Singapore Galore (Part 1- Esplanade, Merlion, Chinatown, IT Mall)

My good friend Uls called me up the night before to check how we are.
He's so excited to see us :) and so are we.

Departure day came..
Uls called early morning to break the bad news:
he's in the Changi Airport, ready to buy the next flight ticket back to Manila.
There was an emergency call because his dad was diagnosed with cancer :(

I told him not to worry about us.
and that we hope that his dad will be okay throughout the treatment.

anyway, we met our friend Ian in the airport.
We have the same flight going to Singapore. He was going to meet his girlfriend there, who is also our friend :)
then, Labsy and I went to the travel tax section to pay the 1620 pesos fee.


....we waited till our flight was ready for check-in.

as usual, the line in the airport was crazy!!!
hehehe but that's ok because we enjoyed each other's company :)

i just find it sad that travellers need to pay a terminal fee 750 pesos at the NAIA airport.
I wonder whose pockets those huge amounts go? hmmm...

anyway, we ate at the airport since our flight was Cebu Pacific (meaning, no free food on board :p ) it's a budget fare that's why.

i ordered 2 sandwiches... (150 pesos each! yummy...Davis paid for my 2nd sandwich hihihi) plus: Bo's white choco mocha drink (135 pesos)

*ding*

boarding time..
when we arrived at the boarding gate, it says "Last Call" but then again,
Did they open the gate and let people in? NO!
why? because the airplane is NOT yet ready for boarding :p wehehehehe but take note:
it says.. "LAST CALL" hahahahaha

anyway, we're just thankful that our flight was not delayed!

around 12++ am: we finally arrived at Singapore's budget terminal.
It's time for Ian to go to Marie's place while Mimi (Uls's flatmate) greeted us at the airport.
My very very good friend Uls let us use his room so we got FREE lodging :)
SUPER SPECIAL THANKS TO ULYSES!! *mwah mwah mwah* *HUGS*

and oh! he even paid for the taxi fare! so generous of him, really.

Mimi's super nice as well.
she stayed up late for us, and showed us where to take the LRT/MRT and where the bus stop is, which is just across their condo so there's no hassle!

we are forever thankful to Mimi and Uls :)

anyway, morning came.
We decided to wear matching outfits for the first day hehehehe :p

*by the way, special thanks to Cinds for giving me the Singapore "kababayan simcard" (this was a BIG help) and for lending me the Singapore Dollar change :)*

Mimi gave us her 2 extra EZ link cards for us to use while we're there.
but for the first day, since we have a lot to go to in out itinerary, we decided to buy the Tourist Day Pass instead, it's 18 SGD (10 SGD to be refunded upon returning the card).

we were sooooo hungry when we arrived at Chinatown.
Fortunately, we have Singapore dollars already so we went to eat first!
OMG! the SEAFOOD LAKSA was soooooooooo delicious!!!! yum yum! (3.5 SGD)
with matching yummy soy milk! (1.2 SGD)

then we found a money changer to have our USD exchanged.

from Chinatown, we went to Little India... uhmm.. we decided to go back to the MRT after a few minutes :p hihihi

next stop: Funan Digital Mall (also known as IT Mall)
i tried a Jollibean Grasswheat Jelly Soya Milk (1.7 SGD) yummy! hihihi

next: we started looking for Dex's "to buy" list.
warning to shoppers: NOT all sellers in Singapore are friendly!
i feel that sellers in the US and Phils are a lot LOT friendlier!!!

good thing Dex told us to go to John 3:16 store! :D
The seller was fantastic! he's a really really great PR person!
the best!
sadly, Dex's #1 to buy list was out of stock, another Pinoy bought the item earlier.
but but but.....since the seller was FANTASTIC and AMAZING.. hahahaha.. he asked us to wait while he called his supplier.

Lucky lucky lucky!
the supplier had one more stock left.. so we told him to reserve it for us and we'll just come back...

Labsy and I decided to walk around the area first until we reached Raffles CIty, where we ate Ayam Penyet set meal (with white rice) (5.5 SGD indian chicken), BBQ Stingray (5.7 SGD) and Indian rice (1.3 SGD) + Water Chestnut drink (1.7 SGD -- tastes like Philippines' "sago't gulaman" :p )
SUPER YUMMY!

*BURP*

next stop: ESPLANADE
we didn't know how to get there.
We just kept on walking and walking until we reached the rooftop...
oh! we're here! hahahahaha
so out came the camera and PICTURES!!!!
we even saw the Singapore Flyer from there (counterpart of London's Eye)


next stop: MERLION
from the rooftop, we saw where Merlion's direction was so we just followed the road... PICTURES!!! hehehehe

our feet hurt! hihihihi
we went to the nearest bus stop to avoid the long walk.
then Labsy saw this F1 car parked near the bus stop.. PICTURE :p

next stop: go back to Funan Digital Mall
lucky lucky lucky!
the seller was super nice and truly reserved the item for us. Another Filipino wanted to buy the same item and the seller told him he's reserving it for someone else (ME) hehehe
so after haggling for discounts, which i got although it's very minimal, we bought the items asap.

whew!
the day seemed so long and tiring so we stopped for some sugacane juice (note: with ice) (2 SGD) coz if it's without ice, it's 2.3 :p

We then went to Orchard's place to buy some wine.
we bought 2 wines at Marks and Spencer (9.9 SGD each, but they have a promo.. buy one, 2nd one half the price -- total: 14.85 SGD)
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!