SG Feb '14: Day Two

Also known as:
A. The day we got on the wrong bus
B. The day we wished we had a lot of coins
C. The day we went to Universal Studios at 5pm
D. The day we cursed the phrase, "WHAT LINE?"
E. The day it took us 3 hours to get home
F. The day Ana realized her passport was missing



The day started pretty normal. It was Lunar New Year and most of the stores
were closed, so we did our research the night before about which ones would be open.


Tess and Daffy got ready before anyone else and headed out to check if
Sweet Talk (the place with really yummy Milo bubble tea) was open.

Mickey, Trachea, and I got tired of waiting for them to come back,
so we headed out to go find them at the bubble tea place and they weren't there.
We figured maybe they got sad that it was closed so they went straight to
Ion, where we were planning to go for a bit of shopping (according to research,
a few stores over there would be open on New Year's day)

I left them a text asking them to meet at Muji at around 12:30.
We went to Art Box and spent money on useless things, as per usual.

12:30 came, and no reply from Tess or Daffy.
We decided to go look for a place to eat, and there was nothing in Ion.
Texted Tess and Daffy to meet at Wisma, where we headed next.

I saw that Food Republic's light was on upstairs so I thought there would be food.
We get there and it turns out only Din Tai Fung is open, and probably only
for people who made reservations. This is what we looked like while
waiting for Tisha and Daffy:

They finally appeared, and since it was hot out + we were lazy (mostly lazy),
we took the train to Somerset.

The Food Republic there was open, and there was a place
 that looked really yummy, but it wasn't. :-(

A Milo Dinosaur totally made up for that, though!

We shopped a tiny bit at Somerset, then walked to Cineleisure
while Tess and Daffy took a look at H&M.

Most of the stores there were closed again, so we just hung out outside
while waiting for Mickey to buy some food at McDonald's.
(I got a new yoyo! It says "Shit Yeah" and it's adorable)

Mickey asked me to take this. I don't really get the point.

Mickey asked me to take this too.
This was so spicy, omg. I have no idea how he finished it without crying.

Tess and Daffy met up with us and wanted to go back to the hotel.
The laziness was kicking in again, so we went looking for a cab.

No one would take us because there were five of us,
so we gave up and headed to the nearest bus stop.

To this day, I don't understand which bus goes where.
Tisha probably felt the same so she decided to step inside
the next bus that arrived and just asked the driver straight
if his bus was going to stop at Scotts Road, and he said yes.

At first we were just waiting to see the familiar streets near our hotel,
but on each stop we got to, we realized we were going farther and farther from
where we were supposed to go. Panic set in at first (especially from Ms. Trachea
who I have realized is the panic queen), but then we just made fun of it all.

Here is Tour Guide Tess and the different sites she showed us
until we circled Singapore and got back to the hotel. =))

The moment we stepped on hotel ground, Tisha totally changed her mind
about taking a rest and asked us if we were game to go to Sentosa. =))


One cab ride later and we were at Universal Studios at 5 in the afternoon!

We had a dinner planned with our parents at 7pm, so we agreed
we would leave Sentosa at 6:30pm. If we'd gotten there by cab in
15 minutes, then half an hour was a lot of extra time to get home, right?
(We found out how wrong we were at 6:30pm, but that's for a bit later)

We got there in the middle of a parade, and I got to see a dinosaur!

This guy's supposed to be the mummy.

The first ride we got on was The Mummy ride nga.
I was so chill about this ride, I swear. I thought we'd all be laughing,
BUT NO - NAKAKASTRESS SA SOUL, OKAY.
Omg we should have gone on it a second time

The next ride was the Jurassic Park ride, the one with the water.
It was pretty lame. Trachea kept on insisting that I would get super wet and
my phone wouldn't survive if I didn't put it somewhere safe, so it ended up in
my underwear. :-| There was a family who was on the ride with us and they
looked at me really weird after I did it.

The Transformers ride was the perfect ending to our Universal Studios day because
1. It wasn't scary aka no one's soul got stressed and
2. It was very windy so we got dry from the Jurassic Park ride

It was 6pm when we finished. We had a few more minutes to walk around,
and we found some Sesame Street friends talking on the stairs.

Also found the turkey leg place where Carlos ate a few years back!
(Is this even where you ate that turkey leg? Or was that Hong Kong? Ambot)

There was an adorable guy whose parachute got caught in a tree!
(Which movie is he from?)

We also found Po near the entrance. I ran up to him and asked Mickey to
take our photo, but then I realized we had to pay to get a picture and there
was a long line behind us. Oops.

We were all very happy and satisfied when we decided to go home even if
we only got to go on three rides. That happiness did not last long. DUNDUNDUN.

First, we headed to where the cab dropped us off.
We saw the line and quickly decided to get on a bus instead.

Just for the people who don't know - In Singapore, you have to give the
sakamount of coins to a bus to get a ride. They don't take bills.

On the bus ride line, we took out all our change and combined them.
It wasn't enough for all of us to get home and since that was not an option,
Tisha started running off to different shops to ask if they could break her $2 bill.
No one would say yes, so then she tried to buy a drink from a vending machine.
None of the vending machines gave change - they were all sakamount machines.

At this point it was already around 6:45pm, and we were all stressing.
Tisha texted Miko about the easiest way to get home, so Miko told us to get on the MRT.

MRTs are usually on the last floors of malls, so we got on an elevator
 and went to basement 2. We found nothing there!

We went back up to the lobby and asked a dude where we would find the MRT,
and that's when he told us that we'd have to ride the monorail into the city
and THEN get to the train. We ran to the monorail and saw a giant line again.

This time we decided to stay because there was no other way to get back home.
Finally it was our turn, and we finally got to Vivo City.

When we arrived (It was already past 7pm), I got a call from Dad and he
told us to just get a cab home. I remembered where the taxi stand is at Vivo City
from our last trip so we went there and found... Another line.

Did not want to line up again, so we went down to the MRT station.

The ticket booth had... Another line. We were so tired na at this point when suddenly,
an angel came to us and said, "There is another ticket booth with a lot less people on
the other side, I think you should go there before people find out about it!"

(It was actually a random girl who came up to us. THANK YOU, RANDOM GIRL!)

What could have been another half hour of waiting turned into 5 minutes.
Tess and Daffy sat down while we bought 5 tickets to the Orchard stop.

We were rejoicing because all we had to do now was get on a train and sit down
until we got back home!!!

Tsk, tsk. Mickey! Don't stand in the middle! People have to pass there, y'know.
When we were waiting in that exact spot, I saw a sign that kinda said,
"Easier route to Dhoby Ghaut upstairs." I asked them if they wanted to go back up
to get on a different train, but no one wanted to move anymore.
(Giant mistake.)

The train arrived, we got in, we sat down. We were so thankful for the seats that it took us a while
to realize that it was 27 stops to the train where we would change routes to get on the Orchard line.

Thankfully, there was a stop in the middle that would let us change trains to the red line,
and we got on it so it was only a few stops to home - This is a very relieved Mickey.

We got home at 9:30pm. We didn't make it to the family dinner, so we just got
room service. Longest day of the whole trip!!!

It didn't end there, though. When we got home and I fixed my things,
I found out my passport was missing. But that's for the next post!

SG Feb '14: Day One

Also known as the day I lost my luggage for the first time in my life.



I saw a man and his Pikachu waiting in line at the airport.

Dad and Mom saw a friend that (sounded like) they hadn't seen each other in a while.
(What's her name again, Dad?) She was on her way to Singapore to visit her daughter.

Yiiie, kilig! Joke lang I actually didn't know what they were talking about when I took this

I was seated all by myself! Hehehe my dad took this.
Check out the man behind me, I have a story including him later.

I watched the last few parts of Rush on the plane.
(I found out that it was the last part too late. Like. When the credits rolled.
Now I kinda don't wanna watch from the start anymore, because I totally know the ending.)

After Rush ended, I found out that they were showing Metro Manila
on the plane and I freaked because I finally had a chance to watch it.

When the film was over, I looked like this until the credits ended:



Ayan, speaking of the man behind me - he already smiled at me the moment
I got to my seat so my first guess was that he was a pretty nice guy.

I wanted to take his picture but I was a tiny bit nervous so I was thinking how I would do it.
The captain's voice sounded on the P.A. saying that we were going to land soon,
and I got scared that I would never get a chance to take his photo so I got up on my chair,
faced him, and waved hello! He was reading a book on his iPad so he didn't notice at first,
but when he did, our conversation went a little bit like:


ANA: Hello!
MAN: Hi!
ANA: I was wondering, could I take your photo?
MAN: (laughs) But I'm an old man!
ANA: No no no!
MAN: Why would you want to?
ANA: I just do!
MAN: All right, sure. What's this for?
ANA: ... So I can keep it?


ANA = psycho. But he was really nice so he still let me.

LIGHTING LESSONS 101

We landed in Singapore and I waved at the man to say goodbye,
and then we headed straight for immigration.
I took a while longer than my parents because I got on a slow line,
so Dad went ahead and got our bags for us.

By the time we reached him, we only needed one piece of luggage left to get.
We found it and walked towards the exit to find the guy who was going to pick us up.

We found him, and he was putting our stuff in the car when
Mom asked the best question in the world when she saw my supposed suitcase -
"Bag mo ba yan???" Both Dad and I looked and realized THE BAG WASN'T MINE

I ran back into the airport with the wrong bag and began asking whoever I saw
where I should go if I picked up the wrong luggage. We got to the information counter
and they filled up a form for me but told me that it would take around 10 - 15 minutes
before security came around to help.

During those 10 - 15 minutes, Dad got a call from Ate Diday asking if I had lost my bag.
No guys, Ate Diday wasn't having a psychic moment. Turns out the guy whose bag I got was Ate Diday's employee, and she had sold him a bag that looked exactly like mine!




When mine was the only purple bag he saw on the carousel, he assumed that I
(whoever I was at the time) had gotten the one he owned, so he asked to find out
my name. When he found out my name was Ana Zamora, he went ahead
and called Ate Diday to ask if she was related to me and she said yes and
that was how Ate Diday got me and the guy to meet and exchange bags without
having to go through all the airport paperwork!!!

Arrived at the hotel at around 6:30pm and rested till 7:00pm.
Ate Diday, Miko, and Tracy arrived and we all had dinner at
Mezza9. (The restaurant IS on the mezzanine floor of the hotel,
but I am still trying to understand why they put "9" in the name instead)

The rest of the team (Kuya Leo, Tisha, Mickey, and Daffy) arrived at 9-ish.

I went with Miko + Tracy + their parents to Miko's new place so we could
build stuff they got from Ikea. This is Kuya Leo on the bus:

Miko's new place is awesome! Plus I found this on his desk.
Yiiiie, Carlos look! Miko framed his photo with us! Kiligin ka pls.

TIME TO BUILD

Stuff like this is so fun for me you don't even understand.
I love building things omg I have two Gundams and I LOVE Nanoblocks k

That night, Miko and I built 4 side tables and one shoe rack.
We also placed the carpet in front of his couch!