Singapore - Day 3

Went to Orchard road (Singapore premier shopping district) to look for my good friend, Linda. She is a owner of a shop call LoveLinks, which sells premier Australian jewelleries. Unfortunately, she was not in the shop. I was unaware that she went back to the advertising industry to work, and had other plans for the shop. I ended up roaming around the new shopping mall, Ion Center. It was fascinating - the decorations, technology are an eye-opener! I was hungry and thus decided to go look for local delights in the food court. There are a large number of shops selling anything from dessert to beef noodles to chicken rice. I couldn't really decide what I want to eat. Therefore, I decided to join the longest queue in the food court - The Famous Teochew Fishball Noodle... my rationale was - if there is a long queue, the food must be good! :)

Alfred in front of Ion Food Court

Famous Teochew fishball noodle

Glutinous riceballs and egg pudding

I queued for nearly 30 minutes before I was the third person in the line. Alfred called! He said he was about 15 minutes away from where I am, and I should go watch "Conan The Barbarian" with him. He haven't went to the movies since Olivia was born. I decided that a friend is more important than a bowl of famous Teochew fishball noodle. "Conan The Barbarian" was a DISASTER!... DO NOT WATCH IT! That's enough feedback for that movie...

I couldn't get my mind off the teochew noodle, so Alfred and I decided we should go back to Ion food court and try it. He was eager to try it too since he had never been there as well. It costs $5 for a bowl of dry noodle and a bowl of soup containing 7 huge fishballs. The noodle and fishballs tasted great, and I think they personally do deserve the "Green Book" award for the best fishball noodle for 2009 and 2010. After the fishball noodle, we decided we needed some dessert... so I ordered another bowl of glutinous riceballs with ginger soup and Alfred ordered Almond egg pudding. IT WAS DELICIOUS!

Later in the evening, I finally managed to meet up with Linda and her partner, Francis. It was great to catch up with them after so long, and we decided that we shall have homemade dinner on this coming Saturday. Francis is going to cook for all of us, and he is also going to buy durians! He always love durians, and he is just glad that I am back to share the delight with him. Hannah!... He is expecting you to share that love for durians as well during your next visit around Chinese New Year. According to him, Chinese New Year always yield the best, most fragrant durians! We ended the night with a nice easy sushi meal, edamame, green tea and great dinner conversations.
                                                         

Linda and Francis

Sushi dinner

Singapore - Day 2

Woke up in this morning at 4am sweating through every pores on my body. The weather here is indeed verywarm, even though everyone said it is already cooler than a few days ago. I am glad that I chose to come few days later, otherwise I will probably be in front of the fan for a few days!

This morning I followed my dad to the market to eat "Yong Tau Fu" which is stuff tofu. I did not take any pictures because it was Hari Raya Puasa (Malay New Year), making it a public holiday for everyone. The market was packed, and I being an amateur at ordering, I was rushed to through the queue by an extremely "efficient" and impatient owner/cook/cashier.

Saw my god-daughter, Olivia today. She is a beauty! I especially like the way she pouted when she was unhappy. She will pretend to cry, and pout but she will smile when you picked her up...all she wants to do is being pick up!

My god-daughter, Olivia

Invited Alfred to my family dinner tonight. My youngest aunt and uncle showed up for the dinner. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. I promised to be more diligent in taking pictures tomorrow.

Singapore - Day 1

Sugar cane juice

BBQ Stingray

Omelete

I am taking a short trip to Singapore from 29th August until 07 September to visit family and friends. Hannah was supposed to come on the trip as well, but she is currently classified under Section 61 by the New Zealand government. As a result, she has to stay back in New Zealand, and we postponed her trip until January 2012 which will be the Chinese New Year.

I took Jetstar to Singapore, which was running a promotion of $600 return trip to Singapore! Of course, there is a catch - NO MEALS provided! However, it posed no problem... I just stock up my bags with cookies and subway sandwiches. The custom officers knows that I am taking Jetstar flight just by looking at the contents of my carry-on :)

Arrived in Singapore at around 8pm with Alfred waiting patiently for me at the exit. First thing we did - EAT!.. That's what Singapore is all about. We had mussels, fried sting-ray, omelet and sugar-cane juice at the East Coast hawker center. It was a VERY warm welcome - the night, outdoor temperature at an average of 26 degree Celsius!

The night end nicely with me sleeping in my mom's room, talking about family affairs.