The Great Singapore Sale and Food Tripping!

Saturday started pretty early for me. I happily got out of bed when I found out that Isabelle was up. She's Kuya Andre's youngest, and she's not shy! She loves smiling and making faces. It was kind of difficult to say good bye to her adorable face.








Kuya Andre's condo is pretty cool. Conveniently located close to a bus station. And a kick ass swimming pool.






I took a cab to the city center at around 8:30. I met up with the girls, Ina, Iris, and Ate Love and had breakfast with them at the McCafe along Scotts road, perpendicular to Orchard Road.



We were all pretty psyched out spending the day together. It's been 8 years since I was out of the country with Ina and Iris. The girls were quick to fill me in their two-week Singaporean adventure. Obviously, they had a really, really great time seeing the city and bonding with their sibs.

We walked around Orchard first, awaiting for the opening of the stores. Took some pictures with this interesting figure outside Paragon Mall.




We went across to the Takashiyama Shopping Center. As early as 11AM, there were a lot of people inside the Coach Store. There was a line outside Louis Vuitton for interested buyers. Tourists and locals alike were ready to flex their shopping muscles. The Great Singapore Sale started the day before and most of the stores had promos (30-50% off on selected items).



Ate Love and the girls were raving about Jumbo restaurant. We took a cab to Clark Quay, just in time for our 12NN reservation at the said seafood place.




And O.M.G. I have to say. One of the best lunches I've had in a really long time. Sweet and crispy baby squid, prawns with cereal, and black pepper crabs!








Huge thanks to Ate Love and Jojo for the wonderful meal (and for letting me have a Tiger beer in the middle of the day!).



The afternoon was all about shopping. We went back to Orchard Road after lunch. First stop was Wisma Atria. It's probably one of my favorite places on the famous Singaporean shopping strip.






After Wisma, I walked down the street and went back to where all the Z-fever started! Haha. This was the first Zara store I ever went into. It was about four years ago, on my first trip to Sing with Irene and Armie. I remember Jinna, a former Dow teammate, telling me about this fab store in Sing where they sold great clothes. I was dubious (being the Mango/Topshop fan I was back then), but when I stepped into the store, my jaw just dropped and my heart started pounding. Hehe. The next words which came out of my mouth were, "Irene, balikan nyo na lang ako after an hour" (Irene, come back for me after an hour). Haha. Anyway, it was nice to come to where it all started. And by the way, Grouchy, remember that blue shirt you got with the cat? I got one too! Haha!



Anyway, the girls, Jojo, and I then went to Cafe O, this nice smaller cafe inside Wheelock which sold great desserts. Camille had mozorella sticks (her usual order), Ina got the My Oh My, which was a plate of chocolate ice cream and a slice of cheesecake. Us three adults shared potato skins, the Aphrodisiac (a heart shaped mini cake which had chocolate truffles, and a slice of this really soft chocolate cake. Everything we had married well with a cup of brewed coffee.









After merienda, we crossed the street to go to Isetan. Some more shopping. I got shirts for the boys and a pretty good deal with a nice pair of trousers at Topshop (30 SD!).

Before long, it was dinner time (eating time yet again, and I wasn't complaining!). We had this nice chinese dinner at Crystal Jade, apparently a popular resto around Singapore (with several branches along Orchard Road alone!). The duck was good, and so was the sweet and sour pork! For dessert, we had this almond milk thing which smelled awesome.






I was pretty pooped after dinner. I met up with Kuya Andre, Reia, the kids, and Lola at Takashiyama to have dinner yet again (no complaining still!). The prawns with garlic was really good. I lost count of how many I had.




The evening ended with lots of good conversation with Kuya Andre (on the way back to their condo). Life in Singapore, family, and a couple other things. It is very true that the money you'll be able to save while working in Singapore is not something which is easy to earn while working in Manila. But the odds of working with a great employer and great officemates in Sing has mostly got to do with luck.

All in all, it was a great day. I was stuffed and my wallet had a pretty good workout.