Name : Meliyanto (2015-11-0014)

My Unforgettable Moment

Two years ago, my mother and I were having a family vacation. We went to
Singapore. We have a family who lives and works there. He is my cousin. He lives in an
apartment in Sengkang District. It’s a good thing we have a family there, so we don’t have
to worry about spending more money on a place to stay.
We went to Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport in the morning and arrived
at Singapore in the midday. The trip takes two hours. When we arrived at Changi, the
Singapore International Airport, we were asked to fill a form about our identity and our
business in Singapore. Unlike in Indonesia, we were strictly needed to wait in line and act
fast. It was irritating, since it was my first time in another country and I didn’t know how to
correctly fill the form back then. So, I asked the officer, and unlike in Indonesia, they’re
answering the questions rudely. As soon as she knows that I have more than one field that
hasn’t been filled, she asked me to go back in line so she won’t need to wait for me and
asked the other tourists who filled all the field on the form to proceed. After that, I realize
that Singaporean are accustomed to be fast.
I’ve filled my and my mother’s form correctly, then went to the officer. She asked us
about our purpose in visiting Singapore and how long will we stay there. After that, we’re
ready to go.
As soon as we finished our business at the airport, I contacted my cousin to pick us
up. He arrived shortly by Taxi. We were brought to his apartment. It was nice, pretty big for
an apartment. Since we were tired, we decided to rest at the apartment.
At night, my cousin took me and my mother to a nearby shopping mall for
sightseeing. We bought some foods and fruits. It’s not a big mall, not any different from the
mall in Indonesia. But it’s okay, I was considering it as a warm up before going to many
great places in Singapore the next day.
The next day, the real vacation day! We were using MRT and bus to go to various
places. In the morning, my cousin, my mother, and I went to the infamous Orchard Road.
There he showed us a lot of big malls, such as Isetan, Ngee Ann City, and many more. We
decided to enter one of the malls. The funny thing is that some of those malls are connected.
My cousin teases me about that and I was intrigued by it.
In the afternoon, we went to Chinese Garden. There we could visit the infamous twin
Pagoda. There are also the statues of the twelve Chinese Zodiac, the statues of Chinese
heroes, a lake with a white bridge. It was a beautiful place.
 After relaxing our minds at the beautiful Chinese Garden, we went to Jurong Bird
Park. As the name implies, this park is filled with exotic birds from around the world.
Flamingo, scarlet crane, eagle, peacock, cockatoo, macaw bird, kiwi bird, ostrich, pelican,
penguin, swan, cassowary, Mandarin duck, and many more. After we finished visiting all of
the birds, we decided to go back to the apartment and called it a day.
The third day in Singapore, my mother was tired and decided to rest at the
apartment. My cousin and I decided to go to the Universal Studio this time. Universal
Studios Singapore is a theme park located within Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island.
There are a lot of shows, attractions, fairground rides, refreshments, and games there. We
took the MRT then rode the cable car to go there. When we arrived at Sentosa, my cousin
immediately took me to the Merlion statue, the symbol of Singapore. “Yet another
awesomeness”, I thought. We took a couple of pictures and went to the Universal Studios
after that.
There is a gigantic Globe with universal logo at the gate of the theme park. People
usually take a picture there, so do I. Then we went in and walked in the “Walk of Fame” of
Universal Studio. It’s basically a copy of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame where you can see the
name of world stars and their signature/autograph.
Universal Studio consists of several areas based on their movie productions and
places. After the Walk of Fame, we went to the retro New York area. It’s a retro New York,
so you won’t see a tall modern buildings, but old, wooden buildings, bars, shops, barber
shops, and a dock. There’s also a lake in the middle of Universal Studio. From the dock of
retro New York, we saw the other areas where we could visit next.
The next area we visited was the Sci-fi City. There’s this “Transformers the Ride”
there. It’s a ride with 3D computer graphic environment. A very fun ride and definitely
worth it. There are also a souvenir shop, a Transformer car, and a Transformer robot.
After Sci-fi city, we visited the Fairy Tale area. First, we take some pictures on the
Madagascar’s animated movie area. There’s a merry-go-round there, which is for kids, so of
course we didn’t take it. But we did take the boat ride. Then, the next fairy tale section is
the Kingdom of Shrek. We watched a 4D theatre in there.
The Jurassic Park area is next. There are two statues of big dinosaurs at the gate.
There are also some rides for kids. The Egypt area is next. A lot of statues of Anubis, some
models hired to wear the ancient Egyptian costume. The best thing in this area is the
Mummy Ride. It’s a roller coaster ride, but inside a building and it’s dark, so we won’t have
any idea where will be going next, up or down, left or right. A bit scary, but fun at the same
time.
 We went to the Sesame Street area next. We took one of the rides, another 3D ride
inside a building, the wall is dark with small lights, so it looked like we were on a spaceship.
Then we take a break from the rides and decided to enjoy a musical and dancing shows in
the middle of Sesame Street. Lucky for us, there was also a musical comedy show in one of
the buildings, so we decided to watch that too.
We also took the biggest roller coaster ride in the middle of the park. Another action
show called “Water World” in the eastern side of the park, and an interactive comedy show
in the Fairy Tale area. That’s includes all or our adventure in Universal Studio. But it’s not
over yet. At night, we went to the Olympic Walk, Marina Bay Sands, and Gardens by the
Bay.
The next day, I, my mother, and my cousin went to the S.E.A. Aquarium, one of the
world’s largest aquarium and maritime museum. At the museum, we were shown the
history of Singapore’s maritime, boats and ships, etc. At the aquarium, we could see a lot of
sea creatures, from the biggest to the smallest.
At night, at Sentosa beach, we watched two shows. The first is a light and water
show called “the Song of the Sea”. The second one is a giant robotic show called “the Crane
Dance”. Both of the shows are stunning.
The next morning, we went to Singapore Science Centre. It’s an interactive museum
of science. A great way to learn about science. In the midday, we went to Singapore Zoo.
Exotic animals from around the world can be seen there. In the afternoon, we went to Bugis
Street and bought souvenirs for our family and friends in Indonesia.
The next day is the last day in Singapore. I and my mother were having the
morning flight. My cousin dropped me at the airport. We board the plane and back to
Indonesia, and that’s my unforgettable moment. My family vacation to Singapore.