S'pore Cable Car

In S'pore, there's the cruise ship, and always captured up above it would be the lanterns like cable cars. Sg cable car is a costly ride to get to Sentosa. It would cost you around Sg$24 for a one way ride. In my past Sg visits, we usually brought a car, took a cab or rode the train to get to Sentosa, all cost so much lesser than the cable car ride.

Daughter wanted a ride. It would also be my first cable car ride here at Sg.We headed to Harbour Front Tower 2 and took the lift up to the 15th floor.

*a touristy shot before we enter the car:)))

 #now we get-in:)))) A friend commented upon seeing my recent Sg visit photos that we should have had tried the Singapore Flyer instead. I actually had done that during my earlier visit of Sg. Take a glimpse of it here.






On board, we were greeted with the sun about to set, up above the Lion City.

Down below, these cable cars look like some lanterns hanging on the sky. Seeing them on the same level viewing perspective_ now they look like pretty jewel boxes dancing infront of me.

After so many beautiful photos of us:))) and bird's eye view city shots of Sg, we alighted at some part of Sentosa (I forgot where, must be at Imbiah Lookout??) to take our dinner ( now at my food blog ) and watch some attractions at Sentosa.

Calling it a day, on our way to our temporary home, we decided to take the cable car again. This time we wanted to enjoy the night views of the city.

Although our tired cameras (the blame is on us, actually, haha) produced disappointing night photos, we actually enjoy the night bird's eye view scenes on board the cable car.

Calligraphic Experience

I brought daughter to the Chinatown of Sg, so she would see its other facet, other than Singapore being very  cosmopolitan. Right away she noticed that it was a lot cleaner and more organize than the Chinatown in our country. I totally agreed with her when she said that there are more goods to buy thu' in our own Chinatown.




Lots of touristy souvenirs are being sold. One of them is this "Chinese calligraphy" which took daughter's fancy. She had thought of buying one for her sister left at home.




So it was Sg$10 for a calligraphic engraved stone necklace.




It's about P360 in our local currency.




The vendor asked us to choose the stone. There were lots, so I asked him back if everything was priced for $10. He replied yes. We chose the black rectangle one (previous photo above).




He instructed us to write in a paper the name to be written. Then the vendor did the engraving. .




We were surprise when he handed to us the engraved stone. .with English alphabet name. We thought he's selling Chinese calligraphy? And told him so. He said it was okey he would do the calligraphy at the back. No additional charge.




He then handed to us a dictionary so we could look for my daughter's name in Chinese.

The search was easy. We decided to not include her second name anymore.

Pay time. I was giving him $10 bucks and he said no. It's $20. Huh??? How come? He pointed me to the box of stone where I got our purchase. Already there was a price tag of $20. Whathefff?? I swore it wasn't there when we were picking few minutes ago. He insisted that it's $20 cos it's a big stone. Hadn't I asked beforehand if everything was at $10?? He clearly said yes. Otherwise, we would have chosen stone at $10 cos it wouldn't make any difference to us anyway. I had no time for more confrontation so in the end I paid $20. Not worth it but I just charged it to experience.




So this cost me like P720. Nevermind. The best thing is the receiver (my youngest girl) was quite happy with the necklace. Aside from the ipod & sling bag which completed her "pasalubong' bag.

Birthday Trip 2012

I flew to Sg last week. With my older eldest daughter. It happened, both of our birthdays fell on holy week this year. Since I got married, this was the first time that I didn't join my husband to his annual "penance", oops, ok change the word that's too serious, haha. Perhaps, you can just jump here , so you would see  how we usually spend the Holy Week, before this one.



This was on day3. If you would ask daughter she would yell that this day was the highlight of our birthday trip. This was on her birthday. She turned 18. Minus the debutant fanfares. Her dad & I both agreed she deserved a new experience. Her generous fairy godmother thought the same too. It was her first overseas trip. It would also be her first time to do some real shopping!!!

Alright, going back to this 3rd day at Sg. Daughter was excited. This was her day and wishes were promised to come true. We hit Orchard Rd. early and stores had just opened.




Hmmm. . good morning:))). Daughter said I had just ruined her snapshot. *females kissing#. haha.

She made a pass on bloody top range branded shops. Not for her fashion and budget genres.

Definitely not that kind of stores, even though you hit twenty one! and beyond!haha.




Finally, she found some shops that cater to her young taste and to her not-so-well-endowed wallet.




Taking a break from her shopping marathon..

Well o well!! This debutant definitely knows a lot about shopping. She maxed out her shopping budget.

Here ==> excerpts of her shopping loots. Happy girl !!




Her cake. She got to choose the cake she wanted. She's actually a fruit muncher. She had her cake and ate it too... in a positive way.

Happy 18th birthday daughter!!!!

Bintan Terminal

If we have "Philippine Eagle", Indonesia has "Garuda". They both seem to be super birds except that ours is real and the latter is a mythical bird. Garuda is a national symbol of Indonesia and thus replicas of it are all over the country. Now I know where the name of their flag carrier_ Garuda Airlines had gotten its name.

It was a huge statue and therefore couldn't be easily ignored. I found this one in the garden right in the vicinity of  Bandar Bentan Telani, a ferry port in Bintan, Indonesia.

I actually like this port in Bintan. Reminds me of our own Caticlan (Boracay) airport. Yeah, that's the comparison. Our airport (already??) and their ferry terminal, haha. Both are gateways to the best beaches in Asia.



Somehow, this ferry terminal looks more like an airport than most of our local flight terminals.

At the lobby, were not only eateries and resorts transfer booths, but rows of shops as well. I was surprised to find an outlet of  "Polo" and other branded goods.




If you missed buying take home souvenir products outside, no worry cos before your departure you could do some quick shopping inside this terminal. I thought some of the trinkets were even cheaper here.

The departure area got a lot of Singapore destinations promotional materials up on the walls and ceilings. Obviously, this part of Bintan is an extension of Singapore tourism.

A view of the terminal on board the ferry.



Haven't I mentioned that I love the ferry as much?