Oh the lag!
Day 1 in Singapore...Summertime...and the shopping
is easy...
We finally rolled up to the hotel at about 2:30 am
MONDAY morning (note that we left Vancouver on Saturday at 3pm). For those not
wanting to fire up the computer and embark on complicated logarithmic
calculations, this means it was around mid-morning on Sunday, Vancouver time.
Being mere beginners on this Asian sojourn, Amber and I regularly got shuffled
to the backs of lines (waiting for luggage, boarding the shuttle bus...and
especially trying to check into the hotel with 30 other people). We'd probably
have been in bed 1/2 an hour earlier if we weren't so gol-darned polite (note:
that problem has now been
eliminated).
We woke from a Gravol-induced slumber around 9 the next morning feeling somewhat discombobulated, but ready to hunt down a likely breakfast spot. We ended up at this great place called Chijmes (yeah, yeah...that's how they spell it). It used to be an old monastery/school until the cassocked ones decided to move on. The City decided to convert the site into a great shopping and eating area - while retaining the feel of the old place.
After doing some wandering around, our sugar levels hit rock bottom - and the first place to present itself was this funky Spanish place with a patio. So...Coronas for breakfast (with mushroomy things and a Spanish Omelette) isn't so bad!
We wolfed down some Spanish grits chased with Coronas (now that's breakfast). Freshly fortified, and squinting into the blazing sunlight, I realized that leaving sunglasses in rainy Vancouver was not very bright! So...heavy negotiations and fashion consulting by Amber...soon resulted in a pair of Fila's decorating my face for the rest of the day. Exhausted & drained by the heavy negotiations, we decided that more food was required immediately. Being diligent tourists, we thought that going from the fancy extreme of Cjimes to the insane chaos of Little India would be good for our gastronomic souls. En route, Amber somehow managed to get a roadside Indian woman from Gujarat to hand over wooden henna stamps (along with a strangely smelling block of henna) for the princely sum of $12. Henna parties in Vancouver will never be so easy! Then...purely by accident...and while leaping over rotting fruit on the sidewalk, we discovered the hidden gem of Singapore....the one, the only...Blue Diamond Indian Restaurant - without question the most fabulous, outrageous, Indian food EVER (can't say the same about the decor)! MMMM....dosas, biriyani...and awesome chai! We'd have taken pictures...but then they'd have had to kill us for potentially exposing the secret recipes!
Not content to spend all the rest of the day eating, we decided that I needed a new suit! I mean, really, who doesn't??? So, being the diligent researchers that we are, we picked a random ad for a tailor out of our Singapore map...and that's how a great relationship with "Boss George" was born! So....out came the catalogue...a swanky Zegna suit was chosen (me hoping that it would look as good on me as that blonde dude in the picture)...a black merino wool was drooled over...and the negotiations began! George suggesting that I would need 4 suits....me suggesting that I really didn't need a suit at all. In the end, 1 suit and two shirts ("of the very finest cottons, boss...") were ordered for the princely sum of Cdn$380....ready by 3pm the next day! Here was the happy fitting by Boss's assistant:
Meanwhile...after providing the appropriate fashion consulting to me....Amber found the Holy Grail! In her own words: After saving all of us from navy suits with pleated pants (Boss's recommendation), I ventured out into the small and quirky mall that Boss resided in. There...near the entrance...lay "Pretty in Tokyo" where, for $5 you could be a supermodel! Filled with clucking teenage girls flitting in and out of plasticized photo booths, I realized if I didn't leave quickly, I'd have spent all my cash in this one crazy place - albeit with hundreds of fabulous pictures of myself. So....I only did three, one of which is below....oh yeah, Mark decided to to get over his fear of swimming by diving in as well.
With our freshly minted supermodel shots stored securely in Amber's purse, we ventured out into blazing, humid, debilitating heat - but, since this was Singapore's famous Orchard Road (Robson would constitute 1% of the space & shopping potential)....we dug deep and bore it! OK...not for long...we zipped into (to Amber's indescribable delight - oh... if Scott & Vannie could see her now!) Valentino...followed by Jean-Paul Gaultier...followed by Versace...followed by Ferragamo....followed by Givenchy...followed by Chanel...followed by Gucci...followed by Prada....followed by Louis Vuitton...followed by Dunhill....followed by Cartier....and so on and so on and so on.... The only saving grace was that Amber does NOT have a credit card!
Having worked up a window-shopping froth (& only buying a guava and mango juice each!), the incredible, outstanding, unbelievable Pepper Crab loomed in our future (along with a very cold tall beer). The one thing I told Amber we had to do in Singapore was go to the Newton Hawkers Market to have this dish - it is amazing! Did it live up to the hype?
uhh....yeah!!!
It was time for a nightcap at the festive Clarke Quay. Singapore has a couple of these strips along the river (the other being Boat Quay) where there are rows of restaurants and hawkers' stands serving everything under the sun. It certainly caters to the touristy crowd (egad...there was even a Hooters - but, in this end of the world, it was catering mainly to Aussie Rugby World Cup fans) and the prices reflect that. In spite of that, it's a really cool place to hang out and watch the world go by.
Amazingly enough, we had stayed up until10pm...but it was now time to head back to the hotel. On that note, Singapore has by far the friendliest and helpful cabbies either of us has ever seen. Bed....zzzzzzzz....
We woke from a Gravol-induced slumber around 9 the next morning feeling somewhat discombobulated, but ready to hunt down a likely breakfast spot. We ended up at this great place called Chijmes (yeah, yeah...that's how they spell it). It used to be an old monastery/school until the cassocked ones decided to move on. The City decided to convert the site into a great shopping and eating area - while retaining the feel of the old place.
After doing some wandering around, our sugar levels hit rock bottom - and the first place to present itself was this funky Spanish place with a patio. So...Coronas for breakfast (with mushroomy things and a Spanish Omelette) isn't so bad!
We wolfed down some Spanish grits chased with Coronas (now that's breakfast). Freshly fortified, and squinting into the blazing sunlight, I realized that leaving sunglasses in rainy Vancouver was not very bright! So...heavy negotiations and fashion consulting by Amber...soon resulted in a pair of Fila's decorating my face for the rest of the day. Exhausted & drained by the heavy negotiations, we decided that more food was required immediately. Being diligent tourists, we thought that going from the fancy extreme of Cjimes to the insane chaos of Little India would be good for our gastronomic souls. En route, Amber somehow managed to get a roadside Indian woman from Gujarat to hand over wooden henna stamps (along with a strangely smelling block of henna) for the princely sum of $12. Henna parties in Vancouver will never be so easy! Then...purely by accident...and while leaping over rotting fruit on the sidewalk, we discovered the hidden gem of Singapore....the one, the only...Blue Diamond Indian Restaurant - without question the most fabulous, outrageous, Indian food EVER (can't say the same about the decor)! MMMM....dosas, biriyani...and awesome chai! We'd have taken pictures...but then they'd have had to kill us for potentially exposing the secret recipes!
Not content to spend all the rest of the day eating, we decided that I needed a new suit! I mean, really, who doesn't??? So, being the diligent researchers that we are, we picked a random ad for a tailor out of our Singapore map...and that's how a great relationship with "Boss George" was born! So....out came the catalogue...a swanky Zegna suit was chosen (me hoping that it would look as good on me as that blonde dude in the picture)...a black merino wool was drooled over...and the negotiations began! George suggesting that I would need 4 suits....me suggesting that I really didn't need a suit at all. In the end, 1 suit and two shirts ("of the very finest cottons, boss...") were ordered for the princely sum of Cdn$380....ready by 3pm the next day! Here was the happy fitting by Boss's assistant:
Meanwhile...after providing the appropriate fashion consulting to me....Amber found the Holy Grail! In her own words: After saving all of us from navy suits with pleated pants (Boss's recommendation), I ventured out into the small and quirky mall that Boss resided in. There...near the entrance...lay "Pretty in Tokyo" where, for $5 you could be a supermodel! Filled with clucking teenage girls flitting in and out of plasticized photo booths, I realized if I didn't leave quickly, I'd have spent all my cash in this one crazy place - albeit with hundreds of fabulous pictures of myself. So....I only did three, one of which is below....oh yeah, Mark decided to to get over his fear of swimming by diving in as well.
With our freshly minted supermodel shots stored securely in Amber's purse, we ventured out into blazing, humid, debilitating heat - but, since this was Singapore's famous Orchard Road (Robson would constitute 1% of the space & shopping potential)....we dug deep and bore it! OK...not for long...we zipped into (to Amber's indescribable delight - oh... if Scott & Vannie could see her now!) Valentino...followed by Jean-Paul Gaultier...followed by Versace...followed by Ferragamo....followed by Givenchy...followed by Chanel...followed by Gucci...followed by Prada....followed by Louis Vuitton...followed by Dunhill....followed by Cartier....and so on and so on and so on.... The only saving grace was that Amber does NOT have a credit card!
Having worked up a window-shopping froth (& only buying a guava and mango juice each!), the incredible, outstanding, unbelievable Pepper Crab loomed in our future (along with a very cold tall beer). The one thing I told Amber we had to do in Singapore was go to the Newton Hawkers Market to have this dish - it is amazing! Did it live up to the hype?
uhh....yeah!!!
It was time for a nightcap at the festive Clarke Quay. Singapore has a couple of these strips along the river (the other being Boat Quay) where there are rows of restaurants and hawkers' stands serving everything under the sun. It certainly caters to the touristy crowd (egad...there was even a Hooters - but, in this end of the world, it was catering mainly to Aussie Rugby World Cup fans) and the prices reflect that. In spite of that, it's a really cool place to hang out and watch the world go by.
Amazingly enough, we had stayed up until10pm...but it was now time to head back to the hotel. On that note, Singapore has by far the friendliest and helpful cabbies either of us has ever seen. Bed....zzzzzzzz....
Posted: Mon - October 20, 2003 at 10:15 AM
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Published On: Nov 21, 2003 04:41 PM
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Published On: Nov 21, 2003 04:41 PM