Last day in Singapore! Days passed by so fast, eh? =(
Our fourth day in Singapore has no planned itinerary so we are free to wander around the city. It was about 11:30am when we checked-out from the hotel and started traveling to our first destination. We went first to the capital city to visit the mall ever famous to Filipinos, the Lucky Plaza. There we bought some souvenirs and exchanged our extra pesos to dollars for our little shopping later.
Then, we headed to Funan and went to Funan DigitaLife Mall, where gadgets and electronics can be seen everywhere! There, I bought a laptop charger for my sister and a mouse for my laptop. And my friend, Gwen, bought herself an iPod Touch. It was already lunch time when we finished shopping so, we ate our lunch in a food court there.
Our next stop was the famous inexpensive shopping district, like the 168 Mall in Divisoria in Manila, the Bugis Street. My friends and I went shopping galore for souvenirs and such, like keychains, Singapore shirts, mugs, perfumes, etc.!
My feet was so sore that day, imagine we walked for five hours straight! Haha! Our last stop, supposedly, was at our friend’s hotel. We needed a place to rest before our flight since we have checked out already from our hotel. But unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter their hotel. So, we just hanged out, ate dinner at a nearby food centre, and just waited until it was time for us to go back for our flight back to Manila.
Our bus fetched us around 10:30pm from Hotel Royal going to Changi Airport. We arrived at the airport rather early so we got much time to buy pasalubong for our families. We finally boarded around 2am. So then, it was time for us to bid goodbye to Singapore. See you next time! =)
Thanks to Jasper Gueco and Maja Caneda for some of the photos!
Day three! Same drill, we wake up, then we go get dressed, eat our breakfast, and off to our coach for our first stop. Our destination that morning: Science Centre Singapore in Jurong. It was a roughly 30 minutes of travel from the hotel.
We were introduced to our speaker, Mr. *something*, and he will be our speaker and teacher for the whole day. And later on we discovered he was a Pinoy! So cool! Anyway, I originally thought that we will just be attending a seminar and hearing a talk about robotics, I’m so glad we didn’t, because it would be so boring. What we did is we built a robot called Roborobo! We were grouped by threes, I was with Caye and Valerie. Before we began assembling the robot, our speaker made a short introduction about robots. We’ve undergone three modules in working with the robot. First was building the robot. It was really fun yet frustrating. My group mates and I actually took some time before finishing assembling it, we dismantled it many times because we did not followed the instructions well. Hahaha.
Second module was the programming of the robot. The programming was not the typical programming that we know, with codes and such, the programming was graphical, but the logic is still the same anyway. We programmed the robot to go forward, backward, go left and go right.
Then, onto the last module, commanding the robot. We now programmed the robot for it to follow a remote controller, because by that, we’ll be having a robot contest. =) The contest goes like this, two robots will fight against each other in an arena and there are two water bottles in each side, the robots must push the bottles all the way to the center, the robot who first accomplishes the task wins! Unfortunately, for our team, we lost because the wheel of our robot was taken out while on his way. We were not able to screw the wheels in, we didn’t know! Too bad, we got a good chance winning our round! Haha!
It was already 4:30pm that time and it was time for us to go and the contest was still not finished, so Mr. *something* decided to end up with three winners—Migs’ team, Choy’s, and Jayson’s. But before we left the place, we first watched awesome demonstrations of the Tesla Coil. And Mr. *something*, our dear speaker, was the presenter. We were told that that particular Tesla Coil is the largest replica in South East Asia. Just judge the pictures below on how cool the demonstrations were!
The rest of the evening was free to ourselves. We went back to the hotel to take a rest and my other friends went for a swim. At about past 8pm, we decided to go out and go to Marina Bay because we’re riding the Singapore Flyer! =) We have planned this and booked tickets even before we arrived in Singapore. It is actually my third time riding it, and riding it with my friends was so much fun. The whole 40 minutes of ride was so memorable as we view the great skyline of Singapore and as we see the Chinese people below us celebrating the Lunar New Year.
After riding the flyer, we were lucky to see a fireworks display. It lasted for about 15-20 minutes. Goodness, our neck got stiffed a little! Hehe!
Then, we walked down to Esplanade to eat dinner at Makansutra Gluttons Bay. We ordered chicken wings, squid, and satay. So delicious!
Then, it was time for us to go back to the hotel. But we decided to take advantage of the night since it’s our last night in Singapore. We decided to have small booze in our room. Practically, we just fooled around, had chit chats, drank a little, and enjoyed the company of each other in a foreign country. =)
Thanks to Jhay M Teruel for some of the photos!
Okay, day two of our Singapore tour! My roommates and I got up at about 6:30am (you know, it was really, really hard to get up, I wanted more sleep!), we needed to get done and dressed up and have our breakfast before 7:30am because we’ll leave the hotel 7:30am sharp for our first destination. The breakfast in the hotel was so gooood! It was in a buffet setup, meaning we can eat all we can, so I took advantage and eaten lots! Hahaha! Unfortunately though, we were not able to depart from the hotel at the supposed time, our tour guide was not pleased. Hehe.
First stop in our itinerary for this day: Microsoft Technology Center (MTC). From our hotel, our travel lasted for about 15-20 minutes (I think?). Anyway, the building where MTC was situated is so gorgeous. And the MTC itself is gorgeous as well.
Our stay at the MTC was divided into two parts, first is the talk and another is the tour within the place. The tour came in first (too bad I got no photos to share because we were told that photography is not allowed, oh well), and damn, everything we saw was amazing and so breathtaking. We saw their data servers which are super huge with its unique cooling system, we saw some cool gadgets and devices, and we also got the chance to experience their electronic blackboard (of some sort). Ahhh, really good to reminisce, so amazing, all those high-end technology and stuff! =)
Then, after the tour was the talk, we got four speakers all-in-all. Our first speaker talked about how Microsoft helps to change lives of people, he played some clips for us to watch. Truly inspiring indeed. Second was Lim Cheng Lei, and he was our youngest speaker. He talked about the Windows 7 OS on a Windows Mobile Phone. It was pretty interesting. I got shied for a second because I’m an iPhone user. LOL. Then, the third speaker was an English lady, Ms. Kim Rubbo, she talked about I.T. jobs we can land into after we graduate and how important our Microsoft certifications when we apply for jobs. And lastly, Mr. Gerard Chua, talked about Cloud Computing and DreamSpark.
Of course, before we leave the place, photo op! =)
It was about 12nn when we left the place. It was really sad to see the rain starting to pour when we got down from the building because it might ruin the rest of our day. Anyway, we walked down to the nearby food centre to eat our lunches. I ate Chinese food again, this time, dumplings! Yum!
It was still raining when we finished eating. Despite the weather, we decided to push through to our next destination, which is… Universal Studios Singapore! Yay! I think this is the most awaited part of our trip (well, at least for me haha). This is my second time going there actually, but my excitement was like it is just my first time. Of course, before going in to the theme park, another photo op! In front of the wonderful Universal Studios globe! We really love photo ops, aren’t we? =)
Okay, photo op’s done, into the theme park!!! Hahaha!
I am not really sure how I can go into detail how really fun and exciting it was, I can’t really use words to describe the thrill we experienced as we go on riding all the rides so I’m just gonna spam pictures, alright? And besides, if I’m gonna write it all down here, this entry would become so much longer!
Enjoy the photos!!!
You wanna know what my favorite ride is? The Battlestar Gallactica Rollercoasters! Damn, they’re so good! We rode it three times! It was not really scary, trust me. ;)
Anyway, the theme park closes at 7pm (yeah, so early, so sad) but before leaving the place, we bought some souvenirs from the souvenir shop. I bought my self a Universal Studios shirt. =) We all left the place so freaking tired and hungry but with big smiles plastered all over our faces. We all had so much fun and promised ourselves to come back!
Back at the hotel, back to our rooms, we just washed up and changed to our new clothes so we can go out again to eat our dinner. My friends and I went to a mall called Velocity and dined in there. After eating dinner, despite our exhausted selves, we decided to go to Clarke Quay, a famous place in Singapore where locals can hang-out and have their ‘night lives’. Going there, we traveled through MRT.
It was time to go back to the hotel when we noticed it was getting late already. We were not able to hang out there for too long because again, we’re catching the last trip of the bus.
So there, that wraps up my second day in Singapore!
Thanks to Jasper Gueco and Maja Caneda for some of the photos!
It was before three in the morning when I reached the airport. When I got off from the car, I saw my classmates and friends already gathering in front of the terminal gate. All of us, despite having no sleep, were all so thrilled to depart for our first ever out-of-the-country excursion. Although Singapore is not foreign to me already, I can’t escape the fact that I’m also very excited with this trip because this time, I will be with my friends, and not my family, and I know we’ll have a great adventure there.
We departed at about 6:30am via Jetstar Airways and arrived at Changi Airport at past 10am. And there we met Mr. Fu, our tour guide, along with him is the bus driver and finally they invited us to ride the coach and leave the airport.
Our first destination in our itinerary: Chinatown. During the ride to Chinatown, Mr. Fu told many fascinating facts about the places we’re passing by. He was so bubbly and entertaining as a tour guide. “Time is precious”, as he always say and asks us to always be punctual because, well, time is really precious. It was nearing lunch time when we got there, the bus stopped at the Chinatown Complex, and there we fed our starving little tummies. I ate Chinese chicken rice and my ever favorite drink, sugar cane juice! After we’re done eating, we still got some time to spare so we roamed around the place and went in to the nearby temple. It was about 1pm when we went back to our coach and proceeded to our next stop. Our next stop was at a temple, still in Chinatown, it was called Thian Hock Keng temple, and it was the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore. I’ve actually been here before, and it was sad to see it was under renovation when we got there. The temple’s really nice and grand.
After Chinatown, our next destination was the ever famous Merlion Park. Like every other tourists that visit Singapore, we posed in front of the Merlion Statue for our photo op! Photos that will fit good as primary photos for our Facebook accounts. Haha!
We were given such short time to do sight seeing at the Merlion Park because we got one more destination to go before we finally check-in in our hotel. Next stop: Little India. Our professors and our tour guide has given us opportunity to wander around the place to ourselves. I have been to this place before, Little India has this wonderful Hindu temples that are open to the public. I would have taken my friends there but unfortunately I don’t know the place very well and we might get lost. Haha. What we did anyway is we went to a mall (the mall’s name, I forgot) we saw and just practically roamed around until it was time for us to get back to our coach.
It was past 3pm when we left Little India. We were all drained and exhausted so it was time for us to check-in to our hotel and take a rest. Our hotel is called Hotel Royal and it is located in Newton Road, just some minutes away from the city. The hotel was pretty okay. I didn’t actually mind how it looks when we got there, all I want that time is a bed to lie down because I’m so damn tired from the travel, the heat, and the walking.
My room was at the seventh floor, room number 713, and I share it with Valerie and Shanne. When we reached our room, we opened our luggage and changed to our comfy clothes, then we slept and rest. Haha.
I think it was about 8:30pm when my friends and I decided to go out and have our dinner. Our tour guide told us some nearby food courts and food centres that we can dine in to. We decided to go to Newton Food Centre, a few blocks away from our hotel. Actually, we’re really clueless on how to get there, good thing there’s Google Maps. Hahaha.
For my dinner, I ate Chinese chicken noodles and of course, sugar cane juice for my drink. They costed me around SG$8. It was so delicious, I really love Chinese cuisine! =)
After we’re finished with our dinner, we would have gone to the city and explored around but it was getting late that time and we were afraid that we might not catch the last ride of the MRT or the bus, we won’t risk riding a cab because they’re expensive. Haha. And besides, we’re all tired and we got to wake up early the day after so we just decided to go back to our hotel and rest.
So there, that is how I spent my first day in Singapore. See you in my next entries for the succeeding days! =)
Thanks Jhay M Teruel and Jasper Gueco for some of the photos!
Okay, so, the real reason I am reviving this blog is because we were asked to write a blog entry about our Singapore trip last week. Yes, I went to Singapore last week for a school field trip and I’m blogging it all here. Yay? It is a requirement, so I am doing it. But then, I’m gonna make this an opportunity to get my self into the blogging world again because I have not blogged for a year now and I kind of missed it. LifeWithPresley’s gonna expire soon, on the 19th, and I am gonna renew it (but I need to beg my mother first to lend her credit card to me because I got no PayPal credits already and I don’t have my own credit card to pay). I have thought of letting go LifeWithPresley and buying a new domain and starting anew but it would break my heart seeing this domain go as it carries a lot of memories (oh so emo haha), so I’m sticking to it! Anyway, maybe tonight I will start writing my homework-slash-blog-entry so wait for it!