First day in Singapore

A promotion from a budget airline a few months ago and the presence of a close friend in that part of the world helped seal a spur of the moment decision to take a very short vacation for my birthday. I felt that I would need a necessary break from everything when this time of the year arrived. So Friday midnight found me and ate Shawie (she also celebrated her birthday, a few days before mine) at the immigration of Changi Airport in Singapore.

A very busy schedule in the past few weeks (or months?) prevented me from making my usual habit of checking out the interesting places to see in a particular country. In short, I left my fate to my dear friend Christine. Graciously she provided me with an itinerary. Her long stay in Singapore and her travel experiences with her many visitors (friends and family, and their family and friends! The eternal extended Filipino family! ) could almost make her earn some extra income for being an unofficial official tourist guide.

I was happy to discover Singapore. Ate Shawie and I appreciated the wide and tree-lined roads that led us to our temporary abode. To begin our first full-day, we were led by a dear friend, Christine, to enjoy the Southern Ridges and were treated to an amazing walk on Henderson Waves, Singapore’s highest pedestrian wooden-decked bridge. Under one of its numerous waves, we had our tasty and spicy breakfast. The early morning walk ended up a hilltop destination, Jewel Box, where we took a cable car ride straight to Sentosa. All this time, when people talk about Sentosa, I thought it was a shopping area (I found out later on that it was the Orchard instead!). With our limited time, we quickly roamed around, saw and had our pictures taken with Merlion (a little version), took a bus ride and then a tram to and from Siloso beach (but walked a bit on Tanjong and Palawan beaches). A side comment… we still have (much much much) better beaches.

We next went to Vivo City Mall to meet my former colleague Jen and her husband. Our lunch inside at the Food Republic was delicious (more so because it was free!). It was paradise to those who love hawker’s food but afraid of possible germs and bacteria. We ate gado gado, sop buntot, chicken rice, some dumplings, etc. We burned off those calories as we walked along Orchard. Of course, I just had to try the Singaporean version of street ice cream: the size of two matchboxes and sandwiched between two sweet wafers. Surprisingly, it did not melt. We roamed around inside a few shopping malls, such as the iOn Mall and successfully conquered our impulse to buy a shirt from an expensive Spanish brand. Then off to Marina Square Food Loft to have an early dinner. We wanted to eat at the veranda to enjoy the aerial show (???) or rehearsal for Singapore Day (August 9) but all the tables were filled up.

We went inside the Asian Civilization Museum primarily for the air conditioning and to refresh ourselves. We were also fortunate to buy a souvenir shirt on sale. Then off to Kallang Indoor Stadium to attend a Praise and Worship Celebration. We found ourselves being led to stadium seats that were very near the stage. American singer Bob Fitts, his wife and then an Indonesian P&W team led the singing. Someone spoke, another led the prayer,and then there was some singing again. There were a few moments that I almost fell asleep (because we didn’t get enough rest the night before and we have been walking all day long).

We left the stadium before the event ended so as to avoid the rush of people taking the public transportation. For a few minutes though, we really didn’t know which direction to take and where to find the public transportation. Finally, we discovered a free bus ride to the nearest metro train. We made a short stop at a bakery to buy some bread for breakfast. Then we were back to our temporary home, sweet home where we had a very restful sleep for the night.