Happy Sunday afternoon...

My original plan this afternoon was to watch Kimi no Na Ha. The movie with Eng subs is now in cinemas so I wanted to watch it.

However, I got a surprise message from my friend Jackson saying he managed to get a flight assignment to Tokyo.

I've been waiting for this for months, so I ditched the movie plans and instead headed to Yokohama after my Sunday work.

He was staying at Intercon Yokohama in Sakuragicho. It's my first time to visit the place. I've always loved Yokohama. After visiting Sakuragicho, I fell in love with Yokohama even more.

What a superb afternoon! =)

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!

Kok Kuan's birthday lunch...

Yesterday's hike ended with a lunch at Dian Xiao Er.

Shane wasn't able to join us for the walk, but he did go for the lunch. It was good because I managed to ask him to buy the cake for Kok Kuan.

However, an Auntie spoiled the surprise when she said the Chinese word for cake.

Oh well, it was still a nice surprise for Kok Kuan.

The first Singapore wedding I've ever attended...

Yesterday, I attended my first wedding ever in Singapore.

Though I've been living in Singapore for a few years now, I've never really been invited to any wedding. The reasons I can think of and which I think are valid are the following: 1.) most of my colleagues are still in their mid to late 20s and I guess are not thinking of marriage yet; 2.) most of my friends are AJ and naturally, cannot get married here. Hehe!

That is why I was so happy when fellow museum docent Zuraidah invited me to her wedding to Red (who also happens to be a museum docent). In fact, Red is one of the most senior and knowledgeable docents, in my opinion.

The reception was held at an atas place called Mamanda in Kampong Glam, just in front of the Malay Heritage Centre. The reception venue looked fantastic. The food was awesome! Above all, the bride and groom shone on their big day.

Thank you again, Zuraidah, for inviting me to the celebration of your marriage to Red! Definitely a very memorable experience to me as well.

What a Saturday night...

What an insane night last night was! Haha!

One hotel room, 30 plus people, a mix of Malaysians, Singaporeans, HongKongers, Filipinos, good food, good booze, lots of laughter and good conversations.

That's basically a very short and very simplified description of how the birthday party was.

There were crazy moments as well. Let's just say that the number of Merlions the island has doubled. Lol! I dunno how I ended up playing Nurse Jackie to a few, haha!

It was a really fun and memorable night! I guess my favourite was the when we sang for the birthday boy. It started out in English. By the time the song was coming to an end, I yelled, "Okay, in Mandarin!" Followed by, "In Tagalog!" Then it was, "In Cantonese!" Followed by, "In Malay!" It was just amazing how everyone was game! Haha!

Congrats to Tian3X for the success of the birthday party!

Birthday lunch for Mr. Lim...

I organised a somewhat surprise birthday lunch for Mr. Lim last Saturday.

Somewhat because I'm guessing he had an idea on who was going to be there. Hehe!

A few days before his birthday, I asked him where he wanted to have his birthday lunch. He just said he wanted curry fish head.

Richie reco'd we go to Samy's Curry Fish Head at Dempsey.

The fact that the place was in Dempsey assured me that it was going to be an ideal place for a birthday lunch.

After making reservations, I sent invites to our common friends - Miru, Des, Justin, David, Patrick. Thankfully, all of them said they were available for the lunch.

I was also thinking of inviting his god brother Bryan, but I think he'll prefer to have a separate lunch with him.

Saturday noontime, Miru and I met up at Plaza Singapura to buy cake before heading to Dempsey. Of course, the obvious choice was Awfully Chocolate since the cake was sure to be delicious. Hehe!

From Plaza Sing, we took a bus to get to Dempsey. Thankfully, Samy's Curry wasn't too far from the main road unlike the other food places like Jones the Grocery or House. Hehe!

A few minutes of waiting and the birthday boy arrived. The others were late. Lol!

We already ordered food since Mr. Lim said he was starving. And of course, the lunch was for him after all. It didn't make sense to make the celebrant wait. Haha!

So we ordered a Medium Fish Head, palak paneer, butter chicken, black squid and biryani rice. Yum, yum! While waiting for the food, we enjoyed the compli papadum.

I love Indian food. If I didn't care about putting on weight, I would eat biryani rice and prata more often. Haha!

Just as we started eating, the others arrived and joined the happy lunch.

Afterwards, we asked the waiter to clear the table so that we can have the cake. We bought the choco/banana flavour which everyone found awesome. Yay!

Though Samy's Curry is in Dempsey, the price was not that ex. Our total bill came out to about $120, which was okay. The cake was just $32 and everyone got to have second servings. Haha!

Glad that Mr. Lim enjoyed his birthday lunch!

SAMY'S CURRY (DEMPSEY) PTE LTD
25 Dempsey Road
Singapore 249670
Tel : 6472 2080
Opening Hours :
11am-3pm ( Lunch )
6pm-10pm ( Dinner )
Open on Monday and Wednesday to Sunday (Including Public Holidays).
Closed every Tuesday.

HBD to my favourite Singaporean guy...

Yesterday was the birthday of Melvin - my first Singaporean friend and my favourite Singaporean man (hehe!).

I can't believe it's almost three years since we've met each other through a common friend, Francis. I met Francis through Ian during those days when I still did dragon boating.

The first time I met Melvin was during a trek at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Being a newbie in Singapore, I wanted to meet people, explore the island, know as much as I could about my new "home."

Francis told me he was going for a hike at Bukit Timah, which was still unknown to me then. Hiking? In Singapore? That was the last thing on my mind. I've always associated the island with high-end shops, designer stores, non-stop shopping. That just goes to show how limited I knew about Singapore then. Three years laters and I'm proud to say I know a whole lot more now. Hehe.

Going back to Francis, it was not difficult for me to tell him that I wanted to join him being the morning person that I was/am.

So my very first nature walk in the island was Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Bukit Timah railway, which ceased operations around that time.

Francis left for the UK soon after.

Melvin and I stayed in touch. Who knew that our one-time meeting would turn into a friendship brought together by a love for the green side of the island? Hehe!

Thanks to Melvin, I've explored places around the island, a few of my Singaporean colleagues never even knew existed.

From Pulau Ubin to Sungei Buloh, from Bukit Timah to Punggol Promenade, from Labrador Park to Macritchie, yup, we've pretty much covered almost all the nature parks around the island.

The other thing I'm grateful for for Melvin is that he is proud of his heritage and he is keen to share about the local history and culture. It didn't take long before we expanded our adventure walks from the forests to the heritage sites.

I've been to the Istana with him. We've done the Bukit Brown Cemetery walk twice. He's still planning a trip to the Southern isles.

Mama met him when she came here for her holiday. He drove us around and brought us to the usual tourist place and the not so touristy places.

So yeah, a huge chunk of what I know of and what I have seen around Singapore is all thanks to Melvin.

I'm planning a surprise birthday lunch for him this Saturday. Thankfully, a bunch of our friends are free to go. Yay!

Happy birthday, Melvin!

Two despedida dinners in one night...

Is it a year for moving? Changing places to live in?

Last Sunday night was the farewell dinner for two friends from two different groups.

And I dunno why, but both group scheduled the get-together on the same night and at the same time. Haha!

So how?

Derek is from PG Boy's group of friends. He's moving to somewhere in Europe. Or I think he's moving first to China before making the move to Europe. I can't remember. I met Derek a few years ago during a Christmas get-together at another friend's house. Friendly, happy guy. He'll be missed by a lot, for sure. Hehe!

Coly, on the other hand, is my friend. I met her through Richie as they are work colleagues and have been work colleagues for the longest time.

I can't remember the exact time that I met her but I do remember liking her a lot. She's one of those people who's very easy to get along with. She's always smiling and has a lot of nice, funny stories to tell. Like Derek, Coly will be moving to somewhere in Europe. She'll still work for the same company but a different position.

I'm glad that I still managed to go to both. Although I just did a cameo at Derek's dinner, I really wanted to go just to say buhbye and wish him all the best. From Derek's dinner, I rushed to Orchard for Coly's and stayed with the gang til we called it a night.

Hmm, wonder when it'll be my turn... haha!

Where to go, ah?

Saturday hangout with Jin and Jane...

Saturday afternoon was spent with volunteer friends I rarely see Jin and Jane.

I met them in one of the organizations I volunteer with. We were batchmates in the volunteer activity we signed up for. After the volunteer training, they are the ones I was able to keep in touch with. I dun see them that often but thankfully, I am always updated because Jane is quite active with Facebook. I also consult with her when it comes to some work matters. Hehe!

Two weeks ago, the three of us agreed to meet up. It's been so long since I last saw them and a get-together was definitely much needed.

We met up at Tang Plaza before 1PM and headed to the Island Cafe at the fourth level of the mall. It was a nice place for a get-together. Tucked in a corner at the fourth floor, it was far from the maddening crowd of shoppers. Hehe!

The cafe serves a mix of Singaporean and Western dishes. Both of them had crayfish laksa while I ordered the chicken biryani. It was enjoyable. I felt that the taste wasn't that strong. My guess is because they want to make it more suitable for ang moh customers. (I didn't see too many ang mohs though). I love the biryani at Little India or at the biryani place in Sengkang Mr. Lim and I usually go to. The flavors and spices are really tasted throughout the meal. Hehe!

From Island Cafe, we crossed to the other side of Orchard and headed to Robert Timms at Wheelock Place. Like Island Cafe, it's one of the few places I think that is far away from the noise and stress brought by the shopping crowd of Orchard. Hehe!

After enjoying our dessert and coffee, we then made our way to the library in Bugis. They wanted to borrow some books and I wanted to check out some books as well in preparation for a trip next year. ;-)

Before we parted ways, we walked to Toastbox for coffee and tea. Haha! My day started with Toastbox (had the pork floss set for breakkie) and it also ended with Toastbox.

Time flew by so fast. Hard to believe that we were already hanging out for five hours or so. We were just chatting and chatting and chatting.

Definitely was a nice Saturday afternoon thanks to good food, quiet get-together places, great friends and great conversations.

This was a happy day...

This was a happy day...

Pre-birthday lunch with the guys...

At the last minute, I decided to have a birthday lunch for my becky bunch here in the little red dot. 

Initially, I was just planning to have the kiddie gift-giving activity next weekend as my main celebration for this year. On the big day itself, I was just planning to have a "me" day since it's a work day and since PG Boy is still overseas for his holiday.

Then I just thought of holding a lunch for friends. After all, except for MkSurf8, Ian and Chris, I rarely see the rest of the guys. It would be a good time for everyone to meet and catchup. It would also be my own little way of thanking them for being my becks family here. 

Good thing most of them were free for the lunch. Only Rich and honorary becky Coly were unable to go because of work. 

So yesterday morning, I woke up quite early. After dropping by Toastbox for breakkie, I headed to Fair Price to buy ingredients for the lunch. By 9, I started prepping my pasta. By 11, I got the roasted chicken, drinks and desserts and headed to MkSurf8's place.

Half past-twelve, people started arriving. It was a small group and it was just right. I'm glad that Tipz and Chris were able to go. I'm glad that Bien and his kumare were there. It was also good to see Chiz, Jeff and Mon. 

After lunch, we all just hung out. MkSurf8 opened a few bottles of wine. Others started mixing their own drinks. I had a few glasses of wine and whiskey, so I had a buzz at 3 in the afternoon. LOL!

In the evening, Ian, Chris, MkSurf8, Mon and I met up with Rich at Little Vietnam along Guillemard Rd for dinner. I'm also glad to have seen Rich.

What I thought would be just a few hours of hanging out with the guys turned out into an almost entire day thing, which I thought was just really awesome! :D

I'm grateful to have these guys as friends. And I'm grateful to have the advance bday celeb with them!

Four birthday parties in one..

Ask any person living abroad and (almost) everyone will agree with this.

One of the best things about living in foreign land is having the opportunity to be friends with people of different backgrounds and nationalities.

Though I've been living in Singapore for just a little over year, I'm really glad to have met, aside from fellow Filipinos, quite a number of people from other races and nationalities who have sort of become friends.

One of the highlights of a recent weekend was attending the joint birthday celeb of four non-Pinoy (what's a better way of describing them? fellow Asians?) friends - E, Jase, Ken and Ho.

Ho and Jase are both Singaporean. Ken and E, on the other hand, are Indonesians.

I met Ken and E thanks to Ian who brought me with him to rowing on my first month here. Ho, I remember, I met when Ian and I attended the opening of E's exhibit with his classmates at La Salle. As for Jase, I met him last December when I joined the guys help E and Pg Boy move to a new place in the East. Hehe!

As I said earlier, the four guys decided to hold one celeb since they are June/July babies. Hehe! The guys booked a room at the Swissotel Merchant Hotel in Clarke Quay. The location was just perfect since everyone was coming from another event the night of the party.

Pg Boy and I had dindin with my friends Rich and Coly before heading to the venue for after-dinner drinks and hohol with the birthday boys and their guests.

What's the good thing about attending a party of multi-racial friends? You meet more people from other backgrounds. Hehe. As expected, the guests were mostly Indonesians and Singaporeans. There were a few Malaysians. I was the only Filipino. Pinas represent. Haha.

It was all good.

When you become friends with someone, the person just becomes a friend. You forget about their nationality, their race, their background. That's the nice thing about friendship, I guess.

It was quite a fun night. Close to 20 people were present, which I thought was just right since it gave everyone a chance to talk to everyone. I didn't get a buzz at all because I refrained from having too many glasses of wine. Plus, there was Pg Boy who was my alcohol police that night. Hehe!

Around midnight, the party feel was already in full swing so it was decided that the party should continue at one of the local dance clubs. Pg Boy and I chose to skip since we were both tired, and I've had my dose of tugs already thanks to Charles' DJ-ing. Haha!

Nice, nice hohol night.

Happy birthday, E, Jase, Ken and Ho!

Chrissy din...

In Manila, one of the highlights of the Christmas season is the annual Christmas party with the gang, which we have called Queersmas party (Hehe!).

The first ever I can recall was in 2003, I think, at the place Xoch and Jigs were renting. Since then, it has been a yearly thing. Sometimes, the venue would be at a restau. Sometimes, it would be at someone's home.

Wherever it was, the gathering is always meaningful, full of laughter and happiness. For me, it's a time to be with friends who have made the year that is about to come to an end very memorable and special.

I'm really glad that that tradition was carried on here in Singapore.

Despite our busy schedules, Ian, Chris, MkSurf8 and I were able to plan a Chrissy dinner for friends. Hehe.

Thanks to MkSurf8 for agreeing to have the dinner party at his place.

Thanks to Chris' contact, we were able to have Filipino dishes - chicken adobo, lumpiang shanghai, sisig, and rice. Hehe! Guests also brought food and booze. Ray Conniff music played. The TFC was on. Hehe.

It was the OFW version of the Queersmas dinner party. :) Definitely a good first Queersmas dindin away from home for me.

Happy Christmas!

It's the start of Xmas 2011...

It's officially Christmas.

Yesterday, I attended my first Pinoy gathering for Christmas 2011.

Friday night, I was checking Facebook and that's when I saw the message from JoAnn inviting people to their home for a Christmas gathering.

JoAnn and Kym adopted me on several of my trips here to SG. They also adopted me on my first month in SG. That's why I am so, so grateful to this couple.

After checking with Pg Boy our weekend schedule, I confirmed our attendance to the gathering with JoAnn.

I thought it was really sweet of her to call me on the morning of the gathering just to tell me to ask Pg Boy to go.

I was also looking forward to the gathering because I know that the food will be Pinoy. Woohoo!

Saturday morning, I headed to Ikea Tampines to look for present Pg Boy and I can give for the exchange gift.

Since Pg Boy moved to Tampines, it was much easier for us to get to the home of JoAnn and Kym. Their place was only a few bus stops away.

By 5PM, I was back in my first home in SG. I kinda miss that area. Though it was a bit crowded, I like it that I had access to almost everything I need.

Some guests were already there when we arrived. Other guests started arriving minutes after Pg Boy and I came.

It was a nice gathering. I definitely enjoyed the food. For someone who doesn't really celebrate Christmas, I think Pg Boy did okay. He liked the lumpiang shanghai. And he was game enough to join the games prepared by Rej, JoAnn and Jackie.

We didn't get to stay for the exchange gift part though. It was date night for us, so we had to leave around 8 plus.

Still, it was a good dinner and games night. Thank you to JoAnn and Kym for having us.

Loooong Sunday aftie...

While Saturday was quite a relaxing day, I couldn't say the same of Sunday. Haha!

PG Boy and I got home from the boys night out just before midnight. I fell asleep close to 1AM.

I got up around 6AM, because I wanted to catch the 730AM Mass at the Lourdes Church in Ophir Road. Given the activity/errands for the day, I knew it was my only chance to have my QT with Lordy.

From Ophir, I took the bus ride to Bedok Reservoir Park for dragonboat rowing. Two hours of rowing under the scorching heat of the sun.

Wahlau! I die! The day was so hot meh! Hehe!

It's our second to the last training before the river regatta. Good luck to us! I think I've gotten stronger, and I'm more determined to race this time. Yosef did very well in motivating people. Though there were just six rowers plus him, I actually felt quite good after that training day.

From Bedok Reservoir, I grabbed a quickie lunch before heading back to PG Boy's place. Afternoon to evening was allotted for the birthday get-together with friend Desmond.

Headed to Bugis Junction to pick up a gift for Desmond. Walked to Purvis to get the cake from Garibaldi. Then walked to Fairmont to meet up with Melvin. He booked a room for the celebration. Nice, nice hotel!

When PG Boy and Desmond arrived around four, we left the hotel and drove to Marina Bay Sands for the Titanic exhibit. It was impressive, very impressive. The setup was really good. Check it out if you can. We also checked out the Dali exhibit. Not a huge fan of Surrealism, but it was still okay. No photos of the exhibit because I was told no photography allowed. Boo. :-(

From MBS, we headed to Pepes at Ngee Ann City for Indonesian dindin. By the time we got there, I was really tired and I was slightly nauseous. Perhaps it was because I didn't have enough sleep and I was just really tired. Really, really grateful PG Boy was there because I got to lean on him during the drive back to Fairmont.

We surprised Desmond when we brought in the cake while doing a lousy job of singing him the birthday song. Hehe! He looked genuinely surprised that there was a cake for him. Yeeey! Success!

It was a very looong day indeed, but it was a very good one!