February 23, 2008

(SINGAPORE)

Final Day in Singapore: Chinatown Hawker Food

I took the opportunity to sleep in this morning, write a few posts for this webpage, and catch up on emails using the wireless connection. So, it wasn't until noon when I left Hui Shi's house in search of food. I had to catch a 6:00 pm Malaysia-bound bus near Lavender Station, and with my large backpack we decided it would be easiest to stay downtown for the afternoon. My choice for food was obviously Chinatown, and although it took significant arm-wrestling to convince Hui Shi, she finally relented. There is a stigma in Singapore that this is one of the more touristy hawker centers, but in fact I find Lau Pa Sat, Maxwell Road, and Adam Road to be far worse.

I sat Hui Shi down at one of the garishly orange plastic tables in the middle of the indoor-outdoor courtyard, and with a loud "Oyy!" (I am kidding, this is very disrespectful), called over a vendor selling Singapore's "internationally recognized Tiger beer." He saw that I was an angmoh and tried to charge me $6SGD for a large bottle, but I corrected him on the price in Mandarin and he quickly relented for $5SGD. My confidence was soaring. Afterward, it was easy to pick out my regular favorites from the stalls, but I stayed away from the soups shown to the left. I have been-there done-that with dishes like Fresh Intestine Congee, Pig's Organ Congee, and Preserved Egg Pig's Liver Congee. Out of respect, all I will say is that there is a reason 95% of the world chooses not to eat this stuff.

My Singaporean dignity was greatly inflated several times while we ate. Firstly, Hui Shi was visibly shocked at the food I brought to the table - Singaporeans pride themselves on always knowing where to find the best food, and she couldn't believe a foreigner knew better than her. Secondly, a couple of uncles commented on how well I use my chopsticks, which is hardly a new for me considering I have literally used them thousands of times over the past two years. Lastly, I can drink Tiger beer with the best of them, and no self-respecting guy leaves a hawker center without his fair share of empty bottles left behind. (The truth is that I will enter Malaysian tonight, and as the country is primarily Malay, or Muslim, I wanted to drink what I could before leaving.)

The last order of business for the day was meeting another friend, LiXuan, who studied in my Fluid Dynamics course and is currently working for Motorola. She was waiting for us at Lavender station, and after giving me a going away present of Hello Panda packets, she led me to a busy shop selling Chinese desserts. To be perfectly honest, as much as I love Asian food, I have never really taken to the variety of desserts. The one dish I can partially tolerate is a kind of sesame ice cream (although it is closer to curdled milk than ice cream and it is often served warm), so this is what I ordered. To give you an idea of what the other options are like, LiXuan ordered the almond version of my dish, while Hui Shi opted for soft mushrooms with dried prawns on top. Egh!

I walked to the bus station shortly after dessert, getting a chance to catch up with Hui Shi's boyfriend Derick en route, and by 6:30 pm I was passing through Singaporean immigrations at the northern end of the island. With seven Singaporean entrance stamps in my passport, it is fair to say I know my way around the constantly hot and humid, always clean and manageable, and ever-growing (thanks to land reclamation, not population growth) island just above the equator.