Work Trip to Singapore - 19 & 20 November 2008

I've travelled for work for many different reasons but this is my first time "cheperoning" a school group on a trip! Worse yet, I was pretty much by myself as my colleague, Shamini, who was supposed to be with me on this trip had to pull out at the 11th hour due to an emergency!!

The group comprised of 8 students and 2 teachers from SM Sains Machang, Kelantan, who were the 2nd prize winner of a competition we had run earlier this year, and a representative of the state's Education Department. The entire group had arrived on 19 November, a day before the actual trip for their briefing.

That's me doing the briefing.. And, that's the group..

The entire group stayed over at The Zon (serviced apartments), myself included. Jasmin stayed over too as she was going to accompany and see us off at the airport the next morning. We were to meet at the lobby at 6.00am!

Jasmin chillin' in our room at The Zon.

We woke up the next morning to heavy rain but it definitely didn't dampen the spirits of the kids who were very excited. This was the first trip ever to Singapore for all 8 kids and they were SO looking forward to it!

Jasmin & Rafidah who came to see us off..

What a coincidence - the featured language on the Malaysia Airlines inflight magazine was Kelantanese.. Don't know where we were flying over, but it sure looked pretty!

We landed in Singapore to good weather despite hearing otherwise. Took a while to clear immigration as the teachers & kids were all travelling on a group passport but once they got out, they were all smiles.

After clearing immigration..

We were all pretty hungry, so, our first stop was to have lunch. Lunch was at Hajah Maimunah's in Geylang that served Padang (Indonedian)food and man.... it was great! No, it wasn't just because I was hungry, it was really delicious..

After the great meal, we were off for our city tour and our first stop was at the Kampong Glam (no, Glam in this case is not short for glamour!)/Arab Street area.

The Kampong Glam Palace..

This is the Glam or Gelam tree, after which the area is named as it was full of these trees once upon a time. The tree is very similar to the eucalyptus tree and has similar cleansing/disinfecting properties as the Tea Tree, both commonly found in Australia.

Below are pix of the Sultan Mosque where the group had visited and performed their prayers.

Old & New.. The Sultan Mosque againsts a new, modern building.. The mosque in all its splendour..

Some interesting things seen around the area..

After that we made our way to the Merlion Park..

The famous Raffles Hotel seen here all "dressed up" for Christmas..

The Merlion..

This is the tallest sculpture in Singapore called "Momentum"..

After the Merlion Park we headed to our hotel, Furama City Centre Hotel, to check in and have a bit of "down time".

My room..

The great view from my room.. I'd meant to take a pix of the view at night, especially of the Flyer all lit up but...

After resting for a couple of hours, we set out to have dinner at this place called Zam Zam.

The specialities at this place are their variety briyani rice and murtabak. I had the murtabak, which I thought was no where near as good as the ones in Penang, especially at Hameediyah's!

After dinner, we headed to the Night Safari. Not many pix here as we weren't allowed to use our flash. I's already been here before and knew what to expect. Still, it was nice sitting on the tram as we went through the park looking at all the different animals and watching the "Creatures of the Night" show.
The group at the Night Safari..
Taken at Orchard Road, which was already all decorated for Christmas..

We got back to the hotel at almost 10.00pm. I was really tired but had to stay up to wait for my colleague Rafidah's arrival. Rafidah would join us on our official visit to the Singapore Science Centre the next day but would leave after the visit. She finally arrived at the hotel at about 12.30am and after settling her in, I passed out 'coz I was so tired...