near-miss before take-off

On 22 Feb 2010, as I was about to step out of our taxi at the airport in Manila to catch our flight to Singapore, a huge-ass van drove up next to me, hit the taxi's door and almost tore it off its hinges.

Good thing I didn't get out yet.

It was funny how the van's passengers and our little coterie completely ignored one another. We just left the two drivers to work things out and rushed to our check-in counters.

Ah, Mabuhay Class is truly the only way to fly international. Too bad the food was excruciatingly horrid. Like we were being punished or something.

Gave new meaning to the phrase "rubber chicken".

The service was fantastic, though. And the view-- the cloud formations were kind of unusual that day.

Super squeaky-clean windshield.

We arrived in Singapore in time for dinner. After checking in at the Meritus Mandarin on Orchard Road, we crossed the street to Paragon where we found the Crystal Jade Restaurant on the fifth floor.

Still busy at 9:30pm.

Since it was our first time at Crystal Jade and we were tired and hungry, we ordered some safe bets...

The hot and sour soup warmed the tummy.

The stuffed scallops were pretty good. I ordered salt and pepper fried scallops, though. Miscommunication.

But we couldn't resist a few things that were out of the ordinary.

A slice of crispy pork on top of some goose liver and a pancake. The whole thing was about 3cm across and cost US$7.50 EACH!

Yez, it's a duck's foot. With the web and all.

Wiped out by Pop.

Verdict: Crystal Jade was just so-so, OK lah. It was our first night in Singapore and although I noticed that the food was not spectacular, I thought that maybe it was just me. After going through my pictures and trying to remember how everything tasted, I realised that our meal was really not that great. But the service staff were nice and I loved the decor.

P.S. Two days earlier, in Manila, my wallet got stolen at The Landmark Department Store at Trinoma. I was going up the escalator when this girl wearing a surgical mask brushed against me. A few minutes later, I became aware that my handbag was open. My wallet was gone. I lost my ATM cards, credit cards and my driver's license. My cash was not in my wallet. Haha! The joke's on you, surgical mask stealer girl!

I asked for assistance from The Landmark's security guard, who told me to "just go to Customer Service, ma'am." Eff-ing useless! I immediately got on my phone and called all my banks to block my cards. I didn't bother looking for the thief. All she had to do was remove her mask and I would never recognise her. Also, she was most likely part of a gang. If I had confronted her, her companions would have come to her assistance, and I was all alone. I could have been stabbed and left exsanguinating on the floor, and the eff-ing incompetent security guards would tell me to go bleed at Customer Service.

So first my wallet, then two days later, I almost got killed by a Toyota Grandia. This explains my previous remark about malignant forces surrounding me.