Chapter : Trip to Singapore

Let me start off my trip to Singapore last week. I went over to Singapore for three days because there was this studio called Intense Animation Studio and was having an open day and my dad asked me to check it out which I did. Joey followed me down to Singapore too to check it out.

We set off Kuala Lumpur around 2 something in the afternoon and I think we arrived at Singapore around 8 something at night and my dad dropped off Joey at the MRT station because she is staying over at Kyoru’s place. My dad and I were staying at my aunt’s place throughout the short trip. I wasn’t used to the quiet lifestyle because well, my aunt and uncle sleep around 9 at night and I normally sleep at 4 in the morning. I slept with my aunt in her room while my dad took another room for himself and my uncle slept outside. Thankfully I brought a book to read with me if not I would probably die of boredom throughout the night. While engrossed with the book, my cousin and his wife came back from work. My cousin works in this company called MediaCorp which a TV station in Singapore which is pretty well known. His wife on the other hand is one of the producers there if I’m not mistaken.

When they saw me, I greeted them of course and I then went to disturb them in the comfort of their own room. Well, actually my cousin brother asked me to come into the room and he asked me some questions about why am I wandering around in Singapore at this time of the month, and whether I am working (obviously not, unless you taken the account working for my mother with no pay working…) and then my dad “summoned” him and he went to talk to my dad and I was sitting in the room with his wife who seem to be doing something.

Then she told me that my cousin brother just bought himself an IPhone which is one of the “in” gadgets this year and she allowed me to fiddle with it and I was so amused with the phone to the extend that I wanted one for myself. Everything was TOUCH screen. It felt so wonderful in my palms that I wanted to bring back to KL. Then I went to see his games and I saw a fair lot of old school games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong. I was so tempted to play it but I didn’t want to waste his batteries or anything, or worse, destroyed it on the spot. I do tend to have this sort of “curse” where whatever kind of electronic device comes into my hand, it would be destroyed in an instant. Then my cousin’s wife was asking me whether I have a Wii at home. One of the latest game console that everyone is after, which I replied that I don’t have it at home due to the fact that if I do have a Wii at home my two brothers would not study and hence would be the main cause of the nice little red marks in their papers.

I was wondering why she was asking me that which later on she told me that one of my cousin brother’s friend from the States gave him a Wii for his birthday. I was muttering “lucky bastard” under my breath and she said that she should have asked him to hook it up for me to play which sadly she forgot and I didn’t even get the chance to play it. Even throughout my days there, I didn’t once touch the Wii because it was packed in this suitcase with al the other game consoles that my cousin brother has such as the PSP and PS2.

It then dawned upon me that my cousin brother’s room is a friggin’ entertainment center. Soon I found out that he still has his old IPod which he doesn’t use it anymore and wanted a new one and I was begging my cousin brother to give it to me. The conversation went like this

Me: Yang, give me your IPod since you are not using it anymore.
He: Why should I?
Me: Well, you should learn to care for your little poor cousin sister who doesn’t own an

IPod and you already have the IPhone which you can listen your music.
He: *laughs* No.
Me: Why not? Seriously, I don’t have an allowance and you ought to have compassion

for your cousin sister you know. Come on, give me your IPod. I would handle it

with uttermost care.
He: Still no. I rather sell it and get money instead.

I mean he is married for almost a year and he already learnt the art of saying “No” and I am so certain that it would be a good skill to his future children. I can so imagine his kids going,

“Daddy, daddy, can I have a transformer toy?”

“No.”

“Please daddy, I will promise to do my homework a day in advance!”

(laughs) “No.”

The poor kid would be upset and the rest of his day looking as though he eaten a barrel of lemons. Well, I almost looked as though I eaten a barrel of lemons and was bought to have all my hopes of getting his IPod all crushed when he offered me his Macbook for me to go online. That made me perked up like a child given a bucketful of candies. Sadly he didn’t offer it to me to bring it home and called it mine. That would even make me even happier and I would be forever in his debt and would proclaim to the entire nation that he is my most favourite cousin brother. Thankfully my cousin brother has the sense to install Wifi in the house and I could go online wherever I liked even in the bathroom. I was thinking that I wouldn’t be able to go online throughout my stay in Singapore.

I logged on and some people who knew that I was in Singapore were pretty surprised that I could be online and I just explained to them about my cousin and his mini entertainment center and offered me to use his Macbook to go online. I was in my aunt’s room typing in pitch dark because my aunt was already asleep and have to wake up around 5am to go to church so I couldn’t on the lights and disturb her beauty sleep. Anyway, for what is worth, a Macbook isn’t computer friendly that is what I can say. It is pretty and all that but seriously the shortcut keys that you have to get use to like “Ctrl+A” is selecting all text in a normal computer but for the Mac you have to press this Apple looking icon and A which got me confused half the time.

Anyway, furthering on with the next day which my dad said that I have the entire day to myself which is the most awesome news I have ever heard in my life. Most of the time whenever we are on a trip to Singapore, my own parents wouldn’t allow me to go out alone and wander around the streets of Singapore. So I managed to make some plans to meet up with my online friends whom I have met through a game and we agreed to meet up at Orchard Road that day. My aunt offered to escort me all the way there because she was afraid that I would get lost along the MRT way and ended up somewhere at the other end of Singapore. Before my aunt and I left the house, I was preparing with make-up and all then my aunt came in the room and had a conversation with me. The conversation went like this,

“You are going out to meet your friends, right? What time would you be back?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It depends I guess because I haven’t met her before,” I replied.

“Okay, your friends are all girls, right?” she asked.

“Erm, yeah…”I replied.

“No guys?” she asked.

“Yeah, only girls,” I assured her so she wouldn’t be so worried about me getting raped and all that.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked again.

“No, I don’t,” I said.

“Are you gay?” she asked.

I just stared at her for a long time and replied, “No, I am not.”

“Ah, thank god that you are gay!” she exclaimed and started smiling.

I just stared at her as though she was an alienated being that came to me for road directions! But in all confusion I asked her, “Why do you think that I am gay?”

“Oh, because most of the people who does arts are gay,” she said.

Well, that was blunt I should say. To top it all that, it was said in Mandarin. I couldn’t believe my own ears that my own aunt thought that I was gay. Well, I would have joked about it but due to my limitation in that particular language I couldn’t. I mean even if I could I couldn’t because she is a sweet 60 something year old lady and I shouldn’t give her a scare if you know what I mean. I did plan to say this if I could speak properly in Mandarin and she wasn’t really that old. The conversation would turn out like this.

“Are you gay?”

“Well, I guess so since half the time I spend mostly with girls and we always hug and say I love you to each other. Hmm, so pretty much I am gay.”

Aunt couldn’t reply due to the fact she finds out one of her nieces is gay and won’t be getting married and letting her see her grandnieces or nephews and to top it all, she wont be seeing a husband but an extra “hus-wife”. Okay, running along with the story instead of explaining the sadistic lame story of aunty thinking niece is gay and it would ruin the family tree.

My aunt and I reached at Orchard Road and I was waiting for my friend, Xian to arrive. I was grateful yet worried or should say more like embarrassed because I have to trouble my aunt to escorted me all the way here and wait for pretty much a long time for my friend to arrive before she could be freed from worrying that I would be abducted by strange people.

I have never met Xian before in my entire life but when we just met; we automatically clicked as though we haven’t seen each other for ages. We walked along Orchard Road while looking for presents to buy for another friend who is studying in UK. It was drizzling a little and it was really wet and Xian was telling me how she hates the rain while I said that I only like rain when I am at home in my own room. Neither of us had an umbrella and we walked under the rain as though we have nothing else better to do but to get ourselves soak with water. Well, technically speaking we didn’t get soaked but just slightly damped because it was only drizzling.

We walked from Orchard Road all the way to Dhoby Ghaut, I think that is how it was spelt but whenever someone says “Meet me at Dhoby Ghaut.” I would automatically think of bitter gourds instead. I wouldn’t know the reason why I do so. We stopped at the internet café which it is called PC bunk to most Singaporeans and we both sat there and played a game of Audition. Xian and I had tons of fun and were laughing our heads off creating a small racket from all the blasting music surrounding us. A group of guys crowded our place and both of us feel a bit pressured because all the eyes were on the screen watching us play.

After 2 hours in the bunk, we headed off to grab some bite at this restaurant called Billy Bombers. That restaurant has this 80’s feel and well it was decorated to look like those little coffee shops in those days. If you remember Sean Kingston’s song, “Beautiful Girl” and watched his MV where the starting there was this bunch of girls heading inside the shop which looks like the 80’s? Well, it looks like that at Billy Bombers. We sat down and were thinking what to order and took some pictures while we were at it. While waiting for food, we were talking, laughing and joking with each other and another of my friend whom I also met in a game, text messaged me saying that she is able to drop by to see me.

The food came and the portions were HUGE. Thankfully I managed to finished what I ordered but Xian couldn’t and we still were waiting for my friend, Fyora to arrive after her classes. Xian was rummaging through her bag and then she finds an UMBRELLA in her bag and she can ask me this question, “Jessie hani, why do I have an umbrella in my bag?”

“How would I know?” I said.

Then we both laughed.

“You know, we walked from all the way from Orchard Road to here in the rain only now to find out that you have an umbrella stored in your bag?” I exclaimed with a laugh.

“I don’t know Jessie. I really don’t know!” she replied laughing as well.

Then I kept on teasing her since then until Fyora’s message came in saying that she was near Tanglin and I looked at Xian and asked where is that and she just stared at me and said,

“Hmm, where is that?”

I just looked at her astounded and said, “You don’t know where Tanglin is?”

“Erm, yeah,” was her reply.

“Are you sure you are Singaporean. You know, you could be Malaysian and said that you are Singaporean as cover up,” I teased.

“Nooooooooo!!!” she said and was laughing her head off.

Later Fyora arrived and she ordered her food to eat and I told her about Xian being a fake Singaporean and not knowing about an umbrella in her bag and I continued teasing her from that time one. But for what’s worth. It was really a great time hanging out with them. We laughed and talked and walked around a mall for some time and then I had to go back because my aunt was getting really worried for me. I would have continued on longer but I think it has already reached the length of a short story novel.