Intro: I haven’t seen anyone smiles warmly in the city. They were all walking fast, up and down the buses and trains. But I noticed the smell, I couldn’t define it, but I call them the dark people in the city. Singapore is a convenient place, which defines order, cleanliness, discipline, development, and civilization. I think, the only difference from the Philippines is that they are strict to the their laws and rules.
June 4, 11:50pm at Changi airport, the first time I felt discriminated. I was sent to the immigration office which looks like an ordinary counter in a mall. An officer was asking me how long I’m gonna stay and another who requested me to show how much money I got. I was sure that I looked very descent at that time and I was wearing glasses to look more appealing to them, but it didn’t work. But then, a handsome officer stamped my passport allowing me to stay for a month.
Day 1 – a warm nesvita in a cup made a really nice start and even more excitement that day. At 9:00 am we had a canned luncheon meat for breakfast.
We walked around the center from Orchard city and dropping somewhere near Arts and Museum of the city while looking at the river. We wandered along the side with a lot of small boats passing by and we came across with an ice cream vendor, a version of dirty ice cream in Manila. For a dollar, you can have an ice cream sliced and sandwiched between either wafers or a piece of colored bread or you can just enjoy it in a cup.
Buses were really convenient, I guess everything were all in full function. I had this ezlink card which I used riding buses and mrt’s anywhere. I reloaded $20 for the whole 7 days trip, going around the city.
They have this food center at the top level of Vivocity (a mall nearest to the Sentosa Island), where you can choose different cuisine around, it was literally round, ‘coz you have to go circle to choose which store you’d like to buy a meal. I couldn’t tell which one could be a Singaporean food, but it was like tasting every cuisine that you may find in Southeast Asian region, and even cuisine from India. It was my first time and I wasn’t so wary about what to spend on, so what happened was, I shelled out almost $10, which is about P320, just for the food, and I thought that would be the cheapest price if you’ll eat out in Singapore.
From then on I carefully spend my money and all throughout in this story I might tell more about the expenses than the places I’ve been to.
Day 2 – Saturday, I went to Sentosa. It was past 1pm, and something really stupid happened, I forgot to charge the battery for the camera. Instead, I used my phone cam to catch everything I went on.
We had a package tour for $62 where you can experience riding cable car from Mt. Faber to Sentosa in full glass cabin. An ordinary cabin will take you 30 to 40 minutes on queue and less convenient, but not a lot different from a full glass cabin at all. We went to the Underwater Park where I met friendly sting rays (I touched them) and huge sharks and fishes. At the beach, a dolphin show, pink smart dolphins waving to the crowd, but wasn’t become appealing to me because of too much Indian spectators and probably I’ve seen it for many times on televisions. The Cinema Blast (a 4D extreme log ride adventure), which is one of my favorites. I had so much fun on this one. This is something that will make your imagination into real. I really felt that we were actually riding a log, bumping, sliding, and rafting and falling through rivers and water falls. I enjoyed each stop and destinations, but I guess it was still a little expensive for me spending P1,984.
After that jam-packed quest, we had another experience for S$11, the Luge and Sky ride. This one was really fun and exciting. I was seemed like driving a speeding car and sliding all the way down to Seloso Beach resort and going up again through skyride, similar to the cable car, but we were like sitting on a bench while it’s moving all the way up. Then we tried to get at 8:40pm show of the Song of the Sea, a dancing fountain show with laser lights and fireworks attraction, but it was already full house. But then, I was able to see it partly after I climbed up to the top of a sort of structure with an enchanting castle theme with pretty bells hanging on its steel branches.
Day3 – Sunday, I met a friend, Jordan, at Bugis Junction. I explored the whole place, which is a Singapore’s version of “tsange” Divisoria or Quiapo in Manila, but the prices were not as cheap as the prices in Manila. Fashionable shirts and pants are on sale ranging from $10 to $50, but you can deal cutting the price off as long as they’re not raising their eyeballs and say “gowa way lah!” I bought a bag for $45 but I got it for $32 and a Chuck Taylor for $109 but I got it for $87.
Day4 – I was supposed to meet my high school friend working in a call center, but damn! She was so stupid that she didn’t know that we were going to meet. A real damn bitch! I shouldn’t have texted her. I shouldn’t have spent load! I shouldn’t have known her! (joke…)
Day5 – Tuesday, my last day here in Singapore. I planned to take photos of Indians, but I didn’t. I went again to Lucky Plaza in Orchard (a lot of Filipinos there), wandering along the street, going from malls to malls and walking outside and eating ice cream.
I was seeing working Filipinos and Singaporeans, a lot of touring Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Thais, mix races from India (undistinguished between Indians and Bangladesh) British (and other European people and Americans. All of them are in different colors, hues, faces, languages, accent, pronunciation, and smell. Hard to look for native Singaporean, are they rare?
I was so happy I found a Daiso store which sells $2 each in all items. I felt I discovered the cheapest store I have ever gone to. I selected 10 nice items for $20.
Day6 – Wednesday, I packed all my stuff and ready to get off. I planned to take a bus and subways going to Changi airport alone. My departure time was 10:30am and this is what I did:
I stayed at Pasir Panjang. From there I took a bus stopping at Harbourfront, escalating down and up, walking fast and slow, and tapping cards, then finally, I reached an MRT flat form (violet Line) bounding to Punggol. I Alighted at Outram Park and shifted to green line MRT (East West Line), alighted at Tanah Merah, shifted at the middle train (same line) going to Changi airport. I hitched a free ride on a shuttle bus going to the budget terminal.
I Checked in, went to the line, and I saw Eric Quizon!
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