Singapore Rendezvous

OK..so I went to Singapore, after much cajoling [well more like "lobbying and bulldozing"] by my sister who needed an escort for her enthused meeting with Mr. Wright :) She even resorted to "have a nice day" sms to greet me when I wake up! Why do I have this feeling I might be her way of neutralizing her "guilty conscience" for having to leave her 3 kids (err.. having married at barely 18!) and a husband who is in Sudan working on some oil platform, but she got her "permission" to go galavanting in Spore even before she won the contests. I figured the husband doesn't think that she will ever win!

The trip wasn't too bad :)and we had a swell time, but we sorely missed KL hahaha

The trip to Spore was a headache to me coz I cudn't find my precious passport with all the border stampings of all the countries I was in Europe last year, including all the places most tourists don't go..some of the pages has 3 or 4 different stamps.. flight, ship, train, land vehicles on it. My sister had borrowed it for something she needed to show the bank for me to be her guarantor and sweared she had put it back in my travel bag but now it has gone missing ): So for Spore, I had to rush for an emergency passport just for the trip. I got it at top speed with the help of er "higher authority" the Monday morning of our departure date itself.

We got off with sort of a glitch, we missed our 2:20PM SQ flight :) becoz we both thot we had enuff time to make it to the airport in our own sweet time :) It was a blessing in disguised coz we were switched to the next MAS flight at 3:40PM and got to grab a late lunch at Burger King in peace and I got to book my return flight on MAS as well coz it has an 11PM flight back to KL on the 18tn.

Orchard/Scott road/the Atria area has some semblance to Bukit Bintang/ Star Hill area in KL and Champ d'Elysee in Paris..except Bukit Bintang has much more oomph! is more meriah in terms of more tourists and the stores lining it. The first thing I did the evening we arrived, after dinner was to head to Borders at the corner of our hotel :) [OK so I have a big problem with this magnet attraction to bookstores.. my sister Ida was kicking and screaming during all the few steps we had to walk to the Borders at the corner. Non-book ppl just do not understand the power of reading and imagination when one get absorbed reading a book! In my family only 3 of us are infected with this particular condition and thus, are voracious readers, my mom, my second brother -(whom was accepted to law school but decided to go into journalism, ending up being an editor instead) and myself. My mother must have read the whole Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka's library when she was carrying me and my brother coz what-do-you know we are the only two children crazy about books :)]

Dinner at Café Vienna was quite nice, we met two other contest winners, who incidently was sitting beside us at the dinner table. Ian couldn't make it the evening of the 17tn, so Slyvia the organizer cajoled me to stay another nite and leave on the 19tn but since I have an important meeting on the 19tn in our Plant in Kemaman,acquised to attend dinner on the 18tn (just to give me enuff time to ask Ian to do a segment on Terengganu and maybe my turtles on the Discovery Channel ;).. but will leave on the same nite via MAS. I timed my flight, taxi and how many minutes it took me to rush from the Hyatt Grand ballroom to the precise minute so I can took off that nite without a glitch coz I CANNOT missed my flight.

On the 18tn, we have a whole day to ourselves since dinner only started at 7PM. I didn't put my phone on roaming option since it was such a short trip, so my pda was hopeless and I cudn't get in touch with John & F while I was in Spore. My sister and I decided to check out Little India and Arab Street, as well as the Atria area. We took the subway as well as the double-decker bus. I find Little India a tourist traps as all the prices are so inflated compared to Masjid India in KL which has better stuff at such bargain prices. I end up buying some Lily-of-the-Valley incense for my mom and myself as there is not much option coz we can get everything offered there at Jln Tunku Abdul Rahman in KL. At Atria I bought fridge magnets for my sister and sister-in-law. I exchanged some money at Arab Street just for my cab to airport. My sister also don't know what to get and end up buying hundreds of minutes in phone card to talk to her children, as well as collectible toys for them.

Since the Hyatt is just across the street, we got to dinner early for the pre-dinner affair. Dinner started around 7:30PM and was pretty nice with a distinct Brit flair. All white and black theme. Ian “the Food that I Like” menu was potatoes and pea salad with a subdued Indian taste, a Thai noodle soup served in a young coconut, Fish & Chips served in a paper cone, Sirloin beef and dessert & coffee. I had a chance to chat up with Ian and took some pics as well as give my contact no when he ASKED ;) for it. He is coming to KL as part of the gourmet summit in May, along with Anthony Bourdain, Alain Ducasse, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver. I am not sure if Discovery Travel & Living will be interested in doing a segment for my turtles and beautiful Terengganu but I just had to grab the chance to sell it to Ian (since I understand he is also one of the producer for his program)while I was at the dinner (that was the only reason I agreed to escort Ida to meet Ian anyway :)

I had to skip beef and desssert & coffee to catch my 11PM flight. So as soon as it hits 9:30PM said my goodbye to Ian and was out of there, with the concierge having a taxi waiting already. I had a nice conversation during the half hour time it took me to the Changi airport with my taxi driver who BTW has of all sirnames SCULLY (reminds me of the X-files!). We chat about the landslide disaster in Java and the relief efforts for both Tsunamis and Java by Msian and Sporean communities. Mr Good-Looking Scully in the meantime managed to insert in the conversation he is still single :) and I managed to part some advice for him to find a nice Indonesian lady to marry since he was complaining most Sporean ladies are into material things. It seems like dejavu coz when I first came back to Malaysia, a Chinese taxi driver told me the same thing..that it was difficult for him to get married on his income coz for a Chinese wedding he must have at least RM100K for the reception alone. A Chinese fren once confided in me that his wife demanded 2 oversea holidays per year or it'll be ground for divorce! So perhaps there's some truth to this.

I arrived home close to 2AM and at 6AM had to head off for Terengganu with a long day ahead and non-stop agenda until dinner when I can finally checked in at Awana Kijal for a much needed rest. I maintained 190KM/hr speed all the way with the rental car to the Plant to make it in time. When I arrived at the Plant, the audit has started and there was no breather whatsoever until I checked into Awana at 8PM.

It was a most tiring week indeed! I need to find pockets of time to catch on my sleep soon ..it is not such a good idea to always be on a prolonged energizer-bunny mode! It is nice that Awana has become my second home and its staff took good care of me. I had a good nite sleep on its nice fluffy bed (Royal Plaza's mattress not as fluffy complained my dear sister..)with the wonderful view of the South China Sea before I head off again..yet again.