The trip to Singapore was as eventful as ever, it was better than last year where my feet woes brought me down and I couldn’t go shopping until the late hours of the night. Yes, it was a shopping trip more than a vacation. More memories were made, as you will see from the pictures to come in this post. I can’t capture all of them, I quit after the second day, because there was just no time to snap pictures here and there.
So we — all nine of us — left on Thursday morning and Liz, Qil and I didn’t waste any time and took the mandatory local airport, foreign taxi and hotel shots.
At the Brunei International Airport, during check-in.
The two kids were playing with the trolleys and Liz couldn’t help herself but get involved. In this one is Alif, Liz’s brother, and Liz herself.
Last year’s Singapore trip, it was Liz and I who captured a shot in a taxi. This year, it’s Qil and myself.
And that’s only because Liz was at the front passenger seat. LOL.
Arrived at the hotel, and messed around with my camera phone. I’m not good at “messing around” poses, so that’s the best I can do. Hahaha.
Our first stop after freshening up at the hotel, was Ikea over at Alexandra Road, and we were slaving ourselves over the packaging and whatnot (my aunt has a business reselling Ikea here), and when we finally finished, we ate at Burger King, satisfying my craving for the Whopper. And in this shot, we were Burger Kings. (Apparently girls can be kings.)
After dinner, we crossed the road to do a little shopping. Didn’t catch the name of the place, but most of the shops were closing anyway, so we head back to the hotel to rest. Imagine this: more than five hours in Ikea doing shopping and packaging. Hell, I tell you. Sheer hell.
So second day. We went to Vivo City by MRT, and couldn’t resist taking a picture here. Haha. Before we arrived, however, we got our pictures taken with a few television stars. Hehe.
Qil and Liz decided to take one with Eric Szmanda of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. I, on the other hand..
..went for him. Mister E-saak of Heroes. Hehe, I still find it funny how Hiro says it “E-saak” instead of Isaac.
We are not short, they’re just tall!
Then we saw a piece of heaven at first sight — CANDY EMPIRE!! — and this was officially the first shop we went to (puh-lease, Ikea doesn’t count.) I spent a whopping $50 on candy, and thought I had it bad, but my three cousins and little sister had spent at least $100 each! :O
We ate breakfast/lunch over at Banquet and it was about time I got a shot of the rest instead of just the three of us.
This was placed outside the Banquet (the halal part of the food court) and I was telling Liz on the day we left that I find it weird that people could take pictures standing so straight, with their arms on their sides and no emotion on their faces whatsoever. Liz tried, but her face gave it away. LOL.
I haven’t been to Seri Q-Lap Mall before, but I heard the food court was segregated to halal and non-halal. So was Banquet and a lot of other food courts in Singapore. I saw this sign outside the halal part of Banquet. I didn’t intend to take a picture of it because it was so unimportant, but in the end I did, because inside, I saw this..
Yep. I thought I was reading it wrong, but no. I was a bit dumbfounded, and I told my mom about it. She explained a bit, but it still didn’t make sense to me. Anyone cares to explain? Hehe.
Moving on!
While both the parental units went shopping with my little sister.. Liz, Qil, Alif and I went outside. Quite a good, shaming picture of my little cousin. Haha.
We soaked our feet in the water, and yes, that’s the “little cousin” that I was talking about just now. He’s taller than I am. Go figure.
This made a bit of hoo-ha to the local blogging scene a few days/weeks ago. They have a whole store rupanya! I never knew. Interestingly, my little sister wanted to buy a pair, but I told her not to. Besides, she didn’t have enough money. (Ha.)
From now on, there are only going to be bits and pieces of the trip, nothing too important. Hehe.
This is the third day, we were having breakfast nearby our hotel. Last year, we spend half our breakfast having it at this place, ordering briyani rice and all the oily goodness there is available. Things that our parents weren’t allowed to have in Brunei. Haha.
This was taken at Marina Square on the eve of our departure from Singapore. I was too short to make it look as if I own those wings, so no picture of me with wings. Pity. :P
Also at Marina Square. I took it because it reminded me of my colleague’s show, Monday Night Alright.
After we finished looking around a quarter of Marina Square and eating at its food loft, we went to Raffles City. I read over at Amani’s post about her parents bringing back donuts from The Donut Factory, I did a little bit of research, and found out that it was in Raffles City. I was expecting the place to be big, but it was just a kiosk. Liz, Qil and I started lining up at the end of a six-person queue and the lady at the end of the line said, “This isn’t the end of the line, you have to queue at the back there.” She pointed to a caterpillar of a queue that had a gap in between to make way for people to come through. I did not take a picture of the line. I meant to, but I got too tired.
My dad, being one of two heroes in my life, he queued up and didn’t want to budge until he gets a few boxes of donuts. I gave him my money and my mom told him to get assorted donuts. He then told the rest of us to finish our shopping. And so we did. We didn’t go far, though, because we were tired and wanted to rest.
Went back to the hotel by MRT to Somerset. I texted my dad, asking how he was. He said he was still in the lower half of the queue. We then grab a few Slurpees at 7-Eleven, while our moms got to Marks & Spencer for the mandatory cookie-buying spree. LOL. Got to the hotel, then about 20 minutes later, my dad knocked on our hotel room and greeted us with two boxes of donuts from The Donut Factory.
Before I could take a picture of both boxes, my little sister was too enthused and grabbed one. I stake-claimed the heart-shaped donut. Haha.
I never had Krispy Kremes, so I don’t know if this next statement is valid, but the donuts were heavenly. NYAMAN. Even when it got cold the next day, it was still nyaman. Haha.
My dad calls The Donut Factory as Donut Tiga Jam, which translates to Three-Hour Donut. He waited three hours for the two boxes, and he was told that he couldn’t get more than two boxes. Nyeh. The cashier said they didn’t accept Brunei currency, but I think my dad talked them into accepting it. Haha. (Adakah kadai Singapore inda accept duit Brunei? Bulih.)
That is all for our annual Singapore trip, we’ll see you next year. Hehe. ;)
P.S.: As usual, I bitched and moaned about the fact that Singapore’s public toilets have no running water in the cubicles!
