Walang ganyan sa Singapore (Eng. Nothing here in Singapore)

For the past one year, I am living here in Singapore. It is very different from the place that I grew up with, which is in Manila, Philippines. I lived there for more than 2 decades of my life and I kinda miss that place. I miss the high-pitch sounds of the jeepneys and tamaraw FXs. I miss the tantrums of my nephew and my friend whom we called as Sassy girl (Sometimes she kicks her feet to the floor when she doesn’t get what she wants)…hehe. I also miss the malls and cinemas in Manila especially Greenbelt, Glorietta and SM Manila. I heard that the largest mall in Asia (Mall of Asia) is already open in Roxas Blvd. When I go home, I will definitely visit MOA to see with my own eyes. I hope that our beloved karpinteros fixed the problem on the building because I heard it was shaking before.


In the Philippines, Jollibee is the leading fastfood chain. Unfortunately, the fastfood chain hasn’t opened any branch here in Singapore. As far as I know, they have branches in HongKong and US.
That’s why when I am in the Philippines, the first thing that I will do is to buy the yummy and langhap sarap “Regular Yum with cheese” (it is a burger not a yam), juicy “Chicken Joy”, cheesy “Jolly Hotdog”, mouth-watering noodle called “Pancit Palabok” (white miki noodles topped with orange salty sauce, egg, shrimp, cruncy dried pork a.k.a “chicharon”, smoked fish a.k.a “tinapa”) and “Jolly Spaghetti” (topped with sweet tomato sauce with delicious sliced pork hotdogs and ground beef)… yum yum yum… takaw ko noh. The last time around I ate their new meal called “Boneless Bangus belly” (Deep fried milkfish without bones). The meal was so delicious that I didn’t realize that I already finish it. Mejo bitin.. Eniweiz, aside from Jollibee, there are other famous eateries that every Filipino will surely miss. To name a few, they are Goldilocks, Gerry’s/Dencio’s (sarap ng sisig dito..just try it out don’t wanna describe the details lah), Chicken Bacolod Inasal, and many more. Fortunately, there are eateries in Lucky Plaza which have similar taste to the delicacies that I mentioned above… pero shempre iba pa din ang orig. (Eng. nothing beats the original version) So, to my friends who will be coming home, you already know what to bring.

In Singapore, cars and buses will not push their “beep beep” at all. For the past one year, I think I only heard and saw 2 or 3 drivers pushing the button. And they only press it lightly unlike in the Philippines where usually the drivers will press the “beep beep” button very hard…array sakit sa tenga…(Eng. Ouch, my ear hurts). Also in Singapore, most of the taxi drivers here are friendly and will give you an exact change and sometimes they will round the fare to the lowest/nearest dollar. Unlike in the Philippines, taxi drivers will normally ask for a tip and add more to the fare in the taxi meter. They will normally say, “dagdagdan nyo na lang sir para 1L pang-gasolina o kaya pang-meryenda na lang”… haller!!, galingan nila sa pagmaneho at mabibigyan ko tlga sila ng malaking tip (Eng. No translation, statement is very long…hehe). In terms of shopping centre, Singapore has a lot of mini-malls or so called shopping centre. Almost every station of MRT here, there is a nearest shopping centre. But you have to buy your groceries once in a while because there is no sari sari store here in Singapore. In terms of cinema and movie houses, I think our version in the Philippines is much better than here in Singapore. I already tried watching a movie in Cathay Cineplex in Dhoby Ghaut but it is far the beauty and comfort of the movie houses in Greenbelt and Powerplant. Pero da best pa din sa US kasi 2-3 movies CAN watch lah…hehe (Eng. No translation again. Hehe). I heard that there is a movie house in Cubao wherein you can adjust your chain into sleeping position....yep, my friend slept while watching King Kong…hehe..? I heard it is worth 300 pesos and I think it is worth to try.

In terms of food, Singapore has a wide range of dishes because of different cultures and people living here. But the most common attribute with their dishes is spicy and hot. I don’t think Singaporeans can live without chili because they always accompany their food and rice with chili in oil, chili sauce for chicken rice, sweet red or green chili and thai chili. Nowadays, I am getting use to this kind of taste. I can now drink half-bowl of the Tom Yam soup, mix red oily chili sauce in fried rice and Fried Hokkien Mee, and drop several green chili to Hor Fun and Ban Mian noodle soup. From time to time, I think it is best to adjust and adhere to the local culture where you live especially eating the food that they eat.

Here in Singapore, I had lived in small towns that are far from the city. Through the years that I lived in the Philippines, I never stayed in any place like here in Singapore. For the past year, I stayed in Yishun that is near to the park. I used to jog there and to the nearby streets. Here in Singapore, you can stay in shape by walking or jogging around because there are many trees, cars are not smoke belchers and sometimes you have to walk because you are far from the bus stop. Just like our place in Pasir Ris where I have to take a 10-min to the bus stop. This morning, I was walking to the bus stop when suddenly something dropped from a tree. When I turned my head to my left, I saw some yellowish, smelly, sticky poopoo in my left shoulder. Grrrrr! Holy Bird!! I immediately went back to clean the mess but in the end, I decided to change my shirt and shampoo my left side of my hair. As a result, I arrived late to the office. So, guys, while walking, please stay away from trees or maybe you walk under your umbrella to make sure that "no poopoo drops will fall on your head". What I can I do, that is the nature of the birds… may araw din yan mga ibon saken… hehe (Eng. Someday, there would be a sun for those birds who poopoeed me…ay yhoo… my translation is correct, is it?)

Well well well…this is very long blog already. I have to continue working. My point here is that it is good to live in another country but at the same time, don’t forget where you come from. It is best to look back where you used to be. That’s why I keep on coming back to Manila…. Hinahanap kita Manila ….~~~ mga babaeng mong nag-gagandahan… take me back to your arms Manila…~~ kumanta ba daw (Eng.. I am singing). Ciao!

P.S. Don’t forget to stay away from trees in Singapore or stay under an umbrella if you can’t… :P. All comments in (Eng ... ) means English translation.