Singapore: Five Days Too Many

January 3, 2015

I've already seen more of Singapore that I was interested in. When people say you only need 1-2 days here, they really mean it. So my plans for the day was just doing some last minute shopping at Bugis Street and hopefully be able to pick up some kaya to bring back. My friend told me that you can get the at grocery stores, but the during my whole trip, I never saw a grocery store at all D: So then if I see it, then I’ll get it, but if not… not like I had a lot of cash and luggage space anyways. By the way, Singapore is NOT card friendly unless you’re dining at a restaurant or something. But since I visited a lot of shopping centers (like Bugis Street, not malls) and hawker stalls, you’re going to need cash.

Had this for breakfast in the morning before there was I was already really hungry and who can resist Hainanese chicken rice...

The night before, one of the guys from dinner asked to hang out too so we ended up meeting up but it ended up being a really frustrating experience because I couldn’t really remember which station we were supposed to go to. I originally told him one station (Station A) because it seemed close, but then I told him, nevermind lets go to this other station (Station B) instead. Ah wait, this other station (Station C) is close instead.

But when the day came, I ended up going to the very original station by accident x_x So I walked over to the right station, but second guessed myself and walked over to Station B. But then I didn’t see him there! So I was like oh fuck maybe I made a mistake and I walked back over to Station C again. But I didn’t see him there either.. If I remember correctly, I think I ended up going back between Station B and C again.

I was finally able to get wifi right across from Station C, and I messaged him.. like WHERE ARE YOU? And he was somewhere completely far away wtf. And said he went to the station but was running late so maybe I missed him the whole time I was going between stations. But either way he didn’t wait like I told him to… So I was just kinda like wtf.

But we met up in the end anyways… we went to Killiney for breakfast. I liked Ya Kun more though. Not sure if I'm eating it properly, but I pour a little bit of soy sauce into the eggs and mix it up, then dip the toast in.

After that, we just walked over to Bugis Street and I was just like fuck it and bought more clothing x_x I had to buy shoes too because I packed away all my shoes and it was already taken back to the States, so all I had were: Uggs, rainboots, and indoor slippers. Struggles L I mean obviously it wasn’t a problem in Tokyo/Seoul, but it’s hot in Singapore…and will be for the rest of my trip before I head home too.

It was really hard to find something that fit/that I liked but right before we left, I found this pair of flats:

So weird but cute at the same time.

To end the day, we ate at Eng Seng Restaurant for their black pepper crab :D It was the last one too…and it was quite big O_O I think it was like $80 for the crab? I didn’t expect to get such a big one so if I had been alone, I wouldn’t have been able to pay for it wtf. Well, actually, I didn’t have enough even when splitting it wtf so I some of the money I gave to my friend was in USD so he can exchange to SGD later wtf. And sadly… he was also tight on SGD because the ATM ate his card, so I felt bad dragging him with me.

Went home and packed.

Next destination: Kuala Lumpur!

Singapore: Shitty Airbnb Stay

After the night I arrived, I already kinda got over the fact that they weren't willing to come get me from the station because if anything, they're really only offering the place to stay and coming to get you is an extra gesture. I guess I've just been spoiled in the past of being picked up from the station/bus stop every time.

But this wasn't the issue. The issue was that the house was infested with ants. Not to that extreme, but there's a noticeable amount crawling around. I did notice that there were ants crawling around on the first floor (my room was on the second) on the first night. But it was like.. I dunno, maybe a dozen in total crawling around throughout the floor, kitchen, counter, sink, etc. Not to the point where I found the entire colony. It wasn't on the second floor, and it didn't really affect me that much, so I chose to ignore it and assumed maybe it was normal for Singapore.

Over the next few days, I noticed that there were a few tiny ants, the size of a dot that you make with a pencil, running about on my bed. Like maybe 2-3 total every night. Not that much, just killed them and got over it.

On my very last night, I finally noticed a shit ton more ants on the bed. I see like 3 crawling around at a time. After I killed them, another 3 would just appear from somewhere. So I felt like I was battling ants all night and finally fell asleep (YES, I STILL SLEPT THERE). I realized this quite late at night, maybe around midnight or so. So I didn't want to wake up the "manager" to complain about it. The host himself wasn't there, but I also messaged him about, not expecting a response until the next day. Just for the records, I never ate in the room.

I was scared shitless by all the ants and that they would go into all my luggage and have babies and I would bring them back to the States with me and everything. :(

Okay, so that was already my last night and everything. I wasn't leaving the next day until noon or so. 

The host, let's call him "Fred", messaged me back saying that he didn't realize there was an issue with ants, and asked if I notified the manager.

I'm like ya, I told her about it in the morning but not at night because it was already very late when I found out.

And he's like, I'm not sure if much can be done about it since it's already your last day but you can move your stuff to another room even if it's for a few hours. 

He followed up afterwards asking me for feedback and to be "brutally honest" and I was, except I did it in my review, not through PM. I actually forgot to respond to his message, but it shouldn't really matter whether it came from my review or my message because my review would've been the same anyways.

Airbnb does a thing where you can defend your reviews if they're bad, which is what he did, but he was such an asshole about it because he attacked me personally.

I'm going to paraphrase a bit because I don't want it to come up on a Google search, but I don't mind sharing the actual thing if you ask.

1) His claim: My review states that he said there's nothing that can be done
My review said that there's mainly nothing that can be done because it's my last day. Key word: mainly. Because he did offer to transfer my stuff even for a few hours... which was all he offered and I was leaving in a few hours, so that more or less is mainly nothing can be done imo. But he quoted only the part where I said there's nothing that can be done.
Point invalid.

2) His claim: I knew that the manager was there for issues but I chose to contact him instead because he's in charge of payment
Except I told him that I told the manager after he asked whether I did. Is it not normal to contact him because it's his house...?
Point invalid.

3) His claim: My review states that I contacted him immediately but I only contacted him on the last night, not any of the previous nights
Uh, because I didn't know of the issue the previous night? If he even read my review properly, I said that I discovered the ants on my last night and contacted him immediately, so how is his defense even relevant...? Plus I made the fact that I just discovered it that night clear when I messaged him.
Point invalid.

4) His claim: Fred stayed in the room personally and found no ants. He asked my roommates and they said the problem appeared and disappeared along with me. The ants are a result of me eating/having food in the room.
Roommates? I only had one, who moved in on my 3rd or 4th night. So how would they know if it appeared along with me? Plus I TOLD them that there's an issue with the ants right before I left, so if they fixed it, isn't it natural for the ants to disappear as well?! Also, I told the manager (maybe her grandma) that I did not eat in the room when she asked. So why is he making shit up. Clearly there's a lack of communication between them, or he's just making shit up anyways.

He ended his response about how I'm conveniently using this issue for a refund and that there's a lot of questions about my integrity.
Fuck you. I never asked for a refund, and even if it was my intention, how is notifying him of an issue and leaving a bad review based on my bad experience not within my own rights?!?!? Not that he questioned my rights, but there's no relation to money and my integrity. Regardless of whether I had asked for a refund, the ants were in fact there, were they not?!

Makes me so angry just writing about this. I was very upset when I saw his response and I was actually terrified of all my luggage being infested with ants and their babies. :'(

/rant done.

Singapore: Kopi Tiam & Chilli Crab

January 2, 2015

It was my friend's last day in Singapore and she had a later flight, so we hung out until then.

Breakfast at Ya Kun (kopi tiam) We both had a set, one the original and the other their french toast. I liked the normal toast more. Kaya is sorta coconut based, so I was a bit iffy about it but after trying it, it's not too bad! I wish I had bought the jars, but no space :( And I was going to buy them the next day instead, but ended up not even seeing them anywhere. Arggg.

We spent the day doing some last day sight seeing.

(Earlier) Mona Lisa was in town... But didn't really feel like paying to see it in Singapore, seems more worth it to see it in Louvre lol.

Civilian War Memorial (Tugu Peringatan Bagi Mangsa Awam Pemerintahan Jepun)

After this, we walked over to Emerald Hill. Not exactly sure why she wanted to check it out, but oh well. It's a very dainty street though.

On the way there, saw this building with cool spiral stairs

Stopped by No. 5 (bar) afterwards.

They have this cool thing where they offer blank post cards, and you just write in them and put it back in the other pile and they mail it off for you :O So I sent one to my friend. Never asked how long it took, but it reached him eventually.

Watermelon martini (?)

They had these chilli vodka that they made...tried a taste of it and not really something that I would want to drink an entire cup of. A group of three guys came in some time after us and also pointed it out and we chatted about it for like a minute. Maybe 10-15 minutes later, one of them bought us a shot of it too lol. It really wasn't too bad... it was unique, kinda sour.

Found Merlion

We made a reservation at No Signboard Seafood Restaurant (I think) the night before, but we were careless and forgot which one we went to... so we ended up not going because we couldn't find it since they had three locations and the first one we tried wasn't it. We walked by it the night before and made the reservation so we figured we'd find it, but nope.

So we ended up at Jumbo. Luckily the wait wasn't that bad! Was told that I had to try chilli crab while in Singapore and I'm glad I did! I forgot how big this one was, but I think it the crab itself was ~$100, so it was probably around 1.2kg. It was pretty big, never ordered crab before, so not sure how expensive it compares to the States.

-drools-

The meat was very tender and didn't stick to the shell at all. One crab was enough for two people. It's very messy to eat, but so good too. Second time having crab :D

I also ordered mantous, they're really small and each order is only one, so it also adds up on the bill (though a fraction of the crab's price) since I recommend getting quite a few and just eating it with the chilli sauce.

Guess I'm a messy eater :X

If you do go to Jumbo, just be sure to note that they charge you for things that they just hand to you, so be sure to say no if you don't really want them. We got charged for tea and the wet towels. You wouldn't really think otherwise if they ask you, "Do you want water or tea?" and they just hand you the wet towels at the end. They also charge for peanuts too o_O

Ice cream sandwich dessert :P

Prettyyy

We called it a day after dinner because my friend had to go catch her flight and I think I probably just tried planning the next day, since it was my last day.

Singapore: New Year's Countdown at Marina Bay

December 31, 2014

So we ended up going to Marina's Bay with a group of people from my friend's hostel. We took the train over and walked for a bit too. We got there somewhat early, so it wasn't super crowded yet, but as the night went on, they fenced off some of the area. Some New Year's concert/event thing was also being hosted too. 

Photo would've been so nice if it wasn't for that person's arm >:(

I thought I remembered taking way more photos but this was one of the two firework photos I found on my camera wtf. From what I remember, my eyes were glued on my camera too...Where did they all go?! >:( And it's so blurry too...

The guy from the hostel was so nice ;_; Since there was so many people and I'm not exactly that tall, I couldn't really get a good view of the fireworks, so he actually let me sit on his shoulders for maybe half of the time. :O I dunno if I ever even did that as a child lol.

To my knowledge, Marina Bay is the most mainstream place to go to for fireworks. By the time the fireworks were about to be set off, it was super, super crowded. I had to jump the fence to the other side (the concert area) and that was like a good 15-20 minute wait :( 

From what I was told, construction work has been really big in Singapore in the past few years, especially amongst foreign workers. So a lot of them come out for New Year's to kinda just let it go for the night. And they add to the crowdedness.

By the end of it, it was extra smokey. You can kinda see it from the photo, but it was worse in person. The smoke spread out too.

It took an hour just to get out of the area because there was so much people traffic. Luckily the hostel wasn't too far of a walk and I was able to catch the train home and it wasn't that crowded either.

Hmm... I would recommend coming here maybe once for fireworks because it's crowded, yeah, but it's the experience that counts too. The fireworks itself are just kind of there, maybe just 25% of it. Because yeah, there are definitely more isolated places we could've gone to where we can see the fireworks as well, but we decided it would be nice to see it from here ^^

Until next time~

Seoul: Insadong & Searching for Dongdaemun

December 29, 2014
I either slept in until very late or just lazed around in the guesthouse until quite late. When I was about to head out, the owner of the place offered to treat me for dinner (which was really breakfast to me) and I accepted. The first two days I did talk to him occasionally and also I read reviews that he did this to other guests before too, so it wasn't as sketch as it sounds.

We went to a local restaurant and I had sundubu. I think it was probably my only "Korean" meal here, aside from street food. We just chatted about various things like about life, why he started the guesthouse, and such. After dinner, we even got me coffee at a local cafe :X We chatted a bit more and a lot of it was just me giving him input on the guesthouse because it's actually pretty new, only three months old.

 Even though it was getting late and I had plans to go explore, I think traveling on your own makes you more inclined to accept offers of company. And really, those experiences are replaceable, whereas exploring can be done any time, even if it's in the future. As corny as it sounds I guess...

 So I tried to go to Insadong since my friend recommended it. She said that there was food and shopping there, but I didn't really like it. There were shops, but nothing interesting..

Lots of bars and stuff here it seems :O

 Next, I decided to go to Dongdaemun, but I'm not sure if I ever found it. I forgot which station I got off of, but it had many stalls that were being set up that sold merchandise like clothing and such. Then I walked for maybe 10-15 minutes (literally back and forth 4-5 times because I couldn't figure out the plaee) and finally found these two buildings, with lots of clothing shops set up, similar to Edae but indoors.

From what it seems.. it wasn't Dongdaemun at all, and I'm not really sure where I was tbh. It was also getting late already, around 11:30PM and my phone was dying so I didn't really feel like exploring too much, as places were starting to close and I had to wake up super early to head to the airport. Plus I had to pack...

But before heading back, I made sure to get more street food :)

Hotdog covered with fries! Tbh, they didn't heat it up enough because my fries were still cold :'(

Fishcake

I wish I had stocked up more on skincare stuff, but then again I only have one face lol. And it takes me forever to even use up one thing. I've been using the cleanser (below) since January and I'm not even halfway done, lol.

 Last minute shopping at Skinfood. Yayay samples.

So apparently the train ticket machines can't take 50,000 bills, so I was stuck because that was all I had fml. And everyone I asked didn't (or maybe weren't willing) to give me change. BUT THEN, this kind soul took money out of the ATM for me (and ate the ATM fee) T_T THANK YOUUU.

I dunno if I like Korea that much or not... like I'm not particularly in a hurry to go back, but I wouldn't mind going back either. I think it would probably be more fun with company :X

Next travel post on Singapore because I flew out the next day :)

Anyways, until next time!

Seoul: N Tower & Cheonggyecheon

December 28, 2014

So the plan for the day was to visit the N Tower and Cheonggyecheon Stream. I actually had trouble finding more things to do.. there didn't seem to be much in Seoul that I could do T_T;

The way I went:
Chungmuro Station Exit 2 (Line 3/4)
Turn left (I think) and soon you'll find a bus stop
Take bus #2 (550 won)
The bus basically takes you to the top (last stop), I was a little scared that I missed my stop and was actually supposed to walk part of the way.

From here, you can see a view of the city. I think even if you don't go to the N Tower, this alone is a pretty nice place to go to.

When I purchased the tickets, there was a bundle for the Observation Deck and Alive Museum for 15,000, so I was like okay sure since I wanted to do more activities.

But turns out that it's one of those 3D museums (I had no idea what the Alive Museum was, or at it was even there) so it's super awkward when you're alone because a lot of it has to do with.. taking pictures or even just seeing each other with the stuff. ;~;

The observation deck of the N Tower was basically like a higher view of the city. The elevator up was pretty cool and interactive (or am I thinking of Shanghai?). If you go down one level, there's this place with a lot of couple locks.

After the N tower, I took the bus (I think 4 or 5) to Myeongdong and walked to Cheonggyecheon. I think it was a really long walk because I remember walking quite a lot. Or maybe I took the subway because I vaguely remember getting out of a subway station as well. Maybe I did both.

Anyways, Cheonggyecheon is a super pretty long stream. Also another coupley place.. it's like so prominent in Korea. Couples are everywhere.

Wishing well. I actually forgot what my wish is, but I know I made it in. Hopefully it came true, whatever it was.

Shopping haul:

Next post on Seoul is the last one and then the next adventure is Singapore :D

Seoul: Shopping at Edae

December 27, 2014

My friend was still miserable from food poisoning, but we had brunch at a cafe called Buccella before sending her off to go home. I moved to a different guesthouse in a few minutes from Gangnam Station. It's really small, but clean

(Here onward was drafted on the day of)

So I didn't do much today. I stayed in until quite late actually because now that I'm actually in Korea, I have no idea what I wanna do. (See a pattern here..?) 

I asked my friend and she recommended Edae for affordable, pretty clothing. It is on line 2, Ehwa's Woman's University exit 2 or 3 (either works). It's about an hour away from Gangnam Station. 

It was a bit confusing at first because I wasn't sure how big this place should be, like is it one long street? A few streets? If so, which one is the "main" one? Etc etc.

Initially I didn't buy much.. Then I went back again and looked around more carefully and found quite a few things that I liked :X I spent like maybe 2-3 hours here somehow. Maybe less because it didn't feel like I went into a lot of shops. 

I ended up buying 4 dresses (10000/each), 1 jacket (10000), 1 cotton cape coat (65000 down to 47000), 1 pair of shorts (5000), 1 skirt (5000), and 1 bag (10000). So I spent a grand total of 117000 won for 9 items which averages out to $13 a piece.

I didn't actually try to bargain for any of it since it was already one of the cheapest items there. But the coat I did since the girl (UJ) was trying to convince me that it was a sale so she went from 65000 to 58000, then I told her I had to think about it because I really did. I already got two coats made in Shanghai and a coat is bulky for my already overflowing luggage. I wasn't looking to spending that much in Korea either because I already spent too freely in Japan, especially if you look at how much I blew on the UFO catchers ($50+). 

So then she dropped it down to 52000, saying how it's a secret secret and telling me how ippuda I look lul. Had to think about it still and she told me 48000. In the end I left because I really wasn't sure :( and wanted to look around to see if she was actually giving me a good deal. I found it I two other stores for 52000 (?) and 56000. So before I left, I came back to buy it. Final attempt and this time I tried to be the one to put down a price but she only budged to 47000. Bargaining skills getting rusty from being away from Shanghai for too long. 

Kinda got lost on my way back to the station because I forgot which direction I came from but that's okay. Stopped by Chicky x2 for their Chicky Red Rice before heading back home. I couldn't find my way to the station because I kept walking in circles, so I ended up losing my original direction. D:

I still don't have that much space in my luggage... And I'm sure I'm going to find stuff I like in Singapore and Malaysia too sigh. 

Tokyo: Christmas in Japan

December 25, 2014
Our last real day in Tokyo was on Christmas because we all had early flights the next morning. Our main objectives for the day was: Christmas Illumination and cake.

To start the day, we grabbed a small breakfast at a konbini and headed over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for its observation deck. It is free to the public and there are two different towers that have different views. We just have to check through security and just ride up to the 45th floor. 

Next to the windows are lots of info displays that label what you're staring off into. Pretty cool, but you don't see a close view of Tokyo Tower or the Skytree or anything, but you can see Mt. Fuji on a good day! It was a bit cloudy that day, so we didn't really see it.

It wasn't too crowded here at all. There are also gift shops on the floor and a cafe o_o

After that, we went to Shinjuku to eat ramen for lunch at 博多天神 because it'd be our last chance for ramen in Japan :'(

Next was Yoyogi Park

 Holy shit, it was one of the most depressing parks ever T_T Probably because we came in the middle of the winter, so I wouldn't recommend going there at this time at all. Not to mention it was cold and windy...It was empty, for good reason too. Just stay away in the winter.

Went to Harajuku for the third time...but it's right there, so it only makes sense o_o

Calbee Royce Chocolate Covered Chips
Debated hard between chocolate or cheese xD

Uhh crepes anyone? Got it a strawberry kiwi one from Sweet Box.

By then it was already starting to get dark, so perfect timing to go to Roppongi for Christmas Illuminations!!

I made sure to properly research the exact spot I wanted and found out that it was Tokyo Midtown for the field of lights that I wanted to see. We took a wrong turn or something at some point and went in a big circle before finding it :X

Needless to say, there was a long line! I think it took 30 minutes to actually get to the illumination spot. It's because there was so many people and not because of line inefficiency either. The line was moving the whole time, like you're actually walking instead of staying in one spot. But the photo above is decorations from while in line to get to the real thing.

It starts off so-so, but definitely builds up to it:

 Pretty pretty pretty *_* My phone died though :( But I guess my camera was the most important anyway :P

The field had a light show too, which I watched probably 5 times before we decided to leave.

If you're ever in Tokyo during the Christmas holiday season, definitely check out the Christmas Illuminations here. Definitely a very good experience.

Here you can see the people, and it's not overcrowded. There isn't like a lot to see aside from this field, so people come and go pretty frequently. We stayed for maybe 15-30 minutes, but mostly taking photos.

Pretty decorations inside the mall.

We went back to Shinjuku because we had nothing else planned for the night. But we had lots of food :)

Yakiniku
Pretty expensive for portions because there's like... 5 pieces for maybe $10. Also they had a ¥300 cover charge per person, what! Not sure if it's a super common or not, but it was the only place we had to pay a cover fee.

At some point the metal plating was covered with too much burned uh..residue so our meat wasn't cooking properly then it flamed up WTF. Like a lot.

When we left, I def smelled like food. There's no avoiding how smoky it gets.

We were trying to find a takoyaki stand yesterday, but couldn't find one, but luckily did on our last day. We made sure to stop by even though we were on our way to get more food wtf fat.

Cheese takoyaki from Gindaco Highball Sakaba

We were on our way to get sushi since it'll be the last time we get to eat sushi in Tokyo anytime soon. Mind you... we went straight from yakiniku to takoyaki to sushi.

We went to Numazuou (沼津港) and it's a conveyor belt sushi place, where you grab the plate that comes around when you want it and you're priced based on the color of the plate. We came towards closing time, so it wasn't too crowded and they didn't have much, but you can just order it directly. I ate more than what I took photos of :X I eventually gave up with photos and just focused on eating.

After sushi to get cake, but before that, we passed by this street performer, so we stayed to watch for a bit.

The first time I walked through Shinjuku, I saw that this place was offering honey toast, so I wanted to eat that again! We went to this one place and it was kind of weird cuz it was at a bar and there was a cover charge, so we were like nah.. let's check out this other place, because there was another one from the same chain down the street.

No cover charge, but they made us order a minimum of three things. We wanted to leave because we really only wanted honey toast but decided to just stay.

Strawberry sponge cake, ganache cake, mixed berry honey toast (guessing for all of them) from Pasela Resorts

Not sure if I'm just biased, but I still think the honey toast from Taiwan is much better

And our last stop is my favorite... the arcade :D

I won a bunny the day before and won another one. I was going for my third, but couldn't get it in the end. I think I spent like ¥2,500-3000 just trying to get it and failed. T__T It made me feel a little better that this guy next to me on another machine committed way more than me to get this Rilakkuma (I think).

Took a photo of this precious bunny that didn't end up going home with me :'(

I definitely splurged on the arcades because it's one of my favorite activities. And I don't even know when the next time I'll be in Tokyo again, so I think it was probably worth it. I'm very fortunate to be able to do so though :X

This basically ends my trip to Tokyo! I definitely think Tokyo was a city that I was able to fall in love with, which I didn't with 90% of the places I've visited this semester (even including the places I went to afterwards). It was everything I ever expected and more. Just the culture, food, pretty people, cute things, UFO catchers, etc. makes it a city that I can't help but love. I don't remember if I mentioned this in another post, but 7-8 years ago, I declared that I would go to Japan when I'm 20, and coincidentally, it came true :D

Until next time~