Sunday

The Adventures of 2 Girls in 2 Countries - In Between


I wanted to have a separate entry for this as this one of those experience I'm sure I will never forget and learn from, especially on traveling.

So we left Universal Studios at around 9pm which we thought would be enough time since our train will not leave until 11:30. What we didn't foresee was everyone else was going home and there was a long queue for the train leaving Universal Studio. Before we know it, it was already past 10pm when we reached our hotel. We just immediately packed our bags and checked out. We tried waiting for a bus, but it took us a long time, so we tried to hail a cab. We didn't have luck on that either as the taxis we're not stopping or didn't want to let us ride as the train station was just really nearby. We had no choice but to wait for our bus again. We then ride the MRT again until Woodlands, which is where the train station is. The MRT ride took forever and when we finally arrived at Woodlands it was already 11:30. What's worst is that we don't know where exactly the train station to Malaysia is.

We asked some of the cab drivers, and they don't know it as well. Finally one cab driver knows and so he brought us there. And when we arrived, the train has already left. Apparently, they're not following Filipino time, which is always late. Haha. I was kinda expecting it. We then asked one of the crews there and he suggested to ride the bus and try to catch the train on its next stop. We did that, and to our dismay, we're still not able to catch the train. What was worse, was that I didn't know we already had cross the border, and we're now at Johor Baru in Malaysia. Continue reading here.

The Adventures of 2 Girls in 2 Countries - In Singapore


The bus ride from Malaysia to Singapore takes about 6 hours. We traveled via Nice bus which was booked for us by N. The bus was very comfortable, with ample space and reclining chairs. Food was also provided, mainly just some sandwich and water. M and I were asleep for most of the trip. There were 2 stops, one in the Malaysian Immigration and the other one in the Singapore Immigration, where they had to stamp our passports and checked our luggage. The processing was smooth, and the officers didn't even ask me anything. After about another half hour drive, the bus drop us off on one of the bus stops on beach road. It was about 6 in the morning, and M and I realized we didn't have any local currency yet. First fail of the day. Haha.

We were suppose to exchange our money to Singapore dollars in the immigration but it slipped our mind as we didn't see any money changer.  There was a shop where crews are cleaning up so we ask them if there's any money changer nearby. They said there is, but it will not open until around 9 in the morning. They were actually Filipinos, but they were not too friendly. M wanted to pee, so we ask them that and the girl said she could pee inside but she didn't look too happy about it. They should not have mentioned they were also Filipinos, because I was expecting them to be helpful and friendly, but they weren't. Anyway, since we were in front of the Parc Hotel, M and I decided to try our luck there. Good thing the receptionist was a Filipino again, and this time she was very helpful. The hotel is suppose to just allow currency exchange to their guests, but since we're Filipinos she allowed us. We just exchanged our $50 for the meantime, just enough for us to get by for the meantime. Continue reading here.

The Adventures of 2 Girls in 2 Countries - In Malaysia

Or better yet to say, MISADVENTURES. Haha

M invited me to go with her in Malaysia, since one of our teammates was a volunteer in Shell Eco Marathon Asia which is being held in Sepang Circuit. Since there was a seat sale in Cebu Pacific, I agreed to go with her. Our flight cost about Php 4800 each for the round trip.

We left Wednesday night, and arrived at the KL Low Cost Terminal at half past midnight. N, our Shell MY colleague, picked us up since we're gonna stay with him to save up on hotel accommodation. We stopped by to eat some snacks first in like one of their hawkers, before going to N's house in Puchong. His house is big for a bachelor, with 2 or 3 guestrooms. We stayed in one of the big guestroom where M and I shared a bed. We slept at almost 4 in the morning, then woke up at around 7 since N said we should be leaving at 8.

We left N's house at about past 8, then stop at one their hawkers again for breakfast. N then dropped us off the Sepang Circuit to check out the Eco Marathon. We were supposed to join in the pit walk where guides will tour as around the circuit to see the different areas. They noticed that I was wearing a sandal, they said I need to wear safety shoes so one of the tour guides tried to look for safety shoes for me. He bought us in one of the rooms to wait, but when he returned he said we couldn't join the pit walk since we're also wearing dresses, and they are requiring guests to wear pants to be able to go inside the pit. Haha. He was really really sorry and I said it was ok and we might just go shopping to buy pants.  First fail of the day. Haha. Since we can't go inside, we just went to the 2nd floor in the viewing area.

Shell Eco Marathon

Shell Eco Marathon Sepang Circuit

Shel Eco Marathon Testing Pit

Shell Eco Marathon Pit
 After much strolling around the areas we're allowed to, we ran to one of our colleagues S. She volunteers to take pictures of the pit for us, and call our teammate L as well. We invited them to go to Genting  Island on our last day since N suggested we do that. We exchanged numbers and went our separate ways. Continue reading here.