A Local [Af] Fare

Chints came to visit me in Singapore for some R&R. So while I worked during the day, he slept, ate, swam, and protected his skin from sun exposure. I introduced him to my Singapore, and together we discovered some more of Singapore. 

He arrived on Saturday morning. I wanted to sleep some more and he wanted to be out and about. 'Atithi Devo Bhava' and all that bolke I got dressed and took him out for breakfast. I fed him to the gills with Eggs Ben, Waffles, Brek-O-Day, Tea & Coffee @ the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, West Coast Mall. 

Then I took him for a Saturday morning stroll to the  bustling West Coast Market. It's a typical Singapore local market selling fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, flowers, grocery, shoes, shoes, clothes, etc. Being Saturday morning it was pleasantly full of people, noises, and smells. Not the biggest or the best, but it's the closest @ hand and will do very nicely. We inspected all the food stalls, vegetable and fruit stalls, bought flowers, and bookmarked certain places for a revisit. At the end of a happy hour spent browsing and shopping Chints was finally ready to hit the sack. Bwahahaha!

We made our way back home via a short cut and it was hot as only the equator can be! We reached home hot and sweaty, turned on the aircon, turned on the fan, drank grape fruit juice, followed by lime juice, followed by snapple juice and collapsed into bed. We slumbered the whole afternoon away till awoken by the rumble of our stomachs'. Lunch was a rack of Pepper Spare Ribs from Cold Storage [Recommend!] which we washed down with some Merlot. That done, it was back to slumber - Part 2. After all, it is the weekend.

In the evening we made our way to Clarke Quay and Jumbo. First stop, India Pale Ale @ Highlander accompanied by very gamey Venison Sausages (Brahmanical license apparently). 

Then I showed him all around Clarke Quay, all my favourite places, sketching out their pros and cons and checking out all the people. Then we made our way to my favorite Jumbo, where we dined on Kang Kong with Minced Garlic, Egg Rice, and Pepper Crab (Totally Recommend!). As the food took effect, jetlag hit Chints like a ton of bricks. So we quickly went back home and he slept. Again. Well, I did say he came for R&R! 

Sunday was spent cooking. Breakfast @ home consisted of egg, ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. Then shopping for raw materials in Sheng Shiong and then I started cooking lunch. I made large batches of Peanut Korma, Tomato Chutney, Corn Pulao, Sambar, and Cluster Beans subzi so Chints would have some home food to turn to when hungry. 

We needed to walk off the lunch so I took him to West Coast Park for a walk. We did the marsh walks and the sea front walk, circled the full park and came back home much exercised, read:exhausted.

In the evening we went to Vivo City and browsed around the huge mall and stopped at Marche for dinner. Marche calls itself a Swiss village, has lots of counters serving different items (like a buffet or live food stations) and you only pay for what you eat, so it's not like paying for the whole buffet. We had roasted veggies, marble potatoes in butter, Rosti, Portabello Mushroom Crepe, Focaccia, and Strawberry Yogurt Drink [Recommended!]. Its pricey and not really value for money, okay for once in a while @ best. Nice decor and nice concept, but do we have to pay Euro prices?

Come Monday I was off to work and Chints slept his beauty sleep, ate breakkie, swam, and lazed around. In the evening, we went to Asian Civilization Museum but didn't make it in time. So we took the bum boat ride instead. But before that, we stopped for a sip and a bite at Timbre. I strongly recommend their 2 glasses of beer or wine and a pizza deal, the pizza was thin crust and very good. [Strongly recommend] (Darn! I remember taking pictures, where are they?) The bum boat ride was predictably good, the commentary was on, so we soaked up all the "info" on the various bridges on the Singapore River from Clarke Quay to Marina Bay. [Recommended.]

Next I took him to Chinatown, where he went to town with his shopping. He bought nearly everything he wanted for everyone from here. As usual, Chinatown is a big hit with everyone I take there. [Strongly Recommend!].  Chinatown  started shutting down before we could decide what we wanted to eat so we took the MRT from Chinatown to HarbourFront and ate a delicious dinner of Veggie Spicy Black Noodle Soup, Pork Dimsum, and Egg Rice @ the Asian Kitchen in Vivo City. [Totally recommend]

Tuesday he visited the botanical gardens and Clarke Quay with other friends. Wednesday we made it well before closing time to Asian Civilization Museum and spent 2 lovely hours there. [Recommend] 

Wednesday we decided we wanted to have local fare. We set off to Clementi Market and browsed all the stalls that were newly put up, from crockery, to furniture, from plants to school bags, these shops sold everything! I heard this is called a Pasar Malam or Midnight Market – the only thing midnight about them I think is that they disappear overnight to another location, otherwise they are on all day. I lost my heart totally to an amazing wooden inlay-worked extendable dining table [Strongly Recommend] and a Chinese Standing Lamp [Strongly Recommend]. Both of these were beyond my budget to I settled with my third Chinese Tea pot, and a few ceramic mini spoons.

For dinner I had Pork Dimsum Soup [Totally Recommend] from the innermost Clementi Food Stall and Chints had Laksa [he says it tasted like warm Arabian Sea with Noodles]. We shared a plate of Kang Kong in Oyster Sauce with a bowl of Rice. [Nice]

Thursday we went to Little India, where I took him to my favorite South Indian Non Veg restaurant, Anandam on Upper Dickson Road. [TOTALLY Recommend]. We ate Pepper Chicken, Biryani Rice and Economic Meals. Awesome bole to, uff! too much and so reasonable. This was followed by shopping @ Sim Lim Square, which was followed by shopping @ Mustafa where Chints bought the cutest Talking Parrot [Recommend]. This bird repeats whatever you say to it, but in a faster and higher pitched voice. We enjoyed ourselves enormously with it; most entertaining and a most worth-it buy.

Friday we went to Orchard, ate @ Food Republic, Wisma Atria. I played it safe and ate Roti Prata with Potato and Daal [Recommend, but the stall staff are RUDE esp if you are brown skinned]. Chints tried the Yong Tao Foo [Gabbu Noodles with Drainage Sauce] and swore that he will make me eat that tomorrow while he dines on lovely Roti Prata. To pacify him we had yummy cookie crunch desert @ Haagen Daz. 

Then I took him to Arab Street, which was jagmagaoing with people, hookas, food, and music. We got a drink @ a restaurant set outside a shop front and then moved to another cafe opposite a CD shop (who seemed to be the official DJ of Arab Street) to enjoy the cafe's Turkish coffee, tea and shisha and the DJ's Arabic music. [Recommended]

Saturday we partied the night out in Clarke Quay. We started with Tapas Tree [outside: Recommended, inside: Bad Service]. Ate all their food and drank sparingly because of the heat. Then we walked around looking for our next spot, were sorely tempted by the The Tent, Mongolian Grill but were too full just then to do justice to it. So we continued walking and landed up across the bridge and ate a lovely dinner @ A971 Café. Once the stomach was full, we worked it off by dancing in China One. Drank a drink or two and then moved to Rupee Room, where your's truly has danced like no tomorrow. [Recommended: Only if you like Bollywood Music]. Danced like crazy but were driven out by excessive BO of patrons. Wound up the night @ a respectable 4am. 

Sunday we were invited to X'namurty's house for Lunch, which we not only ate but also packed and brought back shamelessly. Anita, you're a great cook ma. Thanks so much. [Recommended]. Their condo in Lakeshore has such huge pool it runs the whole length of the condo!

Sunday night we went back to Clementi Market to cull out the Dimsum Soup place but ended up eating in the Pasar Malaam Maket. The following items were non-stop consumed till we could eat no more:

• Chicken Rice, Ananas Café
• Chicken Wings Satay
• Fritters – Raw banana, Ripe banana, Sweet potato
• Bird Nest drink
• Appam Balik – made like appams with peanut power inside with palm sugar
• Putu Piring – small conical 'puttu' with palm sugar/jaggery stuffing
• Pork Satay
• Thai Coconut Jelly [AWESOME!] – tastes like nungoo jelly
• Ramli Burger – chicken patti wrapped in egg, with tomato sauce, mayo, cheese, and stuffed in a burger bun

Monday Chinti left, and I want to thank him profusely for being such an adventurous foodie, helping me discover more of Singapore, making me laugh non-stop and last but not least, for all the tea. Come back soon da, love raj!

Last few days in my native land

After all this eating and meeting I had to do some shopping. Comm Street ki Jai ho! No Orchard Street can compare to Indian market experience. Be it Commercial St in Bangalore, Lajpat Nagar in Delhi, Laxmi Road in Pune, T-Nagar in Chennai, Gariahat in Kolkatta, or any other market in any other city in the native land. The colours, the noise, the people, the smells, the prices, the deals, the merchandise, the merchants, the people, the food, ... (Never ignore the food in an Indian market).

Indian markets are like a bhelpuri of all aforementioned things - the good and the bad - all mixed, tossed, and served up with dhania and sev on top. थोड़ा खट्टा, थोड़ा मीठा, थोड़ा crunchy and थोड़ा chewy. Am lovving it!

So on Thrusday I shopped in beloved Comm St buying 100 rupee to 2000 rupee chappals all morning. In fact I got so carried away with my chappals that shopkeepers started offering me business deals - they thought I buying all these chappals to set up a shop abroad! Aghast, I quickly dived into Shiv Sagar to lagao a juice and चाट and restore my composure.

Did Dalam or pomegranate juice (which is YUM there) and decided to do one chat... which somehow got followed by the Shiv Sagar Thali. Replete with all this I rolled off next door to visit Mecca Stores - a book library, a ladies fancy item shop, and a household fancy items shop - all in one. This place has been around for ages, ‘cause everyone remembers it being there for as long as they can remember. It’s not changed an iota, expect for the sorry demise of the elderly gent presiding over the shop, but his son is running the show and its business as usual.

The ladies fancy item section (1/2 part of the entrance), according to me, has the best collection of earrings, hair clips, hair bands, and other sundry ladies fancy items, in all of Commercial Street. Their general fancy store section (one wall and 1/4 of the entrance) has an inexpensive fast moving collection of ceramic vases, cookie jar sets, flower vases, and other time pass glass and ceramic items. Bought my essential earrings, hair bands, scrunchies, a vase, a jar, borrowed a few books, chitted and chatted a bit, and this is what being in Bangalore for me is all about.

Next stop was to the temple of creativity. A visit to my best friend in Comm St. namely Vijay - my trusted and much harassed tailor. Pleaded with him to make time for me and make me some new apparels, the moment he gave in, off I rushed to Pooja Collections, Shoba Collection, New Choice Collections, Lal's Collection, Mysore Udyog Collections etc. to collect materials for skirts, tops, dresses and dumped it all on Vijay for him to do his magic and to turn them into wonderful creations, which I must say, he miraculously does.

The sun was beginning to set and it was time for the Bangalore Night to take over. The spot for this night was a very घर पे बना हुआ place; it was such a made-at-home a place that I've even forgotten its name. Its a karaoke bar, very Bangalore Cantt owners, very Bangalore Cantt crowd - which should have been really charming and fun and hospitable but... Anyway we were in a mood to belt out songs and had a pretty decent time but made it an early night as the food was just about passable, the management nasty, and the service god-awful.

The next day I had pretty much the same schedule, took one last look into all the shops to ensure I'd not missed anything. Lunch was with Chint at Tiger Bay, which I must say, does a very decent Non-Veg Thali for lunch. Of course, the added bonus to eating in Tiger Bay is that one needs no excuse to browse through Bombay Stores. While I am the most ardent believer of retail therapy, and practice it most religiously, shopping in Bombay Stores is a double therapy. One, which of course is retail, the other is an almost Zen-like soothing and relaxing atmosphere of the shop. Browsing through their multi-mid-level floors, little niches, very pretty desi uber chi-chi merchandise, quite ambience, and nearly empty shop (yikes! not a good thing for them is it?) I feel as great a calm as having done half hours mediation. Rested, refreshed, and completely at peace. Bombay Stores - you ought to bottle and sell this!

Dinner was at friend's favorite restaurant - Paparazzi. Allegedly, 'One of the World's 82 Best' restaurants. Set on top of Central Park Hotel (now called Royal Orchid Central, I think) it offers nice food and a great view of Cubbon Road. Must have is the 'Bread Basket with Multiple Dips' I totally love it. The rest is kinda pendulum type - the chef can be very good to disappointing, the service can range from very attentive to I'm-so-totally-ignoring-you. Royal Orchid Central people - you've really got something good going - please be consistent, stock up your bar, your cellar, or wine cooler, or whatever and train your staff. I'd love to patronize you more, give me a little more reason.

Saturday, my last weekend started with breakfast at Vidhyarthi Bhawan - really nice dosas, but everyone complains that they were better - well I didn't find anything missing. Post dosa went to pay my respects to Dodda Ganesha and Dodda Basavanna at the Bull Temple.

Basavanagudi is super quaint and charming. With shops selling pooja samagri, snacks like congress kadle, ready-to-cook food like fresh hand-made idiappams, a huge vegetable market, and traditional Indian flower shops selling loose flowers and elaborate flower garlands. All this right in a austral heart of cosmopolitan, almost-metropolitan Bangalore. Travellers, if you want to see the 'real' old Hindu Bangalore, do make a visit here. After making one full round from VB to Bull Temple, to all the shops and back, we were ready for one more dosa at VB. Glutton, that me! Finished that off perfectly with a post breakfast snooze.....Zzzzz....

Saturday night I was lucky to attend a very dear friend's father's 65th birthday bash. As with everything uncle does, this was also in grand style. Lovely Manglorean people, with their great food, and their great music, fun and laughter. One of the most hospitable people and man do they like to party! It was a great ending to a lovely Bangalore holiday.

Sunday was spent with mom and dad, eating (again!) home food, chatting, finishing packing, weighting the suitcase a 100 times, removing stuff, weighting again, adding stuff, weighing again and you get the drift. All that done, I chilled in my room in Bangalore for one last time, for a long time to come. Come evening I was off to the airport.

Ah! another update on the airport, so it was well organised, there are weighting machines to weight your luggage outside so you can remove stuff from your bag if it’s too heavy and give it to the relatives who have come to see you off, the terminals were well lit and everything looked clean and tidy. But then there were 4 terminals for check-in and only 2 working, resulting a long and serpentine queue. There were not enough seats for people/kids to sit, and the loo had the most MAJOR surly cleaner who refused to speak in any language and resisted all entreaties' to be even remotely helpful. Also, considering there was no seating space outside, people occupied the toilet seats and refused to vacate! No! I am serious.

All this endured, there was some time left for a little browsing in the few upgraded duty free stores, got a beer at the sports bar, munched on the goodies mommy packed for the flight. Boarded the flight at 12; a 4-hour-flight-that-seemed-like-10-hours, no sleep, and landed bright and early on the shores of Singapura Monday morning and am sure I don't need to spell out the hue of this Monday morning blue.

Gugi's (restrained) shopping and food exploits

Monday 26 May to Tuesday 3 June

Items bought over the 8 days, average of 1.25 items per day:

1. MotoRazr V9 with a 2 year connection


2. 2 Mobile charms for V9


3. 2 watches - red and white


4. Espirit top in black


5. Emphasis handbag in white


6. 3 bling hairclips


7. Tangerine lip balm by Cotton on Body


8. White hakoba top by Cotton on Body


9. 3-fold umberella


10. 3 tops in black, white and grey

Food consumed over the week:

1. Pumpkin curry soup by Such


2. Bean and veggie salad by Such


3. Chicken and cheese burrito by Such


4. Carrot and ginger soup by Such


5. Chicken Pepper Rice by Pepper Pot, Takashimaya


6. Prata by Lucky Prata in Lucky Plaza


7. Padh Thai chicken noodles in Food Republic, Wisma Atria


8. Chicken Rice


9. Sausage rolls by Bread Talk


10. Crispy soft shell crab by Indochine, Clark Quay


11. Pasta with veggies and chicken by Such


12. Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmellows and Graham Cracker Swirl
    
13. KFC chicken popcorn


14. Murugan Idli


15. Banana Leaf Appolo Sapaad


16. Mutton Murtabak


17. Pasta Pesto with Veggies by Such
    
18. enuf aa?

Three times lucky

Luck never made a man wise. ~ Seneca, Letters to Lucilius

(And am I a living example of that. Read on to know more.)

Friday 23 May, was a landmark day. It was the day that 3 things happened, 3 important things, 3 good things. Listed in order of importance, they are:

1. My salary got credited
   
2. The Singapore Shopping Festival started
   
3. The Singapore Arts Festival started

Friday saw me back in the folds of River Valley Road, Such and Cee. Back to office and back to breakfast with my colleagues @ The Coffee Bean and The Leaf Tea. Ah! That's the life. Taste-o-Treat in my tummy and a large cup of English Breakfast nestling in my hand, lying back in one of a winged sofas. Replete with breakfast and a gossipy chat with my colleague, who fills me in on all the latest to-dos in office while I've been in training, we get to the ATM to check my financial status.

As we were walking to the ATM I am surprised to see a bunch of people waiting for the Takashimaya SC to open. I've never seen anyone wait for a shop to open! Banks yes, shops no. Usually, shops open and wait for people. Laughing and admiring the zest with which Singaporeans and tourists in Singapore shop, I reach the ATM and voila! The money is in. I hardly need a reason to start spending now but as I turn around I am smacked with the BIGGEST reason to spend - the GREAT SINGAPORE SALE 2008, my friends, was starting that very moment!

The shop doors glide open and people walk straight to their favorite aisles to pick up what they've been waiting for the sale to pick up. Everything is on sale. Unable to resist, being a shopaholic, and this being my first (earning) time during the shopping festival, I walk in determined to get a bargain. My very restrained first day, first hour purchases were:

1. 2 pairs of shorts – hey EVERYONE wears them here, why should I be left out?
   
2. 2 KAPPA tops, in pale lemon and dark pink with diamonds
   
3. 6 pairs of ankle socks (Darsh you were right, I need more socks)
   

The whole day is spent finishing an assignment at work and running downstairs (read talking the lift downstairs) from 13 floor to shop floor to cull out more bargains and see everything on display. There are softer than soft towels with the most delicate embroidery, bed sheet sets, there are jewellery cases, toys, house hold items, pots and pans and kettles and the works! I know I'm yet to check 4 more floors. At 7 P.M I call it a day and head back home.

I step in and Such has obviously been waiting for me, I have 10 mins to get ready she says, Cee is waiting. I quickly get ready, donning my new dark pink Kappa top, Such looks fetching in a black and black ensemble. In the honour of the occasion we take taxi to Fullerton and it looks like the river is celebrated my return! It is crowded and everyone is expectantly waiting. Bursting with curiosity; I stroll over and find a nice spot to oversee the happenings on the river. Welcome to the opening of the Singapore Arts Festival floats a voice over the river. And then the action begins.

The opening act of the festival is a water theater played out on the Singapore river neat Boat Quay. The reflection of burning boats on water was rather pretty but the fireworks was the highlight of the evening for me. Here is a YouTube on the opening act:

And one more on the final fireworks act:


We dined at an Indonesian restaurant Bayang in Clark Quay on our way back; dinner consisted of the following:

• Gado gado – a salad with tempura
  
• Chicken in pandan leaves
  
• Chicken and beef satay
  
• Duck roast
  
• Coconut rice with chicken gravy
  
• Roast chicken (7*s so good this was! Succulent chicken with crisp skin. YUM!)
  
• Wine and beer

The night ended at Cee's favorite bar in Clark Quay, Cuba Libre. A live band performing South American music and lots of rum-based alco. (None of which I had thank you, cause the heat is just not getting me in the drinking mood; silly I know but what to do?)

Saturday 24 May, breakfast was @ Epicurious on Robertson Quay (yeah we live on one Quay or the other like some sort of expat fishing family). Next on agenda was Vivo Mall. On the way to Vivo Mall we took a bridge to cross the river and lo and behold what did we see! The whole bridge was covered with rafts – all student-made, hand-made, home-made (ghar pe bana hua), and seemed like they used recycled materials. I was so impressed with these school/college kids, and obviously they were having a good time doing all this. It was such a vibrant and expectant atmosphere there like everything was waiting for the "water test" the next day.

There were all kinds of rafts - some all done up, some coming undone, some real basic, some others were totally tricked out – butterflies, water rat, lobster, tortoise family – very darling. There was also a section for slipper rafts (never got to see if anyone could float it on water and actually manage to stand on it, didn't look like it was possible!). The best of all were the F1 rafts designed to look like, what else, F1 cars. All this was for the River Rating Competition being held the next day I found out. Sunday for us, I realised, was booked.

Vivo mall is 3 stations away from Clark Quay MRT. The biggest mall in Singapore – naturally there are loads of shops and there is tons of stuff. Loafed and loafed and loafed and bought 1 croc chappals. Had lunch @ 6 @ Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant – beer, sausages, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut. With a view out into the little stretch of sea separating us from Sentosa island, it was a peaceful and reflective break after a crowded mall.

Back home and it was time for a quick nap. Woke up and met Laks @ Takashimaya where she was making the most of the Great Singapore Sale. Loafed a bit with her, saw Paragon mall across the road from Taka mall and headed out to Blu Jaz! Had their famous Chimichanga and washed it down with a large Jasmine tea. And then it was all socializing with the owners (the owners are the sweetest people), servers (so much fun), musicians (oodles of talent there) – man has that place has got it right! A great let-your-hair-down atmosphere, three floors of party space, each with its unique theme and genre of music, a vibrant crowd, and a dias for amazing musicians - the place is 1000 watts of happiness and energy. We sat there till 2 P.M. listening to musicians jamming and when they shut shop we made our weary way back home.

Sunday 25 May, was supposed to start @ 9:30 to watch the first of the River Raft Races. But as things turned out, we opened our eyes @ 12. Ouch. Cee made us Amsterdam cheese and sundried tomato pancakes which were superlicious and with sustenance in our tummy off we went to watch, what was left, of the raft races. We managed to catch a nice shaded spot on the river edge and saw a few races that were left. And were they fun.

Of all the rafts we saw yesterday, we really could not say if they would even float. Looked like most of them managed to float but there were serious crew issues. Some rafts only moved in circles, not ahead or backward, just round and round, some went forward but only diagonally. It was a riot! Some kids were super competitive the others obviously looked like they were there for the fun of it. Lots of rowing (naturally), a few splashes into the water (hehehe) and overall a great time had by me. We meandered back home with a quick stop in Brussel Sprouts to quench our thirst.

After this I became all serious and ironed my clothes from 5 to 6:45! Time for a serious treat and Such and I headed out to Little India for Murugan Idli Kadai – yes my friends, they have a branch in our own piece of India in Singapore. Have to confess that Little India on a Sunday evening is like Gariahat during Durga Puja, Delhi on Holi, Ahemdabad during Navratri, Tirupathi during a festival, and Gateway of India during weekends all rolled into ONE! In other words utter ROWDY nightmare! But what I will not do for Murugan Idli. Lovely dovely idli was consumed and with a full tummy, a happy heart and a sated soul the weekend was over.

And also all the money in my account, thank you. There's luck for you!

So much to say

(As all you clever fellows might have guessed this post was supposed to be ready and up on 24 May 2008)

GAAK! It's been 10 days since my last post… how did that happen?! I'll tell you how it happened, it's been a hectic 10 days, that's how it's happened and yes, not all of it was work. So here the summary:

Thus 15 May 2008 – The honeymoon time in office is over and am loving the work here (?). Dinner was another beautiful salad creation by Such devoured with cold cuts and asparagus soup (awesome stuff!). Again no pics am afraid L

Friday 16 May 2008 – Hard work junkie Cee decided to dedicate this Friday and Saturday to work on a construction work project for Habitat for Humanity. Back breaking real-deal construction work of digging pits, wheel barrowing construction materials, and hand mixing cement, among other hard working construction site things, the girls decided his hard work deserved a party. So that's what Such, Lak (a friend) and your's truly did, all in the name of Cee (while Cee was still in construction camp hehehe).

And off went the beauties to Brussel Sprouts. Have I mentioned Brussel Sprouts? No, well it's this lovely Belgian beer place on Robertson Quay (Quay pronounced "key" don't ask me why) that Such and Cee love to go to. And with good reason! The setting is alfresco, the view is of the river, the staff is very friendly (I think that's cause of Such and Cee are so outgoingly friendly) and the beer – specialty. I have never seen such a long menu for beer, man its longer than most wine lists I've seen in my life! Two tightly packed columns of an A4 sheet, that's how much the choice is. Your's truly had an beer that is brewed by monks in a romantic far-off monastery, and the others has equally exotic stuff. It was a balmy night, with lovely company and some good cheese croquets.

Saturday 17 May 2008 –

1. House hunting - Depressing
   
2. I become an official member of the bus users - Ecstatic
   

Started the day @ 9.30 with a house in Tiong Bahru. Awful! Am coming back to India. Did some retail therapy in Great World City mall to cheer self up. Lunch was courtesy Such – a lovely vegetable and pasta toss-up. Faith in humanity restored, I went the next appointment in Bukit Batok – a much better house, but a little too far from office right now and not quite hitting the note. Cheered myself up with a pedicure, in an all Chinese place, where I didn't speak any Chinese (surprise!) and they didn't speak any English. It was comic to say the least, with customers pitching in to translate both ways! That's when I decided to get more local.

First step I walked over to the bus stop to puzzle out the hitherto untried SMRT buses. After staring @ the route maps for 5 mints and projecting my famous i-really-am-lost girl look, which I am devastated to say had absolutely NO effect on any of the locals (but did attract the pity of 2-3 desis, so sweet), I got the lay of the land and the rest my dear friends is history. So to Outram Park (a little tidbid of history my friend pointed me to) it was from Bukit Batok and while the location and price of the place was great, and the building was in good condition, the flat itself was not satisfactory. From there it was another bus to the nearest point to home and a 10 min uphill trek on Killiney to get home.

Such and Cee (back after his back-breaking-in-a-totally-nice-and-bittersweet-way construction site duty) took me to Blu Jaz in Arab quarter. They both need a post dedicated to just them, and I will do that soon, so watch out for Blu Jaz (you can check out their blog for some info) and the Arab quarter. For now all I will say that the food and my large Jasmine tea hit the spot; a perfect remedy to a stressful and not-so-successful day.

Sunday 18 May 2008 – Woke up @ godforsaken 8 AM and made breakfast for me and a friend, gobbled it up and ran (read: took a taxi) to Kallang river to go learn Dragon Boating. Well it was either a wrong place or wrong time but we never found our trainer and the team. So we went cycling instead. My friend Lak, decided I should see the Central Business District, so that's where we went.

I have to say that Sunday mornings are the best time to get introduced to the CBD, it was empty and cycling, I imagine, would otherwise be a non-insurable activity around that area. Tall buildings and so many of them and so close to each other that like a rain forest floor the sun does not manage to reach the road @ places. As with most things in Singapore the buildings are built with a aesthetic eye, the hawker center in the middle of CBD is slightly more up market but with all the essential hawker center characteristics, the footpaths are wide and clean and there is a sense of understated opulence about the place. The CBD area description cannot be complete without a mention of the Fullerton Hotel. It is a colonial style impressive building occupies a pretty spot next to the river in the edge of the CBD and forms a distant background for the Merlion.

The sun was out and I hadn't cycled for a long time and not for this long, so I got home and was out like a light! Slept and slept and then woke up with Indian food hunger pangs. Rushed (via bus if you please) to Little India, packed a rice and curry meal and came home to eat with TV.

Monday 19 May 2008 – Holiday! Woke up @ 12 and Such and Cee had invited friends over for a Champagne breakfast. AWESOME breakkie consisting of the following was consumed by all of us:

1. Champagne Moet (brought by guests)
   
2. Scrambled eggs
   
3. Cold cuts – beef, chicken and salmon
   
4. Chorizo sausages
   
5. Greek salad
   
6. Freshly baked whole meal rolls, blue berry rolls, and bread with soft butter
   
7. Cheese – Old Amsterdam
   
8. Yogurt – Strawberry, Blueberry, Peach
   
9. Orange juice
   
10. Coffee/Tea

We saw Such and Cee's wedding album, saw a few familiar faces (15 yrs younger) while digesting the spread. And then to the pool (swimming) it was! Played a hectic water throw ball, did a few laps, soaked up the sun a bit and off I was to Semei. Home cooked Indian food @ Bit's place to start a three day training starting tomorrow.