After our forth different breakfast on the final morning at our hostel (spicy omlete)we decided to skip the local bus for 3 Ringgit and take a Grab taxi. It would take us 10 minutes rather than 45 plus. We would normally take the cheapest option ... local bus, however this time Grab was the cheapest. We used a new user discount voucher and the total journey came to 1 Ringgit (20p).
The journey was quick so we arrived early. This gave us enough time to explore Tesco and buy some snacks plus visit the Aeon Mall to use the post office.
We changed our mobile ticket for a boarding pass at Melaka Central and we paid the 70c terminal fee. We waited patiently for our bus. The terminal screen showed all of the buses arriving but ours wasn't displayed. We tried to confirm with the staff if the bus was coming but they didn't seem too concerned and told us to wait. The bus did arrive but it never made an appearance on the screen.
It was a 27 seater with massage seats that were huge. The massage seats didn't seem to work but the seats were very comfortable. The driver drove relatively fast but stopped for regular comfort breaks about every hour of this 4 hour journey. Well, we thought it was 4 hours! We arrived at the immigration post for Malaysia, we left the bus passed through in 2 mins and off we went again. We next travelled quickly in the bus through 'no man's land' before being told to grab all of our belongings for x-ray as this was the Border post for Singapore.
Inside there were huge queues. It appeared we had entered just at the wrong time and stood before us were soooo many Chinese tour groups! We had to queue behind them for over an hour. Once we finally made it to the front we were stamped entry to Singapore. Next we went to find our bus. There was a big bus parking lot outside but no bus. We checked every one but no bus! Eventually we spotted a man also from our bus and he couldn't find it either.
Panic!
Well not exactly, but our bus had indeed left. However, we found another one from the same company and climbed aboard. They were going to the same destination and it appears this is totally normal and happens all of the time. Our journey across the bridge to Singapore continued. We travelled past many of the Singapore attractions. Marina Bay Hotel ( the big ship skyscraper), Gardens by the Bay etc, etc, etc
We arrived at Beach Road, our final destination after about 6 hours. This meant a small change of plan. Instead of walking around a few of the attractions as we had planned, we just had time to eat! We had changed our remaining Ringitt for 5 Singapore dollars, about £3. This was enough to buy 2 chicken rice meals at the busiest restaurant we found, located just across the road from the bus stop.
Now with all our money spent, we headed to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) station, Lavender, by walking the streets of Singapore. We thought the best way to get a ticket would be at a small ticket office. However, we were in for a surprise. We were expecting to buy the tickets on an ATM card, as being as advanced as Singapore, we expected this would be easy. Wrong! First the ticket office didn't actually sell single tickets and second, cards were not accepted for single ticket purchases.
We had to take money from the ATM, but double what we needed as this was the minimum withdrawal. This meant we were stuck with an extra 5 dollars. So, what we decided to do was eat again! We ordered Chinese dumplings, cups of tea tarik and a bowl of noodles. Delicious!
The MRT station was easy to navigate, fast and efficient. We navigated the change of lines easily and arrived at Changii airport, the best airport in the world! We had a long wait as our flight was 2 am the next day, so we explored the butterfly garden, rode the SkyTrain between T2 and T3 several times to view the world's largest indoor waterfall and went to the movies for free. Singapore has 2 free movie theatres and one was showing Mary Poppins 2. It was ok but not as good as the original.
When the movie had finished we made our way to our gate, boarded the plane and were off on our 11 hour Scoot flight to Athens.
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