Michi Photostory

I already knew that my husband will be going to Singapore last month so I already take note all the stuff that I wanted him to buy for me in IKEA. If you remember, I also did this when he went to Thailand. Hehehe!

 August is also my birthday month and for the last 14 years, I've been celebrating my birthday with my ex-boyfriend now husband. But now that he is always out of the country, I was so worried that he won't be home so when August came, I immediately told him, "Bawal absent sa birthday ko, kundi marriage is over. Lololol! "

He just laughed at me but fast forward to my birthday, dahil bawal ang absent, sinama na lang niya kami. Life is full of surprises because we all went to Singapore.


When I saw the schedule of my son and they only have activities for the whole week (Feast Week) so no lessons. So the following day, my husband decided that we will go with him. He bought plane tickets three days before our trip and because of that, I have a very limited time in making our itinerary + packing our stuff. We only have 4 days to enjoy Singapore because we chose the last flight on Day 1 para 3 days lang absent ng aking anak.


I was cramming to finish our itinerary. This will be the 4th time (hubby), 3rd time (me) and 2nd time (son) in Singapore so I listed down the places that we haven’t tried and visited yet but my son wanted to visit zoos. This was my itinerary, not the usual itinerary but I have a kid in tow so even it is my birthday celebration, pang kids pa rin ang pupuntahan. Hehehe!

Day 1 Arrival in Singapore 
Day 2 Singapore Zoo + IKEA Alexandra 
Day 3 River Safari + Night Safari 
Day 4 Jurong Bird Park + Wonder Full Show 
Day 5 Gardens by the Bay 
           Back to Manila 

But of course, the itinerary is just a guide, marami pwedeng magbago so I'm sharing with you, our 5 Days Trip in Singapore.

Day 1 Manila to Singapore 

We fetched our son in school and we went straight to the Park N Fly and airport


Travel Tax

I walked to travel tax counter to pay the travel tax (Ethan + Me), I was holding P2630 and I was surprised when the staff told me that I need to pay P2430. Wow, I just read the news last July 26 that they are planning to remove or reduce the travel tax, may nagbago agad. There is no more P200 processing fee for RTT (Reduced Travel Tax). #changeiscoming

Manila to Singapore via Philippine Airlines 

We arrived at Changi Airport past 11PM. No more Sky Train ride because we're already in Terminal 1. We got our luggage, withdrew cash and we took taxi. Finally checked in at Sheraton Towers Singapore.


Read: Sheraton Towers Singapore

Day 2 River Safari 

For directions, I used gothere.sg. I was checking our directions and I was a bit nervous when I learned that we need to ride a bus. We haven’t ridden public buses in SG so I was hesitant at first but since we are budget travelers, we need to take trains and buses.

EZ Link Card vs Singapore Tourist Pass

The train station is just 2-3 minutes walk away from Sheraton Towers.

Two years ago, we availed of the Singapore Tourist Pass at SGD10 per day but after our trip, we were not able to maximize the SG Tourist Pass. Sayang! So now I decided to use EZ Link Card because when I computed the fare, we will not reach SGD5 per day.

SGD12 (SGD5 card cost and SGD7 value) + SGD10 load x 2 = SGD 44. My son is 7 years old so adult rate na rin. You can use the card for train, bus, taxi, shopping, vending machines and many more. The EZ Link card is valid for 5 years so we can use it again if ever we will go back to SG or souvenir na lang kung hindi. Hehehe!

We took train + bus on our way to Singapore Zoo. Do not worry because the last stop of the bus is the zoo.

Park Hopper Plus vs Regular Zoo Entrance Tickets

We just visited Tama Zoological Park when we went to Japan but my son wanted to visit the zoo again so I decided to visit all the zoos of Wildlife Reserves Singapore. I crossed out other places and we just focused on zoos so I can save money.

Read: Tama Zoological Park 


I bought the Park Hopper Plus Tickets (1 adult + 1 kid)
SGD79 adult SGD59 kids

1. The package includes the entrance fee for River Safari, Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, and Singapore Zoo.
2. Unlimited tram rides at Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, and Singapore Zoo.
3. Unlimited Amazon River Quest and River Safari Cruise at River Safari.
4. Wild Animal Carousel ride at Singapore Zoo (child ticket and one ride only).
5. ParkHopper entitles you to one visit per park within 7 days from the date of the first visit. You may visit each park on a different day.


Regular Tickets SGD 256
Park Hopper Plus Tickets SGD 138
Savings SGD 118 x 34.28 = P4,045.04

River Safari 

After buying our ticket, we both decided that we will visit River Safari first. To avoid a long queue we went straight to Wild Amazonia for Amazon River Quest and River Safari Cruise. After that, we explored the Rivers of the World such as the Mississippi, Congo, Nile, Ganges, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers. Then the Wild Amazonia such as Amazon Flooded Forest and Squirrel Monkey Forest.

There are no shows here but we enjoyed the Amazon River Quest and River Safari ride. It was our first time seeing Giant Panda. The zoo is not that big, we were done in less than four hours. We went home at 3PM.

Tip: Visit Giant Panda first because when we went there, we only see one panda, nagpapahinga na yung isa. hahaha!

Read: River Safari

Day 3 Singapore Zoo + IKEA 

Initial plan is Jurong Bird Park pero dahil 10AM na and 75 minutes away (train+bus) pa ang bird park, we went to Singapore Zoo na lang. My husband and I visited this zoo 9 years ago but we haven’t explored the whole zoo because of limited time. But I was happy that my son and I finished everything, we only missed one show because my son doesn’t like to watch it.


Singapore Zoo is huge so make sure you avail the tram ride too. Napagod na nga ko kahit may tram ride pa, hehehe! We left at 5:30PM. Our favorite here is the Elephant Show, Polar Bear, Goat Feeding and Carousel Ride.

Read: Singapore Zoo

IKEA 

We’re supposed to visit this on Day 2 but my husband has a dinner meeting so we postponed it. On day 3 naman, naunahan kami ni hubby sa hotel so when we reached the hotel, we just changed clothes and off we went to IKEA for shopping and dinner. Yey! we took taxi na para mabilis.

Read: IKEA Alexandra 
Food Trip at IKEA Alexandra 

Day 4 Jurong Bird Park + Night Safari 

We left at past 9AM. I don’t want to miss the 10AM show so we took a taxi to Jurong Bird Park. If we missed it, we need to wait till 4PM for the next show. And hindi kami pwede magtagal because we have Night Safari at 7:15PM and magkaibang location yun.


Jurong Bird Park is not that big if I will compare it to Singapore Zoo so we were able to finish everything at 3PM. Our favorites in Jurong Bird Park are penguin feeding, pelican feeding, and the two shows.

We went back to hotel, natagalan lang kami sa biyahe because we took bus and trains pauwi para tipid. We took a bath and prepare for Night Safari. My husband was supposed to go with my son para bonding nila but he has a dinner meeting again so my son and I went to Night Safari.

Read: Jurong Bird Park 

Night Safari 

We were late with our 7:15PM schedule so we went straight to the tram ride bago pa maunahan nung nasa 8:15PM schedule. After that, we watched the Creatures of the Night show. We did not do the Walking Trails anymore. There is another show Thumbuakar Performances but we did not finish this because we need to catch the last train ride.


It was funny because 9 years ago, my husband and I did the same thing, tram ride + creatures of the night and nung bumalik ako, same na naman. Though may nagbago naman sa show but still I missed the walking trail and Thumbuakar Performances.

Read: Night Safari 

Good thing I availed the Park Hopper Plus tickets because I find SGD45 and SGD30 expensive for a four-hour stay and we did not stay that long. It was a very long day but I was happy that we were able to finish the four zoos. If you have very limited time and you just wanted to visit one or two, this is our ranking.

1. River Safari
2. Singapore Zoo
3. Jurong Bird Park
4. Night Safari

We have visited the four zoos and each zoo has its own shows, programs, and animals. There are some similarities but you cannot see everything in one zoo so if you have time, visit them all and see the differences.

Note: If you like Pokemon Game, don't forget to download their Pokemon Go Maps.

Day 5: Friend’s House + IKEA 

We crossed out the Gardens by the Bay and we went to our friend’s house. It was the first time that Ethan will meet his Ninong who lives in SG. Two years ago we’re supposed to meet him but because of limited time hindi na natuloy.

IKEA for late lunch and shopping. We went back to the hotel to get our luggage and off we went to airport. Flight was delayed. :(

Singapore to Manila via Philippine Airlines 


It was a short trip but we had fun. It was my first time celebrating my birthday abroad. :)

Read: 6 Days in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore 
Things to do in Singapore