RESTAURANT Restaurants are growing in popularity, not just for couples who want to avoid the ever-rising prices of hotel banquets, but also for those who want something different for their weddings. With restaurants, you get to choose from a range of cuisines and themed decorations, from the elegant and understated to loud and exotic. One thing to take note is some restaurants might not host weddings very often, so you might need to be a little more hands-on in communicating your needs and ensuring that the necessary equipment and arrangements are prepared by the staff. According to the same MoneySmart article, restaurants in Singapore may charge between $501 to $1,099 for a wedding banquet. ALTERNATIVE VENUES Anything that isn't a hotel or restaurant qualifies as an alternative venue. This can be country clubs, community centres, chalets, void decks, outdoor gardens, a yacht, or any space that you can think of. The good thing about using alternative venues is that it will likely be a … [Read more...] about Here’s how much you need for a wedding in Singapore
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How Singapore left its mark on a backwater village in Bangladesh
BALUCHAR, BANGLADESH: When Mohd Yusof came up to speak to us out of the blue, my younger colleague Chiew Tong burst into hysterical laughter. “I’m so shook,” she declared her excitement in typical Millennial speak.By this time, we were halfway through our production trip in Bangladesh and had gotten used to curious locals approaching us with questions about where we were from and what we were doing. What set Yusof apart from them was the accent. We did not expect - at the end of a long day in a small riverside village 30km south of Dhaka - to suddenly get a dose of home from a man who looked typically Bangladeshi but spoke fluent Singlish, ah beng-style. “I've worked in Singapore for almost ten years mah,” he explained, drawing another guffaw from Chiew Tong. In retrospect, we should not have been surprised. Baluchar, with a population of 100,000, may be a rural backwater, but one in three adult males here work abroad. And … [Read more...] about How Singapore left its mark on a backwater village in Bangladesh
How overcoming my fear won me a crown
Being crowned as Miss Philippines Fire 2019 is a dream come true. The fact that I had to work so hard for it — for so many years — only makes it sweeter. MANILA, Philippines — I was 21, fresh out of college, 5’6” and 160 lbs. when I first met Rodgil and Gio Flores, who were producing a show for us. Being a pageant fan myself, I was eager to meet Tito Rodgil, the head of Kagandahang Flores or KF, which produced beauty queens such as Bea Rose Santiago, MJ Lastimosa and Karen Gallman. My mom joked that it was my dream to enter pageants. My heart dropped, as that was a deep, dark secret I had given up on. To my surprise, Tito Gio said, “You’re transformable. You can do it.” And so he invited me to join the training at their camp. For four years I never took the invite. I focused on my career and my fitness. I lost some weight, but never enough to compete. When applications for Binibining Pilipinas and Miss … [Read more...] about How overcoming my fear won me a crown
How to do Athens while keeping your cool
In Henry Miller’s travelogue of Greece, The Colossus of Maroussi, the author recounts a brief episode at the Acropolis that is the definition of tourist hell. He stands among hundreds of people, burning beneath the sun, waiting to storm the grounds of the sacred complex. He describes the hardship one endures while visiting these ruins: your tour guides will charge you more drachmas than reasonable, you will stumble over rock and rubble, and afterwards you will need copious amounts of ice water and ice cream to recover from the exertion. My experience in Athens couldn’t be more different. We visited Acropolis in the early spring, with my partner-in-crime mother who wanted to see Athens before her knees gave out. At its gates ten minutes before opening time, we were second in line behind a tour guide who exclaimed how smart we were for visiting early in the day, that we would luckily avoid the crowds. She was right for as we explored the thousands-of-years-old paths, … [Read more...] about How to do Athens while keeping your cool
How to do Athens and keep your cool
In Henry Miller’s travelogue of Greece, The Colossus of Maroussi, the author recounts a brief episode at the Acropolis that is the definition of tourist hell. He stands among hundreds of people, burning beneath the sun, waiting to storm the grounds of the sacred complex. He describes the hardship one endures while visiting these ruins: your tour guides will charge you more drachmas than reasonable, you will stumble over rock and rubble, and afterwards you will need copious amounts of ice water and ice cream to recover from the exertion. My experience in Athens couldn’t be more different. We visited Acropolis in the early spring, with my partner-in-crime mother who wanted to see Athens before her knees gave out. At its gates ten minutes before opening time, we were second in line behind a tour guide who exclaimed how smart we were for visiting early in the day, that we would luckily avoid the crowds. She was right for as we explored the thousands-of-years-old paths, … [Read more...] about How to do Athens and keep your cool