International

Jewel Changi Airport’s Canopy Park sets to open early 2019

- Admin

For fifth consecutive years, Singapore Changi International Airport is still the world’s best airport as published by Skytrax World’s Best Airport.

Singapore Changi International Airport has a yearly passengers of around 55.4 million. It serves as home to airlines like Singapore Airlines, Silkair and Tigerair. It is also in the top 20 busiest airports in the world.

And now, Changi Airport is still keeping up and adding another reason why it is the best airport in the world as they revealed the Jewel Changi Airport’s Canopy Park which is set to open early 2019. The said Canopy Park will be located at the topmost level of Jewel Changi Airport with an are of approximately 14,000 square meters.

It will be divided into three iconic play attractions – Sky Nets, Canopy Mazes and Discovery Slides.

1. Canopy Bridge which is 50 meters long and is suspended 23 meters above the ground.
2. Canopy Mazes which is the world’s first mirror maze set in a garden, which I guess will add an extra challenge of finding your way out.
3. Singapore’s largest hedge maze with an elevated watch tower that offers a bird’s eye view of the entire maze.
4. Topiary Walk which features life-sized animal topiaries
5. Discovery Slides, sculptured fun slides.
6. Foggy Bowls will have four gentle concave bowls with depths ranging from 30 to 65 cm that will recreate an experience of playing in the clouds.
7. Sky Nets, walk and bounce on the treetops, look down 25 meters to Jewel’s Level 1.
8. Petal Garden, take in the sights and sounds of the garden
9. Rain Vortex, 40m high and said to be the world’s tallest indoor waterfall

Now, I am looking forward for my next visit in Singapore and I would definitely check this out.

For more information, click this Jewel Changi Canopy Park.

Wonderful Indonesia: Gili Trawangan’s Datu Swing and “Happy” Parties

- Admin

The next day, we went to the Gili Trawangan. If we had a laid back experience in Gili Air, Gili Trawangan offers a different experience. We stayed in Hotel Ombak Sunset, a posh and luxury resort hotel located at the western side of the island.

I had the chance to have a perfect photo in one of their ocean swings or Datu Swing while watching the sunset. When you research Gili Islands, the swing photo is the popular image that will surely pop up. Our hotel was around 20-30 minutes away from the “party area”. But I have no complains as it is the best resort in the island.

Unlike Gili Air and Gili Meno, this island’s center is a bit loud yet very alive specially at night when all the bars are already open. I called this “party island” as most of the tourist flocks there to eat, drink and dance. There are many bars and restaurants that cater every traveler’s cravings. Oh hey, there’s also a night market that sells good food at a very affordable price.

There were so many interesting things I noticed when we went out. Some restaurants and resorts offered an outdoor movie viewing. Aside from souvenir shops, I also found a bookstore that buy and sells preloved books. And since there are no motorized-wheeled in the island, there are bikes for rent or you can hire a horse taxi.

After we had some beer and shisha at XL, one of the famous bar in the island, we walked towards the party area. There, we had more rounds of beer while dancing the night away with other travelers from different parts of the world. It was a challenge to get a horse taxi going back to the hotel. Good thing that we already rented a bike.

It was around 3 AM when we went back to the hotel. And I was “drunk driving biking”.

*This is part of our Indonesia trip last March, 2016 together with my friends.

Wonderful Indonesia: “Feel and Chill” at Gili Air

- Admin

Finally, we’re opt to our first destination, Lombok. Upon arrival and ramdom check at the airport, we hailed a cab and negotiated for the fare. Me and my friends requested him to bring us to Serangan where we can ride the fast boat going to Lombok. We took the afternoon schedule of Marina Srikandi fast boat which is at 1PM. So while waiting, we first had our brunch at the restaurant near the port. We even invited our cab driver and treated him with free lunch.

When the man signaled the passengers, we immediately took our bags. Boarding was pretty fast and after getting a comfortable seat, I tried to take a nap as the travel time going to Gili Islands will took about 2 hours. Gili Islands (Tiga Gili) are located off the northwest coast of Lombok. The archipelago of three small islands are named Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air.

Our first stop was Gili Air. We stayed in a typical Indonesian resort villa named Omah Gili Resort. It is a few minute walk from the beach and restaurants but what I love about its location was that, it is peaceful and quite. Perfect for us tired travelers who would want to rest and relax beside the pool area or just outside their villa. It’s refreshing when the staff gave us a glass of tamarind juice. I loved the taste that I requested for another one.

It was really hot when we were there so it was great to have our first swim at the beach. We enjoyed relaxing while sipping cocktails and fresh fruit shakes and juices.

That night, we walked around to look for a place to eat. There were so many restaurants offering variety of cuisines. But we were in Indonesia so we preferred to eat local cuisine instead. It was so hot even after 6PM that we decided to have some ice cream while walking. We were looking for a place to drink and the guy from the souvenir shop told us “the” place. And after walking for a couple of minutes, we found it, Nafifa Homestay’s bar offers a cheap beer with a great ambiance. We enjoyed the swing near the shore while having our Bintang. We were laughing that night while talking about this trip and the mishaps in-between. It was a year-long preparation and waiting and finally we were all there.

We were on our way back to the our villa when we chanced upon a group of locals singing some reggae songs. Instantly, we decided to get a seat and ordered a round of beer. The last thing I could remember was my friends were already waking we up. Yes, I was that drunk.

*This is part of our Indonesia trip last March, 2016 together with my friends.