Far far away attractions are: Shrek 4D, Donkey Live, Enchanted Airways and Magic Potion Spin. I didn’t see 3 of these rides probably because we were in a hurry. We had to do some last minute shopping, and look for the best cholesterol medications that a relative was looking for.

We were browsing for some merchandise being sold at the Magic Potion store when we saw mini ferris wheel that our daughter liked, called the Magic Potion spin.

Btw, we were given S$5 voucher for merchandise (and S$10 for food) for each entrance ticket we purchased. Vouchers can be used throughout the theme park. The food vouchers can be used not only in the restaurants but also at the food stalls scattered around the park.

Packaged with the Luge ride is the Sky ride, unfortunately for me. I’m a bit afraid of heights. I remember I was too afraid of the heights when we rode the cable car in HK Ocean Park, which was enclosed. Now you can imagine my fear as we rode the sky ride which was like a bench, no enclosure, moving up in cables.

It’s a good thing though that I was too afraid to take videos as it started to rain when we were in mid air. I didn’t want the digicam to get all wet. That’s my excuse for wearing that ugly towel over my head. At least, I’m sure I won’t get sick or have any skin infection such as eczema.

What you see in the background is real. That’s how high we were! My daughter was crying not because of the heights but because she was getting wet from the rain.

This is a shot from above (while riding the Tiger Sky Tower) of the Luge track and on the lower left side you can see the sky ride.

We stayed in a lodge, YWCA Fort Canning Lodge. It wasn’t as fabulous as Toronto hotels, but I like it and would still recommend as it is very near the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, which is common for both the red and purple lines.

Day 2 of our trip was dedicated to Sentosa (without Universal Studios as it wasn’t open yet last Monday). I researched about what we can do in Sentosa and decided that we should try the Luge and Sky Ride.

Husband’s ticket to the Luge and Sky Ride is included in his “Choice of Thrill” package so we only had to buy tickets for me and my daughter, which costs S$13 (S$2 for the child if riding with an adult, S$11 for adult).

Here’s a photo (of the photo, too lazy to scan) of us in the Luge.

Photo costs S$15 for 1 photo but since we bought husband’s photo as well, we got the 2 photos for S$20 only.

This is a shot from above (while riding the Tiger Sky Tower) of the Luge track and on the lower left side you can see the sky ride.

We’re back!

A lot were asking for the 5-day itinerary for our trip to Singapore. I think ours is ideal for a family of 3 or more. So I’m sharing it so others will have an idea in arranging theirs. Take note though that most were done in a weekday. Traffic may be different on a weekend, and likely longer queues.

Day 1 (Sunday)
- arrival at the Budget Terminal. If you were able to catch a piso seat sale from Cebu Pac, you will arrive at the budget terminal. The next thing to consider is where you are planning to stay. If you are staying at a friend’s place in Tampines where most pinoys are, you can ride the taxi. Taxi rates are different depending on the time of day. And if you’re staying in the city, you can ride the bus to Terminal 2 for free. Then from Terminal 2, the MRT would work perfectly. Just make sure you buy the ezlink card which we were able to use for our entire stay both for MRT and bus rides. What made it easier for me to compute for our fares and travel times beforehand is the gothere.sg website.

- lunch at the park mall in dhoby ghaut after we left our luggage to the concierge
- checked in. slept. we deserved it.
- woke up at 6pm then went to esplanade for dinner at the hawkers stalls
- went to Merlion for some picture taking
- went back to the lodge to sleep. yes, we needed energy for Sentosa the following day

Day 2 (Monday)
- had to wake up at 9am for breakfast buffet (6am-10am only)
- from dhoby ghaut, we went straight to harbourfront station: vivo city (purple line). I guess this is the major advantage of our lodge. it is very near the dhoby ghaut MRT station. Dhoby ghaut has both the red and purple line.
- vivo city L3, we queued for our Sentosa express ride which also serves as our entrance tickets. S$3 for each adult or kids more than 3 years old. Purchased the “choice of thrill” for hubby, as well as Songs of the Sea tickets 2 combo A (show and meal) and 1 combo B (show and toy for our little girl)
- first stop: waterfront station. We just took some photos in front of Universal Studios which was not yet open that day
- second stop: imbiah station. We had lunch at Delifrance, and then took some more photos before heading to the Luge and Skyride. We had to buy our tickets there as the ticket booth at vivo city sells only package tickets (e.g. choice of thrill, songs of the sea combos, etc) BG’s ticket is discounted as she only had to sit in front of me.
- we walked towards the megazip. Husband parajumped and megazipped.
- went back to the butterfly park (imbiah lookout), in front of which is a small fountain where kids play. BG played while we waited for our pizza. That’s early dinner.
- had to buy clothes for BG as she was all wet from playing in the fountain
- rode the Tiger Sky Tower, which gave us a 360 degree view of Sentosa
- third stop: beach station. we had nachos for our combo A (you have the option to have nachos, popcorn or hotdog sandwich)
- sat. waited. watched the long queue for the 7:40pm show. we bought the 8:40pm show just to be on the safe side. We didn’t know if how long the rides and walks in between would be.
- watched songs of the sea
- went back to vivo city / harbourfront station
- went back to the lodge. slept

Day 3 (Tuesday)
- woke up at 9am for breakfast
- slept again
- woke up at noon. left the lodge at 2pm
- from dhoby ghaut we had to go to Ang Mo Kio station, then go to the bus interchange
- rode Bus 138
- singapore zoo 30 stops later. that’s 4pm to 6pm. Among others, there’s the rainforest kidzworld where there’s wet play. But what I love about this zoo was our elephant ride.
- night safari
- went home. this time, we chose to ride a bus express which from the zoo, stops at common hotels in the city. you can not use your ezlink card with them. A ticket is worth S$4 for adults and S$2 for kids. Too expensive but we no longer had the energy to transfer from bus to the MRT. Plus it was faster.
- slept

Day 4 (Wednesday)
- woke up at 9am for breakfast
- packed our bags
- checked out at noon
- arrived at my friend’s flat in Tampines at 1:30pm. lunch
- catched up with my college friend Maui
- met with Jacq and Iyah
- around 6pm, we and our kids went to the playground
- dinner -> wine -> bed

Day 5 (Thursday)
- woke up at 5am
- left Tampines at 6am
- bus -> MRT
- vivo city at around 7:30am
- bought tickets
- universal studios at 8am. Lots of media people. Dragon dance
- opened at 8:28am (or was it later than that?)
Battlestar Galactica
Ancient Egypt / Revenge of the Mummies
Accelerator
Far Far Away – castle
The Lost World
Madagascar

- left at 1:30pm
- arrived at the airport at 3:45pm -> flight at 5:45pm

I will update this post with links once I finish blogging about them.

My mind is always filled with vacation plans. I’m always on the look out for seat sales, as well as, accommodation sales. I guess I got addicted after going on a trip on a tight budget, and came out of it with souvenirs (pasalubong) and great photos. I realized that all the barriers to great vacations were just in my head, that I just created.

So maybe, it won’t be farfetched to start planning about Orlando vacation. Haha. Kidding aside, husband and I have carefully mapped out our family budget this year. And by the looks of it, we’ll just be in Asia for the rest of the year.

To go to the other parts of the zoo tour such as the Tiger Safari or Savannah, one needs to bring his vehicle. Of course, not all are willing to bring his car and risk it, although very little possibility, to be scratched by animals along the way.

One has an option to ride the train-like vehicles of the zoo for only P50 per person. The advantage of this is you save up on gas. The disadvantage is the road is very dusty. I do not recommend it to those who have asthma.

I suddenly remembered this site http://www.blackheadextractors.org that I browsed last week. It was so dusty my face felt like it was so thick and heavy with oil and dirt. We ran out of wet wipes for trying to keep ourselves fresh once in a while.

Rodent world is where we saw the hybrid of zebra and carabao, as well as the albino carabao.

We weren’t able to take a picture of the hybrid facing us he seemed to be very shy. That or my mind was just preoccupied with quick trim extreme burn. Haha. Anyway, this one is enough, I think, to show that it’s a carabao with the zebra stripes.

Here’s the albino carabao.

For weekends, holidays and peak season, an entrance to the Zoobic Safari costs Php449 for adults and Php349 for kids who are 3 feet or higher.

It was so hot last Sunday when we went there. We all felt sticky. It seemed that shaving my head wouldn’t be such a bad idea then. Well, there will always be hair growth shampoos in the groceries.

Kidding aside, I highly suggest for a family or group of friends to go on swimming after going to the zoo.

One of the cool things here in this zoo is you can take your photo with the animals such as tiger in the above photo. I was just too afraid to do it.

I have been having coffee for breakfast, pasta for lunch, crackers for snack and salad for dinner, and yet, I still keep gaining weight. I am not about to give up as I am inspired by these weight loss stories I read online.

I wanted to keep this diet as part of my lifestyle, with the weekends as my window to eat something that is not crackers, pasta or salad. Sometimes I feel like that I can. But more often, I feel like I want to order everything that I see on the menu. I should just accept that gone are the days that I can simply eat whatever I want how much I want. Oh, age!

Today, well just for today anyway, I’ve stopped looking for diets for quick weight loss as today, I need as much food and fluids as I can take. Well, not that much though. Maybe just enough to have my body nourished as I’ve been feeling under the weather.

Hmm, do people get sick from having too much fun?

Last Friday, I met up with fellow Bebot (a digiscrapping community) / Twitter ladies (who had been using Twitter as a venue to talk about blogging, digiscrapping and online shopping). Well, not all digiscraps, not all have blogs, not all shops online (some sells haha) but all wanted to PARTEEEEEEH!!!

Too bad, my family and I were all too tired to attend the continuation Jollibee party last Saturday. Tsk tsk!

This has been my mother’s problem when I was younger. Not only did I often write accidentally on my school uniform, but it was plain white! I remember one time, after busy drawing a project on Amish fireplaces, I found my shirt covered with the “evidence” of all the hard work done.

What I am about to share with you was what my mother told me to do if I became aware of any ink stains that I made on myself.

Place the stained shirt on top of an old rag or toilet paper (whatever was available in our school washroom). Rub alcohol very gently on the stain. The rag / toilet paper will absorb the stain. Once all stains have been transferred to the rag / toilet paper, wash the area with soap and water.