Three days in Singapore, lah!

First overseas trip of the year is to Singapore. I'm posting snapshots for now, but I will fill this blog with details later. Overall, it was fun. I have a huge dent in my bank account, but I had a good time.

Singapore's financial district.

In front of Ion Orchard shopping center

 Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. There is an entire city underneath this small structure.

I guess until I try the Swiss trains, Singapore's MRT will always be my favorite. Everything is *very* clean; trains arrive on time and are not overcrowded; hand rails have no icky stuff left by commuters with sweaty palms. Those doors are kept close unless trains stop at the station for alighting and on-boarding passengers, so there is no way that anyone would fall off a platform and onto an oncoming train. NYC subway is no match to SMRT.

Doing a River Piedra on Raffles Clarke Quay, except I didn't sit down to cry. This ain't no Pasig River.

I didn't know I was scared of heights until I took the Sky Ride on Sentosa.

In addition to Manny Pacquiao and Lea Salonga, SMB is a source of Pinoy pride, at least among beer drinkers. SMB in any place is a sure indication of the sheer number of OFWs it hosts.

 Doing some touristy bits. You have never been there unless you've had your photo taken beside the Merlion.

Rhiannon

I don't have high hopes for Didi Benami due to her dismal performances in the first two episodes of AI Season 9's semifinals. However, where and when she is good, she is captivating. And after her acoustic performance of Terrified during Hollywood week, her interpretation of Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon is by far her best yet. She should use the guitar more often.

Captain Planet to inconvenience Manila with the truth

I'm interested in going to this event, if only maybe to watch former American Veep A Gore deliver his Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth" in person. The lecture is updated for Asian audiences.

Note to self

The next time someone treats you rudely while queuing up for lunch, just think about what you've got over the pathetic creature whose parents probably did not teach her good manners, or who spent her school days thinking about boys and the next episode of her favorite soap opera.

1. She wears uniforms at work. You don't. Moreover, skirts are simply an option for you.
2. Her most likely standards for high literature is Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook, she hasn't read either because, you know, they're high lit. That's why people make movies based on books.
3. Her favorite movies are Miss You Like Crazy, I Love You Goodbye, Paano na Kaya?, and all sorts of melodramatic rubbish regurgitated by local film producers. At least you're into the Cinemalaya variety.
4. She's a fan of John Lloyd and Bea, Kim and Gerald, or worse, Jason and Melai.
5. You can have intelligent conversations with friends while consuming excessive amounts of cholesterol and alcohol, and life is still alright. All she talks about with her friends are boys and the latest local showbiz gossip.  
6. You're going on an overseas trip this Friday. And while you have no idea which tourist places to visit in that tiny rich country considered as the Switzerland of your region, it's still okay because hey, you are going to the Switzerland of your region. Who knows, you might make it to/in Switzerland sometime in the near future.
7. She is the type who jogs in Tretorn sneakers, if she jogs at all. And if she played badminton at all, she'd be running around the courts in...you guessed it: Tretorn sneakers.
8. You have more shoes than her, and the pair that you are wearing is worth more than her uniform, hose, and shoes combined.

You have paid your dues, so sometimes hubris isn't such a bad thing, especially when someone cuts into your queue at the cafeteria and rudely dismisses you when you ask her politely if she wants to fall in line properly. 
Photo credit

I have always equated hazing with barbarity

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, defines 'barbarity' as:

1. Savage brutality or cruelty in actions or conduct.
2. A cruel or savage act.

In this video, new recruits at Philippine Maritime Institute in Bacolod some marine school are repeatedly punched and slapped, apparently in a hazing ritual, which I wonder if the maritime school has sanctioned, as it seems to have happened within one of its corridors.

This is not for the faint of heart.

Rafa Does 'Gypsy'

If having a slump in one's already phenomenal tennis career means having to make steamy (even literally in some parts!) videos like this with Shakira, then por favor, Uncle Tony, give Rafa a break, no? I didn't know Rafa could (sort of) act.

Wanderlust Planned

Since the start of the year, I have already resolved to get more stamps on my passport . I have been hoping wanting to travel these past two years, but I was either too busy, too distracted, or too poor to sign up for the next available seat sale. But so far in this quarter alone, I have booked three trips already; make that three-and-a-half if you throw in the ML-SG that KL-based Drop2 has hopefully booked for May :)

I'm off to Singapore with littlest sis next month, a Malaysia-SG sojourn with Titans badminton buddies (I absolutely miss going out of town with these crazy lovely folks!) in May, and then Hong Kong in November with my mother who, as of this writing, still doesn't know that I have booked flights for us. I just hope she finally manages to get her passport application done, as I have been asking her to get one for three years already.

So thank you, Cebu Pacific, and let's hope that I won't have to go through those horror stories shared by unhappy customers. And let's hope you ain't no Zest Air either. I never want to get aboard those MAC-60 planes again, having read on an online forum that they haven't received international aviation security certifications.

The downside of these bookings, of course, is that I'm up to my nose in credit card debt. However, that's one inconvenience that I can live with.

Photo source

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