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| Sunday, 21-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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From margaritas to teochew muay
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Immaculate couple, these 2
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Paradise of Teochew muay dishes
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the unfamiliar
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and the recognisable
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Side view
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Table laden with food
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Photogenic grandma
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Moving onto poseur Balaclava for quiet drinks with a bunch of accountant and auditor acquaintances. It was a change from the laidback pool-table karaoke joint. The Margaritas were decent enough, but they couldn't beat scarfing down good ol teochew muay- porridge- in the rain at 3am in the morning in a roadside coffeeshop run by a chirpy flirty grandma who gamely posed for the pictures.
The rest of the day? I plead amnesia.
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| Saturday, 20-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Yet another midnight sojourn, and another, and....
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general frenetic atmostphere of wine bar
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cigarette reprieve
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and whisky sour
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new friends and old
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just one of the guys
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cheerful girl in the wee hours
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Wee hours of Saturday -Casual drinks over loud pseudo chill-out music where we screamed ourselves hoarse in the effort to be heard. What is the point you sometimes wonder. Till you bump into unexpected friends and gain interesting insights admist the spilt wine, broken glasses and crushed cigarette butts.
Closing time, home to rest the day away before the night summoned up another bout of drinks to chase the tedium away. This time at a pub not quite my usual scene- pool table and karaoke singing abound. Friend is a karaoke fiend with a better than decent voice. I was merely the observer before heading to the next spot for more drinks- cf next day
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| Wednesday, 17-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Just another day
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Blue day of drizzle. Stayed home, had conversations with the cats and observed them living in harmony. Note how the little one is growing by the day.
Craving human contact, went to the grease-soaked hawker centre at the market to grab dinner.
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| Tuesday, 16-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Plane spotting, beach boys, wedding couples and storms
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Planes, a cute little boy and couples in wedding gowns and suits trudging along in the scorching heat- all 3 disparate elements gathered at East Coast Park beach as we went on a 3 hour beach bumming cycling journey on a cloudy day.
Then we braved the rain and sniffed our way into Parkway Parade for some suburban trekking...and food.
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| Monday, 15-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Cotton candy, carnival and Pasar Malam at Choa Chu Kang
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[color=violet]Made my leisurely way to the other end of the island in the late afternoon for a home-cooked meal of gastronomic delights- gorged myself on 2 servings of Penang Laksa lovingly cooked by friend's parents. And yummy fleshy durians which are fast becoming a staple end to every meal I partake of there. Made friends with the new family fish, one of which was feeling a little listless till a change of the water sorted him out. The 2 fish turned out to be quite natural photographic models.
This was topped off by a perfect end to the idyllic day- there's nothing that quite makes my day as hitting upon a Pasar Malam and carnival by chance on a lazy evening. A carnival in a residential town far from the cosmopolitan bustle of the city. Spread out in huge tents, there are Ramlee burgers (which I drooled over but didn't have any room or change for), Otak, Malay delicacies, Taiwanese sausages and local treats, everyday ubiquitous items on bargain and exotic knickknacks, all manned by friendly chatty stallholders who didn't mind me poking around. At the carnival side, there are roller coaster rides and gravity-defying torture machines for those seeking an adrenalin rush, and my favourite- the cotton candy that brings back the nostalgia of being a kid with sticky fingers standing on tip-toe in patent shoes trying to look through tall trunks of adults at the goodies on the carnival stands.
Carnivals and pasar malams are now a business product based on a formula of garish commerce inbued with the contrived conviviality of the old world kampong stalls. Mass-produced Hello Kittys wearing the latest fashion run amok amidst imitation branded surfwear and hip hop streetwear targeting the pool and biker crowd. Temporary tattoo stalls jostle with pseudo-New Age henna art stations, the cotton candy is now prepacked in plastic, and Uncle Ringo booth is run by a no-nonsense administrator lady. This is hardly the Gay World/ Wonderland grandeur of yesteryear. Nostalgia is all the more painful because it is something lost which can never be regained.
Yet for just a few moments, I found myself in another world long gone, where I was up on my daddy or brother's shoulders looking over the world at the bright lights decorating the merry-go-rounds picking the horse that would take me away from this prosaic world, and envying the fireworks in the night sky, wishing I could go out like a blast like them and lit up the world with my brilliance. Dreams of childhood lost in the years of growing up to be just another boring adult, another cog in the machine. But for a few moments, I could almost feel my childhood wrapping itself around me, if only I didn't feel quite so alone as the sole observer on the outside. If only there was someone offering to win me a teddy bear no matter now many tries it took at the gamestall. [/color]
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| Sunday, 14-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Visiting my cats at Tiong Bahru old estate
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Dainty Nini at Fauziah's
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Big Leo on the fridge and ignoring the hostess
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hairdresser's open on Sunday
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Dropped by a friend's for a repeat Hari Raya feast. Stalked her 3 cats.
Then strolled down the streets into Tiong Bahru estate, where a previously adopted cat, subsequently lost then found, has taken root and established a cosy home with her offspring. We watched the sunset together.
In this lazy neighbourhood, time stands still at dusk with my feline companions beneath coconut trees.
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| Saturday, 13-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Far out Far East to Quayside pubs
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spicy sliced chilli for dinner
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east and west cutlery
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(More retro than) vintage shop
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Another movie, another evening spent wandering the always hip and youthful Far East Plaza, with its ever-changing tiny shops. We fell down the rabbit hole when we stumbled onto a vintage shop cramped full of delicious retro artifacts.
Break for ice-cream before heading off for drinks with re-acquainted long-lost friends by the quay. In the Spanish-named smoky pool-table atmostphere of the pub, we emitted squeals of delight- we were still recognisable to one another despite a lapse of a dozen years and having grown out of the convent school uniform into everyday adult attire.
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| Friday, 12-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Trolling the streets
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Do you? Movie 1- french affair
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Barrel of Bottles of Beer
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Phallic Sausages and Eggplant
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A day for rambling, together with friends from prepubescent pinafore days. Simple pleasures of movies and cheap nourishing food, meandering conversations, topped off by having supper with my lost-and-found cats now ruling a neighbourhood estate, with a pocketlight to alleviate the pitch-black night.
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| Thursday, 11-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Metropolis and Dragon Fruit
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Pixie-ish Wai Peng
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Old Refrigerator with the latest accessories
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Where's my Superman gone?
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Catch up time with old friends. Afternoon was spent with a friend from U days in urban metropolis of the malls, shooting the breeze at colourful aroma-laden Marche and admiring the life-size cardboard Superman and wishing I could take him home.
Dinnertime had me beating the rain to meet up with another pal at the other side of town, equally bustling but with a different type of character- Bugis Junction. We poked around cute gizmos, gadgets and knickknacks before hitting the rain-soaked and humid mini-Chatuchak Market alleys acorss the road- laid-back unpretentious, crowded Bugis Street where the latest Japanese youth fashion jostle for space with fresh plump fruits in stalls under naked lightbulbs.
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| Wednesday, 10-Dec-2003 00:00 |
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Blurry
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Looking through the vent into the drain
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Grassland beyond the temple
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My shirt on me
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Nothing much to log today, so am looking at some whimsical images taken on Sunday.
Did pop by the market/ hawker centre briefly though, for a late breakfast and some exploration- cf photo #7 and 8.
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picture represents a lot of work 
