The great Singapore Adventure

Mood: Excited
Listening to: Selfish - Sunset Daze

Finally, after almost a month, we've finally uploaded our pictures from Singapore. Taking my inspiration from my background in tourism studies, I would like to impart to my readers a vision of Singapore from my perspective.

plane 2 singapore

March 24, Friday, we arrived at Changi Airport in Singapore at about 7 in the evening. Singapore and the Philippines share the same time zone, so no need to adjust my watch. Upon arrival what struck me? the airport! Changi Airport-unlike NAIA-looks like a big mall. Complete with a wide array of shops and food establishments, that is, on top of the duty free shops.

After all the necessary arrival routines, i.e. immigration papers and baggage check out, we took a cab to our residence for 3 days, at a penthouse unit in Bauhinia Court, Maplewoods Condominium along Bukit Timah. Immediately I was informed that cabs we're strictly for 4 persons, or 4 adults and a child (unlike here where sometimes we can fit in up to 6!). Then i noticed that vehicles in Singapore are right-hand driven, hence they follow a right-hand traffic regulations as well.

The road we took to Maplewoods was the Pan Island Expressway, aka PIE [yes, this information I eagerly asked our trusty cab driver]. The traffic in PIE is very light, and traffic rules were strictly obeyed. The streets were absolutely spic and span and we're decorated by plants on either side of the streets. Imagine if EDSA was like that!

On the morning of our second day our first stop was to Jurong, to see the Jurong Bird Park. From Bukit Timah, we took a bus to a transit mall. Kind of like our Farmers Plaza in Cubao, only, theirs is more posh.

With sisters @ Bukit Timah Waiting shed

Family @Bus station to Jurong

Jurong Bird Park
From Bukit Timah, Jurong in the South West part of Singapore was 2 bus rides away. They actually have a shuttle that brings guests to the attraction. Jurong bird park houses over 9,000 birds from 600 species. It is an entire zoo that houses our feathered friends. I especially liked the World of Darkness, which is an airconditioned enclosure and whose environment was patterned after the owl's natural habitat.

tram at birdpark

see penguins in our background

me with the pelicans

with juanna and the hornbills and toucans

There were several bird shows also held in Jurong Bird Park, what we were able to see was the Children's Parrot Show at the Pools Ampitheater.

w/ sisters at parrot show

After our promenade at Jurong Bird Park, we had lunch at Jurong East Center. At the food court lunch starts at Sing $3.50 up. I had meatball noodle and boy, was it spicy. Singaporean food is rich in curry and has a lot of different spices. My dad says they taste all the same, but being a fan of spicy food myself I didn't have a lot of trouble enjoying them.

After lunch we went to Seiki Mall in Bugis center, now this place is just like any ordinary mall. There were some familiar brands like Giordano and Hang Ten. I especially liked the Disney shop.

at Disney, Seiki

Sentosa Island

Our next destination was Sentosa Island, an island south of Singapore. Now, in Sentosa, you will never get bored. There are a lot of things one can do, like visit the Dolphin Lagoon, see the Merlion statue, have a blast at the Palawan and Bora bora beach and ride the cable cars, among other things.

Carlsberg Sky tower

the Mermaid and the Merlion

with Maui getting our feet wet

at the dragon trail

On Sunday morning we heard mass at the church of St. Ignatius at Kingston. Amazingly, even at church the Singaporeans seem to be very organized in hearing mass and in receiving communion.

Kingston overpass, after the Mass

IKEA

What the hell is Ikea? Have you ever seen those catalogs? Well Ikea is a furniture and other home goods store and at such bargain prices. My dad bought a lamp that has this iron skeleton and what seemed like japanese paper wrapped around it at around Sg$15 (around 450 PhP) when that would've cost about a few thousands here in the Philippines.

w/ jessi and maui @ BK, Ikea

We had lunch at Burger King in Ikea... Mind you, a burger meal there costs about Sg$ 6.50 (195 PhP) so let's eat all the burgers here where it's cheap!

we took a double-decker bus!

After lunch we went to the Orchard Road in Ngee Ann City, where the Singapore Fashion Festival 2006 was being held during our visit. There we shopped in Takashimaya, Wisma Atria and the Paragon Plaza.. and yes, we saw MTV VJ Denise. Shoppers delight! Electronics are cheap in Singapore :D

Shopping at Orchard Road

w/ jessi at Surf Girl shop

Although Singapore and the Philippines share the same time zone, there's one big difference though.... at 6.50 pm, the sun is still up. The sun sets at about 7pm in Singapore, this is because geographically, Singapore is closer to the equator.

Night Safari

Our last stop was back at Jurong in the ever-popular, Night Safari. Upon arrival we took the tram tour. The tram as you can see below can seat five persons in a row and is open on either side so tourists can view the animals. It's like walking through a wild jungle... on wheels... and of course with a tour guide. Aside from the regulars, lions, hyenas, rhinos and others, what struck me was this 3-foot rat!!! Deym! That's something i dont wanna see running around my house. There were a variety of souvenir shops too and a lot of costumed artists performing flaming acts. After our tram tour, we went to watch the Creatures of the Night show in their ampitheater.. we got in immediately before the show started so we got the seats at the backmost row. Alas, they made a creature walk on a tight-rope directly above my head!! creepy!

my tram ride

After this we had dinner at Newton Hawkers where we had a sugar cane juice... well, this tastes pretty much just like coconut water or something like that. I'd still get iced tea any time.

Well, that's it for my singapore adventure.. I hope you've learned a thing or two. I sure did, I learned that even though Singapore, a country with absolutely no natural resources, can be as successful and rich as it is, then most certainly the Philippines can do the same. I just hope so.