I think most of our parents taught us that blood relation (i.e. relatives or your siblings) is more important than your friendship. Well, in this era, how true is that ‘teaching’? Let’s see…A good friend of mine is recently being weighed down by a lot pressure, sadness, frustration and heartache due to her mother’s unfortunate fall and thanks to her black-hearted relatives, she has no one to turn to except her army of best and good friends.

Despite her misfortunes, she is indeed lucky to have such good friends ready to help her at anytime. Even her boss treats her well too! I just don’t understand, why can’t her relatives help her out? They know her current situation, they know that she’s the only child and they know that her mother would take months to recover from a broken leg. But still, these selfish people chose to ignore her. Nevertheless, she is tough (perhaps she has 10% of titanum fluid running in her blood stream and 10% of steel blood cells) and never seems to give up at all.

She is one of the few friends that I admire most and these are her top five admirable qualities:

1. She is one of the most courageous friends I ever have.
2. She has a very strong will and determination to weather through all kinds of storms.
3. She is so tough, she never seems to fall (even if she did, she gets up in lightning speed).
4. She is always optimistic almost about everything, even in turbulent times.
5. She is wise beyond her age.

I’m pretty sure some of you out there do encounter similar scenarios where your own blood-related people refuse to help you in dire times. Heck, I even experience it in my own ‘family’ tree. If you have kids or plan to have kids, never teach them that friendship is not important. I think both friendship and ‘family-ship’ are equally important. When my godchildren are old enough to learn a thing or two about life, I will most definitely tell them that it is important to keep their best friends, good friends and family members close.

Perhaps I should twist this well-known statement a little:

“Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”

Into this statement:

“Keep your friends close, but keep your relatives closer”

Sure, the kids will grow up and ask questions like “What if my best friend got married and have his / her own family?” or “What if my best friend moved away to a farther place?”

Well then, friendship, like any other relationship, is a two-way thing and if my godkid is the only one keeping the efforts to stay in touch with his/her best friend but his/her best friend seem to float away, then it is pointless to keep such a friend who seems to have forgotten their friendship in the first place. But if both parties keep the effort to remain good or best friends, then I guess that’s what we call a true friendship (and yes till death do your friendship apart).

Hmm…I think my godkids are gonna ‘inherit’ part of my good characteristics – being an extremely good friend

This is one of my favourite friendship quotes:

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out”

I am supposed to post this one somewhere in June…so sorry Yuen Ling, I posted our birthdays this late! That’s right, we celebrated our birthdays together (we were just two days apart) in a nice Spanish-Italian restaurant (I forgot the name!) at Sri Hartamas. We didn’t exactly plan which restaurant we’d go to, so I just parked my car somewhere within the Sri Hartamas vicinity and we went food-shopping. LOL!

Pui Sime and I were actually sick that time. But the world ain’t fair at all coz’ she was way much worse than me and still she looked good and I looked like a zombie, and there’s no special make-up effects to make me look like one! Humph!!

We took a look at the menu and the prices were…phew…well, thanks to the increase in the fuel prices! Nonetheless, the four of us marched into the dimly lit restaurant decorated with interesting mural paintings, where we were served with what look like my ‘kind’ – a friendly Eurasian hostess! Yay! Now I’ve found a food place where lots of Eurasians gather! Most of the customers look like Malay or Indian, thanks to their dark skin tone. I bet they were all Eurasians!

Though I can’t recall what we’ve ordered, but we thoroughly enjoyed it because the food was really nice! Perfecto! Oh, did I mention, that there was a live band playing?? Fantástico! We suddenly felt old when the singer belted out some good old ballads of yesteryears.

<* Scores of fiery Spanish spices are thrown towards Perrinator, followed by shouts of “WE’RE NOT OLD!” *>

Okay! Okay!! I’m the only one who felt old! Man, this dude can sing pretty well!

Yuen Ling and I both received Bodyshop gifts, and if you haven’t notice, this year’s birthday present theme for the five of us (Lay Yan couldn’t join us) are Bodyshop gifts. And all of our birthdays were celebrated in Western restaurants!

Ladies, don’t you think we should start thinking of next year’s birthday theme? LOL!

Occassionally, I came across articles on the exaggerating costs of celebrity babies’ photos being sold to blood- money-sucking magazines for millions of dollars. While some may question the morality of the baby’s parents, but what if the cash received is being used for a good cause? Take the Brangelina clan, for example. They sold photos of their first biological child, Shiloh, for USD$4.1 million and donated the money to a charity!

I’ll do a quick rundown on the top five celebrity babies with the most expensive price tag on their heads pictures, followed by one very special baby with a price tag of…well, you’ll see…

Bahhhh…you think these babies are expensive? Well, wait till you see the next picture. The word ‘expensive’ couldn’t even describe it, coz’ it’s more than expensive! How expensive, you wonder? $50 million? $80 million? $100 million??!! No, ladies and gentlemen, there is no price tag on the next one because it is…PRICELESS!

……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………
……………

As usual, for more exclusive pictures of us all, get a copy of Hokay Manusia! now!

<* Perrinator got slapped left and right by five of the ladies *>

Okay! Okay! I was just joking! For more exclusive pictures of us all, view it from my facebook account! It was Me Xin’s second birthday celebration last month, and all of us ladies went there after work (except for Sime Darby who was very sick that time! Well, serves you right for not seeing a doctor earlier!)

<* Perrinator got slapped at the back of her head by Sime Darby *>

Eh friend, I am being nice la! It really was your fault that…

<* Perrinator got her mouth stuffed with pork buns by Sime Darby *>

Mmpphh!! Mmmppphhh!!! Mmmmmpppphhhh!!!! @#$%#%@#%@#!!!!!!!

Ahh…at last, I’m finally in the mood (and a little free) to continue my recollection of day four in Singapore! My cousin managed to take a day’s off (thank God!) and accompany me till I left Singapore on a 6.30pm bus.

The day kicked off with a visit to the Bugis Junction shopping complex and Bugis Street. What I like most about Bugis Junction is that part of the mall (the street one) is covered in glass. So you don’t have to worry about walking under the scorching sun! Yay! We had our lunch in the complex’s foodcourt and I was surprised that when I ordered the hokkien mee, there were PORK cubes in it!

Then it hits me that there isn’t any sign of ‘Halal’ stamps or certification being displayed on each of the stall! LOL. I sort of forgot that I wasn’t in a Muslim country. After that, we head on to Bugis Street, which reminded me of our own Petaling Street (gosh, it must have been eons ago since I last step into Petaling Street!) Yes, you can bargain the prices of the goods sold here, such as fancy shirts, shiny bling blings, lots of Singapore’s iconic souvenirs, decorative items and the list goes on and on! Thank goodness it wasn’t wet, dirty or stinks like hell!

Next stop…this wasn’t even in my list (again!)…Chinatown! Well, Amit insisted that we should visit Singapore’s Chinatown. I still had plenty of time to kill then. We took a cab there to ‘save’ more time and got off near a temple called Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho, which is built in dedication to the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin. My cousin sister insisted that I should go in (nevermind that I am a Catholic or of different race) and light some joss sticks and make a wish. That seems to be what everyone was doing!

Surprisingly, there were all kinds of people from different races who were there at the temple, lighting up the joss sticks and praying. But the smoke from the sticks irritated my eye balls and I couldn’t stay long. I just imitated the way my cousin light up the sticks, did some quick kow tows and stabbed the sticks into the huge pot of err…ashes?! Wonder what wish I made? Hmm…I…I have forgotten! Fart!

And guess what? Just right beside the temple is another Indian temple called Sri Krishnan! Geez, there were Chinese and other races inside the temple too! I guess most of the temples in Singapore are errr…races-friendly? LOL! Both temples do not charge visitors for a fee, but feel free to make a donation though!

The next stop almost took my breath away. It’s a bird! No! It’s a plane! Nooo! It’s Underwear Man! Hell no!!! It was the grand, gigantic majestic-looking Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum!!!

Due to time constraints, we did not manage to climb up the flight of stairs leading to the uhm…third floor of the temple? There were all kinds of goddess statues (I don’t know who is what or what is who) and the sight of them in their own ‘cubicles’ across the wall was breathtaking indeed!

Oh, you gotta be decently dressed before you can enter the temple. I was stopped by one of the staff there before I manage to put one foot down in the hall, and she politely explained to me that I gotta cover my bare shoulders with the scarf provided at the entrance! Humph! I was decently dressed! It was just a sleeveless shirt! Sigh… I peered into that box of scrafs, wondering how many thousands of tourists have used it before. Euuuwww…but what choice do I have, eh? Thank Buddha that I do not have an obsessive compulsive disorder!

Next, we took refuge at one of the stalls in Chinatown (coz’ the sun was insanely hot) while quenching our thirst with cool coconuts! Then we did a little sight-seeing…and hey, this laughing Buddha statue was constantly molested by a mob of aunties! My cousin explained that whoever touches this laughing Buddha will have uhm…many joys and lucky stars in return? Hmm…

Oh well…it was time to head back to my cousin’s place and refresh myself before packing up my remaining stuff and head towards Harbour Front (where the bus station is). Since we still had some extra time, we toured Vivo City, a newly built shopping complex next to Harbour Front. I gotta tell ya, I really, really like this mall’s concept! Its design was like uhm…gooey? LOL! Oh, I like their open garden concept with ponds on the rooftop!

We stopped at Ben & Jerry’s before going to Harbour Front. Well, I’ve seen a lot of B&J’s almost everywhere I went! At the zoo, at the bird park, at Sentosa island, and the list goes on! Since I have never tried B&J’s ice-cream before, I ordered a large triple chocolate banana split! Oooo…that was too much of a chocolate…half an hour later, my stomach reacted violently at the amount of chocolate I’ve consumed…so…I gotta go into the loo and erm…well, had another round of chocolatey business in there! LOL!

Wuhuuuu…it was time to go home…with a heavy heart (and a blardee weak pair of legs after the ‘activity’ in the ladies), Amit and my cousin send me off to the bus station at Harbour Front. Oh yessss…I enjoyed my time tremendously in Singapore, thanks to Amit and my wonderful cousin sister (and not forgetting, her best friend Liz). My next trip to Singapore would be in Christmas…uhm…maybe another three or four years later? LOL!

Oh, and the lessons learnt? Hmm…quite a few…

(1) Roaming Mode
Make sure that your phone is able to switch to roaming mode so that you can dial from other country or check with your telco provider whether there is such service! Although I did switch my phone to roaming mode, but I failed to make calls after so many miserable attempts! Consult your telco provider if you’re unsure.

(2) Gallons of Water
Okay, you might not be able to carry gallons of water in your backpack, but try your best to make sure that you have sufficient water when traveling. I spent quite a lot just to buy bottles of water!

(3) Towels!
Do stuff in a small towel into your backpack! It really comes in handy when you’re sweating like a pig under the scorching sun!

(4) Caps (or Umbrella! Ella! Ella!)
Well well well. If you don’t want to get too roasted on your face, get a cap. Or a small umbrella!

(5) Sunblock
This is always a must!!!

I really hope I won’t repeat the same ‘mistakes’ in my next trip! So…who wants to go to Sydney and Melbourne with me next year?! Hehehehe…

Oopss…sorry for the late update! Geez, 24 hours a day is never enough! Anyway, day three in Singapore was extremely fun and tiring! We had to be mindful of our timing because we wouldn’t wanna be late for my cousin’s convocation later at 3pm. We started off the day by meeting at Clementi MRT station around 8.30am.

From there, we took a bus to the city centre, and boy, was I excited! We got down near the Raffles Hotel and walked from there onwards. Just so you know, Raffles Hotel was constructed in the year 1887 and is one of the world’s last great 19th century hotels! Wow!

>

And we took this one in the middle of the city…

Next, we stopped at the Memorial To The Civilian War Of The Japanese Occupation. Do you know that the remains of the unidentified war victims are buried directly beneath the monument?! Geez…lucky we were there during broad daylight. Don’t wanna risk running into some ‘friends’ at night…LOL! FYI, this memorial is built to resemble four gigantic chopsticks and these four elements are joined at the base, which represents the unity amongst the four major races in Singapore – Chinese, Indians, Malays & other groups. Cool!

I was getting more and more excited as our next stop was the famed ‘Durian’, meaning, the Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay! Well, you can see for yourself that its spiky structure resembles the King Of Fruits from afar! Best part was, you don’t have to pay anything to get in and on top of the Esplanade building (unless you’re there to attend some sort of art or music / dance show).

Moving on, we visited the iconic Merlion statue. This creature has a lion’s head and a mermaid’s body (well, they call it a fish’s body but I think it’s pretty much similar). There was a smaller one nearby too, and I called it the Merlion Baby. LOL!

Then we head on to the Cavenagh Bridge (constructed in 1870), the only suspension bridge and one of the oldest bridges in Singapore (yes, I was a bit worried that it might collapse! LOL!). We can walk freely on the bridge without having to worry about being run down by a truck or any vehicle because it was a pedestrian bridge! And there’s even a notice that prohibits vehicles weighing beyond 152kg from entering the bridge. And get this, it applies to all cattles and horses! LOL!!!

The Asian Civilisations Museum was nearby, but we didn’t enter the museum (I am never a fan of any museum, except for the wax museums with famous wax figures).

Almost every famous landmark is within walking distance of each other, including this one called Dalhousie Obelisk.

Seriously, Orchad Road wasn’t in my list of places that I wanted to visit! But Amit insisted that I must have at least walked several metres along the famed street where there are scores of shopping malls on both sides of the street, which caters to the rich and the not-so-rich people like me…hehehehe… I didn’t buy anything (I wasn’t there for shopping!) and we had a quick lunch at the foodcourt in Ngee Ann City mall.

After that, we quickly head back towards the room where I stayed in NUS for a quick refreshment and also to meet up my cousin sister and her parents there. It was close to 3pm but she was still there with her mother helping to doll her up with all kinds of make-up stuff! LOL! We had to take a shuttle bus to get to the convocation hall.

My, it was totally different from the ones in uhh…our country…ehem…I can’t help but to compare…my convocation hall was plain simple, and the chairs were cheap chairs whereas this convocation hall in NUS are waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy better! The seats are cushion type (like the ones we sit in the cinema), the atmosphere was like, hey, I’m in an opera theatre, and gosh…those usheres were all professionally trained to guide visitors like us to our seats!

I thought there will be a long boring speech by several old, botak men, but to my surprise…there wasn’t any speech when the ceremony begun!!! Went straight to the point! They announced the names of the graduates, and Liz and I were so nervous because we were gonna capture that proud moment with Amit’s video camera! I think Liz was more nervous than me because she was the one holding the camera! LOL!

And when that defining moment came, I clapped my hands so hard that I thought I crushed my fingers altogether! LOL! After the scroll giving ended, there was only one Chinese dude giving a short speech (about 15 minutes) and the ceremony concluded with ballons and confetti and a small-scaled firework (yes, indoor!) Wow!

After all that photography thing going on, we headed back to my rented room, rested for a while, and then it was time for dinner! Dinner at Boat Quay! Yay!!! But folks, beware, because all of the restaurants along Boat Quay (and I presume the same thing at Clarke and Robinson Quay), have restaurant touts! Not taxi touts but restaurant touts! They were a bunch of misleading folks, explaining the menus and ‘tremendous’ discounts you’ll get from choosing Menu A, B, C and so.

We had our dinner at this restaurant called Seafood At The Pier, where we were misled into thinking that we’ll get a 30% discount. But when the bill arrived, there was NO discount given, and they explained that the 30% discount only applies to live seafood! What the fart!!!! We created a slight ruckus and eventually got a 10% discount. Blardee @$$h0le$!!! Anyway, I was glad to have met one of my ex-collage mates who have been working in Singapore for a few years now. Thank God she was able to join us for dinner.

After the dinner, we took a bus to send my uncle and youngest cousin sister to the bus station for their ride back to Ipoh. After that, I was really exhausted and kept dreaming of the bed in my room, but Amit kept insisting that we should experience the night life in Singapore! LOL! So, with my remaining 10% of energy, we took a bus back to the city centre and went sight night-seeing! LOL!

Then we went to the Suntec City where the largest fountain (Fountain of Wealth) in the world was built. Unfortunately, we did not witness the water fountain display because there is a certain schedule / timing for it. Sigh…anyway, we stepped onto the walkway leading towards the mini water fountain and took turns circling the fountain three times (if memory serves me well), at the same time extending our hands, touching the water as we move along the circle and silently made a wish. Be careful though, coz’ your shoes / sandals will most likely get drenched.

Next stop was The Arts House At The Old Parliament. We just took some pictures there and I was extremely tired and thirsty!

Thank God we finally arrived at the Chijmes where I hastily quench my thirst with a cold, cold drink (I wish it was subzero!). This place is pretty much similar to our own The Curve. Chijmes is like a fine dining place with loads of restaurants and cafes, and you can definitely let your hair down at some of the pubs with loud music! And yes, the restored chapel is definitely a sight to behold! I just love the surroundings!

I think it was past midnight when we left the place. Luckily, we’re on time to catch the last bus back to my place. Otherwise, we would have to pay errr…30% or 50% more for the taxi charges coz their taxi rates goes up after midnight. Ahhh…so that concludes my third day in Singapore. Again, stay tuned for my last day in Singapore!

Day two in Singapore chronicles my visits around the Jurong Bird Park (claimed to be the largest in Asia Pacific and the best in the world) and the much publicized Sentosa Island. Well, the bird park wasn’t even in my list of places that I wanted to visit, but Amit continuously reassured me that I would still have plenty of time to play in Sentosa later in the afternoon. Boy, am I glad to have visited that park! I’ve never seen so many different types of birds before!

Similarly, we took a map of the bird park (it was after all, a 20.2 hectare open-concept park!) so that we don’t get lost and go in circles. It was drizzling at that time, so we went to the indoor Penguin Expedition first. Ah yes, these creatures reminds me of the animated movie Happy Feet.

The interior of the exhibition resembles a ship, with several rows of wooden benches strategically placed in front of the viewing gallery (see-through glass). Can you believe how stupid I was when I thought some of the penguins were fake??? LOL! Well, can’t blame me though. Those King Penguins were not moving at all for a very long time. I’ve been watching them intensely to look for signs of ‘life’ but they stayed so still! Yeah, after a couple more minutes of deep concentration on their movements, finally, some of them moved their heads and beaks!

I thought I was smart enough to bring a bigger bottle of water this time but it still wasn’t enough! I was so tired and thirsty from walking under the sun that I kept thinking about drinking and diving into a massive pool with subzero water temperature! LOL! So we walked and walked and walked. I was so darn tempted to hop on the air-conditioned panorail that circles around the entire park. But then again, it wouldn’t be as enjoyable (and exhausting) as walking. And I took pictures with caution too because I wasn’t sure how much space my camera’s memory card can take. Afterall, I was saving it for my Kodak moments in Sentosa!

Oooohh…I love waterfalls! Though this Waterfall Aviary was a man-made one, but who cares as long as I see water gushing down from the top! As we walked into this aviary, I noticed there were mists that seems to exhale from the lush greenery wall along the shaded paths. My, my, my. Guess what? Those mists…were indeed man-made! LOL! How clever of them to make the aviary a truly enriching forest experience!

Oh my freakin’ lembu, can you also believe that there are 110 species of parrots?!!! I’ve always thought that parrots are…well, parrots! Didn’t know there are so many kinds of them till I visited the Parrot Paradise. Phew! And some of the parrots in the cage were trained to speak simple words like ‘Hello’ and ‘Good morning’ (there was a notice board that tells you what kind words they can speak). Just imagine how excited and childish I was when I repeatedly said “Hello” and expect them to reply, well, only one did! LOL! I guess the others were too busy eating or simply not in the mood to ‘speak’.

Here’s how one of the mini notice boards look like when you stop at each different parrot’s cage.

Oh, do remember to check out the World Of Darkness. It houses different types of owls. Too bad we were not allowed to take pictures. I’ve never seen such a huge owl in my life! Due to time constraints and depleting energy, I’ve decided to skip Lory Loft, which is the world’s largest walk-in lory flight aviary…sigh…

Finally, the highlight of the birdie visit was…the Birds & Buddies show at the Pools Amphitheatre. I enjoyed this show tremendously, particularly where the parrot sing Rasa Sayang, one Chinese song, and happy birthday! I cannot stop laughing because the way the parrot sings was truly high-pitched! Abso-freakin-lutely unbelievable!!! Oh, we’re also warned not to touch the birds that will fly so low over our heads while performing some tricks. Thank God none of the birdies left some unwanted ‘souvenir’ over our heads. LOL!

Alrighty!!! It was time to have loads of fun at Sentosa! We had a quick lunch at Im Seah foodcourt before going to the counter in Harbour Front Tower Two to purchase two tickets for a cable car ride to Sentosa. I could barely contain my excitement as we took the lift to Level 15 and waited for our turn. There were so many other tourists queuing ahead of us. When the wait was finally over, we hopped into the cable car along with three other Australian tourists.

It took less than 10 minutes to arrive (I was hoping that it’ll be longer!). Again, like in the Zoo, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park, we took a map of Sentosa Island so that we won’t get lost.

I was so thrilled and didn’t know where to begin! Although we don’t have to pay the ticket entrance into Sentosa Island, but beware though, coz’ you still gotta pay for gaining entry into several places of interests around Sentosa, like this one – Images Of Singapore.

Since I was on a pretty tight budget, I’ve skipped a few places that I wanted to see and play, such as the Flying Trapeze, Sentosa 4D Magix and Sentosa Cineblast. We head on to The Merlion Walk, and there was a huge replica of the Merlion (and no, this one doesn’t spit water out of its mouth!). In fact, you can even go inside the Merlion and climb all the way up to its head and view the Sentosa Island from above!

Yes, you would have to pay to gain entry into the Merlion. After we bought the tickets, we were given one coin each for a lucky surprise after we made our exit later on (it was a just a plastic fan). So, we went into the dimly lit mini ‘exhibition’ (thank God it’s air-conditioned!), where we get to see some craftings of the mythical creatures on the wall. Before we could go up, we had to watch a short animated show on how Singapore was founded and how the Merlion creature came about. I think it was a 5-minute show. As soon as the show ended, the doors were opened for us to continue our journey way up. But first, we had to drop the coins that were given earlier into the any of the Merlion’s mouth.

Then we took a small elevator up to the Merlion’s mouth! Yeap, we can see some nice views from here. There was a staff there on duty with a camera who took a picture of us (I’ll tell you why later on). After that, we climbed a flight of narrow stairs until we reached at the top of the Merlion’s head!

In order to exit the Merlion, we had to pass through the souvenir shop (how clever of them to design it that way!). We stopped halfway through when one of the staff at the counter hollered at us to come over. Now, remember the photo that one of them took for us at the Merlion’s mouth? Well, they’ve converted it into a bigger photo and edited the picture which looks like this:

And yes, you gotta pay a hefty sum for it…which I did! LOL! Next stop was the Sentosa Luge & Skyride! My heart was beating with so much excitement that I almost find it difficult to breathe! I’ve been dying to get onto the Luge! It’s like half go-kart and half toboggan! I should have taken some pictures discreetly (we were not allowed to take photographs but I saw some other tourists doing it! Dammit!)

We bought the tickets, got to the Luge’s area, chose the right helmet size, head on to the racing track, and listen to the instruction on how to use the Luge. Well, it was pretty simple. Release the handle bars and the luge will move forward, pull back the handle bars, and the luge will slow down.

Yes, it was all controlled by the handle bars! I had a helluva time screaming all the way down and I sped past everyone else, fortunately, arriving in one piece at the end of the track! LOL! But I didn’t manage to buy the pictures taken from the hidden cameras along the race track and from a huge camera at the end of the track because I was immediately whisked away by Amit to the Skyride. Anyway, if you’re wondering how the Luge looks like, here’s a few samples from the Sentosa website: http://www.sentosa.com.sg/explore_sentosa/attractions/gallery_luge/gallery.html

The difference between the cable car and skyride is…well, it’s an enclosed cubicle in a cable car whereas the skyride is an open ride where you can see your feet dangling above the ground! I think the ride was about 10 minutes. There was also a notice informing us to smile at the camera at Tower 2. And yes we did!

Remember the camera at Tower 2? Well, if you want that photo, you gotta pay for it when you get off the ride and choose from the counter. Since I’ve missed the Luge, I wouldn’t want to miss this one!

Next stop was the Fort Siloso. My feet was aching so bad that we had to take a shuttle bus (it’s free) to Siloso. Yes, there were the yellow line bus, blue line bus, and red line bus that carries visitors from one point to another within the island. It used to be a free entrance to Fort Siloso…but now we gotta pay before we could get in. This Fort Siloso is pretty much similar to our very own A Famosa fort in Malacca.

Coz’ I was extremely tired from intense walking since day one in Singapore, I suffered a mild cramp near my kidney at that time and couldn’t continue climbing my way up the hill. I think only God knows how many litres of water I had consumed since day one! LOL!

Our next target was the Underwater World. Unfortunately, the Dolphin Lagoon was closed when we bought our ticket entry (both the Underwater World and Dolphin Lagoon was under one ticket). Nevermind. I’ll be coming to Singapore for a second trip in the near future, and yes I’ll definitely hit Sentosa again! I was really amazed at the number of fishes inside the transparent water tunnel, and saw some really huge and weird fishies too!

And check out this Saw Shark! He landed right above my head at the tunnel (by the way, you could step onto the moving travellator that takes you around the tunnel and get off it once you spotted something fishy…LOL! Everything’s fishy!).

How about some crappy crab experience?

Next destination: The Siloso Beach! Oooooohhhh yessss!! I’ma bitch beach bum! There are actually two other beaches in Sentosa which I did not have the time nor the energy to go – the Palawan beach and the Tanjong beach. Anyway, I was very much satisfied to have at least stepped onto one of Sentosa’s famous beaches!

Though it was more than 3 months since my mini surgery at the bottom of my right foot, but I still fear of contracting infection if I took off my shoes and step onto the sandy beach. Well, you’ll never know whether there are any microscopic holes at my foot! Better be safe than sorry, so, I ended up walking around with my Nike shoes. LOL!

Our final destination and a MUST-WATCH event while you’re at Sentosa was…the Songs of The Sea show!!! I could not have forgiven myself had I miss this mind-blowing show! I think my jaw was dropped open during the entire display of spell binding laser beams, water jets and other dramatic effects that made you wanna watch the show over and over again! We queued for almost 20 minutes before we were allowed to enter the podium, capable of seating 2,500 people! Yes, you guess it right, we gotta pay for the tickets but it was worth every blardee cent of it!!!

Unfortunately, I do not have a very high-tech camera to take wonderful pictures at night, hence, no photos for this but you could always check it out at this site: http://www.sentosa.com.sg/explore_sentosa/attractions/songs_of_the_sea.html

Oh, I have some videos courtesy of Amit’s video camera, but I’ve yet to get a copy of it. Will upload it once I have it, and you’ll know why I was completely blown away with the fantastic show! ;D Alright, time to wrap things up for now! Day three in Singapore will continue next week! So stay tuned!

Geez…I must have abandoned my blog for quite some time! My apologies, people! Been extremely busy with work and planning for my trip to Singapore for the past few weeks! Now that I am back, I’ll update you folks on my enjoyable and tiring trip in the lion city which began two Sundays ago!

I was there for a good four days and three nights. Trust me when I say it is still not enough to cover the entire Singapore! I think I spent about MYR1,500 on this trip that includes accomodation (at my cousin’s university guest room for only SGD90 per night!), food, fun-tertainment, a new SIM card (apparently, my mobile had some problems in switching to automatic roaming mode, hence, I was unable to call or receive calls) and a two-way bus ticket.

Upon arrival, my cousin took me to the NUS where I checked into the room and refreshed myself before meeting one of the world’s greatest friends, Mr. Amit! Ah yes, he has been extremely helpful, kind and generous, and has made my trip to Singapore an unforgettable one! It’s like he is the dictionary of Singapore! He knew almost every bus number that goes to which place, where the best tourist spots are, what to do and what not to do, etc.

So, we went to the zoo immediately and had a quick bite within the zoo compound. By the way, everything inside the zoo was sold twice the normal price found elsewhere! I have not been to zoo since I was uhm…9 or 10 years old? Since the zoo and the night safari in Singapore are highly recommended, I definitely must pay these places a visit! (and you should too!)

I was so blardee thrilled till I almost trampled a few kids in front of me while entering the zoo! LOL! Guess I was more excited than them! We were given a map of the zoo so that we won’t lose track of what places we’ve been to. Very useful indeed.

Now this was one really weird animal! I’ve forgotten its name, but take a very close look at this photo and try your best locating his…eyes!

Who says you need to fly all over to Australia to catch a glimpse of kangaroos? They’ve got these cute creatures here too!

How about checking out a nice furry red butt? (not me! LOL!)

Then we came into this area where monkeys were allowed to roam freely! Yes, FREELY! We managed to get a few shots of the orang utan swinging his way from the top of the trees all the way to the bottom!

If you ever wonder how large an ape’s palm can grow, well, this picture will give you a better idea…

We continued walking, walking, walking. Snapping, snapping, snapping. Walking. Snapping. Walking. Snapping.

But wait! There’s more!

<* Perrinator gasps in shock! *>

The following pictures show one human being (of female species) whose face resembles the animals in it…

Hmm…that doesn’t look right, does it? LOL! Regardless of which creature she resembles, she’s gonna get married this December and yes, y’all are invited to attend her church wedding ceremony!!!

We all know that bats hang upside down, right? Here’s how it sleeps or eats (yes it was daytime!):

Now, let’s think for a minute. How do they pee?

<* Perrinator giggles like a kid *>

This is how they do it! By hanging the ‘right’ way!

When we came to the reptile area, I can feel as if my blood turned cold and my hair stood straight! I kept pulling Amit away from that area. But then, my eye balls almost popped out when I read a sign hanging on an enclosed door that said these reptiles were free to roam and that we should be careful not to step on it!!! Amit almost managed to drag me into that enclosed area with snakies and other reptiles in it! Of course he failed, because I used my super turbo babirusa power and exert all my energy to pull him back towards the opposite direction! LOL!

I cannot remember how many bottles of water we had gulped down! It was really tiring to walk around the entire zoo under the sunny but cooling weather! I must have lost 0.1kg of sweat that time! LOL! We took approximately 2 and a half hour to cover the entire zoo ground (about 28 hectars!) without hopping on the tram. People, please do not get on the tram. You won’t see much and get to experience the thrill of finding your own way around the zoo and getting up close and personal with some animals that roam freely around.

Before proceeding to the Night Safari (which was just next to the Zoo), we managed to get ourselves some space on the bench at the Splash Amphitheatre to watch the intelligent seal, Carlos, perform. Note that it is named ‘Splash’ because the benches near the huge tank of water will get splashed by Carlos when he performs the trick.

Yes, the audiences sitting there will get drenched! If you look at the floor near the bench, there is a ‘warning’ which tells the audiences that those row of benches will get splashed. Young little ones squealed in excitement whenever Carlos swam by and did his trick, which splashed lots of water towards the splash zone! If you do not want to get wet or risk getting your camera spoilt, do not sit at the splash zone okay!

Oooo…there was an eye-candy moment…ah yes, in the form of a cute volunteer from Lebanon!

After having a splashing good time, we went out of the zoo and refreshed ourselves in the toilet. I thought the toilets would be dirty and stinky (I guess I was thinking of the standard Malaysian public toilet) but to my surprise…it was indeed clean!

Since we had slightly more than an hour to kill before the Night Safari opens at 7pm, we took a bus to a nearby place for dinner. Well, like I said earlier, everything sold within the zoo vicinity costs double the usual price!

We got back to the Night Safari about 10 minutes before 7pm, just in time for the fiery performance by the tribal entertainers!

Ah yes, these tribal dance show include acrobatic acts, blowpipe demonstration and the one performance that drew the Ooohs and Aaahs from the audience was the fire-eating display! Since we were both standing right in front of the performance stage, we can smell the strong kerosene even before the show begins! And when these guys spit fire from their mouths, we could feel the heat blowing past our faces! Wow!

After the spectacular show ended, we proceed with our dark adventure into the Night Safari! Gosh! It was really spooky because all of the trails were dimly lit! But this spookiness adds to the thrill of venturing in the dark and definitely gives you an adrenaline rush!

You wouldn’t know what creature may suddenly dashed towards you from those thick bushes, or something might creep over your shoulder or fly above your head! I shierked every now and then whenever I heard sounds coming from every direction! I couldn’t take pictures because we were prohibited from using our flash from the cameras. It will either cause the animals to react violently or behave in a manner that you wish you never use the flash in the first place!

Yes, again we walked on foot without getting on the tram. It was definitely more exciting and yes, very very tiring indeed! Oh, and there was a suspended bridge too! When I stepped onto the bridege walkway, Amit purposely stomped and shook the entire bridge! Almost scared shitless as it swayed, I looked down at the suspended bridge and familiar scenes from the Jurassic Park movie came flashing into my mind over and over again, thinking that the ferocious T-Rex head will suddenly pop out among the trees and welcome me into its mouth! Gosh!!!

Another show that you should not miss if you ever go to Singapore is the Creatures Of The Night Show! We queued for almost an hour for the gate to open for this show! It was definitely worth the effort because I really did enjoy tremendously. Again, we were not permitted to take pictures with flash. The show was hosted by a very, very, very funny Indian lady with a pair of huge round eye balls! LOL! All of the audience were completely thrilled at her jokes. I think we all laughed almost non stop for half an hour!

Since Amit have been to the Zoo and Night Safari like a million times, he knew exactly where to choose a seat because there was a surprise to it…we sat on the second (or was it third?) row from the stage. When I looked up, there was a thick rope dangling just above my head. I gave a mean look at Amit and said “If there’s a reptile come gliding down the rope over my head, I’ll kill you!”

Instead, some really cute animals walked on the rope during the show, and hopped onto their trainers’ shoulder. Then…came the surprise (or should I say SHOCK?) that I never expected…The host suddenly announced that there was a loose animal in the show…Oh my freakin lembu!!! When she told us to look under our seats, I immediately lifted my feet off the ground while frantically looking for something furry.

A guy who sat a few rows above us suddenly roared screamed at the top of his lungs! His neighbours also screamed along with him. I thought, “Phew, whatever it was, it was at his place” But to my absolute horror, I saw a few trainers coming towards our bench, and I caught Amit giving me that evil grin. Fear set in pretty fast, and I took several steps back. Amit told me to look at the metal compartment just below our seats and I moved backwards even further.

Lo and behold, when the trainers unlocked the compartment, I saw a very fat yellow python in it!!! I screamed and ran away so fast till Amit couldn’t see where I was! LOL! I wasn’t sure how fast I ran, but it must have been fast enough coz the next thing I knew, I was standing a few rows above my seat and an Indian tourist next to me asked “Excuse, do you know what was it?” I stammered throughout my sentence “It…it it…it was a…a…aaa…python!”

Thank you Amit, for such a terrifying experience!!! By the time the show ended, I almost ran out of steam and wanted to just sleep on the bench! I was so blardee tired!!! It was past midnight when I finally reached NUS. Thank God for my Nike shoes! My feet (especially my right one) would have suffered tremendously if it weren’t for the fully cushioned shoes! Day Two in Singapore continues next week! Stay tuned folks!

PS: For more pictures, view it from my Facebook ;D

Ah yes…with the blardee rise in fuel prices everywhere, most of us would resort to other measures of coping with this money-sucking phenomenon (well, not to the extreme of not going out at all to the mall when there’s a mega sale or lock youself up at home during the weekends!) I’ve got this forwarded email message from a friend of mine about filling up your car’s tank in a more efficient way. Not so sure whether it works, but hey, no harm following these smart tactics, eh?

This is a message related to filling petrol: I don’t know what you guys are paying for petrol … but here in Durban, we are also paying high for petrol, up to 47.35 per litre of petrol. But my line of work is in a petroleum company for about 40 years, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every litre of petrol. Here at the Marini Hike pipeline, where I work in Durban, we delivery about 4 million litres of petroleum in a 24 hrs period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel, the next day is jet fuel, and petrol, LRP and Unleaded. We have 34 petroleum storage tanks here with a total capacity 16,800,000 litres.

Tip #1
Only buy or fill up your cars or bike in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all petrol station have their petrol storage tanks buries below ground. The colder the ground, the denser the fuel, when it gets warmer, petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your litre is not exactly a litre of petrol. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum product play an important role. A one degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this petroleum business. But the petrol station do not have temperature compensation at the petrol pumps.

Tip #2
When you are filling up petrol, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look, you will see that the trigger has three stages, low, middle and high. In slow mode, you should be pumping petrol on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapours that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the petrol pump have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your petrol tank becomes vapour. Those vapours are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you are getting less worth for your money.

Tip #3
One of the most important tips is to fill up petrol when your tank is half full. The reason for this is, the more petrol you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine. Petroleum storage tanks have an internal floating roof, this roof serves as zero clearance between the petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike petrol station, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated, so that every litre is actually the exact amount.

Tip #4
Another reminder, if there is a fuel truck pumping into the petrol storage tanks, then you stop to buy, do not fill up. Most likely the petrol is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom of the petrol storage tank. Hope this will help you get the maximum value for your money. Please share this information with others! Lets share information and benefit all, for the better of mankind.