Singapore for Christmas with Scoot

I just realised my last post on Singapore was dating back in October 2015. But the truth is, I went and visited Singapore every single year. Yes, ever since I revisited "The Lion City" in 2011 and little did I know, Singapore has officially become my yearly affair thereafter. Oh well, part of the reasons why I keep returning there is because to visit my sister who got married and living in Singapore for good. 

This year, I actually went Singapore twice - end of March to accompany my sister and my cute lil nephew flying back to Kuching in order to celebrate my nephew's 1st birthday with the rest of our big group of family. Then few weeks later, I had 8-hours of transit in Singapore before continue with my trip to Istanbul. Hence, I decided to go through the immigration clearance in order to see my sister and nephew though our last met was just less than 14 days ago. 

Guess what, I just came back from another trip to Singapore last week and this marks my 3rd trip to Singapore this year. Why on earth I went back to the same place over and over again? Initially I plan to celebrate this year magical Christmas in somewhere new, somewhere where I never been before but before I manage to plan for it, the boyfriend went and secured one-way ticket to Singapore when we're in Brunei early of January this year. I still remember, vividly, we're just check-in into our hostel in Brunei and less than few minutes later, he came across from Scoot Facebook page that this low-cost airline will replace SilkAir and commencing to fly to Kota Kinabalu by end of this year. What surprised us is that the launching fare for one-way costs RM36 only. Because of that, the boyfriend unable to resist this great steal and the next thing I know, he already bought the ticket to Singapore for Christmas this year. Oh boy! Looks like my white Christmas celebration to a new place has to defer next year. Or maybe the following year. Or maybe God knows when. 

One thing I didn't share earlier on which is I went Singapore for Christmas too last year. Two years in a row. So now you know why I'm looking forward to celebrate in somewhere else.

Nevertheless, I do enjoy the 4D3N trip with the boyfriend. Besides going to the places I've been before, the boyfriend also brought me to one or two places which I miss out from my previous trips.

FLYING WITH SCOOT AIRLINE 


#1: Flying with Scoot for the very first time.

If possible, try to have something to eat before boarding into the aircraft cause the in-flight meal is pretty expensive. A meal costs at least SG$12 (approximately RM36). Even when you add-on while purchasing your airticket online, a set of meal still costs around RM50. Gosh! Now I know AirAsia is not cutting the passenger's throat through their in-flight meals after flying with Scoot.


#2: Along with my newly bought handbag and luggage bag from USA


#3: Yellow and white is Scoot's signature colours.


#4: My all-time favourite airport - Changi Airport is really canggih!


JEWEL CHANGI
Opened in 17 April 2019, I was supposed to have the chance to go and see this newly built nature-theme entertainment and shopping complex next to Terminal 1 when my flight transit for 8 hours in Singapore before continue flying to Istanbul in early of May this year. However like I mentioned earlier, family comes first. So when the boyfriend found I never been there, he bought few tickets like the Canopy Park and Canopy Bridge from Klook.


#5: World's largest indoor waterfall in Jewel Changi Airport


#6: The lush garden of the canopy park as we across the bridge.


#7: Dreamy and white Christmas tree in canopy park.

How To Get To Jewel Changi Airport
Jewel is connected to the Arrival Hall of Terminal 1, and linked to Terminals 2 and 3 by link bridges. A free airport shuttle bus service plies between Terminal 4 and Terminal 2. Jewel Changi is opens 24 hours daily.


SINGAPORE ZOO
This ain't my maiden visit but I just can't believe my last trip to this award-winning wildlife park was 8 years ago. How times fly? I think almost remains the same, except for the much-loved polar bear died in the zoo last year. The boyfriend got the ticket from Klook once again where they were having buy 1, free 1 promo and each ticket comes with tram ride too.


#8: Let's go to the zoo!


#9: The big and wild cats. Clockwise from top right: Cheetah, white tigers and leopard.


#10: 8 years ago vs 8 years later.

I did blog about Singapore Zoo which I went dating back in 2011. You can read more here.

How To Get To Singapore Zoo
Singapore Zoo is not direct reachable by taking MRT as you need to hop on a connecting bus that will take you straight to Singapore Zoo. For us, we took MRT to Khatib Station under North South line and from there, we catch the Mandai Khatib Shuttle right in front of train station. This loop shuttle service is available daily, from 8.00am to 10.40pm. Bear in mind, payment can only be made by EZ-link or NETS FlashPay card only. Cash is not accepted.


CHRISTMAS LIGHT-UP 
There are handful of places to admire the sparking Christmas lights, gorgeously setup of huge and tall trees and festive displays islandwide. But due to our short trip, we only managed to cover few places, like:


#11: The yearly affair of Orchard Road Christmas light up needs no introduction.


#12: The Dragonfly Lake in Gardens By The Bay is scattered with a bunch of colourful egg-shaped structures floating about on the water's surface.


#13: Though it's my second visit to see these Supertree Groove but I still found it's pretty interesting and fascinating.

SHOPPING & EATING
Due to our limited number of hours in Singapore, we have to narrowed down few of the places we intended to go. In addition, my priority is to meet-up my sister and her family, hence it's impossible for us to cover as many as we want. I don't even have the chance to meet up few of my friends who are living and working in Singapore. Sorry to my dearest friends if you are reading this, but I believe there would be next time cause I might going back to Singapore again.

So here are the few places that both boyfriend and I managed to go for shopping and food hunting:

#14: Left-side is the boyfriend favourite shopping spot - Don Don Donki, a discount chain store from Japan whereas for the right side, this is my favourite shopping place - Bugis. I never miss out this area whenever I went Singapore.


#15: With the gigantic Brown of Line Friends


#16: Ya Kun Kaya Toast - Shame to say this but this is the first time I tried their signature kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs and coffee. It's indeed yummylicious and no wonder it's so famous not just among the local, but foreign tourists too.


#17: Newton Food Center - One of the filming locations for Crazy Rich Asians where Nick Young (Henry Golding) and his friends brought Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) to eat at a hawker centre.


#18: And more food.
From top left, lobster broth ramen and economic fried kuey teow I had with the boyfriend whereas the bottom, mango bingsu and budae-jjigae with my sister and bro-in law. Both of them love Korean cuisines.

Obviously my trip to Singapore is nothing short of eat, play and shop. Now I can feel that my waist is expanding. Oh no!!!

And this concludes my final and last trip for the year 2019. Can't believe that soon, we will welcoming the brand new year of 2020. So how is the year of 2019 treating you so far?