Day Out with the Eggheads

December 8, Monday, was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

It was our second day in Singapore and was calendared for museum exploration which to some or to many may be a ho-hum way to spend a day. Well, not for us three adventuremongers. 

When we had decided for this SG visit, my niece’s foremost agendum after my marathon is to visit museums. It made me eager and even happier upon knowing that my two companions were likewise very much keen about this. It convinced me more how highbrow they are. Hehehehe. Seriously, they are known eggheads in the clan. One has to be sensible if you want them to stay and converse with you. The motivation (well, more of a very good challenge) of watching the four seasons of Game of Thrones (which I accomplished via http://g2g.fm/movies for one straight week) came from Nano and Yula. I, having zero knowledge about it before, was not able to join their chat at all. Just like when the two of them would have a head-to-head conversation about the complete series of Harry Potter books which did not stimulate me intellectually. Weirdoooooos? Hahahaha… Well, engaging myself in their discussion had a 360-degree turn when we met in July for our Singapore booking at Travel Expo at SMX. It was a beautiful feeling to be swapping analyses, critiques, and predictions for GOT’s Season 5. Anyway, being with them is always a moment of scholarly discourse which can make you gain a higher level of literacy. Geek-sounding my description about them is, this duo will always be the coolest and the zaniest people one would opt to hang around. After all, they are bloodline. 

Now, on with my story.

First museum to visit after our breakfast at around 8 AM is the National Museum of Singapore which is located at Stanford Road. Yula found out from one of the hotel staff that we could actually reach it by foot. It made us anticipate our Monday morning.

From the Perak Hotel, our major pilot led us with the help of the now beat-up map of Singapore. My niece has done a wonderful job even without putting a leash on me. Harharhar…

Spotting the immaculately white structure (so apt for the Catholics’ religious feast) after around 30-35 minutes of walking and enjoying the landscape on our way had us displaying immense exuberance especially me. It has been awhile that I had not entered a museum. I became thirstier for the fresh discoveries inside. 

There awaited a wide range of amazing objects that quenched and mesmerized me. The walk-through from one gallery to another provided answers to my private ponderings and broadened my limited knowledge about Singapore’s rich historical heritage.

Surprising me on the floor of the museum was a drawn frame of one of my favorite childhood games “piko” or hopscotch in other countries. I seized the split second in releasing the child inside me. 

What an idiosyncratic way to replace a five-kilometer recovery run after my Standard Chartered Marathon! Hihihi. It fixed my smile on my lips throughout the tour which I hoped affected Yula and Nano (kinda doubtful for her because the camera seemed to have captured differently…ha-ha!) in the same manner.

NMS finished, we set out looking for a money changer and a place where we could try new dishes for lunch. 

This was my most yummy meal in SG! It was all worth the price (the monetary aspect) and the price (consequence) of encountering language barrier between the owner and me when I gave my order. I felt I was bloated after eating heartily, thus I was open to the idea of just walking to the next museum. However, Nano and Yula were both ‘closed’ to it. 

When the majority wins, the one and only minority (who is me) should yield. So, off we went to the nearest taxi bay and be delivered to …

…after deriving visual pleasure from the spectacular architectural tour de force along our way.

I learned that ACM is an institution which forms a part of the four museums in Singapore, the other three being the other Asian Civilisations Museum at Old Tao Nan School, the Singapore Art Museum and the National Museum Singapore which we first visited. If not for time constraint, we could have traveled through the other two. 

As we progressed, this one-liner caption gave us a bird’s-eye view of what to undergo inside ACM. 

We went in ignorant. We came out learned. 

Our education about Singapore continued as we went for our third target, the Merlion Park. 

Photoshoot concluded, we convened to finalize our plan of going to Singapore Botanic Gardens. 

Far. 

This three-letter word made us forego with this. Referring to the map, travel time would take us back to the hotel late already and we still had a major destination where we’re sure to linger for hours. This is the Bugis Street, one of Singapore’s tourist attractions, which Yula and I accidentally discovered to be near Perak Hotel on the night of December 7 when we roamed the area for the Burger King joint. No arguments arose and we searched for the MRT station which had us entering Fullerton Hotel and passing by fantastic scenery. 

At around 5 PM, we were at Bugis Street where we took our very light dinner and bought our souvenirs and Christmas gifts. Nano was the one who did her shopping the longest. 

Nighttime had crept in the city when we hiked toward our lodging and readied ourselves for a good night rest after first doing our early packing.