Merlion Country

I remember I used to write something about every new place I've been to -- from Boston to San Francisco to Australia. But it stopped with Singapore. Maybe because I equate Singapore with work -- with late nights and take out dinners, with lonely evenings at the hotel and missing home, with SIT, BAT, and tons and tons of issues. I found nothing interesting to blog about that.

But now I find myself blogging about my last Singapore trip because it's the one I enjoyed the most and it was truly memorable. I had fun spending time with friends, and of course, the little work that needed to be done was fun as well.

Saturday. First day of Cutover and oh, happy 1st year HP Anniversary to me!

Sunday. I met up with Maricar and Roch at Takashimaya for lunch at Tori-Q. After lunch and some window shopping, we went back to Sheraton to get their bilins and chismis while watching Love Actually. Once in a while, we would glimpse at the sunbathing bodies by the pool downstairs. The girls were sexy, but there was one guy wearing conspicious lime green trunks. Haha.

Thursday. We had dinner at EngSeng. The best, the best, black pepper crabs!!! You say 4 girls can't finish 5 crabs and a lot of sidings? Wanna bet?

Saturday next. Christa and I went to this huge Buddhist compound along Bright Hill. It was beautiful. It's always fun seeing how different religions inspire different types of architecture. And we got free Buddhist books as well. Then it was off to lunch at NYDC in Wheelock and more book shopping at Borders. I super love book-shopping there. I almost don't feel like spending a lot on books because of the discounts and charging it to AMEX, of course.

Late Saturday afternoon, I went to meet up with Maricar, Roch, Brez, Miggy, RJ and Myan to go to the Macritchie Reservior for some hiking. It was very tiring. With the steep 3++ KM trail and having to lug a huge bag, who wouldn't be tired? But it was fun as I was with the usual riot of HP-Accenture friends. Hahaha. You wouldn't believe how many "OK ka lang, Chubbs?" everyone said along the trail. Concerned sila, thank you Lord.

After some shopping at an Esprit outlet and buying my wedge Bata shoes that I truly love, we proceeded to have dinner at Din Tai Fung. The best dumplings I've tasted ever. 'Nuff said.

Early Sunday morning next. Love-of-your-life sharing in Sheraton Room 1420. Never imagined this mix would be able to bond this way.

Sunday noon, Roch and I wake up to sleepy non-alcoholic drunkeness because the love-story sharing ended in the wee hours of the morning and we weren't able to get cheap booze.

Tuesday. EngSeng Part II. Tells you how good it is here. We love it!

Friday. We all skipped work in the afternoon to attend the celebration of Gillette Integration at Sentosa. We were all so excited to see our teammates who were working in Melbourne (Flo, Jusel, Denz, Ivan, and Sarah). It was the first time our team was complete! We hastily wore our costumes for the day: barcoded stickers (the product of our own sweat and tears) and went straight to Sentosa.

We all enjoyed the games: luge-racing and beach volleyball, even though I totally suck at sports. After the games, we headed to the venue where a program and dinner was prepared for us. Gillette ANZ Integration was awarded with the Best Project Start Up. That moment is one of those happy instances that would shoot you up in joy for a split second. I would have loved to see and capture each and every one of my teammates' faces the second it was announced. Classic.

After the dinner, we went for some ANZ bonding time. We went for videoke where Denz brought the house down with his Doble-oke performance. But nothing could top our Indian mappers' rendition of Barbie Girl. Imagine 4 grown-up men singing Barbie Girl. Perfect entertainment. Needless to say, I really really enjoyed the celebration. It was a rightful reward for all the work that we put in for the project. It was my perfect Friday night.

Going-away Saturday. Before finally saying good-bye to Singapore, Miggy and I met up with Roch, Maricar, and Joh to go and see the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Once there, we helped ourselves to a restaurant's breakfast buffet. Yum! A great way to start the morning. Especially with the long walks that we took. Mala-Macritchie itoh. But we got to see various plants, flowers, and wildlife that one obviously wouldn't see in the hotel. Add to that singing our own rendition of the Flinstones jingle. Again, no matter how tiring it was, I still enjoyed it with the company of friends.

When we went back to Sheraton, I was getting sentimental about leaving. I was thinking of when I would get the chance to see my mares again as I wasn't assured of coming back in the near future. For the first time, I was sad about leaving Singapore.

If I were writing this a month ago (as I should have been), I'd say I had a grand time in Singapore, I'd miss everything, and hope I'd be back soon -- but not too soon. But now that I'm more or less sure of my travel plans, I guess I'd just say, See you soon, Merlion Country!