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Celebrated 2 weeks earlier so that my mom could be present.
 Grandma right before we headed off to the restaurant posing with her two eldest children.  After your first round of wet napkins, they cost $0.30/napkin!  Ah, the exciting fruit that's found in Southeast Asia-- Mangosteen -- just squeeze to break the rind. Usually comes from Thailand. (Make sure the stems are green and the fruit gives when you squeeze on all sides before you buy. If it's rock hard it's no good.)  Lychees! Ok so maybe not exactly a "SEA" fruit, but definitely an asian one. Generally air flown from China. Generally brown-ness on the outside means it hasn't been stored at the right temperature and might be "se-kor" (spoiled) on the inside. Fruit should not have any dents visible from the outside. Try to eat one before you buy.  Snakefruit! It's got white-colored crunchy flesh. Personally I'm not a big fan.
Jumbu-- "Rose Apple" (tastes nothing like roses but is like a very airy apple)
Where to buy these thingsThe market works well, but if you're really into fruit (and have a friend with a car in Sg) then you should go to the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Center. And by exploring I really mean we were on a quest to find my grandma a new boom box and some new CDs with old Cantonese songs. We managed to find both in this gigantic place. (Didn't have to go to Chinatown, and pretty much stayed cool the whole time!) We were successful at finding everything we needed.  This is just one section in this huge place!  I think I could have browsed this store for hours... Denki is a pretty cool place and it basically has everything! It's like a very compact Microcenter/Best Buy (though I'm not sure if they had computer parts for sale). We learned that not every electronics store sells boomboxes that can play CDs. Eating: There are 2 places to eat-- the 3rd floor at Food Republic or the basement. We've been to Food Republic before (it's not bad and has rustic decor) but as a senior citizen my grandma gets a 30% discount at the Kopitiam downstairs so we went there instead. "Gateway to the other island destination"  And from their patio you can see Sentosa... the super-touristy island with Universal Studios and a lot of resorts.  Pretty easy to get here by MRT. Either take the circle line to the north-south line (orange to purple) or the east west line to the north-south line (green to purple). Most folks will come here because there's a direct train to Sentosa. I think I've mentioned before that the two favorite pastimes are eating and shopping. My maternal grandfather's side of the family made sure we did both!  Left to right: Lak-Chim Poh, My grandmother, Aunty Florence, Lak-Chik Kong, and my mom. We spent a good part of time in this house-- which actually was designed by Lak-Chik Kong (he used to be an architect). Observe: The massive amounts of food presented for lunch and dinner and tea. Shopping at Holland Village This guy makes his own batik dresses-- he taught himself how to sew after running a used-clothing shop for years in his mid-40s. My mom got a set of matching dresses for my sister and her kids and herself. (Phew, I got out of that one!)  There were a lot more ang-mors (red-heads = white people) here than I was expecting. Apparently, this is like the tourist hub of Singapore (it only took me 20+ years to get here).  Brief history of the area-- basically it used to be one of the major hubs of the city and the buildings, although Disney-esque, are reminiscent of old Singapore.  Old and new, all in one place-- the Marina Bay Sands hotel is in the background, with the old river boats in front  Yes folks, there's a Hooters here. Funnily enough, the government employees are even given a corporate discount on their meal-- my cousin's pretty sure the folks in charge of those relationships have no idea what Hooters is all about.... (It is a very conservative country, after all.) Another place you might think of stopping by at: Liang CourtNot terribly sure what the history of the place is, but it's a mall full of Japanese goods. The basement has a great supermarket, there's a Uniqlo on the first floor, and there's supposedly a pretty awesome bookstore on the 3rd floor (didn't get a chance to go up there).  In need of AC + good indonesian food? Clarke Quay has you covered. (Fyi it's pronounced Clarke Kee.) I don't think I need to explain anything in words-- the pictures speak for themselves.  Cendol-- the perfect appetizer, yeah? (In all seriousness, this is a must-try dessert that is basically Indonesian shaved ice and we were trying to cool off from the hot weather while waiting for my cousin to join us. Plus I have a family of dessert freaks who will eat dessert before a meal all the time.)  Chicken satay! Reeaaaaallly good.  Mm, Gado-Gado (a sort-of Indonesian salad). Krupuk (bitter version of the shrimp/crab chip), fried tofu, rice cake, some deep-fried veggie, stewed carrots, string beans, boiled cabbage, and some kang-kong veggies (eng-chai), all with a great peanut sauce.  Slow BBQ fish with assorted chili sauce. Also very tasty.  Cumi Bakar-- Spicy bbq squid. My eating companions:
Seriously I didn't put on bug repellent for 1 day and I've now got like 13 bites. So here's some old-wives' tale/advice that my grandma told me (which google seems to back up).
My mom's cousins told me to use dragon balm as a repellent. Unclear if that really works, but her words were, "I dab only a little here and there, and then, the bugs fly away as fast as they can when they come near." The insect repellent I have been using is Repel's Lemon Eucalyptus one. All bug repellents stink and this one is no exception. Applying on a breezy balcony has been interesting (spraying when your mouth is closed is a good idea). It apparently beat out the 30% deet stuff according to Consumer Reports, and so far it's seemed to work pretty well. Good chance I might find more interesting things when we go to the Chinese medicine shop. (Update: there's citronella patches that you can buy from the pharmacy.)  Ugh. >10 bites on this leg. Lesson learned: don't wear shorts without insect repellent.  Located on Joo Chiat Road is the famous Fei Fei Wan Tan Mee   Mmm fresh wontons  Must mix the noodles with sauce one otherwise bo-ho-jiak (not good eating).  Fried Wonton Mee! (with fried wontons! yum)  Mm. Beehoon Crab! I first ate my first black pepper crab when I was 9 (I really loved that stuff more than chili crab, so I have no idea when my first chili crab was). I've learned to cook it (really time intensive) but nothing beats eating the Sri Lankan crabs down here (I've had to turn off my ocean-conscious-and-guilty-brain for all of this seafood indulgence). We have yet to try the salted duck egg crab, but we did order a black pepper and a beehoon crab last night. Yummy. This restaurant is apparently the place that created the beehoon crab dish.  The Golden Spoon Seafood Restaurant in Tiong Bahru-- they created the beehoon crab dish and is totally worth going to.  :D the classic black pepper crab, shiok!  In the last few days we've journeyed all over the island, from Orchard Road to Tampines Mall to Raffles City. I've mentioned Takashimaya... But we had to continue our saga to find the world's "best-fitting, most comfortable, and washable" dresses. (Admittedly I have bought a few myself and have exceeded the self-imposed yearly quota of 1 dress....)
But really, there are more Uniqlo stores here than in all of California. The island is the size of LA proper. There are like 20+ stores here! Also as a great side note-- you get GST and the prices are the same as LA (as in things that are sold for $49.90 in the US are $49.90 Singapore dollars-- sweet). We spent a lot (too much) time in Isetan. What I personally can't deal with is salespeople who follow you. "Good service" here means that the lady will run around the shop and find you other things that you may like to try on and buy. Note: in Singapore, there is no return policy at most stores... You've been warned. O.A.M.C-- these are dresses by a local designer. They're sold in Isetan (but if you can't find the things you want they do have their own store-- we found it in the mall that's connected to the Raffles City stop--aka citylink). We've been told by one of my Aunties that we should look for Korean fashion clothing stores (there is one in the Jem mall). Stay tuned... |
Adela WeeTraveling the world since 1994. Taking notes about the places I've been so that friends and family can go there too! Archives
January 2016
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