Tag: food

SG: Day 6/Tue Summary

In a nutshell:

This is my last day in Singapore (and this trip), heading home on an early morning flight tomorrow. I decided not to pop over to an Indonesian island after all.

  • Went to Pulau Ubin, a rustic island in the northeast, which still has old kampong (village) life. There is a nature reserve (Chek Jawa Wetlands) with a mangrove and coastal boardwalk on the eastern tip of the island. To get there, you take the MTR, a bus, a bumboat which only leaves when it has 12 passengers (no set schedule) and rent a bike for the 3.5 km sweaty ride. Unfortunately it was exactly high tide when I went so I saw fewer sea critters than expected.
    Definitely worth going though!
  • And it was partly sunny to boot. I couldn’t find my sunscreen in my knapsack while I was out, but sure enough I found it accidentally once I got back to the hostel, while reaching in for something else. I have quite the farmer’s tan going now :-(
  • I also ate a baby squid lunch on the island – tasty, but not quite what i was expecting (there were only a handful of restos, and all but one seemed closed at the time)
  • About to head out for the Night Safari next door to the Singapore Zoo (it’s a separate entrance/facility). The zoo, btw, is world-leading and has a lot of free ranging animals as opposed to small concrete enclosures.

SG: Day 3/Sat Summary

(more details and photos to come)

Well, the 3rd full day, i.e. Saturday, ignoring the 3 days/2 nights in Penang:

  • Went back to Mustafa dept store to look for a specific gift and discovered their grocery store upstairs so I bought some funky food items and ate a slice of Indian pizza
  • Checked out the Sim Lim Square electronics mall (just off the edge of Little India), to see if I could get my phone fixed (I’d rather reformat it when I get home than have a stranger do it – there wasn’t a quick fix) and to peek at new phones (like the HTC One X but it doesn’t come with an NFC chip here)
    I did end up buying a little mobile phone recharger (S$20/US$16; it has a micro USB plug to stick into your phone – this would have been super handy on this trip, at least before my phone died) and a USB cigarette lighter adapter (S$/6/U$5).
  • Enjoyed a Cuttlefish Hang Kong Bee Hoon (S$3/US$2.40) at the Bugis St Hawker Center
  • Walked through the crowded Bugis St Market, where I enjoyed a large cup of wheatgrass juice for S$1/US$0.80 (other fruit juices available, mostly at that price, some at a premium)
  • Walked around Kampong Glam (kampong = village, glam = a particular tree), including Arab St and Haji Lane (better seen at night when it’s busy, esp the shisha places), and the cafe-and-Turkish-resto-lined pedestrian road leading to the Sultan Mosque (which of course had just closed to visitors for the day).
  • Stopped in Chinatown to search for something I saw the other day but of course couldn’t find it :-)
  • Took the MRT to Pasir Panjang to do the 4km Southern Ridges 10km trail walk back to Mt Faber. I ended up eating some cockles (S$5/US$4 for a small plate which was too much food for one person) at the hawker market next to the MRT (pretty much every neighbourhood has a hawker market, usually close to the MRT station).
  • By this time it was getting towards sunset, so I decided to hop one MRT station closer (Labrador Park) to Mt Faber to shorten my hike. This is at the west end of a golf course, and I could see an HP building (augghh!) across the road.
  • I ended up walking through what must be a middle class neighbourhood, peaceful wide boulevards with large canopy trees, singing birds, and lots of apartment buildings that aren’t squeezed tightly together.
  • After about 15 minutes I made it to the south park system, having seen some sunset colour between the buildings. Oops.
  • At this point it was getting dark, but I decided to go into the park anyways, as there were still people around and some lights on the paved trail.
  • Crossed the Henderson Wave Bridge (turns out Telok Blangah MRT station was close to that – had I gone there, I would have had a great sunset!), which is a funky curvilinear bridge with wood-strip decking, curved bench/shade areas, and the biggest collection of people-with-cameras-on-tripods I’ve ever seen.
  • Continued up the hill to Mt Faber, with great views of the city lit up at night, past the Jewel Box (the name of the gondola station, which heads to HarbourFront and Sentosa Island), then down the dark steps with my mini keychain flashlight (along with an Estonian guy I met on the trail) – the sign did warn that this path wasn’t lit and to take the road, but I’m sure that would have taken a few minutes longer :-)
  • Stopped at Clarke Quay before going home

Aside: I saw 2 Maseratis and 1 Ferrari today…

SG: Day 4/Sun Summary

(more details and photos to come)

Sunday in Singapore:

  • Returned to Clarke Quay to see it in the daytime – uninteresting and deserted
  • Firestation museum (?)
  • Armenian Church – it’s round! And was commissioned over a hundred years ago when there were only a dozen Armenian families in Singapore
  • Decided to skip the Peranakan Museum since I went to one in Penang
  • Latte and blogging (free wi-fi) at SoHo Cafe (see my other blog entry) as it started raining, hard!
  • Singapore Art Museum (SAM) with modern art exhibits
  • Walked back through Bugis St area – surprising how walkably close these neighbourhoods are in central
  • Peeked in the Goddess of Mercy Hindu temple (no photos allowed)
  • Bought 2 little gadgets at Sim Lim Square electronics mall: a cigarette lighter USB adapter (S$6/US$5) and a phone recharger (S$20/US$16 – you can charge it with a USB cable, then you recharge your phone via the micro-USB plug; the latter one would have come in very handy earlier this trip when my smart phone battery died in the middle of the day!)
  • Enjoyed a seafood dinner at an outdoor hawker centre at the Esplanade on Marina Bay with Sue and her friends

SG: finally had chilli crab

This is one of the “must do signature dishes.”

Sorry, totally overrated and overpriced. Don’t bother.

This guy cost me S$34/US$27 (it’s priced per kilo, generally S$50/kg = US$40/kg)

fyi, these crabs come from Sri Lanka. Actually most of the (sea)food is imported here.

Update: those are tourist prices. Apparently the place to go is small neighbourhood “coffee shops” that are known for crab (not necessarily chilli version).

SG: it is hot and humid

As in high of 32 C, feels like 42C. Low of 27 C !!!
(that’s hi 89 F feels like 107 F, low of 80 F for the Celsius-challenged)

Wow. Even in the evening – it doesn’t cool off nor get less humid (esp. compared to NYC/Toronto in the summer). thought it wouldn’t bother me, but wow.
A/C never felt so good. Especially after slogging up and down Mt Faber well, Mt is an exaggeration – really it’s a hill).

Today it was a little sunny this morning, which made it feel hotter (if not in the shade). And very humid. Then a nice refreshing pre-storm breeze kicked up and it was like god (little ‘g’) turned on the A/C – both the temp and humidity improved, even while it was pouring down. So I ducked into a cafe for this flavourful and colourful latte (and a little snack), and bonus, they had wi-fi. Yes, I did have my netbook with me – for all my complaints about it being slow, it is small and light, barely noticeable if I’m carrying a knapsack anyways.

Matcha Tea Latte at SoHo Coffee in the Colonial District

SG: back in Singapore, lazy morning

Did a little bit of blogging, eating and shopping this morning. Well, it’s 2pm now, how did that happen. I’d better get sightseeing…

In Mustafa, the huge 24-hour Indian department (mega-)store in Little India, they have funky imported foods (I bought some snacks and an Indian pizza slice), and random things like 3 rows of suits for 4-year-old boys (I’m guessing the age – i.e. they’re really small).

On the street I saw a “Remittance Kiosk” for Indian Overseas Bank, which clearly states it is not an ATM but only for remittances back home to India.

And I saw some serious laundry lines (poles?) on the apartment building above Tekka Centre, which houses a wet market (fresh fruit/veggie/meat/fish) and hawker stalls right next to Little India MRT.

While eating at the food court, I began to notice the Malaysian menu items, having just come back from Penang and learned a teeny bit of Malay (esp. food items). Ironically I saw the two items I was trying to find the previous day, teh narik (milk tea) and nasi lemak (rice in a coconut sauce with toppings).
Note: Malay is the largest ethnic group in Malaysia, and Malaysian is one of the 4 official languages (the others being English, Mandarin and Tamil).

Penang: disappointing start

Malaysia is still nowhere near a Top 10 favourite country.

And not just because it’s pouring rain right now. Maybe it’s the gray skies yesterday, my phone not working, the stress of falling behind on this blog, needing some downtime…
Yeah, the lack of sunshine definitely isn’t helping my photos or my disposition.

Walking around yesterday evening looking for dinner, I could barely be bothered to pull out the camera for anything.
And sidewalks are a disaster, when they exist, uneven with exposed deep runoff (sewer?) concrete ditches.
Hawker stall was tiny compared to Singapore.

Admittedly, my char kuay teow (flat wide rice noodles with fried egg and seafood) was much tastier here than in Singapore.
And the rojak penang was good too: cut up fruit & veg in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce (a “salad” of sorts).
Penang is supposed to have the best food in Malaysia (people fly here primarily to eat).

And there are some fine colonial buildings and a mish-mash of religions and their places of worship…

Update on my phone: after googling, this Android-hanging-on-startup problem isn’t uncommon, though the usual fix (clearing the cache) doesn’t work since that seems to hang as well.
I can probably fix it at home (via usb connection to my computer which has the right drivers and software) but I’m stuck for now. Though I may forego buying a new phone…

HK: Day 4/Tue Summary

Here is what I managed to do on Tuesday (day 4):

  • Breakfast and blogging (sense a theme here?)
  • Rode the MTR north into the New Territories to see 500 year old Kat Hing Wai walled village (approx 110m squared) + walked around the nearby neighbourhood (inc. a second walled village across the street – in-town rivals?)
  • Enjoyed that tasty walled village lunch (poached fish) near Long Ping
  • Walked around Tai Kiu Market and bought several food items (this one will definitely get its own post soon)
  • Lei Cheung Uk Tomb near Cheung Sha Wan
  • After a little rest (and shower) in my hotel, went to Tsim Sha Stui to meet couchsurfer Tony+friends for a light dinner and interesting conversation
  • As a bonus, watched the Symphony of Lights from the parking garage rooftop of Harbour City Mall where I met Tony
  • Drove a few minutes (yes, got to ride in their car) to Jordan area for a tasty but hot Szechuan dinner (I’ve never seen so many 1cm chunks of chilli peppers in a dish, and apparently that’s half the usual amount!)

I didn’t know you could pay for the parking meter with the Octopus card, which seems counter-intuitive until you realize it’s not a transit pass as much as a stored value card primarily for the transit

Update: surprisingly I didn’t have an upset stomach the next morning from all those chilli peppers.