I was in Kiasuland two weeks back for work. The trip wasn't meant for me to go but due to some circumstances, I was glad the opportunity was given to me to take up the task. Boy, was I glad when I was told I did well at the end of the trip!!! Gotta get my butt moving to do up the claims now :p
First sight upon crossing the border and Customs... Singapore Flyer. Must take a ride one day. Maybe after the new Genting place opens. The view would look better by then.
Since I'm travelling for work, of course I'd be staying at our own hotels if we have any in town. We do have one cosy boutique-style hotel at Tanjong Pagar. This is how the lobby looks like. It had air-conditioners working on full blast. Brrrrrr...
First room that I checked in. Didn't sleep in here though. You'll know why shortly. Rooms aren't too bad. Not too bad at all. Quite big by Singaporean standards. You know how limited their property spaces are.
All the shophouses in this area look like this. Very old school colonial buildings. There are lots of small bridal houses and you'll never miss the amount of drinking holes all around this place. But I'm told the government is actually going to have these outlets all closed by next year so it's gonna get more businessmen-friendly, as opposed to, you know, sleazy old men kind of friendly. And why couldn't I sleep in the first room? It's facing this part of the street and the bass noise was just killing me. It wasn't very bad, I just couldn't handle the slightest amount of noise before I go to bed.
My hotel is also very near to this kickass food court called Maxwell. There's a stall which sells porridge which is to-die-for. I've never had porridge so good back in KL. But then again it's totally different from the good porky spare parts porridge we have here in Pudu. The picture above is of the raw fish slices served with the porridge, and the picture doesn't do the dish any justice. Wish I had a better camera though. I've always been prejudiced against Singaporean food. They're so expensive and taste blah! But from this trip I've discovered some pretty interesting and good makan places. There's also a nice
xiao long bao place near the hotel. Which name I totally forgot. Nevertheless, one plate of
char siew rice I had somewhere near some offices tasted like plastic. Bleurgh!!
First stop after check-in: Suntec City Mall. Funny banner above was the first interesting thing I've seen. It was at the Watson's outlet in this mall that I discovered freaking cheap facial masks. How come we don't get such kickass promotions here? I literally spent my fortune on masks on this trip.
They've got floating Christmas trees at Suntec!
Then it was off to Vivo City with Mee Fung! That place is huuuuuuuuuuugggggeeeee...
... and had such pretty lights!
I saw this pair of shoes and I wanted them so badly. They're so FIERCEEEEEEEEEE. But freaking expensive ;(
Far beyond you'll see the Genting casino thingy construction site. There's an awful lot of cranes at that place... To a point it looked like a city of cranes.
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On the second night I had a taste of my first Singaporean night out. Here's me with my colleague Suan on my right and Cecilia from Regent on my left. Such lovely ladies. We're here at the entrance of Canton at Clark Quay, where you can find Chinagirls in bikini tops, short shorts and fishnet stockings working up the pole.
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Well apart from sexy girls they had live performers as well. I was totally conned to rush to the stage to see if the girl was Elva Hsiao. Nearly twisted my ankle okay?? Babi punya Thomas.
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Said hi to the Terracota Warrior...
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... and the lonely kwailou sitting on a wheelchair. This place is called CLINIC and it was decked with all sorts of stuff you'd find in a clinic and hospital. They even served drinks in hospital drips. So farnee! I couldn't resist taking a picture.
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Me and hot mama at a Latin place at St. James. There were couples salsa-ing the night away and they had some pretty slick moves. Singaporeans really do go out and purely just have fun by themselves. What I really like about the nightlife there is that the night spots were all smoke free, totally unlike what we have here.
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And one picture of the girls with the guy. Meet Thomas, obviously the lucky guy sandwiched in the middle. Nice guy, but still a babi. Elva Hsiao my ass lah! Can't believe I fell for that lame trick. At this point we were kong-ed out already. I had my first hangover at 23 and it felt like death. At least that's how I think death would feel like. Death's probably a million times worse but hey, I didn't feel good at all. Not one bit. To think that I had to still make my media rounds the very next morning. I was puking the whole morning and couldn't even stomach in water. I'll just safely stick back to being a responsible drinker. No more hangovers for me.
On my final night I went to Orchard Road with Mee Fung. I was saying on Facebook that I'm seeing Christmas lights in Singapore for the first time ever but I recall now that I've actually seen them at least twice before. And this year's sucked. To the max. And you can't say it's better than KL 'cause we've never had anything here like Orchard Road before. So it's not even fair to make comparisons like that.
Oh land of Kiasu... I shall be back for more. I'm already missing the Watson's, This Fashion outlets and Far East Plaza. 'Cause these are all places which I can currently afford to shop at. And I must revenge by going clubbing at Clark Quay again and then go eat late night porridge with chili crab. I was puking so hard during my night out I couldn't even taste it. I shall be back!
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