When I first came to Makati, I had only one trolley with me. Four years later, I have to throw out ~10 large garbage bags, leave two trolley-fulls in my hometown, and still have 10 kilos of excess baggage upon checking in for my flight to Singapore.
Cate and I gave bread sticks and biscocho to the counter guy, and he shaved 3 kilos off for us. 1200 pesos saved. Not bad!
Four hours later, the two of us were getting scrutinized by the Singapore airport immigration officer. Just our luck we got the strictest one, who asked us how much cash we had. When she learned we had little cash on our person, she did not listen to me as I tried to explain that I had a debit card and could therefore withdraw cash in SGD.
She said that we needed cash if we intended to stay long in SG and that we could not depend on our friend, whom we mentioned was sponsoring us. I tried to get on her good side by chatting about Filipino and Indian customs. In the end, she said since it was our first time, she would let us go, but that next time we should bring cash. Result: 30 days of stay in SG. Whew!
Gelle, Joey and Peter were waiting for us at the baggage counter where only our things were left going around the conveyor belt. We hauled the bags off and saw our college classmates Rodel and Tyne waving at us from outside.
Gelle & co. waited for their own sundo while Rodel and Tyne acted like perfect hosts and grabbed our pushcarts for us, wheeling them outside where we grabbed a cab and headed to Rodel’s place which he shares with three other officemates, where we would stay temporarily.
Cate and I were overwhelmed when Rodel showed us the bedroom that Cate and I would share. Apparently they had stayed up till 3am this morning just to get their place tidied up and ready for us. They had also asked Tyne’s roommate Monette to cook lunch for us. I really loved her minced pork and eggplant.
Later in the afternoon they brought us to Lucky Plaza, the pinoy mall in Singapore. I saw a lot of Pinoy products there, not to mention a lot a of pinoys.
We had dinner at their favorite Pinoy restaurant, Jologs, where we had sinigang (yum!), pinakbet and lechon kawali. I saw Tapsilog with achara on the menu also, so it looks like I won’t be missing pinoy food that much here. 🙂
We then headed to another mall where there was a sale and they did a bit of shopping. We also visited Daiso, where all items they sold are worth 2sgd, and I bought a foldable paring knife.
We passed by Breadtalk, where they bought mini pizzas and chocolate cake for us. Finally we shopped for groceries (and guess what was the first item that Cate and I picked off the shelf – chocolates!) before heading back to Rodel’s place, where we ate the mini pizzas (super yum!) and the cake.
Tyne told us Monette was cooking spaghetti for us the next day, and we’ll have lunch at their place. Waaahhh! Such hospitality! I swear, when I get my first paycheck, I will treat these people to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.