Chasing The Sands

With nearing to 30 Singapore labeled post I made, it wasn't just once that I was thought of as an SG resident. No. But a best friend is residing there who is making me frequent this cosmopolitan city. One would also thought with that massive numbers of blog posts I had made about SG, I must have covered this not so big  country completely. Negative again. You know how this city is so "fast building". I mean my golly, one visit I saw a vacant land, then after 3 months I revisited again and holy cow! already was a giant structure standing mighty in that 3monthsago vacant land!!! That fast and mighty!!!

This year thu', there's one spot that I missed in SG. It's the Sands Sky Park.
Early on this year_ the scene was like. .

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that was me in the middle with a tripod, running after the sunset Sky Park photo ops. .  

at the ticketing with a bad news that the area was closed to the public cos of a private event happening there. .

That was my first attempt to go up to Sands Sky Park. That was in February of this 2011. .

. . and true to the spirit of reenactment. . after 6 months. . I was back to SG. . My second attempt. . .

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. . again running here and there of Marina Bay Sands, see The Lion King was still up there :))



. . again at the Sands Sky Park ticketing office, we were told that there was no available slot at that time. . and I didn't have any other time to do this for the duration of that trip other than this very minute!! wtf!!



Best friend was asking me what the fuss about this Sands Sky Park?? haha. Nothing. It's just that it's one of the few latest  spots I haven't been at in Singapore. Bf, who ofcourse been there countless times, laughed at my eagerness cos she thought there was nothing so special about it. In terms of view to see, she said I had seen them all on top of different observation decks we've been around in this Lion City.

Not so keen anymore about the sky view..  but I want a photo of myself _ particularly here!!! at the infinity pool with all those bright lights in the background, haha!
Well, I'll get there. .just a matter of time:)




As of my visit a couple of months ago, these are the rates. I read the rates will go up to almost $100 for New Year's celebration at the Sands.

It's beginning to feel like Christmas. .

i'm beginning to feel the season

tad late, right?

i don't know.

even with the little gift shopping i started. .

still it's coming to me a bit later than it used to be.

maybe cos i haven't received my first xmas gift yet. .

what a kid, haha.

well, hence. . i'm kindah' already into it. . 

gonna start my gift wrapping today..

how about you?

hoping to be in your list. .

i'm sure you wish back.

haha.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

p/s:

to all my god children / "inaanak"

requirements to claim your gift :

1). original copy NSO birth certificate

2). original copy of baptismal certificate (ofcourse with my name as one of the "ninang")

3). preferably with souvenir photo with me during the baptism but not required

4). must be below 18 (helow, shame on you if you're already working & still digging "aguinaldo") and hasn't yet claimed more than 17 x'mas gifts from me 

deadline of claiming your gift must not be later than Dec. 25 but not necessary before Christmas day.

strictly only those with complete requirements will be entertained

gifts are not transferable and not convertible to cash

personal appearance is strictly required

first come first serve

Happy Holidays!

The Cool House

13 days before Christmas. . parties and get together happening bi-weekly, people crowding the malls and bazaars buying gifts, and the flux of vehicles in every road of Manila at the heaviest. Well, what's new? That's so December. If you're in a cosmopolitan area, I'm sure you can relate.
Can you feel it? The pressure rising as we approach the Yuletide season.
Got a few minutes?
Escape with me. .

. . in a place to unwind and refresh.  .

Back in college, a professor would always make us stared the green wall of our classroom, for like few minutes a day. He said that would refresh our tired eyes. So up to now, I practice the habit of staring green matters when my eyes get tired.
Above greens I found in the midst of the sprawling gardens of  Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Everything was pretty relaxing except  the scorching tropical sun. Was so relieved to find out that there's an indoor garden there_ the Cool House.








Imagine. . coming from a long walk of hectares of garden under the heat of bare sun, then enter an air conditioned, simulated rain forest garden. . is that perfectly awesome or what??




 



Inside the Cool House were native mountain plants of South- East Asia, arranged to simulate the vegetation of a tropical mountain forest.




exotic ferns. .

flower or fruit? can't say which. .but sure it's so beautiful. .

this one I was pretty sure _ an orchid but I doubt if anyone of you could grow one in your backyard. .

look very closely. . can you spot its pair of eyes and a nose ? I do . .look it even has a mouth open ready to snap any meat available. I think it's one of the carnivorous plants they housed there.

the mini falls at the side of the bridge with the rushing flow of water completed the feel of a rain forest. .

giant tree trunks are covered with heavy moss. .

little white orchids. .looking like there were millions of them. .  the mirror reflections did the work. .




Well. .back to  n o w !!! If there's any consolation, the happiest season of the year is rushing in.. .
Merry Christmas to you all!!!

Biyaheng Makulay

In no more than 20 minutes I had completed checking around the mall of Resorts World (Manila) and found nothing that jibed with my empty wallet.




This is so randomly fresh that if you are right here at RW right now, you'd still catch me sitting in one of the restos (sipping the cheapest cup of coffee I found, sided by a slice of cake ) here trying to come up with this post. Daughter is still busy with her photo shoot and the mom (that's me, ok?) waits, tries to kill time by talking to her imaginary virtual audience, haha.

Hmmm.. what can I share here?? I'm flipping over photos daughter had just taken an hour ago (included are those two above). I'm not sure if I'm allowed to use the raw photos here that she's gonna be using to her latest school projs. I think I could, I'm "the mother" !!! haha.

We saw colorful jeepneys _ parked and on display at the atrium of the mall.

Imagine riding a jeepney painted as beautiful as this, awesome right?

But our jeepneys are really like that. . always bursting with colors. .

That's why I think this art contest exhibit is named as Biyaheng Makulay.




Yah, they are miniature jeepneys.

Small like that!!!

Sorry, can't ride one. Worry not, the real ones are available 24/7 in every road here in P.I. You can hardly miss one.

There were entries by local celebrities like Tuesday Vargas and Donita Rose.

I particularly like the Pahiyas jeep cos it represents my favorite local festival. I frequent Pahiyas sa Quezon which is celebrated annually every month of May.

Approaching abrupt ending. . 

The photographer daughter is here already and we're ready to get home.

Bye now.

p/s : sshh. .tell her not that I use her photos here, ok?
pp/s : if you'd like to catch the exhibit, go visit Newport Mall at Resorts World now.

Nirwana Resort Hotel

Weather is not yet the cold December we usually have by this time of the year here in the Philippines. Have you noticed it? I'm so keen about weather these days. The global climate change has intrigued me a lot. The weird exchange cycle of wet and dry seasons ( atleast us here have only two, what more if we got the common 4 seasons,  that would be crazier:)) has never been so unpredictable as it is this year and the previous year.

So don't laugh at me if you saw me layering my outfits on supposedly summer season here or spending weekends on a beach during supposedly cold "ber" months.  

Hence the summer feel in December, I thought a beach post could still fit in before the year ends. Thu' I don't promise that this one would be my last beach getaway this year. Matter of fact I just got an invite for a day stay in a local beach. Only I'm not yet sure if I would have  time to attend to it with this busy yuletide season setting in. We'll see.

This particular beach day was a month ago. At a neighbor here in the tropics _ at Bintan, Indonesia. After an almost  one hour  fast speed catamaran ride from Singapore, we needed not to avail the regular coach transfer cos we had rented a car that we used around with our mini Bintan tour and finally sent us to the resort .

I was amused by the size of Nirwana Gardens. The whole resort has a total of five holiday stops. So big it housed giant animals_ it has an elephant park!!!. . to say the least. 

At Nirwana Resort Hotel, we were welcomed by a musical performance and were served with  welcome drinks ofcourse.

The reception lobby was relatively huge that when a friend saw my photos, she thought they were taken in an airport. See, we are  third world like that, haha. Show us a a big space and we would think of it as an airport, haha.

The lobby was full of tribal trinkets on display.

The accommodation was a sweet delight.

The facade of the resort hotel buildings reminded me of our own Shangrila, Boracay. There's small similarity in architecture but Shang.Bora is more awesome in many ways.

How can you refuse to idle your day in a haven like this? I can't. . I'm weak.haha.

You notice it too?? The whole Bintan trip I wore this black top intensively, haha. At overseas getaways, we actually are so random and always travel light. Usually with no extra clothes at all. Sometimes we would decide on our next destination right on the spot. Most of the time, no extra margin to prepare for our outfits, I hate that!!! haha.

Extremely opposite of the beaches in Batam ( Indonesia also ),  Bintan beaches stand mighty!!! Nirwana Resort Hotel best asset is the beach. With spanning hectares of powdery beach!!!! Best of all soooooooooooo uncrowded. Think about our white beaches in station 1,2 & 3 of Boracay, delete the images of crammed commercial establishments and the uber crowded beach goers. . then you get the image above.

What can I ask for?. . but to bring me back there. .now!!!! haha.