Singapore's Chinatown and Old Charms {feeling like a tourist}

Bishan Cinema

As from my last entry, I've told you guys that it's overly summer here in Singapore.  So I decided to go to Bishan Junction 8 mall to watch Hansel and Gretel, first.  That was around 2:30PM.  The movie was good, lots of action and there was less drama.  I wanted it that way though but the story is a bit short.  I wanted it longer but not dragging.   I'd still recommend this movie to be watched though but if Cloud Atlas is still showing, better go for it.

After the movie, I decided to go to Tanjong Pagar and explore some old charms of Singapore.  Old shops are actually in this area and if you have the stamina to explore the area on foot, you can actually proceed to Chinatown which was what I did.

Here are some of the photos I took.  Year of the Snake is to be celebrated for his CNY and I'd like you to look for the snake which I happened to capture ;)

Singapore River Cruise { feeling like a tourist }

As promised, I began my journey as a tourist here in Singapore - short for a bum with some small cash to spare :P

Just this morning, I talked to a financial planner.  He was referred by another financial planner whom I've met last year who offered me some investment and insurance, which I politely declined.  Anyway, we met at Bishan Junction 8 where we had morning tea, rather I had tea and him coffee.  Well he started explaining about a simple savings scheme which got my interest honestly but then, I just let him explained to me all the rest of the plan.  He asked me if I had an investment and I said yes, I do have two, one is savings life insurance and the other is an investment life insurance.

Anyway, I asked him if they have something which is purely investment, which he also showed to me.  Basically, I agreed to the appointment because I am interested to learn more about financial planning which I honestly told him at the start of the talks.

Then I also informed him that I already resigned from my work and that even if I am interested, I'd not be able to get one.  Then our talk went to exploring Japan and then into photography and stuff.  Yup, photography it is! And he told me that it's good to take photos at Marina Bay around 6 - 7:30 PM.

After we shook hands, I'd thought of why not going to Marina Bay instead of Kreta Ayer, where old shop houses dating back colonial times... ?

Anyway, here's a sampler of my first photo session and my goodness, 5PM is overly summer in Singapore.

Cruise Captain

Marina Bay Sands

Makan Sutra

The Fullerton

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay CBD

Cooking my food

Spare ribs noodle

Welcome 2013! It's a new day, It's a new Life =))

my Leica ;)

Bring it on 2013!

Well, my Christmas and New Year were celebrated here in in Singapore with friends.  I went to dawn masses to celebrate it spiritually and thank goodness the sermons were very refreshing to the soul.  I would say the yuletide was memorable and fulfilling.

The biggest news for this year 2013 is actually my resignation from Gemalto.  You heard me right. I resigned from Gemalto and it has been a week of me here in Singapore without a job.  I have been submitting my resume here and there :) But personally, I'd like to go back to Cebu and find work in there or maybe somewhere else.  My heart is actually telling me to explore other things - schooling, MBA?  My former Japanese teacher posted a job ad which says about an IT Engineer in Japan.  So yeah, I sent my resume to him actually and if things go well, I might consider it actually just for the experience ;)

Well, experiences are really life changing.  It makes your story meaningful.  It gives you opportunities to know yourself better and in a way tell the world of your existence.  Perhaps, meeting people whom you'll share some of your best or worst ....

Anyway, I haven't bought my ticket back to Cebu.  I was planning it over this weekend but I was waiting a reply from a friend about her SG trip this Feb.  Good thing I remembered because I promised her about the accommodation last December, otherwise I would have booked my ticket.  I am still open to any good opportunity in Singapore though which is the other reason why I haven't book a ticket.   But, my stay in Singapore will only be valid until the second week of February so I need to get a confirmation or maybe a good job.  I hope I'd get replies the soonest time possible....

And finally, I bought my first ever camera, which is a Leica.  Just for point and shoot stuff :D  This is the first ever digi-cam I bought and I am so happy about it.  The first digi-cam I had was a Panasonic Lumix which I won from a raffle draw =)).  You see,  I got a good savings after I resigned because of the last pay.  And so, the good thing to do is gift myself with a new toy to play.  My week will be filled with tourist mode and cam whoring I guess, so don't be surprised if the next entries will be mostly pictures.  Oh, don't worry because I'll try to make my post interesting.

Ciao and happy Sinulog to the whole of Cebu!!!

A trip to Bintan Indonesia with Friends

Ofcourse, I was with my friends; obviously :)

We went to Bintan last weekend, so yeah my trips lately outside of Singapore has been hectic.  I had no major trips outside Singapore except when I had to go to Cebu, my hometown to visit my family.

Anyway, Bintan is really near to Singapore like it's a 45 minute-ferry ride.  Early dawn of Saturday, I received miss calls from Chritian as I have asked them to call me so I can wake up early as I did not trust my alarm (or perhaps myself).  Usually weekends for me is like holy when it comes to sleeping :)) I can wake up at noon.  That's how late I start my weekends.  Yup, to be on the ferry terminal at Tanah Merah early, I decided to take a cab.  I was planning to actually take the train but I felt I'll not be able to make it so I had to cough up 20 dollars for the cab.  I arrived at the terminal on time and my friends were already there, queuing for out tickets.  I met them in their queue and gave my passport after the small talk :)  I did not take my breakfast so I found this Killiney coffee house and there I ordered teh (tea with milk) and kaya toast (slice bread with kaya; a spread made of coconut).  My friends finished their checkin and stuff and we got our tickets. We queued to going to the immigration and all the security stuff and no later that 10 minutes, we found ourselves boarding the ferry and off we went to Bintan Indonesia :)

We had a villa for ourselves at Nirwana resorts.  It's a two storey house, with two big common rooms and a  master's bedroom.  It's somehow furnished. In fact one can cook their food there which was part of our plan.  When we arrived at the resort, it was actually about lunch time in the coming hour.  Since we had our packed lunch we just looked for a nice place to have lunch :)

At around 1PM we were able to check-in at our villa.

There were so many things to do.  After we have settled ourselves, our first activity was the ATV. Unfortunately, it was not available and they that it's going to be on the next day that they'll resume operations :(  So we just decided to bathe into beach.  Hmmm there was actually a Meta Man - it's a triathlon actually and to my surprise, Sen. Pia Cayetano; senator of the upper house of the Philippines, was joining the event.  Anyway, the afternoon was the start of the swimming competition which made our stay there different.  For most of us, it was our first time watching a live triathlon.  There were jelly fishes in their beach so it was not that fun actually and their sand is a bit muddy so it did not feel good because when you splash and swim it would turn a bit murky.  Anyway, we explored their beach on the other side and the view is nice but not as good as we had in the Philippines - sorry if I am comparing....  Anyway, I told my friends that I'd go to the pool :)  I spent like an hour or two at the pool just enjoying the scenery and cheering the triathletes.  They were in the marathon competition already and they happen to pass by near the infinity pool.  To my surprise, Sen. Pia Cayetano was there and so I can't help but cheer.  At around 4PM my friends joined me at the pool.  My friends wanted to go back to the villa and prepare for dinner but then I asked them to cheer for Sen. Cayetano and at around 5PM she had the 2nd round already and when she was near the pool side we were shouting, "Go Ms. Pia" - she did smile at us but I think she find it so strange :D

Well,  it was getting dark already and we had to go back to our villa so we can prepare for dinner.  I think I made a mistake in my timing simply because I was using the Singapore time.  Indonesia is 1 hour advance :P

After everyone was ready, we were headed to The Kelong restaurant.  We waited for the hotel service for a few minutes then off we went to the restaurant.  To our surprise we saw Senator Pia again and so we did cheer and blurted, "Go Ms. Pia! Mabuhay!".   Anyway, we arrived at the restaurant a bit hungry and the good thing was, the place was not crowded.  Getting our orders was fast and the guy serving our table was friendly and it felt we were not too rushed unlike in Singapore restaurants where the service is a bit rushed :))  The food was good and the service was quite good so after our heavy dinner, we tipped the guy 10 Singapore dollars.  There was nothing to do actually so we just decided to go back to our villa and had our karaoke.  My friends brought their portable karaoke :) As usual, it' fun singing with friends =))

We decided to check the beats from outside and it was actually the Meta Man challenge finish line.  I think the organizers party.  The triathletes has been active for the last 16 hours as shown in the finish line clock.  I was so amazed at how sporty these people are.  I even saw some athletes at their late forties as you can see in their whitish hair :D  It left an impression on me to be a bit sporty as well or simply put I have to be fit :P I stopped going to the gym actually and I have not been jogging and not even doing the dance exercise in our Xbox Kinect.   It was getting dark so we decided to go back to our hotel to sleep already;)

Early morning, my friends were already cooking for breakfast.  Since there's a free breakfast for two because we had two extra beds, Christian and I took the free meal.  Mamul asked us to bring back some butter for the bread.   The breakfast served at Nirwana was quite good so I was full again. We took some butter and strawberry spreads. Then off we went back to our villa.  My friends were still eating and the German sausage I brought was really nice to look at so I had my hands on them.  They also prepared some spam so yeah I also devoured some.  After our breakfast, the first order of business was to go for an ATV ride.  Then the unexpected happened.  We were like being passed from one counter to the other just to get to their ATV and everyone was already exasperated because of the long walks.  For the last time, we demanded to the hotel staff to bring us to the correct place already. So they decided to give us a free ride going to the ATV venue.  Good thing we pushed through for the ATV for it was so fun.  The trails was really nice and a bit challenging.  Too bad, we only had few minutes left because we need to go back to Singapore early. With that, we only had 30 minutes ATV. But the whole thirty minutes was really fun.  I think I am going for an ATV adventure in Bintan in the near future.

After the ride, we went back to our villa.  We still have some few hours to prepare so some of us went to dip at the pool and some had the elephant and horse back riding activities. Me ? I went to the pool :D

One hour has passed and it was time to pack up.  It was rather fast to pack and we need to checkout from the resort at 1PM.  We waited for some few minutes to take the free bus ride going to the ferry terminal.

After some immigration stuff and some waiting, we boarded and off we went back to Singapore :)

I then realized I miss the wifi connection I had in Singapore.  Wireless internet at Nirwana is 30 Singapore dollars - quite expensive as most hotels nowadays are offering free wifi.  It was a fun experience but I think KL is more affordable and exciting if you want to have a vacation without the beach thing.  I think the beach part at Bintan is not that good as well so I think going to KL is more enjoyable.

Good night everyone and enjoy the weekdays?

Universal Studios Singapore with friends :)

Sunday morning, and MJ was calling out my name. Yeah she just finished her morning ritual while I was still slumbering in my bed with a snore ? 

My friends had to be at Vivo city around 9 to get the first tickets for USS and the metro will take us there at approximately 30 minutes.  I was a bit hungry so I ate my breakfast.  Ating was already waiting for us actually....

We arrived just on time and people were like going to the toilet and others were actually late too from the agreed time.  Some of us went hungry so we ate at Food Republic.  At around 10:15 maybe, everyone was at Food Republic and after some few minutes we started our journey to USS.  For most of us, it was our first time, so it made the whole adventure fun and exciting.

We rode the express train going to USS and when we got there, it was not that crowded.  The tickets were at 70 Singapore dollars but I used my Mastercard for our booking so we got a discount.  We even had this free admission tickets for the Maritime museum.

Our first challenge was to take the most heart-pounding ride which is the Cylon.  I have always been very scared of roller coasters and god the Cylon ride will my first and it's the toughest in USS.  I honestly felt numb and I know I had to be excited or worse scared but nada, I felt nothing....  MJ and Jason who were with me in the ride were all excited :)  Okay, the queue was not that long in fact when we arrived we just had to wait for a couple of minutes.  It is in fact a 90-second ride.  Then came our turn and yeah we were seated together hahaha and I began to feel uneasy.  I asked them that I be seated at the middle. Actually there were four seats per row.  When the clock ticked and the ride started everyone was like already laughing with no reason at all. The began an uphill climb of some few meters then a huge plunge.  All we could do was just shout.  Then came the 360 degrees flips and turns which sent our adrenaline to space then came the loudest screams as if it was our last minute on earth.  As I've said, it was 90 seconds right? Yet it felt the longest ride I had ever done.  After we finished the ride, we could have taken a second round but decided not to because there so many other attractions which we wanted to try. 

Our next ride was the Human, a less challenging roller coaster ride than that of the Cylon :D  Anyway, we enjoyed those two rides.  Marlyn, Rowena, Femilyn and Razel did not join us on that ride but our next one was a not scary one so they decided to join except for Razel - hehehehe :) 

There we found ourselves in the Mummy ride :) It is the Egyptian pyramid kind of replica and inside is the mini train ride.  It was quite interesting because it was like so dark and there were some surprises and the fire was real and you can really feel the heat blowing in our faces.  I got scared at the part where a mummy suddenly appeared on our sides with all the frightening sound.  The rest where just made excited by the twist and rapid turns of the ride.  It was quite interesting actually.  The next ride we took was the Transformers as in the movie.  Razel still could not join us but then the rest went into the Transformer ....  It was a 3D augment reality ride so it was so fascinating and interesting at the same time.  It's like you were in the middle of a battle field and you were riding in car being chased furiously by the Deceptecons; the villains in the movie.  The ride I should say was the most interesting of all and I like very much.... It's just that we wanted to try other things so we decided not to do our second round with Transformers. Anyway we were hungry so we ordered lunch and the meal was like 20Singapore dollars which is really expensive for a meal.  I think you will be wasting at least 100dollars in USS but if you shop just prepare more cash :)

After lunch, we decided to try the Jurassic/Dinosaur ride.  It was not that challenging but definitely you'll get out wet.  Your friends can even pay for a water gun and shoot you for 50 cents.  After that, we tried the castle ala Shrek themed movie house which was also in 3D.  Well you will just be watching Shrek and Fiona in a movie in a very interactive manner because you will be sprayed and the benches will shake from time to time and when spiders come out, there will be some fun surprises....  quite interesting actually but if you want more adrenaline stuff, this does not suit you then.  After that, we went to ride the dragon roller coaster designed for kids so yeah it was not that challenging.  We even invited Rowena, whose also scared of roller coaster and we were shocked when there were scary parts - Rowena's definition of roller coaster scare. All we could say was we were behind her in her shouts for moral support.

We also watched the Monster rock, where some scary characters in movies will do some play kind of thing with music so it was really like a rock musical with mixed up story telling. We had fun watching the Phantom of the Opera character well because of the way the actor played the role :)  The next attraction we had was the replica of hollywood movie set.  It was really amazing how movies are made :)  Just imagine were like a live audience in a movie in the making.  We saw some thunderstorm and fire and also some boats slamming into the pier - where we actually observed in a standing position.  I really liked this part of the tour because it felt so real :D

It was getting dark. But we continued to explore the universal studios.  Ate something from here to there and did some shopping.  We also had some cam whoring =))

We got so tired and it was for real really dark, so we decided to go to Food Republic @ vivo to have our dinner :)

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the Universal Studios Singapore which was what that mattered on that day.  I would recommend this theme park for would be tourists together with friends and family ;)