- Clarita, my loyal travel companion and local guide in Singapore
Last week (November 14-17), I went on a weekend trip to Singapore to visit my good friends who are studying there (and to eat, duh).
I stayed at my friend's friends' acquaintance's place. They had wi-fi. The place was close to the MRT station. But being the filthy rich EZ-Link cardholders/lazy peeps that we were, we would take the bus (only to get off at the next station) more often than not. We got bread for breakfast and had access to powdered drinks. It was even better because my long-time best friend was staying out with me. When you put two best friends, some air-conditioning, and the almighty Internet in one room, needless to say, sleepless nights were inevitable.
And selfies too (size has been diminished to ensure readers' sanity).
If I learned something from trying to wake up at a somewhat reasonable hour after staying up so late, NEVER use your favourite song at the time as an alarm. Chances are you won't ever be able to see it the same way again.
If I were to sum up my trip to Singapore, it would look something like this: 65% FOOD, 25% friends, 6% sightseeing, and 4% shopping. Of course I actually ate every single thing with my best friend so that actually makes the "friends" part 99%.
Among the many delicacies we indulged in during those four days of awesomeness were the infamous one-dollar ice cream, Garrett popcorn, Ladurée macarons, Lao Ban bean curd, IKEA's Swedish meatballs (35 meatballs plus two chicken wings), Tip Top curry puffs, and A LOT of Japanese food (curry, mostly).
I got to see the Merlion up-close, and Marina Bay Sands from afar after so many years. I finally got to take a picture of me abusing the Merlion as a drinking fountain :D
I got to practice my Japanese at Takashimaya's Japan Fair with a friendly ojisan salesman :D :D
また青森に来たら連絡しておきます（笑）
Last but not least, I met up with my former classmates who can all now boast about getting charged half-price every time they tap their MoE-approved student cards on a bus or MRT :D :D :D
On the final night, my friend and I naively queued up for Din Tai Fung on a Sunday night, three hours before my flight (now that I think about it, that was more than just kind of silly). What better way end our lovely culinary adventure than sipping some savoury soup from those delightful little xiao long baos, right?
Wrong. We ended up cancelling after 15 minutes of waiting because my watch kept on haunting me. So we left the restaurant empty-stomached (well not exactly empty considering our lunch that day), briskly walked (no time for bus) to the apartment, took our stuff, said goodbye to Tony Evans and his dad (shout out!), and walked briskly back pulling our suitcases behind us. Then Clarita and I said goodbye at the MRT station and separated to head to different lines (Circle Line for me and North South Line for her).
My first time travelling alone and was running late already. I swear it took eons to reach Paya Lebar. My hand was shaking as I held my phone on the train -_-
Had documents verified, moved on to security. Realized I still had a full bottle of juice with me. Paused to chug on the Mogu Mogu grape juice I had in my bag which had nata de coco bits in it and therefore was NOT "chuggable". Went to 7-Eleven (Ayataka green tea! :9). Sat down for awhile to stuff recently-bought items in suitcase and to chug on more liquid, this time sugar-free. Went back to briskly walking with suitcase in tow.
It didn't help that my gate was at the farthest end of the world. Thank goodness for travellators.
I ended up arriving at the gate around 15 minutes before they would close and leave me behind in the Little Red Dot all alone, until I saw that the flight had been delayed. Quite terribly, too. The actual delay was predicted to be only 45 minutes but it totally exceeded that. We were supposed to leave at 10PM, but ended up leaving at around 12AM.
Okay so all the sinful pigging out I'd done during those four days, I finally made up for by running around to catch my delayed flight on the last day :P
Now that I think about it...maybe we should have been able to fit some xiao long bao in, after all.
アリシア
P.S. To Tony Evans: If you're ever reading this and you're ever wondering how these weird noisy big sisters knew your name - we couldn't not know your name because it was pasted all over the fridge :D
Now listening: IxU - Silent Siren
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