Feb 2012 - Border Crossings
Read through to the end for our scooter trip into Malaysia, but first let me tell you about our three Dutch relatives (all 50 years plus) who stopped over for one night, two days before they travelled on to visit family in NZ. It was their first time here and the pressure was on to give them a true taste of Singapore in a short time.
We decided to keep it simple. Day 1 was MRT to Bugis outdoor street markets (on Queen Street). Aunty Maaike picked out a stunning full length summer dressing gown complete with Chinese dragon on the back for $5. The shopping had begun!
Other tidbits were picked up as we made our way to the Chinese temple around the corner on Albert Street. And then, as you look through the incense smoke and crowds of people walking in and out of the temple - ta daa! An ornately decorated Hindu temple stands alongside as if to say proudly, 'See, we are many races and religions here, but ultimately we are all neighbours, getting on with life as best we see fit!'
It's walking distance to Sim Lim Square from there, and Uncle Ron found what he was looking for in this tower of electronic and IT heaven. Hubby loves it. I hate it. Remind me to tell you the story about our trip there ten years ago that almost ended in divorce. However, hubby wasn't with us on this day, so we were in and out of there pretty quick (one of the perks of being tour guide).
Back on the MRT to Promenade stop where we met up with hubby for lunch at Suntec City. We went to one of our favorite restaurants there. Unfortunately, the name of the restaurant doesn't do it justice - I mean, what's inviting about a place called Soup Restaurant?
We've been a few times now, and have never tried any soup. We ordered a big plate of samsui ginger chicken, fried fish belly (my favorite), marinated pork strips and some veges and rice for the table to share, and it all went down a treat. It's a nicely themed restaurant too, done up in old Chinese teahouse decor. We've always had good service and an air-conditioned restaurant was a good choice for our visitors that day.
All first timers must eat at a hawker centre though, (it's a mandatory by-law, honest) and our hawker centre of choice for dinner that night is just two stops away from home - at Buangkok station. It's nowhere near the size of the more famous Lau Pa Sat or Newton Hawker centres, but that's why we like it. There is still plenty of choice, it's CLEAN, there's no pressure selling and you're sitting with locals, not tourists.
After dinner it was a trip up to Ku Te Da Bar on top of Marina Bay Sands for a sunset drink and the amazing views of downtown Singapore at night. Tip: Get there by 8pm and you can watch the nightly light and laser show which plays out below you across the water.
The next morning we took the Dutchies across the road for traditional kaya toast. Then there was a bit of mall shopping before cooling off in our pool until their flight in the late afternoon. They left our borders understanding a bit more of our life here and why we only cook at home 50% of the time.
Hubby got involved researching all the different types of scooters available.
Me, I just wanted something big enough to pillion a teenager, but not too big that it cost a fortune, and most importantly it had to be able to fit a helmet under the seat.
We ended up buying a secondhand SYM GT 250 from a private ad and a new SYM Joyride from a dealer. You can bargain a bit and get top boxes and helmets thrown in for free.
Here's a quick checklist you might want to consider if you're thinking about buying a motorbike or scooter here:
Within the first week of owning our new bikes we decided on an overnight trip. Ostensibly to play golf, ideally to spend time as a family and practically to put the first 1000kms on the new bike.
We've heard all the warnings about going across the causeway to Malaysia - the most repeated being 'Don't go across in rush hour.' So what do we do? In our eagerness to get going we rationalised 'How bad can it be?' Well, now I can tell you first hand ...
We found ourselves in a horde of buzzing motorbikes packed closely together trying to get across the border. Thankfully, all motorbikes crossed separately to the cars. There was lots of jostling and stepping on of toes. We were a bit of an anomaly amongst the Malaysian workers who cross in and out of Singapore daily, but that didn't mean they made any exceptions for us. It was loud, hot and took three hours to get into Malaysia.
The checkpoint at Singapore required us to take off our helmets and hand over our passports and our 'green cards' (foreign identity cards). We also had to swipe our EZ-link cards - the automatic debit cards that register electronic tolls etc. Then it was a race with the other bikes to cross the short causeway to the Malaysian checkpoint. This is where 99% of the bikes just zipped through without stopping. We pulled up to a checkpoint booth though and were required to remove our helmets, hand over passports and fill in an arrival/departure card.
It then took another hour to get to our destination as we were on unfamiliar roads, in rush hour. But we made it. Pulai Springs Resort was spacious, friendly and a great place to stay. Best of all, their restaurant didn't close till 10.30 so we still had time to catch a meal before collapsing into our beds.
Golf the next day was hot, but fun. Pulai Springs Resort has two beautiful golf courses on site. I don't remember which one we played on, but with golf carts and plenty of water we all survived our nine holes before making our way back to the swimming pool to cool off.
We loaded up our scooters and left the resort about 4pm. It took an hour in total to get from the resort, through the border checkpoints and back to our own home, sweet home. Will we do it again? You betcha! Just not at rush hour.
We decided to keep it simple. Day 1 was MRT to Bugis outdoor street markets (on Queen Street). Aunty Maaike picked out a stunning full length summer dressing gown complete with Chinese dragon on the back for $5. The shopping had begun!
Other tidbits were picked up as we made our way to the Chinese temple around the corner on Albert Street. And then, as you look through the incense smoke and crowds of people walking in and out of the temple - ta daa! An ornately decorated Hindu temple stands alongside as if to say proudly, 'See, we are many races and religions here, but ultimately we are all neighbours, getting on with life as best we see fit!'
It's walking distance to Sim Lim Square from there, and Uncle Ron found what he was looking for in this tower of electronic and IT heaven. Hubby loves it. I hate it. Remind me to tell you the story about our trip there ten years ago that almost ended in divorce. However, hubby wasn't with us on this day, so we were in and out of there pretty quick (one of the perks of being tour guide).
Back on the MRT to Promenade stop where we met up with hubby for lunch at Suntec City. We went to one of our favorite restaurants there. Unfortunately, the name of the restaurant doesn't do it justice - I mean, what's inviting about a place called Soup Restaurant?
We've been a few times now, and have never tried any soup. We ordered a big plate of samsui ginger chicken, fried fish belly (my favorite), marinated pork strips and some veges and rice for the table to share, and it all went down a treat. It's a nicely themed restaurant too, done up in old Chinese teahouse decor. We've always had good service and an air-conditioned restaurant was a good choice for our visitors that day.
All first timers must eat at a hawker centre though, (it's a mandatory by-law, honest) and our hawker centre of choice for dinner that night is just two stops away from home - at Buangkok station. It's nowhere near the size of the more famous Lau Pa Sat or Newton Hawker centres, but that's why we like it. There is still plenty of choice, it's CLEAN, there's no pressure selling and you're sitting with locals, not tourists.
 |
| From the top of Marina Bay Sands |
The next morning we took the Dutchies across the road for traditional kaya toast. Then there was a bit of mall shopping before cooling off in our pool until their flight in the late afternoon. They left our borders understanding a bit more of our life here and why we only cook at home 50% of the time.
Motorbiking (or scootering) in Singapore
The following week, we bought scooters. Oh, yeah.Hubby got involved researching all the different types of scooters available.
Me, I just wanted something big enough to pillion a teenager, but not too big that it cost a fortune, and most importantly it had to be able to fit a helmet under the seat.
We ended up buying a secondhand SYM GT 250 from a private ad and a new SYM Joyride from a dealer. You can bargain a bit and get top boxes and helmets thrown in for free.
Here's a quick checklist you might want to consider if you're thinking about buying a motorbike or scooter here:
- Have you converted your drivers licence to a Singapore one yet? If not, go make a booking to sit the test now - it's usually a month's wait time.
- Do you have a full motorbike licence? The whole process seemed a lot simpler because we had made sure to convert our motorbike licences too. You have to buy insurance at the same time you buy the bike. We were able to get cheaper insurance because we had papers from NZ stating we had owned big bikes for so many years and hadn't made any insurance claims.
- Is the scooter you're buying readily available with cheap parts? I've heard horror stories of foreign bikes costing a fortune to repair even if a authorised service provider could be found. SYM is a Taiwanese brand well patronised here.
- Can it fit a helmet under the seat? You can never have enough storage. How else would we have crossed the border into Malaysia without looking like packhorses?
Within the first week of owning our new bikes we decided on an overnight trip. Ostensibly to play golf, ideally to spend time as a family and practically to put the first 1000kms on the new bike.
We've heard all the warnings about going across the causeway to Malaysia - the most repeated being 'Don't go across in rush hour.' So what do we do? In our eagerness to get going we rationalised 'How bad can it be?' Well, now I can tell you first hand ...
 |
| Waiting to get to the Singapore checkpoint at Woodlands, 6pm |
The checkpoint at Singapore required us to take off our helmets and hand over our passports and our 'green cards' (foreign identity cards). We also had to swipe our EZ-link cards - the automatic debit cards that register electronic tolls etc. Then it was a race with the other bikes to cross the short causeway to the Malaysian checkpoint. This is where 99% of the bikes just zipped through without stopping. We pulled up to a checkpoint booth though and were required to remove our helmets, hand over passports and fill in an arrival/departure card.
It then took another hour to get to our destination as we were on unfamiliar roads, in rush hour. But we made it. Pulai Springs Resort was spacious, friendly and a great place to stay. Best of all, their restaurant didn't close till 10.30 so we still had time to catch a meal before collapsing into our beds.
Golf the next day was hot, but fun. Pulai Springs Resort has two beautiful golf courses on site. I don't remember which one we played on, but with golf carts and plenty of water we all survived our nine holes before making our way back to the swimming pool to cool off.
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| Celebrating a great shot at Pulai Springs course |
