Greetings to everyone!

We just arrived from a two weeks trip to abroad (Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand) with the courtesy of my Boyfriend, as a reward because I was able to finished my first semester to a four years course in College, let me share you my experiences.

From the departure at NAIA bound to Singapore.we arrived at NAIA two hours before our flight, at the entrance of Lufthansa Ticket office my Boyfriend was complaining because the guards wants to open our luggage he asked the guards: "Do we look like a terrorist?" and the guard replied: "sorry Sir, for security." And my boyfriend whispered " Lala Land ." it pissed me off every time he called my country as "Lala land" but what can I say? I guess nothing.

I was tensed when were about to board the plane (Singapore Airlines) since that was the first time I ride a big plane, which means that was the first time I went out of my country, in the plane my Boyfriend inform me that spitting, littering, smoking and chewing gum are strictly prohibited in Singapore, its violating some of their Laws and the violation has equivalent fine, knowing that the implementation of their laws are very strict and you can't bribe their Government Officials.

So far, the trip bound to Singapore was cool although we experienced a bet of bouncing for few minutes, we arrived at Singapore at 9:00 p.m. after putting a stamp to our passports and after our luggage was checked by the immigration.

We finally ride a taxi bound to the hotel, at the taxi I realize that there's a big difference between "Ninoy Aquino International Airport" and "Singapore Changi International Airport".the structure of the buildings, the equipments for checking the luggage, and the interior design of the buildings, on the way to the hotel my eyes are widely open I was amazed by the cleanliness of the country! The clean road, flowering plants, well trim ornamental plants in the high ways the stunning buildings, with different kinds of adorable structures and designs, although its night time I saw such things because of the lightings in between the high ways, it takes longer than we expected until we finally find the hotel.

After taking a rest and refreshing our selves my boyfriend invited me to have a little walk and look for a money changer, we passed by at the Indian Night Market. I noticed that Indians loves glittering on their clothes, shoes and bags, they love gold and most of the Indians ladies has nose stud and has this red dot to their forehead, my boyfriend told me that its one of their tradition.

The next day we went to my Boyfriends favorite Indian Restaurant it takes five minutes walk from the hotel to the said restaurant. We ate our breakfast there I was mesmerized with the taste of Indian delicacy it's so authentic and delicious although its little bet spicy (my boyfriend loves Indian food specially the curries and the Beriyani rice) that's the specialty of the said restaurant, most of the waiter knows him for the reason that he been there for few times on his last trip for a job, two months ago. The crew are nice and friendly, All of the Indians who ate at the said restaurant did not used spoon and fork, they have that hand wash corner at the back corner of restaurant, in short they are not that conscious of "table etiquette" same as most of the Filipino's like me.but all of them bearing their smiling and friendly faces every time the stared at me. I was the only Filipina there so it's not surprising if I am the center of attraction, I guess its not often that they see a "Brown Monkey" like me in there territory.

After our Breakfast we walk back to the hotel and checked out, my Boyfriend decided to find a new hotel, so we checked in to Robertson Quay Hotel located at 15 Merbau Road Singapore City. Since were at the tenth floor of the building, I saw the whole scenery outside from the window of our hotel room, it was adorable! The view of the River point, the highways with no traffic at all, the clean surroundings, the stunning contour of the buildings and establishments.

The following day my boyfriend brought me to Sentosa Island , one of the numerous tourist attractions of Singapore , we arrived there through riding of the cable car. This is one of the moments I will never forget in this trip. It's amazing! The feeling, the view, the excitement, after we take off to the cable car the next thing we do was ride the monorail, which a few meters above from the ground. The monorail is the one which transport the tourist from one place to another side of the island, riding this you can see the every corner of the said island. Indeed it was a great day for me, I enjoyed the every place we been to, the under water world, the butterfly park, the Dolphin lagoon, the Cinemania and the little island of Most-southern point of Asia .

The next day my Boyfriend brought me to Singapore Zoo, this place absolutely huge, amazing and incredible that was the first time I saw species of animals which I never see in my entire life I don't even know that they are existing. after the long way of walk to see and visit the different races of the animals we went to Night Safari, I was mesmerized with this moment, riding a little tram and listening to the tourist guide who's entertaining us and introduce the animal we saw in the entire ride, and it's only the moonlight which give light our way, it does scare me a bit, but its excite me more.

After this we went to Jumbo, my Boyfriend's favorite Chinese Restaurant in Singapore , their specialty is "Black Pepper Crab" as a little young gal who grew up in the island somewhere in Samar . Having a huge crab and other sea foods like lobster prawns etc. in the dining table is just ordinary meal for me.but I never tried to have it with the black pepper, which I learned to love in this trip, its delectable and mouth watering! So every time my Boyfriend asks me where I want to eat, I just giggle and he knows what my answer is, so Jumbo is the restaurant we used to eat the rest of the days we have left in Singapore .

Batam - Indonesia

From Singapore we sailed bound to Batam Indonesia, since I been to real world (Singapore) which everything works and everything is possible, at this point I saw the difference between the "real world" and "Lala Land" so, Batam Indonesia does not impress me as much as Singapore did.
What I saw was a place which almost the same as my home(Philippines), the structures of the high ways, style and designs of the malls and establishments, the attitude of the people, yes because in the second day of our trip we went to the malls to see want we can buy, a souvenir or something, every time we pass along the groups of young lads in the street, these young lads scream, yell and laugh to us, as if we are clowns.

I asked my self: what's wrong with this people? I was thinking that maybe they do not see a white skinned Guy with a brown monkey girl that often, that's why they reacted like these. One more thing which disappoints me was every time I tried to buy something, most of the vendor or sale lady cannot communicate with me and if they can, they tried to give me the higher price than usual, I guess because I am with a white skinned guy.

Most of the Indonesian in Batam does not speak English as much as most Pilipino can, although most of us cannot speak English that fluently at least we can try our crocked English. The next day, we agreed to spend the whole day to the Hotel, the people here are more educated and they respect the tourists. After staying there for one more day, we sailed back to Singapore and planned to go to Thailand .

Bangkok - Thailand

So, after one day rest we flew from Singapore bound to Thailand , with Air Asia which smaller plane, compare to the plane of Singapore Airlines. Arriving at 9:00 o' clock p.m. at the Dong Muang International Airport in Thailand, I notice that there's a big difference of the facilities compare to the facilities of Singapore Changi International Airport, on the way out to the Airport I concluded that Thailand might be a Lala Land as well.

We were riding a taxi bound to Executive Hotel located at Soi Nana five, the Driver seems smart and tried to fool my Boyfriend to receive a bigger tip I assumed. Which he received after he helps us with our luggage. When we checked-in to the said hotel and went to our room we found out that the location of the hotel was good, because it's across to the Laundry Shop and beside to seven eleven.

After we fix everything in our room we went for a walk to find a restaurant where we can eat our dinner, and we find Sizzler's! My boyfriend told me that they used to go in this place with his friend the last time he spent his vacation here. I love the Salad Bar in this place, and fruit shake as well, if Jumbo was our favorite Restaurant in Singapore, I guess Sizzler's will be our favorite Restaurant in Thailand. After having our dinner we went back to the hotel to have some sleep.

The next day we planned of going to the to Weekend Market, because before we went to Thailand, my Boyfriend was informed by one of his friends who resided in Thailand for long period of time that we should visit the weekend market, and he assured that I will going to love the place, but before that we went for a walk to have our breakfast, we decided to go to Thai Restaurant to try their food, so far the food looked okay and delicious but after twenty minutes or so, my tummy was not really happy with the food, so I promise to my self that, that would be the first and last time I will eat Thai Food.

After taking some medicine for my tummy and when I am sure that I am ok, we hired a taxi to bring us to Weekend Market, on the way I realized that the market is quite far from the hotel where we staying, plus we was trapped by the traffic. So travel for one and a half hour or so, so it's late when we arrived in the said place, when we get there, I was shocked the place was huge,

I guess its more than a thousand vendors in this market and the crowd of the shopper's is huge as well, it's so hot but it's fun to shop here to think that the price's are very low compare to other shops, I bet Everything is almost here; clothes, under wares, accessories, pets, plants, shoes, utensils, etc. the time run so fast because we did not notice that its dusk already, and some of the vendors are preparing to go home.

I was disappointed, I am not satisfied to shop yet, and this will be the first and last time I will be here, since this market is good for weekends and we are going back to Singapore after four more days. But my boyfriends cheer me up, and promise me that he will be bringing me to Pratunam Market, (smaller than the weekend market) since it is open every day, so my eyes glitters again, on the way out to Weekend Market we experience a hard time of getting a taxi, because of the crowd. It took almost an hour before we finally got one who will drive us to Sizzler's afterwards home.

The next day we moved from Executive hotel to Radisson Hotel, I guess the said hotel is one of the famous hotels in Bangkok, the hotel room is huge and the hotel occupants are obviously famous and rich, except us. at this point I realize the there are people who was born lucky and has a golden spoon in their mouth ever since they was born. On the contrary I am not envy neither jealous for what they have because I am satisfied and grateful for what I have and for whom I am.

I consider my self as lucky for having an opportunity like this, to experience such things without spending money from my own pocket.

After we checked-in we went to Grand Palace, where the King of Thailand resided before, no shorts and sleeveless allowed inside the Palace, I adore the contour and structure of the buildings, it's amazing! The statue, the interior and exterior decoration of the buildings, the golden paints which makes the building stunning and elegant.

When we went to the main attraction of the said place which is the palace where in we can see the Buddha (The enlightened one) which made of pure gold. We have some rules to be followed.

We need to take off our foot wares and remain it outside in the shoe rack, no picture taking inside the palace especially to the Buddha, we are not allowed to point our foot towards the Buddha and we ought to remain silent inside the palace. After roaming around in the entire Palace we went back to the Hotel to have some rest and went to Sizzler's for dinner.

In the next day we went to Pratunam Market and bought some stuff and some souvenir, I found out that the price in Pratunam is more expensive compare to the weekend market.

The following day we went to MBK this is one of the biggest mall I have ever seen. It's crowded of shopper's and tourists who roam around and shop, we went to the Cinema to see if we can find something to watch, and we found Anacondas at the VIP cinema, where in we are only six people who's watching and five of them are white skinned including my Boyfriend since it's English movie.

After watching cinema we went to Sizzler's and ate our dinner and went back to the hotel to pack our thing since the next day is the schedule of our trip bound to Singapore . From Dong Muang International Airport we flew bound to Singapore Changi International Airport after two days of staying in Singapore we flew back bound to my Lala home the Philippines.

Conclusion

After the trip abroad, I come up with something first and foremost, traveling out of the country cost a lot of money second, I saw the different kind of cultures and customs of the people in every place I have been, and I was able to deal with different kind of people although it's a short span of time third, I saw the big difference between my country (Lala Land) and to the real world specifically Singapore, where in every thing works and every thing is possible, there's no traffic, no garbage, no chain smokers in public places, the adorable structures of the buildings and establishments, the well mannered refined and culture people, the prestigious Government, to make it short I have been to a place where in every body are enjoying the progress and modernization of the said country, because everybody are united.

In my home land the garbage are stinking almost every where, the traffic is one of the huge problems, the poor structures of high-ways, buildings and establishment, the graft and corruption, the undisciplined people, lastly this trip make me aware that this form of government we have here in the Philippines will not bring us anywhere. This country will remain left behind of progress and modernization despite the fact that Philippines is known for being rich of natural resources, but with these Corrupt Government Officials who has their own selfish motive this country will remain as the second corrupt country of the world.

It's a shame to us.its hard to accept but that's the truth. Sometimes I wonder why they still held the election which the governments spend millions of people's money, why not spending it in reconstructing the high-ways or spend it with the beautification of the public schools or in the garbage disposal problem, what is the use of having election by the way if most the politicians are corrupt, greedy, and not devoted to their responsibilities?

Well I don't know perhaps everybody needs to start the revision itself, it might be the first step to the progress of the country someday. I want to take this opportunity to thanks my Boyfriend for showing me the other side of the world, for letting my self discover the reason why he keep calling my country as Lala Land, and for giving me the opportunity to experience the feeling of being Tourist ,

I appreciate it a lot..

Little Bastos