I was excited when I heard The Arsenal were coming to Asia, never mind it was to Singers instead of KL. I actually bought the ticket to the friendly match against AC Milan just before going through security check at KLIA T2 when I was flying out to Nairobi. I only bought the bus ticket after coming back from Chiang Mai and as I’d be leaving early in the morning and taking the late evening bus fr Singers, I booked a room at Times Square as I envisaged I’d arrive before dawn like I did on a previous trip.
I left the hotel at 06:37 on 23 July 2025 and had to wait ages for the monorail train to KL Sentral (the bus actually also departed from Times Square but I didn’t notice it when I bought the ticket, duh me). The bus was supposed to depart at 07:15 but it only arrived at 07:45. I was actually embarrassed by the delay as there was a Japanese mother and her young son also taking the same bus.
We stopped at Yong Peng rest area to use the facilities before continuing on. The immigration process on both sides was such a breeze compared to the slow long queues of the past.
We arrived at Oxley Bizhub at 13:25 and I set off for the National Stadium, stopping en route at Masjid Wak Tanjong to perform prayers.
I went to have late lunch/early dinner first at Kallang Wave Mall then sat and read my book before queuing up to enter the stadium. No water bottle allowed but I managed to smuggle a small bottle in my bag and there’s also a water cooler and I filled up my water bottle.
The match begun just after 19:30. I was surprised to find many empty seats, maybe because it was a week night but there were just too many empty seats. And true enough, the announcer announced there were just over 22,000 spectators. What a pathetic number! And the atmosphere was blergh. Whoever at Arsenal who thought up of and arranged this tour should’ve considered KL or even Jakarta. It’d be a full house and the match more lively and atmosphere more electrifying.
The match, being friendly, was frustrating in the first half. Saka scored the only goal early in the second half. I left right after the match and didn’t wait for the penalty shootout as I wanted to perform prayers at the space in Kallang Wave Mall and if the mall closed at 22:00, I didn’t have much time left.
After prayers, I walked to Lavender MRT station to wait for the bus back to KL. I was informed by some Indonesian girls that they’d received WhatsApp message from the bus operator informing that the bus would be slightly late.
Well, I only received the WhatsApp after 23:00 informing that we’d be picked up by a Transtar bus which would then bring us to The Plaza at Beach Road for us to change to another bus. The Transtar bus arrived at 23:24 and we arrived at The Plaza ten minutes later. I managed to doze off until we reached Tuas.
After crossing over, we had to change bus yet again. This third bus looked very comfortable and brand new. The driver increased the AC temperature so it didn’t feel like we were travelling in a morgue and I even managed to doze off!
Due to the delays and bus changes, we arrived at Times Square at exactly 06:00 (and I actually thought I’d have to stay awake to wait for morning prayers). After prayers, I went back to bed.
So that was my first trip back to Singers after the pandemic. Please, Arsenal, just come to KL or even Jakarta next time.
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