Singapore Day 1: First Coach, Five Stones Hostel & Marina Bay Sands

Long post ahead… as usual la.

Prologue
Haven’t had an oversea holiday for over a year (my last trip was last year April to South Korea), so I decided to take an impromptu trip to Singapore. It was a 4 days 3 nights trip (4th-7th June 2015) with the family. I’ve been to Singapore 3 times before, so this is my 4th.

After I have planned and booked everything, I found out that period was a school holiday in Singapore and Malaysia, it was also sales period in Singapore AND Sea Games time. Oopss what have I done? What I fear most is traffic jam and also long queue. Wanna know what it’s like during this time in Singapore? Make sure you read my Singapore travelogue!

I choose to travel by bus to Singapore with First Coach. The best thing about First Coach is one of its departure point is from Subang Parade and Subang Parade is very near to Subang KTM station which is our transport to get to Subang Parade.

Our ride to Singapore. Taken by dad’s Samsung hp.

We took the earliest bus at 7.45am. The return bus ticket cost us RM140.00 pax. Not bad. Our bus or you can call it coach if you like it departed at 7.49am. Not bad again. Once on board, we were given a drinking water and a Gardenia Twiggies each. We brought along bread and cakes for our journey.

Spacious leg room. Can you see the electrical outlet near my right knee there?

On board entertainment. You will need ear phones for this. Remember to bring your own.

Since Subang Parade was not opened yet (7.45am too early ma for shopping mall), the bus took us to Shell station (near Subang toll) for toilet break. At 10.15am the bus stopped at Pagoh Selatan rest area for a short break. They told us the break was 20 minutes but we departed 36 minutes later.

Finally after going through immigration (toilet break here too) and all (we were delayed at Tuas check point-traffic jam), we reached Star Vista at 2pm. The total journey took 6 hours plus. We then walked to Buona Vista MRT and took a ride to Bugis. Oh yea we bought EZ-Link card at the MRT station for travel convenience and discount. Then it was a 8-12 minutes walk (depending how fast or slow you walk) to our accommodation, Five Stones Hostel. It was nearly 3pm by that time.

This is what I saw when I stood inside Five Stones Hostel. Shoes!!! During peak time, imagined 3-4 times more shoes than this.

This is the reception area. Checking in was fast. We had to pay deposit S$20.00 (refundable) for a key to our room. It isn’t suppose to be inconvenient with one key but because of their set up in the hostel, it was so troublesome. I’ll let you know as you read below.

We were then shown to our rooms. Apparently the rooms are on a another section which you have to walk out of the main door of Five Stones Hostel and go to the unit beside it. Once we reached our floor, I saw more shoes! Whether I have missed it in their website or Tripadvisor, I didn’t remember reading about the no-shoes policy. Initially I thought it was a good thing since the place will be cleaner but nope. I spotted so many hair on the corridor and I saw many hostel guests wearing slipper from outside to their rooms and even toilet (ohmygod). Yuck and ewwww man!!!

This is my room, a twin bunk room @ S$95.00 per night on level 5. It’s a really small room, so small that I don’t think it’s worth S$95.00. Sleep quality wise was excellent in terms of bed quality. The walls though are very thin, at midnight I can hear the guests at next room chatting happily. Our rooms are very near to the male’s toilet, even though they can be noisy but I don’t mind. My parents room is a private deluxe double room @ S$105 per night (their room is just beside us). The room is so much larger than ours.

There’s a TV, a table and chair, clothes stand, dustbin, full body mirror and air-cond. I wish they provide us clothes hangers. Wifi is free.

This is the corridor to our room.

Right in front of our room are 2 washing machines and 2 dryers which are free to use. There is also a patio where you can chill out there and also dry your clothes if prefer not to use dryer.

The ladies washroom at level 4.

Since our rooms are at level 5, yup that means we have to go down one level for answering nature call and shower. FYI, female toilets and showers are located at level 2 and 4 while male toilets and showers are located at level 3 and 5 BUT our key only gave us access to level 4. That means all the ladies in level 4 and 5 had to share one washroom with 2 sinks, 3 shower rooms and 3 toilets.

When it was peak time, you can bet the cubicles are all taken and you had to wait your turn. The washroom also become dirty and wet. Remember the one key policy for 2 guests in a room? Whenever we need to go to another level, we need to use the key. So if one person is going to the washroom on level 4, the other person either have to stay in the room or follow the person to the washroom too. She can’t go anywhere else because there is only one key. Really inconvenient.

I also saw a male guest using the female toilet. Guess what? On the last day, when I finally couldn’t take it any longer, I also used the male toilet at level 5. LOL Too inconvenient to go to level 4. Of course I went in when no one is around la.

Computer area where you can surf net. It’s located beside the reception. I didn’t know it’s a Mac and stupidly click on Chrome. LOL

The lounge area where you can relax and watch TV.

Kitchen and dining area. Nope you can’t cook but they have microwave, refrigerator and water dispenser.

Btw they provide free breakfast but we didn’t eat there even once. There are just too many good food to try in Singapore.

All in all, my stay at Five Stones Hostel were mediocre due to the shoes and toilet issues. Other than that it was okay. I had 3 good nights of sleep. Ohh btw, when I went to check out and get back my key deposit, the girl that served me handed me the money with her eyes looking down. Oh gosh so no courtesy.

After resting at the hostel for a bit, we walked to Golden Mile Food Centre for our late lunch. We had chicken rice!

This is the famous Haji Lane. We were on our way to Bugis MRT.

Signage at Marina Bay Sands. First thing first, we hang out at The Shoppes, the shopping mall at Marina Bay Sands.

This semi-spherical thing at the top of the photo is called Rain Oculus. When not functioning like in this photo, you can ride the gondola.

Rain Oculus in motion. It’s a really pretty artwork.

Here’s what it looks like at the bottom. Boring eh?

Then we went to the casino and played a few games. By this time I was really tired. Lugging my heavy DSLR around is not fun this time. I blame the thin strap of my orange bag for the problem.

We visited Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby next. Saw lots of Sea Games media people and I’m guessing athletes at the lobby.

Then we rested at the sofa at The Shoppes since everyone was so tired. Hahaha About 20 minutes later, we had our much awaited dinner at Pizzeria Mozza. It’s one of the many celebrity chef restaurants you can find at The Shoppes. Click at the link to read about my review.

After dinner, we visited the Helix Bridge.

I like this bridge a lot. It’s a beauty.

The Art Science Museum and Singapore skyline at night taken from Helix Bridge. Sorry photo a bit blur since it was a handheld shot.

The famous icon of Marina Bay Sands.

Marina Bay Sands and Art Science Museum. So BLUR!!! It’s too bad I messed up with the setting of the camera. It was too dark and I didn’t read the setting of my camera properly. Argghh!!!

Then we watched the Wonder Full show, a light and water show with fountain and music at The Promenade. Unfortunately, it was really boring for me therefore I didn’t take any photos. We couldn’t stay any longer after that as it started to pour. Everyone ran to The Shoppes to take cover. We decided to call it a day then and took the subway and return back to hostel. By then it was nearly 10pm.

That’s it for day 1. Stay tuned for day 2.