Skyscrapers and Observatories.

It is one of my goals in life to visit some world famous skyscrapers/buildings/observatory decks. The reason is that I love looking from a bird's eye view and soaking in the beauty of the city be it at night or day. My journey started in May 2010, when I went back to Dubai for summer vacation during college. My parents and I planned to visit Burj Khalifa's observatory deck as it was newly opened for public viewing. Being the world's tallest building since January 2010, I was so exhilarated most especially when we were at the elevator. After arriving "At the Top," I was so amazed for a while and started taking pictures of the astounding view. Of course, I also managed to have my photos taken by my mom.

This photo was taken pre-opening of Burj Khalifa, December 2009 I think.

Excuse my "clown" face. Of course, the obligatory peace-sign.

Night view from the 124th floor of Burj Khalifa. Stunning Dubai.

In December 2011, my sister and I went to Seoul, South Korea. We visited two buildings' observatory. First is the 63 Building. The reason why this building was included in our itinerary is because of the Korean drama "My Girl." I love that Kdrama and I really wanted to visit that building so that I could rekindle the emotion that My Girl made me feel. 63 Building has both an Art Gallery and Observation deck on the 60th floor and the elevators have glass windows so that as people go up (or down), they can also enjoy the view.

Han River view from the 60th floor of 63 Building.

Seoul at night.

Oh the traffic jam.

And the mandatory photo.

Second (in Seoul) is the N Seoul Tower, located on Namsan Mountain. To fully enjoy the trip to N Seoul Tower, one must ride the Namsan cable car to the tower. 

Inside the cable car.

Pavilion at the grounds of N Seoul Tower.

"Love locks" turned into trees for Christmas. Excuse the jealous face.

View from the mountain.

Where you get your tickets. Duh.

Teddy Bear Museum also at N Seoul Tower.

More Teddy Bears.

Tiles with messages.

Seoul.

Ze toilet.

At the toilet, there's a view. Coolness.

N Seoul Tower.

Lastly, like what I've already posted in the past, my family and I went to Singapore in 2012. We visited Marina Bay Sands on our last day and took photos outside on our first day. See post here

So far, I've gone to four buildings in 3 different countries. I pledge and hope that there would be more to come! Now, here's a list of my target skyscrapers/towers/buildings:

Tokyo Tower, Tokyo, Japan.

Empire State Building, New York, U.S.A.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.

Macau Tower, Macau, PRC. (Also Bunjee!)

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Canton Tower, Guangzhou, China.

Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan.

And many more!

Singapore October 2012 Days 3&4

Day 3 is basically shopping day. What trip would be complete without shopping for souvenirs, food, and other stuff? Our tour guide (mom's friend) brought us to Bugis and Chinatown because my mom wanted to buy cheap stuff for pasalubong (souvenirs given to other people upon going home or omiyage in Japanese). First stop is Bugis. Upon arrival, I was hungry because I haven't had breakfast so I immediately went to the food stalls to eat delicious street food! Sadly, I don't remember the names of foods we ate but they were all delicious!

This is a "crispy crepe" with yummy stuff inside. I especially liked the floss!

Street Food!

Of course, the clothes/shoes/bags/accessories area.

I initially thought that I wouldn't be able to buy anything from here except for pasalubong (which only consists of t-shirt and fridge magnet) but I found stuff like a creeper shoes that I've been wanting for the past few months, a grandma shoe, 1 cute top and a bag. They sell all sorts of stuff in Bugis street and here's a proof:

Looks cute right? Go figure.

Next stop is Chinatown! I've also purchased some stuff here like a huge fan, another top, and food from  Bee Cheng Hiang (crunchy floss and sweet and spicy stuff for drinking haha). 

Yes it was hot.

MRT station.

Family Affair. We were all tired.

After shopping, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit, and decided to eat something yummzies for dinner. My sister went to meet up with her old friends who were working in Singapore so she couldn't come with us. They went to a bar and went home wasted. Anyways, we went to the famous No Signboard Seafood Restaurant in Geylang and it was packed with people that they had to set up tables at the parking lot and that's where we sat. It was fine for us to sit there because we know that great food will be served. We ordered abalone and asparagus for starters and some other dish that I don't remember and of course, the mighty Chili Crab. Everything was delicious and although we didn't order much, the crab was so satisfying that our stomachs bloated. 

Chili Crab from No Signboard Restaurant

Crazy huge crab claw! (yumm)

Day 4. It was our last day and our flight was in the afternoon. We had decided then to go to Marina Bay Sands Sky Park as our last stop. The weather was bad but gladly, it didn't rain when we were on the top.

From the top.

Me enjoying the view.

Another side.

The weather was gloomy and so as my photos. That's sad. Afterwards, my sister and I wanted to go back to Orchard Road, which we went to, briefly, on our first day. We didn't get to buy much stuff from there (but I already did! from Kinokuniya) on our first day so we went back. My sister came back to buy the Lacoste shoe she'd been wanting to buy because it's much cheaper. We also shopped at Charles and Keith which is so cheap. We got bags and shoes. I didn't take any photos because I was too tired and I wanted to concentrate on shopping! That's about it and if there is something I wanted to do when I come back to Singapore, I will visit every mall on Orchard Road!

Singapore October 2012 Day 2!

Day 2 was basically a trip to Sentosa Island where the Universal Studios is. We bought our ticket online for this day, that's why we were in this island the whole day. I confess that this trip to the Universal Studios was what I'd been looking forward to. 

Of course, the essential photo-taking at the entrance where the moving earth is.

                                                     

As soon as we went in, Po greeted us!

Chilling in New York, USS.

My dad went drilling.

Well isn't this my university? Hence the posture. (Archer)

Photo with a transformer. Is this Optimus? Best ride EVER! Went on it twice. (Transformer ride)

Met this guy with a nice body in Ancient Egypt.

We then ate Hainanese Chiken at the Jurassic Park. Food was good though pricey. It was definitely hot on this day. Though it ended up raining (lightly) in the afternoon.

Welcome to the kingdom of Far Far Away!

We waited for almost an hour for these two to show up! We were too tired to wait for Puss though..

Shrek's shack. Damn huge.

Frankenstein's Monster! AHHCKK!

We decided to leave USS because of the rain and went to discover other places in Sentosa island. I'm an avid fan of air transportation wherein you can see a great view of the place (though I'm quite scared) so we went to ride the cable car!

It says so on the cable car!

Was it scary? Huh?

The freebies that we got from riding.

The huge Merlion.

We ate snacks near this place and guess what we had? Paratha! I had been craving for that since then and we love that food so we tried it and it was gooood~

So that's it for day 2! It was pretty tiring as we walked all day. I'm also out of energy to write so I'm pushing my last entry for the Singapore trip tomorrow!