break..

my foot is hurting.. rheumatism acting up again.. yar old granny is speaking here..

went out for a ktv session with huiyan, yanyi and eric.. surprisingly this holiday i've been singing quite a lot.. the last singing craze was a year ago.. really! no kidding! everything was in such a rush for the past year.. after cramming for 4 months, i hurridly set off to Bago, and came back just in time for another 4 months of cramming, before i got this break..

and i really quite enjoy this break.. i have full control of my time (or at least to a certain extent.. haha).. i can go wherever and whenever i want.. to swim, to meet up with friends, to give tuition to 5 kids, to watch tv, to watch my philippino shows (and with my mum occasionally popping by my room and staring at me for laughing at the screen in a language she don't understand.. haha).. and of course this holiday was brightened up by the appearance of tricia and joenil!! =D

and before this holiday is going to come to an end - one month left!! - i'm going to make use of the sale to do some shopping, to sort things out in my room, and to seriously get started for the preparation of my donation collection..

wish me luck.. haha

laugh!

laughing too much will make me hungry.. =D but it's the best medicine, so why bother with all the calories and fats and whatsoever? =P

and somehow i'm thankful that my saturdays are occupied by music (most of the time, noise.. haha) and much laughter and also food.. haha.. it would be boring if everyday becomes similar.. haha..

and the ktv session.. laughed until stomach pain.. haha.. we shall have more of such activities in future.. keke.. for the good health of everybody.. haha..

sentosa outing..

it was my second time back to Sentosa this week.. first it was bringing tricia and joenil there for the Underwater World.. so we didn't much explore the beaches and enjoy the sun there (it was drizzling when i brought them there.. haha).. this time round was with a group of NUSCO friends.. =) not much sun either, but at least the weather was good for an outing an a picnic.. haha..



we played frisbee, soaking our feet in the sand and in the waters.. i never really get to play games when i go to the beach.. even if i go there, i would just sit there and enjoy the sea breeze.. but i would say i quite enjoy playing and running on sand.. i'm a nature lover, remember? hehe..



lunch was some snacks bought from Cold Storage.. and we moved from the Palawan Beach to the Siloso beach.. for more fun, sand, waters and the sun.. =D



and yar, i was a kid again when me and hweeming started playing with sand trying to build a sandcastle using coconut husks.. hoho.. or rather, i'm still a kid.. haha..



but this was what we ended up making..



and more frisbee playing and trying to get the frisbee down when it got stuck on top of the tents..



wanted to try the new attraction on Sentosa, the luge and the skyride, but was a bit put off by the crowd.. perhaps next time.. =)

i still want more sun! i want to fly!

sending off..

i feel lost.. tricia is not around.. suddenly i have nowhere to go, nothing to do.. how.. tricia i miss you!!

i didn't sleep much last night, and i woke up at 4.30am, getting ready to send tricia and joenil off to the airport.. thanks to ryan who came and fetched us.. flight was 9.40am, and we reached the airport early, so together with dannies, andy, aline and stephen, we had some drinks (of course non-alcoholic, if you may wonder)..



i miss the days when they were here.. i miss how we bring them around Singapore, and how much fun (though tiring) i had being their tour guide, and how much fun they had touring around too..

and no, i didn't cry when they went in.. seeing the look on tricia's face kinda make me wanna go in together with her.. aww.. tricia, wait for me over there in december!!





the rest of us then went for breakfast at MacDonalds.. i was feeling kinda lost, so me, Dannies and Andy went to sing ktv.. it has been a very long time since i sang there, and too bad, no pinoy songs.. keke.. afterwards we went Lucky Plaza for some philippino desserts.. had a good chat with the guys, and brought back a lot of memories of my stay in Bago.. bought back some graham biscuits too..

and now, back at home, i'm feeling even more lost.. tricia, tricia, tricia.. Bago, Bago, Bago.. *sobz* tricia, glad that you are back home safely, and i will see you again on the beautiful island of Negros Occidental..

last day..

today is the last day of their stay in singapore.. not a very spectacular last day, for joenil at least.. but still hope they had enjoyed themselves as much as how i had enjoyed myself while i was in Bago..

breakfast at the cheese prata place together with tricia, my mum and bro.. joenil wanted to stay at home, so we left him in the house, but i also packed some prata back for him so he won't go hungry in my house.. haha.. after that we drove one round within NUS, and then brought tricia to clementi for her meeting with the previous group that went there.. i stayed there for a while, until they were leaving to bring tricia to Sentosa (again).. long and complicated story, and i was blamed for the spoiling of plan.. because of a stooopid idiot.. arghh.. i don't want their trip to be spoilt by this, so i'm keeping quiet..

but anyway, i chatted with joenil when i got home, and i was surprised when i saw him always reading something whenever i walked past the room.. the newspaper, books on computers and technology, and my secondary school's history textbooks.. wow.. haha..

then i brought him out for dinner together with huijie at Crystal Jade.. xiao long bao!! haha.. he tried using chopsticks.. very funny, but good try.. managed to eat the xiao long bao without the soup leaking on his second attempt.. not bad eh.. haha.. and we will tempt tricia with the photos and make her jealous.. haha..







tomorrow we are all to wake up at 5am, and make our way to airport..

i shall not cry.. because i'm not the one that's leaving on a jet plane.. =)

another day in Singapore..

yesterday's itinerary : community centre, Lucky Plaza, CK Tang, Sentosa, parks, huijie's house

11am: finally everyone was awake. after all the washing up, we were ready to go.

12pm: brought them to the community centre near my house. let them had an idea what kind of facilities and activities it has. perhaps they can bring back the ideas and modify their own community centre or baranguay hall, whatever. haha.

12.30pm: reached Lucky Plaza, the philippino paradise. we were all overwhelmed with the huge crowd of philippinos there, especially tricia and joenil were in awe of this philippino paradise. haha. they didn't expect to see so many philippinos out there in this building. well, it was a sunday. haha. and since we were there, we had to find some philippino food for lunch. tricia misses philippino food a lot. haha. so we managed to find this Kabayan Filipino Fast Food Restaurant with the familiar philippino food. for a while, i was as if in philippines itself. haha.



after lunch we walked around the plaza, and of course it was shopping time again. and wow, joenil could spend sooo much on those souvenirs. i was so surprised. manz. tricia also added some to her shopping bags. haha. good, contribute to the Singapore's economy. haha.

and being in Lucky Plaza, it wasn't too difficult to strike a conversation with their fellow kabayans (countrymen), especially for joenil, who bluffed girls that he is single. haha. hindi totoo (not true)!! and i threw in some Tagalog words that i know into the conversation. haha. but they said the philippinos here were too loud. haha. but nice experience for them indeed.

3.30pm: tricia wanted to buy a bag, perhaps for her work, so i brought her and joenil to CK Tang. there was a sale on handbags, so i left them around that area, while i visited the washroom. and after i came out from the washroom, they were already choosing the few bags that they saw and liked. that was fast, haha. tricia was already deciding which bag to buy, and joenil was also choosing one for his wife. i didn't quite like the one he chose (looked a bit too old for his wife) so i went to pick another one for him. asking him what was his budget, he said around $200. my eyes stared wide for a moment before going hmmm.. haha. so i chose one around $150, which i quite like the design, and he immediately took it. wow. at least my taste is not bad. haha. when i turned my head to look for tricia, she was already at the cashier. that was fast. haha. after she paid for her bag, i asked her how much was it and she said $200+. oh man. i was speechless. haha. that was the only thing that she bought for herself, and she said it would last her for 5 years. haha. to make the bag worth its value. haha.

4.30pm: reached Sentosa, with our dear ryan driving. haha. we didn't plan that, but since we might not make it the next day, tricia suggested we could go there, since they only wanted to see the Underwater World. haha. coming into Sentosa only to see one attraction. haha. but the tickets we bought was together with admission to the Dolphin Lagoon, so we visited these two attractions.



and then they said their tour in Singapore was completed with the Underwater World. haha. but i was glad they enjoyed themselves even when they only visited these two attractions. haha. maybe tricia can upgrade her fishpond again to make it something like what she had seen in there. haha.



besides that, we drove around Sentosa, but they weren't interested in other attractions. i suggested the Calsberg Rotating Tower and the cable car, but tricia was scared of height. haha. i also suggested the musical fountain, but they weren't too keen too. haha. weird tourists. joke lang, haha.

6.30pm: we drove to some parks around the west coast area so that joenil may get some inspirations and bring back to Bago. Labrador Park, Kent Ridge Park, Clementi Woods Park, and West Coast Park were the stops along the way.

8pm: reached huijie's house for dinner. tricia was a bit blur when it comes to wrapping the po piah. haha. mango graham and ben and jerry's ice cream were also part of the course. haha. we all had a nice talk and a good laugh looking at the videos and photos we took during our trip to Bago. =) and we all were surprised that joenil could sit there for hours reading the newspaper. haha.

12.30am: back to home. manz. tired. and had to listen to ryan explaining his charity fiesta thing. sorry but my brain was on the verge of shutting down, so i couldn't think properly. give me some time to think through, haha.

tomorrow we all need to wake up early. and perhaps rest early too. haha. hope it will really be a good and perhaps unforgettable last day for them here in Singapore. =) i need to shut down now.

tricia in the house!

today's itinerary : bugis, civic district area, marina south, geylang

11.30am: was waiting ryan to come pick me up, before going to pick tricia and joenil from the hotel with all their luggage, but he was held up.

12.40pm: he finally finished his stuff, and we went off to pick them up at the hotel. we were super late, and still got lost some more. haha. again.

1.15pm: finally got to the hotel. super late. haha. picked up all their luggages, and ryan didn't expect they were huge and many. haha. i already warned him beforehand.

1.30pm: brought them to bugis for lunch. tried chicken rice, satay bee hoon, sugar cane juice, satay, and some icey dessert. haha.

2pm: we stood outside the guan yin temple for a while, before i brought them to the flea market at bugis. another round of souvenir-buying. haha.



3pm: took a train to city hall, and visited places like the St. Andrew's Cathedral, walking past the Supreme Court, Victoria Concert Hall, Fullerton Hotel, the Merlion, and crossing the bridge over to the Esplanade. long walk indeed. too bad the Merlion is taking its shower, we couldn't take any pictures with it, but to make do with the small one.





we were offered free Heineken beer, because there were people playing the Heineken challenge and had to offer people beer. weird to drink beer in the afternoon, but since it was free, why not? haha.



4.30pm: walking around the Esplanade. saw a group of artists drawing on the ground on the outdoor area of Esplanade. interesting.



i also brought them up to the rooftop terrance, into the library, and the forecourt of the "durians".





5.30pm: a walk through CityLink Mall, and again, tricia bought 1 more tee and joenil bought a watch for his wife. sweet =). they also bought a present for the mayor. hehe.

6pm: brought them up to the 70th floor of Westin Stamford hotel to have a skyscraper view of the central district area of Singapore. they were in awe. =)



7pm: steamboat dinner at marina south. it wasn't a full gathering, and i was a little disappointed by the turnout. but anyway it was still good to see some familiar faces, together with some new ones. a nice catching up with friends over a hearty dinner. =)



9.30pm: a night drive around some prominent places, and we discovered the Marina South Pier at the end of Marina South where i bet most people don't know. Romantic, ryan said. now we know where to go dating. haha. an attempt to spot postitutes along geylang was unsuccessful, because all the guys were sitting at the eateries watching world cup. duh. we also drove around other places like Suntec City, across Benjamin Sheares Bridge, down the central business district area, Ayer Rajah Expressway. and princess sarah reminded us of the last night in Bago, when we sang many songs in the van, and of course, I'm leaving on a jetplane, awww.

11pm: reached home. welcome to my small and messy home. haha. tricia and joenil are sharing my brother's room and i hope all is fine for them.

time for them to rest, time for me to brainstorm for tomorrow's activities. tomorrow will be another good day. =)

a day of being a tour guide..

today's itinerary : Chinatown, Little India

3pm : picked tricia and joenil from their hotel, the Gallery Hotel. together with aline and waipeng, we brought them to Chinatown by bus. it was their first time taking public transport here in Singapore, and of course their first time using ezlink card. we bought some 'ba kwa' for them to try, and they bought fried prawn rolls too. princess sarah came to join us for a while. we took them for a walk down the streets of Chinatown, and into Sri Mariamman Temple. they bought a lot of keychains and tried some of our local delights like the rojak, oyster omelette and 'tang yuan'. nice, they said. =)



6pm : a little shopping for tricia, who bought giordano tees for joy and nina. =) giordano is cheaper here. haha.

7pm: a lot of shopping for both of them at Mustafa. the crowd wasn't too bad, which is a good thing. it was crazy seeing them buying the Singapore tees and key chains and other souvenirs. tricia bought 8 tees and joenil bought 7. wow.

8.30pm: we started to get tired from all the working. initial plan was to bring them to geylang for more food, but was aborted because they were still full from the previous treats. so we brought them back to their hotel, but with a bit of difficulty because we were not sure of the way. haha. singaporeans got lost while trying to bring their overseas friends around. =P

9pm: back to the hotel by taxi. haha. got some presents from tricia, together with those from bong, nina, joy, tessa and franz. many thanks to all of you. =) miss you all.

yeah, it's tiring, but it's worth all the energy when the time is spent with friends from a foreign country... despite the crack on my sole, my treashold for pain is high enough, and i have my 'qing cao you' to depend on.. haha.. tomorrow will be another long day, hopefully a good day.. =)

cycling happily..

i love the sun!! it was a good weather for cycling.. i would rather get sunburnt than having to cycle in the rain, wouldn't ya all? hehe..

despite having to wake up early (any time before 11am is early) and having to travel all the way to East Coast, the happy sun brightened up the day a little.. a hearty breakfast at MacDonalds, and off we went for cycling! =) together with huiling, joyce, nianzhong, hwee ming and her 'hiphip' uncle, we cycled for around 4 hours and out of East Coast to Bedok and back again..

and i was surprised that these people can really eat.. haha..

and i'm proud that my biking skills have improved (somehow) and luckily enough this time there wasn't much of any mishap, except for a pair of lobster arms and lobster thighs, and a painful crack on my right sole.. never mind, i got my 'qing cao you' and my pain threshold is quite high.. *grin*

and for people who have been wondering why i'm in such an ecstatic mood these few days.. hehe.. because my dear tricia is coming to Singapore!! tomorrow!! *jumping in excitement* i can't wait to see her!!! whee~!! i'll make sure i'll be a good host.. same as how she has been treating me when i was in Bago, if not better.. hehe..

la la la~~~

presents..

it's not my birthday, but i've so many presents.. all the way from Bago!! i'm so so sooooo happy!!! =) it really makes my day manz..

to everyone in Bago, i hope u guys are doing fine, and had fun during the summer.. =) i really miss all of you so much.. seeing the presents, no matter how simple they are, or even if it's just a simple text or letter or picture from you, makes me feel wonderful, makes me feel loved..



hey tricia, i'm waiting for your grand arrival to Singapore! hehe.. thanks for remembering me even during your office outing to Sipalay.. hehe.. this time round i shall be the one treating you and bringing you around during your stay here har.. then i'll trouble you again in december.. hehe.. miss you and see you real soon!!



hi to my mama remia.. this bebe of yours still miss you lots.. =)



somehow i had a good laugh when i saw how this cute little rabbit was stuffed in the can.. haha.. hey nonoy!! thanks for the present!!

hey bong! you cannot get 'tambok' anymore.. must exercise ok?? =) i remembered you said you wanted to change your image, and have a longer hairstyle.. and i saw the changes in the pictures when you were in Sipalay! hehe.. and thanks for the cd!! there are some of my favourite songs inside.. 'magaling'!! =)



before i even get to step on the white-sand Boracay, now i have a tee of Boracay! thanks to joseph!! =) i miss you too.. you take care ok?



hello to the Mondia family!! miss you guys so much too.. your presents came as a pleasant surprise too.. hehe.. and it's sooo nicely wrapped up!! can't bear to unwrap it.. haha.. thanks for everything!!

a big hi to the rest of my friends in Bago.. to ryan, temogen, the Matti family, all the people working in the government office.. i miss all of you guys.. =) hope to see you guys soon.. and do take care ok?

i'm flying now.. and will be swimming later.. =)