3/31/15 - Singapore 2015 (Day 1)

So last March 17-21, 2015, I pushed through with my solo adventure in Singapore. It was not really a solo trip since I was visiting my friend who was having his vacation there and I was with him most of the time, but it was still a trip I took on alone. It was also supposed to be a four-day trip but it got extended for another day. I'll explain about it next time. This trip was actually supposed to be held at an earlier part of the month but due to scheduling conflicts, it got moved. It was actually a blessing in disguise as it gave me more time to search for hostels to stay in, save some more money, and do more research.

On the night of the day before I depart, I couldn't really sleep which was surprising because I just came from work late at night and didn't really have enough sleep and rest from the night before. However, I was feeling very energized. Instead of forcing myself to sleep, I decided to make the most out of the remaining hours by preparing my stuff and doing last-minute packing. I double checked which items were important to bring and decided to take out some unnecessary stuff. I decided not to bring plenty of items to make space for items that I might bring home from SG. I made sure my electronics were charged including my powerbanks, music players and cellphone.

I initially planned to take a cab to the airport but decided to ask my dad to drive me for convenience. I arrived at the airport at around 4am and checked in immediately for my 6am flight. There were only a few people so I didn't wait so long to check-in. I got scared when I was at the immigration as the officer grilled me with too many personal questions and it was taking so long unlike the other passengers who were there. I felt so relieved after they finally let me in. I decided to just sit in the boarding area hoping to catch a short nap to kill time. My attempt at sleeping still failed but at least the airport had wifi to entertain me.

During the flight, I felt so glad to be in the window seat ad was even more delighted to be seated beside the plane's wing. The flight wasn't so full. I even got transferred to the business class since my mom endorsed me to the flight attendants on board. I also got to take a short nap during the three ad a half hour flight. I had braised chicken as my meal during the flight.

We arrived in SG at around 9am. The airport, Changi International Airport, was just recently announced as the year's best airport in the world so I was quite excited to step foot in it and see what it was all about.  They weren't wrong as it was really such a beautiful one. I eve had to take the skytrain which transports passengers to a different terminal. Since I arrived in terminal 3 and the MRT was at terminal 2, I had to ride it. It was very convenient and I wish I had more time to explore the airport grounds.

I went straight to change some money and buy a new local sim card. I felt ripped off since it was very expensive. I bought it for 50 sgd. But it was not so bad considering I didn't have to load a lot anymore and I had over 50gb of internet data that lasted me throughout my whole stay. However, I later found out that I had lost my Globe sim card and probably left it at the airport. I tried to come back for it on another day but it was already gone. It almost bothered me the entire trip since I've had that number for quite a long time. Fortunately, my contacts are saved on my phone's memory so I didn't really lose my contacts.

I rode the train with my borrowed MRT card. It was convenient because I just had to reload it and swipe my card at the counter instead of falling in line all the time. It's very similar to the trains in Hong Kong and very different from the ones we have here. It's very convenient to transfer from one train to another and convenient to travel in general.

I had to switch trains two times and the travel time to get me to my destination took me less than 45 mins in total. Finding my hostel wasn't so hard as it was near the train station. I don't have a reservation so I had a long list of back-up hotels in case I can't check in to my first choice. Luckily, the hostel still had beds available and I got to check in early. The hostel didn't seem as good as the pictures showed it to be but it was still a decent place to stay and the staff was very accommodating. I didn't really have any right to criticize considering this is the cheapest one I could find.

I was placed in a bunk bed and tried to settle in. I contacted my friend who was going to have a shoot later that day and decided to meet up at 3 pm. Since I had a lot of time to spare, I wanted to go out already and explore the city so I walked around to Little India where the shoot will be held later that day and looked for a place to eat. I passed along City Square mall as well as the Mustafa centre which was open 24/7 and was actually one of my target places to go to. I kinda got lost at Mustafa centre and by the time I reached Little India, I couldn't find anything I want to eat so I decided to go back to the City Square mall and had a very rushed and late lunch at Mcdo. It wasn't where I planned to ahave my first meal in SG but I had no other choice. I had to rush to the shoot since it was almost 3 pm by the time I started lunch.

I finally caught up with my friend and got introduced to his newly-met friend who was a visual merchandiser/stylist who was also looking or a job in SG. I met the two models and assisted in the photoshoot all throughout the afternoon. Despite helping in previous photoshoots, this felt the most professional as we were shooting real models and going to various locations. I didn't feel tired or even sleepy from the lack of sleep/rest. The shoot was almost ruined by the downpour of rain but we still pushed through. We eve took shots under the rain with only the reflector covering us. It was really nice being able to talk to models and getting a taste of Singapore while we're at it. The locations were beautiful and the people are nice and considerate.

There were a lot of tourists and locals in the area but it felt really safe and clean to move around.

We finished the shoot at around 6 pm and after parting ways with the models, the three of us decided to have dinner at a mall in Dhoby Gaut MRT station just out of randomness. I don't remember the name of the place we ate but it was just a pop-up store in the middle of the mall since the food court is under renovation and the other restos are expensive. We talked about a bunch of stuff as well as tried to make plans for the coming days while I was there. After my friend's stylist had to go, we still had spare time to roam around. My friend couldn't really pick a place to go so we took on a random adventure and go to an MRT station that he hasn't really explored yet. We ended up in Serangoon station where the train station lead us to another mall. It seems like SG is abundant with malls like the Philippines. We decided to watch a movie and ended up watching Cinderella since we didn't have much of a choice anyway. We wanted to watch Insurgent but it still wasn't showing at the time. The price of a movie ticket isn't so far from the local theaters here in the Philippines so it wasn't so bad. The cinema was quite full and ended up in the front seats. The movie was good enough and stayed mostly faithful to the story.

We decided to end the day since it was getting late and we had to rest after a long day.

I ended up back in the hostel and decided to browse the net which was a free service. The internet in SG was quite fast. I haven't really got introduced to the people who are in my room. There were plenty of us in the room but all of them seemed to come from different countries. The receptionist who was a Singaporean local is really nice and told me random stories everytime.

End of day 1!