Mid-Autumn Wanderings

I've been trying to keep busier during the weekdays, which is great for me, but unfortunately the blog suffers. I started spending sunny days down by the pool with a book and my ipod, which means when I lazily stumble back to the apartment, all I want is a soda and AC, and it doesn't make for good story fodder. However, my tan is coming along nicely, proving once and for all that anything you set your mind to can be accomplished. And before you freak out, mom, I'm wearing sunscreen and a hat, and I don't stay in the direct light for long. I'm not BROWN per se, but I am turning a nice golden color; makes a nice change from the blinding white I used to be. The only downside is the freckles on my shoulders are finally doing what I feared they would do for years, and joined together to make one large über-freckle. Sigh. But a lot has been going on in the mean time, so I'll try and sort through the highlights.

Mike is officially 30! Hooray! I have to say, he took it quite well. No tears, no tantrums, no denial of the fact that he's a year older; very impressive, especially since I plan on doing all those things when I turn 27. Instead, we went to a sort-of-Italian restaurant called Lenas and got a couple pizzas and some beer. I say "sort of" because while they have pepperoni pizza and bruschetta on the menu, they also had curry seafood pizza and cheese fries, neither of which I think qualify as Italian. I don't know for sure, I've never been.

We finally tried chili crab, which is one of Singapore's specialty dishes. We were down in Chinatown again, this time during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also called the Lantern Festival or the Mooncake Festival. Basically it's just a big Chinese harvest festival that involves a lot of lanterns and little cakes. Everywhere we go we see mooncakes for sale, they're little pastries shaped kind of like flowers filled with flavored lotus seed paste. The taste is very similar to fig newtons, they're just a little bigger.

Anyway, we went down to Chinatown to look at all the lanterns and wander around, and we met some friends at a seafood restaurant and ordered chili crab and black pepper crab. Both were very good, but I think the chili crab wins most delicious; it's a little spicy but also somewhat sweet, which worked really well with the sweetness of the crab. Plus, the extra chili sauce was great for pouring over fried rice. Look, you can see its little eyes staring at you all accusingly! Mmmmm.

We also made it over to East Coast Park, which is kind of like a boardwalk along the eastern shore. There's a bunch of shops and restaurants along the water, and long paths that people ride their bikes around. We even saw a few rollerbladers, which I didn't know still existed. Perhaps I should dust off my wrist guards, grab my Walkman and throw down like it's 1995. We went to a little bar along the water and got a pitcher of what passes for frozen margaritas in these parts. They weren't BAD, exactly, just not very flavorful and a bit too salty. Not as upsetting as the "nachos simpaticos," which turned out to be a few chips covered in cheese whiz and a few stray beans. WRONG. MALO. So instead of satiating my cravings, I was cruelly teased with off brand Tex Mex, which has only increased my longing. But the beer was fine, and Mike got to play Frisbee in the sand.

Still on the topic of food (because that's what we do here, eat) a couple we know through Mike's mom took us out to a place called Fatty's. I am immediately predisposed to like any place called Fatty's, and this restaurant is apparently some kind of Singapore landmark that's popular with expats and locals alike.

The food was really tasty, and I can see why expats like it: it tasted more like American Chinese food than anything else we've eaten here. It had that sort of greasy-noodle-in-a-take-out-box flavor that we know and love, and we had a ton of leftovers just like at home! Even though it was technically Asian food, it still made a nice change from our usual soup, noodle, and chicken rice diet. I think it would serve as a nice starting point for whoever wants to come visit first!

Down by the Bay

Sorry this post was delayed a few days, I've been busy preparing for Mike's 30th birthday tomorrow. It's a lot harder for me to shop here, for a number of reasons. First of all, I hate shopping and I hate being in malls, I get cranky after about 10 minutes and I want to leave. Secondly, obviously the stores are different here, and I'm not sure what they sell or what the quality is. For example, there's a store called Pull and Bear, which sounds like a hunting or taxidermy store but it actually sells hipster clothing from Australia. Anyway, it took awhile, but I finally got him some presents I think he'll like, and luckily we have a three day birthday weekend because Friday is Hari Raya Puasa, which celebrates the end of Ramadan. I don't know how Muslims do it, I can barely go five hours without eating something, I know I couldn't last all day without seriously injuring someone and then probably trying to eat them. Hats off to you, Muslims, and thanks for the day off!

We had a very full Saturday, which kicked off with the Chunk Fest, the annual Ben and Jerry's ice cream festival. People really like Ben and Jerry's here, which is great, except it's imported which hikes up the cost. I'm not paying $15 for a pint of ice cream, not when I can get a mango ice cream sandwich for a dollar right outside. Although, the last time we got ice cream from a stand, we noticed the side of the package said "meat," which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Oh well, we haven't died, so I'm sure it's fine. Moving on, the ice cream festival was fun, even though it was still $5 for one scoop. But we got to try some new flavors, including a Boston cream pie one and a coffee malt that I liked a lot. There was a maple one that the Canadians got, stereotypes be damned! People were supposed to dress like hippies for the festival, but I'm not sure everyone understood what a hippie is, because I saw some girls in skin tight minidresses with huge heels. Close, ladies, but no.

Since the festival was down by Marina Bay, afterwards we wandered around and took some pictures. The weather felt SO good, it was overcast and there was a breeze coming off the water. I know no one actually wants to hear about the weather, but it was seriously the most comfortable I've been outside in Singapore. We made our way over to the edge of the bay, where there is a giant stone statue of a Merlion. What is a merlion, you might be asking yourself? Well, friends, a merlion is half lion, half fish, all awesomeness. It's the mascot of Singapore, since "singa" means lion (Singapura means "lion-city"), and the fish part dates back to when this was a fishing village and it was called Temasek, or "sea town." But that's besides the point; the point is that it's a giant stone mermaid with the head of a lion and looks like something from Napoleon Dynamite. It also shoots water out of its mouth, but I don't know if that's like a power it has, or if it's just a fountain. Either way, I am so loving the Merlion. Talk about the ultimate surf and turf!

After spending some time basking in the glory and dignity of the noble Merlion, we headed out to get some dinner and drinks. We stopped at a German brauhaus for a beer and some sausage, which tasted sooo good. It's actually kind of nice not eating Western food for awhile, because then when you finally eat it, it tastes a thousand times better. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Next we stopped off at the world's largest fountain, which was a bit of a disappointment because it wasn't working properly. We did see a laser light show that they reflect off the water, though, which was...also slightly disappointing. Perhaps I'm expecting too much out of fountains.

Lastly we went to Chijmes, which is an old church in the center of downtown that used to be a convent and is now a big event space. I think they use the church for weddings and parties and such, and the courtyard is divided up into shops and bars and restaurants.

It's really pretty, and it was fun to drink a beer in the shadow of an old church, although I think Mike kept expecting nuns to run out and start scolding him. There were lights strung up in the trees, giant TVs playing rugby, and the big church looming over us; honestly, it felt a little surreal.