Singapore: the Lion City

- March 23, 2016

I am a member of The Singles or Christ community and we are having the 23rd International Conference which is going to be held in Singapore. The very first conference hold outside the Philippines and who am I to miss this opportunity to be part of this history.

This blog will be a combination of my SFC ICON experience together with roaming around the streets of Singapore.

This is my 5th time in Singapore but it still never ceases to amaze me. A little history below:

Singapore (

ⁱ/ˈsɪŋɡəpɔːr/), officially the Republic of Singapore, and often referred to as the Lion City, the Garden City, and the Red Dot, is a global city in Southeast Asia and the world's only island city-state. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southernmost tip of continental Asia and peninsular Malaysia, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island and 62 islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km²), and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.

the Obligatory Merlion shot

I booked my flight with SINGAPORE AIRLINES and by far my favourite airline but before that I secured my registration in our SFC ICON through CFC home office website. A word of advise for those not familiar that when booking through Singapore Airlines, they have an option of multi-city. I am off to the Philippines after ICON, rather than booking 2 separate flights SG Air offer this although other airline does but SG prices are quite reasonable. My Flight Itinerary for 2400.00 AED:

I've booked our accommodation with my fellow delegates from my chapter here in DXB namely, Nic, Tess, Rose and Rizzell through booking.com as always. Same as my previous travel I've been booking through them because I'm already a genius member which would give me higher discount and other benefits (i.e., free online tour guide, late check-out, etc.). We booked at Park Avenue Changi because of it's location, although it's quite pricey compared to other places but we can't sacrifice the convenience right. The hotel is close to the Changi airport as well as to our conference location which is in Singapore Expo additional benefit is, it's close to a mall and it's 4 star :-) with a pool.

Our Park Avenue Changi Room

On my first days, I was still alone. I really liked now travelling a place alone, nice me time, literally. My goal on visiting SG besides the ICON is to meet my close friends and I did.

My friend Clarissa from High School (Lourdes College High School) is based her in SG. I already communicated with her few weeks back because it's like a tradition, everytime I visit SG, I have to see her. She's my best cute buddy and this time she's with her BF Vince who studied as the same college as we are. They invited me to have an "AFTERNOON TEA" which the Singaporeans have adapted from the British Culture. We have it at the FULLERTON BAY HOTEL specifically the Landing Point. Indeed it was a nice time catching up and being updated with Clarissa's life as well as me sharing mine after a few years of not seeing each other.

Price for Afternoon Tea: $45 per person. (Refillable 3-Tier Stand + Free Flow of Coffee and TWG Tea Selection)

Time: 3pm - 5.30pm daily

Find the information for this place in this link:

http://www.fullertonbayhotel.com/en/dining/the-landing-point

Below are photos from our catch up:

Next stop after the tasty afternoon tea with a beautiful view, we're going to Din Tai Fung, which is also here in Dubai but it's just that pork is not part of the menu and they say that the best dim sum is here, so I asked Clarissa if she could take me there and the food didn't disappoint. I've tried the juiciest dim sum ever in my life as well as the traditional chicken soup that has the tastiest broth. With us is Rod, also one of my school council buddies in my college years who is also based in SG. Photo ops below:

The next day, my SFC sisters from Vietnam arrived and they're bullying me around (not in an exaggerated way) to take pictures of them because they don't have a nice camera, although it's just a mobile phone. I miss this gals, we already developed a very good kind of friendship although it long distance. Here are our photos:

Ang unang nakita si Ianne Michaela

with SFC Vietnam: Grasya, Aice, Michaela

With MJ from SFC SG

While waiting for the rest of my chapter delegates from Dubai to arrive to the hotel because Nic and Tess attended the PRE-ICON while Rizzell is still en route, me and Rose Ann who arrived that day ended up roaming around the beautiful city with our fellow SFC UAE delegates Glen and William.

I also met my close friend in college Stephanie together with her hubby and they treated me to a sumptuous meal in an Italian Resto (I just can't remember the name) in the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes.