We decided to stay at the Bugis Area because, according to other blogs we read, it's the largest street-shopping location in Singapore. Plus, the hotels around the area are cheaper. We reserved a room for two at the Beach Hotel which, I think costs around less than 3000php for 3 days, but I just couldn't remember the exact price. The Beach Hotel is situated at the junction of Beach Road and Liang Seah Street, which is within the "Food District" of Singapore, and it is just a 2-minute walk from the Bugis MRT. So from Changi Airport, we headed straight to Bugis to check-in, leave our bags, and finally, explore Singapore!
HOW TO GO TO BUGIS FROM CHANGI AIRPORT:
- Take the East West Line (Green Line) of Changi Airport.
- 2 stops after alight at Tanah Merah station.
- Go west bound (line heading to Joo Koon) and alight at Bugis MRT Station which is 8 stops from Tanah Merah
From the MRT, you can walk towards Beach Hotel but it's a bit confusing especially if it's your first time there since the area is pretty large. But it's also not that tiring to walk because you get to see a lot of things while walking around. However, in our circumstance, we needed to walk very fast because when we got off the MRT, the sky was really dark and it looks like it was going to rain. And sure enough, it did, so we had to run all the way towards Beach Hotel pulling our luggages, we really looked crazy hahaha. So that's our first mishap in Bugis, and there's another to come! But first, here's how to get to Beach Hotel from the Bugis MRT (according to Google Maps):
- Exit the Bugis MRT Station thru Victoria St, just follow the signs or check the map located in the MRT station, very convenient as to know where to exit.
- Once you find the exit at Victoria St., turn right towards Rochor Road. You will know it's towards Rochor Road if you see the Bugis Junction up ahead, go towards it.
- At the corner, turn left at Rochor Road. Then just walk straight ahead, about 500meters.
- When you see the Beach Road, turn right at that road and walk straight ahead.
- Turn right at Liang Seah St. and just at the corner is Beach Hotel. You would know you're in Liang Seah if you see a number of dimsum restaurants and a huge ramen buffet restaurant and if I'm not mistaken, the name of the restaurant is Zhong Hua Steamboat. Beside it is the entrance to Beach Hotel. Check out the pictures below of the direction we walked to to get to Beach Hotel.
So yeah, it was an easy walk, unfortunately, it started to rain pretty hard when we were on the Beach Road area so we had to run all the way towards Beach Hotel so you could see it's a bit of a long run. So when we got to the hotel, we were just really excited to check-in, freshen up a bit, rest for a little while. But then, the second mishap happened. When we got to the reception area, the lady there told us that they had to give away our reserved room because we weren't answering our phone when they were calling us to confirm our arrival. They. Gave. Away. Our. Room. Of course, we couldn't answer our phones because we were at Kuala Lumpur when they were calling us and our phones were placed in airplane mode to avoid extra charges. And to top it all off, they had no more available rooms for us to check into. WHAT! The next available room would be a day from now. WTH! Let me just inform you, when we reserved the room, they didn't charge us any reservation fee so the room was not yet paid, but the hassle of knowing that you have no room to stay in, in a foreign place, it is just a really stressful situation. Add the really hard pouring rain outside and it's triple the stressful situation. Fortunately, the lady at the reception desk was a bit helpful, she called the hotel beside them if they still have available rooms, and luckily, they have a room for two available for today. So we just had to transfer to the other hotel, however, the rain was really really pouring really hard so we had to wait a good 30minutes to an hour at the Beach Hotel entrance just so we could transfer to the 85 Beach Garden Hotel located beside it. Good thing we still had 1 Mcdo burger from KL to munch on while waiting. So, finally, after about an hour, the rain let down a bit and we hastily transferred to 85 Beach Garden Hotel. And then, another good luck on our side, the room rate was cheaper (but I couldn't remember how much), so instead of staying just one night and then transferring back to Beach Hotel, we opted to stay here for the whole 4 days of our stay in Singapore. The room was small, like really small, from the entrance there's a queen size bed and then right beside it is the CR already, separated by only a thin glass door hahaha. And then beside the room door is the sink and the TV, that's it. Very very basic, but still, it has aircon, cable TV, and a slow wifi so it was OK for us.
After all those unfortunate events, we were still feeling very blessed because of this wonderful trip to Singapore. So after freshening up and resting a bit, we headed off to explore Bugis and other areas of Singapore, which is a bit of a mishap still hahaha so read on for more!
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