Flip of a Coin

A few weeks ago, AidCom colleague Sara Linn and I both had a few days off in a row and my little sister was visiting Kuala Lumpur. In other words, the perfect opportunity to take a trip somewhere - but where to go? Not an easy decision when you put three VERY indecisive girls together. In the end (and after a final pre-dawn discussion), we made our way to a bus we knew was supposed to leave for Singapore very early in the morning...

Spontaneity is usually a good thing, but sometimes planning ahead is worth the effort as well - the bus we were aiming for was already completely full. By this time, the sun had risen and we were standing by the side of the road with our hastily packed bags, still only half awake and unsure of what to do next. We hadn't even eaten breakfast, so we sat down at a small café and ordered some yummy roti banana and (extremely sweet) tea. With a bit of food in our bellies, we managed to decide to head to a larger bus station a couple of LRT-rides away and check out our options there. When we arrived, we discovered that there were buses leaving for both Melaka and Singapore within the next half hour. Still our indecisive selves, we considered the pros and cons of each place inside the terminal, getting absolutely nowhere (charming and cheap Melaka or exciting and, for two of us, never-before visited Singapore?). In the end, we let a coin have the final say and a short while later we were on our way to Singapore!

We only had about 30 hours in the city so we had to make the most of every minute - and we certainly did. We enjoyed a delicious Turkish dinner at a lovely restaurant on Arab Street. We made our way to Marina Bay as the sun was setting, taking in the view of the amazing Marina Bay Sands hotel and the even more spectacular Gardens by the Bay (which we all agreed was worth the whole trip in itself). We wandered along an empty Clarke Quay in the morning, filling up on tasty sandwiches for breakfast. We crossed the boardwalk to Sentosa Island, choosing to save our money and forgo the many attractions (although visiting Universal Studios was very tempting) and instead melt under the scorching sun with a cold beer on the beach. We headed to Bugis for some great market deals, taking an ice-cream break inside the air-conditioned mall next-door (mango sorbet and tiramisu are apparently not a common scoop combo, but... so good!). We walked under beautiful lanterns on the busy main street of Chinatown, surrounded by interesting smells and sights from the shops and stalls along the way. We ate one of my best meals to date in this part of the world at a small Chinese restaurant next to our hostel, accompanied by giant bottles of Tsingtao. We rushed to the cinema with all of our bags to catch a late screening of American Hustle (yet again dumbfounded and defeated by the freezing temperatures in movie theatres over here, despite our attempt at coming prepared with multiple layers). And finally, we rushed to the terminal to catch our night bus back to Kuala Lumpur. A spontaneous and short trip, decided by the flip of a coin. And in the end, it was quite the adventure!

The pretty magnificent Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Gardens by the Bay - we unexpectedly timed our visit to be there for the Garden Rhapsody show - amazing!

Clarke Quay

Sentosa Island

We didn't go in.. But the globe is still pretty cool!

Lanterns in the sky, Chinatown