We meet again, Singapore! I was so happy to have a chance to visit Singapore again, this time not as a tourist but an academic presenter at a conference in Nanyang Technological University. My prior trips to Singapore consists of quick layovers and visits to specific areas, such as Little India and Chinatown. Singapore could be that small if you are a traveler intending to visit the usual tourist spots in Singapore. Also, some people see Singapore as nothing but a typical urban jungle. But behold, Singapore is more than that! And since I got an ample time to go around Singapore this time, I did a proper research. There’s just a lot Singapore could offer to a solo traveler like me –from museums to hawker centres to historical sites and artsy colorful places to modern structures. Yes, Singapore is more than Marina Bay Sands and the Merlion. This time I fell in love with Singapore and I want to actually experience living here. Keep on scrolling to see a snippet of my time in Singapore.
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD! I literally have zero sleep this particular day because I took a red-eye flight from Manila to Singapore, but a morning walk, a good local breakfast, and a cup of coffee will already do to energize me for the day. After all, I don’t have enough time to rest because I need to attend the conference at 9AM. I took a walk at the neighborhood as I enjoy the sights and sounds of Singapore.
THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINES AT 7-ELEVEN SINGAPORE. I walked inside a 7-Eleven store to buy some bottled water, and to my surprise, I saw that this 7-Eleven store is selling The Economist magazines! I’m not really sure, but in the 7-Eleven stores in Philippines, you will only find men’s magazine, teen magazine, and broadsheets, of course. Can we sell magazines like this so that the population can have more (senseful) options to read?
NORTH BRIDGE ROAD MARKET AND FOOD CENTRE. I love local markets and I love watching the morning hustle of the people in places I visit. Upon doing a simple Google search on the nearest hawker centre near me, the results led me to this very busy hawker centre along North Bridge Road. Just like any other hawker centres in Singapore, there’s just a lot to choose from and most of them offer some local food. It took me two full rounds of scanning all the stalls to finally decide what to eat for breakfast.
NASI LEMAK STALL. This stall was the winner for that day! I saw the label ‘nasi lemak’ which is a personal favorite of mine so I finally decided to order food from the stall. I had a very minimal trouble communicating because there was a lot of side dish to choose from.HAWKER CENTRE STAFF CLEANING TABLES. It is always a “clean as you go” policy in hawker centres in Singapore, but you can either not expect everyone to do it, or there might be more leftovers on the table after customers leave, that’s why there were people going around to clean the tables for the next customers.
MY BREAKFAST: NASI LEMAK. I have of course tried Nasi Lemak in Malaysia and Brunei, but this Nasi Lemak (and all the succeeding nasi lemak I ate after this) are just different. But basically, nasi lemak is a rice meal with chicken, typically with sambal sauce. Different stores have just customized their nasi lemak. But for this one I ate, it has some bitter gourd with scrambled eggs and some pancit on the side. Yum!
MORNING COFFEE AT THE HANGAR. I just can’t decide whether or not to get coffee at the hawker centre but I ended up leaving the hawker centre and walk back to the area near my hostel to see if there are open coffee shops already. A quick Google search led me to The Hangar, a Melbourne-style hipster coffee shop at Arab Street. I ordered some coffee and sat there as I kill time before I take the train for the conference opening at NTU.
A BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK FEATURING SINGAPORE’S COLORFUL SPOTS. Paintings like this that says something about the place and super colorful enough for my aesthetic always capture my heart. If only I can buy this and take it home, I would. Restaurants all over the world, please feature more local artworks from local artists, please!
SNAPSHOTS: ASIA Trailer
SNAPSHOTS: ASIA PHOTO ESSAY #6: BREAKFAST AT SINGAPORE (PIN IT! )
Direct flights to Southeast Asia may have been limited before, but more routes have been opening to so many destinations connecting the East and the West every now and then. Flights to Brunei Darussalam, for instance, are increasing, hence Bruneians and other travelers have more options on where to go next. Brunei has direct flights to six (6) Southeast Asian countries. As part of my passion project to help travelers have a seamless navigation experience around Southeast Asia, I am writing a series of flight guides to help you have the best travel experience in this beautiful region of the world. The first of this series is this comprehensive article guide about direct flights from Brunei Darussalam.
DIRECT FLIGHTS TO SOUTHEAST ASIA: FLIGHTS TO BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
Are you currently in Brunei and planning your next Southeast Asian destination? But wait, I do hope you were able to visit this beautiful places during your stay in Brunei:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-KUL): 2 hours and 20-25 minutes
Kuala Lumpur is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam, because of the presence of low-cost carrier AirAsia.
Airlines that fly directly from Brunei to Kuala Lumpur:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-MNL): 2 hours and 35 minutes
Manila is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam, because of the presence of low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific.
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-SIN): 2 hours and 5 minutes
Singapore is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam, because of the presence of many routes by its flag carrier Singapore Airlines.
Airlines that fly directly from Brunei to Singapore:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-BKK): 2 hours and 45 minutes
Bangkok is known to have a lot of direct flights to Southeast Asia destinations, including flights to Brunei Darussalam. It is also a good transit point to many Southeast Asian destinations.
Airline that flies directly from Brunei to Bangkok:
Non-Stop Flight Time (BWN-SGN): 1 hour and 55 minutes
One of the nearest destinations to Brunei outside Borneo, Ho Chi Minh city also operates a lot of flights to Brunei Darussalam and other destinations to Southeast Asia
Airline that flies directly from Brunei to Ho Chi Minh City:
See? I told you there is a lot of flights from Brunei Darussalam! There are so many direct flights to Southeast Asia and direct flights from Brunei is just one of the many destinations to choose from. Are you ready to draft your ultimate Southeast Asian itinerary covering these amazing destinations and hop on that plane to take one of the next direct flights from Brunei?
