Sing, sing, Singapore!

Back after 3 years! This is the first time I traveled abroad in ‘09, and with my high school friend JC as well. I got super cheap roundtrip tickets via Cebu Pacific for Php 3,771… such a bargain! Last time I was in Singapore was during the MISE ‘06 induction and teambuilding, but I wasn’t really able to go around except do a little shopping here and there. This time I planned for my trip to be a bit more touristy, aside from just flying 3 hours long to visit my friends Ashleigh, an American MISE expat, and Sushil, my co-SEA MISE working in Singapore. We stayed at Ashleigh’s place in The Sail @ Marina Bay, right in the heart of the business district. Such a nice condo, super fancy!

When we arrived on Thursday night, we had chili crabs at Jumbo Seafood Resto in Boat Quay–Ash was crazy about them, and man were they hot! The dinner was a bit pricey at SGD 30 (well for travelers on a shoestring) but it was well worth it! Plus I was super happy to catch up and reminisce good old MISE times with two of my closest friends from the program, Ashleigh and Sushil :) We headed back to hang around and prepare for the more touristy days to come!

Friday was basically tourist day… we walked around a hell lot in Singapore! Left Ashleigh’s place at noon, had brunch at Lau Pa Sat, walked to Chinatown (man it was raining so hard we had to stop to buy an umbrella at 7-11), then to Clarke Quay to do some shopping. Charles & Keith was having a 3-day sale and man, was it crazy!!!! It’s also cheaper in Singapore than in Manila, and what’s great is that they have my size (40)!!! Giordano was cheap too so I bought some casual clothes I could wear to work. We headed back to the condo to meet Ashleigh, then walked to Esplanade to have Thai dinner and go see the Merlion. This pic is of me and Ash doing the Asian pose, haha!

For our Friday night-out we checked out Backstage Bar in Chinatown (a different kind of bar!)– on travel guides this place kinda said it but didn’t! Funny to see older tourists dancing with young Singaporean guys, something you won’t usually see in the more populated nightlife areas of Singapore! Ash and me headed to Zirca in Clarke Quay for a better clubbing scene (only for me coz she enjoyed the previous place so much), and I have to say I was fulfilled! We initially entered this hip hop bar called Rebel, but it was full of young Singaporeans, so we stayed at the interconnected club beside it called Zirca, which looked utterly familiar when I entered because it used to be the old Ministry of Sound (I have memories of that night in MOS 3 years ago)! Loved it totally! The DJ played a lot of the house/dance tracks I loved from MOS and Hed Kandi, and I was totally feeling it! Guess what he played “When Love Takes Over” and “Infinity”, among many of the other songs I would love to hear!!! :)

Saturday was shopping day! JC went out alone on his own doing the touristy stuff while me and Ashleigh went to Orchard Road to do some shopping, I went crazy over Charles & Keith again! Got 2 pairs of shoes and 2 bags. The highlight of the shopping day– mochi ice cream balls in Takashimaya, a Japanese department store in Singapore that sells uber cool novelty items and imported food! We then headed to Bugis to try the best murtavak in Singapore at Zam Zam Restaurant, then headed back home to prepare for the pirate party later that night.

ARRRRRRR! Aye aye captain! The MISE expats were having a send-off party for Jorge, a Panamanian MISE expat, who was going back home after his contract. Was glad to see Anders, Myllena, Roxana, Anne, Peter and Meghan… and we were all in pirate costumes! We had a pre-party to load up at Meg’s apartment, then headed to Cafe del Mar in Sentosa to hang out a bit before heading to Highlander Bar in Clarke Quay to party some more. It was hilarious, everyone was in the pirate character and we got a lot of people go up to us in both Sentosa and Clarke Quay asking to take photos! We were referred to that night as “the pirates from Highlander”. Haha! For sure we all looked crazy in pirate costumes and I would never really do that in Manila, but I loved it that we were a big group and we just didn’t care since we were having our own party, arrrrrrrrrr! Good fun and great times!

On Sunday we all stayed home since we were hammered from the night before– Ash got home drunk and JC was out until late as well! We just had brunch at Lau Pa Sat and I headed to Charles & Keith again to do the last minute no regrets shopping :P After which Sushil dropped by Ash’s place to see us off, and we said goodbye to Singapore :( I was gonna miss my friends, but I’m so excited now coz they’re coming to Manila in September– less than a month from now!!! I loved that the trip wasn’t too tiring for me in terms of visiting the touristy places, not much to see and do anyway, I wasn’t too keen on going to the zoo or to the night safari. I love that I was able to see my friends, go crazy at Charles & Keith (I arrived in Singapore at the right time!), go clubbing, see the rest of the MISEs, and just hang around without doing too much. I only spent about Php 15K total with all the shopping but excluding the airfare, which regardless is already very cheap… thank God for Ashleigh that we were able to get free accommodation at her place :)

And of course I won’t forget the food, good thing I always made the right menu choices–

Chili crabs at Jumbo Seafood, Boat Quay

Peppered beef, soup and bubble tea at Lau Pa Sat

Ice cream sandwich at Chinatown– good business idea for Manila I think!

Pad Thai dinner at Thai Express in Esplanade

Yummmmmyyyy!!! Mochi ice cream balls in Takashimaya

Chicken murtavak at Zam Zam Restaurant in Bugis

And of course… McDonald’s!!! In every country I visit, it’s a staple ;)

Loves it!!! It was a great long weekend. I might have gained some weight with all the food and drinks but I walked a hell lot too :) The rest of the pics are here!

A day of firsts and lasts

If it were not for some bad news I received this afternoon I’d say my day was pretty good. I woke up, chapped lips (from eating 2 bags of junk food last night while watching Grey’s Anatomy 3), hungry for some warm, home-cooked food, and I flicked the TV on the Lifestyle Channel. Man, the food made my feeling worse! And so I resolved that today I will have either a) some good Italian food at La Toscana, or b) a food trip with authentic Japanese food. Problem is, since I don’t have “weekend friends” here I’d have to eat alone– which I NEVER do. Until today.

I had a problem with eating alone since I hate it when people always look at me while I’m doing my thing, what more if I’m eating, and worse, alone! I’ve never tried it too in Manila, either in the office or back in college (I’d always text someone to eat with me, or else I’d rather not eat at all or I’d eat in the car), since someone I know who’s with company might see me and say I’m a loner or something. Hehe. Anyway I decided to try it today, for lunch. It’s my last weekend in Davao anyway, I haven’t eaten anything decent in 2 days, and I think I deserve a nice “last weekend in Davao” meal. I didn’t eat Italian or authentic Japanese food; instead I had lunch at Buffet Palace where they served all sorts of food on a buffet (duh). 

What I learned? Eating alone in public is not so bad after all. Or maybe because I ate at a nice place and everyone’s just too busy to mind others’ business. But to be safe I brought a book with me, a nice memo pad, and drafted notes I was gonna write on cards for Cy (his birthday’s next week) and my boss (my goodbye letter for her). Well, I had a good time eating by myself. The waiters were looking at me here and there but it’s easy to just say “walang pakialamanan!”

And so these are what I ate. I had to get a portion of everything since I’m pigging out anyway. Man, I ate so much I felt like puking after! But the food was good, sulit yung 270 pesos ko!!! :P

Japanese food as the “pre-appetizer”

Sisig, chicharon, kinilaw, and potato & macaroni salads as the appetizers

Sweet & sour pork, adobong squid, steamed fish, beef kaldereta, yang chow rice, and crispy pancit. Saraaaap.

Almond jelly, ube flan, mango float and halo-halo for dessert

I never thought I could eat so much, especially with my habit of not eating too much recently. Bali wala yung gym ko! Haha! Anyway. After eating I went to the salon to have my bangs cut (since they were already too long and wavy), had my eyebrows threaded, and had a pedicure. My last pampering here in Davao! I have to admit for the past months I’ve been spending a lot of money buying beauty stuff and pampering myself. Haha. It’s also my last time to go shopping alone on a weekend, but good thing I had the resolve today to NOT buy anything for myself. I just spent money buying pasalubong food for the people back home.

Anyway I also received some bad news today, that one of our Operations staff in Gen San died of a stroke this afternoon. The guy’s not even 50! We have the same birthday, and he was really nice to me and he always gave me food when here was here in Davao. I just spoke to him last Friday, and he’d always tease me about HB. Hay. I didn’t realize that last Friday was the last time I’d talk to him. Life is short. 

A pic from last July when we had our 80th celebration. Godie’s the one on the right.

I’m giving my Dad a call tonight to tell him to always take care. I’m thankful I’m getting into the habit of exercising at this age, and I plan to keep it that way. Weight loss will follow if it will :P Anyhoo, I have 6 more nights to go here in Davao before I fly back to Manila on Saturday!!! I can’t wait, but I also couldn’t help but feel sad that I’m leaving. I’ll be writing more about that later.

Because I’m home AGAIN on a Saturday night…

… and I’m tired from studying Logistics the whole day today (I actually just started at lunch and then slept for 2 hours after lunch)…

I saw this movie “Little Manhattan” (from 2005) on Star Movies today while I was having my Mr. Chips + Yakult breakfast (I know, eeeek, unhealthy! I haven’t done my grocery shopping yet!). Anyway it’s about two 11-year olds who find love in New York City. How young to find love, haha! The main character’s this guy called Gabe who falls in love with his kindergarten classmate and karate sparring partner Rosemary, and when he eventually musters the courage to tell her how he feels, it’s just too late since she’s off to summer camp. Cute movie, lots of nice quotes to get from it, such as this one:

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. Love isn’t about ridiculous little words. Love is about grand gestures. Love is about airplanes pulling banners over stadiums, proposals on jumbo-trons, giant words in sky writing. Love is about going that extra mile even if it hurts, letting it all hang out there. Love is about finding courage inside of you that you didn’t even know was there. 

Hahahaha. Here I am again. Aaaaanyway. Here’s what I did the rest of the week since we got our PBVPs last Wednesday:

On Thursday it was my officemate Tetet’s birthday and we had free lunch at the office– paella, sweet & sour pork, barbecue, and chicken. Yum! Made me miss Mom’s cooking even more, my Mom makes a mean paella! And I miss my salpicao!!! Huhuhu!

In the evening I went to SM with Rex to go shopping for toiletries while he blasted his bonus on shoes. I spent like Php 1200 man! POOF! I didn’t know grocery shopping could get so expensive, I mean I just bought shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and a couple of other non-food stuff. Yikes! Hopefully that stock lasts me for more than a month from now!

We then ate at Banok’s– I had the liempo barbecue, which was just like Php 40! I swear, the food here in Davao is absof*ckinglutely cheap but well worth the price for what you’re paying… or is my “taste” just deteriorating/ or am I settling? I hope not, I don’t think so! It actually even seems cheaper to eat out as long as it’s this cheap than to go through all the trouble of cooking at home…

And their buko halo-halo dessert was nice. It was only Php 50! No pic of it though, but it was served on a coconut… and I spilled it all over me when I tried to pour the milk out! Yikes! (2nd time such a mess happened, last time I was out with Rex in Shakey’s and the waiter spilled soup on me!)

On Friday me and my officemates were supposed to play badminton in the evening but we were too busy with work, so we just went to Chili Chill along Torres, had dinner and some beers, and went to Rizal for videoke at Gimik Barkada KTV– Php 100 lang per hour! The place was dirty and had no class at all but that was an OK price for videoke, the songs are the same anyway and are even newer than K1, which charges triple the price (but it’s a nice place naman). The not-singles left at 12 so it was again me and Rex who abused the mic until like 1:30! Haha! Was good to stretch my vocal chords man, I was singing like crazy.

Anyway so I’m home tonight and I don’t feel like going out anyway. I didn’t know I’d eventually get tired of it, or at least to want to take breaks from all the drinking and partying. Besides it’s only the same people I’m with and the same people I see every weekend so I can sacrifice having to stay home to miss out on it. And work was quite tiring too, was busy the whole week with this new Lean Quote Pricing in Sales, and next week will be even worse! My boss’s boss assigned me to do this study that’s due this Friday, and hell I don’t know where to start! It’s a good thing though since I’ll get to use my report-writing skills again, (I should be used to it from college!) and show them that I’m up for the challenge of delivering that report in a short span of time. I’m scared though, I will need to do a lot of things for this!!!

Good thing our Summer Outing’s next week already, yayyyy!!! We’re going to this resort in Samal Island called Hof Gorei for an overnight trip. Lots of things to look forward to for the next weeks including quite a lot of visitors & trainees at the office from MCC (our sister company), and then the next week (and weekend), Cy for some systems training and hanging out over the weekend, maybe with Mark too for another systems training the day before. I’ll be happy again :) And that week for sure, skipping Urban Club on a Saturday night is NOT an option! ;)

Food Trip: Pista Lokal

My fave cheap food in Davao! Located along F. Torres St., they serve even better chicken barbecue than Banok’s… only for Php 65. Tuna belly at 150. Chopsuey at 150. Cool acoustic band. And they serve ice cold beer too!

 

Jane, after our prodding, sang “Power of Two” with the band last night. Cool! Other pics with officemates Iman, Razel, Nessa, Jane, Rex, Rudy, Joar, and Tetet:

   

Have eaten there twice this week, yesterday night with Rex, and last night with the Davao staff, Bong, and our HR manager Martin. My new “must-visit” place instead of Bak-Bak– have taken Angeli here too. Bringing my next Davao visitors here!