Singapore2007

MALAYSIA and SINGAPORE 2007

2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009

OUR SCHEDULE

DAY ONE:

Nakonsithammarat - Kuala Lumpur

DAY TWO:

Kuala Lumpur - Johur Bahru

DAY THREE:

Johur Bahru - Singapore

DAY FOUR:

Singapore - Kuala Lumpur

DAY FIVE:

Kuala Lumpur - Genting Highlands

DAY SIX:

Genting Highlands - Nakonsithammarat (and bed)

DAY ONE 30/9/07

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

At around midnight students and staff started arriving at the English Program ready for the 2007 Three Nations Study Trip to Malaysia and Singapore. We were due to leave the school at the 3am which would give us enough time so that we would be at the Malaysian border as it opened. Our coaches for the first leg of our trip arrived at about 2:30am and the excitement started to rise. All the students were put into their groups and names accounted for. Our baggage was loaded onto the coaches and after a short wait for some students who arrived a little late, we began our journey at 3:30. We knew that we had to change coaches in Hatyai so we played games and sang songs to pass the time during the 2 hour journey down to Hatyai. The time passed quickly because we were all really excited and soon we pulled into a service station and transferred onto the 2 Malaysian coaches that were to be our transport for the next 6 days. The drivers and their staff moved all the bags from our coaches onto the Malaysian coaches. Then we were on our way!

We had two Thai and two Malaysian tour guides that were to stay with us for the full duration of our trip. We set off from the service station and half an hour later we were at the Dan Nok (Thai) border post getting our passports stamped with an exit pass allowing us to leave Thailand and head south. We drove through the 2km 'no man's land' separating Thailand and Malaysia and arrived at the Malaysian border. Here we had to take all of our bags off the coach and walk through the Malaysian immigration. Our guides had already told us a little about Malaysia so we were looking forward to entering another country. Soon all of our passports had been stamped and once we had reloaded our bags and boarded the coaches we were on our way. Some of us were very tired by now and we wanted to sleep but we couldn't because our teachers had activities for us to do. After many songs and games we were allowed to sleep a little as we had a long journey ahead of us.

'Wake up, wake up!' was the next thing we heard as we pulled into Ipoh for our lunch. The coaches pulled up outside a Chinese restaurant and we all got off the coaches, stretched our legs and walked inside for a Chinese lunch. The meal was quite nice and as soon as we finished it, we got back on the coaches to continue our journey down to Kuala Lumpur where we would spend our first night. Although Thailand and Malaysia are neighbours, it was interesting for us because there were many things different to Thailand that we saw. The cars, the countryside and many other things were not the same as we know in our country.

PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS and KUALA LUMPUR

After a few more hours on the coach we could see that there were more cars on the road and we knew that we were coming into Kuala Lumpur. The first thing we noticed was all of the tall buildings and then we saw the most famous building in Kuala Lumpur, the Petronas Towers. Our coaches made their way through the heavy traffic and we stopped outside the Petronas Towers as we were given time to look around, do some shopping and take photos. Inside the Petronas Towers there is a large shopping centre so most of us walked around looking at all the shops. They were nice but very expensive. Soon it was time to meet up again and our guides took us across the road to anther Chinese restaurant where we ate dinner. After our dinner we boarded the coaches again for the short drive to the hotel that we were staying at, the Grand Continental Hotel. We soon arrived at the hotel, collected our bags and in our groups sat in the hotel lobby while our guides checked in for us. When they had checked in for us, we were all given our room keys and because we were all very tired, we showered and went to sleep.

DAY TWO 01/10/07

ALICE SMITH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

We had to be up early today so that we would have enough time to eat our breakfasts and be 'on the road' to arrive at the Alice Smith International School on time. Our breakfasts were very nice and once we had eaten we put our bags onto the coaches and sat down for our trip to the Alice Smith International School, Putraya Jaya and then onto Johur Baru where we were to be spending the night. We set off and at 8:30am we arrived at the Alice Smith International School and were greeted by the Principal, Richard Dyer and some of his staff. The school campus was huge, much bigger than Kanlayanee and it looked really nice too. We were led into an auditorium and given a welcome speech and told a bit about the school. A few of the school's prefects were there and they were to be our guides for the morning by showing us around and telling us more about the school. We went around in groups visiting the various departments and looking at some of the facilities they had on offer for their students. The students we met were really nice and friendly and some of us wanted to go and study there too! After our tour of the school, some of the Kanlayanee students put on a small performance for some of the students and staff at the Alice Smith School. This included playing some Thai musical instruments and was followed by a short demonstration of traditional Thai dancing. We managed to get some of the host students dancing and had it not been for the time, we would have got the Alice Smith School principal up too! After some refreshments we noticed that time had passed too quickly for us and soon we had to say goodbye to our hosts and board the coaches once again to continue our trip.

Unfortunately, it was raining very hard this day so our trip to Putraya Jaya was postponed and we continued down the highway towards Johur Baru. We stopped a couple of times to allow us to go to the toilet and stretch our legs. Our time on the coaches was filled by singing songs, taking part in quizzes and playing other games organized by our teachers. The day passed very quickly and soon we were sitting down having our dinner again. Guess what? Yes, Chinese food again. We ate our meals and soon we were back on the coaches driving through the gates of The Zon Hotel in Johur Baru. This hotel is built next to some water and across the water you can see the island of Singapore, where we would be going the following day. We didn't really do much this day because of the weather but we knew that the next day was going to be both busy and also a lot of fun. We were looking forward to visiting Singapore.

DAY THREE 02/10/07

SINGAPORE, THE MERLION & SENTOSA

Another early morning! We woke up early today as we knew we had a busy day ahead of us. We had our breakfasts in the hotel's restaurant and when we had finished, we met up in the lobby ready for the day ahead. Once we had all been accounted for, we boarded the coaches and headed towards the Malaysian border, only a few kilometres away. When we arrived at the Malaysian border we all got off the coaches and had our passports stamped with an exit stamp allowing us to leave Malaysia. We then drove across the causeway connecting the two countries and soon arrived at the Singapore customs checkpoint. Here, like we had to do when we entered Malaysia, we had to take all of our bags off the coach and walk them through the customs. We all got our passports stamped and we were in Singapore! We boarded the coaches again and drove towards the Central Business District (CBD). We hit rush hour so the traffic was quite bad making our journey a little slow in places but we enjoyed looking at all the new sights. Our first stop was the 'People's Park' shopping complex in the Chinatown area. Here we changed some money and did a little shopping. When we had finished here we again got on the coaches and visited the Merlion which is Singapore's emblem. We took lots of photos here as it was a really nice place and it showed that we were actually in Singapore. We spent about one hour here before getting back on the coaches for the short trip to Sentosa.

We had already heard about Sentosa from the students that went to Singapore last year. They had said that it was a really nice place so we were really looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. We were taking a cable car across and soon the coaches pulled up at the cable car station. We all got off the coaches and queued up to get onto the cable car for the scenic journey across to Sentosa. Some of us were really scared because the cable car was really high ... but it was good fun and we got a good view of the area. The trip across takes about 5 minutes and soon we were actually standing on Sentosa. Sentosa island is like a large theme park which has lots of rides and attractions for visitors to do and see. The first place we went to was 'Images of Singapore', a place where you can learn about the history of Singapore. Next we went to the 4D cinema where we saw a 4D pirate movie complete with sound, wind and even water. It was really good. After the 4D cinema we went on 'The Luge', a downhill ride on which you have to drive a little sledge on wheels. It was fast, scary, exciting and good all at the same time. We all loved it. We went to other places during the afternoon and in the evening we all went to sea 'Songs of the Sea', a musical show complete with water and fireworks. It was really interesting for us and we all love Oscar now. The day had been very busy but soon came to an end and it was time to get on the coaches again for the journey to the hotel we would be staying at, The Orientus Resort. We later arrived at our hotel for the night, checked in and as there was a big swimming pool there, some of us went swimming while others, tired after the day's activities opted to sleep.

DAY FOUR 03/10/07

MUSTAFFA BROTHERS & PUTRAYA JAYA

We woke early again as today we would see a little more of Singapore and then begin our journey back towards Thailand. After breakfast we boarded the coaches again and drove to Mustaffa Brothers shop in Singapore. We soon arrived and we all went shopping buying souvenirs for our friends and family. The shop was good because it sold everything but the prices were quite high compared to Thailand. Once we had finished here we boarded the coaches and started off towards Kuala Lumpur where we would be spending that night. Going through the Malaysian customs was now quite easy for us and soon we were back in Malaysia traveling up the highway. It's quite a long journey from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and the trip was spent playing games, singing and sleeping when we could.

It was a nice day today soo it was decided that we would visit Putraya Jaya which is on the way to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived in the afternoon and were surprised at how clean the area was. There were no electricity wires or rubbish and the place looked really nice. We took lots of photos, looked at the mosque and some of us ate ice-cream. We spent some time here, just walking around enjoying the area and at around 4pm we boarded the coaches and continued on towards Kuala Lumpur. We stooped off at the Selangor horse racing track and we had our dinner in a restaurant in the main building. Chinese food again and it was very nice! When we had finished our dinner, we got back on the coaches and went back to the Grand Continental Hotel (where we stayed the first night) and checked in and because we were all tired - slept!

DAY FIVE 04/10/07

GENTING HIGHLANDS

Yet another early morning, but a good one because today we are going to Genting, a famous resort a couple of hours away from Kuala Lumpur. It was a 6, 7 & 8 again today meaning that we wake up at 6, have breakfast at 7 and leave on the coach at 8. When we left in the coach we had a tour of Kuala Lumpur going to places such as the Royal Palace and Merdican Square which is home to the tallest flagpole in Asia or maybe even the world. We took lots of photos and headed off to Genting, stopping off at a chocolate factory (yummy!) and a duty free shop where some of us bought some gifts to take home. Soon we were climbing up the curvy hills of the highlands and we could barely see at times because it was very misty. We came to a restaurant, yes, Chinese (again) and here we ate our lunch. After lunch we boarded the coaches and drove to one of the longest cable cars in the world. We collected our bags and lined up to board the cable car that was to take us to Genting. Each car could only carry 6 people so it took a little time for us all to get to the top but the views on the way up were really nice. The trip in the cable car takes about 15 minutes and you travel 3 and a half kilometres. At the top, the first thing we noticed was how cold it was. Luckily we had been warned about the temperatures so we all had coats on. We walked to the 4* Resort Hotel, checked in and put our bags in our rooms. Then we met up with our guides and they took us to the outdoor amusement park. Once we had entered nearly all the rides were free and we were left on our own to enjoy ourselves. We all had a great time exploring the park and going on the exciting rides. Because Genting is so high, we were at times in the clouds and sometimes you could only see about 10 metres in front of yourself. In the evening we all moved into the indoor amusement park and spent many happy hours in there. We love Genting!

DAY SIX 05/10/07

THE JOURNEY HOME

Our last day. We have a long journey to make today so we woke up early again. We had all had a very long and tiring day yesterday and none of us wanted to wake up. We knew we had to so we did and then went to eat breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. We ate a lot, went back to our rooms, collected our bags and we all met up in the hotel lobby. When we were all accounted for, we made our way back to the cable car and from there back down the mountain to our waiting coaches. We put our bags onto the coaches and then boarded them for our long journey home. As soon as we got on the coach we wanted to sleep and sleep but our teachers would not let us! They said that we were on a study trip and that we have to practice and learn English! Anyway, we knew it was good for us so we again sang songs and played more games. Luckily the teachers knew that we were very tired and later they let us sleep a little. We stopped at Butterworth for our lunch and guess what? Thai food!! It was very nice. After our lunch we continued up the highway to Dan Nok border station and the big duty free shop there. Here we spent what Singapore Dollars and Malaysian Ringgit we had left. We stayed here for just over an hour before leaving for Hatyai where we changed coaches, said goodbye to our guides and continued on back to Kanlayanee. Our parents were waiting for us and they took us home where we told them all about our trip to Malaysia and Singapore.

Photo Album HERE