MussoLOLen is Always Right! |

Screw travel guides and all those book that attempt to condense an entire country’s culture into a couple of chapters. The best way to really learn about a country is to talk to the locals.

The early afternoon was spent hanging out with Baldwin, an internet friend who owns his own tattoo and piercing parlor in Fortune Center, Middle Road. If any of you are ever in Singapore and want a tattoo or a piercing, I recommend that you go to his place. The mall itself might look a little dodgy, but his shop is very clean and professional-looking–a far cry from most of the tattoo places back in the Philippines.

After hanging out in Fortune Center, Nic and I headed over to Chinatown to buy souvenirs for friends back home. I spent approximately a hundred Singapore dollars on t-shirts, smoking paraphernalia for friends who smoke (since cigarettes are too fucking expensive), and various other useful things with the word “Singapore” on them. Yes, that’s how much I love my friends and family. :P At the risk of sounding cheesy, I think spending that much on souvenirs was worth it. I like bringing back a little piece of my trip to people I love back in the Philippines. Besides, I spent a ridiculous amount of money on myself over the past week, so I suppose it’s only fair.

During the middle of our shopping trip, the grey skies finally gave way to heavy rain, causing Nic and I to take shelter in front of a nearby electronics shop. As we kicked ourselves in the asses for not thinking of bringing an umbrella with us, the shop owners invited us take a seat outside their shop and engaged us in conversation. Soon we were sipping coffee with them and I was giving my usual list of fucked-up social and political things back in the Philippines. Interestingly enough, I felt a strange sense of nationalism as I rambled on about corrupt politicians, poverty, and how our culture seems to perpetuate the entire system of social inequality. Not in the sense that I’m proud of those things, but I somehow got the notion that maybe there is something I can do to help change things. I don’t know.

The Night Safari and drinks at the Raffles Hotel with my relatives here filled up the rest of my evening. My wallet is home to two Singapore dollars and some pesos. I’m meeting a friend for lunch in an hour and I have no idea how I’ll be able to afford anything. Maybe I’ll just make some lame excuse about being on a diet.