i woke up without any idea of what time it was. this is new--i usually check my phone for the time, to see if i woke up late or not. kaso my phone's battery was dead, and i was too tamad to charge it before we left. so i practically had no sense of time in singapore. all i know is that singapore's an hour ahead of ho chi minh city.

i took a shower and got dressed, waiting for my sibs to wake up and get ready for breakfast. we had a very good breakfast. i think i ate a lot more than i thought i would. while down at the cafe where breakfast was served, i saw this kid who walked along the buffet table, getting his food. he was barefoot, haha. feeling at home siguro siya, to walk around this dining area full of strangers, without his shoes (which, i saw, were similar to my chucks). looking around the place, parang may mali. like something wasn't right. then i realized there were more white people than asians around. i had to ask my parents if we were actually in singapore, or if our plane suddenly changed course and dropped us somewhere in europe.

mr. jeffrey picked us up after breakfast. today's sentosa day. but before going to the island, we went to takashimaya first. the shoppping center was huge! we looked around the place muna, while mr. jeffrey looked for a place for us to have lunch. i remember tan saying something about a huge bookstore here. i don't remember the name, though. alam ko lang it started with the letter 'K'. i looked it up in the directory, and sure enough, there was a 'books kinokuniya' on the fourth floor, i think. loser and i went there while papa went to the golf store beside it. the place overwhelmed me. i don't think i've ever seen a bookstore that HUGE before. so many books! it was like, better than going to hong kong disneyland (which was an option before singapore, thank goodness we didn't go--it was "too chinese" daw, sabi ni mr. jeffrey). the only downside was that we didn't really have time to shop, so i left the place empty-handed. i had my eyes set on 'the gospel of judas' and 'the jesus papers' pa naman. tsk tsk. we walked to angus house and ate lunch there. loser and i shared a steak. grabe, the best steak i've ever had! we were also served dessert, tiramisu. sarap! while eating, i also enjoyed looking down the street and watching the people walking around. i was hoping that before the trip ends, i'd be the one down there walking, too.

we drove to sentosa afterwards. mr. jeffrey offered to pick us up pauwi, pero papa declined na. the guy was already spoiling us, hehe. papa said we'll just commute going home. i was glad about it--adventure, since none of us ever commuted, more or less have been, in singapore.

at sentosa, we first went to the underwater world. i was so happy about it, kasi yun lang naman talaga yung gusto ko eh. i was like a little kid all over again, pleading my parents to let me go here and there. for "adventure" and a "LOST experience," we walked through the pathway, not exactly sure where the underwater world was. grabe yung nilakad namin! i mean, there were buses anyway, but instead we walked. luckily, we got to our destination.

underwater world was a lot of fun. i went to the touch pool, kaso all the fishes weren't being very friendly, and i couldn't touch one. the spotted ray wasn't too much into crowds, either. so i touched to one thing i knew wouldn't give a damn about being poked--the starfish. then we went down to see the fossils, and the crabs, the jellyfish, some weirdo fishes, a few seadragons. then we went through the tunnel. i liked the sharks--A LOT! and the rays, too. big sea creatures have always attracted me, and being in that place brought back thoughts of what i had written in my 6th grade yearbook--i wanted to be a marine biologist.

after underwater world, we take the bus on our way to the dolphin show. there were still a few hours to go before the show, so we alighted at the stop before dolphin lagoon--the merlion. it was papa's favorite place. he was so giddy when we were on our way there, gusto kasi niya pumunta kami to the very top. before we got to the merlion's head, we went for the little show, where i learned the story behind the merlion. i also learned where the name singapore came from: it's from the words singa (lion) and pura (city). roughly translated, singapore means lion city. we went up to the head of the merlion, and the view was breathtaking. then we went down to the mouth, then back down. by the way, at the entrance to the merlion they gave us each a sand dollar, which we were supposed to put into the mouth of the little merlion statues and a card would come out of it. the card said we had a special prize waiting for us. mama, papa, and loser got prize A--merlion keychains. martin and i got prize b--fans. i thought it was unfair, pero my fan did come in handy. it was a pretty hot day.

we made our way to dolphin lagoon and watched the pink dolphins. the dolphins were a real treat to watch, and there was this little girl who volunteered to pat the dolphins. she was so cute! pero the cutest living thing i saw wasn't the girl, or some random guy in the audience--it was jim! who's jim?! well, he's the dolphin trainer. nice bod, cute smile. definitely hottie! haha. syet! hanggang singapore, guy hunting! what the--?

after the dolphin show, we went the musical fountain show na. loads of people were there. the show was brilliant. i really did enjoy it, and hoped it would only be the first of many more fountain shows i'd be able to watch in the coming years.

we said goodbye to sentosa after the musical fountain show. we actually didn't have a clear idea on how to go home, but we were determined to make it. we thought of it as one of those "amazing race: family edition" segment. we rode the bus from sentosa, that took us to the harbourfront mrt station. yay! i was finally able to ride the MRT! i didn't get to do it yet sa 'Pinas, but i sure did so in singapore! i like their MRT. we each got a card that we just show to the electronic thingy, then we got onto the MRT. hindi daw ganun sa 'Pinas sabi ni mama eh. oh well.

we finally got to orchard road, and had dinner at the mcdonald's beside the hilton singapore, and near our hotel. haay, salamat. mcdo! french fries and burgers and nuggets.