Monday, August 20, 2012

Travelogue: Bukit Tinggi Day 1

You know how sometimes where you had a really rough week at school or work and wished the weekends could come faster but when the weekends came, you have no idea what to do for both Saturday or Sunday? Then on Sunday night, you complained your weekend was not fruitful. Well, that happens to me quite a lot. You wished there was a new place in Singapore where you can go explore with your friends, or a new concept cafe that you wanted to try their food, or a place where you can chill the whole day with your friends without spending much money. Did i just speak your mind? LOL

During one of the weekends last month, my good friend - Angela and i decided to bring things to a whole new level and planned a weekend getaway! Getaway = somewhere out of Singapore so it can be Bintan, Batam, Malaysia, Genting, anywhere! We were planning to go Bintan since i haven't been there before and it sounds good for a 2D1N trip but in the end, we decided to book a 2D1N trip to Bukit Tinggi (Malaysia) after reading about it! We bought a deal from Groupon.

Slept for a few hours before heading out for McBreakfast! Had to be at Kallang Bahru bus terminal at 6.30AM for the bus to bring us to Bukit Tinggi so you can imagine us waking up super early to have breakfast (couldn't really sleep that night also, haha), then the first train to Lavender then find our way to Kallang Bahru using our phone's GPS -__-

Fast forward to another round of breakfast at Yong Peng, Malaysia. Tour coaches never fail to stop here as always.

2 of the must buys at Yong Peng. The crispy thin waffle (left) and this Char siew puff! (right) SUPER DELICIOUS!

My travel partner for this getaway - Angela! Before the trip, she was like - "You sure you want to blog about just the two of us going overseas together a not?", "Later your readers misunderstand us how?", "Or you can blog about the trip without showing my face" and the questions just go on and on -__- This is not the first time i'm traveling with girls what! So paranoid for what. Imagine i blog about this trip without her face, people think i go overseas alone, LOL #emo

After about 7 LONG HOURS on the coach, we finally reached Bukit Tinggi!

Honestly, i would never have thought such a place existed in Malaysia if Groupon didn't have this deal. I bet most people don't know too! Now I wonder if tour agency offers packages to Bukit Tinggi like how they offer packages to the more popular Genting highlands. Bukit Tinggi, now more known as Colmar Tropicale is situated high up in the mountain (like Genting) and it's designed like a french village - which is what interest me to go there for this getaway! Spam photos!

Here's how the entrance of Colmar Tropicale looks like. So well designed and almost unbelievable.

The architecture is so well done. every single building, every single detail and it totally doesn't feel like Malaysia at all. Every single corner is photo worthy and if you don't tell people you are in Malaysia, i bet they won't even know!

Once you step into the resort, you will be transported to a french town, like magic. TROLLLOLOLOL

That's our tour guide helping us to check in for our rooms. Even the lobby is decorated so nicely!

Our package consist of a 2D1N stay at Colmar Tropicale, 1 buffet dinner and 1 buffet breakfast!

The above is a overview of our room! Everything is decorated to fit the theme of a french village. The designs of the furniture, the lamps, the wallpaper, flooring, colour combination of everything. Seriously, what more can i ask for?

Lucky us even got a room with a balcony which had an overview of the street! Okay... Pink doors...

Grabbed a photo at the balcony and wasted no time unpacking. Spent about 3o mins and headed down to explore the street and the different attractions! After all, it's only 2D1N and we reached at about 3.30pm? Less than 24 hours!

What i really like about this place is the serene feeling because it's not very crowded and away from hectic SG life and of course, the weather! Because this place is situated high up in the mountains, it's super cooling just like in Genting!

Quite a number of stores along the street but didn't really have the time to go into each and everyone of them!

Beautifully decorated horse carriage but that's not focus of the above photo. Thank you.

There's also a few of these game stores which you can stand a chance to win soft toys! Spend about 10 bucks on the duck one (no skills required, not like the other games) but still never win anything! WHY LIKE THIS ONE!

Went up to the highest tower to have an overview of the whole town!

- Cannot think of an caption for the above photo so i'm not putting any - or maybe just "Hi?" LOL

Was feeling hungry so we decided to have a simple meal at one of the restaurant before exploring the resort!

Camwhore while waiting for our food!

While waiting for our food, there are actually entertainers that will go around the whole resort singing for you!

Roasted chicken with Mashed potato and baked beans for tea time! Nom om om

The thing about this Colmar Tropicale resort is not just about the french town. The whole place is actually divided into different areas (as shown in the map above) such as the Animal farm, Japanese village, Adventure park, Organic farm, Golf and Country club etc. But the main focus of this 2D1N trip would be the animal farm and Japanese village!

The "Shuttle bus" that brings you to the different areas of the resort (:

FIRST STOP: ANIMAL PARK!

There's like HUNDREDS OF RABBITS at the farm and deers get to roam around freely.

They even show the different growth stages from a rabbit from a baby till fully grown!

Bought food pellets at RM2 to feed the rabbits as there's this section where rabbits get to roam freely and visitors are allow to 'interact' with them and feed them! and of course, PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE BUNNIES!!

In real fact, most of the bunnies there won't really bother about you. It's like every single day, visitors like us are buying these pellets and putting them right in their face. I think they really quite sian of it already, LOL

YOU SEE THE BOWL UNDER MY HAND? It's already filled with food so why should they even bother eating off our hands, plus i don't think they are hungry. But i like this photo, the rabbit so cute and fluffy! So many of them!

The "Hey look, i'm feeding the rabbit and they are eating off my hand" pose. LOL

They struggle quite a bit (and they have long nails!) which explains my expression in the left photo. The right photo shows how kind and patient i am to animals *flicks hair* Don't worry bunny, you are in safe hands alright? LOLOL

Not easy getting these 2 nice shots above of us carrying the rabbit. Before this you will see 2 idiots chasing the rabbits, trying to lure them with food and grabbing them expectantly from behind and quickly smiling naturally. Phew.

Act-chio peacock roaming around freely. Refused to flaunt this majestic feathers, oh wells.

I think this is a mule or something. Maybe donkey? Honestly, i have no idea.

The white one bit my cardigan as i was posing for a photo so i decided to take photo with the brown one instead. Wait, or are they horses? Never mind, they all look the same to me anyway. THEY ARE UNICORNS!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL

Guinea pig and tortoise. What a weird combination.

Waited at the swing for the shuttle bus to bring us back to the resort. That's it for the animal park!

Made friends with another pair of friends who came for this trip with the exact same reason as us and they took this photo for us! (so qiao!) My tian, why does Angela look like she is resting her chin on my shoulders -_-

When i first saw these, i was like, "OMG. SWANS. REAL LIFE SWANS!!!" I think i never see real one before.

You can even touch or feed them! They are so majestic looking. Well, at least above the water. If you look directly at them, you can actually see their webbed feet. Like an ugly only, so better not see so closely. HAHAHAHAHA

The tour guide told us we are lucky because every weekend is BBQ buffet night so there will be someone BBQ-ing food for us on the spot on top of the usual buffet spread! Nothing to complain about the dinner since it's included! :D

BBQ chicken wings and prawns, mushroom soup and more! Love buffet because of the varieties!

Was thinking of calling it a day after dinner since we were so full but then our new friends suggested going down to the Berjaya Hills Golf and Country club to see if there's any activities we can go there. (Maybe archery or bowling?) So we decided not to waste our night at Bukit tinggi and took the shuttle bus down to try our luck! and we ended up...

At the bowling center. We had the whole place to ourselves so we could literally do anything we wanted. Even though of going up to the middle of the lane just to take photos! Our ball got stuck and there was no one to help us so we decided to walk down and take it ourselves. Like a no rules only, just leisurely cat walk down the aisle. LOL

By the time we got back to the resort, it was really late and the streets were quite empty. But still, there are people drinking and singing at the bar like there's no tomorrow. The night view of the town is really nice. What a place. Departure time back to SG was 12.30pm and we still have not explore the 2nd place we wanted to go which is the Japanese village so we had to wake up early the next day. Slept at about 2am, woke up at 8? Stay tuned for Day 2!


Day 1 | Day 2

Friday, August 10, 2012

Gardens by the Bay!

By the time you guys read this post, i bet about 50% of you guys would have visited the Gardens by the Bay by now since it's like one of the latest "attraction" in Singapore and it's quite accessible now that the circle line brings you all the way there. Decided to go take a look at the place during one of the weekends (Admission is free for the public!)
The famous avatar looking "Supertrees" They are there not just for decoration but they actually serve several purposes such as harnessing solar energy for the lighting! There's also this sky way for you to have a view of the garden.
Even though admission to the Gardens is free to the public, you have to buy tickets if you want to visit the 2 dome - Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. ($12 to visit 1 dome, $20 for both for local resident) The OCBC sky walk cost $5/pax.
Made a decision. Chose Cloud forest over Flower dome because the "route" seem nicer! ($12. Didn't want to pay another 8 bucks just to visit both, LOL) and also bought the OCBC Sky walk tickets! Totally damage was... $17!
This is what i meant by the "route". For the cloud forest, there is this designated path from the top for you to follow so as to explore the whole dome fully. I'm not really sure about the flower dome although from the outside, it doesn't seem to be as interesting as the Cloud forest. Maybe next time i go then i share again with you guys (:
Entrance to the Cloud Forest.
Upon entering the Cloud forest, you will be greeted by this HUGE waterfall! One thing that you will notice would be the change in temperature! You will feel like you stepped into a huge refrigerator, at some point of time, you might feel cold.
Everyone will definitely stop by the waterfall to take photos, crowding up the entrance!
Here's the recommended route for the Cloud Forest. If you are feeling super energetic, you can choose to go the opposite way and slowly make you way up the 'mountain' instead, then take the lift down at the end.
Right at the top of the dome. As you can see, it's quite crowded that day...
These are the metal walkway paths that guide you through the whole dome all the way down!

Beautiful flowers everywhere! I think these are the only 2 photos of flowers in this post. Honestly speaking, i think most people who visits Garden By the Bay have no intention of looking at the different species of flowers they have to offer, but they just want to checkout the place because it's a new "attraction". Well, at least that's for myself.
Enthusiastic photographers taking photos along the way.
It really feels like a different world in the dome. No wonder they say it's like in Avatar...
View of the waterfall from the top!
"The Lost World" is the last stop of the Cloud dome. The $12 was quite worth it!


Next up, we moved on the Supertrees for the OCBC Sky walk!
The thing is... We had to queue up for about an hour just to get up onto the sky way -_-
Apparently there is only 1 lift which can fit about maybe 6 people at one time up, and the queue is so long. So can you imagine the time we have to wait just to get up? After queuing up for about 20 mins (not even halfway!) and realizing the ticket is valid for a month, decided to give up and come another day. A lot of people just buy without realizing...
Captured this shot just in time as it was the NDP preview state flag fly past!
As the night comes, the super trees started to lit up, it was a pretty sight!
Now that i still have tickets for the sky way, i might consider going to the Gardens again at night just to see the night view! I heard and read that there's even light shows which is totally avatar-ish. I guess if you can't think of anything to do or have no where to go, you can drop by Gardens by the bay to checkout the place? :)