Another Year of Breathing

It was just one of those things that I do on a semi-whim. "Semi" in the sense that although the decision to go to Singapore on my birthday weekend was made in a span of minutes, the days and weeks following that decision were inundated with constant organizing and re-organizing of itineraries, obsessive internet stalking of websites featuring the sights and sounds of Singapore (Really, who checks the Resorts World Singapore website every single day?), and planning out whatever I needed to pack a whole month in advance. That's right. I have OCD tendencies and making lists makes me happy.

Sadly, despite all that preparation, it never occurred to me to get Julette's address. I didn't think to because she was going to meet us at the airport anyway... that probably would've saved us the one hour delay at immigration. I guess if I had to place myself in paranoid Singaporean shoes, I'd understand why two females, traveling alone at midnight without the slightest idea where they were going to, would seem a tad bit suspicious. But then again, I like reasonable, non-paranoid shoes and I say they were just crazy.

However, that experience didn't piss me off nearly as much as it did Marisse. Mostly because I got the nice immigration officers (one even went so far as to tell me I had a nice name and I was sorely tempted to tell her that my name means FLOUR), while the attorney was attended by, from the looks of it, immigration office interns on a power trip. Also, Marisse was in lawyerly mode and bombarding them with as much questions as they were sending her way. I, on the other hand, have a slightly different strategy that works 90% of the time... the Wounded Puppy Move. I bombard them with so much niceness, courtesy, and insane meekness that it's near impossible, almost criminal, to be mean to me. And it didn't fail me at Changi. I got out before Marisse did and the senior immigration officers were taking turns offering me seats. The most senior one was chatting me up, telling me that Singapore needs foreign doctors, wishing me well on my vacation, giving me tips on what sights to visit, blah blah blah...

Anyway, we put all that behind us and proceeded to enjoy what Singapore had to offer, starting with Universal Studios. It's a good thing we booked the tickets online ahead of time because when we got there at 10AM, tickets were sold out. I'm not going to give a detailed account of what went down but suffice it to say we enjoyed USS, especially the part where we got wet, nay soaked. The Jurassic Park ride seemed to disappoint at first but then whoa! Suddenly we were lifted up an elevator and then there was a T-Rex ready to bite my head off and then we were dropped into the water and were completely drenched! Lovely...

The Waterworld show was very entertaining, as well. Apart from the gwapo guys in the show (nga grabe pinangita ni Julette and Marisse para magpa-picture), the explosions, water stunts and gunfire were super fun, too.

Oops.. almost forgot. I tripped and scraped my knee at Universal. I don't know why. One minute, I was going down a step near the Egyptian thingie area at USS, the next I was down on one knee, bleeding. Woot, epidermal souvenir from Singapore.

Towards the end of the day, we explored the rest of Sentosa and I especially enjoyed the Luge. I don't know how to drive and the Luge had me pretending I was a skilled driver. Hihihi... Before we proceeded to my birthday dinner, we visited the Underwater World at Sentosa and I got to pet a bamboo shark! I don't know what it is about sea creatures but I just love and am constantly fascinated by them. Too bad I don't know how to (and probably will never attempt to) scuba dive. I'm paranoid about how my sick-ish lungs will fare underwater.

The second day was spent just walking around Singapore and taking in the sights. One of the peculiar sightings was a number of LFs. Loving Fathers, with toddlers in tow. No idea if it's a trend now, going on family trips without the mothers. Anyway, we mostly walked around, had a taste of their version of street ice cream (Peppermint Chocolate!!!!), and then went to the IT Mall to buy my new waterproof Lumix.

I took this photo with my mobile phone because if I took a photo of my Lumix using, well, my Lumix, that would just about sunder the universe.

Although Julette has been living in Singapore for 2 years now, she hasn't visited the Marina Bay Sand Skypark so that was a first for all three of us. Up on the 57th floor, we were treated to an almost 360-degree view of Singapore. There was also a huge infinity pool but as we were not hotel guests, we could only stare. (LOL) But the Marina Bay Sands really is an architectural feat. Although, it kinda reminds you of Noah's Ark. And then they had tiny lotus-like pods still under construction, which we assume is where they plan to house Lee Kwan Yew, also known as "Harry" in the international scene, along with the DNA of all the plants and animals in Singapore, should the Apocalypse come to pass in 2012.

Since we were able to see daytime SG from the Skypark, we wanted to view the SG skyline at night from the Singapore Flyer. And I must say, we had perfect timing. When our capsule reached the topmost part of the observation wheel, the fireworks and light show "rehearsals" started. (Okay, I feel it's getting boring now. I tend to narrate like a boring old fart when I go into details about trips.)

An insert into our itinerary was a 30-minute bus ride to Malaysia. Johor Bahru to be exact. It was just across the bridge and when we got there, all we did was go to the mall. It was a far cry from the malls in SG but still, I was able to buy yummy candy. We also ate at Baskin Robbins but I still prefer the street ice cream in Singapore. (Peppermint Chocolate!!! hehehe....). However, for the few hours that we were there, I learned a lot of Malay terms. Words like RESTORAN, BAS, ESKALATOR, TEKSI... (I don't know why this is funny but it is. To me, anyway.)

The Chinatown walkthrough was for souvenir shopping where I purchased some pretty useless stuff simply because they were pink. And I also saw this Chinese vendor playing the erhu! Not that I'm such an expert on ancient Chinese musical instruments. Just that Lee Hom has several songs utilizing the erhu instead of a violin. You know how I'm such a fan *cough* stalker.

Our last day in SG coincided with their National Holiday and the streets were eerily desolate. Even Orchard Road, which is usually littered with their street ice cream (Peppermint Chocolate!!!) vendors, was amazingly empty. I guess the mingaw-ness was sort of a good thing because we were able to have our 4R and Friends Lunch at Lau Pa Sat in peace. We didn't have to yell over the din of lunchtime ruckus to speak to each other.

The last tourist destination was Snow City, which was less impressive than I expected. I had imagined, well, a city but it was little more than this sealed chamber set up to simulate a snowy wonderland. At minus 5 degrees centigrade, we didn't stay for the whole hour that we paid for but we had more than enough time to go snow tubing (twice!) and hang out inside a cement igloo.

Notice how crazy we look with the incredibly oversized outfits. Well, except for Marisse who got hers from the kid's section.

We ended the Singapore Birthday Weekend with an early dinner at Ikea. (and ZOMG, makabuang ang Ikea. My brain was on overdrive redecorating real and imagined houses.)

I guess that ends my Singapore escapade. It was loads of fun but I paid for it dearly with an incredibly dull, mind-numbing, makes-me-want-to-chew-on-shards-of-glass seminar immediately after.