Singapore on my birthday!!!

Singapore from my window.

I was so lucky to spend my birthday with my friends. I swapped one of my flights with a Singapore-Melbourne flight and it made me as happy as a bumblebee. Just when I thought it was all going super, this awful Greek colleague ruined it for me. He was the most awful person that I met on my birthday and the fakest smile that I have seen in my lifetime!!!! He deserved the oral herpes that he got after one night in Singapore. Yuck!!! Bless him!!! I hope I will never see him again.

Done with the bad part, now with the good stuff.

First day of the layover. I met two friends that I haven’t seen for the longest time. The last time I saw them, they were still single and child free. Now, they are both married and parents too. By the way, they are not married to each other, just to be clear about it. 😉

Waiting for Raissa in my hotel room. She is taking so long.

Here she is! She looks exactly the same as ten years ago. The greatest advantage of being Asian. 🙂

You see, when you are in doubt of what to eat and where to eat in Singapore, just go to No Signboard restaurant in Vivo City Mall and they will make your tummy very happy. So I took Raissa and Jor-el to No Signboard. Not a surprise, it was my husband who lead me here.

Here is an explanation as for how the peculiar name came to be.

Here are some of our orders. Of course I had to order the Singaporean chilli crab for them. We had the Sri Lankan crab, the cheapest one I guess. But it was enough for us. The other crabs such as the Alaskan one would have been too much. Those pieces of bread called the mantou (mantaw) bread have to be ordered with the chilli crab. They were like sugar glazed bread and perfect for dipping in the chilli crab sauce.

The gang—Raissa and Jor-el after a great dinner.

Gossips, er, catching up over coffee.

Raissa’s promise ring.

The morning after.

Tried the waterfall braid for the first time for my brief walk in the sun.

It looks so much better with curly hair.

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Breakfast could not get any more Singaporean than this. Went to the Food court in Raffles City Mall. It was the most convenient place since I stayed just across the road.

I spent around six SGD only for this breakfast.

The one on the left is a set of the traditional Kaya toast. Kaya is basically a coconut jam made from coconut, milk, eggs and flavored with pandan leaf. And it tastes delicious with a capital D. I often bring home a jar to Dubai. They make it by placing two chunks of butter on the toast and then spreading a generous portion of kaya on top. The bread is then dipped on a very runny boiled egg. The traditional partner of this breakfast is the milk tea with a pool of condensed milk at the bottom of the cup. 🙂

The one on the right is just chunky peanut butter spread.

Meanwhile, back at my work station.

Afternoon coffee at 40, 000 feet.

Me working hard.

Second day of layover. Destination: Melbourne.

I got sick. Bummer!

I had a lovely dinner on my own. Sorry, cousin Raymund.

I was feeling Japanese for the night, thus the eye makeup. This makeup is great to make sleepy eyes look wide awake.

For a spotless application of the winged eyeshadow, I utilize the help of a stencil, a tape or my credit card.

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Table for one at the hotel. Anywhere I eat in Australia is expensive so might as well dine at the hotel with my discount.

So unladylike of me, I finished everything, including half of a bottle of red. Happy birthday to me. Yey, said my lonely heart.

Back to Singapore and back to my favorite hotel chandelier.

Rousy saved my day!

My sexy librarian friend.

Straight from the flight to the party—STORY OF MY LIFE. Still wearing the company standard makeup.

We had very late dinner at Spize. in this restaurant, dinner is served by the sidewalks. They only open after all the sidewalk shops are closed. Our seats were just a finger away from passing cars.

Cam-whoring before I turned 28.

Thank you for the treat, my dear.

Freshly squeezed delicious drinks.

It’s official! Singapore is my food porn destination. Everything I ate was a delight! Don’t be scared to order anything, yo will like it anyway.

Those were a main course of omelette that was pregnant with lots of meat and a paratha dessert with ice cream on the top.

My birthday was almost complete—now, to the tequila shots! Found this bar beside Carlton Hotel called the Embassy bar. Entrance was free for ladies so we went. Now, welcome to Singapore and its 50 shades of crazy.

FYI, prostitution is a legal profession in this crazy part of the world.

We entered to this club that looked like a prison. Imagine this, a little smaller, with bright lights, a stage in the middle with Korean-looking girls complete with the big bows and fringe and a cutesy peace sign dancing and looking cute onstage. Those who got sold wore the price tag like a beauty queen stash. Drinks were sold by the bottle so if you don’t have money and you are not a girl, don’t go there.

Found a few tame photos online.

That was some pit stop for a tequila shot.

Thank you for the birthday gift, especially the priceless gift of friendship. ❤

My bed mate for the night.

Getting dolled up for today is a long day.

When choosing false eyelashes, it is better to buy the thick ones

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as compared to the normal looking ones like these. The latter ones won’t really create significant difference.

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Good to go.

Back to Raffles City Mall Food Court with my good ‘ol salted fish fried rice.

BEFORE

AFTER

A view from my window. Enjoyed the view very much. To swim or not to swim? Maybe later, lah! 🙂

Singapore rocks!

I swapped my lousy P**** flight for a Singapore for the sake of some old friends. These friends, by the way, never showed up, not even their freakin’ shadows said hi to me, during the entire time that I was in Singapore. Thank you very much. Anyhow, I still had fun. Truckloads of fun, in fact.

I called my ever reliable and super amazing friend Rose at 1 in the morning to meet up with me for a drink or two. Thirty minutes later, she showed up, headache and all. How can I not love you, girlfriend?

Headed to Chimes Bar, which was right across our hotel. Very convenient, wasn’t it? An all-Filipino live band was playing and they were wonderful. They really knew how to keep the energy going with the multi-racial crowd. I knew I was having fun because I looked like an idiot in the dance floor.

Free flaming Lamborghinis for the ladies, of course!

Two hours and few shots later…

Not drunk. Just having fun!

the towering Christmas Tree at Raffles City

The bar had to close but our eyes remained wide open. We walked around to find any store that was open and we ended up at McDonald’s. Just like old times, we shared secrets over ice cream.

Rousy after talking about matters of the heart, what else? Same old same old, dear?

One day down, another one to go. Finally, we went to bed by 6 am-ish. By 8 am, Rousy harassed me to get my ass off the bed and look for breakfast because she could not afford to get late for work. Geez!!! So uncool, Rose.

We walked around for a good 20 minutes just looking for that cheap restaurant that served good food. It was invisible during the day. No wonder, they only opened at 5 pm to 3 am. Hahah!

Kaya toast, my all-time Singaporean breakfast favorite.

Second freebie: Thai lunch courtesy of cousin Donald. Also, thank you for bringing that gigantic umbrella of yours. It saved my outfit big time from the roaring rain.

My big brother’s high school classmate saved me from having dinner by myself. Thank you Ate Grace. Her starry-eyed admirer, drunk from so much love for Grace, treated us to a sea food dinner buffet at the basement of Raffles City. That was some buffet! We were swimming in an ocean of food. The amount of food was simply outrageous. It reminded me of the hotel buffet in Vegas. You would never guess millions are starving in other parts of the world. I usually take tiny bits per food when I am having a buffet, but midway, I had to stop. It was like the food casseroles kept going on and on and on and on and on and on…I had to have the stomach of a cow to keep up.

This was my third freebie in one layover. I should hang out with you girls more often.

The plate at the top was Ate Grace's friend's plate. The bottom was mine.

Grace and I

Thank you so much ladies for making my night and day.

Kisses!

Weekend in Singapore.

Location: Singapore, Singapore

Date: October 16, 2011

It was another relaxing weekend in Singapore with my husband. I have been there a lot of times so I no longer go there for sight-seeing. I am content with just enjoying the amenities that the city has to offer namely great food, first class cinemas, fabulous shopping and so much more.

I arrived at the hotel with this.

Naturally, I took the opportunity to wear my shortest skirts and shorts.  In the part of the world where I live, I have to cover myself from head to toe because the crowd tend to palpitate in the presence of legs and other skin parts. I was not very sure if I was surprised but for sure I was flattered to find myself  modestly dressed in this highly fashionable city of Singapore (considered 8th most fashionable city on Earth). Some of the girls I saw looked like they forgot to wear their bottoms. I saw quite a few flashes of eye bags of the butt around the metro. The good part was that no matter how short is the dress you wear, blending in with the crowd is still very easy. Singaporeans are very civilized but not too liberal to shock anyone like what happened to me in French Riviera where mothers went topless in front of their teenage boys.

Walking around the city was very pleasant. The weather couldn’t be any better. Usually, the weather in Singapore is very humid, but that day, it was warm but windy, friendly enough to allow me to keep my makeup in place. For that, I was happy. 🙂

Pretty buildings were everywhere just like this colorful government building along Hill Street.

If the buildings are not quirky like the above photo or elegant  like the Raffles Hotel, they are very modern like the photo below. Those three buildings that are connected together is the Marina Bay Sands. It is undoubtedly the most famous hotel in Singapore. It is also billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property at 8 billion USD. Ric and I have always been planning on staying there for a night or two someday. Lying under the sun by the poolside of that rooftop sounds awesome.

We used to have this ritual of having our heavy meal of the day with that ever present Mantou bread dipped in rich Chilli Crab sauce (so yummy!) at No Signboard Seafood Restaurant, which is our unofficial favorite restaurant. Since Jumbo Seafood Restaurant was around the corner, we decided to try something very similar but different. Ric’s cousin, Donald, joined us for an exciting 4-course lunch.

At the end of our lunch, we made a very difficult verdict. While No Signboard remained our favorite, the dessert in Jumbo was delish! The three of us finished the Mango pudding within seconds.

After lunch, it was time for a surreal entertainment. We watched Real Steel while sprawled like cats on La-Z-boy seats with dine-on-demand service upon the press of a call bell. How cool! There was even an exclusive lounge with its own bar and restaurant and with comfortable couch equipped with magazines by the waiting area. Hunny, your Bunny is so getting used to this!

By the way, you too watch Real Steel in the big screen of you don’t want to be a sore loser. It was that good!

The movie was much better with flat beds! Just look at that happy face!

And what is a Mall day without shopping?  😉

Thanks babe for my third fourth new earphones that came with a new iPod. I promise to remember the place where I leave them. Most of all, I promise not to leave them behind.

Welcome to my shoes drawer, sexy lady! I bought the same shoes with the same color for my dear friend, Rosita. Advanced Merry Christmas, my dear. You know I love you.

Later on, Ric’s bestfriend, Juanito, joined us for dinner at Pepper Lunch.

Once again, it was time to go. Hunny, you know the drill. No goodbyes. Just see you again.

Pre-nup photos

Before anything else, I would like to thank again and again the talented Kid Soltis and my very lovely Bride’s Maid, Raissa Gallemit for a job well done. I adore our pre-nuptial photos. They were exactly the way I want them–spontaneous, fun and romantic, and most of all, less the cringe factor that I hate with a passion in most pre-nup photo shoot.

For the photo shoot, we carried two spare changes for our clothes and simply walked around Singapore. For our props, we had an umbrella and  borrowed some abandoned balloons on the street. The entire shoot was done in three and a half hours. I never thought the result would be any closer to impeccable, but it was. It was.

P. S. The quality of the photos was a little reduced due to my resizing. Sorry for that.

THE INVITATION

THE FRIDGE MAGNET

And this is the end of my Wedding Posts Series. Thank you for your patience. Back to regular posting. 🙂

Wow.

I am so floored. Today I got the highest views on my website after Ric posted my link on his Facebook wall.

Ricardo, thank you and I love you over and over again.

Good night readers. I need to sleep before my flight to India. I would have loved to but we won’t be staying there. Will fly straight away back to Dubai for a generous 4 days off string. 🙂

In the meantime, here is a little piece of India for you.

Indian day out with Ric at Little India, Singapore.

If you don’t go mental over cleanliness issues, there are a lot of nice Indian restaurants all over Little India that serve delicious and cheap food. I highly recommend it if you are up for a culinary adventure.

We loved our chicken tandoori with prata. We literally cleaned the plate, except for the bones. The masala tea, not so much. It is an acquired taste that takes years of practice to appreciate. 😉

Two satisfied customers.