It's All Started with Text Message
2011 starts with joy. I’m so blessed and grateful that finally one of my dreams to visit and travel to other country come true. On January 7th – 10th 2011 I came to visit Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the first time. Here is the story.
2011 starts with joy. I’m so blessed and grateful that finally one of my dreams to visit and travel to other country come true. On January 7th – 10th 2011 I came to visit Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the first time. Here is the story.
It’s all started when in late December 2010, I've got text message from my best friend Dagee. He text me : "Dude I’ve got a wedding invitation in Singapore from my former college buddy…I think I wanna go, wanna join me??"
I instantly said yes. I’ve been waiting for so long to get text
message like that, and I feel so excited about that. Short story after
looking for another participant finally we’ve got only one that will
join us and that would be Rez. So it’s me, Dagee, and Rez. After that
we set up a meeting, booked tickets, hostel and bus…we’re set and ready
to go!
Day 1, January 7th 2011
I
can’t sleep that night because I was so excited. Our plane schedule
was on 07.20 am, so we have to get up early to catch our schedule. I
only slept for three hours that night, starting from 2 am and I wake up
at 5 am. We arrived at the airport
on schedule. After checking for boarding pass and stuff, finally we are
boarded to the plane and ready to take off.
On the plane, i was expecting that i could get some sleep, because i
was sleep for only three hours the night before we go. Well, my wish is
not granted. There was a child that crying all the time in the plane
and it's so damn annoying. No one can stop him, even his own parents.
That child is really piss me off and I really want to shut his mouth
off. With all the patience we've got for hearing the annoying sound of
that child's crying, finally we landed on Changi International airport
at 10am Singapore time safe and sound.
This
was the first time that I have enter another country, a country that's
not mine. This was the first time that I have step my foot on other
country land. Honestly, I got a little bit nervous when I've been
checked by a immigration officer. After being asked for some question,
finally they allowed me to pass and stamped my passport. It was the
first stamp on my passport, and I'm so happy to have that!
The first thing I enjoy
about Singapore was Changi airport. It was very cool airport with
advanced facilities and technology. It was very clean and comfortable
airport. It was totally different with Soekarno - Hatta's airport in
Jakarta - Indonesia. No wonder if this airport was one of the best
international airport in the world. It was very hectic airport but they
put everything in order so it make me feel so pleasant. It looks like
very big mall to me and I totally enjoyed walking around the airport.
It was great airport.
On our itinerary, first day is
gonna be Universal Studio all day long. We planning to enjoy every
single facilities and spent all day there. After enjoying Changi
airport, we back to our plan to visit Universal Studios. So first thing
that we do was looking for a map and asking an officer how we got there.
The officer was quite friendly and she explains clear enough so we
understand how to get to Universal Studios. After got a very useful
information, we headed to MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station to get train
ticket and we're ready to go!
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| Welcome to Singapore |
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| Changi Airport |
We bought the ticket from a GTM (General Ticketing Machine). It was very cool experience to buy something using the machine. We bought the ticket for 3 SGD if I not mistaken. We took MRT to go to Sentosa Island, the island where Universal Studios stand. As we are from Changi airport, we are in East West Line (Green Line) and we're headed to Harbor Front station. We have to take a switch to North East Line (Purple Line), and that's mean that we have to stop at Outram Park Station. From Outram Park,we are headed to Harbor Front Station and Finally we arrive at Sentosa Island. Before I tell you about Sentosa Island and Universal Studios, I want to tell about MRT. It was the best transportation that I have experienced. It was fast, right on schedule, comfy, and quite cheap. It was also very clean and well maintained. The best part was the secure feeling that I felt. I don't have to worry about the criminals even I have to stay aware, but I was feel entirely safe. I wish that someday we will have this kind of transportation in Indonesia.
Finally after enjoying our MRT ride, we arrived at Sentosa Island and ready to go Universal Studios. We already bought the ticket in Indonesia, so we don't have to queuing in long line to get ticket. The ticket price is 72 SGD and we've got 5 SGD refund for lunch and 5 SGD for souvenirs. Touch Down!! Universal Studios! First thing we did was taking picture at the famous Universal Globe!! Well, everyone seems have that picture in front of the globe,so why don't we?
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| Amazed by MRT |
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| Sentosa Island |
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| At the Famous Globe of Universal Studios |
After taking picture at the globe,we're continue our journey inside the studios. The first place that we visit was the special effects studios. The scene was inside the pier or ship dock. There was heavy storm outside the pier and suddenly the pier's window break in to pieces. It was very cool view. After that a plane and boat came up and then fire started!! bang bang boom!! and then it explodes! Since I was in front, I can feel the heat of the fire! it's quite hot! The show runs for about 15-20 minute and it's quite enjoyable show.
Done with special effects studio, we're headed to The Mummy Returns Indoor Roller Coaster! It was very fun experience to ride roller coaster inside the studios. It was dark and we didn't know which way it will take us, but the up and down feeling was fantastic! We scream out loud during the ride and made some awkward expressions in our face. It was fun! After that, we took a lunch break and rest a while. After lunch we entered The Water World Studios. We saw trained and professional stuntman take actions in the show. Acrobatic moves, gun shots, explosions was quite entertaining for us.
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| Waterworld Show |
Our next destination was Shrek 4D Studios. After enjoying walking around, we've entered Shrek 4D studio! It was watching a Shrek short movie with 4D effects. It was totally cool! It almost the same with 3D, but in 4D we can feel the water splash,tickle in our feet with more great visualization. After our eyes was feed by delicious visual entertainment on 4D studio, we continue our journey by just walking around the Universal Studios, take picture, enjoying the view and environment, see some shows like Frankestein Musical Drama, and riding mini roller coaster.
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| Shrek 4D Experience |
The most disappointing thing in Universal Studios that time was so many arena is not open. For example, The Battle Star Galatica Roller Coaster was under maintenance. I was totally disappointed, because that thing looks fun and amazing. Well, what can i say? It's not working and we can do anything about it. Finally after enjoying almost all arena there, we decided to call it a day! Before we leaving, we bought some souvenirs for our family and friends. Money spend,and item bought! we're done in Universal Studios and we're headed to Sentosa Island area just for walking around and enjoying view over there. Here is some of picture at Universal Studios and Sentosa Island:
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| Busted! |
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| Let's Robbed The Store |
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| Battlestar Galatica |
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| Somewhere in Universal Studios |
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| Sentosa Island Merlion |
Because we arrived to early, so all we can do is exploring Golden Mile. This place is like "Blok-M area in Jakarta to me. There were many electronic store, traditional retail market, cheap restaurant, and of course bus ticket box. There were many immigrants from Vietnam,India and Thailand in this place. After looking around and exploring, we decided to took dinner in Thai restaurant. The food was okay and quite affordable. Done with dinner and walking around, we took a rest a little while waiting for bus. Finally on 11.30 pm the bus has arrived and we are ready to go to Kuala Lumpur.
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| Lost in Lavender |
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| Golden Mile Complex |
Day 2, January 8th 2011
We started day two in the bus. Since we didn't book any place to stay, the bus was our place to sleep and our hotel. Our bus was double decker bus with electronic massage chair and full air conditioner. It was very comfy bus. We are departing from Singapore around 11.30 pm and scheduled to be arrived on 04.30 am in Kuala Lumpur. Not long after we're on the bus, we fall asleep. Just sleep for couple minutes, the bus was stop at Singapore immigration office for document check.
Because we are tired and very sleepy, we forgot to take and fulfill the form. We had been questioned by Singapore immigration officer. After being questioned and interrogated, we are lucky that nothing happens and we are allowed to go through. It was quite breathtaking experience for us. That was good lessons for us, so in the next time we must remember to take and fill the immigration form.
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| Enjoying Electric Massage Chair on The Bus |
Our first destination in KL was The Petronas Twin Tower. Based on information we've got, we have to go to the tower early in the morning to avoid long queuing. Since there are no transportation at that time except taxi, we decided to walk. We start walking from Berjaya which is on Jalan Imbi, and then we walk across Jalan Sultan Ismail until we met Jalan Ampang which is where The Petronas Twin Tower Stand. It was fun walk around the city. The road was empty at that time but there are still so many people hanging around. I really enjoy the city and it was good decision to take a walk.
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| Exploring KL at Dawn |
By the time we finished took shower it's already on 10.30 am. So, in a hurry we took a taxi and go back to the tower and we managed to arrive on time. First, the tour took us to a mini theater room tho show us the history of how Twin Tower was build. We had a good sleep at that theater because it was so boring. After that the tour took us to Twin Tower Skybridge on level 42. That was the bridge that connect tower a and tower b. To me, there was nothing special on that place, but it was great experience to walk on a bridge that high.
Top of the tower was our next destination. It was on level 86. From there we can see the KL city view. We can use the binoculars available there to zoom the buildings below us or simply just look with our own eyes the view around the Twin Tower. The view from up there was great. We took a lot of picture and enjoying our time there for almost 30-45 minutes. In my opinion The Petronas Twin Tower was great skyscraper buildings, but not that special.
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| KL View in The Morning |
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| The Petronas Twin Tower |
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| KL View From Level 86 |
We actually didn't have any plans after we visited The Twin Tower. So we were just walking around Jalan Ampang to get lunch. Finally we found a small food court around that street. We had laksa, a traditional Malaysian food for lunch. Not too good though, but it was okay. Bukit Bintang area was our next destination. I was thinking to go to the mall, but my other friends said they wont go to the mall. So we were just walking around Bukit Bintang and don't know what to do. After walking around with no destination we are getting tired. Suddenly my friend Dagee suggest that we should have our body massage. Me and Reza agree and finally we found a massage place and decided to go there.
Before we had our body massage, we had a bonus. The bonus was fish therapy massage. We put our foot into the pool full of fishes, and then the fishes were coming to our foot and they started to bite and suck our foot. It feel so tickled and i just can't stopped laughing in the beginning but it feels so good after that. Not long after that finally we had our body massage and it feels so good.
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| Fish Therapy Massage : It's Tickled to The Max |
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| Inside The City Tour Bus |
KL night life was our next destination. We took a dinner at Jalan P Ramlee. Nothing special with our dinner. We only had fried rice and kwetiaw for dinner and nothing special about the food. The most important is our stomach are fully loaded. Still had plenty time before we go back to Singapore, we decided to had a beers. We entered The Beach Club Cafe at Jalan P Ramlee. First, it looks like common bar. But suddenly about 09.00 pm there are so many girls there. They were a prostitute. We had been approach by some of prostitute there. They were from Vietnam and they are friendly. We had a great beer time with good conversation with them. We ask some question to them and they answer very kindly. We ask to them how much do we have to pay to get laid with them, and they said we have to pay for about 400 Malaysian Ringgit.
Time flies and it was 10.30 pm already. It means that we have to leave the bar and go to Berjaya Time Square to catch our bus back to Singapore. We decided to walk from P Ramlee to Berjaya Times Square. It was great night walk. It was Saturday night, so the street around KL are full with people and so crowded. After took more than an hours walk, we finally reached Berjaya Time Square on time and we're ready to go back to Singapore and say goodbye to Kuala Lumpur.
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| Bukit Bintang at NIght |
Day 3, January 9th 2011
Almost the same with day two, we started day three from a bus. The different is this time we started from KL to Singapore. We departed from KL at 11.45 pm. The activity was quite the same. Immigration stops, documents checked, sleep and enjoying our comfy electric massage chair were our activity in the bus. No troubles at the immigration this time, we finally arrived on Golden Mile Complex at 05.00 am.
Day three is the main reason why we went here. We have to attend a wedding invitation located in Tampines. Our first destination on day three was Pillows and Toast Hostel located in 40 Mosque Street, Singapore 059518. That was the palace that we're gonna stay in for the next two days. We already booked this hostel, so all we have to do is go there and check in. To go there we have to take MRT from Lavender station and stop at Chinatown station. From Golden Mile we walk to Lavender station.
By the time we arrived at Lavender station, the MRT has not operated yet. If I not mistaken we got there at 05.30 am, meanwhile the MRT operated on around 06.30 am. Didn't want to waste our time, we decided to walk to nearest station and expecting that when we arrived at that station, it opens. We walk from Lavender station through Victoria st until we find Bugis station. When we arrived there, is still not open yet. We decided to continue our walk from Bugis station to City Hall station.
When we arrived at City Hall station, we look at the map we had. We observe that Chinatown is not too far away from City Hall. So, we decided to continue our walk instead of taking MRT. We walk through the street until we reached Raffles Places station. We continue until we found Cross St and took turns and go straight and finally we've found Chinatown station and not far from there we found our hostels that located in Mosque Street.
Finally we arrived at Pillows and Toast hostel on 08.30 am. With tired legs, we open that hostel door and go to their reception. In our mind, after this we could put our bags, take a shower and have some rest. When we talk to the receptionist , it turns out that everything not going so smooth. We have an administration problem. As far as we remember, we booked that hostel at 09.00 am check in time. But on their system, our time of check in was at 02.00 pm. So we couldn't check in before 02.00 pm. That makes us look desperate, because we were so tired walking from Lavender to Chinatown passing through four MRT stations and when we arrived at our destination, we couldn't get in.
That was a trouble for us, because we had a wedding invitation to attend on 01.00 pm. Luckily the receptionist are very generous and shows good hospitality. She offer us to take a rest in their lounge on the top of the floor. She also let us to use the shower. We are so glad and very relieved to hear that. Without wasting time, we entered the hostel and go straight to the lounge at the top floor.The lounge was awesome. It was very comfy and cozy place with great facility like free internet, wi-fi, home theater, electric massage chair, nintendo wii, and comfy sofa. I couldn't expect for more, that was a very perfect place to rest and relax.
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| Pillows and Toast Lounge |
Leaving hostel at 11.30 am, we're headed to Tampines for a weeding ceremony. We took MRT from Chinatown station and switch platform in Outram Park and took East West Line MRT heading to Pasir Ris. It was long journey, even by fast MRT. After almost two hour we finally arrived at Tampines station. From Tampines station we took a bus to the wedding hall. We arrived on time and the wedding ceremony is about to begin.
The wedding was in Malay traditional mix with modern ceremony. This is my first time that I have attend that kind of ceremony. It was totally different with all wedding ceremony that I ever attend. The guest didn't greet the bride. All the guest were sitting in the table. Meanwhile the bride and bridegroom were sitting on family table and later they were sitting on the stage. There are some traditional dance like Pencak Silat and other Malay traditional dance that opened the wedding ceremony. The food they serve mostly are Arabic food such as Lamb Curry and Nasi Kebuli. The food was good, not bad at all. My friends Dagee and Rez met a lot of their college buddy there. They seems very enjoying the nostalgic moments.
This ceremony takes a lot of time and it divided in two half. The bride and bridegroom changes their outfit in second half, and go back to stage. Finally after almost more than four hours, the ceremony has ended. It was the longest wedding ceremony that I ever attended. Our mission accomplished, wedding invitation attended and now it's time to have some fun. We took the bus and MRT to get back to our hostel.
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| The Main Event |
We had a great conversation with them. Exchanging information about our each culture was very interesting. Adam was confused why people from Indonesia, which is one of the country with largest population are very difficult to find in this world. We explained to Adam, that there were so many factors that cause Indonesian people are rarely to find. One of them was the economic condition and in Indonesia, most of employee only allowed to have twelve days annual leave. Adam was totally shock about that, and he said he has forty days of annual leave in a year.
We talk about our job, what we do. They also tells what they do. Samantha has a great interest about Indonesia. She told us about her experience teaching in Bali. Helen tell us about her plan to visit some other country after Singapore. It was very great experience to have a conversation with them and makes all of us become friends. The talking and conversations continues, but not in our room. As we planned before, we decided to hang out with Helen to have some beer. Adam and Samantha also join us.
Clarke Quay was our next destination. Helen said that Clarke Quay was great place to hang out at night. It's not very far away from Chinatown, so we decided to take a walk. It was totally great place to hang out at night. So many cafe and bar there. The view was quite amazing. We had our beers and continue our conversation and enjoying our time there. After finishing our beers and drinks, we decided to leave Clarke Quay and move to another place to have another round. Unfortunately Samantha decided not to go because she has appointment tomorrow morning. It means there still five of us and we are continued to have another beers somewhere in Chinatown near our hostel. That was our last activities and it's a wrap for day three. I had great day.
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| Beers at Clarke Quay |
Finally we get proper sleep that night and wake up in great shape. Before that we slept in the bus for two days. It feels so good to sleep in real comfy bed. Actually we didn't have any plans to do in day four. After breakfast, we had a conversation with Adam and Helen. We asked them where they want to go. Helen wants to go shopping in Orchard Road. Meanwhile Adam wants to visit Bukit Timah area and have some hiking. I personally want to see the famous Orchard Road, but Dagee and Rez decided to go with Adam, because they were to often go there and didn't want do the shopping things. Well two against one, two wins and that means we are going to Bukit Timah.
Before we go to Bukit Timah, we walk around and exploring Chinatown. First we walk around and exploring Mosque St. There were so many Chinese restaurant here and it seems their food were delicious. We also exploring Sago, Smith and Temple Street. We found a lot of traditional market around there. The architecture of this district are very unique. Well I really don't know much about architecture, but I think buildings in this district are unique and historical.
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| Smile + Victory Signs at Chinatown District |
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| Chinatown District |
On South Bridge Road we found Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. It's wonderful Buddha temple. It's seems there are four or five floor there. But we just exploring the first floor. Many wonderful statue inside. We also can see so many people pray in here. Here some of photos we take at the temple :
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| Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum |
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| Inside The Temple I |
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| Inside The Temple II |
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| Inside The Temple III |
The queue line on that booth are so long. That makes me wonder and curious. We asked some people who also waiting in line about this porridge. They said it was the best porridge in town. Because of positive information we had, finally we decided to join the queue line and had our brunch there. After wait for almost more than half an hours, we finally had our porridge. The portion was quite large, and we only have to pay for 2.5 SGD. From the outside, the look and the form of the porridge was not attractive and nothing so special about it. But when I tasted it, it was so damn delicious! The porridge was so tasteful combine with century eggs, boiled slice chicken, fried onions, and leeks makes this food so awesomely delicious. It was one of the best food I ever tasted it. Very recommended place to have brunch.
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| Zhen Zhen Porridge Booth |
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| The Delicious Zhen Zhen Porridge |
Our destination was Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, located on the slopes of Bukit Timah Hill. From Bukit Jurong station we took a bus to Bukit Timah area. We stopped at Bukit Drive street and take a walk to the Nature Reserve. So many fancy houses in this area that rarely seen in the city. Monkeys are everywhere in that street. The weather was pretty mild. After we arrived at Nature Reserve front gate, we decided to go hiking and go to the summit of the hill.
The terrain is pretty steep and slope. We have to walk carefully to avoid things we didn't want. It was good rain forest with a lot of plants species. So many weird three that I never seen before. It was good green view there, even in my opinion there's nothing special. We continue exploring this area. We found a restricted place. It seems that place was used for military purpose. It surrounded with high fences and warning signs. We also find a wide green field lie across the hill. It seems it also used for military training ground. While we exploring, we often see military helicopter flying above us. That made us think that this place was used for military purpose.
We continue walking until we found a high stairway. We took the stair, and it was not easy because the stairway were very steep and it was pretty high. It took an effort to walk this stairs and really tiring. After struggling with the stairs, finally we reached the summit. The height of the summit is 163.63 m. Not too high, but still it took some effort to go there. This hiking activity quite tiring, so we rest for a while in the summit. By the time we reached the summit, it was raining. So we have wait and took a rest longer. After the rain stops, we start to walk down hill and get out of this place. It was very slippery after the rain, so we have to walk very careful. Finally we're succeed to go down safely and reached the gate of Nature Reserve. Bukit Timah was the last attraction that we visited in Singapore. After that we have to catch our plane and say goodbye to Singapore. Without wasting so much time, we were rushing into bush shelter, took a bus to Bukit Jurong station and headed back to our hostel in Chinatown.
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| Bukit Timah Nature Reserve |
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| Curly Branch |
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| Green Field at Bukit Timah |
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| Watch Out! It's Slick! |
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| Stairway to Summit |
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| The Summit |
Helen also just arrived from Orchard. So we decided to ask Adam and Helen to join us for dinner to show our gratitude to them. We having dinner on Chinese restaurant near the hostel, unfortunately i forget the restaurant name. We order pork,tofu, crap, and chicken. The taste of the food in the restaurant was pretty good. It was great dinner with them. I had so much fun hanging out with them. They were so friendly and nice. It always nice to make a new friendship especially with people from other country. Finally after we finished our dinner we have to say goodbye to them. Goodbye was the moment i hate so much. We are gonna miss the great time that we had with them. I hope someday that we will meet again.
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| THe Last Supper With Helen & Adam |
I had wonderful time visiting Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. I had great time and wonderful unforgettable moment. Singapore was great place to visit. The transportation system was awesome. It was pretty clean city. I rarely see a dirt or trash on the street. I hope that someday Jakarta will develop like Singapore. Kuala Lumpur also interesting place to visit even I only been there for twenty four hours. I definitely going to visit Singapore and KL again. Maybe next time I will go alone.
This is just a start for me. This is my first step before i walk for thousand miles further. After this i want my passport stamped with a different mark from another country. I want to travel far away and visit another country. I want to see the beauty of the world and visit every corner of the earth. Someday I want to scream out loud that I have seen the world.
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
Cheers
-RifeL-
*All photos taken by me,Dagee and Rez
Amazing travel story.
ReplyDeletemeet and greet luton
Greenery greenery everywhere.
ReplyDeletemeet and greet luton parking