Singapore on a Budget: Day 3

1Jan 23: Window shopping and the flight to Cebu.


When we woke up, we thought it was still dawn. But when we saw the clock, it was already 7 a.m. This was how the Singapore sky at 7 a.m. looked like.

I couldn't believe that it was our last day already, and I haven't bought anything for myself. Of course, we were on budget, and I couldn't afford to buy from the luxury shops, but I was desperate to buy a souvenir item from Singapore. So I coaxed the Hubby to go to Vivo City, claimed to be the largest shopping mall in Singapore. I might have luck over there?

When we reached Vivo, we were struck by the number of people there. And then we remembered that it was a holiday, and families were flocking towards Universal Studios. You have to go through Vivo City to get to the tram going to Sentosa.

No luck at Vivo too. What good was it being the largest shopping mall if most of the shops were closed? (Sour graping na talaga ako!) We just ate a scoop of Haagen Dazs to console me from not holding a shopping bag.

The Hubby, bless him, asked me if I would like to go back to Orchard Road to check on the other malls. Of course, I wanted to. We still had the whole day to look around, since our flight was at 12:10 a.m. of January 24th.

We ended up going back to the same malls we went to yesterday, since most of the major malls were closed, like Paragon, Ngee Ann City, Wheelock, ION Orchard, etc. He jokingly said he would have bought some expensive gift for me if the stores were open. Hwag mag-joke sa taong walang na-shopping!!

Anyare?

I finally rested my case. We went back to the hotel to prepare for the flight home.

Goodbye, Swissotel Stamford!
I enjoyed my stay in Rm 2562.

Our flight was still at midnight, so we dropped by the Main Changi first. Of course, we couldn't go through the departure area there, where shops abound, so we stayed at Starbucks for a while. At around 6:00, we decide to transfer to the Budget Terminal. The Shuttle Bus going there were full of Indians.

When we arrived at the Budget Terminal, we were surprised at the number of people who were there. Were they all going somewhere? Later, we found out that out of at least five people there, only one was the legitimate passenger. The others were all 'naghahatid'. We had to endure the sights and smell until 9:00, when the flight of Tiger Airways left. Then, the airport became suddenly still.

Lesson learned: Go to the Budget Terminal at least 2 hours before your flight because that's the only time you will be allowed to check-in and go to the Departure Area anyway.

Remember the liniments the Hubby bought at Guardian Pharmacy? Well, he threw away the spray since it was not allowed in the hand carry bags. We didn't pay for a provision for check-in baggage, because we really didn't need it (budget nga e!), so he didn't have a choice but to discard the Salonpas spray. Naku, ang sakit ng loob niya kaya!

Finally, we were able to check-in at 10:00 p.m. The Hubby went through the X-ray without any hitch, but I was stopped because I had a tiny Victorinox Swiss army multi-tool, which I forgot to leave behind at home, in my purse. They confiscated it, unfortunately. Bye, Swiss Army!

What do you know? There is a Guardian Pharmacy inside the waiting lounge. So guess what, the Hubby bought a Salonpas spray again (or was it two bottles?)! Hayy, ang kulit, no?!!!

The Departure waiting lounge was not at all bad. There was free wi-fi zone, some massage chairs, a duty-free shop, money changer. We grabbed a bite at what looked like a fast food stall, and the food was not that pricey. The waiting lounge needed more lounging chairs though. Overall, it still looked like a warehouse to me.

Boarding time, and it was almost my birthday. 


Goodbye, Singapore! I had the best weekend birthday ever!

Singapore on a Budget: Day 2

January 22: Orchard Road and Marina Bay Area

We were woken up by the church bells of St. Andrew's Church. Time to get moving! But first, let me wallow in the fresh breath of a sleepy Singapore morning.

A view from our hotel balcony. I could wake up everyday looking at this!

Another view. Even the roofs look scrubbed! Hahaha!

Now you may be wondering if the Kiddos didn't ask to tag along with us. The Boys didn't really care, that's for sure. Paolo even asked what we were going to do again in Singapore. And what about Princess Daughter? Her only reaction was: Buy me a pair of Docs! So that was our first agenda of the day--to get her second pair of Doc Martens boots.


We went down the subway and bought an Adult EZLink Pass for the subway for SGD12, plus we added ten dollars more, just in case we got lost or something (SGD22=Php770). Actually, one cannot get lost in the MRT of Singapore (unless you are direction-impaired like me!). You can find maps and signs strategically located in every station. I let the Hubby figure out what line to ride and what exit to go to. He is totally giddy over riding this subway. He is like a kid who could ride the trains all day and be happy about it at the end of the day. He even joked that maybe we could take a round trip through all the lines--just for fun! (I just stared at him incredulously, so he stopped. Hehe). And why not, the subways are ultra clean, no graffiti, no suspicious-looking people, no beggars. You can go there alone, late at night without fear of being mugged. Besides, most of the major train stations have shopping malls outside, so you can't get bored going there. Signs tell you the frequency schedule of the trains, like the next train will arrive in 3 minutes. I think the wait is only from 3-5 minutes for the next train to arrive. I thought, wow, no one can use the excuse, "Sorry, boss, I got stuck in traffic" line here in this country. How sad! Haha!


First stop: Orchard Central. It is claimed to be the tallest vertical mall in Orchard Road, and its exterior escalator proves it. Hindi rin madumi ang escalator na ito a!

In truth, the Hubby really didn't want to ride this steep escalator because of his vertigo.
But did he have a choice?

When we got to the Doc Martens shop, we saw that it was still closed. It opens at 11 a.m., unlike other stores. So we grabbed some light breakfast at the basement food court.

Still closed, Iss!

We went back at exactly 11, and I panicked because all the three choices that the Princess gave me were not available! (She threatened to starve to death if we didn't buy a pair! Hehehe!) I called her and asked if she could settle for another design. She said okay, but to my dismay, the store didn't have her size. Aww. Tough luck, Iss. I think I made five calls before she finally gave up. The Hubby got a little annoyed at our indecisiveness. So he tried one pair of shoes for himself to escape from boredom. And guess what, he liked them. Hay, siya pa tuloy ang nakabili! Hahaha!

I don't know the feeling, sensya na!

Second stop: H&M at the Orchard Building. (Honestly, some building names there are quite confusing, like there is ION Orchard, Orchard Place, Orchard Towers, Orchard Building, Orchard Central--anu ba!) 

Excited pa ako rito!

Now this is supposedly MY time to shine. I was eagerly anticipating, no, dreaming about H&M for weeks. I scoured the internet for its inventory of clothes and accessories, and saved some pictures on my iPhone, just in case I would be overwhelmed. But as I swam from rack to rack, my heart sank every single minute. I didn't find anything to my liking. How could it be? When we went to the H&M Hongkong branch four years ago, I thought I wanted to buy everything I saw (But of course I didn't have enough dollars to do so!). Singapore H&M, what on earth? Their stocks were generic. It was like I was just at SM Surplus Store (Sorry!). No kidding. I was able to buy a tank top for the Princess, and one underwear shorts for me. Yun lang po. I went out of the store crying inside. Kawawa!


3rd stop: 313@Somerset. Take note that these buildings are just next to each other, so it looks like you are in one big mall on the street. The mall features four floors of Forever 21, Zara, Mango, Uniqlo, Cotton On, etc. etc. I put the last priority to the shops we already have in the Philippines, but just out of curiosity, I also went inside just to see if the products here and there are similar. In my opinion, it is better to go shopping in Pinas. 


Reason 1: The stocks there are more suitable to our weather and lifestyle. I searched through the four floors of F21 and went out empty-handed--their stocks were either knitted, or batik-looking. 


Reason 2: The prices are a bit higher if you convert them to peso. As a tourist, you have this invisible money converter in your head, so you take second thoughts on buying stuff. 


Reason 3: The Hubby was lingering and I know that he would scrutinize each thing I would buy. Don't get me wrong, he is the best shopping buddy because he will not tell you I-am-tired-and-let's-get-back-to-the-hotel. He actually patiently went with me to every store, because he also likes looking around. The problem was, he wanted to see and to give me a thumbs up to the things I would buy. 


To make the long story short, my shopping haul was underwhelming. I think the Hubby and the Daughter were the winners in this round. It was already 3:00, so we had lunch at the Food Republic (their food court) at 313@Somerset. Most of the food stalls were already closed or preparing to close, because later was Chinese New Year's eve, so the food court crews were raring to spend time with their families. We ate some Hainanese chicken again and shelled out about SGD25 (Php875). Mahalia Jackson din for a food court ha!

One of Issa's pasalubong from us--a HUGE MISTAKE eraser. Kyoot!

So this is the advantage of having a hotel above an MRT station. We went back to Stamford to rest for two hours, preparing ourselves to walk our shoes off around the Marina Bay area and witness the New Year's Eve countdown.


We saw this sort of New Year's fortune cookie on the desk in our room.

Next Destination: Marina Bay


Before I barrage you with senseless pictures, let me tell you the Hubby's real obsession when it comes to shopping--liniments. When he sees the words camphor, menthol, muscle pain reliever, expect him to be buying them at once. So when he saw the Guardian Pharmacy (much like Watson's) which is practically in all corners of Singapore, he happily bought his stash. Heck, his pasalubong to Nanay and his visiting-from-Canada cousin were the Yoko Yoko. Hehehe. But will these go past immigration without a hitch? Abangan!

After recharging, we went down again and passed through the City Link Mall, Singapore's first underground mall which connects Suntec City Mall, Marina Square, and the Esplanade theatre. It was amazing how one can get from one mall to another using another underground mall. Don't Singaporeans get tired of shopping? Anyways, aside from the underground shops, we also saw some interesting art works within the walls of City Link.

Maybe this is their version of graffiti?

We walked out of the Esplanade Theatre. We were not able to take a picture of the durian-like structure outside because it started to rain. 

Esplanade lobby

Chinese New Year and it was raining. For Asians, we console ourselves with the superstitious belief that the rain is a sign of blessing. But for us, tourists, it's a sign that we didn't want to have. We waited for the shower to stop at a restaurant outside the Esplanade, and had an early dinner. 


The rain finally stopped.  The idea was for us to go from point A, which is here at the Esplanade to point B, which is at the Merlion, that white thing spewing water found at the background of this picture, and back to the point A. Ready? Okay, now for a dose of picture overload.

Tourists abound taking pictures of the magnificent skyline.

The Marina Bay Sands. The Hubby said he could imagine that ship-like platform flying anytime with some aliens. That's why he didn't want to go up there. For all I know, he just didn't want to cough up SGD20 to go up the the observation deck. Hehe.

One of the problems of couples or any group for that matter is how to take pictures of themselves together. The Hubby solved that problem by bringing a monopod. He attached our digital camera (not a DSLR--too heavy!) to that wand-like thingie, set the timer, extended his hand, and voila, couple pictures! The things was, other people kept looking at us, amused, because we were like dorks taking pictures of ourselves. Or maybe they were saying, why didn't we think of that too?

The Singapore Flyer at the background. Of course we didn't go there. Vertigo, remember?

Parang nasa Bacolaodiat lang?

Happy chinese new year!

The Helix Bridge is a 280-m architectural marvel linking the Marina Centre (where we came from) to the Marina Bay Sands to the south. We were thinking out loud that this bridge was designed not only for the purpose of completing the entire walkway around Marina Bay area, but more so to awe tourists and attract them to visit Singapore. Sigh, I wish our country had money and political will to do just that, and make it really "more fun in the Philippines".

The ArtScience Museum is an imposing lotus-like structure which shows major international touring exhibitions. At that time,  the Titanic Artifacts Exhibition was on display.

The Marina Bay Sands is, I think, the ultimate shopping mall. It houses luxury shops like those French sounding names I don't even know how to pronounce, 2,000+ hotel rooms, a casino, world-renowned chef restaurants, two performance theatres ("The Wicked" was showing at that time), an ice skating rink, yadda yadda yadda. 

Just passing through...

Okay, we cheated. After Marina Bay Sands, you don't expect us to actually walk to the Merlion, right? My feet were already crying for some rest. But the journey must go on. So we hopped on a train going to the Raffles Place Station.

Thank God for these comfiest shoes

I thought that after alighting the train, we would be right aside the Merlion. What? More walking?

On the other side of Marina Bay Area now

Passing by the walk to The Fullerton Hotel...

Parang hindi nakakatakot maglamyerda rito

Some sculpture works, such as this bike can be seen around the area.

The Cavenagh Bridge can only be used by pedestrians since 1910.

And at last, the Merlion! Nothing special here, but the place is really romantic at night, that is, if you don't mind all the tourists wanting to take picture of that lion head spitting water in the bay. We bought some iced coffee at a nearby The Coffee Bean, and just sat there and marveled at the sights.

Sweet, no?

Haha. My attempt of an artistic shot. Failed!

After thirty minutes of sitting there, hoping our feet would be magically healed by the Merlion, we decided to go back to the hotel. It was still around 9:30, and the New Year's countdown was still ages away. Nope, we weren't in the mood to brave the crowd of New Year's revelers anymore.


We walked back through the Esplanade Bridge. Although I already wanted to stop walking, I couldn't help but be impressed by this 850-foot long bridge overlooking the modern Singapore architecture.

And it even has benches where people could stop and stare at the bay.

We would have wanted to rest there for awhile, but it started raining again. Good that we were already a few meters from the other end when it poured. The durian-like thing at the background is the Esplanade Theatre. Back to where we started. Mission accomplished!


Now I had to drag my feet to the hotel. We just watched the New Year's countdown, where else, on TV. Old habits die hard.


Happy Chinese New Year from Room 2562! (To be continued)

Singapore on a Budget: Day 1

They say age is just a number, but who are they fooling? Turning 45 last January 24th, I'm finally feeling the pressure of not admitting my age to anyone who asks. It seems like good ol' Time is catching up on me, at least in my mind.


Anyway, maybe the Hubby had already anticipated this midlife crisis drama six months ago, so he thought of the most thoughtful birthday gift to ease this pain --waddayaknnow, it was a trip to Singapore for the two of us! He was able to book us in Cebu Pacific at a promo fare worth Php1,888 for a one-way trip. So our fare only cost us around Php8,000 total. A long time ago, one couldn't go on a trip abroad with this amount of money, but thanks to fair competition (and according to my father, Mr. Gokongwei's dream), it has now become affordable to Filipinos. But there are repercussions on riding on a budget though. More on that later.


Looking back at the number of trips we have had, I realized it was only now that we were able to travel without the Kiddos. Not that I was complaining before. Last year when he told me to go to Singapore just the two of us, I told him it would be more fun with the kids around, especially when our itinerary was Universal Studios and the Night Safari. Now that they have been there, and done that, we decided to have this much needed break alone (woot! woot!). And what a trip it turned out to be--surreal, dreamy, and yes, exhausting too.


Okay I take it back. My 45th was the best birthday weekend ever. I almost forgot I'm already ancient. Almost. Thanks, Dada!


Now, for my Singapore Journal...


January 21: Bacolod-Cebu


I took the first Cebu Pacific flight to Cebu. Then we went straight to Ayala to have a look around (what, I still need to say hi to my BFF shops there!). I had lunch at CYMA with the Hubby and the Daughter. Note: If it's your birthday month, go eat at CYMA. I was treated with a free dish of my choice (I got Chicken Couscous or inasal to us Pinoys), plus a surprise scoop of ice cream with a candle on top, served by three waiters singing "Happy birthday to you!" Sweeeet! My birthday celebration has already started.

Can't believe this was for FREE!


Our flight was at 7:55 p.m., so  I still had time to freshen up for the three-hour plane ride ahead of us.

Off to Mactan Cebu International Airport

My adorable scarf. Parang kumot lang!

Two weeks before this, I asked Issa to buy me a scarf for the trip. She bought me the most perfect travel scarf-- it has animal prints and it's about 10 meters long (haha! exagg). At first I thought I would be engulfed by it, but when I got into the plane, the scarf magically converted into a warm blanket for me. So I was able to snuggle under it and sleep in peace during the flight.




So let me tell you now why you should have second thoughts to book yourself in a Cebu Pacific flight. It's because the airport assigned to it is the Budget Terminal and not the main Changi Airport. For some passengers who don't care about airports (Is that why our own airport is old and unkempt?), it might not be a big deal to land at the Budget Terminal. But I've seen and fallen in love with the main Changi and my heart was aching to go back there again. Unfortunately, booked with Cebu Pacific, we couldn't go inside the waiting lounge of Changi. Sigh! 


Anyway, when we arrived at the Budget Terminal at around 11:30 p.m., we still had to walk for a good 5 minutes or so from the dock to the Immigration (no travellator, people!). The arrival area of the airport, though immaculately clean, looked like a warehouse. (Sad, sad face!)

Welcome to immaculate Singapore!
(Yes, Ben, this is the way to pack a light bag!)

We were already very tired so the Hubby decided to rent a car service going to the hotel. (There was supposed to be a free shuttle bus from the Budget Airport to the Main Changi, but the schedule was only up to 10:00 p.m.) Our driver, Mr. Victor, was gracious and polite, and engaged us in small talk about politics and economics. Imagine your driver having a clipped English accent and talking about sensible things! Ilurvett! (Car rental: SD45=Php1,575)

I could even see him smiling, even when I was only seeing the back of his head.

 After only about fifteen minutes, we arrived at the Swissotel, The Stamford. This was actually not our first choice. We were booked at the Grand Park Orchard way back in November, but we cancelled three days before our trip, when we realized it was Chinese New Year, and we might as well be near the Marina Bay area where the celebration of the New Year would be concentrated. We also found out that almost all malls would be closed on January 23 and 24, hence this hotel. And I think we made the right decision. There is a McDonald's and Starbucks just a few steps away from Stamford's lobby; the subway connecting all the lines is just an escalator below; and most importantly, the Raffles Mall and the CityLink Mall are also a few steps away. Yey!

Time check: 12:05 midnight

The room was inviting enough. But first, we were kind of famished since we didn't really have a decent meal in Cebu, so we ordered for room service. The Hubby ordered for, what else, Hainanese chicken rice. I wanted to try something local, but different this time, so I rang for a laksa, a curry-based broth with noodles, and lots of sea food. I didn't expect it would be this big bowl of spicy goodness. The taste kind of grew on me after a few slurps. (A bowl of laksa was SD25=Php875; Hainanese chicken rice was SD23=Php805)

Stamford was better than we expected. The room was huge. We were given a king-sized bed. There was a balcony to view the city (although we didn't get the harbour view, more expensive by a thousand pesos). The bathroom was clean and there was an ample supply of toilet accessories. We were informed that we could check out late at 4:00 p.m. And the hotel's location is conveniently located for light travelers like us. At SD240/night (Php7,920), it may not fall under the category of  a tight budget, but with all of these plus factors in mind, it was a reasonable price to be had.

Now for that much needed sleep. (To be continued)

HBD and HCNY!

So much has happened since my last post. Haha. As if. But counting my boring life, and considering January is already on its 24th day, I'd say pretty much has passed by, all right.

To those millions (!) who missed Maria Marauder, so sorry for not blogging since 2012 heard its big bang. I left my MAC in Cebu last January 1 to have the programs re-installed. When I got it the first time a few months back, I was kind of disappointed in it because the speed was not at par to what I expected. So I had it diagnosed and it's only now that I got it back.  (That explains the late update)


Yup, I'm 45 today. Thanks to those who remembered. And thanks to FB who made them remember.


I just got back from a nice trip with the Hubby from Merlion's lair (again?) today. It was a nice birthday-and-at-the-same-time-Chinese-New-Year trip, but, oh, sooo exhausting. I'd give the details in a few days, minus the juiciest (hah!), next time. 

Now first, let me get back to answering these pesky birthday greeters!!;-)