bars i went to in singapore.

1. long bar, raffles hotel: home of the singapore sling. cheesy band upstairs with people gyrating awkwardly and enthusiastically.

2. exhibition, swisshotel: drinks at an ear-popping height above the city (72 floors!). crazy views.

3. la cave, somewhere 2 blocks away from exhibition: outdoor drinks. went with a couple of guys from my program and a friend of theirs who is a steward on quantas. lots of airline personnel around.

4. harry's bar, boat quay: two guys from the jazz music session of the program were playing at the bar. went with some of the guys from my program, and met up with sheau lih, who used to work at the y&r singapore office.

5. brix, grand hyatt: subterranean bar/club at the hotel. the moment some song called "spank me" came on, the entire vibe changed and the hos were out in full force -- they were lingering in the background over lonely glasses of wine, but when the song came on, it was like some unspoken code to seal the deal.

singapore, 01.24.07

wow. wasn't able to fill you in on yesterday. all i can say is duck, duck, duck, more duck, and lobster @ min jiang on robertson. fantastic meal.

had an even more mind-blowing eat fest today. but first, i had two hours free, so i ran off to chinatown and little india. i was surprised at how small the chinatown is, considering how large the chinese population is in singapore. but then again, maybe that's the reason why.

the sri mariamman temple is truly amazing. deities around loom down at you from the rooftop. a little scary.

food street was also truly mindblowing. i had to have something from one of the hawker stalls, so i stopped and had some carrot cake. it's not really made of carrots and it's not really a cake (at least the singaporean version of it isn't). it's more like a scramble of daikon radish with eggs and prawns. awesome. i couldn't finish it because i had to save room for dinner later.

little india was also fascinating -- i loved the stalls where they sold indian desserts and the indian flower garlands.

but on to the good stuff. had dinner this evening at jumbo seafood. the big name in seafood. chowed on chili crabs -- dungeness crab cooked with a chili curry sauce. kick ass. fatty crab has nothing on this place, sorry to say. also had black pepper crabs, some kang kong with a spicy sambal, rice, of course (needed something to through the chili sauce on top of). good eating all around.

pictures posted on booger flickr.

in singapore. . .

just got in after 18 hours -- nyc to london to singapore.

can't wait to see my american airlines miles after this journey.

my flight was delayed by an hour in nyc, so i missed my british airways flight to singapore. i have to say, flying first class does have its privileges. there was someone to meet me in london once the flight landed and she escorted me to my new flight on quantas.

even better, though my luggage didn't make it to singapore with me, the airline gave me $200 singapore dollars to spend on clothing (app. $130 usd). that rocked. so i won't look completely awful tomorrow.

my cousin, monette, met me at my hotel. i haven't seen her in over a decade. i feel horrible -- i dragged her up and down orchard road searching for clothing for tomorrow. in my search for replacement clothing, i did get to explore quite a bit of the area around my hotel. i'm staying at the four seasons (airfare and hotel not on my dime, so i'm not complaining). i had heard that singaporeans are nuts about two things: shopping and food. damn! saw the shopping because my hotel is right next to orchard road, which is a shopping mecca. name the designer and he or she probably has an outpost on orchard road. lots of goodies to be bought.

the cost of clothing is less here than it is at home. the cost of cosmetics, however, is inflated. i passed by a drugstore selling revlon mascara for $17 singapore/$11 usd. talk about highway robbery!

i ended the evening with dinner at the hotel in the restaurant. grilled prawns, broccoli. pretty good, particularly since the prawns were crawling around in a tank minutes before they set them on the grill.

and so ends day 1.



dinner with monette at 190 in the four seasons.