Tulad nung nangyari last year, naimbitahan na naman akong mag-talk sa mga partners/customers namin nung Holy Week, this time sa Singapore. So at least di masyadong Amazing Race-ish ang drama ko ngayon dahil di naman kelangan ng Visa to go there. More time to prepare din, maski pareho lang halos ang topic ko this year with last year's.
Hindi sagot ng SG BU ang gastos so minarapat ko na rin na ako na lang ang mag-asikaso ng itinerary ko. The conference itself will happen on Holy Thursday, so I decided to fly in on Wednesday morning, then fly out on Friday evening. Gustuhin ko man mag-extend eh wala namang nag-offer na friends to help me out. Hmph. :P Magastos sa SG noh, so I'll just work with the sked na within sa travel guidelines ng company.
Arrived in SG around 10AM and una kong napansin driving out of the airport to Sentosa Island (where I was staying -- I booked a hotel that's closer to the event venue) was napakaluwag ng trapik. Super linis pa, and with trees on the sides. O ha, parang parke lang. Although syempre, di ko naman nagala ang buong country so I'm not sure if the state of things are similar sa... highway. LOL. But still.
Napakamahal ng taxi. No wonder unang abiso sakin was to use public transport. Eh hello kakarating ko pa lang so di ko pa alam kung pano pumunta from one place to another.
Fortunately I was able to avail of an early check in free of charge, so I used that to... sleep. LOL! Di ako nakatulog the night before eh. And I had to wake up at 3AM for the 6AM flight (na na-delay din naman... ugh!).
That afternoon I went to the SG office to meet with the MKT people there for a work-related meeting. Naligaw pa ko papunta dun dahil the first cabbie dropped me off sa Science Center, instead of Science Park, which is like a mile away (goodbye SGD13... nalimutan ko pa kunin ang resibo shet). Maliit lang pala yung office sa SG. Nagpadala si madam ng pastillas para dun sa Pinoy na andun pero wala sya (may sakit daw). Medyo naluka ako sa meeting. At lalo akong naluka pag-uwi dahil mga 30 minutes ata akong nakatanga. Apparently madalang ang taxi sa area so unless magpa-pick up ka (or commute via bus, which I don't want to risk on my first day) gudlak na lang talaga sa paghihintay.
Decided to make gala to Orchard Road, particularly sa Borders bookstore. Wala naman akong binili at nalimutan ko na namang humingi ng resibo sa cab. Ugh! This time, I tried using the MRT, which was very efficient naman pala talaga. I love the interchange(s)! :P Sana ganun ang MRT dito sa Pinas but... oh well.
Ang naging problema ko lang, though, was when I reached the end of my commute (Harbourfront + the Sentosa monorail Beach Station). Di ko alam kung san na 'ko pupunta. LOL! I ended up boarding the wrong bus/tram (well, technically tama rin naman, sa kabilang dulo nga lang ako binaba so lalo akong nalito), pero bonggang bonggang lakad sa main road ang ginawa ko. Alone. I found out the day after na may mas madali palang lumakad papuntang hotel galing sa Beach Station mismo. Yeesh.
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