Season’s Greetings

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and I would like to personally greet everyone a Merry Christmas!  God bless all of us, and may we all have a great Yuletide season!

Holiday Cheers!

The holidays are meant to be spent with our beloved ones and even us who are friends with the road and blogging are no exception, so before we bade goodbye to the year that was, we had our petite but delightful gathering.

Singapore Special: Sentosa (Day 03, Post-Race)

• Southward Bound (Day 01)
• Pre-Race Tour (Day 02)
• The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (Day 03)
• Sentosa (Day 03, Post-Race)
• Solo Flight (Day 04)

Everyone’s races are over, most got a new “personal best” (as how they refer to a “personal record” in Singapore), it’s time to celebrate!  We haven’t gone all out to save our strengths for our respective races and now, we can!  And where do adventure-seekers in Singapore go?  Sentosa!

The ladies…

…and the Gents…

…off to Sentosa! (Me behind the camera)

Sentosa is the southernmost territory of Singapore and as such has the southernmost coast of continental Asia (since Singapore is connected by land to the Asian mainland via bridges to Malaysia).  You may think of Sentosa as Singapore’s playground as it centralizes a lot of attractions here like Underwater World, Tiger Sky Tower, Palawan beach, and Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park (opening first quarter 2010) among others.

Sentosa

From the mainland you may get to Sentosa via a cable car (under repair) or the monorail.  The obvious choice for us was the monorail and interestingly its station was inside a mall (like many MRT stations in Singapore), Vivo City.  Getting to Sentosa (Imbiah Station) takes only a few minutes from Vivo City Station as it really wasn’t that far away—from a Filipino’s perspective you may compare it to crossing a slightly wider (and much deeper) Pasig River.

Here comes the monorail to Sentosa

As much as we want to explore this entire island and enjoy everything it had to offer time was not on our side as we only had less than half a day!  Some of our friends would also return to Manila later that night so all we had was the entire afternoon.  Without spending much time thinking we started with the obvious: the Luge and Skyride.

The gang at Sentosa with Singapore’s biggest Merlion at the background

Tiger Sky Tower

Luge

Skyride

Travel Tip: As many who have tried the Luge would tell you, “once is not enough.”  Take our word for it, get the combo!

At first the Skyride doesn’t look intimidating; I mean it’s just an open cable car, right?  But later on it proved to be a “screamer” for the ladies—it gets really high so it isn’t exactly for those who are afraid of heights.  It was quite enjoyable though as you get to see the island from a high spot but it’s a little too short (get the combo!).

View from the above

An even higher view!

Weee!

…what do we do next?

After the rides we settled to touring the area on foot as it was also getting too late for us to visit other attractions.  But before we left we were visited by the free-roaming peacock that just walks about the place.  Interesting.

The roaming peacock

Nice gate

Imbiah Station

A monorail stopping at the station

Upon returning to Vivo City I was quite tired to roam around the mall’s rooftop garden (I just did a marathon earlier so it was reasonable) so I just settled with lying on the grass.  I realized that our Singapore trip was coming to its conclusion so we had to maximize the time we had remaining.  All three of my “housemates” would be leaving that night and for our last activity together we decided to have a somewhat fancy dinner, back near our hostel in Bugis.

Getting some rest at Vivo City’s garden

Vivo City’s garden Christmas tree

Finally that night I had to say goodbye to my friends.  I was so tired that I didn’t even had the chance to think that I was alone in my room and just fell to sleep without trouble.  Tomorrow I’ll be checking out and be returning home, alone.  I wasn’t even able to think about that before I got to sleep…

Hotel InterContinental’s Christmas tree, just across our hostel

Meatball Spaghetti, always a favorite

Spicy Pasta, although it didn’t say so in the menu

Travel Tip: Watch out for the word “spicy” if you’re not used to it.

Last dinner in Singapore for this trip

Our hostel

Special thanks to Carina for some of the pictures that appeared here.

Singapore Special Index:

• Southward Bound (Day 01)
• Pre-Race Tour (Day 02)
• The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (Day 03)
• Sentosa (Day 03, Post-Race)
• Solo Flight (Day 04)

Singapore Special: Pre-Race Tour (Day 02)

• Southward Bound (Day 01)
• Pre-Race Tour (Day 02)
• The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (Day 03)
• Sentosa (Day 03, Post-Race)
• Solo Flight (Day 04)

As a tourist in the 21^st century it is probably a mortal sin not to have a camera of sorts especially on foreign land, so for my second day in Singapore finding one comes on top of my itinerary.  Being a gadget hub I sure didn’t have any difficulty finding one for me in Singapore.  What’s good about being a tourist buying gadgets in Singapore is that you are entitled to a 7% GST (Goods and Services Tax) refund of up to S$300 for purchases above S$100 (in a single receipt).  For many gadgets Singapore prices are among the most competitive in the region and the additional incentive sure makes shopping more gratifying.  Here are the first sets of pictures taken from my new digital camera:

Raffles City

Raffles City fountain

Shopping sure makes you hungry

Travel Tip: Most modern gadgets won’t have any problem with Singapore’s voltage but if your gadget’s charger or power cord is Philippine-standard make sure to bring an adapter as Singapore’s outlets are different.

Lunch time with friends at Raffles City

What do tourists normally do? Tour!  That’s exactly what we did, and yes it’s the day before the marathon!

Jedi caught by the empire! Storm Troopers help gather funds for The Salvation Army (courtesy Carina)

Inside Swissotel The Stamford

War Memorial Park with the famous Singapore skyline in the background

One side of the baggage counter for SCSM at the Memorial

Travel Tip: You may consider bringing along a small bottle of water when touring Singapore.

A typical double decker bus

Travel Tip: Civic District is best toured by foot, but don’t forget to bring your map!

Marina Square

Lookey what we found

Esplanade

…from another angle

Fullerton Hotel with the Singapore skyline

The Merlion

…and the Merlion cub

For dinner since it’s the night before race day it can only mean one thing—carbo loading time!

Glitzy Christmas by the bay

Raffles City Christmas tree

Time to carbo-load!

Hmmm… Spaghetti!

Pizza, courtesy of Rico V. (By Sheer Will)

Seafood Carbonara Pasta

Before calling it a day we stopped over a supermarket to do some shopping.

Fruits

Cavendish Bananas from the Philippines!

Finally just before having some shuteyes I thought of writing some inspirational message on the extra bib provided, but being tired of touring my mind wasn’t generating creative juices so I just prepared my things for my marathon the following day.

My K-Ona ready for its Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon debut

The moment I have been waiting for, the reason I am in Singapore, has finally arrived.  What will happen on race day remains unknown so far…

Singapore Special Index:

• Southward Bound (Day 01)
• Pre-Race Tour (Day 02)
• The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (Day 03)
• Sentosa (Day 03, Post-Race)
• Solo Flight (Day 04)

Join runningpinoy’s Virtual Tours

Christmas season is here!  For many this is also a time for vacation and travel.  For those who won’t be able to do so (myself included), join with me on a virtual tour of two spots I’ve been to for the past two consecutive weekends: Ilocos Provinces, Philippines, and Singapore.  These tours served as an early vacation for me so I’m home-bound this yuletide season.

These tours were spinoff itineraries of races, the first one way up North of Luzon with Run Ahead in Laoag, and the second one South almost at the Equator with Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.  These races were the primary reasons I was in these spots but was in no way the only reasons these places are worth visiting.  You may probably call me a “sports tourist” in line with my battle cry “takbo hangga’t may lupa” (run while there’s land to run onto) and being one allowed me to see places in a unique perspective.

Without further ado I’ll start with the details of our Northern tour on my next post.

Christmas Wish List

Christmas is just around the corner, the season of gift-giving and sharing; and of course receiving gifts especially unexpected ones are really pleasing.  Who wouldn’t want to receive gifts this season?  If you were to ask me what I want for Christmas here’s my wish list:

Garmin Forerunner® 405
Number one in my wish list, this is also one of the most expensive one and one of my most needed and wanted.  I need this to measure accurately the distance I cover during my training and practice runs outdoors, and I want this because having one makes you feel and look like a pro.  If you start seeing satellite maps of my runs on my blog site you’ll know I had this wish fulfilled.

Forerunner® 405, courtesy Garmin

Shoes
A pair of alternate running shoes, training shoes, and trail-running shoes to be precise.  These are also on my “need” list but I can’t exactly get it all at once (even if I wanted to).  The most needed one would be the trail shoes due to an upcoming trail run this January.

Nike Lunar Trainer, courtesy Nike Philippines

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
I’m not discontented with my current phone (Nokia 6120 classic) but I sure would like to experience those touch screen-based phones, and I really need its Wi-Fi capabilities to reduce the need to bring along my laptop.  Plus it really looks cool.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, courtesy GSMArena.com

UMPC
Stands for Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer, this item reveal the geek in me and my interests in gadgets.  My current one, an Asus Eee PC 701 is defective (and even under warranty, after sales support are a nightmare so I don’t see this being resolved) and my demands are starting to surpass its capabilities so I could really use an upgrade.

VAIO UX - VGN-UX37GN/L, courtesy Sony Philippines

Nike Pro Gears
I just love those Nike Pro items, namely those compression shorts.  It’s Nike and it’s “pro,” what’s not to love?

Run Long Socks
I have good running socks but I don’t have a pair yet for long distance runs.  Definitely a must before my half-marathon next year.

Nike Run Long Cushioned Quarter Sock

“Real” Running Shorts
I don’t have a problem using my football shorts for running but it can get a bit hot during long distance races.  Naturally I’d prefer the longer ones, probably even consider tights, over the really short ones.

A Digital SLR Camera
A digital camera in general was one of the first items I wanted to buy after graduating from college and a few years hence I still haven’t satisfied this one, perhaps because it was more of a hobby than a need (my mobile phone’s camera fulfills the need, although falls short that of desired).  Although my “want” for this has changed from point-and-shoot to entry-level SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) cameras, running has definitely taken much of the limelight away from photography, although I’d like to pursue this in the near future.  Any digital camera now would definitely give this hobby a much needed boost!

Canon EOS 1000D, courtesy Canon Philippines

Of course my wish list isn’t all about material things; my more important wishes are good health for my family and myself, more blessings, and of course, world peace!  (I am serious about the last one however clichéd it may have been)

Let us not forget what this season is all about, and it’s not about a fat guy in Red suit: it’s all about giving.  After all this season was made for us to remember the birth of His Ultimate Gift to mankind—that’s the Christ in Christmas.