Singapore Trip 2016 - Day 2, Part 2 : The Farewell

We boarded the bus towards the National Museum from there.

We disembarked and headed towards the museum buliding. Only thing is, we weren't exactly there. The bus had dropped us off somewhere that is nowhere near the main entrance. Still, it's not the end of the world so we started searching for the main entrance. But not before we started looking for a trash can to throw my now-finished cup(??) of milk tea in. I could just throw it on the ground, but I didn't want to clean the entire museum area ( this is a legit punishment in Singapore).

So we walked along the building. I remember asking her on how to spot madrasah students in public. We saw a short flight of stairs. She suggested that we take a few photos before moving on, so we did. It was nice to try my hand at taking photos and reducing my general awkwardness. After we took each others' photos, we moved along a bit more to find a huge trash can near the building. We threw in our cups.

After a little more walking, we finally saw an entrance to the building. Near the entrance, the floor is elevated by using a wood floor(?), so we took this chance to take even more photos. We asked an ang moh lady to take photos with the both of us in them. After that, we moved on into the building.

We were skeptical about going in since apparently we needed to pay to go in. As we were trying to go about doing this trip using as little money as possible, we sat around for a while. It was around 1600 hours. I leeched off the free wifi and read my WhatsApp messages. Some of myy classmates went for a preparation course for their Middle East studies. Lucky jerks.

We both took some photos of the interior. During this time, we noticed that everyone came in and out just like that, so we just went in. We started exploring the museum. The first section that we went into was the World War 2 section. It was pretty unnerving.

Then, we went to the colonial era section. Truth be told, although I hated imperialism and colonialism, one thing that the English did do right was to make improve women's rights. Then we moved on to the other sections. One particular conversation I remember was when were in the 1960s section (is it?). We talked about Singapore's secession of Malaysia and how most were still bitter about it; most are paranoid that Singapore would somehow conspire with someone to conquer Malaysia or something.And there's the time we talked about childhood games...

After we were finished, we went to the toilet before heading out of the building. I hate toilets in Singapore due to the fact that they don't have water hoses. Blergh. After we were done, we headed to the bus stop to go to Chinatown. We chatted about a typical madrasah student's life; unlike their northern counterparts, they're much more closer to secular students than they are with Malaysian religious school students, with the Islamic education the only thing setting them apart.

We boarded the bus to Dhoby Ghaut MRT. When we arrived, I informed my friend. My friend asked how did I know where the MRT station is. I said that I saw it. She was apparently impressed of the fact that I could since I was talking to her at the time. I said that I could focus on a few things at the same time, as long as it was easy for me. The conversation then turned into one about car driving and licences.

We took the North-East line towards Chinatown MRT. I took out the flyer and chose to go out to via exit A.

Unfortunately, I don't remember much of our conversations at Chinatown. There were a few; I talked about wanting a cap, but never got one there because I prefer plain caps. And there's one where I compared Chinatown to Petaling St. for getting cheap touristy stuffs. And Chinese stuffs. (But Petaling St. is more inclined towards bootleg stuffs LMAO). Other than that, we also took a lot of pictures, as per usual.

At around 1830, we went back to the MRT station to head to our last downtown destination : Gardens By The Bay. We disembarked at Bayfront MRT. After that, we had to use the toilet yet again and did so before we advanced into the Gardens.

Holy crap. The view was impressive, even during a time where's there's still daylight. My friend chose to visit this at this time because according to her, the view is way more awesome at night. After walking around for a while, it still wasn't dark yet, so we decided to sit around and wait. We talked about debates, social issues, our countries problems... until 1930 hours. Then we got a move on again.

We continued walking until we were closer to the supertrees. At this time, they had started a light show of some sort, so we just sat there and watched. After the show was over, we continued on walking; as the park wasn't compeletely dark yet, we decided to go to the elevated ground above our level.

As we walked through the plants and trees, it grew darker to the point where we could barely see anything. We also realised that there's not a lot of people going around this area. We were starting to feel creeped out. But still, it did not dampen our spirits, and on we went. There's this time where we were at a place which had something to do with insects, or whatever, so the both of us started talking about our hate for those dastardly things.

We had to start heading back towards Bayfront MRT by 2015 hours, so we attempted to track back. My friend didn't exactly know how to read a map, so I had to do the navigating duties. I remember kneeling down near an orange-lighted post to read the map.  After a while, we were on the path back towards Bayfront. We snapped our last few photos on the way back. After we were out of the Gardens, I remember telling my friend that we should go to Bayfront via Marina Bay Sands 'cause air-conditioning. She was weirded out by that.

We arrived back at Bayfront just in time. While we waited, she told me the reason why we were to return slightly earlier than expected (The original plan was 2030 hours) : We were going to change trains a lot; From Bayfront, we were to go to Marina Bay, then change lines to the red line- which is the line that I'll finally disembarking from - then disembark at Marina South Pier, which was the southern terminus for the red line. From there, we bounce back all the way to Woodlands MRT, then finally disembark there.

Her reasoning for bouncing trains was that so we could sit; as the trains from Marina South Pier were usually empty. She told me a lot of madrasah students living in the north were willing to spend extra time bouncing trains, like this, so I concurred with her.

We stepped on the train. The trip was comfortable, we killed time by talking crap about my school systems, which I highly disliked since I entered it last year. It was good to let it out to someone.

I also spent time looking out the window. Eventhough it was dark and the train windows prevented me from seeing the views clearly, whatever view I got from looking out was enough to make me think one thing : "Could I ever see views like this everyday one day?"

No worries about my own safety. Or finances (ok that might be a bit far fetched but...).

We disembarked at Woodlands MRT. We planned to have dinner before I was to depart at Woodlands Train Checkpoint, so we decided to just eat at Causeway Point near the MRT station. I asked my friend - "Why is there seem to be at least one mall near every MRT station?" She answered that the location of most MRT stations were designed with at least one mall nearby. I could see how that made sense.

We decided to have dinner at Burger King, but before that we had to go to Popular bookstore first so I could get a pen just in case I had any "official documents" to fill out. But the truth was - and I never told it before I wrote this... I'm so sorry - I had lost my Embarkation/Disembarkation slip the day before. When I woke up earlier in the day, I did a check, and that was when I realised I had lost it. Nit wanting her to worry for the rest of the day, I shut up about it. Stupid me. I should've always brought a black pen with me in my external pocket.

So I went into popular, bought a black pen for 80 cents, and continued on to Burger King. We lined up, and as we waited to reach the counter, I tried to get free wifi in order to know the traffic situation at the border. My plan was if the border isn't jammed, we'll spend a bit more time and I'll go off at 2245 hours. She noticed this, and she logged on the free wifi for me using her credentials. The border seems like it's jammed. Crap.

When it was the time for us to place our orders, we did so. I ordered a Cheesy BBQ Turkey Bacon Burger. We both sat down at our reserved spot (I forgot what did she reserve it with) and started to eat. We didn't actually talk a lot because we were trying to finish our food. I only finished my french fries. The portion was really filling to for some reason. I reserved the burger for my early morning train journey. While she finished her stuff, I checked the border cameras again. Still jammed. Crap. I had go past Singapore customs and immigration before 2230.

We packed up our unfinished meals and started going over to the Woodlands bus interchange. We boarded the 170 bus on the way to Woodlands Train Checkpoint.

We chatted in the bus. I don't know what exactly led to this conversation (and what was in it- before, during and after), but I all I remembered it was about family and friends. I talked about how there's not exactly a lot of people and things in my life back home, I had nothing to lose even if I migrated. I choked up a few times before letting my tears fall. When she realised that, she told me to stop crying ,as she was starting to tear up as well.

I tried to hold everything back and compose myself together. apologising : "I'm sorry it's just... the past few years..." "Everything I've been doing for the past few years, in one way or another is so that I could get out of here," with teardrops in my eyes. She tried to reassure me, telling me that I have a place back home and possibly I was meant to just stay there.

I know it was a lie. Before all of this, I swore that I'll be the last person to leave Malaysia if there's anything. Now? The complete opposite. I believed that I was meant to stay, I don't think the feelings would've changed so drastically and so fast. And my desire to leave would've never been this strong.

I told her, people like me don't belong back in Malaysia, citing my percieved contradicting careers as a reason. She told me that I have a strong passion, and thus I can make it work.

I agreed. I could make it work. If I could still want all of this after more than four years of difficulty, trials and hardships, I truly believe that this is what my life is for. And I'll make it work.

Just not in Malaysia.


Unfortunately, I don't remember any of our conversations after that before we stopped at Woodlands Train Checkpoint.

We got off from the bus and waited for her dad, who is there to give me clothing that I accidentally left at their house that morning. (oops.)

We crossed the street and waited at the Sheng Shiong  supermarket building. Her dad arrived, gave me my plastic bag of clothing, and wished me good luck and farewell.

We crossed the street, entered the checkpoint building to go to the departure hall. We walked in the opposite direction of scores people moving into Singapore. As we moved I remarked to her that this is quite a long ways away from the actual exit, and it's no wonder it her quite a while to double back during yesterday's miscommunication fiasco. Finally, when the both of us reached the glass doors. That was the farthest that she could go, since she didn't have a passport with her. I said goodbye and wished her luck. We hugged, and that was the last thing I did before I continued on pass the doors.

As I walked down the  bridge/corridor, I started to cry. Hard. Looking back, I wonder if she saw me crying and wiping my tears or did she just leave after I passed the doors.

I continued crying all the way to the immigration section. I wiped my tears away before I went up to the officers, and continued on. When I reached the counter, I told him I lost my embarkation slip. The officer called his superiors on the phone, and thankfully, I was only let off with a stern warning.

I continued on into Malaysia, where I got myself sorted out, though I still did cry a bit.

When I reached my train platform, I checked the time. 2307 hours. Dammit....! I was angry... We could've spent more time. I should've checked the time before we bid each other farewell just now. I almost cried again. But I barely managed to pull myself together. The tears were still welling up.

Finally, at 2330, I boarded the train to Gemas. The train departed at 2340. I tried to sleep, but I keep fading in and out of consciousness. By the time I fully woke up at 0130 hours, I tried to recall yesterday's events, but it felt like it happened a year or two ago. My head hurt. At that time, I realised... "Oh crap. I'm not going to remember a lot of things from this," I tried to sleep again, and I did so successfully. I woke up when the train stopped at Gemas.

It was so cold in the train to the point when I got out, I was greeted by a rush of warm air. I sat down at the platform and finished the burger I had bought at Singapore. It was cold, but I was hungry. It was the only thing at the time that reminded me that everything happened yesterday. I finished it, and went to the toilet after that to relieve myself. I dragged all of my bags everywhere until I stepped foot insdie my home; I didn't want to lose a single thing from the trip.

I waited until the train arrived. I sat down at my designated seat. Thank God I sat alone on all of these train trips...! To prepare myself better for the cold, I took the used pair of socks that I have and wore them over my sock-ed feet.

When the train departed, I tried to sleep again. I woke up at around 0545. I tried to stay awake from then on, since the train did not terminate at KL Sentral, but instead in Padang Besar. A small mistake and that means I'll end up somewhere in Thailand.

The train arrived safely at 0640 hours. My family won't be home until that afternoon, so I spent my time at KL Sentral, eating a KFC breakfast. Then I went to KLCC so I could stay at the park for a while to process everything. After that, I returned to Subang Jaya, had lunch downtown, and took the bus back. I stepped foot inside my house at around 1330. I dropped my bags on the floor before plopping onto the mattress.

It was done.


The trip was my best experience in Singapore so far. I visited a lot of places and spent time with one of the best friends I've ever had. What's not to like?

It was good to see her one last time before she left to further her studies. And although I think certain parts of the trip could've been better (all my fault - poor planning and rushing; I should've gone back on the morning of the 30th had I known my family would be back later than expected), I can only say one thing about this trip :

It was all worth it.

Singapore Trip 2016 - Day 2, Part 1 : The Adventure

I woke up at around 0630.

I looked around to see a huge lump beside me, covered in possibly the thickest blanket I ever saw.

It was my friend. Like me, she also had the habit of covering her entire body under the blanket.

"Oh."

I wonder how long she has been there.

We planned to go out at 0930, so there's three hours left. I couldn't pray, so I went over to the plug where I had charged my powerbank last night. It was at 100%, so I plugged it off, and charged my phone. I then scrolled through all of my social media and tweeted a bit. After about 20 minutes, I went back to sleep.

I didn't remember what I dreamed of that morning, but all I know it caused me to slam my left arm on my friend's leg. Hard. It woke me up, and roused her to state of half-awakeness. I apologised profusely, to which she waved off drowsily. She then went back to sleep. I checked the time on the clock.

0740.

I was starting to panic. Usually, at this time back home, I would've been in the shower, lest I get a "good" yelling. I dared not wake her up; her house, her rules, after all....

So I went back to browsing through my phone again. After I finished browsing, I lied down again. I was still a bit worried because of the time. I tried to ignore it.

At around 0830 (I think?), she finally got up and asked me to get ready. I waited for her to go and get ready herself, then started getting all of my things out.

I tried to take a loong shower since I haven't had one in months. Then I remembered I didn't even pay a single cent for the water or the electricity I used, so I finished up as quickly as possible.

I got ready, and waited in the room. I then peeked out of the room after a while, and she saw me and beckoned me out to have breakfast with them.I stepped out with all of bags, set them down near the table, and sat down to eat.

I got a nasi lemak, but unfortunately it's covered in sambal, which is something that i couldn't stand; so I ate the uncovered parts. As I ate, her mom asked what drink I wanted, she gave me choice between iced lemon tea (something she gave me last night) and plain water.

Worried that I might get a sore throat ( I almost got a fever before I set off for the trip), I asked for plain water. My friend asked me what drinks do I consume in the morning. I told her mostly plain water, with some coffee before I started my studies. I got my drink and started drinking.

I tried to fnish whatever I could, then when the both of us are finished, she asked for the plate which contained my meal. As she carried it away, I apologised for wasting her food.

I then waited on the couch near the living room while I waited for her. Her dad started asking where do we intended to go. I told him; and he recommended for us to go to the Singapore Zoo, telling it's one of the best in the world. I acknowledged that.

But truth be told, that place is one of the last places I'll go to when it comes to picking places to go in Singapore, I thought to myself ; I've been to many zoos in Malaysia, and I don't feel like going to a place that most likely has more or less the same experience I could get back home. I still considered going during other times, though.

After she returned to the living room, she went off to take her things, and after that, we both bid her family farewell. Before we stepped out of the house, they gave me two bottles of water, which was a blessing considering the long hours that I'll be out in the sun.

We stepped out of the house to go to the bus stop that will take us to the bus station. While we walked, we talked about our schools and lives. I remember asking her to give the social media profiles of the people with whom I had spent recess with at school two years ago. I also remembered talking about the differences between the slangs and accents of our home states.

Apparently us Selangoreans don't have any accents... unless your Javanese or something and have speech influenced by those languages. Sucks.

We boarded the bus, sat down and continued our conversations.

After we reached Woodlands MRT, I went to top up my EZlink card before boarding the train.

On the train, she asked me the where is the longest travel time between two MRT stations in Singapore; it was on the line that we were travelling on. I struggled to answer even though I already read it on twitter a few times. After that, we went over our itinerary again, then we had fun scribbling random stuff on it.

We disembarked at Jurong East Station. She went to top up her own EZlink card, so I waited around. I then looked around the station; there's a lot of malls in the vicinity. After she was done, I asked about the malls near the station. She said there were a lot of them, and now the local populace don't have to travel all the way downtown  to shop any more. We then talked about shopping in Malaysia and Singapore, as well as purchasing power...which then turned into a conversation about living costs.

I'm impressed that she didn't get bored during all of those heavy topics. Most people would've literally left me the moment I bought those up.

We then continued our conversations on the bus on the way to the Science Centre. After we arrived, we went inside to the counter, but before we went in to pay, we took a few brochures about Singapore so that we won't get lost in the less familiar areas of downtown.

When she paid our tickets, the ticketer asked for my NRIC - I panicked. She told me that she left it at home and the ticketer asked for my EZlink. I immediately lowered myself to conceal my bag, which basically screams "I'M NOT FROM HERE I'M A FREAKING TOURIST". Thankfully, everything else went off without a hitch, and so we stepped inside.

I don't remember everything (sorry man...! Fever and time took most of it away...). I did remember a few things that happened, such as the time I miserably failed to try and take a Snapchat video of her ( I don't fare particularly well when using other peoples' equipment) and I had to take it multiple times. *facepalm*

And I remembered saying that I was from the pure science stream to which she went "nopenope I'm not worthy" sarcastically, which was funny. There's also the time where I explained resonance and guitar string physics, as well as the time I miserably failed to try and tune a "piano" (har har).

After we finished mucking around at the Science Centre, we checked the time; it was 1300. We estimated to get out before 1130. We were an hour and a half behind schedule. We then found a spot to go over our itinerary again, during which we decided to scrape of ION Orchard off our list.

After we exited the Science Centre, we tried to go back to Jurong East MRT. She asked whether I preferred to walk or to take bus there. At first, I preferred to walk, but knowing that I won't be able to actually rest until tomorrow morning, I tried to conserve as much as energy and muscle as possible, and took the bus instead.

When we reached Jurong East MRT, I just remembered of a friend, and so I asked her about Bandar Bahru Jurong. She said there was no such place. I then asked of Jurong Town instead, to which she said it was nearby.

Then, she asked me who was the friend. I hesitated; I feared that she knew him; the Singaporean Malay community is a small one, after all. I told her who he was without revealing his identity. We then took the train towards our next destination : Arab St. which is a street that I've went to many times before in Singapore.

On the train, we talked about the many types of schools in Malaysia, which left her confused. She also talked about her debating experiences, which led to a conversation about school uniforms and my disastrous first day of pre-university. I remember that before we got down at Bugis MRT, she talked about how she ended up choosing to further her studies in Yemen instead of Egypt.

We got down at Bugis MRT, and started to head towards Arab St. She asked me, which way is it to go towards Arab St.? I pointed towards exit B. She then asked me, which way towards...  I don't remember where, exactly...

But what I did remember was when I answered both correctly (apparently), she remarked that I was more of a "Singaporean" than her, to which I feel a bit weirded out, but a bit... proud of myself in a way.

After 4 trips, 3 of which with me as the guide, of course I would remember the streets of Bugis... I would get lost a lot of times if I didn't, then.

We walked along Victoria St. during which I saw walked behind a guy. I saw the Pearl ( a drum brand) before looking at his other gear and recognizing other things, a cymbal bag, clamps, double pedal bag, or at least I thought it was, based off of the size...

I was walking behind a gigging drummer. I reacted loud enough for my friend to hear me, which led me to pointing his gear out to her. She then asked me to go up to him to say... anything. I refused, 'cause even if we were... colleagues (in an indirect way), there's no way my scaredy butt is going to say hi to a stranger just because we shared the same profession.

We then went into a mall ( a Google search IDs this as Golden Landmark Shopping Mall; I'm not sure). I asked her how is it like to be schooling in the downtown area. She said it was very convenient since nothing is ever more than stone's throw away.

 I also asked her what stuff is sold in here. She said that due to the location, it has a lot more Muslim and Islamic stuff than the usual Singaporean malls.  She once told me of a story that about her at the mall, which involved her, her principal and a clothing display/store.

Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of particulars about the story. All I remembered is that she was looking at a few clothing items, and it turned out that it belonged to her principal, or at least a relative of his. I don't remember.

We exited the mall and went to have lunch at the Domino's at Arab Street. I sat down while she ordered. I ordered a Meatzza along with a Sprite. It was pretty cheap, considering that Domino's in Malaysia tend to grossly inflate their drink prices (RM 3 for a can of Pepsi are you kidding me?).

I sat down while she ordered. Then she came back to me, asking me to pay up. Since I don't have any
small change, I gave her a $50 note and took her $7. She then handed me back the change after ordering.

Since we had half an hour to go before our order was done, we decided to walk around  Bugis for a while. We decided to go to one place : Madrasah Aljunied. But first, we decided to go to another place beforehand.

Sometime earlier in the morning, she suggested me to go to a restaurant which was a favourite haunt of the local madrasah students. It had awesome milk tea. And I liked milk tea.

And so we went there (Post-trip Google search said that this particular restaurant is Kohnangkam, located at Jln Keledek). We went in, and she asked me what type of tea do I want. There's two variants: Green tea and black tea (normal). I chose the normal one.

After that, we headed towards Madrasah Aljunied. As we were walking, I wondered aloud whether we were allowed to go past the receptionist's office, as I had never passed it during the three times I was there. She said that the front might not be open at all, as it was a Sunday. I then asked her of the existence of a back gate; there is one, but it goes through the cemetery next to the school, which led to my next question : does she know of any ghost stories from Madrasah Aljunied?

She said yes, but I do not remember the details. She then asked back of my own from my schools. I said that there are, but they remain dormant and silent as long as they are not provoked in any way.

We stopped at the school sign and I took my obligatory photo there. Then, seeing that the front gate is open, we entered. We saw that there's people near the canteen. My friend then remembered that there's some sort of camp today. As if we were heard, we heard muffled speech coming from somewhere inside the school; it sounded like it was spoken through a microphone.

We then walked further into the school. I was worried of getting caught, since she told me they have CCTVs in the school; they might blacklist me from stepping in the school, or worse, not letting me enlist... ever. We went into the toilet for a while to adjust our bearings. We discussed whether it was wise to go further into the school.

After dabbling on an indecision, we decided against it, and decided to go back to have our lunch instead. But before we left, she took a photo of me standing in the school corridor. After we took it, we kinda tried to go out of the there as discreetly as possible. And that's the story of how I finally got past the receptionist's office. And how this is the second school I've entered illegally. Heh.

We took photos at the leafy fence of Stamford Primary, which was located across the lane from Aljunied. She explained that the fence was often used by Aljuniedians as a photoshoot background. My friend and I then hightailed it back to the Domino's at Arab Street, where our pizza was just ready by the time we walked in. We then sat down and ate.

While we were eating, I asked her if she would we get into trouble if we were caught and ID-ed. She said that won't do anything to us except for possibly a rebuke, and even if they do , it would her who would get it worse; since she had an ex-Aljuniedian brother.

I continued chomping down on my pizza, still slightly worried. The worry, however, evaporated, when we started talking about more light-hearted topics. I remember talking about my ugly uniform colour and how it made me stand out like hell and look like a walking tree.

After we finished our meal, we decided to go to Masjid Sultan to use the toilets.  I asked her on what exactly to find here since all of her friends recommended that she take me here during the trip. She answered it's for cheap clothing and carpets.

After we relieved ourselves, we headed towards our next destination...... the National Museum of Singapore.