Sister Act in Singapore

Gosh, I am so behind with my travel posts. I'd like to think it is because I travel too often but it really is because I am so not loyal in blogging.

I've just recently been engrossed in War Films and War history, which I feel is quite questionable on the time spent because I am so forgetful. Tragic because history entices me deeply but my memory is just shit.

I'm going to backtrack a little to May when I was in Singapore. So I was in Singapore for a week, with the first few days for work and then I extended my stay alone for a few more days.
So what I did was after work was over, I moved from Mariott at Tang Plaza in Orchard to Hotel G, a boutique hotel in Middle Road, which is near Bugis. I've never stayed in that hotel before but reviews were good and it was the cheapest by the time my work trip was confirmed.

The Hotel wasn't difficult to find. It was definitely a change from the high-ceiling, posh hotel of Mariott but it was good enough for me, and it was frankly a boutique hotel for half the price. The lobby for check-in is on a higher floor so you have to enter from the bar downstairs.

The room was small. I want to say quaint but I think I use the word way too often. So this is the bed and there is a luggage-shaped hole below it for your luggage. There is also other stuff like the safe (as above), hair dryer, water heating and....

USB ports! I was very bothered that Mariott didn't have ANY USB ports (old hotel) so technology kept failing me throughout my days there. Hotel G also provides you with a phone to use but I didn't use it, because I already had a M1 Tourist line.

It is safe to say I fully utilised the USB ports almost all the time I stayed there. I brought along two phones and two portable chargers, haha. When you travel alone, it is a true nightmare to have your phone dying on you.. I practically lived on Google Maps and Google search.

The toilet was small but fine, and I kind of broke the shower, so I was really glad when I returned the next day, room keeping fixed it.

So anyway, when my trip was confirmed, I bought my tickets for Sister Act the Musical. I was so thrilled when I saw it was on when I was there!

 It was in the MBS Theatre and it was harder to find than I'd liked. I was so worried I would be late! But thankfully the signs in MBS helped! The theatre was smaller than the one in Esplanade which I last went to for Les Mis.

 my seat was shit because I bought the cheapest option :P

 I enjoyed the musical a lot, it had the same plot as the movie with Whoopi Goldberg but the songs were all different and new. I really liked "Take me to Heaven", it was really catchy. The musical was very colorful and fun!

After the musical, I took the MRT back to Bugis to go back to the hotel. I take some pride in being able to find my way around the MRT because I don't normally look at directions when my BF is around.. There was one night I took the MRT from Ayer Teluk to Rochor and walked back to the hotel at midnight.. alone :-|

I don't think I am in a rush to do that again.

Was in Bugis Junction when I came across this Thai Milk Tea joint:

 I love Thai Milk Tea! I was pleasantly surprised because this one allowed adjustment to the sugar level. :-)

When I was in Sg alone, I was really bored and didn't know where else to go. I guess traveling alone has its ups and downs. Earlier the day of Sister Act, I took a Grab all the way to IMM, an outlet mall all the way in Jurong East Hahaha. It was a big mall with 60 outlet stores ranging from Charles and Keith to electronic stores. I only came out with a steal buy from C&K and a pair of Hush Puppies for my mum. Interesting place you can check out if you want a cheaper option for shopping in expensive Singapore!

xx

Musings of the National Museum of Singapore

On one of my free days in Singapore, I allocated a visit to the National Museum of Singapore!

I am glad I did because the Museum was so well-kept and had so many interesting things to see and learn. I advise you to put aside a couple of hours to fully be able to absorb as much as you can.

I personally spent around 3-4 hours there and it was great because I was alone and had nowhere to be.

The National Museum of Singapore was pretty near my hotel, but I took a Grab because I ventured out to Haji Lane earlier that morning for brunch.

 The Museum has a beautiful architecture and is two-floors high

Excuse the tissue lol

Tickets are S$15 for non-Singaporeans for a one-day admission

I started off with the Gallery on Level 1 at the Singapore History Gallery. The Singapore History Gallery section takes you through the many stages of the making of modern-day Singapore from Singapura, a Crown Colony, Syonan-To, to finally, Singapore.

I didn't take many photos but if you want an interactive read on the Museum, you can read here.

Not sure if I am morbid or simply curious and history-indulgent, but the World War 2 always intrigues me, so I spent the most of my curiosity and attention in the Syonan-To section which was about the Japanese Occupation in Singapore from 1942 to 1945.

Singapore was renamed to Syonan-To (Japanese for Light of the South) in 1942 when the British surrendered and the Japanese took over. They only left in 1945 when they surrendered to the Allies.

There were lots of 'listening devices' in the Museum recorded by real life individuals (alive and not). This one above had recordings of real people back during the early days of the Japanese Occupation when Singaporeans slowly and quickly realized things were changing, when they were not officially informed about the British surrender yet..

This was towards the end of the Gallery, with Singapore already well, Singapore and there is a video of Lee Kuan Yew giving a speech about the un-merging of Singapore and Malaysia. It was slightly unnerving to see him talk about Malaysia in not the best light, but I do respect personal opinions.

After I was done with that part of the Museum, I advanced to Level 2, the Glass Rotunda: Story of the Forest.

Drawing inspiration from the National Museum of Singapore’s prized William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings, Story of the Forest brings to life 69 drawings from the collection within the museum’s Glass Rotunda. A selection of these drawings are on display in the Desire and Danger exhibition at the Goh Seng Choo Gallery, which explores the intriguing relationship between man and nature. 

This immersive installation by internationally renowned art collective teamLab is divided into three key experiences, beginning with the Upper Rotunda, followed by The Passage and ending at the Lower Rotunda.

I remembered it to be really trippy because there were psychedelic lights everywhere and me getting lost because you had to enter through black curtains.

On Level 2, there were also other galleries like the Growing Up Gallery, which walked through the 1950s and 1960s of Singapore; through the growing up in Singapore then during the kampung times and how they went about.

There was also the Voices of Singapore Gallery which showcased Singapore as a cultural entity and how they grew not only politically and economically but also through music, performances, television and theatre as a form of self-expression in the 1970s and 1980s.

Also, there is an entire gallery of really old trees in Singapore. Lol.

Thanks for the fab time, National Museum of Singapore! I definitely recommend!

Sunny Singapore

 Hi! I recently just got back from an impromptu trip to Singapore for work, but this is the only work photo I will upload :P

Was there for CommunicAsia and it was really interesting! Met so many different people and saw so many cool stuff. It was tiring but super fun.

I was there for a week, and the remaining 4 days I was on my own and free to explore Singapore. I think the coolest thing I did was to visit the National Museum of Singapore. I've been wanting to for a while so I'm pleased to satisfy that urge, lol but I think I will dedicate that post for another day, with this one for one of my favorite things in life... Food.... Hahaha. #yup

We went for Chili Crab one of the nights (because- Singapore!!)  and with my friend's recommendation, we went to Toa Payoh (first time leh!) to a seafood restaurant called Mellben Seafood. We made reservations online but ended up late because I was caught by Minus417 in ION (long story short, the sales people refused to let me leave) but it was OK because it wasn't that full and we could make reservations on the spot/ The restaurant is two-storey, with the top floor air-conditioned.

 Black pepper crab

 Chili Crab

Dinner was yummy and I really enjoyed it! I am super anal about using my hands to eat (especially outdoors) but it was so good so I went for it :P

 On my first day being alone, I walked to Far East Plaza which was only two blocks from my hotel in Orchard (Marriott at Tang Plaza) and had the Hainanese Chicken Rice on the third floor, which I think is one of my BF's first ever loves hahaha. So good! I ordered the chicken rice and salted vegetable w duck soup.

Later that afternoon, I met up with Bel, a good friend of mine back from uni years. She is now an air stewardess from Singapore Airlines so I was lucky enough to catch her when she was in Singapore. I remember she just arrived from Paris the morning before and was flying off again to Brisbane the day after.

We met at Bali Lane, to have brunch at Stateland Cafe!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the cafe. It was a fusion cafe; a fusion of western and Asian.

 My Mentaiko Tiger Prawn Pasta

 Bel's Hainanese Chicken Rice Risotto =O If I hadn't just have chicken rice that morning, I totally would've gone for this. it was so interesting!!

with my beautiful friend, thanks for lunch and a great conversation to learn how much we've both grown since 10 years ago. good Lord are we old.

That evening, I met up with Daphne, an ex classmate who now lives in Sg for dinner. It was the first time I sat on a public bus in Singapore, super suaku:

 LOL

LOL sorry. I mean I have been on the MRT several times but the bus is a whole new thing.

After much contemplation and indecisiveness, we went to Teluk Ayer for Korean fried chicken. I've never been to Teluk Ayer so once again, I was so in love with the place and how quirky it was! (I was in Ann Siang Road a couple of days before and fell absolutely in love with the street's old-school charm too! These two streets are very near each other).

Teluk Ayer was a street of loads of Korean food and Wedding photo studios.

After that we met up with Cheryl for wine :)

I made the tiny mistake of meeting all my friends in one day so the next few days I was alone in Singapore!!! I didn't really know what to do and where to go because I didn't want to go shopping (I tried anyway).

The next morning of being officially alone, I went to Haji Lane to find a cafe but only to get there to a full house. So I strolled down and decided to get myself an $8.50 cuppa latte:

 I was so utterly amused with myself the entire time because I couldn't get over me ordering it, and me actually ordering it with my own selfie. Damn narcissistic but so funny. The cafe is called Selfie Coffee and it was operated by two Thai women. And yep, the coffee cost $8.50 and was nothing else special but really good for laughs.

No shame... Hahahaha

It got a bit creepy after I started drinking it. Looked like my face just caved in.

The next day, I plotted one of the nearest cafes to my hotel (by then I already moved to a diff hotel in Bugis) and was thankfully able to find it after walking so much (and even overshooting) to seats! I guess it was also because I got there before lunchtime. The cafe was called Artistry and it was a nice place with lots of Hong Kong scenes on the wall. Food was good but I felt the staff wasn't the friendliest bunch of people.

 Brunch and coffee! Food was ok, the coffee was excellent!

Seated outside the cafe waiting for my Grab... I tried to walk as much as I could because Grab prices are high in Sg even for the shortest of distances. Here I was taking a Grab because I was going to IMM all the way in Jurong East Hahaha. IMM is an outlet mall. I spent a few hrs there but didn't buy much because 1) I wasn't in SG for shopping 2) I had a Sister Act Musical later that evening. I know, why go to an outlet mall if you're not here to shop? Like I said I legit didn't know where to go anymore and what to do... I was kinda tired of Orchard and Bugis...

Singapore #TelcoTalk

I've been to Singapore 4 times over the past 2 years and have been purchasing a local SIM each visit.
I've tried Singtel, Starhub and M1. There is no denying that Singtel is Singapore's biggest telco and no doubt has the widest coverage and best internet experience. I remember having an M1 SIM and it could not upload due to congestion (I was at USS) while my boyfriend, who was on Singtel, had INSTANT upload.

I usually get the SIMs at Changi airport, right after arrival.

Singtel used to have a $15 Hi! Tourist SIM offer that had up to 100GB local data, 500 minutes local calls and 100 local SMSes valid for 5 days, which I managed to get on my visit late November 2015 to catch Elton John live in concert.

They have since stopped that offer, and is now apparently offering the same but with 4gb of data only. However, I could not find any such offers in the airport. Every telco seemed to only offer a $30+ Tourist SIM when I was there a week ago (21st Jul- 25th Jul).

Hence, I bought a Starhub Prepaid Internet SIM which only offered data for 5 days. It had up to 2GB per day allowance which I did not exceed daily.

The SIM only offers data, and absolutely no voice or SMS. However, Whatsapp conveniently allows in-app calls now so we actually utilized that aplenty (especially when I am lost in the huge Malls of Singapore LOL). 

Coverage was fair, albeit slightly slower than my previous experiences with Singtel. Singtel speeds is really smooth- you can click on a Snapchat video and it loads in a second.

My boyfriend and his mum purchased Starhub SIMs too. They are usually Singtel regulars but the time we were in Sg, the booths selling Singtel SIMs were closed for renovation, and only Starhub was available to us. They purchased a different SIM from mine:

Pretty good deal, except:

Note:

• #Per Second Billing applies. Per Second rates are rounded up to two decimal points.
• $8 SIM gets you up to 99 mins of talktime; or 160 Local SMS; or 1GB of data. $15 SIM gets you up to 185 minutes of talktime; or 300 Local SMS; or 2.2GB of data. These numbers are for indicative purposes only. Your prepaid value can be used on talktime, SMS and data, depending on your preferred usage.
• Directory Enquiry - Calls to Service 100 charged at 70¢ per call, plus Local Prepaid call charges.
• International Calls - Local Prepaid call charges plus prevailing IDD charges (StarHub IDD 008 / 018).
• 30¢ per MMS (less than 30KB) / 80¢ per MMS (30KB and more*).
• **What you get is based on the assumption that all of the credits are used solely on that service.
• * Via activation of Prepaid Mobile Data plan
• 100GB local data can only be used on 3G network
• 4G Booster can be activated via *123*3*4*1# after the expiry of 100GB data 

The 100GB is on their 3G network, not 4G and is only valid for 5 days. That was OK for us as we were only there for 5 days but my BF kept complaining about the lack of speed. Mine was on 4G so I did not really feel that pinch.

Personally, I would still opt for Singtel for the coverage and speeds, but it was not convenient and their SIMs were not readily available for purchase.

My first airbnb experience

My first airbnb experience!

My first airbnb experience was in Singapore when we went to catch Elton John live in concert last November. Hotels are ridiculously sky-rocket expensive, particularly those down Orchard Road. They go at least $220/night. We stayed at National Inn Express previously at around $180/night but I heard they've increased their prices since.

So anyway, we decided to opt for airbnb because it was cheaper and truth to be told- when my bf and I travel, we are both practically never in the room because we are too busy out and about. We only use the room to shower and sleep, and we're normally gone by 9am every morning and back at 10pm earliest. So it is usually not the wisest option to choose a swanky hotel.

I went on airbnb and found a couple of nice places, I always look for the ones with good reviews and ratings. I found one which was in Orchard Road, at one of the upper class condominium areas. I initially thought we booked the entire apartment but when we arrived, the host, who greeted us at the entrance of the condo, informed us that the apartment is no longer for rent due to some internal building law. But that didn't really bother us.

The host, Landy, was a very friendly person and he gave us a lot of recommendations for food in Singapore. He even shared a glass of wine with us, he runs a vineyard somewhere in Europe. 

The condominium and the area was very safe because it is like an "Upper East Side" and the condos there all have 24 hour security guards. We could walk to ION in less than 10min, which we did the first couple of days, and then after that we opted for taxis using the myTaxi app which was really convenient. Walking wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't so hot!

Nice living room of our airbnb place

We slept in the room in the middle

Our room!

It was tiny but it really didn't bother us. We also had a washroom to ourselves.

The stay included breakfast as well, but we as adventurous souls did not utilize the breakfast because we loved food hunting in Singapore. Landy has a helper who was always very keen to help us, we tipped her before we left. 

Our host worked in the media industry so he was well-established as a person.

I would definitely recommend his place, and it is safe to say that our first airbnb experience was good, so thumbs up! :)

I guess the next time I will opt for airbnb is when we go to Bali...

Can you feel the Rocket Man tonight? - Elton John All the Hits Tour 2016 in Singapore

The main reason we went to Singapore last November in 2015 was well, to feel the love tonight.....

Yes. It was to see the Rocket Man, Elton John himself!

I bought tickets a couple of months prior, before we even thought about our flight and accommodation! My boyfriend and I are oldies at heart, and we love oldies, so we were really excited when we found out Elton John was going to be performing all his hits at a place so near us!

I lolololove Elton John and I think he really is one of the best musicians to have graced the world of music. He is so talented and he has the voice of an angel, and trust me- he did not disappoint. Even at the age of 68, he KILLED the whole night. His pitch, his vocals, his range, his PIANO playing skills was all. on. POINT. (Seriously--- how talented can this man get?!) And mind you, he was being nursed with a cold while he was performing that night.

The concert was at the Star Performing Arts centre, which was a new place. We took a myTaxi there too.

Here is his Set list for his concert that night:

Setlist

SHARE SETLIST  

1. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
   Play Video
2. Bennie and the Jets
   Play Video
3. Candle in the Wind
   Play Video
4. All the Girls Love Alice
   Play Video
5. Levon
   Play Video
6. Tiny Dancer
   Play Video
7. Believe
   Play Video
8. Daniel
   Play Video
9. Philadelphia Freedom
   (Elton John Band song)
   Play Video
10. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
    Play Video
11. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
    Play Video
12. Hey Ahab
    Play Video
13. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
    Play Video
14. The One
    Play Video
15. Your Song
    Play Video
16. Burn Down the Mission
    Play Video
17. Sad Songs (Say So Much)
    Play Video
18. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
    Play Video
19. The Bitch Is Back
    Play Video
20. I'm Still Standing
    Play Video
21. Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n Roll)
    Play Video
22. Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
    Play Video
23. Encore:
24. Crocodile Rock

I remember getting utter CHILLS when he opened "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" (for some reason, it isn't on the set list but he did perform it. Link here). I think the word for it would be "Majestic" and nothing short at that.

He would make a little small talk in between a couple of tracks, and he said he was so glad to be back in Singapore for the concert. He also pulled a lucky boy onstage and gave him his autograph.

The closing of the concert was amazing, he gave an encore of "Crocodile Rock" and everybody remembered when rock was young.
I was quite bummed that the crowd at where I was seated, the upper tier, was very toned down and didn't even stand when Elton John encored. I of course, threw caution to the WIND and jumped up from my seat and danced along, because 1. it was Elton Mafreakin John performing onstage, 2. because, LA LA LA LA LA LAAAAA, 3. it was the most amazing concert!

Well, actually it was my first concert, but it has truly set standards for any future concerts I attend. I now have really high standards.

*starry eyed

We arrived around 45min early because .. when in Rome hahahaha

okay, I know you're not supposed or allowed to snap pictures inside but I was so suaku and so excited, so here are a few pictures I took. My seat was quite far away so technically, you can't see anything except bright lights so I guess technically I wasn't really that much in the wrong (self console)

Ok, except this video but it was just so amazing! it was the encore when he sang Crocodile Rock, which is one of my favorite tracks from him, ever!

It was an amazing concert, and I love and respect Sir Elton so much! He is just too good.

Our next concert is in May 2016, where we will be watching Little Mix. :P

This is the closest I will get to One Direction, I guess bahahahaha #loser

Anyway, I found this link online which is a good read about Elton John :) http://www.tnp.sg/m/music/5-things-we-learned-about-elton-john-after-his-singapore-concerts