Saturday, June 18, 2016

Singapore shopping trip

Earlier this year, I figured I needed a new point-and-shoot camera when a dark smudge started appearing on the upper left corner of the photos I took while in Boracay. (I have now realized that may actually be due to my habit of slotting my cameras into my pocket which may end up causing damage to the lens.) I also realized that the camera I got for my mom to replace the one that was broken doesn't take good indoor photos. So I ended up using the need for new cameras (again) as an excuse to travel to Singapore to visit my friends there.

After figuring out what features I wanted and doing a lot of research and I ended up getting the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ110. While its focal length is a bit higher than what I wanted (25mm instead of 24mm), it has 10x optical zoom and a 1" sensor, making it good for low-light shots. For my mom, I decided to stick to Canon (since she is used to it) and got her the Canon Powershot SX710 HS with its impressive 30x zoom. Cool! I got the Canon at Best Denki in Takashimaya because it was the only shop that still carried this camera model (it had a pretty big discount) but I got my Lumix at Funan, which apparently is closing at the end of the month. I also ended up getting a couple of power banks and a card reader.

Of course, I ended up hanging out with a lot of my friends while I was there. I joined Anna and Majel for dinner at Kog and Ina's house and Kog and Ina very generously prepared roast chicken and paella. I met up with Gi for coffee at Cedele before we joined with the rest of the gang - Pau, Pia, Hannah, Anna, Che, Tim, and Steph - for dinner in L'Entrecote. I had brunch with Denise and Kleng at Common Man Coffee Roasters. I met up with Tim in Marina Bay Financial Center for some coffee before we walked over to the Fullerton Bay Hotel so Tim could meet up with some of his friends there. (It was my first time in the hotel and it is really beautiful).


I joined Jenn and her friends for dinner at a Bak Kut Teh near Clarke Quay MRT before heading to 28 Hong Kong Street for drinks. I met up with Sarah and Dawid and their family. The bonus was that Sarah's sister Iz who is also my friend was there at the same time and she joined us for lunch. I hadn't seen or hung out with her in years so it was awesome to see her along with Sarah and Dawid. And of course, how could I not mention watching Damien Rice in concert at the Star Theatre. Cool!

Another highlight of this trip was the fact that I flew Singapore Airlines. I managed to get a big discount which meant that my flight ended up costing about the same as one I would get from a budget airline. I also finally managed to watch Deadpool (I felt it didn't live up to the hype) and London Has Fallen (despite the bad reviews of this movie, I actually quite enjoyed it.) This was the first international trip I took in since 2013 and I am really glad it turned out to be an amazing one.

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