Thursday, January 19, 2017

Royal Caribbean, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket

Found the answer to a question which was on my mind for a long time."What if my wife is a spoilsport traveler? " I'm generally a bit overenthusiastic about my travels and I seem to be saving up my energy resources for the rest of the year, so I can use it on my vacation. More or less have this mentality that over the course of the vacation I will not let ill-health, tiredness or just lack of interest, get in my way. There's always time for all those things once I'm back home. The holiday is to enjoy, see new places, live. So I'm kinda keen that my travel partners have the same attitude. So the question. And to answer it in the simplest way: She's perfect. We might have our differences with the time keeping and culinary tastes, but she shares my enthusiasm more or less and that is all that matters.

The travel bug had bitten me again and the planning mode was ON. Not quite as obsessive as Indonesia but a lot of practical information required was available at hand. Ashitha being FNU Ashitha (First name unknown/unique, due to a flaw in passport printing) was a little bit of a worry but I went through Tirun travels, the official travel group of Royal Caribbean and they sorted it out and after a lot of negotiation gave me a good deal and a Sentosa Fun pass to go with it. Visas to Singapore and Thailand were ready and so were we. Lesson learned from Indonesia: Don't pack too much, was strictly followed. 

So come BIAL, 15kgs checkin luggage booked seemed enough considering 7 people had managed with around 35 kgs the year before. But.. the weighing scale shows 15.7 kg on the Mrs. bag alone. Aigh. Fortunately my bag could go in as Cabin baggage. Thanks to the tiger air guy for suggesting that. Had a whole lot of prohibited substances in the bag though, razor, deo, sweets et al and I'd given up on them already. Thank goodness we got through unscathed and we're on our way. 

Well, hello Singapore. What a wonderful city. The skyscrapers, the super wide roads, the SMRT, the cleanliness, the green zones, the rules, the system, the courtesy of the people. Brilliant planning and execution. And being greeted at the airport by my wonderful cousin, Nishkala Akka, and her husband, Aravinda Anna, who were extremely hospitable hosts during our time in Singapore just made it better. 

We hop on the SMRT at Changi Airport, change at Tanah Mera and continue on the EW line all the way to Pioneer stop. Aravindanna has these nice excerpts about the city, the people, the culture as we're simultaneously listening to him and looking around. When we reach Pioneer, their place is right next to the station. The lift zooms up 16 floors in less than a minute. Thoughts go back to our dear old lift which screeches and screams its way up 5 floors in an eternity. Funnily enough every single lift on this vacation, be it in MarinaBay sands, KL tower, Mariner of the seas were all extremely fast and well maintained. But we still love our Alsa Arbour lift ;). Nishkalakka made some neer dosa, chicken curry, we slept for a while and left for Jurong Bird Park. 

The amazing connectivity of the SMRT makes traveling in Singapore comfortable and budget friendly. With multiple lines such as EW, NS, DT, Circle lines running through the city and the relatively low distance between stops ensures you always have a stop close to where you want to go. This along with the high prices on automobiles, ensure that the roads are traffic free pretty much all the time and that in itself is a sight to behold for us Bengaluru natives. Of the few cars which are seen on the roads, lots are what you'd class as supercars. Super cars, super roads, no traffic. Ah the dream.

Day 1 involved bird sighting at the Jurong Bird Park. Exotic bird species grouped by category and excerpts about those birds on boards was interesting. Flamingos, ducks, ostriches, crowned pigeons, penguins, pelicans, parrots. Attended a "Kings of the sky" show where birds of prey such as vultures, eagles and hawks did tricks. Roaming the rest of the park took most of the evening.

From there, we headed to Night Safari. A concept like no other, a friend had told me the animals were probably drugged and considering there's no real fence between our carriage and the animals, it looked like. We saw the animals in very close proximity and even saw some species that we didn't know about. Tigers, leopards, hyenas, elephants, snakes, deer. This was followed by another show where they brought out a huge snake and asked for a volunteer to come on stage. The ophidiophobiac in me was already hiding hoping I wouldn't be picked. Thankfully I wasn't, coz the guy who was picked had the snake on his shoulders and the lights were turned off. It would have been a nightmare for me.

We headed out to Marina Bay early the next day for our cruise. And there, the Mariner of the Seas, was majestically waiting for us beckoning us in. Took a couple of hours to get checked in. One of the Japanese ladies behind us needed to pass us in the line coz her little daughter had to use the rest room. Ashitha let us pass and for the rest of our time on the ship, whenever she saw us she said thank you. The Vietnamese group always saw Ko and seemed amused like she was one of them resulting me calling her VietKoli.

Our room was ready on the 5th floor with all the special "Just Married" decorations that I had asked for. A dedicated Filipino housekeeper always ensured our room was in perfect condition.  We were famished by the time we headed to the Promenade Cafe right below our room. That's when we first had the heavenly Willy Wonka Pie accompanied by some excellent Pepperoni Pizza. We soon realized that the food was awesome here and this became our standard order for early breakfast, one of our 6 daily meals of the next 4 days. True to its name, the Royal Caribbean treated us royally. Cafe Promenade, Windjammer's Cafe were our snack bars. The Promenade had a Dreamworks welcome show. The upper decks had the gym, sauna, pools, Jacuzzi and the open sea where we spent a lot of time. We tried Ice Skating and after a few injuries, had dinner in the "Sound of Music" dining hall with a dedicated waiter and his assistant taking care of us in a completely 5 star setup. The welcome show "Gallery of Dreams" was particularly entertaining with its songs and dances.

The next morning we docked at Port Klang, Malaysia. A whirlwind day trip which covered the Petronas towers, KL Tower, Independence Square and Batu Caves with a competent guide who ensured everything went as per plan and on time made the visit to KL fun. We got back and spent time in the pool and watched "Inside Out" in the open air pool side theater.

The most flop day of our entire trip was when we decided to go to Phang Nga Bay and James Bond island instead of just hanging out at Phuket when we docked there the next morning. A good 2+ hour drive later, we arrived in Phang Nga only to be taken on a ferry ride around James Bond island and back. We hardly got a chance to spend time in Phuket and the Thai massage plus time on the beach that I'd planned had to wait for another visit.

Day 4 of the cruise was spent lazing around on the ship, in the pool, in the gym, in the sauna, in the steam room etc. "Ice under the Big Top" was the day's entertainment where IceSkaters from around the globe showed off their moves. We tried our hand at gambling in the casino but after initially doubling our money, we got a little bit greedy and ended up losing it all and more. :D  I guess that's how all casino stories go.

Checking out after a wonderful time aboard, we checked in to Hotel 81 Dickson for the rest of our trip. A visit to the famous Mustafa store was a let down and a walk around Little India reminded us how Indian streets looked. Ko spent a lot of time shopping, with Nishkalakka to keep her company, in Bugis Street where the prices were reasonable compared to the rest of trip. We then headed to Marina Bay Sands for a wonderful view of Singapore and the adjacent Gardens by the Bay under lights and then followed it up with a visit to the Merlion. Spoilt by the quality of food on MoS, we were now struggling to find decent eating options at reasonable prices.

We trekked up the Faber Peak the next morning and took a cable car to Sentosa. After spending half the day using our fun pass and an exciting Zip line ride later, a we headed to Trick Eye Museum and then to Universal Studios. After a few downbeat rides, we finally started having fun at the Mummy, the transformers and the Battlestar themed roller coaster rides. The Human version was good enough for me and I was thanking my stars when the Cylon one closed just when we got there. Next time maybe ;)

The final day of our trip was wasted on another trip to Sea Aquarium in Sentosa. While colorful enough, we had spent more than enough time looking at birds, animals and now fishes. We headed out to Gardens by the Bay post lunch to look at some colorful plants now.

We left Singapore with a bunch of happy memories and now its on my list of potential places to live in. Hell, I can even speak Malay already: Der Hati Hati Deruan Platform. (Please mind the gap :D)



  May the force be with Singapore :D