I honestly wasn’t looking forward to tallying up my expenses for my last trip, yet at the same time, I was eager to see just how much damage I did. And if I really spent enough to buy the 50mm f1.4 lens I wanted. I didn’t, but a couple more thousands and I could’ve bought the 35mm f1.8. I’m just consoling myself that at least I’ve finished my Christmas shopping in one go and bought some things I really wanted for myself.

Also, I realized how relatively cheap Malacca is for a daytrip from Singapore. The drive from the island to the heritage town is more than double the time it takes to drive down from Kuala Lumpur to Malacca, but it’s a better alternative to Johor Bahru, where most Filipinos go for a visa run. For about Php 2,000, you can do this day trip from Singapore. That already include the bus (public bus from Singapore to Johor Bahru, domestic bus from Larkin Terminal to Malacca), admission fees, meals and transport within Malacca. Melaka is compact enough that you can just walk to see the main attractions. I’m definitely heading back there when I go to Singapore.

Oh, I’ve omitted my personal shopping expenses from this travel budget. It’s certainly not for public consumption.
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I’m back at Changi, this time waiting for my ride back to Manila. Between the first Notes from Changi Airport and this post, there were only two posts, one I even had to force myself to finish.
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Yes, I’m back. For the nth time. Don’t ask.

I’m killing time because my Philippine Airline flight from Manila landed early — too early. My brother is just leaving his office so I figured I’d kill time by hoarding the free internet terminal before going through immigration.

Notice that my post was after the flight, not before. The Centennial terminal’s wifi was wonky this afternoon, and the internet kiosks were pretty useless. Also, I’ve loaded my laptop with episodes of Queer as Folk, so I just watched an episode while waiting for my flight to be called instead of writing.

The airport was quite busy this afternoon. Actually, the whole metro seem to be outside, clogging EDSA. A trip that takes 40 minutes on a very good day took almost an hour, from QC to Paranaque. Still, I was early for check in, and there was only one group ahead of me in the queue.

I was able to use Gate N3 of the NAIA Terminal 2 for the first time today. It was actually just a stairs down to the ground level where there’s a bus waiting to take passengers to the plane. The plane today was one of PAL’s new Airbus A320-200, with the Recaro seats. The seats looks narrow at first glance, with bigger spaces in between. It’s actually wider though, and the controls for the entertainment system are on top, not on the side.

It was cloudy and rainy in Manila, probably brought on by the typhoon in the Visayas. The flight was turbulent after take off, but it was fairly uneventful afterwards. Not uneventful enough that I get bored and get some sleep though. I haven’t slept since work ended at 7am, and I still need to work at 10pm tonight. Crap.

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Finally, after several years, Jetstar Airways is adding additional flights from Manila to Singapore and Singapore to Manila. For the longest time, they only have one daily flight in and out of the Philippines, which was rather frustrating. Jetstar is my airline of choice when flying to Singapore, since I much prefer Terminal 1 of the Changi Airport than the Budget terminal (which doesn’t look budget, actually).

Jetstar Airways Airbus A320

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The Singapore Tourism Board is launching Pinoylah.com, an interactive website where Filipinos can get a preview of what awaits them in Singapore.

Visit the Pinoylah website at www.pinoylah.com

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I’ll start this entry off by saying that this travel budget is rather inaccurate, since I pretty much stopped writing down my expenses when I got to comfortable in Singapore. So there were items that I missed, and items that probably shouldn’t be listed.

I’ve included the cheap airfare to and from Singapore in this budget, excluding the expenses incurred in the Philippines (airport & travel tax, taxi). It’s a fairly decent amount, except that it does not include any accommodation expense and no costs on souvenirs either. This budget is only for six days in Singapore: Day 1, and Days 25 to 30.
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Yes, I’m still alive. I enjoyed my one week reprieve from blogging. Towards the end, writing a daily account of my trip became too much of a chore. Even finishing up my last couple of days in Singapore to finish the 30 days weren’t enjoyable anymore.

I’m going to miss this view

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Unofficially, the backpacking trip ended last June 25th, when I returned to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur. Still, I wanted to end it on the 30th, as I originally intended, since I’m still on holiday until today, even if I am suitcasing, rather than backpacking. Admittedly I have been taking it too easy when I got back. Work starts in less than 24 hours, and I wanted to get plenty of rest before I start staying up all night again.

I like my brats cooked

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