Singapore, singapore!

First of all, apologies to everyone for being such a delinquent blogger. I noticed my Palawan post (see next post) was gathering cobwebs already while my Singaporean mishaps were as of yet unchronicled. Really busy lately has been my perpertual excuse, but tonight, I write uninhibited once again... (yeah yeah, i still have the "To be continued" line at the end of each post. Ugh)

I went to a mandatory 4-day training class in singapore last week, and with me feeling the need for a break, I decided to extend my stay there by a weekend (and the monday) before the training.
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Day One

I bunked in that Saturday with longtime partner-in-crime Lifebunny (of Its Raining Men fame) in his spacious Flat at Parc Oasis.

See some of our misadventures (through his eyes) here.

I got there via the MRT within Changi airport. Thats right. The MRT INSIDE CHANGI AIRPORT. I've been to Singapore a few times before and never noticed it. Actually, it was because not too many people seemed to use it to get out of the airport. It was located in a dimly lit floor with so few people wandering around it made me wonder if I was unconsciously sneaking into yet another restricted area.

Anyway, after a horrendously delayed flight that caused me to miss most of what I planned to do the first afternoon, asickening airline meal that made me more hungry than satiated, and a long MRT ride where I gave up my seat to an old Singaporean lady, Lifebunny easily convinced me to relax have dinner at Hooters Singapore (for those unfamiliar with this place, its a popular American sports bar with well-endowed waitresses in halter tops and short skirts, which has absolutely nothing to do with why big rowdy crowds gather there or why we chose that particular sports bar)

On the way, like the typical Pinoys out of their country, we started bashing the local culture (see his version here) or talking about how Pinoys could easily get around Singapore's strict laws and security (case in point: The MRT inside Changi could be the perfect smugglers route for unsavory characters who might want to steal airline luggage or how easy it would be to sneak into the MRT without a card.)

One of the funniest things we discussed was how they pronounce FILM (as in movie) as FLIM. Once, lifebunny was asked by his colleagues if he wanted to watch a FLIM and he was like "WTF is a FLIM?" It took him a while to figure out that it really meant "FILM".

Funny thing is, he wrote FILM down on a piece of paper and asked a local to read it. "FILM" the aforementioned local said. Apparently they read it as FILM, but use it as FLIM in their daily life. Hehe wonder if they got MLIK?

We also talked about how there were so much more pretty girls in Manila than in singapore. The difference mainly is that in singapore (overall) girls tend to dress better and have slimmer and nicer bodies (Hipon anyone?). Otherwise, a popular joke goes "What do you call a
pretty girl in Singapore? A tourist." Sigh. I suddenly missed manila.

Disclaimer: There ARE pretty girls in singapore. I met some of them in my trip hehe

Singaporeans pronounce Hooters as Hooties, he explained (later on I found out it was a joke.) But at the back of my mind I was thinking (with great disappointment) they might be implying small hooters.

Anyway, we got to Clarke Quay (where the aforementioned hooters was located) before any more Singaporeans died of a thousand verbal stillettos on their backs. Clarke Quay at that time was effectively dead. And it was 10:30 pm on a Saturday night. The only obvious activity in the area were foreigners walking around and the "Reverse Bungee" ride where you creep into the
rubber end of giant-sized "Tirador" and get whisked up and down at full Tirador speed. Hooters was the only place that had people coming and going in though, so we stuck with our plan.

I was right. Mini hooties. But then, we didnt go there for the girls, we went for the beer, Lifebunny reminded me again. As a background, the payment for staying in his flat was a couple of beers each night.

We scanned the menu and ended up ordering the 20-piece chicken wings package (the only stuff I could afford without slitting my wrists) and a bucket of Coronas. Beer here was S$10 a bottle... roughly 330 pesos (around 10-20 times more expensive than in manila). We toasted to more Beer Money (This is the most culturally accurate way of computing how much money you're making: How much beer can you buy with your monthly salary? Apparently in Manila, I make more Beer Money than he does in Singapore hehe) for all of us.

The discussion went from work to life, to the reasons why Lifebunny left Manila to go to singapore. I lamented about the number of friends that keep migrating out of Manila and a lot of other things. We toasted to making more money and getting better jobs.

We talked about how we got the jobs we wanted right after graduation even though we were the worst slackers in our block (so to speak hehe. We had the tendency to be the Bad Influences on our studious friends, consistently advocating cut classes and never took notes in class) and about college friends who were at the top of their class, but didnt get the breaks and who are now terribly disappointed with the real world.

We toasted to Slackers and Naturally Gifted people like us who never set ourselves up for a letdown in the real world.

Well, except for our Hooters expectations. There was a sort-of-show where some of the scantily clad waitressess did hula hoops in front of some drunken patrons (meaning- not us)... not exactly as entertaining as you might expect. And the last call for drinks as only 1:30 am! Talk about boring. Thus ends the forced early night back to Chateau Lifebunny...

To be continued...