Days gone by.

Thursday night was topped off with a Persian grilled lamb wrap of sorts and a Tiger beer.  My Dad, Francis, and I sat down by the river at Clark Quay and people watched for a bit.

Friday I set off by my self for some much needed Melanie time.  I wandered around the Arab quarter before stumbling upon the Sultan Mosque, and being Friday, prayer day, unfortunately I could not visit the inside of the building. I will have to do that another day.  After perusing the shops filled with various trinkets and beautiful fabrics, I settled down at Zam Zam Singapore, a lonely planet recommended lunch spot, for some mutton pancake.

I spent the afternoon walking around the shopping area known as Orchard road, and sadly, after about two hours, had only covered maybe 1/10 of it.  Right now the street is covered in Christmas lights and displays. At night it is really quite pretty.  I plan to go back to Orchard Road some time this week and actually play the part of consumer instead of tourist.

Friday evening we attended the Park Avenue Suites holiday gathering. It was poolside, and perhaps 20 people were there. I visited with a woman from Florida. She shared some of her experiences here in Singapore as well as her time in Bali, quite encouraging. I also met a few people my own age. First a couple from Switzerland, very entertaining and lively. Ended up being the people that live next door. I have plans to hang out Karine this week. Also, a few guys from Germany, one from Paris, and two girls from China. We had great conversation among a few drinks late into the night, and to my advantage, everyone spoke English-and for once-I was the best at it.  The girls from China talked about how they choose an English name to go buy at school and work when they are about 12, and how they often change it if they feel the need. It just seemed strange to me-to pick your own name .

Saturday Dad asked me, “What does a hangover feel like?” After some discussion we concluded that he did in fact have a hangover.   We spent the morning dilly dallying and then headed out to the east coast park in the afternoon.  The park was nice. It was mainly an area along the coastline that has various paved trails for recreation, a few open grassy areas, and a man-made beach-all shaded with trees.  The water looked disgusting, what with all of the pollution from the giant ocean liners and tankers in the bay. I didn’t even come within 30 feet of it, now come to think of it, but Francis really soaked it up, literally.  The beach was fairly hot, the weather here is always hot and humid, but the sea breezes felt nice.

That night we met up with some old family friends from Bartlesville, the Watsons. Brenda and Larry were so generous and pleasant to talk to. We ate at Clark Quayside Seafood, I had a sampling of chilly crab, pepper crab, sauytay, etc. The meal was delicious. Even better was the home made pie I got once we went back to the Watson’s home-a gorgeous home at that-and had dessert. I also tried Indian black rice flavored icecream-I would put it right up there next to black sesame. Love that shit.

Sunday-today-was a full day yet again. I got up in hopes of joining a yoga class. I took a taxi to the location, or so I thought, but I must have written the address down wrong. I was in the vicinity, but just not quite there-maybe another day this week it will happen.  Once I got back to the hotel, I went out and laid by the pool for a while. I ended up meeting some more people my age. This time a few guys from England and South Africa. They were alright-no one was really all that friendly, however.

The afternoon was spent on an outing to Palau Ubin/Ubin Island. It is about 40 minutes away from the Park Avenue. We took a taxi to Changi Village and then a bum boat from there to the island.  Pulau Ubin is basically and undeveloped slab of land for tourists. You go, smell the polluted water and exhaust fumes, eat some mediocre food, then rent a bicycle. Once on the bike, it’s a fun place-more beautiful on the inland areas than the “beach.” On the ride we saw a few of the native islander’s homes, falling coconuts, and plenty of mosquitoes.  The coconut drinks were phenomenal. Francis was disgusted by it. I had two.

This evening we headed over to Lau Pa Sat Hawker center for dinner. I had some more chicken and rice, but wasn’t impressed this time.  I am now ready for bed-tomorrow I am meeting Brenda to go see Little India and Chinatown. Very excited for some good Indian food.

Oh- and pictures will come soon.