Singapore-Malaysia Trip

Day 1 Manila - Singapore

We left the house at 6:45am and arrived at the airport 7:15am. Naia 2 has done away with the ticket and passport inspection at the entrance thereby eliminating long waiting time to get in the airport. Good thing they decided to do away with this as it was a useless procedure. After check in and the usual immigration routine (the Immigration Officer asked me what company do I work for??!! Will he call up the Company and confirm??!! Useless question) we proceeded to gate 5 to wait for boarding. It seems that some food kiosks have closed shop and what is left are the original food kiosks like cafe france. We settled for Cafe France (like we always do), we ordered Roast Beef and Lasagna.

PAL's Brunch

Boarding commenced at 935am. After around 30minutes after the plane had settled in the air they started to serve hot meals, choice of chicken or fish. It included salad and leche flan. The Chicken was okay, the Leche Flan was delicious. It was creamy and had some garbanzos which even made it yummier. The Movie they showed was Big Bad Momma. Plane arrived ahead of schedule in Singapore. Scheduled arrival was supposed to be 150pm but we arrived 125pm.

Main Entrance of Saint
Andrew's Church

After disembarking we then proceeded to immigration. In less than a minute immigration was cleared (thanks to the new Machine Readable/E Chip Passports) then we got our bags. Near the exit I was asked to go to the Xray Machine (they randomly select passengers). Then we took taxi to Moulmein Court. Fare amounted to SGD$16 (we paid via Credit Card, the only Taxis which accept CC in Singapore are the Yellow and Blue Taxis)

We Rested a while then went to City Hall for church tour via Bus and MRT. We first went to Saint Andrew's Cathedral which is just behind the City Hall MRT Station.

Saint Andrew's is an Anglican Church. It is Gothic in Architecture and well preserved. Saint Andrew's was completed in 1837. The Inside of the church features beautiful Stained Glass windows. 

Stained Glass Windows of
Chij Chapel

After Saint Andrew's we went to the Chij Chapel which can be found inside the Chijmes Compound. The Chapel does not serve as a chapel anymore but as an Events Place. It is also well preserved and features beautiful stained glass windows. There was an ongoing event when we went there so we were not able to tour the inside but it was possible to see the inside since the doors where all made of glass. I was able to get a picture of the beautiful stained glass windows of the Chij Chapel.

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd

After the Chij Chapel we then went to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. This Cathedral is not as well preserved as Saint Andrew's but nonetheless it is a beautiful Church which features a Pipe Organ, beautiful stained glass windows and antique Stations of the Cross. There seems to be some restoration or renovation works being done on the Church exterior. This church is the Oldest Catholic Church in Singapore, founded in 1832.

All the walking made us hungry. We went to Ion Orchard and looked for the BonChon Outlet there. Bon Chon is quite expensive, though it is good, it is not something that I will go crazy about. The accompanying fries were very good though. The fries had parsley flakes and chili flakes which added flavor.

Cendol and Red Ruby

After my first Bon Chon Taste Experience we proceeded to Novena Square to satisfy my craving for Red Ruby. I also ordered Cendol too. We just ordered both for Take Away. A word of Advice though, if you will be walking 5-10 minutes to where you live, it is better to just eat this delicious dessert for here instead of take away.

Day 2 Singapore - Penang

Killiney, located at Terminal 1

We left the apartment 5:40 am. We went to the bus stop to wait for Bus 124 that will take us to City Hall MRT. From City Hall Mrt we stopped at Tanah Merah Interchange to get to Changi Airport.

We first had breakfast at Killiney. We ordered Chicken Noodle Soup, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Roast Chicken.

After breakfast we then went to the Budget Terminal Free Shuttle Bus Stop (we were flying with Tiger Airways). It was just a short wait before the Bus arrived and in a few minutes we were at the Budget Terminal.

Gate at the Budget Terminal

There was already a line when we arrived at the check in counter. It took us 10 minutes more or less to finish with Check In. After the usual Immigration routine it was now the waiting for the boarding gate to show up on the tv screens. The Gate's here at the Budget Terminal are all Standing Room. You need to wait Standing up for Boarding unlike at the Non-Budget terminal where there are seats where you can rest before boarding.

We arrived in Penang at around 10:15. Immigration was fast. They have biometrics at the Immigration counters here. Our pick up service from the hotel was already waiting for us when we exited.

This is the Receiving Area for 51B.

We arrived at our hotel by 11am. The hotel we stayed in was formerly a series of shop houses which were renovated and turned into a hotel. We were greeted by Karen and we were given freshly squeezed orange juice. Our Shop House / Apartment was very nice! It was 51B of Stewart Lane. It was a 2 Bedroom Apartment with a communal Bathroom. The Main Bedroom was huge, it had a 32" LCD TV  with Cable and DVD Player, a Tea / Coffee Bar and underneath a Mini Ref, there was also a Safe inside the cabinet. The Bathroom was simple but very nice. It had Hot and Cold Shower, a Rain Shower and toiletries.

After few minutes we went out and looked for a money changer. We found one in Chulia Road (there are a lot of Money Changers here as well as budget hotels as well as heritage hotels) and after changing our money to Malaysia Ringgit we were on the look put for delicious Hawker Food. After looking around for several minutes we ended up with a hawker place in lebuh queen.

After lunch we went to a fruit place nearby which was selling fresh fruit packs for 1 ringgit each.

After our fruit stop we were ready to explore Georgetown. Our first stop was the ensemble of Chinese Temples and Association buildings on Lebuh King corner Lebuh Gereja. Then the Pinang Peranakan Mansion (Entrance is RM10). We had ice kacang and cendol after the mansion tour. India House was next (built in 1937). Former Whiteaways store (built 1903). Customs building (built 1907). Queen Victora Clock Tower (Completed 1902). Immigration Building. Fort Cornwallis 2RM entrance fee. Then to the Supreme Court Building. Then to the Churches. We found a bus stop for the free shuttle bus beside the church. it's last stop was the ferry terminal. We were all told to go down and transfer to the other bus but it turned out that the other bus was a regular bus. We then just decided to go to butterworth but the ferry had already left when we arrived at the terminal. We went back to the free shuttle stop and boarded the bus. We went down penang road. We saw a chocolate boutique. We then walked back to hotel. After resting for a few minutes we then went out and went to the red garden for dinner. We ordered chicken satay, beef satay, ba kut the and prawn and chickeb teriyaki set. After dinner we went to the bus stop going to batuh ferringi. After waiting for what seemed like 20 minutes we asked around if we were waiting at the right stop and it turned out it was the wrong one. We walked to the right bus stop which was just on the same street. Fare amounted to 270 a person. The trip took an hour. We arrived almost 9pm.

We left the hotel 6am. We went to the bus stop at Chulia to go to Penang Hill. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the bus so we asked around and we were told to go to the Jetty Terminal and take the bus going to Penang Hill. From Chulia fare going to jetty was 1.40 RM. At the jetty we took bus 204 going to penang hill. Fare was 2 and 1. Bus left at 705am arrived at the funicular at 740am. Funicular fare 30RM for round trip. Went to bellevue hotel for breakfast. Had beehon, pancake and american breakfast. Breakfast here was not good. And quite expensive. Then went to hawker for ice kacang. Then to the funicular terminal. Going down was fast. Arrived at station at 920am. A super long lined had already formed going inside the funicular station. Good thing we went there early. Then we went to the bus stop for the bus going back to georgetown. Bus arrived at 1015. We arrived goergetown at 1115. We were supposed to go down penang road but we ended up going down near the supreme court bldg. We walked to the hotel. Check out at 1pm then lunch at Peace and Joy Cafe. Took taxi to airport, fare 40RM. Arrived 220pm. Check in at 3pm. Our flight was delayed. The scheduled 510 departure was pushed an hour later. At 630 our flight finally departed. 735 we arrived in Singapore. Took taxi to apartment. Dinner at apartment

Left apartment 10am. Went to Raffles Hotel, Red China Restaurant for our Lunch. After lunch we went to Novena Square for some shopping.

Left apartment 430pm. Arrived at airport 530pm. Long line had already formed. Finished with check in 615pm 

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