Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Friday, March 12, 2010

Giving in to Wanderlust

I can no longer remember when I started to have that desire to travel and explore the world. In fact, if only I have all the time and the money to spend, I probably would have been able to see Europe by now. Instead, I've just made it my goal to take on Asia one step at a time.

With that in mind, I made Taiwan next on my list (of course, with Rai) only because I've heard it offers inexpensive but good food LOL.
Taiwan Teaser 01
Taiwan Teaser 02

We definitely would want to come back because three days just isn't enough. More on the preparation details and the actual trip in our next post. :)
Read more...

Monday, November 9, 2009

Singapore Trip Day 4 Part 3 - See You Again Merlion

The coming of nightfall signals the end of this journey. It's uncertain when we shall see our friends or Singapore again, but we have no regrets as we made the most out of this trip. Thanks to TC for planning this trip, Ji who made the draft for our itinerary, our hospitable friends who went out of their way to accomodate us and the Singaporeans for making Singapore the way it is today. ^^

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It was 8pm of July 26, 2009 when we left Akashi after a delicious dinner courtesy of Che and Mon to rejoin my folks...

The Departure
It was a cinch to get back to Clarke Quay from Vivo City via MRT, in about 45 minutes we were back at Novotel to get on the cab. There were still a lot of time, but we had to stop by the customs to refund our tourist tax at the GST Refund counter. Of course, we were back at the budget terminal.
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Selected items can avail Tax Refund for tourists. Ask the merchants before purchasing, of course, you need to keep the receipts ;).

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A sign in the airport - Male Toilet, or for kids who aren't potty trained *snicker*.

Our parting meal... Double Wasabi Fish Fillet :9, now this trip has gone full circle.
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Here's the security, the lounge area, and the gate to the plane. You can buy last minute pasalubong at the duty free stalls, or you can sit in one of their comfortable couches. There's even a couple of massage chairs that simulate hand massage for the legs popularized by Osim, not sure what brands these are though.
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Love this shot ^^!

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We have arrived at our destination, thank you for flying Cebu Pacific :)

My Loot
Here's some preview of each notable item I brought back from the trip.
Singapore 200907 - My Loot 01

Zumreed Headphones
Cute and functional as advertised. This is also my first set of headphones, it's worth every penny ♥.
Singapore 200907 - My Loot 02

Western Digital MyBook External Harddisk (1Tb)
This purchase was really planned and it is serving its purpose as secondary storage aside from my laptop's limited space. At S$179.00 you can't go wrong with this. (note: There was a Seagate 1.5Tb that has more value per money, but Ji was more biased towards MyBook :p)
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Bossini Shirt
Ji and I bought a pair of shirts that complement each other, hopefully this one's not available in the Philippines. The exclusivity gives it more value lolz.
Singapore 200907 - My Loot 04

Saint Seiya Figures
Mission accomplished! I was able to get the just released Andromeda God Cloth priced at around S$85, which I was really aiming for since it's going to cost a lot more than it should if I get it shipped or from a local store. Now, hopefully I'd also have opportunities to get my hands on the 3 remaining God Cloths of the other bronze saints (Dragon, Cygnus and Phoenix).
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God Cloth Andromeda Shun will go nicely beside God Cloth Pegasus Seiya!

I'm NOT sorry I spent more than I should've :D 'cause I bought two more figures... The Pisces Gold Cloth and Virgo Gold Cloth! Hooray! The two remaining Gold Cloths from the 12 zodiacs I'm searching for a decent price, especially since the Pisces was particularly hard to find by this time, now this set is finally complete.
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Pisces Aphrodite, the beautiful saint. Virgo Shaka, the one closest to god.

Ok, I lied, there's one more figure :p and it's the stalwart of Hades' army, Pandora! She comes with a huge harp. This is a premium figure in Japan and the only way to get her there is by sending in purchase coupons from other figures. This one is a bit more expensive than I was hoping for since it's a consignment item.
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Extra generic Canon digicam battery
This should come in handy, though the IXUS 990 SD is very efficient in terms of battery usage, taking videos on it drains it relatively fast.
Singapore 200907 - My Loot 13

Novotel Hotel Card
Oops! I have no intention of taking this back as a souvenir... honest! -_-'
Singapore 200907 - My Loot 15

Plum Liquer?
This one is from JR :D I've tried it and it actually packs a punch!
Singapore 200907 - My Loot 14

Recap
A lot of sleep was sacrificed in order to make the most out of this trip but it couldn't be helped, and all that continuous walking with deprived rest caused a strain on my lower back for at least a week (;_;)... I've met most of the people I know in Singapore, got to see a lot of sites, chowed on some of the most delicious food, fulfilled my shopping list, and spent time with some of the most important people in my life ^_^ I couldn't ask for more. Admittedly, it's tiring to recall and compose these articles of our travelogue but I surely enjoyed it and hope you also enjoyed reading. However, I know that there's still a lot left to be experienced in Singapore, heck I'd want to revisit most of these places as well. While it's uncertain when we'll get the chance to visit again, we'll be sure to share the experience with you ;).
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Sunday, October 4, 2009

Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 2 - Singapore Malls

Related posts in series:
Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 1 - Singapore Flyer and Lau Pa Saht
Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 3 - Drummer Girls and A Guitar Hero


It was morning of July 25, 2009 (Saturday) when we met up with Che and Mon at the Singapore City Hall for the Singapore Flyer, then had lunch at Lau Pa Saht. Then we hit the shopping area, particularly Orchard. It's high time we exchanged our Peso for some Sing Dollars.



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Preview of events


So far so good, we're still on track with our itinerary introduced on Day 0, although we were about 2 hours behind if you don't consider that we already had lunch. It's time to walk and walk again...



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Interesting...

Funan Mall
In a nutshell, loads of electronic shops here! This is also where I got my very own headphones ^^. I asked the salesperson for a pair of good headphones not worth more than S$100 and after checking about 4 different kinds we finally settled for a Japanese branded Zumreed's lime green ZHP-005, which cost me about S$92. I later saw the same set being sold slightly cheaper at another store, but no regrets since the store clerk there was quite helpful and I don't regret having following his advice, it's cute, colorful and works very well IMO ;). This is also where Ken canvassed for a Canon 500D and came back for it the following day. [Also the place where I got my Rootote bag at a price lower than what's usually seen here in Manila. A good deal, methinks. :) -ji]

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Shots of the mall. Look, there's Pepper Lunch in the food court!

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Mannings in Hong Kong, Guardian in Singapore

My friends showed me this clip and told me Sandara Park was using the same headphones in a Cass beer commercial with Lee Min Ho.


Suntec Mall
We specifically checked this mall for the Lacoste shop and to find the crane machine with Cinnamoroll! As you may already know, this is Ji's favorite character and it'd be a sin not to drop by... and try capturing one. There's also a Food Republic here, the overall look mimics that of a library ^^ nice!

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There were actually 2 machines containing Cinnamoroll toys. The first one we saw had smaller toys, some were holding a heart with blushing faces while others were just plain laughing Cinnamoroll. The other machine had slightly bigger toys holding either a star or a cinnamon swirl...(I think)!

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I don't think that giant Cinnamoroll at the back is retrievable

I have never, and I mean NEVER got one of these crane machine toys successfully so I don't usually attempt. But we had to try since we came all the way for this machine *gulp*. Not noticeable from the photos, but contrary to all those toys set up at the back, there is one isolated and placed usually face down near the window, it gives the impression that it's easier to retrieve, which I beg to differ. Also, there was a lady in charge of the machines who would hover behind you as you play the machines ~_o. Each time you were unsuccessful, she'd open the case and reset the positions of the toys - what's up with that cheater?!?

At S$1 per try, we gave up and moved on after attempting twice since the crane doesn't seem to be doing it's job grasping on the toys.
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While trying out the second machine, we heard someone winning the prize on Disney inspired toys... Great! More pressure!


After the first try we decided to change our strategy and attempted to hook the crane between the arms, just inside the object Cinnamoroll is holding. Not as easy as it sounds, but I managed to get it on the first try! On top of that, we caught two!! *Take that creepy cheater lady!!!* It's either I'm surprisingly good at this or Ji is just really lucky that day... [Good job by rai, as I know this is really a feat :) -ji] that is until this happened...

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Cinnamoroll got stuck on the way down T_T, we had to call on the lady... who only gave us one toy claiming that it shouldn't even have counted. *Sore loser! >:p*

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Still, all's well that ends well :) ... and here's my reward :9


Lucky Plaza
Then we hustled to Lucky Plaza to check on the money changers...
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Sights on our way to Orchard

The exchange rate wasn't as high as we hoped for. I guess it's expected since the Peso wasn't doing very well during the entirety of 2009 even when it was after the Christmas holidays where it usually goes strong due to remittance.

Located in Orchard, this mall is filled with bargain stalls and several money changers, not to mention lots of people. This is also where we stopped for some rest.

Chatterbox

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It's now time for an early dinner, our bio clock was already out of timing since morning (see Singapore Flyer post). As it was strongly recommended, we headed to Chatterbox situated at the top floor of Meritus Mandarin Hotel which had a great view of the city.
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Here are Singapore's Finest ^^ Yum!


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Hainanese Chicken
Bak Kut Teh
HooKien Mi
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Fascinating view from Chatterbox

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Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City)
Found here are a mix of expensive stores like Bvlgari and Louis Vuitton along with the common stores that a regular person, such as me, would probably spend most of his time shopping like Bossini, Zara (Zara Man), and G2000.

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In the center of the activity center on Basement 2 was a toy fair. Apparently these are for kids and not the collector kinds. We split up from my folks after this as Ken was taking too much time shopping for shirts. I only got a pair of pants from Zara since I couldn't find the slim fit type long-sleeved shirts for office wear. Happened to also get a tote bag [yes, a tote bag for him :) -ji] from a local retail store located at Basement Level 1. No names on the bag except for a removable tag with "made by projectshop" on it. I think the store name is Projectshop Blood Brothers, or just portion of that name as the main stores are in Wisma and Paragon.

Wisma
There's several well known stores here but just one is enough to make the people squeeze in - Charles & Keith. Their shoes look quite nice, I just wonder if you have to sacrifice comfort with them, but it doesn't seem so. Normally I'd go around the store to help Ji decide on her purchases but feeling very tired at this point and having lack of sleep for 3 days in a row took a toll, zzzzZZ, enough said. [As much as i pity him at this time, I couldn't pass up on the very affordable shoes available. -ji] It's almost 10pm and time to meet up with my buddies from college :D.

Related posts in series:
Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 1 - Singapore Flyer and Lau Pa Saht
Singapore Trip Day 3 Part 3 - Drummer Girls and A Guitar Hero

Read more...