This is our second day in Singapore, and after the stressful first day that we had, we were quite excited for this day. We had 2 itineraries in mind for today, first would be to do the Singapore River Walk towards Merlion and then next would be our Sentosa and Universal Studios Singapore day! So with that in mind, we woke up at around 6:00am so that we would have an early start and not waste anytime. We left the hotel at around 7:00am and looked for a breakfast place first around the Bugis area. We wanted to try something different, something Singaporean..so we ended up in...Mcdonalds! Hahahaha! They have this Breakfast Wrap thing which is like a tortilla wrap and inside of it is either a Chicken Ham or a Chicken Sausage PLUS hash brown and egg. That is inside the wrap. It was yummy, very filling, and is now my favorite Mcdo Singapore food ever! J had the pancake meal..boring! Hahaha! I would have to say that this was probably one of the best Mcdo breakfast I have ever had.
After that very fulfilling breakfast, we headed off to explore the Singapore River area first. From Bugis Station, we boarded the East West line heading to Tuas Link but you have to get off the Raffles Place Station which is just 2 stations away from Bugis. Now, this is the tricky part. The Merlion is a bit of a walk from the MRT station, and, of course, we got a bit lost haha. But the walk is nice since a lot of scenery can be seen. You can also start the "Singapore River Walk" tour from here and you would be passing through a lot of tourist areas so that's a must do. The end point would be the Merlion Statue. So, here's our very own Singapore River Walk tour version, please bear with us because it was a bit chaotic when we were doing it on our own haha. And I would be placing the right way to walk towards Merlion after I tell you how we did it hahaha.
- From the Raffles Place MRT Station, exit at Exit H. You would see the Bank of China at the side as well as the Singapore River right in front of you haha.
- From there, you can take pictures of the river because it is a wonderful view, and just walk along the river until you see a bridge from afar which is the Cavenagh Bridge. Beside the bridge, you would also be seeing the majestic Fullerton Hotel. Take pictures again.
- Cross the Cavenagh Bridge and you would see the Dalhousie Obelisk and the Victoria Memorial Hall.
- Turn right and head towards the Anderson Bridge. At the bridge, there is an underpass crossing to the other side. That was where we got lost haha. We headed towards the underpass and we found ourselves in a huge park with no people. From here, you can see the Esplanade and the Marina Bay Sands.
- So we went back at the underpass and decided to cross the Anderson Bridge, which is the correct way.
- Just cross the bridge and you would see the One Fullerton from a distant. The Merlion is just beside it.
- Once you have crossed the bridge, you would find yourself at a wide cross road. You can cross the road to One Fullerton or you can opt to walk at the underpass towards One Fullerton. It's safer to pass under because when we passed at the pedestrian crossway, we had to run since it was a really wide highway full of speeding cars haha.
- And there you have it, the Merlion!
Below is the map representation of our version of the Singapore River Walk, just click on it to enlarge. I hope it's not as confusing as we went through haha.
Anyway, the Merlion Park is one of the must-see Singapore landmark and is a major tourist attraction. The Merlion Statue itself is an epic representation of Singapore. It is a mythical creature with a lion's head and a fish body. The body symbolises Singapore's beginnings as a fishing village and the head represents Singapore's original name, "Singapura" or "lion city". Two Merlion statues are located at the park, one is the original Merlion which is what you usually see in pictures and it stands at 8.6 meters sprouting water from its mouth, and the other is the smaller Merlion cub, standing at 2 meters, which is just nearby, also sprouting a small water from its mouth. Really cute. From here, you can see the view of Singapore River, the Esplanade, Marina Bay Sands, the Helix Bridge, the float at marina bay sands, The Arts and Science Museum, and Makansutra Gluttons Bay. You can opt to walk across the Jubilee Bridge to get at Gluttons Bay and explore further towards Helix Bridge and across the Marina Bay Sands but we just didn't have the time to do all that. Suffice to say, we were contented with just taking pictures of the surrounding scenery and the amazing Merlion. And here are a few of those pictures.
After a lot of picture taking and gaping at the Merlion and the view itself, we decided to get on the MRT to get to our next destination, and my favorite destination in Singapore: Universal Studios Singapore! We took a different route to get back to the MRT station, which I think is the better and faster route haha. Anyway, from the Merlion Park, just follow the river towards One Fullerton and towards the Fullerton Hotel and pass those buildings. Just go straight until you see the Clifford Pier, pass tat area, you will see an overpass going towards the One Raffles Place and the HSBC building. We just took the overpass, and voila, we found ourselves at Chevron House and across it is the One Raffles Place. Between these buildings is the Entrance/Exit A of the Raffles Place MRT Station. We boarded from there to get to Sentosa/USS. See the map below to see where we walked towards the MRT station.
Here's the more complete and legit way to do the Singapore River Walk, this is our original itinerary and we compiled this from various blog suggestions, hopefully, we can revisit Singapore and do this, but for now, I hope you guys can do this for us:
- Exit at Exit A of the Raffles Place MRT. Look for the Chevron House.
- Enter Chevron House through the Change Alley. This is an alley full of shops and cafes. You can do some shopping here.
- At the end of Change Alley is Collyer Quay. Follow the road until you see the Fullerton Hotel. Cross the street towards the hotel.
- Enter the atrium of the Fullerton Hotel and go to the basement and take the underpass to go to the other side of the street, which is the One Fullerton.
- To the left is the Merlion Park. Enjoy the Merlion statue and the views all around.
- From the Merlion Park, you can see the "durian-shaped" building across the river which is the Esplanade. To get there, walk under the Esplanade Bridge (flowery bridge) and go on until you see the Anderson Bridge.
- Cross the Anderson Bridge, walk on the underpass of the bridge, and then walk towards the Esplanade Park. Here, you can also see the Victoria Theater and the Supreme Court of Singapore if you explore the area.
- To the left is the Asian Civilisations Museum. Walk towards the Esplanade, just follow the river.
- Walk further until you reach the Makansutra Gluttons Bay, which is a row of food stalls. Rest up and eat!
- There's a boardwalk near along the river which you can walk to towards Marina Bay Sands. Just follow the river again.
- Once you reach a cool looking bridge, that's the Helix Bridge. Cross to the other side.
- At the end of the bridge is the base of the Marina Bay Sands.
- You can opt to explore the Marina Bay Sands or just follow the signs leading to the Gardens By The Bay on the other side of the Marina Bay Sands. Near the Gardens by the Bay is an Marina Bay MRT Station, so you can alight there if you don't want to go all the way back to the Raffles Place MRT Station.
The Merlion Park and the Singapore River as a whole is quite tiring to do. It involves a lot of walking and a lot of getting lost. But in the end, once you see that beautiful stretch of river and the looming Merlion, it's all worth it. We really enjoyed the park and because of that, we planned to go back in the evening so that we could see the Merlion with lights on. Anyway, before that, just click onwards for our Sentosa Island and Universal Studios Singapore adventure!
yes very nice and the people are very disciplined. thanks for visiting our blog!
ReplyDeleteSingapore is a place that you can't resist to visit.
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