singapura

honestly, singapore was not what i had in my mind for my first out of the country trip. i've always thought it to be too metropolitan for my countryside taste. bangkok or cambodia or vietnam would have been where i would start off.

however, since i promised a jvp batchmate that i will try and visit him this year, i had to keep that promise. and besides, i figured it would be best to have someone you know in a foreign country. so singapore it was.

and it was a wonderful, pleasant surprise! while it is indeed metropolitan, it was also able to satisfy my taste for adventure and culture. i actually loved the metro-ness of it! its wonderful transportation system, the walking from one point to the other, the discipline of the people on the streets. it was a welcome breather from the congested cities of the philippines.

and there were simply so many places to go to! with five days there... we were still unable to do everything that we wanted. we were able to do the singapore zoo, the night safari, the jurong bird park, sentosa, the clark quay in g-max and ikea (tourist attraction na pala to ngayon!). the last day we had to split up to do our own desires - eiza and kris for shopping , while i went around the landmarks for picture-taking. and still it was not enough time!

plus there were free maps all over the place. maps to certain locations, maps to the entire singapore, the train line, the bus line... it was both easy and hard to get lost there. and the people were just so nice and accommodating (numero uno si dondi! love you batchmate!). our questions were answered politely and properly, and with a smile too.

and i love it when we go to restaurants and they'd go, "philippines?" and we'd say,"yes!" and they'd go, "mabuhay! try this..." and when we pay, they'd go, "salamat." aliw!

i also loved loved loved the diversity of the people there. when we got off the airport, we were first greeted with a magandang hapon by a fellow pinoy which made me think twice if we went to singapore or another philippine city. doubts where gone when i saw indians, chinese, whites, malays all over the airport. i love it! i think diversity helps people to be more tolerant and consequently more understanding of others. the philippines is too homogenous compared to singapore.

i love love love it there. while i usually have a been there, done that policy for my travels... it is not so with singapore. i don't mind going back. in fact, i want to go back. see more of the place, and even do the same things we did when we were there. i enjoyed it that much!

traveling abroad is addicting, mehn. i need to save up for another trip! hehe.