After walking around, we returned to the hotel. I called Laura first, but the phone kept ringing and didn't go to voicemail. Then I dialed Wing's number and it gave me some kind of alert tone instead of a ring. Fortunately, Victoria Hotel had free call AND wi-fi. I was able to get Laura on Whatsapp and she gave me a different number. It turned out that I was getting the errors because I was dialing the country code, 65. After that, I was able to call both Laura and Wing. I even made plans with both on the same night!
Bugis Junction
Since it was already past noon, we didn't want to venture to one of the hawker centers for lunch. We just went over to Bugis Junction. I walked around first to see which stands were Singaporean because there were a lot of different Asian cuisines there. I narrowed it down to 3... a curry place, satay and chicken rice. I went for the curry in the end because they had a combo plate that offered the most items in a single meal. Jerick got a custom curry combo. Ifore got the Hainanese chicken and Jiselle some satay. Together, we covered a lot of the native dishes on the first meal. We spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the shops and stands and grabbing snacks here and there.
Marina Bay
We got back to the hotel around 5:30pm. I always had to make sure I got back towards the end of the work day so I could make calls to Wing and Laura. I was set to meet Wing first, but got a nap in there since it was already a long day. When I got his call, I grabbed my bag and ran to the lobby. I was still sleeping even though I was walking! I even forgot to hand him the gift I got for him in NY. So that means I'll have to meet him again later in the week! From the hotel, we walked over to Raffles City, another mall with food court in the basement. We sat down at a local coffee place. I was wide awake shortly after that! Then we headed over to the Marina Bay where we took a river cruise... a shorter version of NYC's Circle Line tour. It was the perfect thing to do with my short stay here. I also had a good hour to catch up with Wing, who I have not seen since graduation in 1997!
Iluma
I got back to the hotel just before 9pm so I could catch Laura after dance class. I was able to wash up and change before she got to Bugis. We met around 9:30 for bubble tea and snack at Iluma. Like our NY meeting this Summer, this was just a short one, but I was happy to see her and catch up on the past 4 months. Iluma was just about to close for the night, but yet no one rushed us out of the cafe upstairs... very different than NYC!
What an amazingly complete day starting from 3am up to 11pm! I already got to see a lot on the first day. I already met up with both Wing and Laura! I guess that's the advantage of a red-eye flight... no time wasted. I am tired though!
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