Hello Singapore! (Day 2)

November 19, 2012

himala. wala akong photo of my breakfast meals at the hotel

must be the moments of anxiety about our project. which I shall spare you details of na lang, haha

today was the tool briefing. and I'm just relieved to have lived thru it

but I wouldn't want to bore you with those work-related details, and I'll focus on the more interesting stuff instead :)

we had breakfast as early as 6:30 am, finally meeting Stuart, our consultant. we then took a taxi and was in the office na by 7:30

i loooove the SG office and i wished the ULP office looked just like it too

20 Mapletree Business City Pasir Panjang

Vitality symbols all over the entrance

so we were sharing the building pala with HSBC so they also had their own entrance on the right portion.

sayang I didn't get to take photos na of the 'insides'. but looking forward to going back soon, haha.

the briefing ended sooner. so by 2 pm, after having lunch with the SG team (where I had my first taste of macaroons) and seeing my HR Foundation 'classmates' again, my boss and I sneaked out muna and went to Ikea!

I've always wanted to have Ikea furniture having seen the catalogues being sent by relatives from Sweden. kaya it was great getting to go to an actual store naman

shopping cart

medyo nahiya lang ako to take photos. kaya I will only be able to share a few shots

ang cool kasi they even had measuring tapes, shopping lists around to help customers plan for their purchases

I soo wanted to take some and bring it with me as souvenirs. kaso medyo may onting hiya pa naman ako, hehe

I didn't actually think I'd purchase anything. kaso there was a specific area I just coudn't resist. it was full of trinkets and was mish mash of party/decor/colorful stuff

plush toys and kitchen timers

I ended up buying kitchen stuff for Mama, some cute neon-colored containers, neon-colored utensils, a set of travel pouches and drop frames shaped-like film strips

my purchases!

we made a quick dash to the hotel to drop off our purchases then went back to the office to prepare for the next day

dinner plans at Marche were also set with Mazelle, Leng and Nohrin, all 3 now based in SG

prior to that though, my boss and I had a quick stopover in one place na hindi ko inisip na sadyain during my visit

boom!

and being in a place like that and knowing I don't really make much effort fixing my self up, it was inevitable...

yup, those things ended up on my face

at least I was not alone, haha



Nohrin gets made up too, haha

 now off to dinner!

VivoCity rooftop sky park

Marche

the concept of the place wasn't anything different from Makansutra. there were 'booths' or areas for specific kinds of dishes, you had to order from there and claim it once ready na. it just differed on the type of food being served, since Swiss dishes naman here

interesting lang was the ordering system

we each got guest cards like this where you need to swipe it lang as you order. so the orders get accumulated na lang and you need to pay for it na lang as you leave

so kanya-kanyang order ulit kami!

potato galore!

so if sa Makasuntra I ordered roti. dito naman I got rosti!

with Chicken sausage and the original

Rosti was basically a dish made out of grated potatoes and a national dish pala ng Swiss
it comes with different kinds of sausages or you can just have good 'ol plain potatoes
you had an option too to take it with gravy, or the dressing

other dishes we ordered

Swiss crispy pata? haha

chicken wings

calamari

and some greens... which are mostly meat. haha

this dinner will forever be memorable because of this photo, haha -- lemon drizzled rosti 

product of a life-changing insight

had a really good time listening to their sharings and stories. it had me thinking about my work life / personal life too

sayang Leng didn't make it

great place, great food, great friends, great night

with Nohrin and Mazelle

Uf Wiederluege Merci!

and yes, I hope to be back soon!

can anyone bring Marche to PH please?

P.S. it took us awhile to get a decent shot with the tree. haha. may times kasi that it just blacked out

finally!

watch out for Hello Singapore! (Day 3) :)

Hello Singapore! (Day 1)

November 18, 2012

I really had mixed feelings about this trip to SG. syempre I was excited kasi it will be my first time. however considering the nature of the trip and all--caused me extreme anxiety.

lone traveller
photo from my Instagram account @jobnacpil

traveling alone wasn't the problem. I think I have a way of adapting to unfamiliar situations naman. and I do enjoy flying by myself rin. this whole roll-out was really just unnerving.

my family dropped me off at about 12 nn. there was quite a line for SQ. siguro nga there was really something wrong with the site - kaya I didn't get to do the web check-in.

saw Sir Pete rin. apparently we were on the same flight. but he sped along--he must be a Kris Flyer. which reminds me--I really should have signed up for that na.

my 2nd destination in SEAA

the whole time I was worried about my e-ticket too. I noticed lang the night before that they misspelled my name. pero mukhang di na rin nila napansin sa check-in counter. or hindi lang talaga sya that important.

while waiting for boarding, i got a bit hungry - buti na lang I brought along my favorite cheese muffins from French Baker and a kid-size Chuckie

finally got in the place, and noticed they had a really good-looking cabin crew. the girls were even dressed in these cool batik dresses. and apparently color-coded sya depending on their level

from the in-flight magazine

at first I wasn't really sure what the fuss was about SQ. I couldn't differentiate much from Cathay.
though relatively its a bit more spacious? haha. siguro I just got so used to the budget airlines so anything apart from that was great for me.

on-board SQ 917

my flight left about an hour later due to runway traffic. i didn't even realize we already left MNL (haha yes I'm narcoleptic) good thing I woke up in time for the meal

SQ in-flight meal

yummm. something diff sa SQ was they shared the menu once all passengers were settled down. so for people like me who take awhile to decide on even the mundane things--that setup works pretty well for me.

and in 3 hours. just a little past 6.. touchdown Changi airport

hello Singapore!
photo from my Instagram account @jobnacpil

I read somewhere that the airport in itself is one heck of an attraction. hopefully I'd get a chance to go around before my flight back to MNL.

while in queue for a taxi. chanced upon these. not sure what purpose these things serve. but sure looks like a work of art to me haha

si Uncle naka-iphone

finally got a taxi. right hand drive nga pala sa SG. and you can use credit cards to pay for the fare. cool.. it even has a sort of GPS device that tracks distance, time and serves as a meter na rin.

absolutely enjoyed the travel to the hotel. easy driving. walang stops at all. no traffic! or maybe it was just because it was a Sunday kaya the streets had little traffic.

I didn't know where Traders was exactly kaya he had to phone someone for exact directions. I knew though that the fare from the airport to the hotel would be about S$ 23 so I was checking the meter to know if I was near na.

when I got to the hotel I rested a bit lang and shortly met Ms. Ira and Nohrin for dinner - hawker style!

as there was a considerable amount of traveling required to get to our destination we took a cab to Esplanade. it was a good way to go around the city. I knew I didn't have enough time to explore SG kaya at least kahit papano I'm able to go around

the Singapore flyer from afar

from Esplanade we walked a few meters to Makasuntra Gluttons Bay

I've come to the right place

okay so ang notion ko ng hawker style ay as in yung mga gotohan/mamihan natin dito. night market lang pala ang peg. haha

so we each went around and bought a dish we wanted.

at ang product ng aming collaboration ay fiesta!

I just had to try the roti + chicken curry

shrimp fried rice

cereal prawns

satay

sting ray

oyster cake

we shared a table with a Singaporean couple at medyo nagulat sila sa orders namin. haha.

there was nothing so different about the dishes. though exception ang cereal prawns--dahil breading palang ulam na. and the sting ray which was just incredibly exotic. haha. I liked that dish a lot though feeling ko parang kumakain lang ako ng tyan ng isda (which I don't like, btw)

me and Nohrin

ibang view naman - me and my boss

to burn off all the calories we just consumed, we walked by the bay

great view

and we arrived just in time for the light show!

what a beaut!

syempre I will not pass off an opportunity for a photo here

turista mode

I had a really good time with my SG welcome party. haha.. we didn't stay too long because we had work early in the morning pa.

what a way to start my SG trip :)

*Watch Out for Hello Singapore! (Day 2)

Crisostomo

November 16, 2012

this was a sweet escape.

knowing we only had finger foods for the Brandtastic event. it was a relief receiving a call inviting me to dinner outside Opus.

hindi swabe ang panorama shot ko haha

nasa Crisostomo na pala ang buong barangay

buti na lang they already ordered, so we didn't wait too long before dinner was served:

gising-gising

well, iba pa rin ang gising-gising ng Recipes, that's for sure. could use a bit more ooomph

Crispy Pata

classic dish na ang crispy pata. goes well with anything

Sinigang na Pampano

this was probably my third sinigang dish this week. at least yung una was pork then bangus. this time pampano naman.

all I had was the soup though. it was good naman but could use a bit more sourness

this last dish was quite interesting. what I found missing in the sinigang, I found naman here sa Bistek.

Bister Tagalog with a hint of sourness

over-all naman it was a pretty good and sure would want to come back here with Jeff.

like the feel of the place too. check out their resto designs:

interesting din how they gave us our bill:

bird felivery! straight to Silver, haha. marunong!

sayang lang we didn't get to stay too long since the event has started.

this was my first time really going around RW. a bit intimading kasi parang ang-posh ng place. but will be sure to invite Jeff here soon!