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December 18 2017 - Home [Week 32]

Wow. I can’t believe this is the final update of this blog. There were countless instances where I felt that time couldn’t pass any slower, especially sitting in the cold office at 2pm in the afternoon with the appearance of being preoccupied. It’s amazing to think that I’ve been gone for 7 months, 31 weeks, and 217 days! It’s safe to say that this was probably the biggest life-changing experience I’ve ever had these 21 years of growing up. It wasn’t the internship experience that was the highlight of my trip, but rather the journey of self-discovery, familial bonds, and new friendship. Currently, I’m on the plane back to Vancouver, landing in an hour and a half according to the flight data. It is 5:54pm in Vancouver and 9:55am in Singapore/China.

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I left Xi’an on Monday December 18 after a series of emotionally tumultuous events in my relationship which put me in an extremely terrible mood. In the morning, I rested, journaled, packed, and ate. After the disheartening events, I rushed to shower and do last minute packing to leave by 5pm. We drove past my aunt and my cousin who ended school for the day to bid our last goodbyes. On the way, we encountered traffic jam as it was rush hour so we arrived at Xi’an Xianyang Airport at 6:20pm. We went on a wild goose chase to find the correct check-in gates. I had a mini heart attack when I didn’t see anybody lining up for the international connecting flight gate since I thought it was closed, but thankfully it wasn’t. My uncle waved goodbye to me as I lined up for security check for my flight to Guangzhou. 

The flight to Guangzhou was less than 2 and a half hours, but we were served food regardless. I ate some plain buns and 2 slices of carrots since I bought a slice of banana bread at the airport before leaving. Since the flight was short, I reflected and wrote. When I got off the plane in Guangzhou, I walked all across the terminal to reach the international connecting gates. There was a golf cart buggy which drove us to the security screening area. Afterwards, I sat down at the gates to wait for my flight to Vancouver. I called my parents and Kenneth and things took a turn for the better.

Home bound.

On the flight to Vancouver, I watched The Little Prince, ate my fruit platter meal, then attempted to watch A Christmas Carol but fell asleep. When I woke up, I wrote some more, and ate another fruit platter meal. From now on, I will only order fruit platter meals since I actually have the appetite for those. Now I’m here, typing this last entry. Thank you for following me throughout my success and challenges in this journey. I think I will feel empty without having this blog to update, but I will definitely be doing more writing from now on and shying away from social media.

I can’t believe I’m coming home. Maybe it won’t feel like home since we have moved to a different city in a new house now. But I guess it’s not the house that is important, but rather the people living inside. After these months, I’ve changed in so many ways mentally, emotionally, and physically (I suppose) but I feel so excited to take on life. Though this is officially the end of my overseas journey, it is the beginning of a new and better journey of self-discovery in my life. Goodbye Singapore and China - thank you for the memories and I’ll see you both again soon. Hello Vancouver, hello home.

C.G.

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December 11-17 2017 [Week 31]

My first full week in Xi’an! Monday December 11 was a rest day because my cousin came down with a fever and headache. We were planning to go to Pizza Hut for lunch, but since she wasn’t feeling well we stayed home and ordered delivery for her. I cooked myself dumplings. It was a relaxing day journaling, exercising, and taking an afternoon nap. 

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Chive and egg dumplings with tofu are my #1 comfort food.

My cousin still wasn't feeling better on Tuesday December 12, so I stayed home with her for the first half of the day. After lunch, my aunt and I went to two shopping malls. The first mall was called Ren He. It consisted of many different boutique shops selling everything from clothes to bed linens to toys to shoes. We bought a set of bed linens for me which had nature motifs. Since all the clothes in China in general are too hypebeast and streetwear for me, we visited Cai Yuan shopping mall. After visiting a few stores, we bought some clothes for me and some for my aunt. We were supposed to go to Hui Min Jie to eat dinner, but I wasn’t feeling too well so we just ate at the food court upstairs then went back. I felt lethargic the whole day, probably because I didn’t sleep well during the night.

A super gigantic shopping mall in the middle of the city.

Wednesday December 13 was a fun and relaxing day. For lunch, my cousin and I met up with my aunt at Pizza Hut at Zhong Da International shopping mall. My cousin was still slightly sick but her fever subsided. We ordered a vegetarian pizza, octopus rings, veggies, and escargot, the main reason why I wanted to eat at Pizza Hut. My cousin ordered a seafood rice dish for herself. The food was oily but tasted nice. My favourite was of course, the escargot, although I don’t think it was cooked authentically. We came back for a few hours so my cousin could catch up on some schoolwork, then went out again to Wanda shopping mall to watch Paddington 2. The theatre was empty; there were less than 10 people in the whole place! The movie was in Chinese so I had minor difficulties understanding certain parts. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie for its exciting and hilarious story.

After the movie, we went to have dinner at Ajisen Ramen. My cousin ordered a beef and rice hot plate, then I ordered appetizers such as cold seaweed, cabbage, and prawn cakes. The food was alright, but nothing special to Xi’an. I would’ve liked to try something else, but my cousin wanted to eat at this place so I went with the flow. We had desserts at Honeymoon Dessert. We went slightly overboard and ordered 4 types of desserts. My cousin had black glutinous rice with almond tea. I had glutinous rice balls with sesame and peanut toppings. We shared a mango pudding and mango pancake. I didn’t eat much for dinner to save room for desserts, which was a great idea since I tried a wide variety. My cousin ate the whole plate of beef and rice for dinner and managed to finish the almond tea by herself. I applaud and am jealous of her appetite.

Mango pancakes - the inside consists of half whipped cream and half mango.

During the day of Thursday December 14, my cousin and I stayed home to rest. At night, we went to a restaurant at Zhong Da International Shopping Mall to celebrate the birthday of one of my aunt’s close friends. The cake they brought was so unique and Asian but tasted nice. They ordered so many dishes that I couldn’t keep track. The portions were also huge so we weren’t able to finish everything despite having my cousin’s ginormous appetite. My favourite dish was the cake of course.

The billion dollar question: is the 100 yuan bill real or fake?

On Friday December 15, I went out with my first cousin once removed (according to online genealogy tables), which is my grandma’s brother’s daughter, which is also my mom’s cousin. I met up with her near the Xi’an Bell Tower so that’s where we visited first. The tower is symbolic of Xi’an and sits in the most centre part of the city. From the tower, I saw all the different famous streets of the city which come together to a roundabout the tower. We weren’t able to visit the drum tower because it was under construction. We went to Hui Min Jie for lunch so I saw the place in broad daylight. The entrance was the most crowded, which I assume was because many people did not want to walk a large distance to the inside. We walked down the whole street and decided to eat soup dumplings and porridge at a famous small restaurant. My favourite was the vegetarian soup dumpling and the dark and sweet porridge. I also tried persimmon doughnut and Chinese naan.

Hui Min Jie in daylight - still full of locals and tourists.

The best vegetarian soup dumplings I’ve had!

I was filled from lunch so we went to visit malls. We took the bus to Min Sheng Shopping Mall first, but the place was targeted more towards older audiences. After walking around, we took another bus to SAVA Shopping Mall, which was targeted to younger audiences. The mall had an extremely long 50.2 meter escalator that went from the 1st floor to 6th floor. There was also a wave of familiarity as I believe I visited this mall the last time I was in China in 2014. By that time, we were both tired from walking all day so we sat at Uji Matcha to rest. I ordered a matcha drink which tasted average. I also bought matcha and blueberry mille crepes because I really miss the Lady M ones. The matcha one wasn’t very delicious. I have yet to try the blueberry one.

Xi’an city views.

In the afternoon of Saturday December 16, my aunt and I went to Xin Yang shopping mall to watch a movie called ‘Youth.’ I won’t dwell into in the details of the plot since they will be definitely available online. The movie is in Mandarin Chinese with Chinese and English subtitles. Thank the lord for the English subtitles or else I wouldn’t have understood many parts of the movie as the language used is complex. I enjoyed the movie although some parts were slightly confusing so I couldn’t catch on. We also went to Vanguard grocery store to buy the food items I wanted to bring back to Vancouver. My first cousin once removed and her husband came to visit us in the evening to bring more food items. Unfortunately I don’t think I can bring them back since I have so much luggage already.

Sunday December 17 was my last full day in Xi’an, which also marked the conclusion of my whole overseas experience. My aunt, uncle, cousin, and I went to Bai Lu Cheng Studios, which was an hour and a half away from the city. The studios had many sets where local shows were filmed. There were also lots of street food vendors similar to those in Hui Min Jie. The location is in the countryside so I was able to see the simple lifestyles of the people living there. We walked a fair bit throughout the whole area as the sets were spread out and tried many types of food including noodles, buns, and fried snacks. My hands and feet were frozen the entire time since it was painfully cold in that area. By the afternoon, I couldn’t even feel my toes as they were frozen numb. Despite the cold and me not knowing any of the shows that were filmed in the area, it was nonetheless a cool experience to see the countryside and eat local food. My favourite were the thick handmade noodles with hot chilli oil drizzled on top.

The countryside where the studios are located.

Tomorrow I will begin my journey home. It’s been almost 31 weeks since I left home. Vancouver feels like a distant memory to me. Even though I will always have wanderlust, I think it’s about time for my wandering soul to finally lay to rest…until the next adventure. My final update on this blog will be tomorrow on the 16-hour journey back. Stay tuned for one last time.

C.G.

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December 8-10 2017 [Week 30 Part II]

The reason why I separated week 30 into two parts is to end off the Singapore entries then start a new batch for the China experience. Anyway, I landed at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport around 10:30pm on Thursday (technically on December 7). The cold and smoggy air pierced through my body as soon as I stepped out of the plane. I found it hard to breathe properly with the thick and polluted air. I guess that’s welcome to China in the winter for you. After going through immigration and collecting my luggage, I met my uncle at the gate. It’s been 3 years since I was back so everything felt new to me. When I arrived in Singapore, I could still feel the familiarity of the roads but not in Xi’an. We arrived at the house past midnight.

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I woke up the next day on Friday December 8 with a stuffed nose, no surprise. I stayed home for the majority of the day and learned two things. Firstly, only the shower has hot water. The taps only dispense freezing cold water despite it being 5 degrees outside. Secondly, the struggle is real getting on many websites. But some things still stayed the same, like the honking of car horns every few seconds. All this free time gave me the opportunity to do some journaling and catch up on sleep. 

Views from the apartment.

In the evening, we went out to the newly-opened Wanda shopping mall for dinner. The mall was about a 10 minute walk from the house. The cold was bearable but the polluted air was not. Ever since I got to Xi’an, I’ve been sniffling like mad. Dinner was at a teppanyaki restaurant called 57’C Xiang. It was my first teppanyaki experience so I was excited. My cousin really recommended this place. We all sat around the table with a grill and the chef in the middle. He cooked all our orders on demand and served each dish one by one. We ordered egg with roe, tofu, shrimp, meat, clams, cabbage, and fried rice. My favourite dish to eat was the egg with roe which was served in the cutest egg holder. My favourite dish to watch the chef cook was the meat. He lit the meat on fire, literally, and it was cooked in a matter of seconds. Although I’m not a fan of meat, the texture of this one tasted like jerky, which was nice. In in the middle of dinner, all the chefs gathered at the entrance of the restaurant to perform dances. My first teppanyaki experience was fantastic.

So L I T.

My aunt, cousin, and I walked around the mall to various stores at the mall, including a pet store. The cats and dogs there were the size of my arm! They looked like toys. Before heading back home, we had dessert at Honeymoon Dessert. I ordered almond tea which tasted like almond milk and reminded me of my routine breakfast in Singapore. My aunt ordered red bean with sago and my cousin ordered shaved milk flakes with a few toppings.

On Saturday December 9, my aunt and I went to shop and eat in the afternoon. We visited Parkson Shopping Mall first, which is a massive multiple-story department store that sells everything. It also houses many different local brands which I didn’t recognize. Afterwards, we went to Hui Min Jie, a famous area for street food. It was extremely crowded with tourists and locals. Some of the stores were experiencing a black out so many areas were dark. My aunt bought some local snacks like sticky glutinous rice with dates, beef, baked sweet potato, and sticky glutinous rice on a stick. For dinner, we sat down at a small store and ate handmade noodles and wonton. It was delicious with lots of pepper seasoning so my mouth was numb. I wanted to try more food but some places were closed due to the black out and I was full. Maybe another day. We went to Cai Yuan shopping mall afterwards near the Xi’an Bell Tower. There, I recognized familiar brands such as Uniqlo and Muji. We ended the night with drinks at Starbucks. I ordered mango soy milk frap which I’ve never seen anywhere else and my aunt ordered a hot matcha latte.

Street vendors at Hui Min Jie.

Sunday December 10 was a visit to Le Hua Amusement Park with my uncle and cousin. The park was more than an hour’s drive away. This place was like nothing I’ve ever experienced! The amusement park was so empty that there were probably more staff than visitors. There were no lines for any of the rides and sometimes we were the only ones on there. My favourite ride was the free-falling one where we first went up really high then suddenly dropped down. We also watched a 4-D movie without any dialogue but with a unique storytelling technique. For lunch my cousin and I had cold noodles, soup dumplings, and pumpkin porridge. She also ate a meat burger.

The emptiest amusement park I’ve been to in the middle of nowhere.

Since we managed to finish all the rides we wanted to early, we drove back before the park closed. My aunt and I made dumplings in the afternoon which reminded me of dumpling making time with my grandparents. My cousin wanted to eat Japanese food for dinner so my aunt, cousin, and I went to Zhong Da International shopping mall. She ate a beef and rice hot plate. We also ordered a few pieces of sushi. It was mediocre but it was to be expected since Xi’an is not known for sushi. After dinner, we did grocery shopping at Vanguard. There were so many different types of snacks and food. I felt so overwhelmed and wanted to try them all but bought a few different types of crackers to eat. I love food in China! There are more varieties than in Singapore and also at a cheaper price. Why can’t Vancouver be like this?

Unrelated but this is one of my favourite foods from Xi’an.

C.G.

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December 4-7 2017 [Week 30 Part I]

It’s with a mixture of emotions that I type this entry. Currently I’m on my flight to Xi’an to end off this whole experience. After 30 weeks of residing in Singapore, I finally departed Singapore soil at 5pm this afternoon on Thursday December 7.

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Wait, rewind. Monday December 4 was my second last day of work but the whole day was a bore without the other interns. After work, I went to Jem and Westgate to run errands but I actually just wanted to buy more Lady M mille crepes. I bought the green tea mille crepe, chocolate mille crepe, and marron cake since they ran out of the marron mille crepe. The chocolate mille crepe was my favourite aside from the original. The green tea mille crepe was delicious but not as much as the chocolate one. The marron cake was delicious for a cake so I could imagine that the mille crepe version would be enjoyable as well.

Tuesday December 5 was my last day of work. Initially I thought I would feel sad, but after the thought that I won’t be doing the daily commute from Woodlands to Buona Vista or seeing a particular person again, I actually felt relieved. On the last day, we had a particularly long and early lab meeting before lunch. After doing my last minute MiSeq run, I rushed off to Holland Village to have lunch and my last açai in Singapore. I ordered eggs benedict with smoked salmon at Hatched, a cafe which specializes in meals with eggs. Nevertheless, I was disappointed. The eggs, hollandaise sauce, salmon, and muffin were bland and tasteless. I didn’t want to waste too much food so I ate most of my meal with ketchup. For dessert, I ordered my favourite - medium original flower bowl at Project Açai.

I literally eat this every single day.

After delivering all the farewell presents and pleasantries to my colleagues, I left the NGSP basement for the last time at 3pm to do my exit clearance paperwork. Everything went along smoothly. Before going home, I went to Bukit Timah to pick up the canvas I ordered as a farewell and thank you gift to my grandparents. At the bus stop, I got bitten by the biggest ants I’ve seen in my life, which resulted in hives on my right arm. Great.

Goodbye NGSP and GIS!!!!

Although I did not have work on Wednesday December 6, I ran errands for a good half of the day. In the morning I went to Jurong East to settle paperwork for my last cheque, then strolled around Jem. I intended to settle all the paperwork for my bank account once I got back to Woodlands, but it turned out that it couldn’t be done due to some reasons. By the time I got back, it was almost time to make dinner. My grandparents and I made vegetarian dumplings together which was one of my favourite pastime and current things to do.

I cannot even begin to describe how amazing this tastes.

Now here we are - Thursday December 7. I spent 7 months, 30 weeks, and 213 days in Singapore. This experience was one of the most memorable and enriching ones I’ve had in my life. I developed an intense appreciation for my family back in Vancouver but also the ones here in Singapore. Not only did they provide to me a place to stay and food to eat, but they also provided a home. Another critical life lesson I learned was to appreciate spending time with myself. Not by myself, but with myself. Many times I went out exploring places and food by myself. Although I will admit that those moments could’ve been more lively with another person, it was a different experience on my own.

I’m thankful for my grandparents and relatives for providing me unconditional love and care, even if my grandma worries about everything. I’m thankful for the friends I made and the experiences we shared. I’m thankful for my family back in Vancouver for all their endless support. I’m thankful for my understanding boyfriend for going through this long distance relationship again. And finally, I’m thankful for myself for creating these life-changing experiences. The next update will be my adventures in Xi’an.

C.G.

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November 20 - December 3 2017 [Weeks 28+29]

The weekend of November 24 - 25, Irfan, Ronald, and I went to Batam, Indonesia for one last trip of my internship in Singapore. Irfan and I went to the ferry terminal of the Batam fast ferry at Harbourfront directly after work to  have dinner, which was salad because salad is life. Shortly afterwards, we met up with Ronald to wait for the ferry. The ferry to Batam was unlike BC ferries, as it is a passenger-only ferry. It was very small so I felt the current of the waves. The journey from Harbourfront to Batam centre took about an hour and 40 minutes. When we arrived at the ferry terminal in Batam, we met up with Irfan’s uncle who currently resides there. He lent us his car for the duration of the journey.C

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Last but not least...

On Saturday morning, we had buffet breakfast at the hotel. My favourite was the pancake even though Ronald and Irfan both said it was nothing special. After lounging around and singing karaoke with an MTV-like channel on TV, we drove to the Barelang bridge which was half an hour away. As we approached the bridge, Irfan pulled over to let me drive. It was such an exhilarating experience driving on the opposite side! I drove across two segments of the bridge with the waters on both sides and beautiful skies in the horizon.

Candid af on the bridge.

We parked on the side of the bridge and had a mini photoshoot session. Batam reminded me of Khao Lak’s small resort town and countryside vibes. We had a late lunch at an American cafe after the visit to the bridge. We ordered so much food as usual, but the food was all delicious. The cafe was also beautifully decorated. I love the atmospheres of these cafes.. I could spend my entire day inside! Sadly we had to part to catch our ferry back, so we drove to Irfan’s old house first to bring along his house sitter to the ferry terminal so he could drive the car back. We walked around Mega Mall near the terminal before riding off to Harbourfront. Even though this trip was short, it was a relaxing and memorable experience because I crossed off one major item on my bucket list! 

Looks delicious because it was 10/10.

Friday December 1 was the last day for Irfan and Felicia, so we celebrated with lunch at D’Good Cafe at Holland Village and dinner at Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant near Little India. At the cafe, I ordered eggs benedict with salmon. Even though the eggs were runny, they were bearable since I asked for well-done eggs. The toasted muffins made the whole meal so delicious. Dim sum was delicious as well, perhaps even more than the one at Crystal Jade. Bonus points for a much more affordable price! We ordered 13 different plates of food to try. After dinner, we walked around city square mall and saw beautiful Christmas lights, then ended off the night eating Anderson’s ice-cream.

My favourite was the vegetable dish of course.

I met up with Erica and Zhen Yang for dim sum again at Paradise Dynasty for dinner on Saturday December 2. Before that, I went around town, literally, from Woodlands to Ang Mo Kio to Raffles Place to Jurong East, running last-minute errands. The main goal for dinner was to sample the colourful soup dumplings. There was a plaque instructing us how to eat the dumplings, but some of the different flavours were very subtle. Personally, I still preferred the original flavour. Although I was stuffed from dinner, we ate the original Lady M mille crepe cake for dessert. That was the moment I fell in love with Lady M crepe cakes. They were light, fluffy, and not too sweet. I bought a coconut one to-go and was dying to try it out even though my stomach felt like it was going to explode from the food.

I still prefer the original to be honest.

So I became obsessed with these.

More food adventures followed on Sunday December 3. I treated my entire family to Japanese food at Ichiban Boshi at Causeway Point for lunch. Although everyone else ordered set meals, I ordered a donburi with different types of sashimi because I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish the set meals. The rice was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. It was one of the first family lunches we had at a restaurant and it felt very homey and wonderful. Afterwards, my aunt, uncle, cousin and I went to watch Murder on the Orient Express as requested by my cousin. The movie was interesting, although I felt that the storytelling could’ve been improved. One of the fine examples of why the book is better than the movie.

The rice was the best I’ve ever had!

I couldn’t believe this was my last week in Singapore! WOW. I thought 7 months was a long time - and at times it did feel long - but looking back, time flew by. Only a few more days left then I’m off to Xi’an!

C.G.

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November 6-19 2017 [Weeks 26+27]

The internal struggle is real right now. On one hand, I can’t wait to end this placement because of a particular reason. On another hand, I want to stay longer in Singapore to fully enjoy the food and places. On Wednesday November 8, I went to the China visa application centre to submit my application. Since I booked an appointment ahead of time, the waiting and processing steps went smoothly. 

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Sunday November 12 was the much anticipated gathering at my condo! My grandma and I had already bought all the groceries on Saturday November 11, so we woke up early on Sunday to prepare. Altogether, there were 6 dishes. The cold dishes were tofu skin with seaweed and cucumber. My grandma fried chicken wings and fish filets. The main course was steamed handmade noodles with various vegetables, which we made together with my grandpa. It was the most tedious and complicated dish, but in my opinion, was the most delicious. My grandma also decided to stir fry bok choy. 

So much delicious food. Also my first time eating the steamed handmade noodles which were 1000000/10.

We ate at the barbecue pit downstairs with my cousin acting as the MC of the afternoon. I think everyone enjoyed the meal and company. We chatted and played murder after the meal before everybody left around 5pm. It was a wonderful reunion with old and new friends, albeit a farewell reunion. 

Recently I’ve developed an obsession for açai bowls and made it a mission to try all the popular cafes that sell açai. So far, I’ve tried 2 different cafes, Project Açai and Parallel. Project Açai’s original bowl was my favourite and looking back, I regret ordering the small size. After these months of eating heavy food, I’ve also decided to eat lighter and plant-based meals due to my constant bloated feeling. Eating a primarily plant-based diet has noticeably reduced my stomach bloating which makes my whole body and mind feel much better and at ease. My next step would be to completely eliminate animal-based food, including dairy and eggs, so we’ll have to see how that goes.

The goji berries were a nice touch to the bowl.

After work on Friday November 17, my friends and I went to Labrador Park for the Let’s Go Jalan Jalan festival. There were diverse food vendors, live music, displays, and games, but of course we mainly focused on the food. I bought a sticky rice dumpling, tacoyaki, and lychee and oreo hand-rolled ice-cream. My friends bought rojak, curry mayo fries, and other small bites of which I lost track. My favourite was the lychee and oreo hand-rolled ice-cream for the experience and taste. It was like those Instagram videos except I got to watch the vendor make the rolled ice-cream live. Everybody, including the vendor, agreed that the lychee and oreo made a great combo.

Labrador Park.

Salted egg rice dumpling. Was delicious and affordable.

Original tacoyaki because mushrooms are not welcomed.

Best part: lychee and oreo hand-rolled ice-cream. You’ll have to take my word for it because even the vendor thought it was delicious.

Since I’m leaving Singapore in about 2 weeks, I need to catch up with my procurements and gifts, but I felt lazy on Saturday November 18 so I didn’t go anywhere. Nevertheless, the day was not wasted because I practiced making food with my grandpa. For lunch, I practiced making the handmade la mian and for dinner, I practiced making vegetarian dumplings. I’m excited to go back and try my hand at making these things for my family and friends.

Compliments of the chef (MOI and grandma).

Compliments of the chef (GRANDMA alone).

On Sunday November 19, I embarked on the great adventure of finding farewell gifts for people here and souvenir gifts for people in Vancouver. First stop was Tekka Centre at Little India, where I encircled the 2nd floor about a dozen times in the blazing humid afternoon to find Kenneth’s shirt. Checked that one off the list. Next stop was 313 @ Somerset, where I rewarded myself with an açai bowl from Haakon. Delicious. Check. I walked around Somerset and bought some items at Muji (of course). Some gift ideas registered in my mind, but I will be buying them the following week. Third stop was Ion Orchard, but I didn’t manage to buy anything except for the oatmeal and raisin cookie at Ben’s Cookies. It was nostalgic since it reminded me of the cookies at Uppercase at UBC but richer in flavour. Although I didn’t buy anything at Ion Orchard, I was able to get a better sense of what and where to buy gifts, so I will most likely be returning the following weekends to complete my shopping.

The consistency of the açai was like that of ice-cream, but I loved it anyway.

Two and a half more weeks left in Singapore!

C.G.

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October 23 - November 5 2017 [Weeks 24+25]

There is finally something exciting I can write about! On Friday October 27, my friends and I boarded the plane after work for a weekend trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam! The plane departed nearly an hour late, so by the time we arrived at the airport in Vietnam, it was nearly 10pm. We had to wait for our visa on arrival which took another hour. Afterwards, we had to get SIM cards for our phones because Starhub roaming did not work in Vietnam. When we finally exited the arrival halls, we waited near the pick-up area for our car. It felt nostalgic to me since the atmosphere reminded me of when Kenneth and I arrived in Phuket.

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Despite the delays, our trip was off to a great start since our driver played Christmas music on the way to the apartment, which was located in District 4, slightly further than District 1. District 1 is considered the central area of Ho Chi Minh City. After a long workday and journey, we went to rest.

I woke up to a beautiful view of District 1 outside my window on Saturday October 28. After getting ready, we waited near the entrance of the apartment for our driver to pick us up for our day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The drive to the tunnels took nearly 2 hours, including the 2 stops we made along the way to pick up additional passengers. Before reaching the tunnels, we stopped at a factory where handicapped people were making beautiful artwork.

The view of District 1 from my window.

Upon arrival at the Cu Chi Tunnels, our tour guide led us around every pit stop to explain the historical significance of each area. It was an eye-opening and informative experience learning about the lives of the Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War. I climbed on top of an American tank, ate Cassava, the main meal of the Viet Cong soldiers, and even checked off an item on my bucket list - crawl through the underground tunnels. The crawl was the most tiring and painful part of the tour. The tunnels were extremely narrow, stuffy, and dark, so I had to adopt a half-squat half-standing stance the entire way. Near the end, I legitimately got on all fours to go through one narrow part which I didn’t think I could fit. The tour guide explained that they actually revamped the tunnels to make them slightly higher than the actual ones used in the war to cater to tourists. After this experience, I gained massive respect for the Viet Cong soldiers.

The bucket list experience.

Cassava with brown sugar and peanuts to make it bearable for tourists according to the guide. The Viet Cong soldiers ate cassava plain almost every meal.

When we returned back to Ho Chi Minh City, it was nearly 2pm. Since we haven’t eaten our lunch yet, we went to Hum, a vegetarian restaurant. It was absolutely delicious. We ordered about 1 million Viet dong worth of vegetarian food and managed to finish them all. The experience even convinced my friends to eat more vegetarian food! After the late lunch, we visited the War Remnants Museum, one of the iconic attractions in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Who says vegetarian food isn’t delicious?

The museum depicted many aspects of the Vietnam War, but in my impression, focused a lot about the effects of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese people. There were lots of graphic photos showing the physical consequences of Agent Orange. The museum also provided me a great refresher on the events of the Vietnam War which reminded me of IB history. It was a worthwhile experience, although there are very graphic images which may not be suitable for all audiences.

An iconic photo of the Vietnam War.

A stroll around the city preceded the museum visit, where we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Independence Palace. Since we had a filling and late lunch, we stopped at Ben Thanh Market to eat some street food for dinner and enjoy the live band. We walked down a beautiful square to end off the night.

The daytime view of the square. It was too dark at night to take a solid picture.

I woke up feeling well-rested but sore on Sunday October 29, which was our last day in Ho Chi Minh. We went to the Saigon Skydeck first thing in the morning right when it opened. There was a vertical marathon of running up the Skydeck happening so the area was bustling with people and music. The view of Ho Chi Minh city from up there was so beautiful. I love these sky towers because they offer a comprehensive bird’s-eye view of the whole city. Before stopping by the apartment to collect our bags, we rested at a local cafe and took artsy pictures.

Beautiful Ho Chi Minh City from the Saigon Skydeck.

We ate lunch at a normal hour this time at a local restaurant called Chi Hoa. The concept of the restaurant was pretty cool since it consisted of 4 levels of small dining areas in each level. The servers must get a lot of exercise walking up and down the place! Lunch was delicious although I had a big breakfast so I didn’t feel too hungry. By the time we finished, it was almost time to go to the airport so we booked a car to take us there. The return flight was on time, but I felt so tired that I slept the entire way until the last moment when we land in Singapore. The weekend trip to Ho Chi Minh was enjoyable and informative. I’m thankful we made it back without getting food poisoning or robbed.

My favourite dish.

The following weekend, I resumed back to the stay-at-home potato mode. My grandma and I went to TCM in the morning of Saturday November 4 which was a fruitful quality time together. She is finally recovered from ailments thus is able to go out for a longer period of time. For lunch, we made vegetarian dumplings. The filling consisted of chives, eggs, and soft tofu. Honestly, I love vegetarian dumplings so much now, even more than meat dumplings. I will be making more of those once I’m back in Vancouver. I fell asleep in the afternoon for a short while, then decided that I shouldn’t be lazy so I got up to swim a couple of laps.

I can’t believe it’s November already! One more month left of internship, and one and a half more months until I’m back in Vancouver! Although I have enjoyed my time in Singapore tremendously, I am definitely ready to go back home.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

October 9-22 2017 [Weeks 22+23]

I would update on what’s up during the week, but honestly, it’s just work, chores, and sleep. Since my grandma isn’t here, I’ve contributing to the chores work load so my grandpa isn’t overwhelmed. He has also been anticipating my grandma’s return so she can finally alleviate him from work, as he put it himself.

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On Saturday October 14, everybody went out most of the day, but I had to stay home to continue the job search for January. It was a relaxing and peaceful day, although I felt lazy and sluggish from being on the computer all day. On Sunday October 15, I went to the National Museum of Singapore in the morning to explore. To my surprise, it turned out to be a free admission day! What amazing news. The museum was beautifully decorated on the inside and outside. Most of the exhibits displayed the history of Singapore, so I was able to gather a wealth of knowledge. There was also a hipster flea market with booths of handmade items and food.

Exterior of the National Museum of Singapore

Interior aesthetics

Decorations

For lunch, I met up with Erica to go to Newton Food Centre. This turned out to be a big flop since there were only about a handful of stores open. I settled for duck noodles while she had duck rice. My noodles were decent, but there were no vegetables in the meal. Carb fest extraordinaire. I allowed myself a cheat day, so shared a Bobo ChaCha with her for dessert. After lunch we went to Orchard to walk around and shop. At Plaza Singapura, I finally tried the coconut frozen yogurt and it was amazing. The best part was: 99% dairy free! I was ecstatic. Wednesday October 18 was a public holiday, Deepavali, and the last one of my internship. I wanted to go to Little India to check out the celebrations but I felt lazy and tired. In my defense, I received an interview from one of the companies I applied to for an interview on the next day, so I wanted to be well-prepared since this was one of my top choices. After my interview on Thursday October 19 (technically 1:00am on Friday October 20), my grandma came back from China! Her flight arrived around 11:00pm so it was past midnight by the time she arrived home. Although I missed her terribly, I will also be missing having a big bed for myself to sleep in. Nevertheless, the missed Little India trip did not go to waste because I received news of a job offer from the company - literally 10 hours after the interview!

Over the weekend of October 21 and 22, I stayed at home to catch up on some paperwork, rest, and exercised. I perfected my handmade noodle and dumpling making skills with my grandma, since I won’t be able to eat her cooking much longer. Only 32 more days left of co-op and 46 more days left in Singapore - which is a good and bad thing at the same time. Next week I’m off to some adventures, stay tuned!

Vegetarian dumplings :)

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

September 25-October 8 2017 [Weeks 20+21]

I realized this update has become a bi-weekly thing. The reason is two-fold. One, because the bulk of my time is spend at work or doing my job search. Two, because of the first reason, I don't have much time to do exciting stuff or write about them.

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My grandma left to go back to China on Wednesday September 27 to do a comprehensive health check-up and treatment since she has been having a plethora of health problems in the recent months. At first, we were stressing over the food crisis since my grandma was in charge of cooking. We debated between ordering daily delivery, doing take out, or having my grandpa cook. We didn't want him to cook since he can be forgetful at times, thus we were afraid he may forget to turn off the stove and burn the place down. Eventually, we decided to let him cook anyway since he persisted. He turned out to be a great chef as he followed recipes to make dishes. His dishes were not only flavourful, but colourfully decorated as well.

Caption says it all.

Wednesday October 4 was mid-autumn festival, which I was really excited about since I haven't gotten the chance to properly celebrate it in years. My uncle received so many boxes of mooncakes from vendors this year, so we have been devouring them the days leading up to the actual festival. My grandpa cooked a delicious and aesthetically pleasing dinner which we all ate together. My aunt bought some paper lanterns and candles, so we lit up the lanterns and walked around the block. There were many other children strolling around as well. After the stroll, we ate more mooncakes and fruits. My favourite was the double yolk mooncake from the Fullerton Hotel. It was the right amount of sweet and salty.

Our beautiful lanterns.

The weekend of October 7 and 8 was when I finally had some fun ever since Kenneth left. On Saturday, I went to TedxNTU, an independently organized Ted event at NTU. It was a full day event with six speakers and free lunch. I found some of the speakers insightful and some of them skeptical. The free lunch wasn't as great as I expected, but I suppose it was due to the large number of participants. After the event, I went to JEM to shop for some items I wanted. It was great, except I wasn't able to find most of the things I actually wanted and instead bought stuff I didn't intend to buy. Oops. 

Very aesthetic. Much wow.

Sunday night was a spooky time. I went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore with the previous interns from my workplace. We met at Vivocity beforehand for dinner at Food Republic. I ordered knife shaven noodles with chicken, which was also part of the last meal Kenneth and I ate together here.The portion was giant so I couldn't finish it. It's times like these where I wish he was here with me. After dinner, we took the Sentosa train to Universal Studios, and waited at the door for the event to start at 7:30pm. There was a mini concert beforehand which lit the place up. It gave me some rave vibes. We got express passes thanks to connections. There were 5 haunted houses and 2 scare zones, so we made a beeline for the haunted houses first. The express passes were amazing! We didn't have to wait for any of the haunted houses! The effects and decoration were impressive, although I didn't find any of them particularly scary because there were too many people inside. It was literally a train of people walking through, thus I was able to see the people in front get scared, so I already knew what to expect. Nevertheless, it was still a fun experience. My favourite was the haunted house which depicted inside a psychotic mind. It wasn't scary but I felt completely immersed in the experience. 

Is that a truck of potatoes? I have no idea either.

Due to the amazing express passes, we finished all 5 haunted houses and 2 scare zones in an hour! We went on some rides after that, which were quite empty as well since I expect most people were there for the haunted houses. We also watched a show called Laboratorium, which were delightful. I left around 10:30pm since I managed to get hitched home.

Voila my updates for the past 2 weeks. There aren't going to be many things happening for the next 2 weeks or so, but stay tuned for the end of October!

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

September 11-24 2017 [Weeks 18+19]

These past 2 weeks have been uneventful since I started searching for my next co-op position. I can’t believe it’s almost time to be going back! Just yesterday, I booked my flight back to Vancouver. On one hand, I am so excited to be back to my family and Kenneth again. On the other hand, I am sad to leave my grandparents and family in Singapore and will definitely miss the lifestyle here (minus the work culture).

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Updates on my life: Monday to Friday is work from morning to afternoon, then Saturday and Sunday is job searching and resting at home with my grandparents. On Saturday September 16, my grandma cooked a healthy version of fried noodles with an egg omelette. I added a side of kimchi to increase the spice level of the meal. I think I’ve developed a higher spice tolerance after these few months here since I feel incomplete without a hint of spice in my meals. The next Sunday September 17, my grandparents and I collaborated to make dumplings. It was just like old times. My grandma made the dough, my grandpa rolled the skin, and this time, I made the dumplings. It was a precious morning well-spent.

Noodles + Kimchi

My favourite food in the entire world ♡

On Saturday September 24, my grandparents and I made wonton but unfortunately I don’t have a picture of it. My grandma taught me how to make the wonton skin, which is a different from the dumpling skin. The dumpling skin is circular so all you need to do is to roll it out. For the wonton skin, first you have to roll out the dough into a large circular shape, cut it into wide strips, then cut out trapezoid shapes.

This is probably the least interesting update of my experience, but it’s because I haven’t been doing much except for spending time with my grandparents, writing cover letters, preparing for middle of the night interviews, and of course, working. More exciting updates will be coming up in the next month.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

September 4-10 2017 [Week 17]

Time has never been on our side when Kenneth and I are together. I couldn’t believe that this was his last week here. I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, but I had to work for most of the day. On Tuesday September 5, Kenneth had his first Michelin Star restaurant experience as we dined at Crystal Jade Restaurant for dinner. The portions were small but the food was well-made. He was most impressed by the mango shrimp roll, which was also my favourite.

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These porcupine buns are too cute to be eaten, but we ate them anyways.

On Wednesday September 6, we continued our food explorations and dined at Din Tai Fung for dinner. Previously, we ate at Din Tai Fung in Seattle before I left Vancouver, but the atmosphere was completely different in Singapore. We ordered the famous pork steamed buns, crab meat steamed buns, and chocolate and red bean steamed buns plus some vegetables and fried rice. The chocolate and red bean steamed buns were a new addition to their menu and my favourite dish, aside from the pork steamed buns. We did last minute shopping at JEM and bought matching t-shirts and sweaters. It was hard to believe that Kenneth was leaving in 2 days.

The small crab is so cute. Kenneth said it’s not edible though.

These were my favourite.

Thursday September 7 was Kenneth’s last full day in Singapore. We wanted to spend as much time together as possible, so we bought a wide variety of food from Causeway Point and ate at his Airbnb. We packed up everything and spent quality time together.

Friday September 8 felt like deja vu to me. I woke up before 5am again, got ready in the dark to not wake anyone up, then made my way to Kenneth’s Airbnb. We hitched to the airport and arrived at 6:30am. After checking in, we ate our last meal together in Singapore, which was kaya toast for breakfast. We spent our last moments together near the departure check-in gates before it was his boarding time. We had our last hugs and kisses right outside the departure hall, then I watched as he handed his passport and boarding pass to the agents, walked through the gates, and disappeared into the crowd. First it was goodbyes at the ferry terminal and now, at the airport. Truly the long-distance relationship experience, although it is something I’d rather not have. To make things worse, it was our monthsary.

See you in 3ish months! :’(

Our time together has always been limited. 2 years of medium-distance relationship followed by 1 year of being together, and now, another 8 months of long-distance relationship. But this time, it would be different. These two weeks together allowed us to renew our love and approach our relationship in a new light. Everything is going to work out in the end; we just have to get through the rest of the year. For now, it is time to get back to my daily life in Singapore.

On Saturday September 9, I visited the dentist in the morning due to my toothaches. He diagnosed it as tooth decay and gum sensitivity and charged me $285 for the process. Goodbye money. In the afternoon, I went to watch my cousin’s tennis lessons. He was so much more advanced now as evident by his professional plays. I was impressed.

Apologies for the late updates as I have been focused on spending time with Kenneth for the past 2 weeks. It was a much-needed time together full of precious memories. I am definitely looking forward to my return to Vancouver in December.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

August 28 - September 3 2017 [Week 16]

During the week, Kenneth and I weren’t able to spend a lot of time together since I had to work for most of the day. In the evening, we went to places such as Orchard Road and Causeway Point. It has been an exhausting week for me since I reached home around 9-10pm everyday and had to wake up at 6am for work.

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Thursday August 31 was another highly anticipated day. It was the day of our trip to Khao Lak, a small town in the province of Phang Nga in Thailand. We flew to Thailand after my work and arrived around 8pm at Phuket International Airport. It was another hour and a half drive to our resort. During the drive, we were both sleepy so we weren’t able to admire the Thai street scenery. Anyhow, it was too dark at night to see anything. There were barely any street lights in Khao Lak in the narrow and winding roads. Props to our driver for making it to our resort safe and sound.

I was awestruck by the amicable hospitality of Thai people. Everyone was extremely friendly and polite. After settling in, we made it to the Vongole Restaurant in our resort right before closing. I ordered fried rice and Kenneth ordered curry rice since we were hungry from the journey. For dessert, we had mango sticky rice, which became our staple dessert during this trip.

Our first Thai meal!

This is what I came here for.

The next morning on Friday September 1, we woke up and ate buffet breakfast from the resort. It was like no other buffet breakfast I experienced. There were main dishes such as rice, noodles, and vegetables, an assortment of cereal, drinks, and bread, a salad bar, and an egg station. It was unbelievable. I wanted to eat everything. After breakfast, we walked to Khuk Khak beach which was right beside our resort. It felt like our private beach since there was virtually nobody else there. The scenery was too beautiful for words. We also spent some time in the large saltwater pool that spans the entire resort. I got sunburnt but I didn’t complain because I had the best time in the world spending time with my babe.

Can I just live here forever? I could get used to this breakfast.

Our secret little private beach.

At noon, we rented bikes and cycled a kilometre outside our resort. We decided to have lunch at Lay’s Restaurant since it was highly recommended. It was the best decision of our lives. I ordered coconut juice, thus one of the servers literally took a fresh coconut and sliced it open. The coconut was 3 times larger than the ones I was used to seeing back in Vancouver and tasted a million times better. Kenneth ordered mango juice which was extremely fresh and delicious. We ordered pineapple fried rice and morning glory for the main courses and mango sticky rice for dessert. The food was heavenly. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my entire life. So glad to have spent these moments with my favourite person.

Aesthetics.

In the afternoon, we stopped at nearby massage place for a traditional Thai massage. It was an hour massage which costed an equivalent of $10! Although the massage place was outside, there was a gently breeze that kept us cool. The massage itself was relaxing although I felt sore in some places afterwards. At night, we took a taxi to Khao Lak center. There was only one main road which ran across the entire town. Many shops lined both sides of the road. Most of the shops were restaurants, massage parlours, and gift shops. We stopped for dinner at Spinach Restaurant and ordered curry and mixed vegetables. The food was also delicious, but I found the food at Lay Restaurant to be better. We didn’t want to eat mango sticky rice twice in a row, so we ordered pineapple pancakes for dessert. Also very delicious. 

Spot the pineapples.

We woke up early on the morning of Saturday September 2 to have breakfast since we booked an elephant trekking tour at 9am. The tour guide was slightly tardy in picking us up, but it was not a big deal. He was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. We were able to converse easily with him since he was quite fluent in English. We visited Tongdee the elephant for an hour. It was a bumpy ride through the rubber plantations, but it was a unique experience. We passed by the villages where the locals lived, which was exactly like the countryside. We visited Sai Rong waterfall afterwards, and the tour guide explained to us the merchant activities of harvesting rubber. The harvesters needed to wake up at 3am every morning to tap the rubber tree. They hung a bowl to collect the latex, then brought it to the markets to sell. They worked for 13 hours per day during the rubber harvesting season, but it gave them a generous source of income. In contrast, harvesting fruits required less work each day and they could harvest all year round, but generated lower income.

Tongdee.

Spot the babe.

The guide then brought us to a local restaurant called Takuapa. It was so local that the servers did not speak English. The guide explained that the restaurants in town are catered to travellers, which is why their food is less spicy. Kenneth ordered spicy curry while I opted for non-spicy food. I tasted a bit of his curry and nearly died. On the other hand, the guide ate a whole plate of the spicy curry. He explained that the locals eat this for breakfast as well. I was amazed at the spice tolerance of Thai people. He also bought us some fried bananas and yams as dessert at the wet market. Kenneth saw a fruit stall that sold santol and was so excited to try one as it was his favourite fruit in the Philippines. I tried it for the first time and it tasted like sour candy. We returned to the resort afterwards and thanked the guide. It was an amazing morning and we would definitely book a tour with this guide again.

The non-spicy Thai food.

After resting and freshening up, we wanted to get massages again. We called Silk Spa, who sent a car to our resort to pick us up. We chose the coconut oil massage this time which was much easier on the joints. We also enjoyed the coconut smell that lingered afterwards. We requested the driver to bring us to Bangniang market afterwards, where we walked around to marvel at the local clothing and food. We bought mango sticky rice, kueh, and Thai roti from the market which were cheap and delicious. Since we were both tired from the whole day’s activity, we ordered dinner take out from Hill Tribe Restaurant to eat in our resort. We ordered pad thai, curry, and banana shake. We had a night-in for our last night in Khao Lak, which was peaceful and relaxing. We will miss Khao Lak dearly.

Night in with my favourite babe.

The next morning on Sunday September 3, we left our resort at 6am to make it in time for our 9am flight. The driver drove like a madman to the airport, but I was too sleepy to bother. We got to the airport in an hour as opposed to the normal hour and a half. After arrival in Singapore, we ate at Penang Culture at Changi airport for lunch, since we did not eat much breakfast in Thailand. In the evening, I helped Kenneth settle in to his airbnb, then journeyed home.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

August 21-27 2017 [Week 15]

The most anticipated week was finally here! On Tuesday August 22, the interns and I went to Supreme Cuisine, the restaurant upstairs of Mealbox. I ordered beef with rice, which consisted of beef, eggs, and 2 pieces of kailan stalks in a soupy rice. It tasted alright but was too salty for my liking. Since it was my cousin’s birthday on August 23, I needed to go to Books Kinokuniya to buy him a present. I met up with my friend at Takashimaya to have dinner. We ate at a Japanese restaurant and I ordered an asparagus roll meal. Afterwards, I bought 2 Pokemon books for my cousin as requested.

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Supreme Cuisine

Catching up with old friends.

On Wednesday August 23, lunch was at Holland Village and I ordered dry dumpling noodles. It was cheaper and also tasted better than the one from Mealbox. Since it was my cousin’s birthday, we cooked up a scrumptious dinner. My grandma made fried fish, my grandma made a cold vermicelli appetizer, my aunt bought ribs, and my uncle cooked ma la. The ma la was so spicy but enticing at the same time. My uncle also bought mango passionfruit cake which was so delicious. I wanted to eat the whole cake but I was too full from dinner.

One of my fav noodles

Feasting for my cousin’s 10th birthday.

I could literally stuff my face with this cake.

Friday August 25 was the most anticipated day ever since I came to Singapore. I woke up before 5am and got ready in the dark since I didn’t want to wake everyone else up. I left the house by 5:45am and quickly made my way to Woodlands MRT where grab hitch was waiting for me. I arrived at Changi airport slightly past 6:30am and waited at door 37. At 6:50am, I saw my favourite person in the world wheeling his luggage towards the door. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Kenneth and I were finally reunited after more than 3 months of separation!

We ate breakfast at a breakfast cafe near the arrival doors. I ordered chee cheong fun, kaya toast, and ice milo - very Singaporean indeed. We caught up over missed moments. It felt so right to be together again. After breakfast, we went to our Airbnb at Pasir Ris to drop off Kenneth’s luggage. I asked him to stay and rest but he insisted on coming to work with me. I proceeded with my day while he went on a wild goose chase to JEM to activate his SIM card, which did not work since his phone was locked. We took the MRT to Bugis after work to stroll around Bugis Junction. His main goal was to find a poncho, but we were out of luck. We decided to have dinner at White Sands since it was close to our Airbnb. I ordered fried kway teow for him, which become his favourite Singaporean dish, and chicken rice for myself. For dessert, we had ice kacang, and he was surprised at how cheap it was for the large portion size. Our first day together was perfect. Merely being in the presence of each other instilled a warm and loving feeling inside me.

Chicken rice for me.

Fried kway teow for babe.

The next morning on Saturday August 26, we made our way to Clarke Quay since we booked a staycation at a hotel there. After dropping off our luggage, we walked around Clarke Quay to take some scenic photos, then went to Little India since it was only a few MRT stops away. Kenneth enjoyed the clothing from Little India, especially the ones from the markets and Mustafa Center. I had no idea that was his renewed fashion style! He bought a few pieces of clothing although we didn’t find any ponchos. Lunch was at Chinatown, where we ate fried kway teow again as per his request and soy bean noodles. He was overwhelmed by the amount and variety of food in Singapore, to which I agree. At times, I am still overwhelmed even though I’ve been here for nearly 4 months already.

More fried kway teow for babe.

Reminds me of the one my mom cooks, except 10x more flavourful.

We were exhausted after a whole day of walking in the blazing heat, thus rested in our room before dinner. Since we were too lazy to find a dinner place, we walked over to Clarke Quay Central to eat Japanese food. We bought a Shiritama Parfait for dessert from Tsujiri, a matcha dessert shop. It consisted of matcha soft-serve ice-cream, glutinous rice balls, and red bean. For me, the red bean complimented the matcha soft-serve perfectly. We were both satisfied with the taste.

One of my fav desserts.

After breakfast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast on Sunday August 26, we went to Vivocity for a whole day of shopping. It was exhausting going through the entire mall, but Kenneth was able to buy many things for himself and presents for his friends, so it was a productive day. I definitely missed being together.

The indescribable feeling of reunion after a prolonged separation.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

August 14-20 2017 [Week 14]

Work was emotionally stressful this week but I tried to manage myself as best as I can. On Wednesday August 16, we went to Ghim Moh for lunch and I ordered wanton noodles for lunch. The noodles resembled instant ramen noodles but tasted much better. The dish came with char siew pork, kailan, and wonton soup. As for dessert, since I had a visit from mother nature, I ordered bobo hitam, which was a hot dessert. Bobo hitam is black glutinous rice with coconut milk drizzled on top. It tasted great since it wasn’t too sweet. I have been trying to eat less sweet food since developing rolls of stomach fat.

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Wanton noodles that look like instant noodles.

Bobo hitam.

Thursday was lunch at Holland Village. I ordered mee pok which was thick ramen-like noodles in tomato sauce and a soup with fishballs and fish tofu. This was one of my favourite noodles so far, aside from the thick homemade noodles my grandma taught me. Holland Village does not have a dessert stall, but it has a few bakery stalls. I bought Ang Gu kueh for dessert, which is a round and red kueh with peanut butter filling inside. It was so delicious! It quickly became one of my favourites, next to kueh dadar. So much for not eating sweets.

Lined up a long time for this but it was all worth it.

Friday was the best day at work this week! The one-north festival was in full swing since 11am, which consisted of research booths, workshops, lab tours, and talks. I attended one talk which explored the psychological and social factors of how our minds control our food intake. It was very interesting since I learned about the psychology of eating in psychology last semester. It also renewed my interest in psychology since I haven’t been in contact with that subject for long. In the afternoon, GIS had a national day celebration with a buffet meal. The food was alright but I was still full from my fried rice lunch from the cafeteria at the Ministry of Education building. In the evening, I went swimming before dinner since I felt too stuffed to eat, but exercising did not make me hungry.

Time to educate myself with some scientific talks.

Ate this before the National Day celebration which was not a good idea.

A 2-week late National Day celebration.

I met up with friends on Saturday afternoon at Lau Pa Sat for dinner since I heard great reviews about this place. The hawker centre was devoid of people when we arrived at 6pm. After strolling around, we decided to try new dishes we’ve never had before. I ordered chalupas, which is a costa rican dish. It was a pita bowl of chicken and salad with ketchup and mustard. It came along with a small portion of rice and mashed potatoes. The pita bowl was my favourite part, but the chicken was also well made. Additionally, we ordered white carrot cake, thunder tea, and minced meat omelette. The thunder tea tasted like herbal medicine, but was apparently healthy. I quite liked it. For dessert, we had mixed fruit sago, which was decent. I still preferred bubur cha cha. 

I prefer white carrot cake over black carrot cake.

Some Costa Rican food.

A bit lacking in taste.

We walked off dinner by strolling to Marina square mall, but ended up getting egg custard buns and drinks. It is literally impossible to stop eating in Singapore. Our final destination was the rooftop of Esplanade mall, a romantic place with beautiful scenery of Marina Bay and live music from the bar. It was a memorable moment.

Panoramic view of Marina Bay.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

August 7-13 2017 [Week 13]

Nowadays at work I have been transitioning towards administrative tasks, but I still operated the NextSeq and MiSeq sequencers. On Monday August 7, we went to the cafeteria in the Ministry of Education building nearby. I ordered a ‘healthy’ meal, which was a brown rice bowl with corn, spinach, purple cabbage, and tender chicken strips. Worst mistake of my life. The service was impeccably slow. They also messed up my order and placed a fat raw egg on top of the vegetables when I clearly asked for no egg. On top of that, the meal was expensive compared to Singaporean standards and not delicious at all. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone, that’s for sure. 

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Worst meal I’ve had in Singapore so far. Don’t let the looks of this deceive you.

August 9 was National Day, which means we get a day off! Happy 52nd birthday to Singapore! It was so weird to think that I was here last year during National Day too. This year, I stayed home and rested because I didn’t feel like participating in the festivities since I heard it was ‘people mountain people sea’ in the parade. Everybody else went out for festivities or to run errands, so I stayed home alone in the peace and quiet. In the afternoon, I swam a few laps.

On Thursday August 10, we went to Holland Village hawker centre for the first time. The shuttle bus at work goes to Holland Village on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Ghim Moh for the rest of the weekdays. I ordered chicken hor fun, which was shredded chicken and kai lan in glass rice noodles. It was a light meal. but the noodle type was not my favourite. For dessert, I ordered rojak, which consisted of pineapples, cucumber, dried tofu, chinese donut, and pear in a tangy dressing with peanut bits on top. It sounds like an eclectic dessert but it’s one of my favourites.

Delicious but not my favourite.

One of my favourite desserts!

Friday August 11 was a great day because I discovered a new dessert stall at Ghim Moh! They sell all types of Singaporean desserts. For my main course I ordered fishball and wonton noodles in tomato sauce, then quickly moved on to dessert. After my disappointment in the bubur chacha I had at the Marina Bay mall, I decided to try the one here. It turned out to be the most delicious bubur chacha I’ve ever had! The coconut soup had a creamy consistency with lots of sweet potato, yam, and jellies. There wasn’t an overwhelming amount of shaved ice so I was able to enjoy the yams. I decided to try a new dessert each time I come here since I believe the hawker centres have better culinary skills than food courts.

These noodles are hard and chewy, which I like. I didn’t take a picture of the dessert :(

Dinner was at Mellben Seafood, apparently one of the most famous chili crab restaurants in Singapore. The restaurant is located below HDB buildings which resemble a coffee shop, but the setting was in the style of a restaurant. We ordered claypot bee hoon crab and black pepper crab along with a plethora of other seafood and vegetables. Although I’m not a seafood fanatic, the crab was top-notch. I enjoyed the soup of the claypot bee hoon crab but did not eat any of the crab meat since I ate a leg of the black pepper crab and died of spiciness. The damage done was upwards in the hundreds.

Claypot bee hoon crab which came with noodles and refreshing soup.

Very spicy black pepper crab.

The crabs along with other vegetables. The cereal prawns to the left was my favourite dish of the meal not for the prawns but for the cereal :)

The foodventures continued on Saturday August 12. We visited Old Airport Food Centre for lunch. Each person ordered a dish for us to share. I bought fried kway teow and mango sticky rice. Mango sticky rice was amazing! The dish was basically glutinous rice with mango slices on top and drizzled with coconut milk. I was in heaven and wanted to eat all of it, but there were so many other delicious dishes. I definitely need to come back. After eating, I met up with my friend to shop around Orchard Road. However, our main goal was to go to Matcha House for dessert. Since I was stuffed to the brim from lunch, we walked around the malls to make ourselves hungry. Close to dinnertime, we went to Matcha House and ordered the Twin Dango Set, which was rice dumplings on a stick with matcha and peanut powder with fruits and vanilla ice-cream, and the matcha tiramisu cake. The rice dumplings were mediocre since they were plain even with the toppings. On the other hand, the tiramisu was delicious and creamy. Since we stuffed ourselves with dessert, we went to Plaza Singapura to walk it off then ordered some dim sum for dinner. It was a tiring day full of eating. I could feel myself putting on pounds by the minute. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every moment of it. 

Twin Dango Set. Mediocre.

Tiramisu. Delicious.

You probably thought that my foodventures would be over, but surprise! Lunch on Sunday August 13 was at Crystal Jade restaurant at Causeway Point. Since my relatives were leaving soon, they treated us to a sumptuous meal. I had no idea Crystal Jade was a michelin star restaurant until I searched it up, making it my first michelin star restaurant experience. We ordered dim sum, vegetables, and meat dishes. The service was incredibly slow. We received one dish every 10 or so minutes, which was quickly consumed since the portions were small. Even though the dishes tasted delicious, the service was a complete let-down. I may return in the future but probably only for dim sum since that was their best feature.

Not the best michelin star experience due to the slow service.

I probably put on 3 trillion pounds this weekend since I ate too much savoury and oily food but it was all for the Singaporean foodie experience.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

July 31 - August 6 2017 [Week 12]

On Monday July 31, I went to Ghim Moh for lunch as I was craving Hawker Center quality food. I learned something new - many food stalls in Ghim Moh are closed on Mondays! After much thought, that wasn't surprising since they should be opened on weekends to get the most business. I was hoping to try hor fun but the stall was closed. Instead, I ordered dry ban mian which was much tastier than the one at Mealbox. Even though the portion was smaller, it was perfect for my appetite. After lunch I was craving dessert, namely bur bur cha cha, but to my dismay the dessert store shut down! I settled for some fruit cakes at a local bakery which were cheap and delicious.

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$3.50 well spent.

At work I mainly did HiSeq washes and MiSeq and NextSeq runs since the other intern does the cBOT clustering and HiSeq runs. I swam 500m each day on Tuesday August 1 and Wednesday August 2 to exercise after work, and by Thursday August 3 I was exhausted. Guess I'm still out of shape. For lunch on Thursday I went to the nearby Korean restaurant called Big Mama. I ordered chicken Dolsot Bibimbap which was served in a hot stone plate. The meal also came with 6 complimentary appetizers which saved my life since the bibimbap was too spicy for me.

All the free appetizers.

I didn’t eat the egg.

Friday August 4 was an amazing day because there was free buffet lunch at the adjacent building! There were fried vermicelli noodles, brown rice, chicken, curry vegetables and best of all, 6 different kinds of kueh! Naturally I tried all of them. They were all delicious beyond compare. I had one of the most satisfying lunches which put me in a positive mood for the weekend.

The captions speak for themselves.

There were 2 tables of this buffet meal. Here are the leftovers.

On Saturday July 6 I went to Central Perk Cafe, which is a Friends-themed cafe near Clarke Quay. This was my first cafe experience which was amazing. Most of the cafe mimicked the one on the show with a special section that mimicked Monica's kitchen. The iconic couch was present with a projector in front showing non-stop episodes. Whenever the claps came on during the theme song, all the servers clap along. It was the cutest sight ever. The menu was creatively named after episodes and the characters. I ordered Joey's Ride-Along Sandwich, which was a meatball sub with salad and fries, and a homemade strawberry earl grey tea, which was so delicious I had trouble restraining myself from gulping it down all at once. The ketchup for my fries tasted alcoholic with hints of vodka which was an interesting culinary experience. After dining at Central Perk, I felt determined to visit all the themed cafes in Singapore since I didn't think I could have this experience back in Vancouver.

Just having some pretend coffee in Monica’s kitchen.

After taking a zillion photos at Central Perk, I strolled around Clarke Quay to take more scenic photos and ended up in the Marina Bay area for yet again more scenic photos. The last stop was Marina Center, the mall at Marina Bay, for dessert. I was ecstatic to finally eat bur bur cha cha except this time I was disappointed. There were four pieces of yam with one piece of jelly in the whole bowl of thick coconut milk with no ice shavings. It was a pathetic dessert and I will definitely not be returning to this place for bur bur cha cha ever again. The view of Marina Bay from the food court was beautiful. I also felt like I was in the Matrix because there was a robot tray return walking around! The robot says 'thank you' when you place a tray on one of its shelves and 'excuse me' if you step in front of it. I was thoroughly impressed by Singapore's avant-garde technology.

Finally found the more famous Merlion!

An exhausting Saturday meant that Sunday August 6 was a rest day. I wasn't solely a couch potato though. I helped my grandma cook handmade thick noodles to perfect my skills. We also finally went swimming together and I was amazed at her swimming abilities! She was able to swim breaststroke for 20m nonstop. For an 80-year old woman who just started swimming last summer, it was incredible. So you see, rest day doesn't equal to non-productivity.

C.G.

[cgxsg-blog]

July 24-30 2017 [Week 11]

Problems from last week carried over to this week but by Tuesday July 25, there was a mutual understanding reached.

The focus this week at work was administrative duties with a focus on asset tagging. I checked all the lab’s assets to ensure that the maintenance qualifications are recently dated. Even though this doesn’t sound like a lot of work, it took me a good couple of days to update everything. I did some of my sequencing duties, however my supervisor was training the new intern so she can take over the majority of the sequencing portion.

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On Wednesday July 26, the lab interns and I went to Ghim Moh for lunch. I ordered chicken rice since I was craving rice. As I walked around Ghim Moh, I realized that an estimated 80% of the dishes were noodles! I ordered a set which came with the rice, steamed chicken, and a side of kailan vegetables.The rice was flavourful since I believe it was cooked in chicken broth. The steamed chicken was refreshing and lightly flavoured, which was fine for my liking since I didn’t feel like eating roasted chicken. Finally, the kailan was delicious as usual. For dessert I debated between ice kacang or Granny’s Pancakes, but caved in to the pancakes. I bought a coconut one and was extremely satisfied.

Singapore’s iconic meal.

3 of my relatives from China came on Thursday July 27! Their relationship to me is slightly complicated as I haven’t figured out the genealogy. They are my grandma’s brother’s daughter, her husband, and their granddaughter. They brought delicious snacks from Xi’an, my hometown. I haven’t seen them ever since I went back to Xi’an 3 years ago, so it was exciting to reconnect with them. Everything was coming along smoothly, until I discovered that their granddaughter drew on my bunny and bear with pink highlighter. I was devastated to the core! I used bleach and water to clean my bunny but there were still marks left. Such tragedy. There are also currently 9 people living in our household.

Then on Friday July 28, the lab interns and I went to Star Vista for lunch. I ordered pork and egg on rice from a Japanese food stall. It tasted great but the only complaint I had was the lack of vegetables. The dish consisted of pork, eggs, onion, and rice. A side of salad or cooked vegetables would make the meal 10/10.

The lack of vegetables makes me sad.

Exercise update: I went back to the elliptical this week after testing out the treadmill last week. This time, I increased the resistance on the elliptical over the course of my workout which allowed me to rapidly burn calories and work up a sweat. I continued with some light weight-lifting and started using the sit-up bench for my core. My abs were on fire every time.

On Saturday July 29, everybody except for my grandparents went to Sentosa. I took the MRT with my relatives to Vivocity first to meet up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin for lunch. I ordered fried beef kway teow which was tasty but oily. For dessert I bought bubur cha cha and ice kachang for all to share. Bubur cha cha quickly became one of my favourite desserts! It was a mix of yams, sweet potatoes, and jelly in coconut milk. Extremely delicious and satisfying. I couldn’t wait to eat it again sometime. Soon. In fact I started craving it ever since I finished eating it. 

Beef kway teow, another iconic Singaporean meal. Lacking Chinese sausages though.

Bubur Cha cha. Sadly all the yams are hidden :(

Ice Kachang because I love dessert more than main courses.

After lunch we took the Sentosa express to Siloso Beach station and explored the beach for a few hours. While my cousin and relatives went on the luge and Merlion, I walked around with my aunt mainly searching for a washroom or water. Fun stuff. We returned to Vivocity for dinner at a restaurant called Dian Xiao Er, famous for their roasted duck. I’ll have to admit, although I’m not a fan of duck, their roasted duck was the best one I’ve ever had. Singapore food hardly disappoints. My aunt and I shopped at Muji after dinner then took the MRT and bus home. I was so exhausted when I returned home that I showered and plopped on bed and dozed off.

Best duck I’ve ever had for someone who doesn’t normally eat it.

I woke up at 9:30am on Sunday July 30 since I was drained from last night. I didn’t do anything for the entire day except to lounge around and eat, except I was still tired. In the afternoon, I finally went swimming after about a month of going to the gym. Surprisingly, I was able to get back on pace. I would like to swim everyday except usually when I get home from work it is already too late. Bye week 11!

C.G.