first flash of eden

we started the day off with a 3 hour city tour, just my mom and i and several other tourists (all filipino) and our tour guide. let me just say, i hate set tours. because i'm not a tourist, i'm a TRAVELER...thank you very much. so needless to say, while the guide was going on and on about the history of this and the history of that, i was just staring out the window and listening to the Allman Brothers Band on my iPod (the new love of my life---sorry kev). And then ofcourse, there's the chatter from the other people with us. Ok, can i just say, i love my country, all of you who knows me well knows how i will tar and feather anyone who says anything bad about us pinoys, but these women were irritating as hell! they would repeat everything that was said two seconds ago and one of them who's been to singapore like, once before kept on going "ay alam ko na yang sinasabi niya" and "hay naku, i'b bin der na da las taym i was her" and the best was when the tour guide pointed out the building where they had the planning talks for the 2012 olympics, she suddenly burts out and goes, "ay oo, diyan mangyayari ang olympics next year, kaya nagpaplano na sila ngayon." i couldn't wait to get out of there. by noon time, thankfully we were back at the hotel and i could unload the stuff that i had bought in chinatown (one of the stops on the tour) and we headed off to Little India, which is the only place i've really been looking forward to anyway. As soon I got down from the cab at the entrance of Little India Arcade, i was hit with the strong smell of incence and spices. everything was in color, i felt as if i were dorothea stepping out of her house into munchkinland.

there were reds from hanging flowers and oranges from curries, browns from henna, silver on the bracelets and stalls and stalls of floor to ceiling stacked bangles of all colors. there was all sorts of curries and samosas, chapati, naan, music was playing from every other store, idian women were walking around in beautiful saris, selling all sorts of bindis, the normal red ones to elaborate glittered ones. i said earlier that i felt like dorothea in munchkinland, well, now i felt like alice and i just fell through the rabbit hole, and on the other side, i ended up in bollywood.
but a person can only take so much of munchkin-bolly-wonderland, and after 3 hours in little india, i had to get out. the incence was making me heady, i felt like i was back in that dingy bar in germany, ready to throw up after a suspiciously rolled ciggarette was handed to me. but ofcourse, the biggest peril of not travelling alone, my mom went of by herself and i had to go around looking for her. after over half an hour, i was ready to lie down on a pile of saris from dizziness, and she still hadn't shown up. i went around the entire arcade so many damn times, the stall owners would tell me "if we see your mom, we'll tell her to stay put for you." Embarassing. not to mention, downright frustrating! here i am, dizzy from the smells and the heat, in a foreign place and all i want to do is go back to the hotel for a quick shower and i can't because i have to wait for someone else. it really is better to travel to a place for the first time alone, unless it's a vacation, then fine, be with as many people as you can.
so anyways, she finally shows up, and i'm sweaty, my henna is running, i didn't have any ciggarettes and i hated the fact that the only reason why i couldn't do what i wanted was dependent on someone else (which is the thing that i hate most in the world), and she's all fresh and breezy and "oh i went all over the place, i saw so many things, and blah blah blah." thanks, ma. really, it's been great going around and around looking for you in a place that you weren't even in for over half an hour while i'm dizzy and people keep on insisting that i buy tea.
so we get back to the hotel and i'm still in a bad mood, realizing that not only am i sweaty and dizzy, but also hungry. the day before, my first meal here was some authentic hawker food...i hated it. and then that night, we had the infamous chilli crab, which was good, but incredibly hot, so i didn't have alot of that. and for lunch, mcdonald's. heheh...i know, go all the way to singapore to eat mcDonald's. but i made a promise to myself to eat mcDonalds in every country i go to. our fries are better. but their's are bigger.
so, i'm hungry and sleepy, and i really, REALLY want a beer or better yet, ice cold vodka...but it's no fun drinking when you can't smoke, and my mom won't LET me smoke on front of her (choke choke) so i'm really pissed...i take a shower and tita rae calls, she's meeting us for dinner in a while, so maybe things'll look up from there.
don't get me wrong, i am enjoying myself to a certain degree, but i just miss my puppy and my dad. and kev. and smoking wherever i want. manicures that don't cost 30 singapore dollars.