house hopping galore

HDB block in Singapore

The cost of commodities here isn't that much of an issue because 10-20SGD will go a long way for groceries say 1 or 2 weeks if you don't eat a lot (just make sure to pick the cheapest items whilst at the supermarket),  the biggest challenge though is lodging. Why? Because lodging cost here is really hefty aside from finding a house where you could stay for a month is such a pain in the ass. House owners will require working pass and a month in advance payment before you could move in, which means you need to have a job here in singapore to be able to rent a flat or even a room short term. Some will require long term rentals with a minimum of 6 months. Tough isn't it?

We've house hopped since we arrived. First in punggol where my sister and i with a friend stayed for 6 days for 20sgd/head/day. The original plan was 5 days which eventually was extended another day due to difficulty finding another house where we could stay a li'l bit longer. We then resorted to sleep overnight in sengkang which is not very far from punggol for 25sgd/day/head since the bishan house won't be available anymore.

After sengkang, my sister was lucky to find a house where we could stay for couple of weeks more for another hefty cost 450sgd for 3 people. We're just lucky to avail the master room located in bishan occupied by all pinoy tenants as well. We did not risk living with non-pinoys because of the fact that other races will not allow cooking of pork due to their strict religious practice (halal). Trust me, we tried but we ended up looking for another room occupied by all pinoys in sengkang prior to moving in bishan. Mind you, ignore those ads in olx, gumtree or even pinoysg posted by agents as you will pay an agent fee on top of the rental fee. Nevermind, unless you're really desperate. 

I enjoyed my stay in bishan because for once, we had our own toilet and bath; second, across is just the community center where we could buy fruits, cookies, and of course sky bubble tea which eventually became our fave although it wasn't actually a tea but flavoured soya drink with pearls :)

i hate old houses though 'cuz i've had a lot of bad dreams in that house in bishan which were usually about suicides. first, t'was about a jumper and then vampire then a lady hanging herself by tying a rope around her head then tied to the ceiling! damn. i even needed to hang my rosary on the bedpost to veer away from bad dreams. i could use a dream catcher really. old houses are friggin' spooky.

Last but not least, we just moved in here sembawang yesterday owned by another pinoy family and shelled out 15sgd/head/day but since our room mate will be heading back to our homey philippines, me and my sister's rate will be higher 20sgd/head/day which translates to a ringing 640sgd for 2. I so feel like going home right now and forget about this whole gypsy adventure thing. 

so far so good

chicken rice found in almost all of SG's food courts.

yesterday, me and my sister went to the bishan mrt station to top up our ez cards and so as our m1 prepaid mobile sim cards. we strolled around the mall near the mrt/train station and checked out a lot of stuff around. we did some grocery shopping at this 'budget' super mart called fair price. they sell cheaper grocery items i heard. i topped up my ez card $10 and yeah it'll will go a long way and i haven't even consumed the prior value i added in.

we went to the nearest 711 to check out if they sell top up cards for m1 but no luck so we headed back to the bishan community centre and there, we found the cheapest m1 top up cards. we got an $18 worth m1 prepaid top up card for $16.50 from lola (grandma). she even asked if we're sisters, my sister said we're twins and lola said i should share more food to my sister so she will be 'healthier' like i do. i laughed, t'was really funny. she thinks i eat more compared to my sister. i thought maybe my body size isn't really average for them considering i am only 110lbs now? wrarr!

we ate chicken rice in one of the hawkers around and some iced tea. their chicken rice is cheaper as it only cost $2.50 compared to punggol it's more than $3. their iced tea cost $1.20, not bad though. the iced tea really tastes like iced tea (as in those li'l tea bags ayt?) and i think i loved it.

souvenirs found in Chinatown

le bubble tea

after our rice chicken dinner (that was around 5pm) we headed off to favourite stall that sells bubble teas for dessert. they sell one for $1.50 each, grass jelly tea (or sumthin' like that) is one of their best sellers. this is what we always look forward to, having a dose of their bubble tea every time we go to community centres. that's s one of the best things about singapore, each and every town have their own community centres (salons, supermarkets-- both wet & dry, hawkers, bakeries, dental clinics etc) so that the residents need not go far just to purchase the stuff they need. if you're an o.c you will be glad with the way they make it convenient for everyone. it's like a clutter free life if you get what i mean :)

on our way home we walked from the community centre towards our hdb block and yeah it's such a good thing. it's like a little exercise since i haven't been boxing. i guess i still need to lose more weight eh?

here are the lists of places we've been so far since last week.

• Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple - little india

The North-East MRT line's Little India and Farrer Park stations, near Serangoon Road, are convenient entry points into the area. Bugis station on the East-West line is also within walking distance.

they also have tons of hawkers around that sells wide array of meals to choose from. we tried their noodle and abc fruit juice.

i found there's tons of indian clothes there and yeah they really look cool and beautiful. i asked my sister if i could pull off wearing their national costume because my hair is long but she said no. lol.

• River areas of Boat Quay, Clark Quay and the Esplanade

as much as i want my picture taken with merlion that wasn't possible when we got there in boat quay, merlion was strucked by lightning and he's sick surrounde by scaffoldings. too bad for merlie hehe. so we just suit ourselves taking pictures of the spectacular light show.

• Sri Mariamman Temple - chinatown

244 South Bridge Rd. Singapore's oldest and most important Hindu temple. they charge $3 for taking pictures and $6 for video footages. it is polite to take off your shoes once you set foot in their temples. it is a way to pay respect to their religious abode.

i love hindu temples because of the intricate designs. my jaw dropped after o came closer and have a look at the statues and pillars. taking pictures whilst the hindus are praying is an utmost sign of disrespect so please be mindful as well.

we had some mango pudding by the way at the end of day and bought this merlion keychain set (6pcs) for $1. You'll find the cheapest key chains, nail cutters etc. in Chinatown because they got the whole street blanketed with souvenir shops. A lot of cool stuff to check out as well. Chinatown is also blanketed with pub houses and many more.

my stay in singapore

it's only been a week and couple of days since i arrived here in sg. everything is doing quite well except that i miss our flat back home and the local programming. i'm not very used to having housemates, although that's what i'm hoping to get used to.

here in sg, owning your own flat is very expensive, it's the equivalent of owning a beautiful condo unit back home. a room will cost almost 15-20k a month (take note, just a room).

my sister and her friend recently moved to this place in bishan and for just the 3 of us, 2 weeks would costs 450sgd or 150sgd/head (let's assume conversion between sgd and peso is P33 so roughly it's P14,850 to stay in this master's bedroom with own t&b though for 2 weeks because 450sgd=Pp14,850. don't convert if you don't want to get stressed out. that's what i am actually trying most of the time to avoid because it's hard to compare as wage and cost of living here in sg is so much different. alright, so far so good. i haven't feel home sick yet since we call mum and dad a lot.

let's talk about their goods or stuff you'll find in their supermarkets. i recently bought this honey cookie from this local shop in sengkang and t'was different. maybe not really palatable for me because i crave for mostly western foodie 'cuz that's what we have back home. recently, this sg local said, pinoy dishes are 'tasteless' BUT i begged to disagree. i did not comment as that's just his sole opinion. everyone is entitled to their own as this food may be good for some and not for quite a few. they just have different taste.

me and my sister is bored as hell so we decided to go out yesterday and since the hdb maze is pretty hard to figure, i kept mental notes and landmarks whilst walking out of the village to make sure we won't get lost. i made 3 landmarks, going out should be to the right at all times while going back is always to the left. first landmark, the blue playground, second is the white courtyard and third the police station.

i love SG's vending

machines, such wide

array of refreshment

to choose from :)

in the supermarket, we decided to stock up on bread and some more bottled water. we bought this 1 litre bottled water for 0.60c and this cute bread that looks like a biggie carrot muffin, some wafer to much on and this local pretzels called Ego. i liked the pandan bread but the biggie muffin was ok as well.

we love their bubble teas and it's a big hit on students as well. we bought 2 blueberry bubble tea yesterday for 1.50sgd each. loved it.

this is my new fave, it's a canned soya drink from the vending machine downstairs.

Things I learned In Singapore

HDBs in Singapore

Here's a what i learned from scouring the streets of SG.

· Weather
The weather is hot but tolerable, kinda like in the Philippines as well. Living in HDB is a challenge, it’s like being in a maze all the time so be always prepared to walk a lot. Good thing I have been boxing back home, this made me physically fit to endure the endless walking.

· Transportation is a breeze if you read all the signs, they will lead you to where you're headed. So read the signs! That's why they're there.

· SIM Card

the M1 Prepaid sim card I purchased from the Changi Budget
Terminal for 33sgd.

If you're looking to avail a prepaid sim card here in singapore, you will be required to present your passport. In short, even if you own a prepaid sim, your number will be registered unlike back home, if you own a prepaid sim you can do whatever you like it's not registered anyways which is quite unfortunate. My sister and I bought this M1 prepaid sim from changi airport's budget terminal for 33sgd although a phone call to the philippines is so much cheaper than texting (it cost me a dollar to send an sms to a globe number). M1 is actually sun cellular's affiliate so it'll be a lot cheaper to sms and call a Sun cellular number.

· Routes to various mrt stops are color coded. You may ask for a map from any mrt stations if you wish to have a handy guide to sg's transportation system, It's very organize. i don't like taking mrt back home because of the cramped up trains, but here in singapore? i learned to love it :)

· Safety
You can walk around singapore even during wee hours without worrying about your safety. Take note: mrts and buses are only available until 12MN.

· mrt stations are safe despite rubbing elbows with everyone in the escalator. Don't worry about your

backpacks or other belongings because there are NO pickpockets here in sg ever rest assured. They have death penalty alright?

· mrt stations are bombarded with security cams. Buses are equipped with cctv cameras as well.

train ride is a breeze in SG because of
EZ card.

· Don't forget to avail ez cards as soon as you arrive in the country as much as possible. This is the only way for you to pay your fares in mrts and buses. If you don't have ez card you need to bring exact fare as there won't be any change for you although that's very rare. In my experience there's only 1 or two people i've seen who used coins. Some cabbies accept ez cards. You just tap the card as soon as you board the bus and mrt then tap again before you alight. The machine will do the job in computing how you will be charged. you being overcharged is never possible because your fare is computed by the number of km travelled.

· Cabs - If you pay cash, they will give you change even if it's only a few cents.

· Don't be surprised if you see a lot of senior citizens employed as bus drivers, food court cleaners/servers because in sg as long as one is able to work no matter how old they are, they can.

visited some of Singapore's touristy locations such
Resorts World...

· I learned upon talking with fellow filipinos that in singaporean culture some of the elders are being left behind by their kids so they're enforced to fend for themselves to survive even if they're really old to be even working (which is really unfortunate for majority of them). Some of them look like you average grandpas and grandmas and sometimes i feel bad but i guess that's how their culture is, well maybe some of them possibly still care for their elders.

· Singaporean dads are very caring and affectionate with their children as what i have observed. They're the ones who usually fetch the kids from school which is kind of different back home, usually moms do that. How i wish these kids will reciprocate their parents' love once they're grown ups.

· singaporeans don't like minding other people's business. Even if you wear micro mini shorts, no one will stare at you. In the philippines if you wear skimpy clothing and 'short' shorts (like you ran out of fabric), you will be stared at and get nasty and rude comments from men who don't have respect for women.

· In mrt escalators, stay on the LEFT side (if you're not in the hurry or you'll get a lot of excuse

me! from people passing through).

MRT station in SG

· Eating and drinking is strictly not allowed on mrts. You will be fined (if you get caught) and yeah it'll be hefty. remember, singapore is a 'fine' city. You can get fined for chewing gum or even carrying one upon entry to sg (if you get caught), not flushing the toilet, smoking in mrt stations to name a few.

· Crossing the street. you can't just cross the street anytime you want and be the one to stop the cars as if you're a traffic enforcer. There's a designated button attached to the traffic lights which you need to press to enable you to cross the street. It's timed and like stop lights for vehicles, there's also a red light for stop and green for go although there are some who bravely cross the street even if the red light for pedestrians is on, no country is perfect i guess.

· ordering food from hawkers; properly enunciate your words in english if you're a foreigner so you will be understood. It will help to use sign language like for example, simply gesture two (like a peace sign) if you wish to order two of this and that and so on.

· Hawker food are cheap and tasteful. I think singapore has the best food i've tasted so far but pinoy dishes are the best-est hehe (of course).

Sentosa, accessible from the Harbourfront MRT station. Nope,
I did not go for a swim 'cuz we have tons of awesome beaches
back home :)

· Cleanliness; Singapore is really clean although some restrooms in quite a few malls aren't (trash bins left unattended or full of used tissues for example) although i can only count a few. generally, everything you see around is 80% clean and like what i said, no country is perfect but at least people here obeys the law.

· Law and order; Speaking of the law, people here would rather commit suicide than face death penalty. recently, this  malaysian guy attempted suicide after he killed his girlfriend (also a malaysian) paranoid she will break up with him. the guy pushed his girlfriend off the building which killed her instantly. the guy then, fearing for his life (obviously  since heinous crimes are punishable by death in this country), tried to jump off as well to commit suicide but failed so he's now in the death row. that's how scared they are that they'd rather commit suicide than die through death penalty.

· Tap water is potable although i heard that on some locations the water isn't very fit for drinking Well, i guess it really depends how sensitive you are.

One of the awesome temples I went to when I visited SG.
See those intricate figures?

· save trees, no tissues in hawkers; they don't provide tissues for some reason so bring your own. senior citizens who works as custodians will collect your plates and whatever trash you have on the table from time to time.

· MRT seats; there's what you call reserved seats for elderlies, pregnant, injured person. So as much as possible refrain from sitting on those which is the same back home

· Orchard road ; this is where you'll see a lot of fellow pinoys. i've seen a lot of shops with filipino employees to assist you and stores selling local goods (boy bawang, mr. chips, toiletries etc). If there's chinatown for chinese nationals, then the orchard road is our little district.

· lucky plaza; this is the place where you will find a lot of remittance centers like LBC, Banco de Oro kiosk etc. So, if you wish to send money to your relatives back home, then this is the place to be. just remember lucky plaza is really crowded during sundays because this is pinoy rest day in general.

Chinese Garden in Jurong East. It gets pretty scary in Jurong
during thunderstorms by the way..

· WIFI. Singapore is blanketed with wifi spots so surfing the net is not a problem at all. I was even able to get my e71's email functionality to work here because of excellent wifi connection where i live. A lot of them though are secured. If you're a job seeker by the way, do bring your own laptop, ipad or what have you because almost all houses/HDB units are equipped with wifi so surfing the need and sending in your email applications/resumes won't be a problem. Outdoors it's pretty difficult to get unsecured wifi signals, actually there isn't any except for wireless@sg which you need to register to get wifi access.

· I thought lavender street is as pretty as the name but it isn’t. punggol, bishan and sembawang is a lot better and people friendlier. Not very much people speaks English lavender for some reason which is quite ironic because lavender has a lot of hostels for backpackers usually caucasians. By the way, according to the residents of sg, Punggol used to be a dumpsite. 

· SG have tons of newspapers that caters to different nationalities but i only read the straight times because it’s written in English.

The Japanese Garden also in Jurong. It's the same place where
the Chinese Garden is located actually. You just have to take
the other entrance.This place is oh so perfect for pre-nup
photoshoots. Seriously, it is :)

· reloading your ez card  and prepaid sim is called ‘top up.’

· HDB (Housing dev't board) units is no different from the condominium units we have back home. Propane gas (a.k.a 'Gasul' back home) is not used in households because they have gas pipes.

· toilet bi-fold door; this is what i noticed about hdb toilets, all of them have bi fold doors. back home, we don't use bi-fold doors, it's common only with walk-in closets 😆

· rubbish chute
each hdb unit  is furnished with their own trash corners. in punggol (where we stayed when we arrived in singapore), their 'rubbish schutes' as what they call it isn't installed per unit, it's per floor. they have one rubbish schute on each floor where they need to literally 'shoot' their garbage through this small metal door and it will go straight to the rubbish/trash section possibly at the ground floor. how cool is that? in bishan, rubbish schute is found underneath the sink. you just need to open this li'l cabinet beneath the sink and you'll find their small version of rubbish schute so you don't have to go out to throw your rubbish.

· The clothes rack or sampayan (where you could hang your clothes to dry) are poles positioned diagonally either an the back or side of the house. You need to use the washing machine (nobody does hand washing) to do your laundry and must strictly spin dry them or else you’ll be scolded by your neighbors for getting their roofs wet (dripping clothes is a no-no). with some of the hdb units we resided at, so far, some of them have heavy poles and yes i have dropped a pole at one point and i hid so the neighbour downstairs won't see me lol. unfortunately, i lost one shirt because it dropped exactly on the neighbor's pole downstairs, i did not bother to get it anymore because some of them can't speak english anyways. geesh 😳

· Cab drivers are very good with driving directions and since they don’t understand English that much it’s best to write down the address where you’re headed on a piece of paper. They don't ask for tips neither or overcharge their customers. Cabbies are also equipped with terminals to swipe your credit cards in case you don't have cash handy. Only few cabs by the way allows you to use ez cards. The other day when I asked the cabbie driver to tap my ez card he got confused looking for the black strip, i told him instead it's not a credit card but an ez card hehe. I paid him cash instead to save us both from all the dramas teehee.

· Slippers and shoes; they're quite expensive here and so as sling bags and  handbags. So, if you have a lot of them back home just bring one as $5-10 is actually quite expensive for me for a slipper. I have this cute bedroom slippers I purchased back home but unfortunately i can't use 'em in going to the market so i tried checking out how much they sell slippers and i found it quite expensive. I missed my sling bags at home (sigh) cuz i have tons of them in our flat :( but fortunately i got one pair of slippers for $3 from 711 in sembawang.

· sidewalks/pathways sidewalks have designated pathways for bicycles and people. bicycles also have their own 'horns'/bells to let you know a bicycle is approaching (only if you're walking on the pathway for bicycles). it's not strictly implemented though that you take those designated pathways, it's just for your safety.

I’m still learning a lot so I’ll keep this bloggie updated every once in a while..

Here's a video clip to wrap up our Singapore adventure. Enjoy :)

Related Posts:

Singapore Finally

House Hopping Galore

Missing Back Homey

So Far So Good

Sunburn

Easter Morning

A Calendar Day Older

Lau Pa Sat food trip

temple stops etc..

le bandung!

My Stay In Singapore

Singapore, finally

Our flight to singapore was scheduled 5:50am and because it's my brother's first time to go to the naia terminal 1, we needed to be extra early to be on the safe side. There, we arrived at T1 past 2pm and yeah t'was really early since luggage check in counters opens at 3:50am. As soon as were good to go, we lined up towards the entrance and showed our passport and ticket. All your bags including your carry on will pass through the x-ray scanner.

We went straight to the check in counter but was advised that we need to pay the travel tax first for a hefty Php1,650. So we went to the counter and paid our travel tax then showed our receipts while the lady prior to the check in counter officer got one of the copies. Afterwards, our checked in luggages were weighed and since none of our luggages exceeded 20kg (we paid extra upon booking our flight online since tiger airways only allows 15kg, again just to be safe). Here we got our boarding pass and seat numbers. Next, we paid another hefty P750 for the terminal fee and yes only our country charges such. Lastly, final security check and you're good to go. Some immigration officers were downright grumpy towards some of the passengers flying out of the country for the first time which I don't find acceptable. 

Flying via Tiger Airways
Man, we were so exhausted when we got to the plane! Three hours seemed long and coffee cost 3sgd whew considering it's just your ordinary 3in1 coffee lol. I'd rather drink one of those nescafe machiatto coffee for PHP20.

We reached singapore 30mins earlier than scheduled. The temperature was 28ºC. The view of the sea from the plane was breathtaking and the buildings looked like dioramas. Don't forget to fill out the embarkation card which would be given to you on the plane before you land in singapore. 

Changi Airport Budget Terminal
Singapore's immigration wasn't a pain in the ass. The officer just stamped my passport, i was granted 30days social visit pass as expected and there we go, got our luggage from the carousel then we purchased this local sim called M1 for 33$. They also have very cheap call rates to the Philippines. which is some cents for minutes of talk time. How kewl is that?

Cabbie to Punggol central..

Their cabs are right hand drive so t'was crazy but i don't mind since i won't be driving anyways. I found that the cabbie driver was a li'l order than the usual cabbie drivers we have in the philippines. I admire sg for allowing them to still get jobs despite their age cuz i believe that age shouldn't be an issue for as long as they're still capable to work.

Cabbie fare roughly $15 and the driver was really courteous and helpful despite of the language barrier.We reached 193 edgefield plains and yeah t'was really clean. Dirt and pollution free.No jetlag but we just did a li't nap to rest.

Singapore 
Day  01

Since we arrived early and rested enough we decided to stroll around the block. We rode the 2nd bus that came and because t'was our first time in the country, although we've researched enough, we just boarded the bus and thought we could use cash for our fare however once the purple bus reached the stop/punggol mrt station we were told that yeah, as i thought, we need to have an ezlink card. I know it sounds really stupid but the driver was kind enough to spare us and educated us that next time we shouldn't do that again. It's embarassing but what the heck, first timers always encounter a lot of mistakes. At least we did not break any law in this country governed by 'fines' for each and every violations and we won't even try!

Our first stop...little india.

I've always had this fascination with anything 'india' like their fabrics, accessories, food, music, etc..

beet juice and noodles

You'll find in little india tons of hawkers (kinda like karinderya in the philippines except that they're SO much cleaner). To have a taste of sg's very diverse culture we tried some pork shrimp noodles. Me and my sister had some abc fruit juice which is an amalgamation of apple, beetroot & carrots. T'was weird at first but later on we kind of appreciate the sour and sweet combination hehe.

We walked a lot today to burn all the calories we just gained. Today's raining in singapore. drizzling afternoon.

one helluvah quest for SGD sellers

I've never walked for hours since me and my sister's trip to vigan. Today's a total walk-a-thon! Why? We never thought buying singaporean dollars would be such a pain in the ass.

endless...

We started off in the ortigas area since t'was the nearest and we live in shaw boulevard. We headed off first to robinsons galleria since as per our online research there's one called sanry's money changer that sells sgd. Unfortunately, they don't have dollar stocks so we headed then to sm megamall and yeah right they don't sell dollars, they only buy one.

In case you're looking to drop by in megamall to buy dollars (there's 2 money changers there both in mega B, one in the supermart and the other near the office supplies section) don't waste your time because THEY DONT SELL, THEY ONLY BUY FOREIGN CURRENCIES ok?

We grabbed lunch in jollibee mega b since we're both starving and boy walking relentlessly felt like we went boxing the entire day. T'was downright exhausting. Tired tired. And, when you're tired and starving your patience is really short..that's a fact and not getting what you ordered at the counter will make you really snap out easily.

I asked for N2 (spaghetti + yum burger) and melon sprite float as per my twinnie's recommendation just to find out that the lady at the counter punched in 2 spag and melon sprite float! Where's the yum burger?? I don't know maybe it's floating in cyberspace!? wrrar.

I kept my cool though i snapped a bit and the scowl in my face was really quite obvious i was ticked. So, my sister instead did the talking and added 2 burgers. The crew was really apologetic and it wasn't her fault neither so apology accepted and being an educated person i kept my calm and just moved on. Making a scene is not my thing anyways and being the type of person who respects dignity of human labor i don't like scolding fast food chain crews unless i sensed some 'attitude' or sarcastically blame me for their mistake. I understand the part that their job is stressful enough and i am lucky that i've never been subjected to such craze at the work place but i just wish that their quality of service won't screw up just because their work place is really crazy. I just don't think that's acceptable. I am not a perfectionist myself but hell yeah working face to face with customers is so much prone to scrutiny and arguments. I'm just lucky BPO companies don't deal with such stuff as all transactions are dealt with over the phone and their form of slavery is so much more sugar coated hehe. Capitalists as usual.

To make the long story short i wasn't pleased but i think these part of the work force that bust their asses off deserves a better wage in this country. Something that will commensurate their jobs. Tough jobs in this planet deserves so much better than 'minimum wage.'

Alright! change topic before i delve into something else and more blah blahs. We spent i think roughly an hour surfing the net through jollibee's wifi connection to see if we can find any money changers somewhere that sells sgds before we think of buying u.s dollars and change it to sgd once we're in singapore as a hopeless effort.

Upon googling like an o.c, i found that st. Francis square has quite a few money changer kiosk that sells sg dollars and i recalled one time i went bargain shopping there it's found near jollibee (yes, jollibee is everywhere) quite close to this atm machine where i withdrew money from few days back. One forum suggested that there's one in araneta center called EMERALD MONEY CHANGERS and that they selld sgds at a fair cost. I had this intuition that cubao has a lot to offer since back when we were in college we pass by cubao every single day because we go to school in QC and i remembered black market is widespread there. I googled again and typed on the search field...what are the known money changers in cubao? i found another suggested money changer kiosk called BAMBOO MONEY CHANGERS.

We scoured the outskirts of st. Francis square (since it's also within the area and you only need to take the mega A exit to get there) but we're still unlucky. We checked out BIG C MONEY CHANGERS and this other one near jollibee at the upper level but they don't have sgd on stock. Phew..t'was already 2:30pm and we're beginning to feel hopeless about the whole dollar buying situation. Damn. We both endured the scorching heat of the sun. Arrgh. I felt like turning into ashes anytime. The vampire in me manifesting hehe.

CUBAO.

We started scouring the outskirts of farmer's wet market. We found couple of money changers but they don't sell sg dollars neither.

Tired and weary..

we headed off to araneta center and while walking around and passing by tons of coffee shops and restos surrounding the now different face of cubao, i saw from afar this sign that reads BAMBOO restaurant so i had this strong feeling that it might house BAMBOO MONEY CHANGERS and my oh my i was right (like a light bulb flicked in my head).You may use national bookstore, the biggest in cubao as your landmark. It's just few walks away as well. Once you see national bookstore from afar just pan your head to your left and there you'll find BAMBOO MONEY CHANGERS that is if you're across national bookstore.

We were both desperate this time and if BAMBOO money changers will say they sell sg dollars we will take it even if they sell quite high than the rest although P32.00 is the usual rate. Desperate, we asked the man in the counter (anticipating another bad news) if they sell sgds and alas they do! BUT they sell it for P36 = 1sgd..very high. geesh :'(

In buying dollars or any foreign currency, low is good. That means the lower the rate the more money your PHP will go. More money you can bring along with you overseas although exchange rate for peso is better abroad as many people say. BUT, if you're selling any foreign currency, high is better because you get more PHP to spend and shop around while you're here in the country. By the way, just a li'l reminder, you can only bring 10,000 cash if you're travelling overseas (all currencies applies e.g. PHP10,000, $10,000 etc) as anything in excess will cause you trouble at the airport.

If you're restless and started the day walking for hours nothing else matters, we just want to get this whole search over and done with! Finally, our quest for sg dollars did not go to the recycle bin hehe. We also learned that money changer rates in cubao only varies by cents so just go for the nearest one instead right?

bamboo money changers is located few walks away from national bookstore and it's housed right beside bamboo restaurant. Few steps away you'll find another money changer kiosk that sells sgd which is only few cents higher. Whilst waiting for the transaction to finish because my sister decided to exchange some more of her pesos to sgd, i talked instead to this little bird residing in this cage on one corner of the money changer kiosk which breed i couldn't figure. The little fella seemed to be bragging and teaching me how to peel off a bird seed eh? Why, i won't even eat one hehe (although curious that i am, i think i have tasted one when i was still a kiddo and i think it tasted sweet :D). Maybe that's why birdies love 'em and so as albino rats we used to pet when we were still kids. Call me nostalgic.

Going back, i thought emerald money changers is hard to find but later on realized in was just about 30-40meters away from bamboo money changers. Take this, you'll pass by two ukay-ukay shops and there it is-- the little signage that reads 'emerald' is very visible from afar.

There... I just wanna share our ordeal today because this is where we failed short-- researching further where to find money changers around selling sg dollars. It was abso-f!@%*$-lutely one helluvah difficult. BUT at least we learned something and that's the perk of wandering around cubao.

We ended up eating this macaroon looking donuts instead. Gadh.

I hope this little info i shared will help those peeps looking to travel to singapore this month, there's a shortage with sg dollars! Not unless you're willing to travel to cubao ;p

We had fun IF the word fun is defined in so many ways and perceived differently by people :p

At the end of the day, looking at SG dollars is like discovering something new and different, their paper bills are pretty smaller compared to PHP yet each cost a fortune?

Goodluck!