DAY 1 (25th June)
So the basic idea was that we would take the brand new, fancy-ass airplane, the A380 (it's a two-storey plane) to Singapore. However, the A380 leaves from Sydney, so we had to ferry ourselves over to Sydney first. EXCITEMENT ABOUND, until we actually got to Sydney's International terminal. I have to say, quite honestly, that it sucked. In my experience (not much, but hey), the International terminal is always better than the Domestic. But no.
The A380 was similarly disappointing. I was under the impression that it would be extremely spacious and that there would be many awesome games to play. No and no. The seats are pretty much the same and the games are all terrible. It's not even like on the previous Singapore Airlines flights I've been on, where I can at least play some SNES games. Just a whole bunch of Popcap games that froze and forced a reboot of the system. I'm serious.
Before we borded the airplane though, we had to go through the whole security screening business. I actually had a bottle of water in my bag from the flight from Brisbane which I completely forgot about. The man at the screening asked me if I had any liquid in my bag, to which I replied (honestly, I thought) with a 'no'. So they just let me go past, no questions asked. LAX MUCH?
But holy shit, I'm back. We got to our serviced apartment at around 11PM (Singapore time; this would equal 1AM for you Ausfags). Dad and I went to get some water from the 7-11 (we're smack bang in the middle of the city; HOW CONVENIENT, GOODBYE CASH).
DAY 2 (26th June)
We went off to HMV, which is a pretty kickass place in Singapore, where Chip purchased the MGS3: Snake Eater OST (FUCK YES CD QUALITY) and where I bought the Tokyo Shock edition of Alive. I felt sort of bad, because I want to expand my horror movie viewing but can't actually bring myself to buy any movies that are potentially ass.
DAY 3 (27th June)
Went gallavanting in Takashimaya, a Japanese shopping center/department store. The toy section is quite impressive but noisy as hell. Several small children screaming along with a bunch of toys all out of of their packaging going DING DING DING, DING DING DING. Jesus.
Followed my hunch and bought a copy of Orochi, thinking that it could be the manga that freaked me out when I was like ten. I was completely correct. It doesn't freak me out anymore, but the ending was still totally unexpected. Awesome.
DAY 4 (28th June)
Chip's birthday. Nothing much happened, really, apart from mum saying that I was a disappointment at lunch because I couldn't speak Chinese. Jeez, mum. The food was awesome though, and so well-presented.
DAY 5 (29th June)
Lunch with my obnoxious uncle who kept insisting that we make time for him after we came back from Thailand. After we managed to shake him off we travelled somewhere to meet up with my cousins and to have dinner at their place. SMALL APARTMENT AND MANY PEOPLE? Yeah.
DAY 6 (30th June)
Went to the dermatologist (because apparently we're related to her) and had no idea what I was getting myself into until they put a steam machine over my face. It was so nice and relaxing that I fell asleep and woke up to the lady pressing and pulling my face. I honestly wonder why this isn't a form of torture. It was probably the most painful experience in my life.
And then... DINNER with obnoxious uncle. This time he brought his on-off girlfriend (I don't think they're together any more though; she didn't look too pleased to be with him). He ending up telling all of us about how nagas were real and how once a year you can see them breathing fire out of a small hole in the ground to celebrate the Buddha's birthday. Sarcastically, I asked him what the scientific term for the naga was. "Naga," he said. I pretty much just facepalmed and went on my way.
Another thing I missed about Singapore: the really horrible soap operas. They are so bad they're golden. We were watching one about some guy who had just rescued his girlfriend but was getting held up by the police. The police shot him even though he wasn't doing anything threatening. CRAZY!
DAY 7 (1st July)
We went to this recently opened shopping center called Vivocity which was massive in size but also massive in fail. The only really notable shop in Vivocity was a bargain place where everything was $2. Yet I didn't buy anything.
The high point of the day was finally getting down to beating Silent Hill Origins. That, and eating lungs.
This is a lung. It is tasty and crunchy.
DAY 8 (2nd July)
Mum and Dad were invited to my uncle's birthday dinner while we were not, so we spent the evening gallavanting around the city. Not that there was anything new, really. Because it had been Chip's birthday, he had about twice as much cash as I did. He decided to be kind and bought me the Jazz re-issue (Meister for Japanfags). It's one of those things you should just never EVER take out of the box but FUCK, IT'S JAZZ.
Dinner was at Swensens, which I believe is an American chain of restaurants that seems to have infiltrated Singapore a long time ago. Hell, I know there were many of those when I was still living there, but I had never been. So we went. It is such AMERICA FUCK YEAH food.
I have never had cheese sticks before so I tried them. The first one was HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME but by the second one I wanted to kill myself.
I mean, we're not even in America and the food still comes with little American flags. I swear I kept them, but I don't know where they are.
DAY 9 (3rd July)
Our last day at the fancy serviced apartment. So we moved to my uncle's son's place (same uncle who had the birthday dinner). Their place is pretty much just three houses combined into huge compound. One for my aunt and uncle, and the other two for my cousins and their respective spouses. They gave us the room at the very top of the house and we had to pass this fucking creepy painting to get to our room.
It just reminds me a little too much of this picture I see on the internet sometimes that scares the living daylights out of me.
DAY 10 (4th July)
Woke up at 0300 to catch out 0630 flight to Thailand. It was totally worth it though, as Thailand is awesome.
So awesome, the taxis are pink.
Our hotel was awesome too, purely because you can sit down in the shower.
Cut me some slack, ok?
Also, stuff in Thailand is really quite cheap. For example, a bottle of Smirnoff Ice costs about 59 baht, which translates roughly to AU$2. Which is just nuts.
DAY 11 (5th July)
The shopping center we went to was not only huge, but it was also having an anime/cosplay festival. It was painful to see several people dressed as catgirls going into a ramen bar.
There was also a DVD shop that might import from all over the world. The world cinema section basically equated to the erotica section and each DVD was about 1,800 baht (roughly AU$65). Ouch.
DAY 12 (6th July)
We decided to be really touristy and actually go on a tour to a bunch of temples and the Grand Palace. There are a lot of pictures.
DAY 13 (7th July)
Back to Singapore. Bummed around on Dad's laptop at my cousin's place all day long, messing around with the R4 I bought in Thailand. Did I mention that my cousins have small kids? Two of them are ridiculously loud. The other is still too young to be ridiculously loud. They are our nieces and nephew. Chip was nice to them and actually hung out with them while we were staying with them. So they probably know him as 'Nice Uncle Chip' and they know me as 'Mean, Grumpy Aunty Bev'.
DAY 14 (8th July)
Hung out with my OTHER cousin (who produces films and TV shows; shit is SO cash) who had a lot of credit at some beauty salon place. So I got persuaded into getting my brows threaded, which was kinda weird. Apparently they just use normal thread to yank the hair off your face, but it felt as though there were tiny razors on it.
DAY 15 (9th July)
Went back to the dermatologist for more torture. Started playing The World Ends With You which I'm really enjoying, despite the fact that I refused to touch it because it's a Square Enix game. Ugh.
DAY 16 (10th July)
Didn't do too much, just shuffled around tying up loose errands. Ended up watching Event Horizon (which my cousin's husband lent me). It made me laugh more than I should have, but it was quite an enjoyable and a genuinely creepy film. It still didn't do anything for me though.
DAY 17 (11th July)
Tagged along with mum to go see my other cousin (why yes, I do have many relatives!) Heard the news about Fallout 3 being RC'd by the OFLC, which made me rage. I was really looking forward to it. I mean, it's not as if the use of morphine hasn't been present in other games (Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth). Really, if that's the reason for the RC, it just proves that we need a goddamn R18+ rating. Jesus, what am I going to do with my preorder now? I've transferred it from No More Heroes to Brawl and now to this. Anyway.
Before we left, Megan (the oldest of our nieces) threw a huge hissy fit because she didn't want Chip to leave. AWW. That child will end up becoming an actress.
Then the airport and the plane. So I'm back.
