Singapore
Tuesday May 6, 2014
Finally got a bit of downtime again to do some blogging. After returning from Penang, my sixth uncle hosted us at his house for a couple of nights, treating us to decadent delicacies from his restaurant chain. We had Kobe beef, Iberico pork ribs, salmon, Peking duck, foie gras, Kingfish head... truly amazing food, the quality unsurpassable by anything in New Zealand.
On Saturday, we went for a walk around the Forest Research Insitiute of Malaysia (FRIM) and explored their famous canopy walk. In the evening we gathered for a big Lai Family feast - Chinese rojak, Nasi Lemak, Hokkien Char, banana and sago cakes, kueh muih, tapioca cake and to top it all off, a rich chocolate cake to celebrate my auntie's birthday. Of course there was too much food, but it was awesome and fun to see everyone again.
We flew to Singapore early on Sunday, with a few dramas at the security checkpoint over the body wash and hair gel in my bag (Jetstar offered to check in my bag for free to avoid me having to throw all of those out, which was extremely fortunate. Hopefully I can do that again). I caught up with Kheng Yong and Ted and we went to Gardens by the Bay to see the last day of the tulip festival. The domes are so nice and air conditioned, if only my leg would have stopped playing up, it would have been much more enjoyable.
We had some Satay by the Bay and some stingray too before playing another Escape Room, which, after three hints, we managed to complete with a minute to go! Ted had to leave us for dinner, so the remaining four of us went to a chicken rice place on River Valley Road to eat, before heading home after a long day.
Yesterday we went to the zoo and walked around for a while in the blistering heat. The last time I went to Singapore zoo was about 14 years ago, and this time, having been to Washington DC zoo and Central Park zoo in New York, I wasn't that enthralled. The animals are all lethargic, probably from the heat, it really is quite unpleasant to walk around, and there weren't many animals that I hadn't seen before. The best enclosure was the polar bear's because it was so well air conditioned, lolololol.
That night, my cousin took us out for some famous Singaporean chilli crabs at the No Signboard Seafood Restaurant in Vivocity. The gravy was rich and spicy and tasty, it was so delicious and I had such a good time slurping the sauce up and sucking the meat out if the crab shells and licking my fingers like a savage. Between the three of us, we had a chilli crab, a white pepper crab and cereal prawns - just perfect.
Today I need to find some plastic bottles for my "airplane prohibited liquids, gels and aerosols" and I'll probably end up wandering around the shopping malls for gifts too. Then it's back to KL for a few more days only :(
Posted by Jeremy at 1:37am on Tuesday May 6, 2014 :: 0 comments :: 