Singapore - Orchard Road

Orchard road is synonimous to luxury and fashion. I heard these words from people who have traveled to Singapore thus I've been very curious about this place because I knew we have upscale malls in Manila also.

Upon visiting Orchard Road several times, I have learned to appreciate that Asians don't need to go to Paris, MIlan or New York anymore in order to splurge their excess wealth. Moreover, even an ordinary asian tourist, like me, can visit this place and wander at the staggering prices of these luxurious brands. Hence, I would focus only on this part of Orchard road where you can find the well known brands in the world of fashion and accessories.

Going to this place is very simple, just alight at Orchard MRT station then you can exit at ION, Tang or Orchard Road. I got lost the first time I went there by bus because I alighted at Orchard Blvd instead of Orchard road. From that time, I always go to Orchard road by MRT.

ION Orchard is the classiest upscale shopping mall on this part of Orchard road. Try using its toilet and you will know what I mean.

Countless daily tourists are stopping in front of ION Orchard to take souvenir shots with colorful outdoor statues (?); I don't know how you call these things. Even my family got souvenir shots with them. Actually, even myself had some shots with them.

I was aghast when I saw this MRT access from ION Orchard. WOW!

Took this shot at the opposite side of the road. Sad to say, there was some construction going on along Orchard Road.

ION Orchard is located at the corner of Orchard and Patterson Roads. Some corners shots in front of ION Orchard.

You will find along Orchard Road the most famous spot for Filipinos in Singapore.


The Lucky Plaza

Yes, this is where our kabayans normally gather during week-end. You will find inside Lucky Plaza many establishments that cater to Filipinos such as remittance centers, cargo forwarders, restaurants/food shops, barbers/beauty centers and so on. I recommend "Lutong Pinoy" at Asian Food Mall at the basement area. It is owned and managed by a fellow bosconian. I love their bulalo, it costs 12 S$ and good for three people. We went there twice just to eat bulalo.







In case you want to dine at the famous Food Republic, there is one at the 4th level of this building. Try the fried prawn noodles, you won't regret.

I've seen Isetan also at KLCC (Petronas Towers) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Another famous place on this part of Orchard Road is the Nge Ann City. I believe it is the biggest luxury mall along Orchard Road with two residential towers.

                            

On the left side of Ngee Ann City mall entrance is an arabic or shawarma kiosk.

 While on the other side is 7 eleven kiosk. This is the first time I see a 7 eleven kiosk.

Some of the malls along Orchard Road. Note the difference between Orchard Road and our malls in Manila. Here, each mall has its own unique characteristic and design unlike in our box-type SM malls. However, whenever it rains, it is difficult to go from one building to another. In this case, our SM malls are much preferable. 

Grand Park Orchard

Tangs Plaza

Mandarin Gallery

Paragon. Is this the same (Siam) Paragon in Bangkok, Thailand?

Duck and Hippo office, an established name in Singapore tour industry, is also located along Orchard Road. 

Note their modern vacant parking lot indicator.

Finally, shopping in some upscale shops in Orchard Road could be annoying for some shoppers who expect that they can simply enter the shop any time. Normally, a shop assistant will limit the number of shoppers inside and when the maximum number has been reached then shoppers need to queue outside and wait for the other to leave before they will be allowed to enter.

TANGS Plaza Christmas 2011

 


Elephant Parade Gallery

Revised: 02 Feb 2012

Lost Luggage

It is so frustrating to arrive in your place of destination without your check-in luggage.

There was confusion regarding my last connecting flight from Dubai to my workplace.

It was EID holiday after Ramadan thus all offices in middle-east were closed for several days. It was like Christmas until New Year in middle-east. Thus, I didn't receive my Dubai to workplace original connecting (chartered) flight ticket on time so my company provided me another airline ticket, otherwise I would not be allowed by Qatar Airways to board the plane. I need this connecting flight ticket because I don't have Dubai visa. The airlines will allow you to board as long as you have visa on your final destination.

I flew from Singapore to Doha, Qatar by Qatar Airways then took another connecting flight from Doha, to Dubai, UAE again by Qatar Airways. Then from Dubai to my workplace my company has provided me Emirates Airlines ticket for next day flight. However, upon reaching Dubai, we need to take a private chartered Lear Jet plane to reach our workplace. That was when the confusion occurred. My luggage has different baggage tag in respect to my actual connecting flight. The Dubai airport transfer desk and Marhaba lounge staff have assured me that my luggage will be on the same (chartered) flight. It wasn't.

I have been waiting for almost two weeks now for my luggage.

As you can see its size, you can just imagine the quantity of personal things/effects and souvenir items that I will possibly lose, not to mention my cup noodles and packs of boy bawang.

Sent emails to different people and Qatar Airways but no luck.

This is my second missing check-in luggage. First time was last 1997, coming from Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris to Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific Airways. Hong kong was being battered by a strong storm during that time so our flight was canceled. It was a mess. I have 2 check-in luggages at that time and luckily, the smaller one with company paraphernalia got lost while my personal luggage arrived few days later at NAIA.

Yesterday two bags arrived in our workplace. They were not mine, sad to say, but belong to some of our plant visitors who arrived in our worksite before without their check-in luggages. Those guys have left our place and possibly won't come back anymore. Poor guys.

My advice, as much as possible, don't put expensive items inside your check-in luggage and separate your undies between your hand carried and check-in luggages. One of the worst things that can happen to a traveller is to re-use a soiled undies after bath, lol... I can manage without towel but re-using a soiled undies is eewww.. It was a comfort that my travel gears were all inside my backpak together with my spare undies.

I hope I would see my bag again on the next flight of our chartered plane from Dubai to our workplace next Tuesday or else I'll be in deep shit. My supplies are running low and I don't have local currency to buy new personal effects.

04 OCTOBER

I have survived my 4 weeks job rotation without any major complication even without some of my personal belongings and supplies. It is now time for my vacation. I'll try to find my luggage at Dubai airport.

I have arrived at Dubai business lounge after spending almost an hour at Emirates transfer desk inquiring about my luggage. I have been told to hope for the best because their staff is searching now for my missing luggage. In case by chance they find it, they'll send it to Singapore tomorrow on the same flight. I need to keep my fingers crossed and pray for miracle.

20 NOVEMBER

I received a call yesterday from our company, my luggage which was missing for around two months arrived at the city airport. This morning, the chartered plane brought my luggage to our job site. Upon initial inspection, I have noticed that the zipper was destroyed for security check. Surprisingly, my cup noodles and ulalam food packs survived the two months ordeal. All of my stuff were there.

The thing that matters to me was the "Necronomicon" book of my son. A collector's item book of the dead written by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and his followers during the early nineties. See: wikipedia - Necronomicon. It is a compilation of short stories about the dead. It is thick volume, soft-bound and can easily weigh more than a kilo. Trust me, while reading those stories, your insight about the world of the dead will never be the same. Whatever, I was happy that it was back with me and I saved almost a thousand pesos in case my son will ask me to buy a replacement.

Singapore - Waterloo Street

I bet you're reading this post out of curiosity.

Well, if you have been to Bugis Street, Waterloo is not far away. It is just around the corner.

Bugis could be Singapore's most famous souvenir shopping area due to its cheaper and wide variety of products, however, for now let's forget about shopping. Let's focus on normal daily lives of Singaporeans.



Coming from Bugis Junction, traverse Bugis Street. When you have reached its end, cross the road and continue walking and after few minutes you will reach Waterloo Street.

At the corner of this street you will find the Trishaw Uncle park, beside Albert Mall. Adult fare is 39 S$ for 30 minutes ride within Bugis and Little India areas. This park was opened last year only, hence it is not that popular yet for tourists. Notice Bugis Street Tarpaulin.








Along this street are vendors demonstrating their product. If my wife sees this rotating mop squeezer she might buy one. Notice the Tiangge style show room at the back of this vendor.

The lady on gray skirt below approached me and tried to show some papers but I immediately told her, I am not Singaporean then she backed off. You will find also several fortune tellers and flower stalls in front of this Buddhist Temple. It is like an upscale Quiapo.

This fortune teller could be good.

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside this Buddhist temple.

The Hindu temple below is just beside the Buddhist temple on top. This shows how rich and diverse is Singapore religious roots and how they respect and preserve their heritage.

This street serves also as mini-park. Many "Uncles" are passing their time here during afternoon.

For several several weeks, I have been longing to try this 1 S$ ice cream. I just wanted to experience how to eat a block of ice cream.

Uncle is chopping a Vanilla flavor ice cream. Did you notice the plastic hand glove and ID (permit)?

I chose the wafer type chocolate ice cream.

Yummy but sticky on hand.

Simply put, Singaporeans are like Filipinos in some ways. Because of some similarities between our culture with them, I can easily adapt their way of life whereas when I was in France for few months, many many years back, I thought I was in another world; everything was completely new for me.

Singapore - Food Republic

Singapore is indeed a haven for food trippers.

Take a leisurely stroll along any Singapore road and you will find hawkers and restaurants on each block. Sometimes they are just a stone-throw away from each other.

It never occurred to me that even inside a shopping mall, I would find hawkers style food shops like Food Republic. It is hawkers-in-style because the ambiance befits any world-class food court inside a mall.

In my opinion, the Food Republic inside Vivo City is the best. I love its warm and nice lighting/lanterns while the wooden chairs and tables are similar to any authentic Chinese restaurant you see in the movie.

From outside, it seems like a small food counters with several tables and chairs inside.

Approaching the entrance you will notice that there is actually a big space for diners inside.



I chose Mini Wok because I would like to compare their Kung Pao with our own Chow King's Kung Pao.

The chicken as expected is a little bit spicy and on the sour side. It is similar to our sweet and sour chicken with fried (scrambled) egg. The serving is quite big unlike at Chow King. The soup is tasty. Not bad.

The following day, Saturday, at around 2pm, I decided to have my lunch again in FR, Vivo city. It was a mistake going there on Saturday because the place was full, it took me more than 15 minutes to search for vacant seat. I have so many free days and I never thought that this place would be jampacked during week-end. Anyway, as consolation, I found one very unique and fantastic noodle/soup shop inside FR.

Usually when we order noodles, we have to select, beef, chicken, beef wanton and emperor. We have limited variety of noodles, isn't it?

But for Yong Tau Foo, you can have countless of combination on your noodles.

See my selection.

You can even choose your noodles, big or small according to Auntie. Note the different condiments and sauces.

My noodles/soup, around 7 S$. This is simply superb, best noodles soup I ever had.

It is time to pay a visit to another FR at Orchard road. It is located at the 4th level of this building.

While in FR, Vivo city, I noticed a long queue at fried prawn noodles. Out of curiosity, I ordered the same noodles from the same food shop, medium size.

looks great, it was cooked in front of me 

The noodles are firm and slippery but flavorful especially when mix with the sauce. I can't be wrong, the sauce is similar to our own bagoong (shrimp paste), very tasty and a little bit spicy. The prawns skin is crispy thus after removing its head, you can devour the entire body immediately. This noodle tastes great!

I recommend that you try this when you visit any FR branch.

I noticed that you will find only Asian food inside all FR. There is no western foods such as burgers & fries.

09 December 2011

During my 3 nights stop-over at Singapore, on my way to Kuala Lumpur, I paid a visit to FR, Vivo city before I started to conquer Mount Faber. I need energy and water so my body will remain hydrated in going up to Mount Faber peak where my last and fifth Merlion stands. It would complete my photo shoots of 5 official Merlions of Singapore.

Going back to Food Republic, I went back to JJ Yong Tau Foo shop where I can select ingredients for my soup or noodles.

 

See my selection. It costs me 7.80 S$.

And the final product.

This soup has provided the energy and water to my body when I climbed Mount Faber, lol. Because of this, I have completed the photos of 5 Merlions of Singapore.

April 2013

My family and I dined at Food Republic inside Citygate Outlets Mall after visiting Ngong Ping. I never saw any other Food Republic in other places in Hong Kong. Great ambiance and foods.

   

MY OTHER FOOD TRIPS IN SINGAPORE:

Food Tip - part1
Food Trip - part 2
Maxwell Food Center
Beach Road Scissor Cut Curry Rice