Singaporean Staples?

One of my duties while John was visiting SE Asia was to get him to try durian-the king of fruits. The only thing that everyone agrees on is that the smell of the fruit is strong. Whether it's a foul, putrid stench or a sweet, delicious aroma is where opinions mostly differ. To be honest, John's reaction was really boring. Maybe it was I who had follied by building it up too much so as to ensure an anticlimactic finish. He ate a few pieces but neither conceded to hate it nor love it as most people do, either spitting it out, vomiting or rubbing it all over their bodies in delight accordingly (I've never actually seen anyone do that last one... but the first two- yes!), and while he didn't hate it, he only wanted to eat a few pieces- not a whole one to himself. Actually, maybe not unexpectedly, his reaction was pretty much the same as mine. I never spat it out like some do and ate a few pieces the first time I tried it but didn't want more. Then every other time I tried it I enjoyed it more and more until now I love it and even crave it at times.Don't let his reluctant look fool you, John didn't hate the durian!


Despite the rumors that consuming durian and alcohol together will result in sure death we decided to risk it and try one of what is surely Singapore's most ordered drinks (by tourists): the Singapore Sling. And what other place to have it than the supposed location of it's origin- the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel where some also claim the last tiger in Singapore was shot dead.
Raffles Hotel at night
John and the the Singapore Slings. The recipe now served at Raffles is acknowledged to differ from the original recipe which didn't include grenadine, pineapple and citrus juice but the exact recipe is either unknown or debated. What is agreed on is that the drink at it's core is a Gin based drink. (not surprisingly since Singapore was a British Colony after all)

We survived the Durian and Singapore Slings though the price of the drinks nearly killed us- over $51SGD for the two drinks!
Okay, in seriousness, the Singapore Sling is not a staple for the average Singaporean and neither is durian- some Singaporean don't even like durian or alcohol, but for many, they are both undeniably enjoyable to consume...just not at the same time though!!

Another debatable Singaporean Staple though a food enjoyed by many is Chili Crab. Whether it's a staple or whether it's an official, unofficial or just a famous Singaporean dish, many people will recommend you try it while visiting...so of course I felt obligated to take John to try. Many places serve this dish, along with other types of crab like butter, pepper or garlic crab, and everyone has their favorite restaurant. We decided to have it at a place with outdoor seating along the Singapore River and had both chili and pepper crabs along with a few other seafood dishes. Maybe it's not the best place for either dish but the location is hard to beat, with the skyscrapers of Singapore's central business district rising up just along the river walkway in the background.I think he liked it, he said something like it was like the Asian version of ribs (comparing to U.S. bar-b-que style ribs)... uh, kind of- both are messy for sure but even so John would not accept a plastic bib to protect my shirt he was wearing*. I still think it's a lot of work to eat these crabs but actually it is pretty good. John liked the pepper crab more... in retrospect this is kind of surprising since he said he doesn't really like spicy food so much... (something that became really (painfully) obvious and a source of immense humor when I convinced him to try a Thai green chili with dinner a few days later in Bangkok... I think he seriously cried after eating it. Not nice since I had accidentally ate one about ten minutes before and it was way too much for me. Generally they can be anywhere from about 6 to 40 times hotter than a Jalapeño pepper which might be more familiar to you)

Of course Singapore has a lot more to offer than these "staples" and the time with John here really passed quickly. I think he was able to get a pretty good idea about what Singapore has to offer as I tried to show him around different parts of the island to get a range of experiences. John also did a lot during the days and took what sound like some good tours of different neighborhoods. I think I'll have to go check them out too.

*That's right, I found John wearing one of my shirts when we met for dinner that night. Hmm... I did offer though since all the other clothes he brought on the trip were some type of synthetic polyester sports blend. I guess it does make sense for travel in such a hot and humid region.

Lombok, Indonesia

Finally I'm getting around to posting some pictures from my trip to Lombok, Indonesia I took back in May. The trip started off great but on the second day I came down with some kind of fever or flu and felt horrible until the last day of the trip so I spent most of the time in bed sleeping and with no appetite... After the 4 days I think I lost at least 10 pounds and looked pretty bad. Thankfully I've gained it all back and am once again my handsome self (in my own opinion)! Also, getting soaked in a rain shower and falling into a waterfall probably not only contributed to me falling ill but it also meant that my cell phone and camera weren't working for most of the trip- So most of these pictures are from the island of Lombok on the first day. We also took a boat out to Gili Tranwangan for two nights but didn't get to enjoy any of the snorkeling or scuba diving which I had hoped to. From the boat ride over or even looking out into the surf you could tell how clear the water was. Another of my friends just returned from Bali and the Gili Islands and told me the snorkeling was great and they even saw some groups of giant sea turtles - he grabbed on to one and rode it underwater so he claims. But anyway, the first day of the trip was awesome and we rented a car to drive around the island. Some of the roads on Lombok are not that great and many are really bad. There's also a lot of horse drawn carts on the roads... as well as other animals. On the Gili islands there are no cars at all so besides walking the options are either horse drawn cart or bicycle.


Once out of the city parts of the island, Lombok is full of rice fileds. Mountains rise up quickly from the sea moving towards the inner island and many of the fields are terraced on these slopes as well. In the middle of the island is Mt. Rinjani, at 12,000+ foot volcanic mountain- the second tallest in Indonesia however with the constant clouds surrounding the upper peaks of the island we never even got a good look at it.



While driving out around the island we got hungry and stopped in to what looked like a roadside cafe. We decided to eat outside on the raised eating platforms which are not the most comfortable things you'll ever sit on but the shade from the thatched roof and ventilation though the floor keeps you pretty cool.
looking over the menu we wern't really sure what to order. We saw chickens walking around the ground under us and we saw Ayam Sambal on the menu (should be chicken with sambal or spicy sauce) so that seems like a safe bet Well, we were kind of right, it was chicken but we weren't quite expecting what they brought out for us. One baby chicken for each of us, cleaned and deep fried intact and whole, claws included, and served on some raw vegetables... with VERY spicy sambal on the side. There really wasn't much meat on those little birds at all and we were still kind of hungy after eating them (the before and after pictures don't look so different really, so we tried to just fill up on the rice.

And then the rain started while we were hiking up to see a waterfall...and with no umbrella anything to keep the rain off is better than nothing- Fal tries to use a banana leaf- but in the end it was useless and we were soaked.


This is pretty much what I felt like the whole time on Gili Trawangan (and I swear it wasn't from that beer... )

You can see some other pictures of Lombok and Gili Trawangan from my friend Fal's site http://singbrewer.blogspot.com/2008/05/lombok-indonesia.html
and his flikr site : trawangan Lombok

John's visit - pre visit

I'm picking up John from the airport later tonight- he gets in past 8pm so it will already be getting late by the time we get back. It should be good to have him staying here a few days and show him around the city. He's planning to stay here for a few days then we'll go to Bangkok over the weekend. He'll go on for there and meet some other friends traveling around SE Asia as well


UPDATE:
John arrived on his flight tonight and it was even early. Despite the late concerns that I would be unable to locate him at the airport it was actually very easy and uneventful to meet him.

Kampong Buangkok

A couple weeks ago I heard about a place in Singapore - the last remaining kampong (village) on the island. By 'last remaining kampong' it means it's the last village where people were originally living in Singapore before they were cleared to make room for either private investors or for the Singapore Housing Development Board to build government flats. Kampong Buangkok. After doing some quick research to make sure this place really existed and to locate it on a map, I met up with my friend, Fal, and we rode our bikes out to take a look. Despite the vague directions on the map, it was actually very easy to find and pretty much as I expected from the information I'd found on other websites: very small- you can walk through it in about five minutes, surrounded by HDB flats and a little bit of remaining jungle, and it even had the chickens roaming around freely. The unexpected observation I didn't understand was all the junk strewn around the whole village. Tons of it. We assumed it was being sorted and sold for scrap by the inhabitants rather than just collected, but despite the seeming state of poverty, there were also signs of money, lots of money! like the Benz parked outside one of the houses for example which was one of many other cars there. It's rumored that the rent for these places is in the tens of dollars per month, which at least I consider cheap, but still, cars are expensive here. I wonder what the people who live here do for a living. They seemed cool though, all pretty relaxed and indifferent but friendly towards us walking our bikes down the main path through the village, sections of which were not paved. Meaning they were not paved with asphalt or bricks or cobblestone even, but with carpet- which I find not only resourceful and inventive, but also classy (no it's wasn't red carpet though). Speaking of money though, the land has been reported to be valued at anywhere between 20 to 80 million dollars but the owner is unwilling to sell to private investors because the inhabitants like the life there as it is. However, they also realize that if the government wanted to take over the land there is nothing they could do about it, as in Singapore the government has eminent domain and can take over any land as required, as I understand. It's interesting though that along the kampong there are definitely signs of government public works like the cement storm drains borderign it. On one of the websites, I read that that flooding during major rains in one of the major problems the community faces. In summary, I'm glad we went to take a look and see the kampong as it's an ongoing part of Singapore's past which in many other cases has been left behind to modernization.

Kampong on Lorong Buangkok

Kampong Benz

I found this video segement about the village on youtube. Well, it's not the full story but you can see some more of the kampong

lagging behind

I can't believe it's August already. June and July went by so fast and I've really been lagging on posting any updates. John's coming to asia for vacation soon for a few weeks and he'll get into Singapore this Sunday already. It will be fun to have family here for while and to show him around the city.

Happy Birthday

It's Independence Day for the US! at least here it is already... but unfortunatly no one really celebrates it here and can't have fireworks. Maybe I'll see some fireworks shows on TV.

so crowded

Singapore is a crowded city. It's getting so crowded now that I can look out my window and see people straight across from me... and I live on the 7th floor. Of course these people are the construction workers building the new condo adjacent to my building which has little by little been increasingly blocking my view each and every day over the last 5 months though. The progress has now reached a new height equal to my floor giving me the unique opportunity, at least for a few weeks, to look out my window and look at them looking back at me looking at them.

To compare, or contrast depending on your inclination, here is the view I used to have out the same window in the fist picture above. The new view is not as nice in my opinon... but soon it will be worse- a wall only I think.