Day 1: Singapore

From Jakarta, flight Qatar Airways 627 departed at 3.35pm. International route to Doha, and it was a big plane. They served wine, by the way *giggle*. Tapi Andri masih ragu-ragu (or masih jaim) buat minta .. hahaha. The flight was short, only took about one hour and a half to Singapore. Arrived around 6pm local time, a sudden nostalgic feeling bursted out. Both of us had lived in Singapore for 6 months many years ago and Changi is never a stranger to Andri especially (since it was practically his playground back then). Tapi ya namanya udah lama banget .. kita masih berhasil dibuat terkagum-kagum sama Changi dan perkembangannya. Nyusurin travelator-nya aja kayaknya gimaaanaaaa gitu .. really excited to be back to Singapore. Ga sempet window shopping lama-lama di Arrival Terminal 1, karena masih harus ngurusin baggage claim yang ternyata merepotkan sekali, saking beratnya. For the record, luggage yang masuk ke bagasi itu cuma satu piece, tapi beratnya mencapai 34kg, sampe QR Ground Crew di Jakarta nempelin sticker bertuliskan "HEAVY". Isinya? Berbagai macam barang dan makanan titipan buat adek gue di Hong Kong. Belom lagi frozen food yang masuk di cabin suit yang Andri tenteng .. plus shopping bag yang gue tenteng .. plus baby stroller without the baby (someone had kidnapped the baby! *gasp*. Kidding. It's for Karel which was still stranded in New Zealand at the moment). Celingukan nyari lokasi penitipan luggage yang ternyata letaknya di basement Terminal 1. One piece around SGD 4 per 24 hours. Not bad. We left the giant in the store, and off we went to look for information on how to get to our reserved hotel. No, kita ga mau naik taksi. Where's the sense of adventure if we just simply took a cab and told the driver to go to YMCA? Not to mention, we had a really tight budget. Hah.

Blessed Singapore for the Visitor's Information Center. We took a map and some guidebooks, and we consulted the CS. Jadi gue sama Andri kerja bakti narik cabin suit yang masih kerasa berat .. naik Sky Train ke Terminal 2 .. terus main-main sama GTM (Generating Ticket Machine) buat beli tiket MRT ke Dhoby Ghaut. Rutenya lumayan ribet karena mesti interchange di Tanah Merah and City Hall. Sampe Dhoby Ghaut, ngikutin petunjuk exit .. keluar stasiun, terus stuck. Gelap bo. Dan di luar stasiun lagi ada pekerjaan umum. Rada ngeri juga, tapi keinget kalo Singapore itu merupakan salah satu negara yang paling aman (walo di jamannya gue masih kuliah dulu, ga lama pas gue balik dari Singapore, ada pembunuhan mahasiswi Bandung di salah satu stasiun MRT di Singapore yang cukup bikin heboh). Which way to YMCA? Akhirnya gue telpon ke hotelnya, nanya arah .. dan dikasih petunjuk supaya masuk ke Park Mall yang ada di seberang stasiun, naik ke lantai 4 ke car park, belok kanan, turun dan di situlah hotelnya. Udah lega banget nih akhirnya ketemu, masuk lobby, eh ternyata salah bo. Itu YWCA, bukan YMCA. Shooooot. Jadi yang salah siapa? Yang minta informasi atau yang ngasih informasi? Jadilah kita berdua jalan lagi .. nyurusin trotoar .. narik-narik cabin suit yang makin lama makin berat .. dan ternyata .. hotel YMCA itu deket banget dari Dhoby Ghaut. Kita cuma perlu jalan ke arah kiri, dan bukannya nyebrang ke Park Mall. Aiaiaiaiaiaia .. such a waste of time and energy.

Phew. Check in was smooth .. and we got our room small and clean. Bongkar-bongkar koper buat nyelamatin frozen food, mindahin itu makanan ke dalam mini bar yang ada di kamar .. mandi .. dan keluar buat cari makan. Udah hampir jam 10 malam, dan ga ada outlet yang buka di dalam YMCA. Diarahin ke Kopi Tiam yang ada di Bras Basah nearby, and surprise surprise we found Rendezvous Hotel which we would be staying in on our way home to Jakarta later. Glad to know it would be easy to reach. Lapar banget, gue curiga makanan di Kopi Tiam sebenernya biasa-biasa aja, tapi jadi kerasa enak. Abis makan sempet mampir juga ke Seven Eleven yang ada di sebelah Kopi Tiam .. such a cool place with warm lighting and high table for hanging out or consuming drink/food that was bought from there.

Andri had this idea of strolling down Orchard. At this late hour?? Toko-tokonya pasti dah tutup, but you know Orchard. It never died, so we thought. Berhubung kita masih belom terlalu tau arah .. kita balik ke Dhoby Ghaut dan naik MRT sampe Orchard. And from there, came the endless stroll. Endless I might say .. dari Wisma Atria jalan terus ke arah Sommerset .. ngeliat gerai-gerai yang ngejual berbagai macam pernak-pernik, ngeliat young couples smooching (euw .. haha), beli 1$ chocolate chip ice cream .. sampe ujung, balik lagi .. sampe CK Tang .. jalan lagi ke arah yang lain .. sampe ujung, balik lagi ke Shaw House, naik ke Lido cuma buat liat-liat situasi aja .. gue sering banget nonton di sana dulu, and I really wanted to try that again since it was Saturday and there was a midnight show. Tapi ngeliat gelagat Andri bakalan ketiduran di dalam studio .. so we decided just to try sitting on the lobby bench for a while, watching the big screen showing the movie previews (hoho .. got Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .. o man, I'm dying to see the movie).

Energi udah kembali satu tingkat, Andri masih penasaran mo nerusin jalan lagi. Orchard: another direction. To Hard Rock Cafe, which we really didn't have any idea which right direction we had to take to go there. Sebenernya gue udah mo nyerah, it was past midnight, but yeah big deal. Last attempt, I said to him. Kalo masih ga ketemu juga, kita terusin lagi besok. Thank heaven ternyata arah yang satu ini beneran menuju Hard Rock Cafe .. yippiee .. Gue pikir kita bisa masuk en nyante sebentar di dalam cafe, denger musik .. ngelurusin kaki .. but, but, the journey ended at the Hard Rock Cafe's entrance. *gubrak*. Andri ga mau masuk. Dia cuma mau ngeliat luar HRC aja, for old time sake. Buseeettt .. sedemikin besar perjuanganmu, honey. Udah ah, pulang aja kali ye. Naik taksi. Kaki kiri gue mogok jalan, yang tempo hari keseleo masih dalam taraf recovery udah diajak jalan bolak-balik Orchard tanpa tujuan. Yay.

Sampe hotel, gue baru ngeliat kalo ternyata jari kaki gue ada yang melepuh. Kasian kasian. Kepanasan di dalam sneakers. Hehehe. Anyway .. kita berdua emang langsung ngejeblak ke tempat tidur .. hoahm. Nighty night.

0 comments: