Yes there was a conference, and yes there was work. (And no, I cannot tell you all the cool things we discussed at the conference. Though I *will* tell you that our Japan Sales team can dance! Hell yeah, can they?!)
Well here's most of what happened.
On reaching Singapore, I was half dead. Having eaten on the plane, I went straight to bed. And whilst I am a lightweight anyway when it comes to late nights. (I am also the annoying bubbly in the mornings kind. Go ahead, judge me.) I do however, remember my friend mentioning she was hungry, … then saying something else... and somewhere between that and that, I passed out on her. God bless my understanding friends. We are still friends.
Woke up to a raining Singapore. And as a Twitter friend would put it, I was #stuckinsingapore without an umbrella. Was decided to make it the obligatory shopping day.
Now heres the thing: I am a girl who loathes, abhors and detests shopping . Here’s another thing: I was hanging out with two girls who love it. ..and here’s the most important thing of all: Singapore’s national sport is shopping.
2:1. Battle lost. So, ended up going to the mall. Also, I was promised good food, and here’s a lesson I learnt early in my life: Follow your belly. Now don’t you think eating at a Singapore mall is easy. No. Here’s how it generally goes.
You walk into a food court and are instantly assaulted by the sights and sounds and smells of yummy food. It transfixes you. You stand there thinking, I want that..and that and that too..Ooooh, what *is* that? ...Your local friends are happily oblivious to this and they give you the liberty of “choice.”! – Extremely dangerous when it comes to 1) food and 2) Librans. There was no escape for me.
Thankfully they choose a stall for me. You think that’d make my life easier, wouldn’t you? Not really. We walk to this Malay food stall and there’s this lady standing on the counter waiting for me to order. She's looking straight at me, and in her hand is holding a plate, ready for my order. Of course, the crowd is milling around me while I stand there looking at all the curries through the glass pane, and then, her face. And the curries ..and her face.
Again, my friend to the rescue. You choose a set of non veg and veg curries and she puts it all on that plate with the rice and serves with ‘chutneys’. ..oh and add an extra 50c for additional curries. I beam. This is gonna be divine. …until I see the choices. Long story short, manage to choose a few and head to the table my other friend had to grab and reserve, while we spent time dilly dallying my food menu as is it was my last meal on earth. If by now you are confused by the mentions of ‘the friend’ and ‘the other friend,’ lets just call them Indy and Ono for convenience sake.
Spent some more time visiting the hawker centers, the hawker centers and the hawker centers. Not just to eat the yummy food and enjoy the chaotic orderliness, but also wash down the fruit juices! Nobody does fruit juices like Asia. (And, sorry, no, Boost and NZ Natural don’t count.) These are *Real* fresh fruit juices. Must have guzzled liters of sugar cane, dragon fruit and mango shakes and juices.
Also went to the Asian Civilisation Museum, in China Town. Great place to study the interesting (albeit short) history of the city. Founded by Sir Raffles, it turned into this magnet for labourers from all over the region. Ended up with a great mix of Asian migrants. Had an enormous opportunity for the creation of a culturally vibrant city. Unfortunately, its converted itself into this drab, characterless city. (Of course, you are free to disagree with me.) But I do strongly feel that Singapore is a wasted opportunity. I reckon food has managed to stave off this globalisation machine that has chewed off everything else that was antique or culturally significant, only because it was another cog in this great tourist trap. ... So *that's* my problem with this city. A wasted opportunity.[Chinatown - as colourful, lively, interesting, touristy and fun as the ones in SF, Sydney, NY, Japan, Melbourne.....]
Rant over. Other interesting highlights of the trip.
Universal studios. Enough said. You do not want to hear stories of how silly, childish, excited, and fearful we were, in turn. Protip though: Do the Egyptian mummy ride. And the Jurrasic park. And Madagascar. ..Hell do them all! And if you do the Futuristic, turning 360, up down and sideways ride, let me know. I would like to gift you a some anti nausea tablets.
The Lion King: Am.azing musical. Technically gorgeous. Its not easy to convert a movie into theater. At the start of the performance I thought to myself, oh how will they do the wildebeest tramped scene, or the Mufasa’s ghost dream scene? Suffice to say, they exceeded my expectations. Used a clever combination of 2D, puppetry and light and shadow. Was fun and totally worth it. And Marina Bay sands is not such a bad venue either J
[With my lovely partner in crime. ]
Rampang: Found myself face to face one evening with this delightful mound (make that mountain) of ice shavings, drenched in fruit sherbets, and topped with swirls of mango puree and condensed milk. Heaven on a saucer. Protip 2: Singapore's best food is in tiny stalls. Chilli crab is great, but there's more to Singapore.
Hong Kong on the other hand is very Asian. My hotel was located in a rather residential area of the city. So after dropping our bags, ended up looking for food. And straight off the high from my Singapore food adventure, I was ready to give more Asian authentic food a try. Walked into this really really local looking place. No tourists around. Not in that café, not in the street outside. We walk in, feeling smug at how quickly we will have a great local experience. The lady at the counter doesn’t speak English and we smile to ourselves. She places us on a table with three other people and we smile broader. Feelin good! Man, *this* is the real HK! This is how locals eat!
And then she sends out a girl who speaks English. Sigh. And she brings with her an English menu. Sigh. She's seen through us. (Not much you can do with a 5'8" Irish and a 5'6" Indian girl anyway.) However, not to be outdone, my friend points to the guy beside her and says, I want what hes eating. I order too. They then place tea in plastic glasses in front of us and chopsticks. My friend sips the tea, and then both of us look in surprise as the people on our table dip their chopsticks into the glass. Heres how our conversation goes:
Me: Ahem..Did you just drink soap water?
She: No...I don’t think so. Didn’t taste like that.
See why I love her? Trust her to never get nonplussed. That’s why she’s a great travel partner.
After that lunch, HK was pretty much a blur. Among other things, I managed to get myself to the Lantau Island to see the endangered Chinese white dolphins. Visited the ‘Peak’ as it is (cryptically) called, to catch the sunset and gaze at the entire city. Took the star ferry across to the shopping district. Visited the night markets which, all in all was good fun.
Anyway I digress. The dolphins are pretty cool. They are very elusive and move very fast. And they are *White.* but because of their transparent skin, sometimes appear pink. And the pink, is adorable! I was pretty pumped, to be honest, to see them.
My 2 days in this city was now over. And truth be told, I had a great time in HK. I don’t think I am in love with it, but will say, it has piqued my interest enough to want to visit it again. I like to call it a ‘Stumble upon’ city (that phrase might or might not have been stolen from somewhere else. Ahem.) The best parts of the city are tucked into alleyways and if you keep to the malls and TST, you will not see the real HK, with all its efficiency, ease and culture.
You need to dip your chopsticks into the tea.
Hong Kong http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150207776996682.311692.543981681&l=04f5b99d65
Singapore: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150207757841682.311691.543981681&l=55991d96a1
