Singapura … Singapura …

Today is officially my 20th day here in Singapore.

I arrived with my parents and youngest brother last June 1. I had soooo much luggage that I asked for them to come with me, so that I could use their luggage allocation (anyway, they didn’t pay for the plane fare). We spent the afternoon walking around, taking pictures of the Merlion and the Fullerton hotel. Then we had dinner at the Esplanade outdoor hawker center. It was a long walk back to my parents’ budget hotel along North Bridge. Onchie stayed with me at Rap’s.

On the 2nd day, we went to Sentosa via cable car. It was such a nerve-wracking experience, especially for dad. You can just imagine what will happen if your coach was to plunge down the sea. Scary thought. There was not much to see in Sentosa really. We just went to the Merlion statue again, had pictures with the friendly yellow python (yikes!), and had lunch at Subway while waiting for Onchie to finish the 4D movie. Then we checked out the macau bird show (which was really for kids, it was OA) then headed to the beaches: Palawan and Siloso.

The ‘beaches’ don’t even come close to the so-so beaches we have back in the Philippines. For one thing, the sand looked fake. Also, the water looked murky, as if a monster might appear from it anytime. What pitiful souls… crowding into the only ‘beach’ they have. There was an interesting place though, claimed to be the ‘southernmost point of continental asia’. It is an islet connected to Sentosa island via a hanging bridge, and Sentosa Island is connected to Singapore via a bridge, and Singapore is connected to Malaysia via the Singapore-Johore causeway, hence the reason it’s still connected to continental asia. At 7pm, we watched the water & light show called ‘Songs of the Sea’. The plot was very thin (coz it was intended for kids), but the effects were really cool. Even Onchie enjoyed the show. He and I went back to the cable car station via the Sky Ride. It was like the cable car ride, minus the protection of the coach! Our feet were literally hanging in the air, almost skimming the top of the trees. Scary! The ride stopped for around 2 minutes, so were left dangling tens of meters above ground, totally helpless. Even though the ride was scary as hell, the view of the city from above the treetops was breathtaking. Either that, or I was out of breath like shit because of fear.

The cable car ride back to the city was less scary, and the view more beautiful. Everything was bright and twinkling.

On Sunday, we heard mass at Good Shepherd Cathedral, the oldest Roman Catholic church in Singapore (erected in 1843). Our lunch at the hawkers by the hotel had been fun: Onchie and mom waged war with their chopsticks. Then off we went to Chinatown. Mom, as usual, had a blast window shopping, touching the items, asking for the prices and looking away. For all the time she scoured the stores for anything, she was only able to buy 2 or 3 items. Ay ka-kapoy. After shopping, we came across the newly opened temple. Onchie and I went in and joined the Sunday afternoon rush. There were so many devotees and tourists flocking by the giant buddhas. There was just so many people. They buy candles as offerings and ask the monks do the chanting (via high-end sound system).The supposed solemnity of the place was lost in the crowd: taking pictures, talking, shouting, haggling for the prices on the smaller buddhas… After Chinatown, we went to Little India and shopped at the Serangoon Plaza. To my chagrin, mom bought soap, lotion, shampoo, and toothpaste! Mura daw kasi. Hay! I was able to buy a camera tripod at a bargain: $21 only. The cheapest one I found in Chinatown was $35. After Little India, we took the MRT going to Orchard Road. By this time, we were so tired that we just had dinner at Burger King and went back to the hotel. We didn’t even go into the malls to look for Onchie’s Havaianas. Having realized that the night was still young, we decided to go to Bugis Street for some tiyange shopping until midnight.

As their last ‘tour day’ was Monday, I left them to fend for themselves because I had to report to work at Suntec. Little did I know that my company had already moved to Jurong. So I went there via the MRT and got almost got lost because I didn’t know which bus to take. After getting instructions in the main office, I arrived in Jurong at around lunch time, only to discover that my project manager wasn’t there. So I was instructed to do my medical examination and take the rest of the day off. Just when I had finally decided to go back to the city and meet my famiily, the project manager calls me and tells me to go back to the office. Haaaaaaayyy………. And since I didn’t have a laptop in the office yet, I had to go back home and get my own. Grabe, kakapoy. I finally met up with my parents at around 8pm. Kainis pa coz Dad and I ran out of our roaming load, so we couldn’t coordinate. I went to their hotel as the last resort, hoping that I’d bump into them. Good thing that Dad was waiting at the hawker area by the street and saw me walk by. He was waiting for Mom and Onchie to wrap up their shopping. When they didn’t show up after I ate dinner, we decided to look for them in Bugis Junction. We found both of them doing pahabol shopping and bargaining. It was already 10pm when we went out the mall (syempre, closing time na rin). Onchie wanted to shop some more because he still had some SGD, but since all the malls were already closed, we went to the nearby Starbucks and ordered his first frappuccino. I helped them pack their shit. Good thing they bought a lot of extra bags (which was supposed to be for my use), all the soap, toothpaste, shampoo, candles, and what-have-you that my mom bought, plus the shoes that Onchie and Dad bought, were secured.

Onchie had to sleep with my parents because they were leaving for the airport very early the next day. As I stood alone in the bus, I suddenly felt a strong pang of loneliness, it almost made me cry. My first four days in Singapore had been tiring but fun, because my family was there. I wasn’t sure if I’d survive without them to hold on to. By the time I got to Rap’s place that night, I was so tired to mull about it.

The next two weeks of work had been very hectic… And I terribly missed Bucky.