Singapore Diaries: Universal Studios Singapore

If you've been reading my past posts then you'd know the bu and I are children stuck in grown up bodies. If you're on of our close friends then you'd know what we were really like in real life and everything posted here is not in any way an exaggeration. haha.

So it goes without saying, after Wicked, Universal Studios was high on our list of must-do's in SG. :D

I've been wanting to go because from the time we decided we were going to HK Disney people would tell us that Universal was waaaay better. So now I could finally put it all to the test and decide for myself.

Like in HK, everyone kept telling us we would be done in 3 hours. Once you've gotten through all the rides then you're done. Spend the whole day in Universal Studios: Challenge accepted. They obviously don't know us. We walk ssssslllloooooowww. Hehe, kidding.

Of course we left my cousin's house early because we were excited little children we didn't want to get lost and we were hitching with her to the bus so she could tell us where to get off. :))

Meet my cousin Coley. She adopted us for 5 days. Weeeee

We took a long walk with her and got to USS really early. Like 11 am early. The drawback of going that early, it was too warm and it only got warmer throughout the day. You actually start to develop a headache because you duck into an airconditioned area to escape from the heat and when you step out it's warmer than when you went it. That cycle of warm, cold, warm really gets to you.

Because we purchased our ticket on-line we didn't need to cue for tickets there. :) Yay for us!

Of course the first thing you do when you're in USS is take photos. Here are a few...We tried to get the best photo of the Universal globe thing-y but the thing was turning, so we took tons in different stages of the word Universal. Hopefully when you put them together, we can get a whole word. :D

Want to know what we did first in Universal Studios? After taking photos that is...

We went on the first ride we could see, the Madagascar ride. Let me tell you, it was not what you would expect. Maybe because I had such high expectations, because this was supposed to be better than HK Disney, but our first ride was a bust. It felt like it was more kiddie-ish and we just sat in the gondola and went around listening to the "animals" talk. But then again, just like in any movie, if you're too built up it rarely makes expectation. I guess if you are a fan of Madagascar and if you are below 4 feet you would have found this ride fun. :D

These were the only photos I was able to sneak since every time you go on a ride they make you keep your camera. :/

What I realized after a few rides at USS, their rides are more kid friendly. There were a lot that we decided we didn't want to ride because it was too hot and it didn't look like it would be fun. The other thing I wanted to do was watch shows, so after our first ride we trek to the Waterworld Show. I liked it, they start of interacting with the crowd, getting them all riled up and excited. They even pull out a few guests and soak them! It was fun to watch and the guy playing the lead was amazing on his jetski. It was a welcome break from the heat, that was until they started blowing things up. It was quiet a big production and I would recommend you catch it if you're in USS.

Here are a couple of photos with the cast after the show!

I never really watched the movie so I didn't really know what to expect. I must say I liked it. But a bit of advise, if you don't want to feel the warmth of the explosions don't stay by the front. If you don't want to get soaked don't stay by the front. But if you're up for anything then front is the way to go. :)

I have a lot more stories to share but this post is getting long so let me tell you about it in another post. :) For now, I'm going to dream about milk tea as I'm trying to wean myself off it. What a bad addiction!

My life flashed before me...

What a morning...before I go into detail about how my life flashed before me, let me give you a brief background of why it happened...

Every night when I get home, I leave my bag intact with all my belongings inside it. I'm forgetful and it has happened quite a lot of times that I leave important things if take them out of my bag. Take my glasses for example, I would be halfway out the village before I realize everything's a blur and come to the conclusion that...aha! I left my glasses. hahaha...yes, I'm that forgetful! :P

Anyway, so last night I left both my phones in my bag and they're always just on silent because I don't want to keep changing it when I get to the office. Sure enough when my friend sent me a message I wasn't able to read it right away. So this morning, while on the way out I look at my phone to see if there were any important messages for me. As I was doing this, we were walking down the stairs. I totally loose my balance and drop my lunchbox. Yes I have a lunchbox, feeling preschool. I watch it roll away as I try to regain my balance. Oh how my life flashed before me. I would have dropped into concrete full on. It's a good thing I'm super fast I was able to hang on to the rail. Whew. hahaha...so maybe I wasn't going to die and maybe I'm just over reacting. But still...I got a wound on my finger and now it's all plastered up I can't bend it. Makes for a very uncomfortable typing day.

Valuable lesson learned: Never text while walking down the stairs. Ever.

Learning how to cook

I remember taking cooking classes in ICA and loving it except for that day when we cooked squid which I don't eat but had to handle anyway. That was horrible. But cooking and baking classes had to be my favorite. So to add to my list of things to do while I'm in between jobs, I'm going to learn how to cook. No, I'm not going to enroll myself in culinary school, I'm just going to go at it with a cookbook and my positive spirit. hahaha...I'm hoping the people I feed have iron-clad intestines...they might need it.

So any ideas what I should start with?

Roughing it Nagsasa Style

Last weekend I went with the bu to a med mission in Nagsasa Cove, Zambales. Nagsasa is a few coves farther than Anawangin. Anawangin is already a well known beach destination for those who want to rough it for the weekend, and when I say rough it...I really mean rough it.

Now, thanks to Havaianas, I had already been given the chance to go to Anawangin once before so I knew that there wasn't any electricity or plumbing or hotels. I was prepared. At least that was what I thought. Getting ready for the trip, Miggy and packed essentials.


Anawangin from our boat.

The rainy season has already begun in the Philippines. Sadly for us, it was raining when we left Manila.


Nagsasa after the rain.

To better explain the need for a medical mission, let me begin by describing Nagsasa Cove. It is a 30 minute boat ride from Pundaquit, way past Anawangin. There is no electricity. No way out of the island except through hired bancas, no water except the one that you bring from the main land, no hospital, no doctor, no medicine. There was a small village that was established there. Population was probably 50-100 people, although I didn't see them all. There were a lot of kids with kids. It was probably the first time, if not one of the first few times that doctors came to Nagsasa to do a medical mission and I was happy to be part of it. :)


Meet Angel, a 3 year old Nagsasa local who was so cute and friendly. He had cough, a trend in that island.


The team that went to Nagsasas. MMC Interns and us. I was the one taking the photo so I wasn't there.

After the med mission the Nagsasa locals were kind enough to feed us lunch. :) They served us a pot of rice and some corned beef. Now normally you would think corned beef was normal food we often take for granted. But for them, that was a treat and yet they served it to us. It was very humbling indeed. But, being the pescitarian that I am I had asked them to cook a can of tuna for me. (yes, I now eat canned tuna...as long as they are dolphin safe)

By 3 PM everyone had finished packing up the supplies and we were finally going to enjoy the island and what it had to offer. Since I had barely gotten any sleep the past few days, I decided to take a nap before going for a swim. So we set up our tent (yes, I slept in a tent and that was sooooo uncomfortable I would never recommend it. To anyone) and I slept for a few hours. By the time I woke up the light was fading so it was time I tried out the water. So the I went for a swim with the bu, Emboy and Goldie. I only swam for awhile since I wanted to be able to bathe while there was still light. :)


The guys getting ready to go for a swim.

Once we were done with our bath, dinner was already ready. The locals prepared sinigang for us. It was so sweet of them but since it was about to rain there were a lot of insects around that we couldn't eat with the light on making it extremely difficult to know if you were eating anything you weren't supposed to. As a result I really wasn't able to eat much. I'm not complaining though, because the generosity of the locals amazed me. They fed us what they caught that day, which I believe should have been for them and their families. I am once again, humbled by their kindness.

We hung out for awhile in the dark. I brought portable speakers so we had music. But by 10 PM, everybody had already gone to bed that it was embarrassing to be so noisy that we decided to call it a night. After that night, I am bruised. Seriously. I have bruises on my hips where my bones stick out and the bu actually came down with a fever. But, that's not the worst of it. Since it's already rainy season, it poured in the middle of the night. It rained so strong that the tent walls were shaking. It was pretty creepy. Thank God we set up our tent under a hut-like structure. The people we were with weren't as fortunate. They got soaked. The next morning we were up and about by 6 am. Everyone was packed and ready to go. But, Nagsasa wasn't ready to see us leave. A storm cloud was coming so we had to wait. About half an hour later, we were on the way back to main island. Thank God we got home safe.


The storm clouds that delayed our trip home.


Goodbye Nagsasa. Til we meet again. I will bring an air mattress or atleast something soft to sleep on.

That trip was soooo much adventure that I think I'm ok for the next 20 years. :) hahaha...But the trip itself was so much fun. And helping those people out was just the icing on the cake. :)

Getting my feet wet! :)

As a person who's been constantly working for the past 3 years, I haven't been in an interview for that long. I must say...it was fun.

I have been applying to everything I can apply to! :) It's the panicky me that's making it all happen. I feel like I need to do something. So I'm trying everything. Yesterday, I got my first call for an interview. After 2 weeks of sending out resumes. Not bad. I research on the company and it looks ok. I just have to find out more. I talk to the bu and we both agree it will be good for me. :) I need to get out there. Keep trying out interviews...and well, practice. hahaha...It's a good thing today's practice turned out great. The woman who interviewed me said she liked the fact that I was soooo happy and positive. She says she was going to endorse me their boss and see if they can offer me a position. Woot woot. Considering this is my first interview! yay for me! :)

Hope to get more interview invites soon. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks God. :)