I’m back in Singapore and I’m easing my way again to normal, daily living after the long holiday break. Looking at the past year, it was one of my best years so far. Despite the whirlwind of emotions, the times of uncertainty, and the abrupt need to move places, 2018 was a year of answered prayers.

I had to admit though, the beginning of 2018 for me wasn’t great. I felt like there was a spillover of depression from 2017 that trickled down to early last year. Trials after trials, bad decisions, goals too far-fetched no matter how hard I tried – these all had broken me down into panic attacks and mornings when I just didn’t want to get out of bed.

As you may have known (or not), when I travel abroad it’s imminent that I shop. This time when I shopped in Singapore for the first time this year, I didn’t go crazy on buying stuff. Most of these are from IKEA and Mustafa, but I got some from other stores, too.

My Singapore shopping haul isn’t exactly planned and I didn’t spend too much on these. I spent as little as $2.90 (about Php 116) for some, while the most expensive one is at $49 (Php 1,960). I mean if I were still that addicted to makeup, I’d probably be bringing home tons of new stuff from Sephora. But since these are random items on my shopping cart and each item is nothing over $49 each, might as well show them to you! Oh, and did I mention shopping is soooo much fun in Singapore?

On my second flight to Singapore this 2018, I find myself booking a room again at Holiday Inn Express in Katong. I would normally look for hotels near train stations, but this one is an exception. Tucked in the vibrant and posh area of Singapore’s East Coast, I was surprised to find a brand that carries a hotel legacy in its name, but doesn’t come along with an expensive price tag.

I don’t do backpacking when I travel, but I do want some comfort at the end of the day without having to break the bank. If you’re looking for a mid-range hotel that values top-notch service without paying a fortune, this Holiday Inn branch might be the one you’re looking for.

The first time I went to Singapore back in 2012, Gardens by the Bay was just about to open to the public. I have no idea there’s a budding nature space in this corporate city. After five years, I went back and visited one of the most talked about and most photographed nature parks in the world.

Nestled in the center of the bustling concrete jungle of Singapore, this sprawling garden spans 101 hectares of reclaimed land and is free to enjoy by everyone. Can you imagine how wonderful it is to spend a day at a nature park for free? And it’s not just any park, but Gardens was a work of art by “skilled landscape designers, horticulturists, arborists, engineers, plant health, garden and turf management experts, as well as plant research and orchid breeding professionals.”

Singapore is one of the top ten countries in the world with the highest cost of living. In Asia, the country holds the top spot. The expensive rent is a given, but you can always resource cheap food through hawkers and food stalls you can find everywhere. But how about toiletries? Well that’s a different story.

If you’ve been to Guardian and Watsons in Singapore, you’ll be shocked as to how expensive toiletries can get. For example, the same well-known napkin being sold in the Philippines at around Php 80 for a pack of 20 will cost at SGD 6.90 in Singapore (Php 276; 1 SGD = 40 Php conversion rate as of posting). A global brand feminine wash that’s Php 194 for 250ml at home will cost at SGD 13.90 (or Php 556) in Singapura.

It’s difficult not to convert prices, especially if you’re trying to save money. So I asked my friend (Thank you, Jore!) where she buys her toiletries.

When Tim Ho Wan opened its doors in the Philippines, people have been lining up at the “world’s cheapest Michelin-star restaurant” day in and day out. You can’t reserve a table so you have to devote some time in waiting. Since it opened its first branch in our country in 2014, I haven’t got the chance to taste their widely-popular dim sums.

Luckily, we stayed very near 112 Katong Mall in Singapore and at early in the afternoon on a weekday, there wasn’t any queue at Tim Ho Wan. Excited to get blown away with “Hong Kong’s Most Famous Dim Sum”, I dragged my husband inside the Katong branch.

Coming back to Geylang reminded me of those two weeks we spent in Singapore last year. While the place is known to be a red light district (not the types we have here in the Philippines or in Amsterdam), Geylang is filled with numerous food selections including stalls of fruits, a strip of hawkers (no pun intended), and affordable dim sum places to boot.

One dim sum place we’ve been coming back to is 126 Dim Sum Wen Dao Shi, tucked in the main street of Sims Avenue in the heart of Geylang. It’s funny because we discovered this while I was craving for siomai (shu mai) one time and this place happened to be just a few steps away from our accommodation in Lorong 15. We didn’t know it was this popular in Singapore!

“Have you tried Thai BBQ before?”, my husband asked me on our first day in Singapore last month. It was his birthday when we arrived for our long weekend getaway and I told him he’s got the freedom to choose what he wanted to eat for dinner. To answer the question, no I haven’t tried Thai BBQ before - not in Thailand, nor in the Philippines.

Because he stayed in Chiang Mai in Thailand for two months during college, my husband missed the food he had eaten so frequently back then. Apparently, he already scouted for restaurants within the area surrounding our hotel in Katong where we stayed. Just across the street from our hotel is Mookata Traditional Thai BBQ restaurant.