Saturday, June 17, 2017

Singapore, journey 2.0

After a month in Bangkok and a month in Cebu, I decided to go back in Singapore.  After two weeks, I had a job offer and while waiting for my visa, I had to travel.  I only had with me a budget of 2 months' worth.  It was difficult to allocate money to all my needs.  It wont be even possible without the help of my friends who have been in Singapore for almost a decade.  Well, I spend most of days in Singapore of either jogging, going to church, watching movies series, but yeah mostly movie series.  I got so bored and my stay in Singapore will have expired soon so I had to go somewhere.

I've met Agne's friends through a badminton game in Pasir Ris.  I found out they're planning to go to Malacca or Melaka.  I thought to myself that would be fun. So I decided to go with them.

The next week, we decided to go to Malacca. Hmmm short trip of this historical place will be full of fun. We went there by bus.  It was not a long journey. I imagined it would have taken us the whole day.  We arrived in Melaka in the afternoon, at it was drizzling.  We were famished to be honest so the order of the day was to look for our hotel and then go on a pig out.  We found Swiss hotel - forgot the exact name but it was not the posh Swiss hotel just an average hotel in  the area.  After finally checking in, we went around the area and found a traditional restaurant.  The call their recipes peranakan / nyonya.  It is a fusion food of the Chinese-Malay and the Portuguese.  Quite interesting how these two very interesting cultures, coexisted and blossomed into a really new and interesting culture.  We enjoyed their spicy food, and filled our hearts with content.  After that sumptuous meal, we were actually tired of the small walk we had so we decided to go back to the hotel, take an hour or two of rest and then later we go out for another walk in this historical place.

After a relaxing nap, we were prepared for the adventure. Haven't I told you, we were avid Pokémon players.  Yes were what you call bugged by the mobile game Pokémon - a Japanese anime turned mobile adventure which is quite interesting. Since it is a new place, it was an opportunity for us to catch new characters an their evolved counter parts. I was so happy to have caught my first Pikachu.  While playing Pokémon in the streets of Melaka, we also had some stops from one place to the other to actually have a taste of their street food.  Since that was a weekend, the whole Melaka strip was so alive with lots of traders.  Some selling electronics, some fancy gifts, some street calligraphies, drinks of different flavors and ofcourse trying out their street food. One which caught my attention was the hello kitty rides. It was ornately decorated with and painted with bright colors and lights.  

The next day was actually spent again with catching Pokémon monsters.  I was not sure if I went to Melaka to be doing that but it was fun. The game is addictive in fact.  Anyway, we went to church and bought some mini gifts.  We went to their historical sites, remnants of Portuguese outposts in Melaka.  Karen and Joseph, had friends in Melaka so we met them in the mall where we had our lunch.  It was another afternoon of pigging out.  We need to be back to our hotel earlier and since we were going to be late if we commute, Karen and Joseph's friend drove us to the bus stop were our coach was waiting. 

Definitely, I'd recommend Melaka for a short vacation because the trip was short, fun and sweet.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

A month in Bangkok


It has been a very long time, like eons I should say, to not have blogged. Hmmm.  Well, I think things are not really the way we want them to be but thankfully it will always be where we can grow and learn.  Last 2016, I left Cebu for Bangkok.  I accepted a job in the city.  I was kind of bored and frustrated in Cebu so yeah, I quit my high paying job.  My managers were asking why I had to resign.  I was doing great, I had good pay raises every year, I made friends and got along with my peers. But I just had to quit. Well one reason was I felt the place was really conducive, I felt boxed.

Last June 9, 2016, I landed in the beautiful city of Bangkok.  It was a strange feeling of excitement and bravado.  I'm gonna start work on a Monday. The company paid for my travel and booked me for a week in a condotel.  Since I have a friend who has been working in Bangkok, I thought that things are going to be fine.

Monday came and a week has ended.  I knew something terrible is brewing.  I felt not up for the life in Bangkok.  I find it inconvenient and I felt lonely in the city.  I like their food though but it was not enough for me to be happy.  I guess, we just need to be honest with ourselves to come into terms of the things which are acceptable or not.  In short, I do not see myself living in Bangkok.  I thought the excitement was what it was, but wasn't ?  I felt like I was having some anxiety and I began to miss home terribly.  Not that I did not do anything about it but I felt like I do not belong.  The people are nice but it was not the place for me.  Then another week came, and I heard through my brother that my dad was hospitalized (again).  That did not sit well with me.  I was a bit helpless and depressed.  So the next work week, I resigned. I booked my one way ticket and left Bangkok.  The company did not want me to go.  They wanted me to be on an unpaid leave and just work part time with them. And I thought it's pointless because I can't concentrate with all the things going on.  Don't get me wrong, even if I stayed in Bangkok for just a month, I actually went to see Bangkok around and also managed to visit Pattaya :)
 

When I arrived in Cebu, I gave myself few more days to think through about the job I left. The moment I left, that was it so I just made my declaration to my company that I am officially resigning. What a month!  Since I did not have a job and good thing I still have some savings, I decided to travel around.  I went to Surigao and Siargao. Visited a friend in Surigao, went to enchanted river and went to Siargao.  Beautiful places I should say.  Oh my dad was already okay, he was discharged from Chong Hua hospital two days after I arrived in Cebu.  I barred him from eating oily food, salty food - unhealthy food in general.  

In my three weeks stay in Cebu, I started to apply jobs for either Cebu  or in Manila.  The pay and offers were competitive but not what I expected.  So I was up to another adventure. I talked to friends so at least I'd be able to evaluate things better.  So I decided to fly to Singapore! And that's for another post.