"Singapore -Revisited!" a Singapore Travel Page by mystrappyshoes

2 of my friends from taiwan came over for a vacation and asked me to show them around. so i called another of my friends to join us cos 1) we had originally wanted to go to the night safari 2) he drives =0p 3) he's great company 4) 3's a crowd.

hahah so the 4 of us set out, 2 singaporeans, 2 taiwanese, to discover more about this place called singapore.

i first got to know viya through another fellow VTer, andy (thanks lots andy! =0)) and before she came here, we communicated in english via msn. While I had tried my best to get them a nice cheap hotel to stay in, luck really wasn’t on our side..cos singapore happened to be hosting the asian aerospace exhibition that weekend. And the only hotel tat happened to have vacancies was the infamous hotel 81..and of all the branches, it had to be the geylang branch! -_-…. Well what could we do? *shrug*

Anyway, on the night she and her friend queenie were to reach singapore, i had thought of bringing them to zouk for some friday night partying! but that didn’t happen, cos they touched down rather late, so we arranged to meet the morning after for breakfast!

After muchhhhh difficulty in navigating through the extremely NARROW AND CONFUSING streets of geylang myself to find the hotel, viya, queenie and me made our way to killiney kopitiam for a spot of Singaporean breakfast. Kaya toast, freshly brewed coffee, nasi lemak (malay coconut rice), mee siam, and lots of laughs in a traditional chinese coffee shop setting. Then after dom joined us, we went for the usual touristy sightseeing around the Singapore river area – Victoria theatre, esplanade, fullerton, and it ended off with a 45th storey of suntec. This was quite cool, cos I never knew of such a tour.basically, they bring you to one of the 5 towers of suntec, and then u take 2 lifts up to the 45th storey and there you get a panoramic view of the southern part of Singapore, which includes east coast, marina bay and even Chinatown. We had originally planned to go to esplanade for some tea, but a state funeral was held there then. But the suntec trip more than made up for it! =0)

By then our feet were all hurting like crazy. And queenie wanted to try some chicken rice, so we went to the 7th storey Hotel near bugis for steamboat and hainanese chicken rice! Excellent chicken rice, and steamboat served in traditional pot and heated with charcoal! Top this up with some lime juice, and great company, and its easily one of the best meals ever. Not to mention you get fresh food at cheap rates! Hehehhe

Then it was off to the night safari, and while I’ve been there many times, it was the first time I got to watch the creatures of the night show. You should catch it too! And try not to sit in the middle block *wink*. You’ll find out why when you get there hehheheh!

i was working with pertapis children's home (office work) and had to drop by on sunday to check on the rabbits i had entrusted in the kids. being the worrywart that I was, I had to drag dom, viya and queenie down with me to the home so that I could see if summer and parseley were ok, and most unfortunately had to wake the officer in charge of the pets corner to work too hehhe.

Having found tat the 2 bunnies were ok, the 4 of us went to the asian aerospace exhibition despite not knowing where it was held. We drove to change village and saw the entrance to the exhibition, but didn’t know that we had to take a public bus into the area…sigh..so we drove all the way back to pasir ris to take the specially designated bus in. and boy was it a scorcher…. The show was rather boring, though we managed to meet Senior Minister Goh Chok Thong and his wife, cos they were also viewing the exhibits. And we had wanted to take a look at the new airbus A380, but when we saw the queue….. immediately we decided to seek refuge in the shade and comfort of nice cold coconuts hhahah!

For dinner, we took the 2 ladies to Clarke Quay (there was supposed to be a flea market but unfortunately we were too late for it), and we even tried out the Reverse Bungy ride! Hehhehe viya was so afraid of heights she kept making excuses, all the way to when we 3 were being strapped into our seats. What happens is that this ‘capsule’ is being attached to the ground, and then you are catapulted high up into the air and then it dangles you a few storeys above ground so you feel like you’re about to fall at any moment. Queenie and I were happily chatting away and we were both laughing all throughout the ride so hard because viya couldn’t stop screaming hahhahah! Then when we came down, we realized that we had our own audience. Cos apparently, there is a video cam above our heads, and this is played ‘live’ to whoever is down on the ground..and worst of all, when we came down, they played it ALL OVER AGAIN *embarrassed*

Time to calm our racing hearts! With a river boat cruise! And i finally appreciate why people visiting singapore think she is beautiful. Cos she is!

How else to round off the day but with some good food of course! Hheheh this time round we went to glutton’s square, at esplanade to try more local dishes. Best of all, these hawkers are ‘certified’ good, cos this is sort of like a congregation of the best hawkers in Singapore. So you get delicious food, and a great view cos it overlooks the Singapore river. *rubs tummy in satisfaction*

And to end off the day, we all went to paulaner brauhaus (a german pub in millennia walk) for some cold beer and music. This is our all time fave pub, cos there is a great live band singing, and just cos it’s a nice place to hang out. =0)

just before the 2 ladies went back to tw, we met up for dinner at one of our fave restaurants - Hog's Breath at Chijmes. Then we went for some last minute shopping at raffles city, and took the ladies to the EskiBar at Holland Village to chill out and celebrate Friendship!

the past few days were really an eye opener, even to a girl who has stayed in singapore all her life. what more to others who merely pass by for a fleeting moment?