Last month, I embarked on a journey with six friends to
Singapore. We started our journey to the south around midnight on the 4th
of November 2011. The plan was to drive to JB, leave the car at my relatives’
house and take a bus to Singapore via Woodlands.
We reached JB at around 4.30am. Given a few hours left
before dawn, we rested for a bit. We took the bus from the brand spanking new
JB Sentral at 6.45am. This place is HUGE! I was a bit annoyed because to get to
the immigration counter, we had to walk quite a distance.
Prior to this trip, I’ve asked around for tips and what we’re supposed to do at
the immigration in Singapore. I have been warned that we had to RUN if we
want to catch the same bus that we took from JB. WE DID RUN but apparently not fast enough. Haha! No worries as busses are plenty and we only had to wait for
5-10 minutes for the next bus to arrive. We were travelling on shoe-string
budget thus, the public transport. It’s a hassle to purchase an RFID tag (similar to Malaysia’s SMART
Tag) and EZ Link Card (similar to Malaysia’s Touch N’ Go) if we were to travel by car.
From the immigration at Woodlands, the journey to Queen
Street bus station took about an hour. Our dormitory is on the Hong Kong
Street, around the Clarke Quay area. We had the option to take the MRT from
Woodlands but I figured, might as well take the bus right to the nearest stop
to our dormitory. From the Queen Street bus station, we were quite confused on
how to get to the dormitory. I planned to use Google Maps and walk or take the
bus to the dormitory but it didn’t occur to me that I would not be able to access
Google Maps once I’m in Singapore. SAY NO TO ROAMING CHARGES.
After coming to the conclusion that the bus system is
incomprehensible for tourists like us, we hopped on the MRT at Bugis station,
interchanged at Outram Park station and finally alighted at Clarke Quay
station. Phew! We could have easily reached the place in 10 minutes by foot but
we were not going to take any chances. Good thing the dormitory website provides an
accurate direction to the dormitory from the Clarke Quay station. The dormitory is 3-minute walk away from the MRT station. Pretty
convenient, huh?
Once we enter the RUCKSACK INN 2, we were greeted with a
flight of stairs and interesting graffiti on the walls. It was just 10 in the
morning and the journey kicked our asses. We dragged our tired butts up the stairs to
the reception area. The check-in time is at 2pm but we were allowed to leave
our belongings in the small room below the stairs, near the reception counter. Be warned that the room is
quite small and anybody has access to the area so, DO NOT leave your valuables
in there. The staff were so kind to let us use the bathrooms. They even served
us with cold water. Thank goodness! Well, it is JUST plain water but we were beyond exhausted and our throats were as dry as the Sahara by the time we got there. The excellent hospitality did relieve a little bit of our fatigue.
After resting for awhile, we made our way to Universal
Studios Singapore, the highlight of our trip. I’ll talk about it in another
post.
After having LOADS of fun in USS, we checked-in our rooms that night.
I, Piah and her sisters, Nirah and Qilah settled in the Nyonya room, the female dormitory. The boys, Rassi, Haponpon and Bobby settled in the Baba
room, the mixed dormitory. I did mention to the
boys that they will be staying in a mixed dorm but somehow they had this idea
that it’s an all-boys room. Imagine their surprise when there were girls in pyjamas
(read: SKIMPY CLOTHES) sharing their bunk beds. Your lucky day, boys! You're welcome. :p
I did not take any pictures of my room, though. Many
apologies. To sum it up, the room was clean, a little bit on the cramped side
but comfortable nonetheless. The air-conditioners are only switched-on for a
few hours during the night which is totally understandable because the
backpackers are usually out during the day. If you’re feeling warm in the room,
you can always head down to the common area where there are guitars, a flat screen, books and X-Box for your entertainment. I know! COOL! If you need to
get online, wifi signal is available throughout the dormitory. There are a few
PCs, connected to the internet at the common area and they are for free.
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| The drinks are for sale. I've been meaning to try the vitamin water. It tasted.. EH. |
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Bobby on the PC
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| Books! |
The bathroom. I love love love the bathroom. There is one shared
bathroom on each floor. There are a few shower rooms and toilets in the
bathroom. The bathroom is super clean, plus shampoos and shower gels are
complimentary! I didn't take any picture of the bathroom as well. SORRY!
The kitchen area is pretty neat too. Small but very functional. You can find one big dining table, a microwave and a toaster. Breakfast is complimentary. They have butter, peanut butter, jam and bread. You can help yourself to tea
or coffee as well.
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| Kitchen area. It is ALWAYS clean so make sure you clean up after yourselves. :) |
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| My ideal breakfast. |
This is my first time staying at a backpackers dormitory. I must say, Rucksack Inn 2 is a memorable first experience. If you feel that you are not comfortable sleeping with other backpackers, they offer double, triple and quad room too.
For all these how much did I pay for the room, you ask? $32/night! It’s a STEAL!!!
Oh, before I forgot. A word of advice to anyone who intends to stay at a backpacker dorm: PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER TRAVELLERS. We did run into one DIFFICULT occupier of our room. This person was so rude to us that the OTHER girls in the room apologised to us on her behalf. Well, if we live in an ideal world, everyone would be nice and polite but in reality, once in awhile our paths will cross with jerks and the likes so, patience is key.
In a nutshell, RUCKSACK INN ROCKS!!!! Big time. :)
