SO NOW WE BEGIN...
NYT time
Arrival
We landed at Changi Airport (that by the way looks more like a 5 star hotel than an airport) at around 7pm, but looks more like 5pm here, so basically their day begins at around 9 or 10am and ends at 6 or 7pm. How cool is that?.
Anyway, I could go on and on raving about how cool their airport is with all their travelator and stuffs, but nothing prepared me for their toilets. Talk about modern old school toilet bowl, guess they were just being mindful of other culture's ways coz they also have this kind of setup in Malaysia, but just to clarify not all toilets are like this.
Anyway (again), when we got out of the airport and hopped on the taxi, we instantly got lost, coz apparently the EUNOS address seemed to be everywhere and the driver got very confused, mind you his confusion cost us S$25 equals to P825, and this was the first of my many mental conversions. Very Expensive. But the driver was nice enough to personally call Steph for the landmarks and directions, and he even entertained us with a bit of historical overview of Singapore, but then again all his efforts still summed up to P825.
Anyway, I could go on and on raving about how cool their airport is with all their travelator and stuffs, but nothing prepared me for their toilets. Talk about modern old school toilet bowl, guess they were just being mindful of other culture's ways coz they also have this kind of setup in Malaysia, but just to clarify not all toilets are like this.
Anyway (again), when we got out of the airport and hopped on the taxi, we instantly got lost, coz apparently the EUNOS address seemed to be everywhere and the driver got very confused, mind you his confusion cost us S$25 equals to P825, and this was the first of my many mental conversions. Very Expensive. But the driver was nice enough to personally call Steph for the landmarks and directions, and he even entertained us with a bit of historical overview of Singapore, but then again all his efforts still summed up to P825.
BOON TONG KI
Boon Tong Ki has the best Chicken Rice ever. This place serves good food. Though I'm not really that particular about food but trust me when I start to rave on a dish. It's not really a fancy resto but it's pretty well known among the locals. But considering our ordeal we were probably just very hungry.
DURIAN HEAD and MERLION
First stop of the very looooong walk was the DURIAN HEAD. Apparently Davao isn't the only one known for its Durian, coz Singapore has a whole building built after a Durian. The architecture is quite amazing and also has a great eye level view of the city. Just a few walks away is already the MERLION, and one shouldn't just pass by the "countrymark" coz you gotta have to strike a pose first as sign that you've really been to Singapore. haha. excuses!
TRASH, SIGNS and ICE CREAM
It's true that Singapore really has a lot of BAWAL signs to remind everyone how strict they are. BUT. It's NOT (quite) true that they don't have trashes all over. See there? they too have overflowing trash can. HA! bitter Filipino looking for flaws in the perfect Singaporean world. Seriously though, Singapore is generally a very neat nation that when you see a single trash not in its proper place you just can't help but exclaim "Finally! we have something in common" haha.
Anyway, we finally ended our long walk with some WALLS a.k.a Selecta wafer sandwich ice cream. Yes. We know it's Selecta because of the heart sign, which makes me wonder if they also have different name for Coca-cola. hmm..Anyways, the amazing thing about their ice cream, aside from their flavors, is that they come in rectangular shapes that when served they just slice it directly, put a wafer on top and bottom, place it in a plastic then viola you eat it like a sandwich. No worries about making a mess coz they don't melt as fast as our ice creams.
Anyway, we finally ended our long walk with some WALLS a.k.a Selecta wafer sandwich ice cream. Yes. We know it's Selecta because of the heart sign, which makes me wonder if they also have different name for Coca-cola. hmm..Anyways, the amazing thing about their ice cream, aside from their flavors, is that they come in rectangular shapes that when served they just slice it directly, put a wafer on top and bottom, place it in a plastic then viola you eat it like a sandwich. No worries about making a mess coz they don't melt as fast as our ice creams.
DAY time
Our first time to ride and go gaga over their LRTs and MRTs. They are just so unbelievably amazing. Singapore is so efficient when it comes to their routes and systems. I honestly envy them. I could only wish for us to also have our very own MRT and LRT, but I could never expect it not to have any vandal, just in case.
Anyway we had our breakfast at a street corner/ carenderia in Bugis, and dear do they have BIG servings - literally. And the cute thing is that their set meals abide by the GO GROW and GLOW food pyramid. So your options are narrowed down to a 1 or 2 vegetable, meat and rice. Couldn't they just get any more perfect?...
Anyway we had our breakfast at a street corner/ carenderia in Bugis, and dear do they have BIG servings - literally. And the cute thing is that their set meals abide by the GO GROW and GLOW food pyramid. So your options are narrowed down to a 1 or 2 vegetable, meat and rice. Couldn't they just get any more perfect?...
GETTING LOST and Sculptors
Everybody knows that my sense of direction sucks, and my sister is not that great in that area either, so basically our choices were just narrowed down to either left or right. With no destination in mind, and much more no map at hand we simply just trusted our instincts without knowing that we already covered half the city by foot. Would never have known till Steph told us. haha. By the way it was also on this walk that we got to hear a very loud honk coming from a mini cooper, and that honk was directed at us. We never felt more special. haha. To save our face we were just merely disoriented with their streets coz they use right hand drive and etc. etc. excuses. :)
I finally understood what Daphne Oseña meant when she said how our country lacks life size sculptors to decorate our streets and play around with. So just imagine my delight when I saw not one but a lot of life sized sculptors along Singapore Art Museum. I love art and I love it more when they're BIG.
I finally understood what Daphne Oseña meant when she said how our country lacks life size sculptors to decorate our streets and play around with. So just imagine my delight when I saw not one but a lot of life sized sculptors along Singapore Art Museum. I love art and I love it more when they're BIG.
The SINGAPOREANS
Singaporeans are a very helpful bunch to the point that they literally guide you to your destination. The good thing though is that they are not that difficult to converse with, coz they're language is a version of our Taglish -- Singlish.
During our getting lost walks, my sister and I met this old lady at a bus stop, that honest to goodness, resembles our deceased maternal grandmother. She was nice enough to have her picture taken but we were rude enough to just mumble nonsense when she asked where our grandmother is.haha. Then we also encountered Jeff, a deaf mute. He approached us first and held up a laminated paper that says he was deaf, and of course being a degree holder in SpEd I showed off the one and only sign language that I remembered from my class which was "Hi." And who would have thought that he would be so delighted that he went on doing his hand signs thinking that I too was deaf. Good thing I was able to put those hand letter signs from the back of my grade school notebook to good use. Anyway as it turned out he sold us this key chain to raise funds for a charity and it's original worth was S$10 but gave it to us for only S$5, then only to find out that its exact value in Malaysia was half his discounted price. Real Smooth.
During our getting lost walks, my sister and I met this old lady at a bus stop, that honest to goodness, resembles our deceased maternal grandmother. She was nice enough to have her picture taken but we were rude enough to just mumble nonsense when she asked where our grandmother is.haha. Then we also encountered Jeff, a deaf mute. He approached us first and held up a laminated paper that says he was deaf, and of course being a degree holder in SpEd I showed off the one and only sign language that I remembered from my class which was "Hi." And who would have thought that he would be so delighted that he went on doing his hand signs thinking that I too was deaf. Good thing I was able to put those hand letter signs from the back of my grade school notebook to good use. Anyway as it turned out he sold us this key chain to raise funds for a charity and it's original worth was S$10 but gave it to us for only S$5, then only to find out that its exact value in Malaysia was half his discounted price. Real Smooth.
There was also Daniel who was very nice coz he gave us another free round at the Segway in Sentosa. Then that Chinese lady who was kind and patient enough to interpret those chinese cards for Janjan.
National Museum of Singapore
AMAZING! I 
this place. This is probably the best museum I've been to. It doesn't require you to have tour guides because they provide you with all these gadgets along the way, so you could tour the place at your own pace. The great thing about this place too is that they were able to divide the historical transitions of Singapore into different areas. Such that they have a different room entirely devoted to Films, Food, Photography, Fashion and History. Simply amazing.
this place. This is probably the best museum I've been to. It doesn't require you to have tour guides because they provide you with all these gadgets along the way, so you could tour the place at your own pace. The great thing about this place too is that they were able to divide the historical transitions of Singapore into different areas. Such that they have a different room entirely devoted to Films, Food, Photography, Fashion and History. Simply amazing.
SENTOSA
Fast fact: did you know that the MERLION was a name given in honor to the 2 creatures - the sea dragon and the lion, that the Prince (known to be descendant of Alexander the Great) encountered along his way to the island?. First he offered his crown to the sea dragon then upon arriving at the island a lion threatened them so he had an eye contact with the lion then poof the king of the jungle walked away. It's mythical but that's just one of the things you learn from Sentosa.
Sentosa is definitely a tourist destination. The rides were very much worth it. When you get on the cable car and see the overview of Sentosa, you could definitely say that this country is not experiencing any crisis coz of the number of constructions going on. I was just disappointed with their underwater world though, coz it's too small, i even took pity , for the first time, on the growing sharks coz they had to cram themselves in that small aquarium. But generally Sentosa was nice, even if we didn't get to see the Pink dolphin!. tsk
Sentosa is definitely a tourist destination. The rides were very much worth it. When you get on the cable car and see the overview of Sentosa, you could definitely say that this country is not experiencing any crisis coz of the number of constructions going on. I was just disappointed with their underwater world though, coz it's too small, i even took pity , for the first time, on the growing sharks coz they had to cram themselves in that small aquarium. But generally Sentosa was nice, even if we didn't get to see the Pink dolphin!. tsk
****
This was probably the longest day ever, because after Sentosa we had to immediately rush to the airport for our late night flight to Kuala Lumpur. So just imagine the weight of the back pack that I had to carry around on all those long walks, and trust me, when we got to Kuala Lumpur early dawn it felt like we've just been through a fraternity hazing. And until now the big toe on my left foot is still numb but happy. haha. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia... up next :)
No comments:
Post a Comment