Singapore is all tall, imposing buildings, busy, disciplined streets. I could so live in Singapore, somebody cold and heartless like me. I could go and make loads of moolah in one of those cutthroat offices, shop along Orchard, have multi-racial friends, be fabulous everyday and snooty to everyone. I can so see me being this way.
1. Halloween @ The Night Safari. It was probably the most authentic Halloween party I've ever been in, with the grotesque costumes and props, and all sorts of ghastly creatures coming up to you in the dark. It was all so seriously scary that Bootsie gave up within two minutes into the train ride and kept saying thruout, 'Scared ako sa Halloweeen. I like Christmas lang.' Even Yoshi who has always had a thing for the macabre became terrified at some point (altho he's too grown-up now to admit it).
It has become a running joke with me and the two boys. We’d look at our pix and say, here you look like a creature from the night safari. Or Ches would come in from somewhere and the three of us would tell him, you look exactly like a creature from the night safari. Hahaha.
The monsters clearly outshone the animals that night. In fact, I was thinking the whole thing would've been all rather boring if it also didn't happen to be Halloween. One thing I liked tho was the corporations adopting the animals. My favorite was Tiger Balm adopting the tiger. Well, obviously. Hahaha.
2. Universal Studios. Except for Bootsie (who was a scaredy cat again), we all loved the Steven Spielberg show where buildings exploded, boats sank, there was tthunder and lightning and fire and a fantastic storm – the whole works. Everyone was clapping and hooting after the show. I love Spielberg. Indiana Jones. Back to the Future. Close Encounters. The Color Purple. Saving Private Ryan. Schindler’s List. Band of Brothers. From way back when I was just starting to watch movies until now, Spielberg is the man.
Ches and I wanted to try the Mummy ride that Ate said was a fun kind of scary, but Yoshi could only feel the scary and couldn’t see any of the fun. So then we decided we'd leave the boys with Ate, at which exact time Bootsie decided he wanted to come with us. He definitely won't be allowed in yet, so goodbye, Mummy ride. (Sigh. Parenthood.)
All we got to try were the ho-hum kiddie rides (that we are forced to ride and line up for as part of our parental obligations) like the Accelerator (a.k.a. bump car), the Treasure Hunters trucks, Dino Soarin', Puss in Boots' little ferris wheel, and the Madagascar carousel. The last one was my favorite, mainly bcoz of the cool dance songs that played all thruout the ride (I like to move it, move it ...) There was the 75-second junior roller coaster, too – the 'junior' deceiving bcoz it was still all fast and loopy and tummy-churning and all Yoshi and I could do was scream and close our eyes thruout.
Bootsie liked the 4D Shrek show, and fondly remembers the spiders on his feet and Donkey's spit on his face. Univ Studios was only about half the size of HK Disneyland, hence, we were able to go around twice and even catch The Streetboys' (proudly Filipino) performance and the Monster Rock live musical. We missed the Waterworld show tho bcoz Yosh and Ches took forever in the Rapids Adventure.
We were also happy to meet Marilyn Monroe. In my next life, I'm going to look so fabulous that I can hold down a job where all I will be required to do is smile there and pose like some long-dead Hollywood actress and people will line up just to have a picture with me. And I won't even have to think or say a thing – the look and smile alone will earn me the big bucks.
3. Sentosa. It’s Bootsie’s turn to pick on the butterflies, in much the same way Yoshi did at the butterfly garden we visited in Palawan. And when I say ‘pick’ I mean literally to catch, squeeze ... and murder. Yosh managed to mangle a lot of the poor things before we realized what he was doing. With Bootsie, we knew better so we were able to stop him right away. Tho he managed to permanently injure one, I think. (I’m sorry, I swear.)
The cable car ride was Yoshi’s birthday wish come true. Lorie (my beloved travel agent) initially said it wasn’t part our package so Ate offered to treat us for the ride. I told her we might not have time for it tho, and she goes, we’ll make time bcoz it’s what Yoshi wants. Hahaha. Brats stick together.
The boys also enjoyed the touch pools and the travellator in the tunnel with the sea creatures overhead. They loved being inside the merlion’s head and getting prizes from a merlion statue.
We missed the light and sound show by the beach that Jon highly recommended and which I read was multi-awarded (like the Symphony of Lights in HK). It wasn’t part of our tour itinerary. This is the trade-off with package tours – you get the convenience of having everything arranged for you, you don’t have to line up for tickets or anything, cushy coasters or buses take you right to your hotel doorstep, but you have to be at the designated place at the designated time and cannot go ambling around as long as you wish.
Jon also said we would’ve saved a lot if we had made our own arrangements instead of going on all these package tours. Jon has the guts to say this bcoz his kids are grown and he doesn’t have to be lugging around a hyper-active two-year-old like Bootsie in a foreign land. Hahaha.
What can I say? I’m Miss Lazy Bones and my principle has always been, if I can afford to pay for something that will take away a lot of stress in my life, then I think that’s money well spent and better enjoyed than if it’s just lying around in a bank somewhere.
4. The hotel. If you ask Bootsie what his favorite part of the trip was, he’d say: the hotel. And we are all like, it’s ugly
kaya! Hahaha. I guess he liked it bcoz of the elevator and bcoz his beloved Kitty was waiting for him in the room. (Yes, we brought that dirty, stinky old pillow all the way to the lion city. Groan.)
It’s not really ugly ugly – it’s clean and functional and your usual three-star. The rooms are small tho, and the breakfast buffet not all that extensive, and there are no high ceilings or fresh flowers or anything. Hahaha.
The best part about it is its location. It’s spitting distance to the marvellous Kopitiam (see below), the National Museum, the Singapore School of the Arts, and Orchard Road. Ate and I walked to Bugis Market after dinner and she was able to get some serious shopping done there. (Hence, she didn’t have money anymore to take us to Marina Bay Sands, which was good news to acrophobic me.) The whole lot of us also walked to Plaza Singapura where we lazed while waiting for our late flight. We didn’t even have to take any cabs to get to all these interesting places.
My favorite thing about the hotel tho was the big mirror in the bathroom. While I’m all preoccupied with my usual scalding hot showers, Ches would sneak in and scribble mushy stuff in the mirror. It became a guessing game for me what he was going to write next. (I love Ches and his impromptu crazy, romantic ideas. We’re so cheesy, I know. Don’t you just hate us?)
5. Kopitiam. Lorie forgot all about the cable car ride, but she did remember this resto across the hotel that served all kinds of cuisine and was open 24 hours. And that was Kopitiam. The food wasn’t cheap, but it was yummy and fast and the place was clean and cold.
I had Japanese fried rice and chicken, pho soup one night and tom yum soup the next, ramyun, exotic-looking and –sounding dimsum, the works. The sticky rice with something like an adobo filling that Ate ordered was a winner (she brought some home). She loved the innards and noodle dish from the place called ‘Wang Ji Pig Organ Soup’. (How can you go wrong with a name like that? Haha.) Ches, as usual, ordered crazy drinks like the dragonfruit and honeydew shakes that tasted a lot like ground leaves. Yoshi is forever happy with his fried rice and chicken and siomai and siopao, Bootsie with whatever kind of rice and soup.
And the desserts! We all went crazy over the desserts. The specialty was something called bo bo cha cha (I guess their version of halo halo). We also had a tall frozen thing with durian bits and durian ice cream on top. We tried almost every dessert in the menu. Our favorite was the Mango Sunrise.
One of my fondest memories of the trip is Bootsie singing happy birthday to me and the same lines over and over from the Eheads’ Wag Kang Matakot while we’re all digging into the Mango Sunrise. ('Wag kang matakot, di kita pababayaan kailanman. Sa iyong tabi, di kita pababayaan kailanman. Sa iyong tabi...') Priceless.