A 'Wet' Singapore II: Thunder Birds & Stuffed Wolves

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Swiped from mingthein.

Got up early on Friday to catch the MRT to Boon Lay. Our destination: Jurong Bird Park. It was a long ride down from Simei. Upon reaching Chinatown, it started to rain heavily and we nearly turned back. Seeing that it let up a bit, we continued our journey. We took a bus from the interchange at Boon Lay. The interchange was impressive. Completely-covered with air-conditioning! Just line up and when the bus arrives, go through the auto-doors to the waiting bus. Orderly and comfortable! Unfortunately, it was still raining heavily when we arrived and several other tourists were stranded at the bus stop. Some of the Indian and PRC nationals just ran for it. KH and I however decided to call it off. I was a bit dejected, but the weather can be unpredictable. So we headed back to the city.



Before lunch, we did some window shopping at Wheelock Place and The Ion. Walked into a bag shop that sold many types of novel bags at very fantastic prices. Fancy a knapsack at SGD290 or an umbrella for SGD65? For good design, one pays a premium. Lunch was at Crystal Jade Palace, Ngee Ann City. I had bugged KH about it for ages and he finally brought me. Hehe. Muacks. Was served by very efficient cantonese-speaking waiters. They seem to magically know that we had run out of tea. Amazing. Since Bunny and JJ were running late, we started first with the standard siew mai (so-so), har kau (very thin skin, but too delicate), wu kok (perfect!), fung chow (reminds me of a taste from my childhood), siew yuk (moist and half lean, went well with the mustard sauce) and char siew bao (so-so). Later on, the other two added on har cheong (so-so) and braised noodles with dried scallops (the boric acid smell taste overpowering!).



KH did some shopping at Takashimaya and bought some Arena jerseys. Their trunks were also going cheap for just SGD12.90 per pair, but I already have an overload of swimming trunks. Then we went down to the food court and I tried Rive Gauche Patisserie's Guanaja. Sat down at the benches outside and shared it with KH. Knicked a spoon from the gelato shop so that I can feed KH (JJ said the aunty was curiously looking at why we asked for a spoon). Every mouthful was a burst of Belgian chocolate. Fantastic with just the right amount of sweetness. Bunny and JJ decided to head home while KH and I carried on to The National Museum of Singapore. Our main purpose was to catch Cai Guo-Qiang's "Head On". it's basically 99 life-sized replicas of wolves hitting a glass wall.

"The crux of this installation lies just before the glass wall, as the artist reminds people: invisible walls are the hardest to dismantle."



Can the context be shifted to gay rights? Heh. By itself, the museum's quite impressive. A reminder of the colonial style. Even a pair of newly-weds were taking their wedding photos there. Before dinner, we headed to Nic's place. After everyone had arrived, we took the car to Simpang Bedok for makan-makan. The whole group was there-- POD, Nic, C-Mon, Den, Bunny and JJ. Ordered dishes that were quite good like salted egg chicken, curry fish head, pumpkin prawn, bean curd and fried egg with shrimps. Dessert was cendol again, but this time round it tasted exactly like what you would get in Malaysia. Asked Nic some funny questions about NS as he had just come back from his reservist stint.

"Do you get military-issued underwear?"

The answer is no. :P. Sanitary pads? Wakakakaka.

P.S.: Hope Nic is enjoying his UK trip!