Hershey's Special Creations: Almond Crunch
11 hours ago
Birthday treat for myself :)
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| Tour around Chinatown, Singapore |
A Day of Adrenaline Rush in Universal Studio Singapore (USS)
August 18, 2017
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| The famous place to have a photo of yourselves in USS. |
I was on my Europe Trip with my parents when I received an invitation from a good friend of mine to USS. :D Well, a good friend whom I can share problems with even though we rarely meet each other, 4 times so far I think? Oh, she was the one who spent time with me in Scotland, last time. :)
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| I went into Sentosa island by bus, direct from JB. |
Adrenaline rush, that is the main thing I can think of every time I came across the word 'theme park'. I have been to theme parks in Genting Highlands and Disneyland Paris, so I can say this USS is kind of similar. Maybe the characters are different as I did not see any Mickey Mouse and friends in USS but... you got what I meant.
I was not expecting much, but I was a bit looking forward for the rides. I felt like I really want to scream out loud recently. Just that's not me, not my style even though sometimes my heart is itching to do so.
And now, I have a reason to scream. HAHA.
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| The ticket for USS. |
1. USS Tickets.
I booked a USS ticket from a travel agency in JB. It was RM 230 that covers:
- a 1-day ticket to USS
- a S$ 5 food / drinks discount voucher (with minimum spending of S$ 10)
- a S$ 5 retail discount voucher (with minimum spending of S$ 35)
- return bus JB-USS-JB
If you buy the ticket directly from Resort World Sentosa, the price for an adult ticket is S$ 76 which is similar to the one I bought but you will just get the ticket :) But, I am sure there are some agencies out there that have more interesting offers (I just don't have much time to read more).
Trust me, please buy the tickets in advanced / online! Do not waste your time waiting in queue for the tickets at the counter.
Then, check if the date you are going is within the summer break / school holidays or not. If yes, I would highly recommend you to buy the EXPRESS ticket. :D You can save at least 30-60 minutes at every ride compared to normal ticket. If not, you don't have to worry as the waiting time can be just 15 minutes or less. So, choose your date wisely. :) In my case, unfortunately yes, it is summer break sobssss!
2. Crossing the border of Malaysia-Singapore.
It was my first time in Singapore so I have no idea how busy is the immigration and the processes are just... wow, speechless.
To get into Singapore, we need to pass the Malaysia immigration (Johor Bahru Checkpoint) and then Singapore immigration (Woodlands Checkpoint) - this sentence means, once we arrived at JB Checkpoint, we need to drop off from the bus --> pass through the passport control / customs --> queue for the bus to Woodlands Checkpoint. Then, repeat the same thing for that checkpoint.
The queue was not a joke okay?
It maybe be different if you are crossing by car or train. I don't know much.
Haha, I have huge salute for people who stay in JB and work in Singapore. How can these people do all these procedures every single day... both in the morning and evening? Fuhhh.
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| The Mummy. |
3. The rides.
Of course, my friend and I had no chance to complete every single ride. So, we aimed for the thrilling ones:
- Battlestar Galactica: Cylon - thrill ride that you will move in different direction in the air.
- Transformers The Ride - it is a 3D thrilling indoor battle.
- Revenge of the Mummy - indoor roller coaster.
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| Battlestar Galactica - Human / Cylon - 14-storey tall |
And we waited at least an hour for each of them. T_T.
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| This is another place a lot of people recommended :D just I did not feel like getting wet that time. T_T |
4. The lockers.
I would encourage you to store your big luggage at your accommodation or simply enter USS with a small backpack / bag. In my case, I went straight from JB to USS and planned to stay a night in Singapore. So, I had a backpack of clothes etc and another small bag for all other important items. In my head, I planned to store my backpack at the locker and go around USS with that small bag. But to my surprise, it was quite expensive. A small locker costs around S$ 15 for one day that I would rather spend it on food. T_T
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| It was so hectic! |
Another point to note is that most of the thrilling rides require you to go without any loose items like hats, sunglasses etc. For this case, usually just beside the rides there will be lockers that you can store your small bag for free for 45-70 minutes (it depends). So, put everything inside.
You can walk inside with your spectacles, just when it is your turn to ride, they will ask you to put the glasses at the rack provided.
5. Velociraptor
This is the name of the dinosaur in the picture below.
We were on our way leaving Sci-Fi City to Far Far Away zone. Then suddenly this dinosaur appeared. :p We spent some time to listen to the volunteer about this velociraptor.
- It is about 2 meters tall.
- It has 60 teeth and eat meats.
- ...... I forgot.
6. Get hydrated.
You can bring outside food 'quietly'. For water, you don't have to worry as there are a lot of water fountains that you can always refill your bottle. Make sure you drink a lot, USS can be scorching hot that you may need a cap / hat or even an umbrella. :)
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| Slush. |
7. A glimpse of Europe.I can not deny the fact that I miss Czech. I miss the town of Hradec Kralove. But I know I need to move on and adapt with the idea of I am settling down in my own country. :)
USS brought back memories of my life in Czech and I totally love it - with the castle, buildings, cars etc.
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| Castle in Far Far Away zone. |
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| The walls with brick patterns. |
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| Somewhere in Hollywood zone. |
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| You can expect this view and the huge crowds. |
8. Prayer room.
I was really happy to know that USS provide praying room for Muslims. It is a small block of building that has two separate rooms for male and female. For female praying area, it is enough to fit approximately 10 people at one time.
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| The prayer room |
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| The prayer room for female - with 1 pipe for ablution. |
9. Sentosa Boardwalk.Do you know that we can just walk between the main island of Singapore to Sentosa Island (that has all those parks)?
And another point to note is that, the boardwalk is FREE to use till the end of 2017! You can walk on a roofed pathway, with beautiful scenery of both islands. Oh yea, you can see the cable car as well. :)
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| Open 24hours. |
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| I chose to walk just because the queue for Sentosa monorail was too long. The estimated time to get to my turn was 60 minutes (as mentioned there). |
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| The sunset from Sentosa Boardwalk :D |
Ways to get to Sentosa Islands that I read:
- cable car
- bus
- taxi
- Sentosa monorail
10. Goodbye, USS :)
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| With Haziqah :D |
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| Minionssss. |
All in all, it is a nice place to go and experience all these adrenaline rush rides, all these characters. It will be nicer to go on off peak season, I am not sure when... but June, July, December maybe the busiest one.
To go again? Maybe. But not definitely.
Good articles to read:
1. https://www.havehalalwilltravel.com/blog/8-insider-tips-for-an-awesome-day-at-universal-studios-singapore/
2. https://trevallog.com/2016/08/27/travel-singapore-johor-bahru-jb-public-transport-bus/
3. http://azyhazy.blogspot.my/2017/05/travelog-singapore-universal-studios.html
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170816
Accommodation We Had Stayed In Europe (Part 2/2)
August 10, 2017
4. Odense, Denmark
Type: Private Room with Shared Bathroom & Kitchen
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
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| A room for 3 persons |
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| Hugeeee bathroom! |
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| The other side of bathroom. Trust me, it is as big as another bedroom! |
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| The kitchen. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This amazing place is one of a kind. If you want a very calm, peaceful environment, this is a place to go - you can expect lots of wheat fields along the way to get here (my parents LOVE theseeeee so much) . The house is under renovation (no working was done during our stay) but it does not affect our activity at all. I think the room Tam provided to us was also after renovation, so it was actually MORE than what we expected. :) The bathroom was modern and amazing! It is about 8-10km from Odense, 25-minutes car journey to Egeskov, 15-minutes to Kerteminde. Not really sure about public transportation as we were there on a road trip. Tam is a very nice person who shared about places to go in Odense. He even helped us with washing machine & dryer. Put this Airbnb on you trip as you won't be disappointed! :)
- This place is honestly one of a kind especially because of the location. My mum would love to have a house surrounded by paddy fields, so... this place is quite close to her dream.
- In this house, we also stayed with the owner and his family but we didn't meet them (except the owner - Tam). Tam is actually from Vietnam but has already settled down in Odense. Kind of interesting to see how a foreigner can live very well in a foreign country. His house is seriously big!
5. Copenhagen, Denmark
Type: Entire Apartment / House
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
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| Mak in the living area. That was the couch I slept in. :D |
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| I seriously love the map! |
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| The kitchen :D |
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| The view from the balcony. |
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| A bed for my parents. |
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| Bathroom with toilet and washing machine. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: I stayed here with my parents for 3 nights. Our stay was really nice, with a good kitchen, perfectly working WiFi and secure neighborhood. The buildings look similar so a bit confusing at night. Haha. There is a bus stop (about 10 minutes walk) where we can get to the city center, supermarket and petrol station are also nearby. Good communication with Per as well. Anyway, I personally love the map on the wall at the dining area! It feels so great for morning motivation for me.
- We arrived this place at night, honestly there were at least 8 buildings that looks similar to each other. I forgot to check the building number in advanced haha so we kind of driving around the neighbourhood.
- This is a type of Airbnb that use self check-in. What does it mean? The owner will give you direction on how to get into the flat. Sometimes they hide the key somewhere that you need to find based on the clues. Sometimes, you just need to know the password of the door. It depends. :)
- An interesting part of this apartment was the rubbish hole. Haha. At the main door of each apartment, there is a hole that we can use to throw away the rubbish. Maybe I will show you in my posts of Copenhagen later.
6. Berlin, Germany
Type: Entire Apartment / House
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
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| A compact room for 3 persons to sleep in. |
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| Another view of the room. |
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| The bathroom and toilet. |
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| The kitchen. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: It was a nice 2-night stay for my parents and I. Everything is provided I must say, you just have to bring yourself. Full kitchen with plenty of groceries, Hardy even gave us chocolates. WiFi works perfectly. We didn't meet Hardy in person but he responded well to any questions. You can find lots of information about attractions and public transportations in Hardy's place, everything is provided for you.
- Actually, we had a problem with check-in that I have resolved it with the owner. What happened was we could not find the keys to get into the flat. Yes, another self check-in Airbnb. The owner had already sent the instructions but the keys were simply NOT at the mentioned location!
- It was a tiring night that we needed to get the spare keys at his office (7km away) as the owner was 400km away from us that time, obviously he could not come.
- Upon entering the flat, it was nice. Just we kind of afraid if maybe anyone else might have stolen the keys, so we basically brought all valuable stuffs while travelling around the city and locked all doors in the flat. T_T
- The rest was okay, alhamdulillah. :)
7. Prague, Czech
Name: Hostel Opletalova
Type: Private Room with Shared Bathroom
(click the link to get to its website) |
| The beds. |
Lessons Learned:
- I did not write any reviews yet on its website
- This was the nearest, cheapest accommodation quite close to the car rental company and the city center. Before returning the cars, we dropped all luggage at the hostel.
- It was funny to recall that time when we parked in front of the hostel (with emergency signal) as we just wanted to drop off the luggage. Then, a police car came and asked us to move the car. After explaining the situation, the policeman asked me to park properly at the parking lot (in which that lots are for residents living there) I told him that I didn't have the resident pass and fortunately, the policeman allowed us to park for 10 minutes. Fuhhh.
- Best points to consider if you want to get a room at this hostel are: (1) it is located IN FRONT OF Prague Mosque! (2) it means you have secured at least one halal restaurant. (3) close to main train station and Vaclavske Namesti (4) 24 hours mini market is just downstairs.
- The cons - no lifts (I felt bad every time my parents need to climb stairs T___T) , no kitchen, bathroom and toilets are separated.
Stay tuned for tips on how to choose a good accommodation. Well, my choices are not the perfect one but maybe you can learn something from my experiences and use them as reference :)
Till then,
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170807
Planner Giveaway By Eeca Shyaa
August 8, 2017
I used to plan my activities in my head and write down on a piece of paper that I will surely lost it somewhere. Haha. Since then, I saved many things on my phone, so glad that I have S Note that I can write with the S pen to feel more natural.
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| Click the banner to join. |
But, I think it is time for me to get myself a planner. Not only to have, but to use wisely :)
One of my post-graduate resolutions is to be more organized. Sometimes I feel like I am good enough, but nope.. my skill needs some improvement. When I clean my room recently, I came across few small books that turn out to be my planners when I was in high schools. A bit funny to see my neat handwriting that changed so much since I entered the medical school... but my point is I love the previous me that planned well for my days - things to do, things to buy, chapters to study etc.
Wohoooo, wish me luck!
Batu Burok, Terengganu, Malaysia
170808
Accommodation We Had Stayed In Europe (Part 1/2)
August 7, 2017
I think I will try to make a separate post on how I choose accommodation (like what aspects I put into consideration etc). So far, my favorite website to search for a good accommodation is Airbnb, followed by booking.com, hostelbookers.com and few other random sites.
In this post, I would love to share and recall memories with my parents in each apartments, houses, hostels around Europe.
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1. Prague, Czech
Type: Entire Home / Apartment
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
We checked into this apartment directly upon our arrival at Prague Airport. The check-in lady fetched us (with some extra fee) from the airport and drove us to this place. It was an interesting experience as she drove a BMW 5-series, haha I haven't rode any 5 series before. My parents too. :)
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| A bed for 2 persons. I slept on the couch. :) |
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| A big bathroom with toilet. Big enough you can put another single bed inside. :D My parents love Airbnb that provide washing machine that we can use for free. It is not that we did not bring enough clothes, but at least we don't have to separate used clothes and the clean one. :) |
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| A small storage area where you can find almost all equipment needed - iron, ironing board, drying rack, hanger, vacuum, broom, dustpan etc. |
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| The kitchen :D I love the idea of the fridge inside the cupboard. :D And a island in the kitchen is something I wish to have in my own kitchen in the future. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This place is very lovely and as expected. Even my parents would love to make this place as a reference if we want to host a place in Airbnb! Most of the things are well-provided for the guest. WiFi works perfectly. The location is about 20minutes to city center, no worries as there is a direct tram in walking distance. Neighbourhood is nice, calm and peaceful. We were not on a roadtrip but I can see a lot of parking spaces if you are coming by cars. Sylva the check in lady, is a very nice person. She waited patiently at the airport despite our long Passport control queue and luggage reclaim. She even offered to drop by the city center. Basic things about the place were nicely explained. My parents and I really love this place and trust me, you won't be disappointed to book it. :)
- It is worth the money to use Uber instead to travel to- and fro- airport. From city center, it costs around 320kc/4 persons one way, in which you don't have to carry your heavy luggage from the nearest public transportation. This is applicable if you are travelling with the elder (I'm sure you don't want a lot of walking for them).
- This is the best Airbnb among the rest that we have stayed.
- This place is quite far from the city center - about 30 minutes by tram (the tram stop is just 5 minutes walk away). But, I prefer Uber more haha.
2. Hannover, Germany
Name: B&B Hotel Hannover
Type: Hotel
(click the link to get to its website)
A day after my graduation day, we finally started our road trip to Copenhagen. Started from Prague, Czech at about 6.30pm, we arrived Hannover about 6 hours car ride. We slept at a B&B Hotel, very close to the highway.
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| A bed for 2 persons (on the first floor) |
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| Another 2 single beds on the upper floor. |
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| The stairs. |
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| View from the first floor. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This B&B Hotel is very close to the Autobahn, so if you are on your way across Germany, please consider to book a room to rest after the tiring drive. About 4 levels of building with stairs (I am not sure if there are lifts or not). Check in was VERY EASY as you were given password for your door, so once you are automatically check in, you don't really have to go to the counter for check in. And no check out needed. The room was compact with all basic necessities. 2 beds on 1st floor of the room and another 2 beds on the attic. The bathroom is small but do all the jobs! Overall, I would recommend this place!
- It was an amazing experience to stay in a double-storey bedroom. Maybe for next time if we want to stay at this place, we need to request for a room on the ground floor. There was no lifts so, it was hard to take our luggage upstairs.
3. Hamburg, Germany
Type: Private Room with Shared Bathroom & Kitchen
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
Hehehe, this flat was totally a new experience for my parents and I. Why? We were sharing the flat with the owner. We used to rent the same type of accommodation in London, but the owner did not stay there.
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| The bunk beds for 3 persons. |
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| The kitchen. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This place is very good to stay a night or two in Hamburg, located about 10-minutes walk to the nearest S-bahn station (Harburg Rathaus). The kitchen is nice and the WiFi is very good! Alex was preparing for an exam during our stay but he still welcomed us nicely and explained about things around Hamburg.
- Although we don't have any specific problem with this flat, I can say my parents were not that comfortable staying there because they were a bit shocked. Haha. A reminder to me, try to find a entire apartment / house in the future, despite the price. :D
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170806
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