Izakaya night...

Today turned out to be such a long day.

I'm not complaining. It was a tiring but a really good day.

When I finished my last lesson, I was just looking forward to hanging out a friend. We agreed to go to Yurakucho, to one of the izakayas under the train tracks.

Haiboru, umeshu cora, and lots of izakaya food coupled with a great convo - ahh, it was a great Saturday night.

Dumpling party...

It was a fun Saturday night.

One of my new friends, Jack, hosted a dumpling party at his place and he was kind enough to invite me.

I thought I'd invite Dean to be my plus one. It would be a good opportunity to catch up with Dean. Thankfully, he didn't have any appointments last night.

The night turned out to be absolutely fun! We made dumplings from scratch. And maybe the fact that there was good music playing in the background, people were having drinks made the atmosphere really fun. Or maybe, it was just really a party full of fun people!

It was a perfect ending to my tiring Saturday. Haha! Thanks, Jack, for the invite!

Konnichiwa, Edsel...

For the first time, I closed four lessons in the evening.

The reason was I wanted to meet Edsel earlier. He arrived this afternoon. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fix my schedule properly because I didn't know Edsel's itinerary.

Thankfully, it wasn't very busy at the center today and I got permission to close my four lessons since they were not booked.

The only downside was it was raining. And it was chilly.

Still, Edsel and I met up for dinner at Ginza. After that, we walked over to Yurakucho and I took him to this row of izakayas. It was still a fun night. We had to call it a night early because I have work tomorrow. Also, we couldn't do much because of the rain.

Tomorrow night will be epic though.

Sunday with RKGreg...

Today was a really good day.

I had my first visitor in Tokyo! RKGreg is flying to the US to attend a wedding. As expected, his flight had a layover in Tokyo.

Thankfully, it was a 10-hour layover. We had time to meet up and hang out the entire day.

Last night, I messaged him to check what time he will get in. He said that he’ll probably reach Tokyo Station at 10AM.

That was perfect, as it gave me enough time to attend the 7AM Mass at St. Ignatius Church in Yotsuya.

After Mass, I headed to Tokyo Station and eagerly waited for RKGreg. Since I had some time to kill, I brought the Japanese vocabulary book from the centre I attended in Singapore. While waiting for RKGreg, I was trying to remember/memorise whatever Japanese word I could. Hehe!

At 10AM, I saw the familiar face in the crowd exiting the JR central gate exit.

Our first stop was Shibuya for lunch and coffee. Of course, we had to do the whole Shibuya Crossing thing. From Shibuya, we headed to Odaiba to see the Gundam statue. Surprisingly, RKGreg said he, MkSurf8 and Tian3x didn’t get to visit the statue when they were here for a holiday two years ago. Our final stop was Tokyo Tower. Again, he wanted to have a photo op with the tower.

From Hamamatsucho, we headed to Shinjuku where we had an early dinner.

After that, I walked him over to the JR gate of Shinjuku station to see him. I thanked him for the treat today and gave him a big hug.

As RKGreg walked away, it was then that I felt a tinge of loneliness. I realised how much I terribly miss my friends in Singapore.

But I gotta be strong, I prayed for this and God granted my prayers. He must have a reason why he said yes to my prayers! Just gotta keep the faith.

In the mean time, I can’t wait for more friends to visit Tokyo!

Wonderful Friday night surprise...

I just got home about an hour ago.

The guys threw a surprise party for me last night. Later on, I found that it was my friend Jon who went through all the trouble to organise the gathering.

I seriously thought that the gathering was for the birthday celeb of @MkSurf8. When I reached the lobby of Amara, @RKGreg fetched me at the lobby so that I could go up to the room.

The sweetest surprise welcomed me as soon as the door opened - my closest friends in Singapore, the most important people in my SG life all gathered together.

It was really a memorable night.

I stayed the night with Jon, Lara and Migs and we had brunch at nearby Group Therapy cafe.

What a wonderful gathering. I was deeply moved by the whole gesture and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU a million times over to @astralcowboy for organising the whole thing.

Now, I'm ready...

Thursdate with RKGreg and MkSurf8....

Mom and I spent most of Wednesday out and about walking around familiar places.

More about that in another post.

Our day ended with dinner together with two of my good friends here in Singapore - @MkSurf8 and @RKGreg. The two guys invited me to dinner last week but it had to be postponed to this week.

It was a blessing that the dinner was postponed since my Mom also got to meet them.

We had dinner at Wine Connection, definitely one of my fave places (although I didn't spend as much time frequenting it).

It was an evening with good food, a glass of wine, yum dessert, nice chitchat, and terrific friends. Every evening should have endings like this.

Thank you again, @RKGreg and @MkSurf8, for the dinner treat and more importantly, for the kindness right from the start. I'll always be grateful.

And happppppyyyy birthday, MkSurf8!

Por Kee dinner with the guys...

Zi char - one of the things I have grown to love when it comes to eating in Singapore.

Maybe because it reminds me of how meals are done in my home in Manila (or in almost every Filipino home, I guess). Maybe because any zi char meal is a great opportunity to hang out with family or friends and have a great time.

I can't remember the first zi char place I went to in Singapore but I do remember some of the goods ones I've been to.

Last night, I invited the guys to dinner at Por Kee Eating House in Tiong Bahru. It's one of my favourite zi char places in the island. They have really good coffee pork ribs but I believe the one dish everyone must try is the homemade beancurd.

It is super!

I'm glad that most of the guys haven't been to Por Kee. It was only Sarge who had a memory of the restau. I'm guessing we ate at the place a loong time ago, possibly during PG Boy days.

When I arrived at the place at 730PM, it was already busy. No, it was extremely busy. It was a good thing that I called a week ago to make reservations. Otherwise, it would've been a disaster for us. Hehe!

The guys enjoyed the food. I enjoyed the food and their company. Too bad Chris and Jin weren't able to join us as they are on holiday in Surabaya.

After dinner, we bought some desserts at Tiong Bahru bakery and took the bus to JB's and Ian's new place at Redhill for dessert, drinks, and more chitchat.

Last night was a gooood Saturday night!

Flowers, flowers, flowers...

Here are some photos from the SG Garden Fest and the Orchid Show at the Gardens by the Bay.

Since Sunday was the last day of the Garden Fest show, it was expected that the event was going to be crowded.

There was a part of the exhibit entitled "Floral Windows to the World." The hall featured a showcase of flower arrangements that were designed by local and international floral designers. I found that to be the best part of the exhibit.

From the SG Garden Fest, we walked to the nearby Flower Dome to check out the Orchid Show. Again, it was packed but it was quite pleasant since the dome had AC. Haha!

The orchids were just pretty, really pretty. I guess it does take skill to grow the orchids. The flowers were really lovely to look at.

Our day ended with a much-deserved dinner and chitchat at one of the cafes at the neighbouring MBS. It was a good Sunday!

Weekend with friends...

It was quite a packed Saturday.

In the morning, it was over at Boon Keng for a BBQ gathering with Jon and my ex-colleagues Arlyn, Joann.

In the afternoon, I was in Mountbatten for a gathering with fellow museum volunteers. One of our friends recently gave birth so we dropped by to say hello to the new parents and their wonderful baby.

Sunday was just as busy. Hehe.

Jon had free tickets to the SG Garden Fest. Together with our other friends, we tropped to the Gardens by the Bay where the event was held.

Since it was the last day of the event, it was packed.

The tix also included a free entrance to the Flower Dome, where the current theme is orchids. The place was also crowded. Hehe! It was a bit of a challenge to appreciate all the beautiful flowers.

Tiring weekend but good one.

Looking viewing party preps...

And this is how you do a viewing party.... Lol!

JB was kind enough to host a viewing get-together for HBO's Looking the movie. Erm, I think it was more because we volunteered his temp flat although I'm sure he would have volunteered his place, too. Thanks, JB.

It turned out to be a gathering that needed preparation. JB and Ian got themselves busy with arranging the place and figuring out the technical side of how we can watch the movie from the HBO site. They also thought of the chips and drinks. Mon and Richie, on the other hand, thought about whether extra chairs were needed. And naturally, they also thought of the food to be served for the pre-movie and the actual movie. My contribution was dessert (a few tubs of Ben & Jerry's) and crackers for the cheese and cold cuts.

And with all these preps, we are now ready to watch the movie...

Pinoy fiesta...

We had a Filipino feast last Saturday. Haha!

Just look at the photos of what we had...

Ahh, it was heaven for 5 overseas Filipino workers...

Bingsu bingsu...

There's a bingsu craze going around town recently, I think.

JB, Ian, Jon, and I recently went for a bingsu feast at one of the newly-opened Korean restaus at Star Vista.

Nice. It's perfect for the weather in Singapore. Haha!

It kinda reminds me of halo halo or ice kacang. Yums!

Dinner at Naughty Nuri's...

Some of the dishes from one of the welcome dinners for JB... hehe.

The other Sunday, we had a random dinner with JB. They suggested Naughty Nuri's at Capitol Piazza.

It was my first time at the place and I have to say, I want to go back. The food was gooood!

Nice dinner...

Wednesday night ASEAN hohol...

It was an enjoyable Wednesday night.

A week ago, Bernard asked me if I wanted to join him, Miru, and Jackie as they were planning to visit the pasar malam at Geylang Serai. Supposedly, there are a number of food items that are worth trying.

Initially, I thought I couldn't join them because they planned to meet at 6PM. I was knock off work at 530PM and I live all the way in the West. The pasar malam was all the way to the East.

Somehow, I managed to work out my schedule and I did end up joining the trio.

It was quite fun. There were a lot of people naturally, but I did enjoy trying out the different food items sold by various stall.

From the market, we walked to nearby One KM where we continued our conversation.

I think it was a really good convo as we didn't notice that it was already a bit late by the time we decided to head back. Haha!

Always good to see these guys. It felt like a meeting of ASEAN members since it included a Filipino, a Malaysian, an Indonesian (now Singaporean), and a Singaporean. Hehe!