Singapore Heritage Study Trip

I've went to Singapore for the last mid-term break with my 45 studiomates for the Heritage and Contemporary study visit. Here's the brief journal about my trip.

Saturday - 1st September 2007
It’s the first day and I don’t wanna sleep because I’m afraid I’ll overslept and make my friend curse me. So I’ve watched few movies at my friend’s room and get prepared with stuff. After having our breakfast at KAED, we departed with UIA bus at 8 a.m.

After 2 stops at lay-bys, we reach Johor Bahru at 1 p.m. and have our lunch at Jalan Geroda. Next we checked in at Seri Malaysia Hotel and my roommates are Hakim and Reduan. We planned to do our study research at the Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque unfortunately, there was a pilgrimage course take place on that day. So, we just having fun at Danga Bay.

Late in the evening, we spent our time studying the JB city scape within Legaran Seget. It looks like Jalan TAR in KL as important nodes in JB. After having dinner at McDonalds in City Square, we went back to hotel. Late in the midnight, we’ve celebrated Najwa and Muna’s birthdays over there.

Sunday - 2nd September 2007

We went to Larkin bus terminal and from there, we took PERLING bus to go to Singapore. Yeah! Its a bit tiring going through the immigration and customs. We arrive Queen St. bus terminal around 12pm and we switched to our travelling bus. Now, I’m in the Lion City! I’m very excited to see such scenery of concrete jungle with well arranged landscape. Eventhough its just a neighbouring country, but its totally different from KL.

We went to Costa Sands Resort in Pasir Ris as we will accommodate there for 4 days and 3 nights. After having lunch, we went to Museum of Asian Civilization and do some analyses study along Telok Ayer Street. Red Dot Design Museum was just opened and we watch the exhibition of the best products design and concept there. We have our Singapore Murtabak for dinner at Victory Restaurant. Its quite thick and delicious, let’s think like a lasagna but its tasty of course.

Next, we went for a walk and sight seeing at Suntec City complex, one of the hottest shopping and business complex in this city. Fortunately, at the convention centre, it’s the last day of COMEX 07 which is a Singapore version of PC FAIR in KL. So, some of my friend and I went there to survey how the prices of those computers gadget. Its very tiring when trying to do the comparison, I need to multiply 2.3 on every stated price. In the end, I’ve just bought myself a purple-silicone rubber-foldable keyboard for S$10 (RM23) whereas Low Yat price is more than RM30. We take the bus from Esplanade and back to the resort.

Monday - 3rd September 2007

We spent some time doing study and analyzing area in Clarke Quay, which for me is a Jalan Bangsar version of Singapore, where people having their nightlife here. But we came in the morning and most shops are closed. It was raining in the evening and we have to make it through the rain from Al-Abrar mosque to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). URA is a DBKL but specializes for the town planning in this city. There are Singapore City Gallery that exhibits the development of the city, history and conservation and what I’m totally adore is that there are 2 models of the island and 1 focuses on the city planning.

We went to Bugis Street at 9pm. It’s a biggest covered-street shopping (like Petaling Street) in city. Its quite cheap and it’s a shopping haven for tourist and locals. I’ve bought many key chains and shirts as a souvenir for my family and friends there. But most shops closes at 10pm and we need to rush before they closed.

Tuesday - 4th September 2007

We went to Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC) at Jurong area. It’s a big storage and lab for the artifacts in Singapore. They have state of the art technology in the conservation field down there. Why doesn’t Malaysia have any place like this?

Unfortunately for that day, Farhan received a bad news about his grandfather. So he need to return to his hometown to see his grandpa but its difficult for him because he come to Singapore with a group passport. After dealing with the embassy, he managed to pass the immigration.

We had our lunch at Hjh. Maimunah Restaurant and we perform our prayers at Masjid Sultan. After window shopping at the Kg. Glam area, fortunately I’ve met with the group from HS students and its fun to meet Hidayah with her group. My next destination is the Malay Heritage Centre.

We made our own way to MRT because we want to go to Orchard Road. At the Bugis MRT station, fortunately I’ve met with Marsita and her friend. It seems like my heart beat faster as if I’m falling into her once again. The train is very crowded at that time. After switching train at City Hall, we made our way to Orchard MRT station. For me, all the shopping complexes in Orchard Road seems like the one in Bukit Bintang Road where it’s a shopping haven for the rich people. But there are also cheap stuff over there.

We return to Downtown East in Pasir Ris and we have a barbeque that night.

Wednesday - 5th September 2007

Its our last day in Singapore. We checked out at 10.30 am. We went to Masjid Asy-Syafaah in Sembawang. It’s a modern design for a mosque and it looks cool and awesome. This type of mosque is truly a resemblance of what Prophet had done which is the function of the mosque encompasses not to only as a place of worship, but also a centre for seeking information and a community centre.
After performing our prayers and having our lunch, we went to Mustafa Centre to do the last minute shopping. This place is just like Mydin in Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur where Indian community lives and doing businesses.

Late that evening, we went to the famous Singapore landmark, the Merlion Park. It’s a very nice place if you want to take pictures before leaving Singapore. Next, we went to Queen Street and take Causeway Link bus to return to Johor Bahru. We reach Woodlands at 8pm and for the whole journey to Larkin bus terminal, it takes 2 hours. UIA bus waited there and we decide to head straight to UIA because its already late.

We stop by at Pagoh RnR to have our dinner at 12am. After that, we continued or journey and it takes only 2.5 hours from Pagoh to UIA Gombak. Can you imagine how fast the bus is? Alhamdulillah all of us arrive safely from this trip and officially, I reached my beloved Bilal at 4.30am.

P/S - More pictures update soon! Its the best mid-term break ever! But life's getting hectic for the second half of this semester!!