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Jetsetter P


10 Blog Entries
9 Trips
1178 Photos

Trips:

Operation Singapore
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Exploring & Eating in Singapore
Hazy Pool Days, Night Time Strolls, Shopping +FOOD!
Singapore Botanical Gardens & Orchid Garden
Dim Sum, gem stones, Art & Science Museum & a river side stroll
Living the Dream in Bali!
Sinagapore Zoo & Bare Your Sole charity walk
Temple weekends in Bugis, Little India & Clarke Quay + food (of course)

Shorthand link:

http://www.blogabond.com/PhilippaJustine


Adventures in Asia... Follow me :)


2 days in Ubud

Bali, Indonesia


Pics 1st, write later.

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on August 5, 2011 from Bali, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Living the Dream in Bali!
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Temple weekends in Bugis, Little India & Clarke Quay + food (of course)

Singapore, Singapore


Sooo the last two weekends I went exploring after spending my mornings lounging in the sun and swimming in the beautiful pool. The first bunch of pics are from my day in Bugis. We went to this Chinese Buddhist temple and Hindu temple which are right next door to each other. The pics speak for themselves I think. All the flower stalls around are so that you can buy them to leave as offerings in the temple, and much incense is burned. On our way leaving the square a parade of people came marching into the temple, banging drums and symbols, carrying dragons, and with a few "holy men" in a "trans" who are believed to be the medium between humans an the gods.. I guess kinda like how other religions believe you can be taken over by the holy spirit. An interesting sight to see. The Hindu temple was beautiful but you couldn't take photos once you entered inside, so I'm afraid I'll have to keep that stored away in memory. From Bugis square we took a walk through the market, with lots of stalls with clothes and various foods.. its kinda like a flea market of sorts. I got a yummy strawberry juice, and saw my first sex shop, some tea infused fermented eggs, and a Chinese burger spot. RANDOM! Then we went for some dessert first (priorities people!) and I got what is fast becoming my favorite, mango flavored shaved ice, with little passion fruit tapioca balls and some coconut jelly square thingys. YUM. We went on for Thai food for lunch, because how can you say no to a Thai restaurant called Porn's? I mean, with a name like that it was just begging for me to try it. The food was excellent too. After walking around in Bugis, Li Nar and I went our separate ways, and I stopped on the way home to get a fresh manicure. I went gold glitter, with these 3D rose designs which they specialize in here. Beautiful artwork really, and I've never seen them do anything like that at home in NYC.

The other round of photos are from this weekend. Saturday we went to Little India. I loveddd all the food we tried, and the colors, the flowers and fresh jasmine for your hair, the beautiful Saris (I'm definitely buying one) and all the gold jewelery (I saw some bangles with my name on it!). It was just a pleasure to stroll around there and enjoy the culture. We went into this huge Hindu temple that does let you take photos, and I had a ball taking plenty. I don't know much about the religion, but for me its about the art work. The time, and craftsmanship that went into to making all those shrines is incredible and the COLORS. Wow. We stopped for some Japanese food on the way home, and I had some more sashimi. I can't believe I like all this raw fish. It really does taste good tho, and the beef salad, and prawn mango sushi rolls we had were lovely too. Then Sunday, of course after the pool (I'm getting nice and brown) we went for some lunch on Clarke Quay, and then decided to check out this Chinese temple which is literally on the block behind my corporate apartment. Another WOW. They had recently restored it at the cost of 2 million Sing dollars as it had been declared a historical monument. They had special craftsman who flew in from China to reconstruct it brick by brick. The pictures speak for themselves, the colors, the craftsmanship, the stone work, the artistry, all amazing. As we left the temple and walked back to my place, I couldn't resist taking some photos along the vacant walkway.

All in all it was a lovely, relaxing weekend, enjoying the sun, and the neighborhoods in Singapore and lets not forget the food and good company :) Back to work tomorrow. Until next weekend <3

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on July 24, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Temple weekends in Bugis, Little India & Clarke Quay + food (of course)
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Singapore Botanical Gardens & Orchid Garden

Singapore, Singapore


Today was a beautiful sunny day strolling around the botanical gardens. We decided to just go see the orchid gardens and it was so worth the 5 dollar admission. Its a beautiful haven full of thousands of orchids in the brightest colors I've ever seen and they look extra spectacular among the tropical landscaping with many pathways, fountains and benches for lounging around. I almost didn't mind sharing it with everyone else. There's plenty of pictures up, and don't worry mom, I took plenty pictures of me too. For now, stop and smell the roses, or rather, enjoy the orchids ;)

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on July 10, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Singapore Botanical Gardens & Orchid Garden
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Hazy Pool Days, Night Time Strolls, Shopping +FOOD!

Singapore, Singapore


So last weekend and this weekend were both great. I spent the days at the pool, reading, listening to music, swimming and lounging in the sun. I love the pool, I'm getting nice and brown too. It's pretty serene because most people tend to stay away from it during the peak daylight hours. They avoid the sun, walk around with umbrellas for shade, but not me, I'm basking in it (with sunblock of course so Jen Smith won't yell @ me!). Besides when it gets to hot, I just dip :) Of course I've been eating. Trying my first Sashimi, raw fish - I tried Salmon and I loved it. Tasted like a steak lol. We're going to go back and have a sashimi day, but if you check the pics you'll see we had all types of other food, some sushi, the lobster and mango roll was awesome, fried octopus, and this AMAZING crab salad. I also had Persian food at this restaurant called Shiraz. It was really good, grilled meats, healthy veg and bread, just deliciously flavored, with herbs and spices fresh to nibble on. It was a swanky place in the middle of Clarke Quay and they had a bongo player and a belly dancer and hookahs. Nice touch. Li Nar and her friends from Taiwan and I took a night time stroll down to see the Merlion for the first time. It's the national symbol of Singapore. Haven't figured out the history on that one yet. Along the way we took some silly pictures with statues and such. It was a nice evening, and we saw the light show again, this time from the other side of the river. My manager was in town all last week, Ady. It was a super hectic week, but we got a lot accomplished and I was glad she came to see for herself what is going on. Hopefully she can get us the help we need over the next few months, so that we can take things to another level here. If anyone can do it she can, so I'm keeping the faith. Ady took us to The White Rabbit while she was in town. Some super fancy restaurant, where I tried Escargot! SNAILS! can you believe it? Didn't taste like much really, a little chewy like calamari, but tasted like the mounds of garlic and parsley it was cooked in. I managed to squeeze some shopping in with Li Nar @ Zara, this store I love in NYC but could never fit in! Well I bought 9 dresses, all light weight stuff great for Singapore, but classic shapes and stuff I can definitely wear at home and while I'm traveling around the region. There was a huge sale and I just couldn't resist. I also bought this one of a kind dress from Hong Kong that I love, bright blue with these huge coy fish on it, very unique, perfect for island hopping. I'm going to have to slow down a little so my wallet can recover, all well worth it I assure you. I'm supposed to be going to Hong Kong next month for a quick business trip and I plan to add on a extra day or two for sight seeing if the budget comes through. I love an unexpected trip! Bali is just in a few weeks and I can't wait. I miss Jay terribly, but we've been writing regularly and he's doing so well back at home. I'm SOOOOOOO proud of my love for making moves, and I can't wait to see him again. Samira is coming to visit in November (16-26) which will be an awesome time I'm sure! We always have the best adventures together. We're planning 4 or 5 days in Thailand. <3 life is beautiful. Anyway the pics should tell the story of the weekend and speak for themselves. Its back to work on Monday, I'm sure another long week ahead full of late nights in the office. Until next weekend...

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on July 9, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Hazy Pool Days, Night Time Strolls, Shopping +FOOD!
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Breakfast, bling, art and a great day

Singapore, Singapore


So I had a wonderful weekend and some awesome pictures to prove it. Li Nar and I met up for a dim sum brunch to start our day on Saturday and I'm so glad I had a guide to navigate the menu... or lack of menu. The staff goes around with carts and calls out the names of what they're carrying and you raise your hand or flag them down when you hear something shouted out that you want to eat. It's all shouted in chinese so I wouldn't have understood a thing! Li Nar did the ordering and got us hot and savory things to try. Strange twist for breakfast from the usual egg omlet or cereal i'm used to but it was worth the try, I was surprised that I liked so many of the dishes... except the chicken feet, but I'll get back to that. The various dishes are served with tea, and I'm not a big fan, but Li Nar picked out a fragrant Jasmine tea and it was refreshing. We tried prawn and pork dumplings, and this radish cake thingy, and this dough bun with egg yolk and sugar in it (which was a sweet and yummy) and then came the chicken feet. She said I HAD to try it. Well, it's mostly collegian, so it tastes like the fatty part of a pork chop almost and whatever they flavored and cooked it with was good. When it came time to spit out the toes, and bone digits, I was just grossed out. I mean the flavoring was really nice, but I couldn't get my head around the fact that it was a chicken foot. At least I can say I tried it. Next she wants me to try frog legs!! I can't believe I'm actually considering it. I feel like Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre foods. So at dim sum we literally sat there for hours, sipping tea, waiting for food to come our way, or the names of foods we wanted to try, shouted out so we could call them over and taste. I think that's why you can eat so much. Because you're not sitting with this huge portion in front of you, but over the course of one or 2 hours your nibbling on various dishes. It was a lot of fun. From brunch we walked to the bus stop to head over to the museum. Luckily for me, there was a little street fair with vendors from Thailand outside of the Thai embassy. We had a few minutes to "take a look", as the Singaporeans say, and was I thrilled to see a vendor selling hand made one of a kind semi precious gem stone jewelry. I bought the most fabulous citrine ring with yellow sapphires all around the edges - well check the photos!! Citrine is birthstone for November, and as I get older I've learned to love it. I used to wish I was born in January or December because I liked the garnet or the blue sapphire much better than my orange citrine. Now it's grown on me. This ring is stunning!! It cost me a little chunk of change, but to put it into perspective its about the same price as the 4 carat citrine ring I already had, and this is at least 8 or 9 carats, and flawless. Plus the craftsmanship and the yellow sapphires around the side make it pretty special. I had a hard time choosing because they had some beautiful pieces, but I got her card so that when I visit Thailand I can check out the factory. My wallet's going to be in trouble. Once I had my sparkly new ring on, we headed over to the Art and Science Museum for the Van Gogh and Dali exhibits. You have to walk through these huge shopping malls to get out on the other side where the museum is. The mall itself is an experience, with all the high end stores, but this one had a fake Venice canal and gondolas going through the center of it. There are fountains everywhere and art sculptures which makes it really over the top, but like nothing you've ever seen. After we walked around a bit, and I browsed in Gucci of course! we headed towards the museum. Its such a cool architectural structure and it looks like a flower almost. Its right on the river and has awesome views of the entire downtown area. The Marina Bay Sans is right behind it and its huge and towering over you the whole time. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so we took our time taking pictures, and then finally went inside for the exhibit. I can't even put the Van Gogh exhibit into words. It was magical. I've seen his paintings many times in NYC, and Paris and London, and Impressionism is actually one of my favorite movements. What they did here though was they had the paintings projected on to these huge screens all around you, they would move from screen to screen and change from black and whites to color, or just start out faded and then get extremely bright, to music. Beautiful classical instrumental tunes. It was awesome. We found a bench in the corner and parked our butts there for at least an hour, taking many illegal awesome pictures. Once we had seen the show 3 times, that's how great it was, we headed to the Dali exhibit. Now I always found Dali weird, and I never really gave his art a try. This time though I actually enjoyed it, and when I opened up to the symbolism I saw it in a new light. He's still not my favorite, but some of the pieces were really cool. After a view hours in the museum, we headed off along the river to find a place to eat. We actually had Italian and it was pretty good. Fresh calamari, the best beef salad I ever had, simple but they added some mint leaves to the arugula and it made an awesome combination, and for dinner home made linguine with shrimp, arugula and zucchini. Great. After walking all day and being stuffed, we were foolish enough to think we'd go back to my place for a swim. Instead it was about 1am and we just decided to stay in and call it a night. All in all it was a great day :) Sunday I met up with my other friend Shu Wei for a lunch meet up with other travel enthusiasts. They were a cool group and we headed for Vietnamese food, and chatted about various places we've travelled, where we want to go next, the various cuisines and politics. It's just the cultured and well travelled life I want to live, and how I imagine things could be, sipping rose tea and talking adventure. Heaven. We went for dessert at another place (I wasn't kidding when I said all Singaporeans do is EAT) but I just had a bit of fruit since I was stuffed. Shu Wei and i left after several hours of chatting, from noon to 5pm, and headed to the City Hall MRT station for a little window shopping in Raffles Place mall and the train ride home. By the time I got home, Li Nar was already on her way, and we stopped for some small bites at a Japanese place for dinner, and then came back to my place for a chat and a swim. I skipped the swim, because at this point I was exhausted from all the walking. Oh my, and the HEAT. It was REDIC today, the sweat was just running down my back like a river. So I skipped the swim and just lounged around in the much needed air-conditioning. She's trying to freshen up her swimming skills so that when we do some traveling together she can enjoy the water and do some diving. She got certified although she hasn't been diving in a few years, and I'm hoping to get my certification too so I can enjoy it while I visit Thailand and Indonesia and such. Anyhow, it was a great weekend with friends, but now I must get some rest because tomorrow the slave labor begins. Back to work! Until I write again...

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on June 25, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Dim Sum, gem stones, Art & Science Museum & a river side stroll
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Singapore Zoo & Bare Your Sole

Singapore, Singapore


You would not believe this zoo!!! The animals are as free as I've ever seen them. I mean obviously its a zoo so they're still captives but this zoo has no glass walls or nets or barriers. Just a little bush or moat to keep them from the humans. The animals look so free and happy, it truly was beautiful. Situated right along the river, the zoo had lush gardens and plant life, and the non threatening animals were roaming around like lemars (you could pet them) and moneys, while birds and bats were flying over head. I definitely want to do a wild safari now, cause this just blew me away. I don't think I can ever go to the bronx zoo again :( I really can't even describe how wonderful this was, so I took plenty pictures. Soon on the agenda, the botanical gardens, the Night Safari, the Bird Park, and the Underwater world. I'm so happy to have made some really chill friends that are into seeing all these things with me. So much more fun than going alone. My Malaysian friend Li Nar has even offered to go on some weekend trips with me. We're linking up tomorrow to swim @ the pool, and talk travel. She's been to Bali several times so she's going to help me with planning my trip. I'm really starting to love it here. The humidity is not even bothering me anymore. The quality of life is amazing. New York is irreplacable, but I feel like happiness lives here. I wonder if Jay would like it (I know he'd be sold on the food!)? Seems like a wonderful place to raise children. Might be getting ahead of myself a little lol. I did a charity walk this morning that Barclays sponsored for Habitat for Humanity. You walk in your bare foot along this park thats on the river facing the down town business district. Pretty cool! The proceeds go to building homes in Cambodia & Indonesia.You can't walk in your bare feet in the grimey streets of New York. Anyway, its late here. Check the photos. Good night world!


permalink written by  Jetsetter P on June 18, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Sinagapore Zoo & Bare Your Sole charity walk
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Settling In (oh, and EATING!)

Singapore, Singapore


So it's the end of work week two, and I must confess, today is the first day I actually walked anywhere. I've been working extremely long hours, like 8am to 10pm, which apparently is the Asian way. It's mostly to do with my particular job, and straightening out the cleanup work, while trying to create all new policies and procedures. I have a very hectic and draining schedule, but I love fixing problems like this and I'm good at it so it's not as miserable as it sounds. Last weekend I had my Landmark Education Advanced Course so I was in a meeting room from 10am to midnight on Fri, Sat & Sun examining myself, and creating possibilities for my future. It was an awesome experience because I made about 60 new friends, some local fro Singapore, others from Thailand & Hong Kong and all over Asia, and I really got to learn about some of the cultural differences on a very personal level. Other than the course and work, I've done nothing but sleep and eat eat eat. I have the pics to prove it! Carol took me on a lovely route to walk home today, and I've taken plenty of pictures. Tomorrow is my first weekend to myself and I am THRILLED! I'm doing a charity walk in the morning for Habitat for Humanity's Singapore branch, and then heading to the zoo with some friends I met at the course. I hear the zoo here is an amazing experience and you've never seen captive animals so happy. They have shows that allow you to interact with the animals and their environment so can't wait for that. Sunday I have plans to check out my apartment's gym, hit the swimming pool, find a super market and explore locally a bit. I need to catch up on my Lonely Planet reading, since I booked a trip to Bali from early on August 5th flying back mid afternoon on August 8th. It's only 2.5 hours away and I'm so so so so amped. It looks like the most beautiful place in the world and I can't wait to see for myself. August 9th is National Day in Singapore, a public holiday with a parade and festival so I'm glad I'll be back to check that out and all the banks are closed so no work! I’m planning to book a flight to somewhere in Thailand from the 20th to the 23rd, since the 23rd is another bank holiday. Just haven't figured out which part I want to see first. For now check out the photos of views from the office, tons of food I've been trying, and the sights along the walk home from the office.

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on June 17, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Exploring & Eating in Singapore
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First Week in a New Hemisphere

Singapore, Singapore


So It’s my first week in Singapore already and let me tell you what you're missing. The flight over here in business class was redic! I never want to fly coach again. Talk about service with a smile, they treat you like a queen! The food was excellent, and the sleeper seats really comfortable. The flight attendants are dressed in traditional dresses, elegantly poised with their hair in meticulous buns and freshly polished nails and faces. They look like beautiful dolls. They didn’t even think I was weird when I asked for a picture of me sleeping. I guess it happens all the time. So after 19 hours and 40 minutes in the air, and then a 12 hour time difference ahead, I had finally arrived! Photos of the journey attached. It was soooo hard leaving Jay at the airport. We were ok until the last minute, and then the flood gates opened. He supports me in my choice to take a chance, experience life, and advance my career and I love him for it. Didn’t make it any easier to leave though. We both know that it's only for a short while and we'll have the rest of our lives together, so I remind myself of that when it gets lonely. Since I've arrived, Carol (my co-worker) has been taking great care of me, showing me how to navigate my way to the office and find lunch. I think I'm going to have a great time working with her! My apartment is lovely. Centrally located and I can walk to work and catch the MRT (train) anywhere I need to go. I put some pictures of it so you can see where I'm spending my nights. Haven't seen anything this week yet other than the apartment for sleeping, the inside of a taxi, and 1 Raffles Quay, which is my office building. As the weeks go on I hope I have much more interesting stuff to post. Stay tuned...

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on June 8, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Operation Singapore
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Memorial Day Wknd Madness

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic


I'm standing on the longest security checkpoint ever at JFK with Raquela la Bella. We should have known. Its Memorial Day Weekend - yay for extra days off. Were staying @ the new Hard Rock Resort and Casino in Punta Cana and it looks dope. I can't wait to get to beautiful weather, pools, sandy beaches, frozen drinks, good music and crazy parties. Its gonna be a good one folks for its my last chance to make 2010 summertime memories with the bestie. Pictures of the madness to come.

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on May 27, 2011 from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
from the travel blog: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
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The Countdown Begins... 10 Days

New York, United States


In 10 days, I'll be on an 19 hour and 40 minute flight to Singapore, for the first time EVER. I've spent the last month preparing for the voyage so there's not much left to do now besides pack up my belongings, take a deep breath, and board the plane. Yet last night, after drinks with the A-List, I laid down for bed and started thinking about this trip, and I somehow felt like I was sky diving again...

Standing on the ground excited and nervous, but ready to jump. On the plane riddled with anxiety, looking out the window thinking "WTF am I doing" but trying to smile because no one else on this darn plane looks as nervous as I feel, and it's way too late to turn back! Standing in the doorway of the plane, parachute securely strapped on, counting down the seconds til I jump out those open doors with the wind roaring in and TERRIFIED that I'm going to die. I am sure I am going to DIE. Leaping out of the plane, adrenaline and gravity taking over. Suddenly, having the BEST F*in experience of my life! Coasting. Floating. Sun. Silence. Peace. Smiling. The parachute opens, and I glide down to earth. Perfect landing, not bad for a rookie! Complete euphoria, so happy to have survived, feet firmly on the ground and completely psyched to jump AGAIN! No seriously, I really DO want to jump again.

So as I get ready to leave for Singapore, I'm at the stage of my departure where I'm looking out the window of the proverbial plane thinking "WTF am I doing?", but it's way too late to turn back now. There's so much potential for awesomeness ahead, I'm trying to tune out being terrified. I can't wait to get to the part of this "jump" where I'm coasting, and this is the best experience of my life.

"Not trying is worse than to stumble and fall" - Singer, Jazmine

Live Limitless,
P

permalink written by  Jetsetter P on May 25, 2011 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: Operation Singapore
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