Singapore Haul!

I have been missing quite a lot recently from the blog. So sorry for that. Have been bogged with work. But I will be more regular now :)

So today's post is dedicated to the shopping I did during my Malaysia-Singapore trip. Unfortunately, I do not have photos of everything that I purchased. Below are some of the things I bought for myself.

Missing in the pics below are the following items: t-shirts for hubby, a Chinese outfit for my 3-year old nephew, shirts for my brother, a purse for my mom and a neon green purse for my niece (she had specified that she wanted a neon purse!)

For myself, I bought a couple of Chinese style dresses, and a few necklaces. Let me know what you think! :)

Chinese style dresses: I have been wanting one for so long! that I bought 2!! :-p

Price of the short one - S$79, the long one - S$89



Necklaces from Talismans - 3 for S$10

Top from Uniqlo - S$29

Makemytrip.com - Review

With the travel posts done, now comes the "much-awaited" review of makemytrip.com. :-p

I will first give a description of our interaction with the company and then provide the pros and cons.

When hubby and I decided to go to Singapore - Malaysia for our vacation, we checked out a few different tour operators and then based on cost-benefit analysis, finalized on makemytrip.com. During our research on various operators, we had already decided on which tour suited us best - based on no. of places, cost, no. of days and the pre-decided dates of the tours.

The first thing before finally deciding to go with makemytrip was to check the websites of the hotels which they were providing and decide whether we were fine with them. We did not much like the look of Cherry Loft Apartments which they were providing for Singapore, but decided to go ahead since any place in Singapore couldn't be that bad. Tip: Always check out the websites of the hotels being provided before deciding to book.

Once we had finalized on the trip to take, we called up the number provided for customer care rather than booking online (which provided INR500 discount per person) since we had a lot of questions which needed to be answered before we finalized the trip. The customer care number "eventually" directed us to a "Travel Specialist" (TS). It would take a long stretch of imagination to think of the TS as a 'specialist' as he knew very little about the travel aspect of the trip. We asked him our queries, of which he could only answer a few and said that he would get back to us on the rest after confirming.

Day 8: A stroll around Singapore

Day 8 was the last day of our vacation. We were catching the flight back to India the next day. So we decided to take a walk around Singapore.

Cherry loft Apartments where we were staying in Singapore was close to Little India. I wanted to go to Bugis Street which is flea market which is really good for shopping. So we decided to walk through Little India, have lunch there and then head on to Bugis Street.

Bugis Street was very crowded and it was a lot of fun to browse through the different shops. I ended up buying a few necklaces from Talisman's there. Bugis Street is a teenager's paradise in terms of clothes, shoes and accessories. It is also a good place for souvenirs but we found that these were cheaper in Little India. Bugis is also a great place to buy bags. So if you are interested in bags, definitely visit Bugis!

From Bugis Street, we took a bus to Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a wonderful place to hangout anytime during the day. You already saw Clarke Quay pics by night on Day 4, here I will share some Clarke Quay evening pics. :)

From Clarke Quay, we took to metro to Marina Bay Sands (it has a free light and sound show at 8.30pm and 9.30pm). Along with Clarke Quay, Marina Bay Sands is another great place to visit at night. So do keep two evenings free when you visit Singapore to visit these 2 places.

Hope you enjoy these last few pics from my vacation. Next up will be a review of makemytrip.com.

Little India 

Day 7: Sentosa Island

Hello Everyone. I know I have been missing for many days. So sorry!

The issue is that I have been having trouble with my eyes - constant watering and irritation. The doctor asked me to avoid the computer as much as possible. Given my working hours, you know how impossible that would be! But still, I tried to reduce computer time in office and totally avoided the computer at home. And hence the long absence. But now my eyes are better, and I am back! :)

So on Day 7, we got off the cruise around 1pm in the afternoon and went to Sentosa Island. This is a famous resort island in Singapore. It can be reached by road and cable car. We took a cable car to reach the island and got a fantastic view of the island.

The main attractions that I loved on the island were the Luge & Skyride (this is super awesome. Take maximum rides here - you will definitely love it!), Underwater World, Universal Studios and Song of the Seas (a light, water and sound show which is really beautiful).

I will leave you now with the pics. Unfortunately, the pics in the aquarium are quite blue! :)

View from the cable car

 

Day 6: On the cruise

We boarded the cruise on Day 5 around midnight and after finding our room, having a really late dinner and exploring a bit, it was off to bed :)

On Day 6, we explored the ship (Superstar Virgo), explored Malacca (in Malaysia), the island near which the ship had docked for the day, and then came back to the ship for a bit of rest and total entertainment at night!

Day 5: Singapore city tour + off to cruise

Day 4 was dedicated to Singapore city tour and shopping and then it was off to the cruise at night.

Singapore is a small, very modern city. The main places to visit during a day tour of the city are Singapore flyer, Merlion, China town, Orchard road and little India. Of course, there are many other places, but these ones are a must visit.

Singapore flyer: Singapore's answer to London Eye. It is taller than London Eye and offers a fabulous view of the city. My suggestion would be to board the flyer twice, if time permits, once during the day and once at night. The flyer even has a restaurant (inside one of the capsules) and you can even book it for parties, weddings and such!

Day 4: Off to Singapore

For those joining in late, please see here for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.

On Day 4, we left early from Genting Highlands and travelled to Singapore by bus. It was a long journey spent mostly in sleeping. When we reached the Singapore border, we got down, went through immigration and customs and got back into the bus for our ride to our hotel.

We had an option of a Night Safari that night. We didn't take this option. I had been to the Night Safari before and knew that the experience was not all that great. So we skipped that and instead went to Clarke Quay by metro. The metro system in Singapore is really good and you can travel to most parts of Singapore through the metro.

Clarke Quay is a must visit in Singapore. As the name suggests, it is the riverside. While it is good to sit there in the evening, its a great party hub at night. Go to Clarke Quay in the evening and stroll around, have a drink and enjoy dinner at the many different restaurants (all types of cuisine) there. You can also take a river cruise which is a fabulous experience.

Dress: Globus

Day 1: Arrival in Kuala Lumpur

Sadly, my vacation is over and I am back to the grind :(

But the good part is that I get to share my experiences and photos with you :)

The posts related to my vacation will be more of travel posts with a bit of fashion included. I will give details on places to visit in each city, interesting facts, places to shop and any other titbits that seem important. And yes, these posts will be quite picture heavy! Hope you guys enjoy reading the coming 8-9 posts :)
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Day 1: We had a Singapore Airlines flight from Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur (KL), with a stopover at Singapore. The flight was a bit tiring since we were flying at night and did not get much sleep. Also, makemytrip (through which we booked our package) had chosen seats for us on the flight which were not together (I will do a post at the end on my experience and rating of makemytrip.com). So that was a big disappointment (since the flight was full, we could not get 2 seats together).

Anyways, we landed in KL and were taken to our hotel there - Sunway Putra. We reached the hotel by around 2pm and the rest of the day was free. The good surprise here was that we had a suite instead of just a room - and the view was awesome (of the twin towers!). So we showered, had a bite to eat and decided to explore on our own.

There was a train station just a minute away from our hotel. So we took a train to Bukit Bintang which is the shopping destination in KL :) There are around 7 malls here which range from the very high end (Pavilion mall) to the reasonable (Lot 10 and others). It was fun just going around the malls and window shopping. We had real fun just browsing and deciding on what we could buy (I had a shopping list from my family which had to ticked off!). The day ended with us returning to the hotel, going for dinner and then early to bed - due to lack of sleep and jet lag.

I'm leaving on a jetplane....

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

I'm standing here, outside the door ...

 

I am leaving today ...