Singapore Once Again

The birthday trip wouldn't be complete without spending it with my brother. From Bangkok, my sister and I went straight to The Waterina in Singapore. Jon was unaware that Jen was with me. Again, the three J's were reunited.

Jen stayed only for 2 nights and a day. We had a sibling lunch date at Gary's, Harbourfront.

July 18, a hectic evening for us. We accompanied Jen to the airport for her flight back to Manila and at the same time, fetch Elena and Elsa who were joining me for 2 days in Singapore.

July 20 was a day spent in Sentosa. The girls blended well with the Singaporeans and had a great time in Sentosa. The day was capped with a Dolphin Show.

July 21 was a city tour day. We visited the different tourist spots and 2 hospitals in Singapore. Afterwhich, we headed to the Night Safari after Elena bought a laptop. A shopping galore at Mustafa ended the night.

July 22, after a few hours of sleep, the girls headed home. When i went back to my brother's place, i was locked out :(. No body was home. Good thing, a friend of mine -Jho - was also in SG and so, i took the oppurtunity to see her. We met at Takayashi and had coffee at Starbucks. By lunchtime, I was reunited with my brother as we had lunch in a Filipino Restaurant. Mall hopping was our next itinerary followed by Pasalubong shopping. Before midnight, i was on my home.

(Singapore, Singapore July 17-22)

Bangkok's Grandeur

The original plan was to travel alone - try something new on my birthday. But, as soon as i got my flight booked and told it to a friend, my friend and her friends decided to tug along. My sister also signed up for the trip. By the end of June, alone became a group of 6. It didn't end in that, because at the airport 6 more friends were on the same flight to Bangkok-what a coincidence! My alone-trip became a barkada trip, which made my birthday trip a lot more fun that what I planned it to be.

My travelmates for the Bangkok trip was composed of Jen (my sister), Sol and Mich (my co-residents) with their friends- Kisseth and Percy, the newlyweds Gigi and Bim with Richmond (our common friend) and Melissa with her husband and child...barkada trip!

Even if my alone trip did not pushed through, at least, I had a first. I celebrated my birthday on the plane..that is a 1st for me! ;p We arrived in Bangkok at past midnight. We were fetched by the Khao San Road Transfer which brought us to Royal Hotel - our official residence in Bangkok . Well, the ride to the hotel was longer that what it should be since the driver mistook our hotel for Royal River Hotel. Eventually, we were brought to Royal Hotel after a lengthy conversation to make the driver understand that it was not our hotel.

At the hotel, the baggage boy got mad at our 10Baht tip (sorry, we haven't had our money exchanged to smaller Baht denomination, 100Baht is too much for a tip considering we only had backpacks)

Breakfast at Royal Hotel was a feast. My sister and I had 3 sets of breakfast - loading up for a tiring day. ;p City Pillar Shrine was our 1st stop before the Ministry of Defense. We took snap shots in front of Sanam Luang. The rest of the day was spent in temple hopping starting with the Emerald Buddha Temple at the Grand Palace. After setting our tongues on fire by eating Thai cuisine, we rode a Thonburi and had our Chai Praya River tour. We had our 1st BTS ride at Saphin Taksin. We headed to Phaya Thai where we visited the Erawan Shrine, Democracy Monument, Suan Pakkad Palace Museum, Baiyoke Tower and Pratunam Market. The rain poured by early evening which made hailing a taxi cab an impossible task; thus, we ended up renting a Tuktuk for out ride home. It was like a carnival ride - Hold on to your seats! (Bangkok, Thailand July 15-17)