The search is over

Ever since iron-wife tasted the Korean dish Bim Bim Bhop at Kailua, Hawaii in 2007, she has been on a quest looking for the pots which the rice is being served. The quest, I am happy to say is over after 2 years plus of search. The track has spanned from the US West Coast to the East Coast back to Korea, to Hong Kong, to Malaysia and yes, numerous times in Singapore. I spotted a Korean grocery store on Bencoolen Street just a block down from our service apartment last week. So we went in. After 10 minutes, we have found enough pots and all to serve Bim Bim Bhop. Needless to say, the smile was from one end of iron-wife's face to another.

This is such a Korean peasant dish. The locals do not make it at home. You have steamed rice or cooked brown rice at the bottom of the bowl. Then lay on top with meat, tofu, bean sprouts, green beans, egg. Put the bowl on a high heat to warm for about 10 minutes or so... Take it off and serve. Before eating, stir everything up so that the food in the bowl is all warm and hot. The rice can be a bit crusty at the bottom but that's the idea.

Arrived home

Did not miss the flight. Traffic was pretty light for a 8am road trip. Maybe I am still thinking North American work hours. We had so much time that I ended up buying wife a Singapore unlocked iPhone 3G 16G. It is one of the few places that iPhone is sold without a contract. Got sick of having roaming problem with the "unofficial" SIM adapter unlock.

The flight was half empty. We had the nine rows at the back of a A330 for ourselves. The round trip on China Eastern cost about RMB 4350.00 (CAD781.00 or so). That was from Shanghai to Malaysia and from Malaysia to Singapore and from Singapore back to Shanghai. I think we'll take China Eastern more as it flies out of Terminal 1 at Pudong. The old terminal; so no airlines are there except two American airlines and China Eastern. No lineup, no people, perfect. Plus, there are more Chinese on that terminal so foreigners actually don't need to line up that long. Haha...

A surprise to me. A mail came from Cathay Pacific. I have just upgraded to the Silver level. Now I get access to the lounge too. Maybe with my AC membership being downgraded from SuperElite to Elite for 2009, I can think of using Cathay more and forget about AC.

Heading home

Heading back to the Brrr... weather in Shanghai in 2 hours, if we leave this hotel room like I would have planned it. Haha.... Don't know what's the theory behind timing things to the last minute with BEST case scenario. Must be dumb luck.

Well, better for me; one more day of warmth by the pool.

A food tour

Post-LASIK dr appt at 8:15am, we were tired from overnight supervision and constant eye drops. Got to the hospital at 7:45am and the food tour began.

8:05am, hospital coffee shop at the Singapore Eye Centre. What a nice place! The outdoor food area was so nice; waterfall and all. The hut got everything SouthEast Asian b'fast items. However, I had a hard time understanding the menu. They were all in English but... They were in a form of Chinese dialect with English words. Like: Chow Kuai Twoy (Fried noodle). Right... Good thing there were pictures so I could understand what they were. The only items I could recognized were: coffee with milk, wihtout milk, tea, waffle with peanut, kaya, and something else. So, I ordered coffee with milk. Where was the milk? It was dark, thick and sweet. Ah... Yummy. Strong. Then my waffle, I ordered with "peanut butter". The girl that made it could really speak English. Mandarin only. I couldn't catch what she asked as my brain did not have enough of this caffeine. She was asking me "Hua Sheng"? (花生） Meaning "peanut butter" but she chopped off the "butter" part. After a few times, I comprehended. "YES, peanut butter". All in Mandarin, of course. But the older lady said, "No Mandarin, only English". Haha.... So I had a fresh waffle with peanut butter. O.. It just gooie and melted in my mouth. Then followed up with this dark "Coffee with milk".

After the specialist saw iron-wife and all, he came by to say Hi to me and crack a few adult jokes. I bet he couldn't do that if the waiting area was full of patients. The guy reminded me of Chooi - that mannerism and the body gesture.

Nap time, we were whipped by the time we got back to the hotel. Napped for two hours then headed for lunch. Fortune Centre again. To iron-wife's favorite restaurant. I had a vegetarian curry noodles and she had a rice steamed from inside a bamboo. Very nice.

After that we headed to Orchard Road to check out some sunglasses for her. Never mind that, it was such a zoo. Tourists everywhere. We couldn't find any as the sunglasses were not for function but oversize with no guarantee of UV protection. All from brand names. We walked back to the hotel, about 2.5K. After half way, we decided to walk on the "non commercial" side of Orchard Road. It was insane with the people, the construction, the cars... Not a nice place to visit this Orchard Road on a weekend. Funny, the "non commercial" side of Orchard Road had as many people as one arm length of me if I were to continue to walk on the "commercial" side. Ridiculous.

Before stopping back at the hotel, we stopped by a Kopitiam, a food court, to pick up two Jendoh. I figured we should sit by the pool to relax.

The history of Kopitiam.... as we had just found out in the evening's Singapore National Museum (free admission after 6pm), means "coffee shop". It is the Hainanese dialect of the Chinese language. When the Hainanese settled in Singapore, the men congregated every morning in their PJs to have coffee, to exchange news, little by little, street hawkers moved into take up permanent stalls to sell their food. Now, we see Kopitiam all over town with different ethnic food stalls. "Kopi" is coffee, and "tiam" is shop. The food stalls range from juice bar to Chinese to Indian to Malay to specialized dessert place.

After Jendoh at the roof top pool side, we went to Little India for dinner. The walk was about 1.5K. Not bad if my body cooperated. But all those Arthritic joints. Dammit! We walked back to the direction of Mustafa, that 24/7 grocery store where Indians go to shop. We had a very nice Indian meal, both northern and southern dishes. The total came to SIG$26.00 (US$18) We had 5 dishes in all (3 entrees and 2 breads). Not bad.

O yeah as we walked down toward Little India for dinner, we walked pass a gov't housing complex. The community area can be rent for anything. So, there was a funeral going on. Basically a mobile funeral parlor. Coffin and all.... I just felt sorry for the people living just above. All the incense being burned and the Buddist prayer service.

Just before dinner, we went to the Singapore National Museum for a quick tour. It was just a stone throw from the hotel. And what did we spend time on? The food history of Singapore. Very interesting.

So today, in a mere 8 hour or so period I have eaten:

coffee with waffle w/peanut butter SIG 2.40 (US1.66)
vegetarian curry noodle soup SIG 7.00 (US4.83)
Jendoh SIG 1.50 (US1.00)
Indian dinner (1/2 of the bill) SIG 13.0 (US8.98)
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Total US16.47

Now, where can you enjoy all the local food in such a short span with such authenticity with every food? I don't think we can do that, maybe in KL.

OK, I spent SIG1.00 for a can of Coke at the hotel's vending machine too. And that was the only Western food I had. Would have cost me more if I were heading to a Starbucks or Coffee Beans....

Live like locals and eat like locals have its advantage.

Done deal

Iron-wife has done the Lasik this morning at the Singapore Eye Institute. All in all, took 3 hours. Afterward, she felt no pain thanks to the anesthetic. She jumped into the taxi afterward and proclaimed "Fortune Centre". I was like what? Are you crazy? She was hungry and wanted to eat; this place is about 400M from our hotel so I didn't argue. She ate, still high - felt no pain. She was even thinking of calling some friends to meet up this aft! Go figure. Good thing the freezing wore off as soon as we stepped into our hotel room. Wham! Moaning in pain for about 4 hours. Couldn't even open her eyes....

Should be better tomorrow.

Too darn expensive!

We met up with some friends yesterday for a drink and dinner. The location is called Riverwalk. It was a little enclave of apartments and restaurants, every type of food. The drink, SIG40.00 for two drinks and a mineral water. The alcoholic drink were too tasty.

Then the Japanese restaurant, SIG95.00 a piece (SIG190 for the two of us). And we were scrubbing MSG off our tongues this morning. But we enjoyed seeing everyone again, that was the important part.

Tonight, we ate at our service apartment - Somerset Bencoolen. I bought lots of food and couldn't finish: vegetarian bento box, Vietnamese fresh rolls, Indian Sage Paneer, Yellow vegetable current, Lamb curry, Garlic nans and a Jendor. The total came to about SIG26.50. I am stuffed. Good thing the gym in about 15 yards from our room.

Obviously, you can choose how much you want to spend.

Last day in KL

Breakfast


Lebanese cream cheese


Nite shot of Petronas towers