Some of the food I had whilst in Singapore. I lost interest in taking photos of my food after a while.. didn't lose interest in eating it until day 8. It was all still edible, but it all became "just food".

Yummy barbequed stingray with some of the awesomest dried prawn chilli.

Mediocre malay food - potato cake, fried okra, sambal tempeh, chillied spinach, yellow curry chicken and icky fishy squid.


My first two servings at a yummy buffet dinner at Hotel Rendevous on Orchard Road. I think I lost count after my 6th plate.

Steamboat and roast meats with the awesomest Hainanese Chicken Rice I've ever had! I had three whole bowls of the chicken rice - rice, felt soooo stuffed.

Minced pork noodles with extra black vinegar. I picked out the pork liver bits - eeeeewwwwww!

Bak Kut Teh with stewed peanuts, salted vegetables, stewed dried beancurd sticks and stewed pork hock in dark soy.

Very mediocre fried hokkien prawn noodles- they look way better than they tasted.

Famed hainanese chicken rice from Chatterbox @ the Mandarin Hotel on Orchard Road. The most expensive serve of chicken rice I've ever had at $20.00! It was alright, but didn't compare to the serve I had with the steamboat.

I've come to the conclusion that the current mood of Singapore is the want of over-indulgence. I found the greed staggering and off-putting. It was everywhere, all the time. There's nothing wrong with wanting more, but we all know that too much of a good thing is often bad. I'm not sure it's something that the people are aware of, they may just be behaving in the only way they know how; like a cat that's completely unsure of when it might have another meal and so gorges itself at every opportunity.

The country has changed so very quickly. The seeming need for "face" is more apparent now than ever before. Some are unsure of how to react and embrace the easiest option, not react at all, whilst others get caught in the overwhelming spiral of consumerism and lose what little of themselves they had left. In every conversation I had with the proverbial person-off-the-street, there was always mention of pressure, and how life is much tougher than it was only a few years ago. They would express their frustration about their financial situation, the competition for a well-paying job and their slight questioning of whether or not their elected leaders were taking care of their interests. Every mention of the latter would be quickly followed by some statement retracting that view and a weak attempt at humour. Are they afraid of their government or that someone was listening?

Met up with the folks on Wednesday. A whole lot of walking around. Had fish head curry for lunch - of which I forgot photos. It's really not all it's cracked up to be, or I'm not that much of a fan. I'd rather have fish fillets in curry - no icky bits, and no bones.. and no icky looking face! Ewwww eating a fishy fishy face. I got to have stewed salted veges and that cabbage stirfry that makes me smile, so it all evened out. Mmm salted veges...

Had a good chat with the folks, the mother got some closure. She acknowledged that she wasn't much of a mum and other stories for other times. I left it where it was. I'm trying to leave the whole lot where it is - in the past. I'm not loving the dredging up memories to torture myself with. It's good that she's trying to deal with her issues, I don't want to get more involved than I have to.

Then more food... had steamboat, hainanese chicken rice and roast meats for dinner. The chicken rice was awesome - mmmmmmmmm awesome.. Ate way too much. Spent the rest of the evening hydrating. It was all yummy, but there had to be at least a half a kilo of salt and/or MSG in the food I'd put into my tum tum.



I was ready to fall over when I got back to Pingys'. Seems her brother had a table at Zouk for the night.. so we were going. Sleep. Wanted, no, needed sleep. Dragged my fat arse from the house at half 11, milled about outside Zouk for a good half hour waiting for people to arrive. Crikey, they're all so small and plastic - if I didn't know better I would say they lived on unrefined diesel fuel.

Zouk was packed. I was a chubby sardine in a can with shrimps and a Pingy. It was early Thursday morning and it was packed - these people either don't work or live on cigarettes to stay awake. Everyone here smokes, it's disgusting. Finally got to our table, played nice and said hi to people I didn't know. Drinks for the evening were on Han (it seems) - Chivas and some european vodka name of which I don't remember. Scotch and green tea is a surprisingly pleasant mix. Rounds of indian poker and too many trips to the potty later (yes I broke the seal waaaay too early), I that strange colour of deep pink and ready to fall asleep standing.

On the trip home, I had it in my head that I was peckish - so they decided we should have "mee mee goreng" - it's instant noodles cooked mee goreng style. It was surprisingly decent, or I was too sleepy to notice otherwise.

I remember telling myself to have a quick shower.. it didn't happen. I woke up remembering telling myself to have a quick shower.

T'was a long evil flight.. all five hours of it. I lie. It wasn't really evil, I was just tired from mentally imposed sleep deprivation - fucking awful stuff. And the worst bit of it is I'm not even sure why I'm having restless sleep.

There was in-flight "entertainment" and a surprisingly decent supply of pretzels and beverages. The flight wasn't full, which probably helped. For the first time in ages, the flight staff was friendly and accomodating - especially the tall guy with the receeding hairline that smiled a lot.

I rate Zodiac (the movie) as very very very and very average. It was slow and really didn't seem to achieve any level of suspense. I fell asleep well before the halfway mark and was so disappointed that when I woke up to the credit I couldn't be bothered rewinding to find out how it ended.

I gave Blades of Glory (movie) a go, and I feel absolutely horrible that I didn't get to see the whole of it. Seems the plane was landing, and there was some babble that the plane could crash if I insisted the entertainment system kept going. I was badly badly badly disappointed.

Collecting pillows off empty seats paid off during the start of my time on the flight. Think pillow-filled cushy goodness. Only downside was that I had to arrange the configuration of pillows each time I returned to my seat.

Singapore is icky humid. Not evil icky, but icky still. It seems it's unusually cool - with the pitter patter of rain and all. Yay for precipitation! Because I didn't get caught in it.

Yesterday night was mostly a write-off. I was tired. Pingy was tired. Her and Ket An took me to Mr Bean's for dinner. It turns out the old kopitiam in the triangular building that Dad used to take me to breakfast at before Girls' Bridgade on saturday mornings just outside Orchard Road is now a middle of the road cafe. Food wasn't awesome, but I was there for the company - and Pingy got to take her two little chubbsters along. They are SO cute. I might even post a piccie when I can be bothered.

And today.

Started today with takeaway nasi lemak wrapped in greased paper and token banana leaf courtesy of Pingy's mum - thanks Pingy's mum! It was definitely a pleasant surprise. I have to admit, I did wonder for a bit if my tum tum was going to be happy -strange food and all. It was pretty yum.

Spend the rest of today wandering Orchard Road. Heaps of things are different, but at the same time, a lot feels like it hasn't really changed. Singaporeans of my generation are more materialistic than I can ever rememember. Every second person seems to want "branded" everythings. It's as if the more advertising you can do for the huge fashion houses (and the smaller your bank balance), the greater your self-worth. I appreciate nice things, but I'm not willing to sacrifice any part of my happiness and comfort for "things". If something is not within my "on-whim" buying power, it's not something I should have to fork out for. Simply put, I want the lifestyle that supports drapeing myself in couture (think Prada, Gucci, Burberrys). Owning the bits that I can scrape together for myself simply will not do.

I got roasted chinese chestnuts! Okay, they might just be everyday chestnuts. Yummy everyday roasted chestnuts.

I have the folks planned for tomorrows brunch. I hope it all goes okay.

I'm twiddling with spending a couple of nights in a hotel - spending being the keyword. Hell it's $507 for a night at the Marriot! Owie! We'll see how it all goes. Might do on my last couple of nights.

Miss Tiggs and Kat.

Miss my Timmeh more.

Till next time.