I
had been a bit indifferent to Arsenal during the recent season but decided to
meet them when they announced they would be playing in International Champions
Cup in Singapore in July. After a few attempts at securing the ticket for the
Saturday match against Paris Saint Germain, I finally managed to get my ticket.
Next was securing the bus ticket and I was gutted to find that Nice Coach had
stopped its bus services to Singapore from 1 July 2018. As I didn’t want to get
the bus from TBS, I bought First Coach ticket online departing from Lengkok
Abdullah near Bangsar LRTstation for RM60. Then I spent some time browsing for
bus tickets to return the same evening after the match (no way was I going to
overnight there) and after reading reviews of a few bus operators, I decided to
buy Transtar ticket departing from Golden Mile Complex at Beach Road departing
at 22:45 and arriving opposite Berjaya Times Square. The ticket cost SGD20 and
I added another SGD1 for insurance.
I
woke up early on Saturday, 28 July, and prepared some sandwich for breakfast
and my trip. We left for Bangsar LRT station and waited for the First Coach
office to open at 07:00 to get my ticket. There were 3 other Gooners in their
respective Arsenal tops (I planned to change just before the match) in the same
bus. I received my ticket together with a bottle of water and a packet of
Jacob’s crackers.
We
left on time and were soon breezing down PLUS Highway heading south. Traffic
was blessedly smooth all the way. We stopped at Pagoh R&R at 09:40 to
utilise the facilities and were off again at 10:05. Traffic was again kind
until we crossed over the second link into Singapore – I didn’t even want to
wonder how bad the traffic was at Causeway. Our bus only cleared the queue
after 20 minutes. There was another long wait at the Singaporean passport
control. I stood for almost 45 minutes before I was cleared.
It
was about 13:30 when we reached Novena Square and I wasted some time before
boarding the MRT for Orchard. I made my way to Royal Plaza on Scotts to perform
prayers. The prayer room had relocated since my last visit to the second floor
(or first floor; Singaporeans are so American-influenced despite being a
British settlement!) and you need to climb up the staircase up (the right-hand
staircase when you enter the hotel). I left at 15:15 and wandered off to Isetan
before heading to Lucky Plaza where I discovered a shop selling confectionery
and snacks at very competitive prices. I then crossed over to Ngee Ann City and
after a brief visit to Wisma Atria, I returned to Ngee Ann City and had an
early dinner at the Food Village. After dinner, I caught up with social media
before boarding the MRT for Nicoll Highway station as I wanted to check out the
Golden Mile Complex and ascertain where the Transtar office was.
I
was waiting to cross Java Road when a bus turned into the road and it took a
few seconds for me to realise it was the Arsenal bus with the players in it
heading for the National Stadium!!! I realised too late to fish out my device
and take a picture of it. I could see Cech and Matteo sitting by the window
closest to me and they were literally five metres away from me! FIVE!!!
After
that brief excitement, I continued on to Golden Mile Complex. I don’t know why
it was named such but the building houses several bus operators along with some
Vietnamese- and Thai-owned businesses and Transtar was at the other end of the
building. There was a Thai Buddhist shrine across from Transtar office. I asked
if I could collect my ticket then and was told to come at 22:15. I continued on
and walked to the stadium.
Before
entering the stadium, I went to Kallang Wave Mall and went to find the prayer
area there (found out when I was searching for prayer rooms near the stadium).
It was near the washrooms around the corner from Fair Price. I went to the
washroom and changed my top before returning to Fair Price to get some mineral
water. There was an announcement urging those of us planning to watch the match
to make our way there immediately.
There
was a short queue heading into the stadium and security check. Those with bags
had to queue in different queues and after having our bags checked, we
underwent body check. My seat was in section 7 so I had to walk a bit before
going up to where my row was. There were a few idiots in ManUre and Cheshit
tops too.
The
match started around 19:45 and when Paris Saint Germain equalised from the
spot, I started getting worried. A draw would mean penalty shootout which would
mean the match would end later than expected and I might not be able to perform
prayers after the match but at some R&R stop later that night. As it turned
out, I needn’t have worried as the Gunners scored another four goals and the
final score was 5-1. I left immediately and went back to Kallang Wave Mall.
After freshening up and performing ablutions, I performed prayers in the prayer
area. My, it was stuffy in there. No air-conditioning at all. It was 22:02 when
I left and I hurried back to Beach Road. I arrived at Transtar office at 22:16
and checked in. I wasn’t issued any ticket but the girl noted my printed ticket
and gave me a bottle of water. I went into the building to find a washroom but
left immediately. It wasn’t a nice place at all. I walked to the nearby Caltex
and used the bathroom there instead. There just wasn’t time to go to Zam Zam to
buy any murtabak to go.
My
bus arrived as I was walking to Caltex and it was parked at the other end of
the building from Transtar. It was a double decker bus and I purposely chose a
seat at the lower deck as I wanted to go out and in quickly. We left on time
and I dozed off during the trip to Tuas Checkpoint. As Transtar was a
Singaporean company, I had worried earlier if there were more Singaporeans on
board which mean they would clear the Singaporean passport control quickly and
the bus may leave without me but I needn’t have worried as the Tuas Checkpoint
was almost deserted then (it was almost midnight) and the passport control
process took five minutes tops. We then re-boarded the bus and crossed over to
Malaysian soil. Again, it was a quick process at the Johore side and before
long, we were travelling north. The bus stopped somewhere for a washroom break
but I was too sleepy to get down then.
We
arrived at the bus stop at Plaza Berjaya (under the Imbi monorail and opposite
Times Square) at 04:15 and I sat there waiting. There were many cars on the
road even at that hour and the bus stop was brightly lit so I wasn’t afraid. I had
planned to walk down to Pudu and wait until Subuh to perform prayers before
taking the bus back but CT came to pick me up.
And
that was my trip to SG this time. I wasn’t in the mood to shop at all despite
the Great Singapore Sale so I hardly spent apart from on MRT tickets, some
chocolates and dinner. And besides, Singapore is not cheap especially when you
earn MYR. I could find a similar thing at a lower cost at Isetan KLCC compared
to Singapore. But it was a good day trip nevertheless.
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