sooyindotcom

I thought I’d better sit myself down to write this post, else I’ll forget everything that I’ve done there!

Hubby and I left for Singapore on 24th July 2005, him for a 3 day conference, while yours truly was just tagging along for fun. Since he already has a room booked by the company, all I had to pay for was the plane fare…*claps hand with glee!!*. Cheap trip!

Day 1

We arrived on a hot sticky Sunday afternoon after a quick 45 minute plane ride from KLIA. Getting a cab was a breeze, and we were soon on our way to the Pan Pacific at Marina Square. As we travelled down the wide and clean highway, I was feeling very happy and excited…after all, I’ve started my sabbatical, I’m in Singapore and there’s shopping to be done! Soon after the familiar sight of Centennial and Millenia Towers came into view, the cab pulled up at Pan Pacific’s main entrance and we hastened to the check in counter. I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel as I didn’t expect it to be so nicely decked out. In fact, I was bemoaning the fact that hubby’s conference wasn’t held in Conrad as I had stayed there the last time I came for a course and I totally loved the room (and the yellow rubber ducky in the bathroom!). Well well, turns out I had nothing to complain about. The room was nice and spacious with a king-sized bed and the bathroom turned out to be just as nice, just lacking a rubber ducky…*grin*. As soon as I finished unpacking all the toiletries, etc., we took a cab out to Funan IT Centre to check out the price of the Apple iBook. Hubby got abit sidetracked and ended up surveying the price for the latest boy-toy. Ok, sorry, cool-man-gadget. Yup, the PSP (Playstation Portable). The console and games were cheaper than the ones in Malaysia…could see that he was pretty tempted!

By the time we left Funan, the slight drizzle had stopped, and the weather was cool and balmy. We took the MRT to Wisma Atria, and headed to the adjoining Takashimaya shopping centre to meet up with J and her boyfriend K. J took us to a dim sum shop in Taka that serves really nice siu loong pau (it’s meat wrapped in wantan skin - probably - and when steamed, the flavourful ‘juice’ that drips out from the meat gets caught in the wrapping as well). Hubby was pretty hungry, so he ordered a bowl of Szechuan soup as well,which turned out to be extremely spicy! Sweat…sweat…

After dinner, we went back to J’s sister’s place to take a look at her (J’s sister) Miniature Schnauzer…oh darn. I forgot his name!! He’s really cute, even though he did pee on my feet when he saw me! After a quick peek at J’s room (which contained piles and piles of clothes..hehe…), we headed back to Orchard Road for some Muddy Mud Pie at Coffee Club. Even though it was a Sunday night, the place was packed with hungry people! Orchard Road was beautifully lighted up, and again, the weather remained pretty cool after the earlier rain so we got a table outdoors underneath the mist-fan. Hubby was happily digging in his Mud Pie while I settled for a strawberry shortcake-like cake and garlic bread. J recommended the ice lychee, which turned out to be heavenly. Ice cold and not too sweet. The garlic bread was good too as it was nicely buttered and the garlicky taste was pretty strong (well, hubby ate some too, so we wouldn’t have noticed our bad breath later…hehe….).

Day 2

After hubby headed off for his conference, I lazed about abit before taking a shower, changing and heading off to Wisma Atria. Unfortunately, the nearest MRT station at City Hall was quite a long walk away…I had to go through Suntec and the City Link mall before reaching the station. It was still quite early, so most of the shops weren’t opened yet. Upon reaching Wisma Atria, I headed to one of the shops that had caught my eye on Sunday, Fond Hugs. And was I glad I did! Fond Hugs had lots and lots of simple tops and pretty sundresses in my favourite colours: white and pink. I think I must’ve spent almost an hour trying on one dress after another. The salesperson was really helpful, bringing me armful after armful of tops for me to try. I ended up leaving with 2 white tops, 1 dress and 1 pair of pants. And SGD300 poorer.

I wandered into another shop and to my delight, I found another two dressed…a pink paisley one with really delicate straps, and a white one that had torquoise detailing around the bodice and the hem of the skirt. I tried and paid for them without a moment’s hesitation!

Feeling quite pleased with myself, I wandered around Taka for some time and ended up in the lingerie section. Now, my so-called lingerie collection has been sadly neglected for quite some time. I just never found the time, nor the interest, to search for new bras (though I found really nice low back undies from Truimph some time back…ended up buying 10!). But I was in such a good shopping-mood that I decided to try some. The first few ones I tried didn’t fit too well and I was feeling quite disappointed when I walked into the Pierre Cardin section. Rows and rows of pastel colored bras! The saleslady was really helpful, suggesting the ones that could fit my small frame (and breasts!). And she was right…when I tried them on, they were a perfect fit. I ended up buying enough to fill my lingerie drawer for the next year or so. Put it this way, I’m making up for lost time! And hubby will…well, nevermind that.

As my shopping bags were getting heavier, I decided that I’ve had enough for the day. Oh..maybe a quick trip to Wheelock Place to see the Apple Centre…hehe…=) To my disappointment, the so-called ‘centre’ was one measly small shop. I just browsed around and left within 5 minutes. By then, I was getting quite hungry, so I decided to try the Japanese sushi shop right around the corner: Sakae Sushi (which incidentally have opened a branch in KL at The Curve). As I actually hate eating alone, I was already well prepared with a magazine to flip through while waiting for the food. The hand rolls that I ordered - California Hand-Roll and the Ebi Tempura (fried prawn) Hand-Roll - arrived quickly and I polished them off just as fast. Hungry-lah.

By the time I left Wheelock Place, it had started to drizzle. I just only made it inside the MRT station before it started pouring. The ride back was uneventful, and I had to trudge through City Link mall again. It really is a long walk…even more so when you are carrying a couple of shopping bags and your feet has started aching. There wasn’t much to see there, though I did go in one or two shops…one selling purses made of Japanese kimono-like fabric, another 2 selling paper products.

By the time I came out of the City Link mall, it was pouring cats and dogs. I got thoroughly wet walking through the overhead bridge linking the City Link to Suntec City. Shivering all the way through Suntec City, I finally reached the hotel via the exhibition centre. Well, no rest for my weary feet as I had promised hubby that I’ll go buy cinema tickets to watch The Island tonight. I changed from my high heels to my comfy black slippers, and off I went again…this time to Marina Square shopping centre.

And how it has changed! The old Marina Square always reminded me of Sg Wang, minus the loads of people. The new Marina Square is sparkling clean and spacious! After a few wrong turns, I finally found GSC hidden in one corner of (probably) the old wing and managed to buy the tickets for a 9.30pm show. On the way back, I stopped by at Jollibean to ta-pau some red-bean and peanut rolls and two cups of soya bean (one for hubby, of course!).

Back at the hotel room, I got snap-happy and starting taking photos of my loot for the day. I managed to take a quick nap before hubby got back from his conference -needed to recharge as we were going back to Funan to buy my laptop!

Hubby was back by 6pm, and we quickly rushed off to Funan. I was feeling really excited…but after visiting a few shops, my happiness waned…why? 3 dreaded words…out of stock! How could this be?!? How could they be out of stock? Argh! And the ones that did have the iBook in stock were charging a higher price. Well, it still turned out to be my lucky day cause the last shop we decided to go into had the iBook. But at a higher price as we decided to pay by credit card. I was quite disappointed and I told hubby that I didn’t want to get it. As we were stepping out of the store, the sales guy made a last minute attempt and asked: “If I give it to you at the price you want, will you buy it now?” Of course, you silly silly man! And that’s how I got my iBook! =))

As for hubby’s PSP, he had already decided to buy it since Sunday night, so we went back to the shop we visited yesterday, and after abit of bargaining, he walked out as a proud owner of a spanking new PSP and four games (one for me!).

By the time we got back to Pan Pac, we had just enough time to rush out to grab a bite to eat before heading to GSC for the show. Unlike KL cinemas, this cinema was quite empty…so we didn’t have to fight for elbow space…hehe. I found The Island to be quite an interesting show. The story started out showing the residents in this big huge white complex, where each resident has his or her life pretty much mapped out by the administrator of the complex, where close interaction between the opposite sex is forbidden. Every week (if I remember correctly), there’ll be a lottery draw where the winner gets his chance at freedom and is shipped off to the Island, the last remaining so-called sanctuary that is free from contamination. Of course, there has to be some deep dark secret and it’s up to the hero (Ewan McGregor) and heroine (Scarlett Johansson) to expose it. Although the starting of the show was a tad bit slow, the action quickly picked up somewhere around the middle and the show ended with…well, go watch it yourself. No offense to Scarlett Johansson fans, but I personally felt that she was merely eye candy in this job…and what’s with the bees-stung lips and super-snug t-shirts? She looked like a mini-Pammie. I prefered her in Lost In Translation, where she had a really luminous glow and a little-girl-lost look about her.

We followed the crowd out of the cinema after the show, and found ourselves behind Marina Square shopping centre. We didn’t fancy a midnight stroll, so we tried to find a way back into the shopping centre to get back to the hotel (there’s an adjoining door between the hotel and the shopping centre). Well, we got back in all right. And we were stuck in the shopping centre for a good half hour because ALL. THE. FREAKING. DOORS. WERE. LOCKED. We must’ve walked the whole shopping center end to end, only to find every door firmly shut. Just as I was starting to feel claustrophobic, we managed to get out through a side door into the garbage area (ewww…), and I heaved a sigh of relief to see our hotel right across the road. What a night!

Day 3
After the excitement from yesterday’s shopping, I slept like a baby and only got out of bed at 11am. I met up with J for lunch at Plaza Singapura where she took me to try out the Teriyaki Chicken Burger at…ok. I forgot the shop name as well. Note to self: Time to start using that Moleskin notebook. We had a good chat, after which she headed back to work and I ended up wandering around Orchard Road. Hubby and I went back to Funan again after his conference where he ended up buying a Logitech casing for his PSP, and I bought an Apple mouse for my laptop.

Dinner was at Tony Romas @ Suntec City with J. Hubby happily tucked into his pork ribs while I was busy updating J about the latest gossip at Citi. We managed to take some really silly shots with my camera, hubby spilled his drink, we won a mini Wheel of Fortune…it was a good, fun night. J looked really happy and contented, and I was sad to say goodbye. Happily, she’ll be down in KL in September…so I’ll be seeing her in 2 weeks time! =))

Day 4

Our last day in Singapore. Again, I lazed about in the hotel room till about 1pm. I played with my iBook, had some fun playing with the PSP (it really is a thing of beauty…one gorgeous toy, that!), packed the clothes and toiletries, etc. After checking out and leaving our bags with the bellhop, I went off to Suntec City to while away the time before our flight (hubby’s conference only ended at 5pm!). Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see in Suntec City with exception for another branch of Fond Hugs. I managed to spend almost an hour there, trying on more clothes, and ended up buying another 3 dresses (one of which is a gorgous white and blue halterneck dress that can be converted to cross-back or conventional spaghetti strap!), 1 top and 1 skirt! I also managed to find a teeny tiny coin pouch for hubby (he lost his about a month back)…happy happy joy joy…=)

Unfortunately, I must’ve ate something rather nasty for lunch, cause my last day was plagued with frequent stomach aches. Ugh. Well, looking at the bright side, Singapore washrooms are nice and clean!

By 4pm, I was totally exhausted from the walking and the tummy cramps, so I headed back to the Pan Pac lobby to wait for hubby. Luckily, his conference ended right on time, and we were soon on our way to Changi Airport.

The journey back to M’sia was uneventful with exception of the horrible cab we got on the way back from KLIA to our apartment. Of all the bad luck…we got the oldest cab in the queue, and it rattled all the way back along the highway. And the stupid idiotic driver…goodness knows what he was doing…he kept on letting go of the steering wheel along the highway…my god. I wanted to smack him so damn hard. Bloody idiot.

Back home, we unpacked our stuff and went out for a quick supper at the nearby mamak stall. Full and happy, we came home to continue unpacking and also managed to catch a 3 hour marathon session of CSI Las Vegas and CSI New York. Now, that (plus the fact that hubby was on leave for the next two days) was a perfect ending to the trip…heheh…=)

Epilogue
This was one of the best Singapore trips ever. I felt that Singapore is very much more Westernized, in a way, and I feel like I’m ‘one of them’, ie. I can picture myself among the sea of Chinese faces. I tried envisioning staying and working in Singapore and y’know what? I quite like that idea. Please don’t get me wrong. I like my home in Malaysia. But…I really dislike the segregation between Muslim, Chinese and Malay. We are all Malaysians, shouldn’t that be our identity as well as our nationality? I dislike the quota system, and the idea of bringing back NEP just makes me want to leave Malaysia. Maybe the grass always seems greener on the other side of the pasture. I admit that I might not have the full picture of what it’s like living in Singapore, but let me tell you this…at this point in time, it’s tempting. And if I do have the chance, and if hubby is willing to relocate as well, I would go without a moment’s hesitation. Even my parents encourage me to go somewhere else and start a new life instead of staying in Malaysia and getting sidelined due to my race. It’s sad, actually. To be Malaysian, yet not be truly Malaysian. And it’s sad when you read articles condemning the taxi drivers and toilets in Malaysia, yet you have to nod your head and agree.

As for that tummy bug that I caught on the last day in Singapore…I think it stayed in me for almost 2-3 weeks. I had bad bad bouts of stomach ache every other day till the point where I didn’t dare to eat outside. In total, I think I lost almost 2kg and with it, my appetite as well. Luckily, my internal resistance seem to have fought back, and I’m happily back to normal again…=)