In a few hours, 3 1/2 to be exact, I will be bound for Singapore, together with my Mom, my Ninang Gina and her husband Brian, who both arrived from Chicago early this afternoon.
This will be my second visit to the Lion City. First one was July 2007 when Mom had to attend a Rotary function with one of the sister clubs there. I agreed to tag along – mainly because I always instantly say yes to countries I’ve never visited.
Unfortunately, that trip was a catastrophe. We arrived there on the 13th, which happened to be a Friday. As soon as we left the airport, the superstition started to ring true. I was willing to forgive the fact that we stayed at a dingy “hotel”, but then, we were left at the mercy of neglectful “hosts”, scowled at by uptight locals and, to top it all off, I lost my Canon CoolPix camera (along with hundreds of un-uploaded photos) when I fell asleep on the cab. In a nutshell, everything that could possibly go wrong in a trip went wrong.
Then again, the city’s notoriously clean, flora-smothered surroundings were indeed eye candy and I’m a sucker for multicultural communities (same reason why I adore San Francisco and Canada), which is why I never closed my doors on the possibility of another visit.
And I’m guessing things will be better this time, since I now have some friends there to show me around.
So see you again in a few hours, Singapore! Let’s make it right this time. 😉