Having been told by my employers (lets call them "The Capitalists") that I had too much leave remaining, I decided to pack my bags and head back to Singapore for 2 weeks. I happily skipped out of work early on a Monday afternoon and declared to my colleagues that I was returning to the land where sun is abound!
I landed in Singapore where I was very kindly met by Vik, who immediately whisked me away for my first taste of Fish Bee Hoon in more than a year and a half. Even though the soup was way too salty and had enough MSG to make me look like a bald Britney Spears in rehab, it was still the best damn meal I had eaten in recent memory. Michelin Starred restaurants simply cannot compare to local Singapore MSG! Thanks Vik!
I then arrived back at my old apartment where I met my other ex-housemate Thumbelina, who promptly told me that I was fat! I very rationally replied to Thumbelina that the size of my belly simply paled in comparison to her new beer belly. Just for the record, she does NOT have a beer belly, and I am NOT fat - Trading insults is just our way of complementing each other! Luckily for me, she didnt really care what I said to her since she has a new boyfriend and her head has been drifting in the clouds for the last 2 months - after all, as Mel and I have agreed, there IS an incredible amount of chemistry between Thumbelina and Alex!
Having been through 3 countries in 1 and a half weeks (heh, 2 of them were Singapore and Malaysia - so I guess they count as just a single area), I am pretty damn sleep deprived and am only just beginning to get over my jetlag. But it has been absolutely worth it. In the short time I have been back, I have re-visited old haunts, caught up with friends and family and even gotten my first ever pedicure! (The lotion they used to massage my calves felt like little drops of heaven! The HM was very amused at how swaku I was about the whole process!) I also managed to catch up with Wan and Nieda (who are getting married in July) in KL, as well as Sonia who I had met when I first arrived in London.
I played poker on Friday night with the Singapore bunch (who were kind enough to throw a session for me), where I won enough to pay for most of my return flight to KL. Evidently, all my London poker losses have paid off and my luck has finally turned! I just felt sorry for Reuben who hosted - Sorry dude, it really was a case of invite us to your home only for us to take all your money! =)
I spent most of the first weekend in Singapore with David and Regina, who kindly showed me chi chi Dempsey Hill. Though I must say that I much preferred the good old (and far more economical!) Zion Road Nasi Padang place, which we went to for Saturday lunch.
Reg, the advertising guru, was kind enough to take the time on Saturday afternoon to give me the inside scoop on the media industry, since I am covering the media sector for the Capitalists. Of course, having been averaging about 3 hours sleep over the previous 3 nights, I pretty much crashed out on their sofa immediately after her briefing! Lynn then came over shortly after I woke up and we went down to the neighbourhood kopitiam for coffee, where she reminded me that she concurred with Thumbelina's observation that I had gotten fat! Lies!! All Lies!!
I then reunited with my London mates from last year who are now back in Singapore, which was great!. I managed to re-tan myself (finally!) at Sentosa with the HM, and Rampant brought me for Guo Tie at Lavender Food Centre. I returned the gesture by bringing all of them to the Golden Mile Tower basement for Chicken Rice and Hainanese Pork Chop. DH particularly enjoyed himself, as he discovered a quaint shoe shop that sold faux-leather shoes (more commonly known as PVC shoes, but because it is DH, I shall refer to it as "faux-leather") . We all had a good chuckle at his expense!
I then met up with all of them in KL and managed to see Swinger, who bought me Roast Chicken at Secret Recipe - Bliss! We spent an afternoon at the KLCC area, where I treated DH to the executive toilet in KLCC itself! Bloody RM2 just to take a damn leak! I hope he appreciated it!
Unfortunately, GNK couldn't join us as he had a Malay exam to study for! Doesn't matter man - you can put your new Malay skills to good use when we next head up North! The SSG was also greatly missed, but no worries - Niki, myself and you will shortly be doing our own road trip up to Old Trafford to watch Man U-Liverpool live! =)
Luckily, I managed to come back to Singapore just in time to attend Shawn's 30th birthday bash (where he conveniently fell ill and escaped his mandatory alcohol torture). Despite not having made it to Velvet, at least he still brought home some new found friends - albeit of the furry, inanimate variety.
I even managed to get the opportunity to emulate Thumbelina's now patented perpetually dazed look!
Unfortunately, on the way back from the birthday do, I was crammed into the back of the Major's brand spanking new Mini Cooper S, where I almost developed hemmeroids from having the seat belt buckles jammed up my arse. While the car is indeed as nimble as Cristiano Ronaldo on steroids and sounds as good as an evening alone with Jessica Alba, it simply was not built to carry 3 people in the back seat. But in any case, I am suddenly wishing that my trusty 1.8 Vauxhall Astra had a 172bhp turbocharger instead! To the Major - you have definitely given me something to think about! =)
I also got to celebrate DH's sister's birthday - and I understand that the small slice of cheescake at Book Cafe (which I proceeded to eat all by myself) was the only birthday cake that she got this year! Poor thing!
Now, as I write this, I realise that I only have about 48 hours to go before I have to fly back to gloomy old London. I still remember calling Niki on my first day back, telling her that I wasn't enjoying myself as everything was different in Singapore. I missed Niki; The weather was too hot; I was jetlagged; I incredulously seemed to be missing the routine of work!!??; I was sleep deprived. I even complained that the HM in Singapore was snappier than the HM in London!
And having just told Niki on the phone moments ago that I do not want to go back to work at the Capitalists on Thursday, she did a "I told you so", as she had earlier pointed out at the beginning of my trip that I would not want to leave once it was time to fly off. And at this juncture, I thought it fitting for me to show photos of 2 of the things that have made this trip worthwhile: Good Friends and Good Food!
