Roar in Singapore Day 2: McRitchie Trail, City walk, National Gallery

Quick peep Singapore morning from the rooftop~!

Today aku berjanji dengan another CS host, to go for McRitchie Trekking, janjinya 8.30 am jumpa dekat station Caldecott. Kelam-kelibut aku, aku paksakan diri buat kopi & grab benda untuk dikunyah, ye lah, nak gi trekking, kang pengsan pulak menyusahkan orang T_T

Gila betui rasa pagi ni, mane tak nye, last nite tido pukul berape (3 jam je tido, aaarghh~) Pukul 8 pagi aku baru nak gerak, dari hostel berlari-lari ke MRT Bugis Street station. Ding dong here & there, berjaya jugak aku reach station Caldecott pada… pukul 9 pagi T_T haha buat perangai typical Malaysian sangat aku ni kan.

Ok, harini jumpa kawan CS baru, Hong Yee! A Singaporean traveller @ trail runner  @ mandarin teacher, whoahh~! He will host me for the trekking & he bring another 2 CS friends; Vivek from India & Marc from Barcelona! Malu jugak la sebenarnye semua orang tunggu aku lambat, buat perangai bimbo sangat, so sorry everyonee T_T.

So we started the walk from Caldecott station, towards McRitchie Reservoir, I think it’s around half an hour walk? Hong Yee ni sangat bagus, sebab setiap tempat kitorang lalu, mesti dia akan cerita about the history behind the place. We called him a walking Wiki! He always with his tablet, & will happily answer all your question, I repeat “all your questionss” ok~ haha salute! Dan aku baru tahu 1 of reason kenapa Singapore takde tong sampah adalah sebenarnya untuk mengelakkan orang sorok bom, lulz.

Hello McRitchie Reservoir~ I want to do this next time plzzz~!

Guard-guard saya untuk hari ini, hehi~

We almost there~!

The finale~ view from the tower~!

The trekking sesh was good, dapat gak la merasa trekking kat Singapore, *maap gambar dalam hutan takde sebab sebok bersembang, hewhew~ Saje je nak try trekking kat sini, sebab kat Mesia takde sape nak bawak aku pi trekking, huh, ye la hutan Mesia susah skit tak selamat trek sesorang, so aku bawak diri ke singapore, lulz.. Anyway you don’t have to worry if you come here, ada proper signage along the way. The whole trekking took us approximately 3 hours back & forth, good workout!

Tengok munyet while on the way balik, lulz~

By the time we finish our trekking, semua dah tak larat kelaparan, hahaha~ so we cheat & took the bus. I’m not sure where it was, but it’s like a shop lot where there’s a food place area. Mostly are chinese’s but I’m glad I can find a shop that sells halal food, and it’s cheap & it’s good! Everyone were so nice ask me is it ok if they eat pork in front of me, aww terharu u guys concern :') *btw, I think it in this way, If I can eat beef in front of my chinese friends who don’t eat beef, kenapa kawan kita tak boleh makan pork depan kita pulak, rite? as long as you don’t share plates or so whatever that’s fine*

After we “refuel”, we continue our walk straight to the nearest MRT station, oh~ I can’t remember what station was it. Hong Yee plan to bring us to walk from Little India towards Bugis Street by foot, nice~! Well, I really enjoy it tho, to finally be able to just walk & really see Singapore street.

Then we went to this fancy building called Parkview Square. By the time we reach it rains heavilyyy~ So we were stuck there for +- 1 hour, lulz. Once the rain dah reda sikit, Marc have to leave sebab dia dah janji nak jumpa girlfriend dia. He work in Singapore, & his girlfriend is an Indonesian doing internship in Singapore, & they always travel together, so cool & sweet kan :D

Didn't manage to capture good photos here.

I did mentioned to Hong Yee, I suppose to go to the National Gallery yesterday, I’ve booked my ticket, but missed the timing. Vivek said, he tried to book the ticket and it was fully booked! Hong Yee as usual, being very very optimistic suggested, “Why not we just walk to the National Gallery & just give it a try?” Me & Vivek was like, “ YESS why not! haha!” infact it is just +- 2km away anyway.

While we were walking, the rain starts to pour again, it was around 4 pm, since we are not rushing, so we decided to go for coffee, ohh yes coffee! Dalam kepala otak aku dah terfikir a hang out at a nice cafe will be good (padahal rupa kitorang busuk gila, ye lah trekking dari pagi, lol). Rupanya pegi lepak kat medan makan je, lulz. Ok lah save sikit duit kan, so aku try minum Cappucino mamak, bole la nak buat mata ni terbukak sikit kan, haha.

Lepas minum-minum kopi, hujan pun berenti, Hong Yee said, “I will bring you guys to the National Library, so we can refresh oursleves and refill our water bottle”, kitorang semua were like, “National Library toilet! Hooray!” #gengmudahterhibur #gengcheapskate But to be honest, kitorang memang gembira gila, masa pakai toilet tu, aku memang rasa mamposlah korang nak tunggu lama ke, Im a girl anyway, lulz, aku rasa busuk gila ni, mujur bawak t-shirt bersih, siap sempat make up sikit, lol!

By the way, masa perjalanan nak ke National Library, kitorang sempat menyinggah ke Design Centre (yang aku pegi semalam) tau tak untuk buat ape? sebab Hong Yee kate, ada coffee & ice cream tasting percuma, hahahaha! Sempat jugak lah aku dapat minum real brewed coffee, oh so nice~! free coffee Yippey!

After “refresh” ourselves, we walk to the National Gallery, we reach there around 6 pm like that, aku tak tau lah dah berapa kilo jalan kaki ni, hahahaha~ Dannnn sesampai gallery (kan plan asal just nak cuba nasib), tapi memang langkah kanan, masuk-masuk je entrance, they hand us free ticket each! hoorah! Kitorang macam blur kejap, really?? You actually don’t need to book this?? lol!

Yippey~! it's Freeee~!

The gallery was huuugee~ tapi lawak gila, sebab masing-masing dah kepenatan (except for Hong Yee, he was still wiki-ing every artwork that he saw, haha) aku tengok Vivek nguap, aku pun nguap, otak aku dah tepu, tak boleh nak input sangat sebab full day harini. Sampai aku terpandang muke Vivek kitorang sama-sama tergelak! Vivek said, “my feet is giving up on me”, hahahahaha! aku reply, “Me too!!” hahaha! And of course Hong Yee masih bertenaga, he said, he can still do trail walking until midnite, oh my God!! A true trail runner! Tabik spring bak ang!

Oh by the way, when we arrived the National Gallery, I arranged to meet another CSers, a Malay Singaporean with his friends, so there were 5 of us exploring the National Gallery :) It was so huuugee~ I need to come again 1 day. But I was so glad on the day that I came, they open it to public for free as their newly launch celebration, I feel sooo luckkyyy for this Birthday trip! And what makes me feels more lucky, meeting all these great peopleeee! thank You :))

buat apa tah ni? haha

my favourite installation, the deconstructed chair that plays with clever illusion.

After the National Gallery sesh, we decided to get our dinner, I want to eat Murtabakkk~ Before we head to the Murtabak, I grab my bagpack at the hostel, they all so nice follow me to everywhere, haha.

The murtabak was sooo goood~ Nasib bek dah berjalan kaki selama lebih 14 jam hari ini, aku pun makan dengan tanpa rasa segan silu, hahaha!

Nah gambar murtabak!

Kenyang seminggu!

Then I need to catch the last train to go to the airport. Sebenarnya flight aku 8 pagi esok, tapi aku nak save duit accommodation & purposely nak explore Changi airport, so aku rasa adakah ridiculous kalau aku tido kat airport malam ni? padahal hostel aku kat depan kedai murtabak ni je ha~ So aku tanya Hong Yee, “Do you think I’m crazy, to sleep at the airport tonight?”, & he replied, “Well, I slept at Taiwan’s bus station for 2 nights in a row before, it was fine & I don’t think it’s crazy at all”, HAHAHAHA kau tanye lah pendapat dari orang yang gila,kau pun dapat jawapan yang gila, but gila in a good way, haha!

So aku pun happy & say bye bye to Hong Yee, while Vivek take the same train with me since he’s house area have the same route with the MRT that I took. We say goodbye in the train, & I felt sooo happy, it was a very very satisfying trip! Can’t wait to explore Changi, yippey! *ade ke lagi tenaga I all ni?? lulz*

*To be honest, Hong Yee was a very very good friend/host. Harini dia jadi segala problem solver aku, & even my "PR" dealing with the other CS, lulz. Thank thank yoouuu~ Vivek is an awesome friend too, hope to meet you guys again! yay!