Trip to Singapore - Part 2

We took a 15mins break (or so it was supposed to be) while me, YM and Mimi shifted our luggage from Nurlin’s room to ours (hers was ready first). The little groupie consisting of 3 girls + Penang and Ipoh boys + Nelson started on the supposedly planned destination: the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. At the bus stop, I remembered that everyone must be properly attired to enter the temple so Danny was sent back to the hotel to change his pants (oops~ my bad. Sorry! =p) while the rest went to 7-11 to get small change for the bus ride.

Oh! I forgot to mention, Mimi’s friend, Nicholas, joined us. Due to time constraint, we decided to scrap our original plans (so much for printing maps and routes) and headed to where Mimi needed to buy her stuff. Singaporeans were so used to using this ‘similar to TouchN’Go card’ called the EZLink card that the bus driver wasn’t so sure how much we were suppose to pay for our trip to the MRT. Lol So I just chucked in a dollar. xD

Tourists as we are, we got off a bus station earlier than the one we were suppose to get off. xD We walked the rest of the way to the MRT and luckily it wasn’t too far. @@ (Oh!! I saw real peaches sold at the shops along the road. ^^) From Aljunied, we took a train to Paya Lebar where we interchanged and carried on to Promenade...or was it Esplanade?? @@ I think it was Esplanade since I think I remember seeing City Hall later during our walks (this is just a small hint on how far we walked that day).

We got off the train and walked to Suntec City where Mimi wanted to shop for her stuff. I believe that was also where you could actually get tickets for the Duck Ride (waddle waddle... oh no... I need to get that out of my brain. >.< Go youtube “Duck Song” to see what I’m talking about. WARNING: It gets stuck to your head fairly easily if it doesn’t annoy you first). Mimi decided that we should split so we didn’t have to tag along with her and Nicholas to find her stuff (hm...).

Aimless, the rest of us wandered about while trying to decide on a place to go. The boys were all on up-to-you mood, so that left me and YM to decide. = = I thought we had time to go to the temple after all but thinking twice, maybe not. T.T

Since we were so near the Esplanade, we impromptu decided to go have a look since YM wanted to see the Durian structure. Singapore road signs are pretty complete. We managed to wind ourselves through the labyrinth (yes, this expression is right even for someone who is good with maps and roads) of shopping complexes and ended up inside the Esplanade without realising it.

From Suntec City, we actually walked 15minutes all the way to Esplanade but it wasn’t so bad since the whole walk was pretty air-conditioned or simply not boring with things to see all around; expensive looking shops, restaurants, garden looking places, artistic displays, etc. =D The only downside is our aching feet, even Dixon started to request for a foot massage in case we flatten his feet before the tournament the next day. xD

The walk was so long that nearing the end, we were fairly certain that we were lost. Passing a walkway empty of crowd, across a large space where youngsters were hanging around getting ready for something artsy-fartsy, a further dimmed walkway with pictorial displays next to what seems to be a carpark, it really made YM worry and started contemplating about turning back. Actually, the fact was that we were actually inside the Esplanade already. When we saw hints of sunlight on the way up an escalator, YM actually exclaimed, “Civilisation!!” xD

The display at the entrance was creepy, no matter how beautifully artistic it was. >.< It was similar to a bunch of theatre actors (the postures) confused as circus acrobats (the costume colours) with STRINGS ATTACHED. *shock* An ultimate distortion of the mind. *cough* Good reason to go out and take pictures of the building structure more than the odd display. *nod nod*

Outside, the space was very wide, useful for event functions. We could see other city buildings of Singapore, but due to the haze, it was a little fuzzy. We took pictures here and there. Hm...actually, the building looks more like a cempedak than a durian due to its longish shape. Lol Thank goodness the building doesn’t smell like either. @@

We took a “shortcut” back to the nearest mall only to notice we were so near City Hall MRT. = = WN manage to solve his EZLink card matter there I believe. There were SO many people at that MRT station. @@

Anyway, it was still too early to look for Mimi, so we turned ourselves into a food scout party. xD I thought of trying McD IF the menu was different. Unfortunately, it was the same, except for the prices. = =

We walked on and finally found MOS Burgers; a fast food joint where they sell unique burgers in Japanese themes! The majority were normal burgers with teriyaki patties, burgers with its bread replaced by rice and burgers that are wholly vegetables (it looks very green >.o)!

The other fascinating thing was that ¾ employees were elderly people. *shocked speechless* OO
*can’t resist but to take a pic* OO
So nice! ^^
But you need to listen REALLY hard to know what they are saying while asking you for your order. X.x

Most of us had one round of burgers before Mimi arrived alone. Then WN and Nelson had their second round while I shared a rice burger with Danny. Hm...the rice was actually tasteless, so they added some soy sauce to it. I preferred my original burger with teriyaki chicken. >.< Oh, our sets were packaged really nicely; they came in plastic baskets. =D Additionally, as dessert, YM, WN and Mimi each had a frozen strawberry. Was that ice or icing on it?? Oo

There were 7 of us, so we had to split ourselves to 2 tables; boys one side, girls one side. I don’t remember what we were talking about but I think we were spouting nonsense and had really good laughs before we left. ^^

We took the nearest train back. Oh!! We passed an interesting shop that sells paper art and crafting goods. So nice!! =3 But expensive. = = See see enough lor... xD Then, somewhere I remembered I saw this HUGE 7-11. *drools* +.+ YM, I think I was engrossed with 7-11s during my whole SG trip because it was actually something we have back home. >.<’

On our way back, Mimi was on camera frenzy. We had some good random shots at the MRT stations and of course, lots of cat pictures to WN’s delight. The cats were lazing near the bus station and the bus was late...so you get the idea... lol But the cats were really fat and well kept like pedigrees.....on the street!! =O

On the bus ride back, we were looking out for the hotel when we passed this ice cream shop that tempted us all. But...the buffet was already over at that hour. Too bad, Dixon. Lol

When we arrived, the referee senseis just returned from their referee seminar and dinner. That’s surprisingly late. Oo Ishii-sensei and Wong-sensei both looked so tired. Lucky for them, they had an unexpected entourage to accompany them back to the hotel, us! xD The other senseis from different countries all headed another direction. We think they went karaoke. @@ Semangat..

We returned to our respective rooms for a short rest and bath before we headed down to the lobby again for our AKT briefing/meeting. We got our participant number tags, a booklet with schedule and AKT participant details, a luggage tag as souvenir and our own souvenirs to present to our opponents. Chris told us who we were fighting (YM started freaking out by then), what was the arrangement like for the next day, so on, so forth. We mingled a bit after that and Kennie dropped by after work to join us (such a good supporter >.<). We were all quite tired out by our trip out, so we around much and retired to our rooms "early".

YM was still half freaking out while fixing her shinai next to me. But she got over it while I was trying to sleep. In fact she slept faster! @@

That night as like all other first nights on any trip was a horror. I had trouble sleeping and kept getting up to look at the time. 12AM...1AM....2AM...I’m still not asleep? Hear snores, find source, assumed it was YM... YM turned around...eh?! So soft one her snore...so that means the motor-loud one was....Mimi’s?! Two beds away! X.x Cover ears; one side with pillow, the other with jacket. I think I probably slept ‘coz I didn’t see 3AM, but I saw 4AM. 5AM...just about to get comfortable, Mimi’s awake...meaning time to get up soon....and I probably only slept 2-3hours.. *groans*

5.30AM. Good morning Singapore.

Thank goodness Mimi took a bath, the bathroom was warm though with a fogged up mirror. Lol Chris gave a morning call while I was still washing up. We wore our hakama and gis (Kendo uniform), and went down for breakfast.

There were toasts, cereals, porridge, English breakfasts, drinks, etc. The 3 of us sat at a smaller table on our own and later joined by Wong sensei. In the middle of the restaurant was occupied by a joint tables of...either Thailand or Indonesia’s team...I think...can’t recall well.

I was worried about how I’ll perform with the lack of rest I had, even Wong sensei was asking me how am I going to fight. Well...I’ll deal with it when it comes. Just need to get some rest whenever I can.