tak mau tulis lama-lama...)

Regards,
Li Li
ps. I think I missed out on Shida and Nisah when I emailed the first part from the office. Will forward the first part of the story to you tomorrow.

Part 3

Hi people!

On the second day in Singapore which was the best day - we went to the National Zoo, Sentosa Island and Clark Quay.

Some of you might be surprised that I would choose to go to a zoo since you may know me as quite hesitant to zoos because it's such a sad place where wild animals are confined to a small area. Even more surprising was that I enjoyed myself there - however, I still consider zoos are a sad place no matter what.

Anyway, what makes Singapore's Zoo different is they try to make it like an open zoo concept. You barely can see the surrounding fences. You get a feeling of "so close yet so far" (you feel like you're able to reach to touch them). There was even a bird (a stork I think) which was roaming freely. I nearly got pecked by it when I stood close near it for a photo shoot. Luckily, tak kena abused....

Then there's an enclosed area whereby they left a few snakes roaming freely in the trees. Pretty exciting man. There's one snake so very close to the door that both of us tak berani keluar from the particular door. We also managed to catch halfway a sea lion performance. Very smart these creatures. One even did some Michael Jackson's "moonwalking". We also managed to take two special photo shoots (courtesy of my cousin sister) - one with the orang utans and another with chimpazees (ahem... our brothers and sisters?)

Nisah and San Lee - after the zoo, you know who we met with? Well, we had already known beforehand Pei Szu was gonna be in Singapore. So she joined us to Sentosa Island. Pei Szu can now independently take MRTs and buses especially since we didn't go to meet her at her hotel. So she has to come out on her own.

It's time for me to go back. Sambung another time...

Regards,
Li Li

Part 4

Hi people!

Today I shall wrap up my Singapore story. Especially since I'm writing from home - not working (MC today - all systems down - sore throat, cough, running nose, fever - the works).

At Sentosa Island (by ferry - $1.30, so cheap compared to the cable car ride I took last time - $12.50), we went to the major spots, one of it being the underwater world. Quite worth the expensive ticket, many interesting creatures of the sea. My favourite being the "leafy" seahorse. The underwater tunnel was spectacular with sting rays, sharks, moray eels and numerous varieties of fishes.

The next spot was Images of Singapore - the waxworks. Decided to wait at the exit since I've been there before. It was raining outside and fortunately stopped after we visited the Merlion shopping store. It wouldn't be complete if we didn't watch the musical fountain. The waterworks was still similar to what Gui, Doreen and I been through the last time but towards the end there was a special laser play of the legend of the Merlion (mermaid lion). It was a pretty picture - the fountains dancing in colors with the majestic Merlion in the background.

Before going back we visited Clarke Quay which looked a bit like Venice. Open restaurants, taxi boats to cruise the Singapore river and a bit of Petaling Street. Many "gwailos" here.

The next day we went to the Botanical Gardens visiting the Orchid Garden and Rose Garden. I believe that Malaysia has a potential in its Taman Pertanian Shah Alam to be a major tourist spot if efforts was put into maintaining it.

Lastly we visited Planet Hollywood as well as "Borders" along Orchard Road. Borders has a nice concept where you're allowed to read the books over there. They even provide benches for the purpose!

The journey back home was awful. We couldn't manage to get early tickets back to Seremban. My mom was anxious and nagging me to grab the 9pm tickets but I wanted to reach home earlier as I needed to work the next day. We were at the bus station at around 3pm. Finally found a booth which sold VIP coach tickets to KL & Seremban. Kena suckered for RM30 a ticket. What's worse was the bus arrived at 7.30pm instead of its designated time of 6.30pm. Plus the heavy rain which made both of us freezing in the bus. Luckily we had windbreakers along. The VIP bukannya VIP at all. Macam biasalah - even the Plusliner bus is in better condition. One more teruk thing is that it didn't go to Seremban town but stopped along the highway. Fortunately, we were mentally prepared for it because we've heard of these kinda buses before. Anyhow, our house was not far away and we reached back home at 12am by foot.

I guess my body decided to break down last nightlah... Love to be back in Malaysia. Mmmm.. the delicious food and friendly people. The trip was meant as a sight-seeing one. I hope that my next trip (dunno where) would involve mingling around the locals and culture. Sometimes one can visit a non-touristic spot and yet gain some wonderful memories.

I shall sign off now. My thanks to my cousin, Lee May and her wonderful roomates. And what shall be my vow this time...?

Take care you all and enjoy mother nature's gift. Sadly I missed the World Environment Day celebration at Rimba Ilmu UM. Yesterday read that our rhinocerous is heading for extinction and we also have to braise ourselves for another natural obstacle - La Nina.

Cherish all the good things you have now.

Regards,
Li Li
ps. my Jaring account has already been topped up.