Riding the steamboat

 I didn’t write about yesterday’s Chinatown adventure, so I figure I would combine this with today’s travels. 

To start with huge props to Vanessa and Bremner for recommending I watch “the League”. It is easily one of my favourite shows I have ever watched. The smack talk that goes down in that is ridiculous. I am always entertained with that show, it will be rather sad when it’s all done. In one of my fantasy football leagues, I just made it into the playoffs. Two weeks and Shiva will be all mine.

Monday my usual gym, pool, go see agents. I visited with the ladies we talked about it being a slower time right now; it’s not me that’s not been busy, its everyone unfortunately. I have stopped worrying about what will come of this. If I can keep a positive attitude and keep adventures rolling then that will have to do. I mean of course I want to work and make money, but you can’t force something that’s not there. Patience.

We discussed more of the cuisine I have tried, and the latest hawker centres as well as the possibility of me taking off for a few days over the Christmas holidays. Hopefully I can find out about a cheap fun place to go.  I have been chatting with Curtis in Australia we are going to try and find a place somewhere here in SE Asia.

After heading off from the agency, I decided to grab myself some lunch. Today, after a discussion with Brenna I had a tickle in my stomach that could only be satisfied by Phad Thai. This kicked the crap out of any Pad Thai I have had in North America. Sorry RawBar it did the trick but has got nothing on this delight. Stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chili pepper, plus bean sprouts, shrimp and tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime. All of that plus the Thai condiments (crushed peanuts, garlic chives, pickled turnip, cilantro, lime, spicy chili oil, chili powder, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar). While eating my unsatisfactory cheap chopsticks gave me a small sliver on my lip.

Next stop CHINATOWN, to buy? CHOPSTICKS! I meandered around Chinatown for hours, so many small little shops and things to check out. Tailors trying to pull you in, my iPod and sunglasses worked like a charm. I would love to buy some ivory chopsticks or Apple wood or Marble they all look great, but me being me, bought the set for $1. Cheap bamboo ones, with writing of my initials. I almost bought 3 watches for 10 bucks, they had much nicer ones in Chinatown than Little India, but I decided against this for today. 

Spotted this Pub " Tai Mai Shu"

This building made me think of Star Wars Episode II

I was in a walking spirit so decided to find a hawker centre. I asked Barbara (Ms. Googlemaps) and to the Zion Riverside Food Centre I go, approx., 45-minute walk. I spotted a Ferrari dealership along the way and tried to get pictures, but they were all inside and the windows were tinted. Bummer! For dinner, I relied on lines and signs indicated I was to have Chai Tow Kway or Carrot cake. The guy had awards all over his hawker stall, and watching him brought a smile to my face. He truly loved what he did; he was the Brian Flanagan of Singapore Carrot cake. I asked for it to go, not entirely sure why. I think because I had discovered this wonderful riverside walk that would take me all the way to my apartment in just over 2 km. This was a spectacular site, worth another stop for sure. I think I will read books here. 

As for today, well pool and gym obviously. I had a great opportunity to catch up with Kelly and Vickie over Skype; they were being silly about being on video because apparently they just finished spin class. I told them they still looked pretty, and its true. It’s always funny chatting with them they are always so cheerful and full of laughter.

My adventure today was rather simple, my goal was to get lost in the downtown area and find my way back. This is very easy to do with the underground network of tunnels between buildings. Similar to the +15’s back home you can make it everywhere without going outside. This is quite advantageous when it’s say 38 degrees outside.

I found my favourite crepe place and had their Sesame chicken crepe, read my book for a bit then headed home.  I decided I would take this opportunity to enjoy the nice weather and read my book in my newly discovered riverside park. This is exactly what I did. Taking in the nature and the songs of birds I sat on a bench and started Carte Blanche. Interesting, I am James Bond. He is described as 6 ft., 170 lbs. and black hair (I have brown but close enough).

After that and I quick run back to my place I set out to find Ikea, umm I mean the Alexandra food centre. And that I did! After wandering for 15 minutes, I came to the decision to order a steamboat and a chocolate avocado juice. The steamboat is essentially a soup in this awesome dish with lots of fire. The soup consisted of fish, vegetables and tofu, so I had some rice on the side for an extra .50. Looks really cool:

The chocolate avocado juice was simply avocado juice with cocoa added. It was good, but I think I prefer the normal one, the bitterness of the chocolate proved to be too much for my buds.

Next stop groceries. L For the first time they didn’t have any Gala Apples. So I bought Asian pear, grapes and carrots.  I also found something that is a Singapore delicacy. Nonya Kaya. This is a jam type spread made from coconut, sugar cane and some sort of local fruit Pandan. I will get back to you once I try it. 

Keen on Crepe

 This week has been rather slow. This has had me seek out new sights to see.  

The standard gym and pool started out my day. I am starting to get a mocha brown colour to my skin. My mother agency back home has advised me not to get too dark. I still see myself as quite pale. This would be about a beginning of June skin colour for me. Certainly no August after the beach. I am being extra careful of course not to burn by either limiting my sun time or throwing on some sunscreen. I am sure that there will eventually be a burn in the exact middle of my back as I can’t quite reach there. I need to find an assistant.

After spotting an ad on the side column of facebook I discovered that there is a place that sells gluten free crepe in Singapore. Hell yeah. This now became time to compare to the incredible one I had after my hike in Canmore with Todd, Amber and Christina. I hopped on the train and set out.  Facebook ads actually work.

I 2 foot jumped onto and off the train. Keeping in good spirits I am always smiling in awe, I have that bounce to my step, and I am always looking to have fun. The new beats I have been listening to on my iPod keep me thoroughly upbeat. I sauntered around town after finding my way to the surface in search of  Keen on Crepe. This was an interesting time of day at many watering holes. Happy hour is usually buy 1 get 1. So you can get 2 beer for 12 bucks instead of 1 for 12. I haven’t taken advantage of this yet though. 

I ordered myself a thai chicken buckwheat crepe. Added the spicy hummus and had it made super (extra tomato and chicken), alongside that I had a cup of tea. The crepe was a little dry and crumbly. But it was pretty good, I would have another one for sure. I sat in the nicely air conditioned building enjoying my crepe and enjoying my book.

Before heading home for the evening, I had to stop by the Fair Price and pick up some apples and some peanut butter. As usual I spent close to an hour touring the grocery store. I find these places so interesting. I always discover new things. For example in my supreme ingredient reading skills I discovered that fish balls actually have no flour in. This  is going to allow me to give some more hawker food a shot.

They have these signs at many of the MRT stations. Very positive I like it. 

The evening was still young so I headed back to the gym and did some Insane abs and kicked my butt.

I officially was all caught up on my favourite tv shows as of 2 days ago and asked my facebook friends for suggestions. Awesome feedback from everyone.  Here is the list:

-       Suits ( thanks matt)

-       How to make it in America (Yui)

-       Hung! (Jenn)

-       The Wire (melodie, but I know the boys liked that show too. Just forgot about it)

-       The League (Vanessa, seconded by Bremner. I started watching this last night, it’s hilarious so far. Love the chirping)

-       It’s always sunny ( suggested by at least 3 or 4 people. I liked the first few episodes, but hated danny devito)

-       Archer (Nina you know my humour so I will trust you on this one)

A walk in the rain

 With a beautiful morning under my belt, I spent time poolside followed by some time in the gym. The standard for a morning. I contacted my agent here to see if anything new was happening. To my disappointment nothing again. It’s a slow time of year, but I will keep optimistic. I did work 5 jobs in 2 weeks.

With such a beautiful day out there I decided to take a walk to the Botanical Gardens and read my book. Walking by the Embassies, British, American and Thai I developed an appetite and picked up a Korean bbq hot plate.  It was good, by far better than any food court food back home. 

Feeling content and energized I made my way to the Gardens. The same gardens I visited with Alex a week or two ago. It started raining when I was ¾ of the way there. The rain continued for at least another 3 hours. After stopping at a bench for a bit the wonders of the gardens intrigued me and I pulled open my umbrella to explore.  I walked around for 2 maybe 3 hours just amazed. The things I saw were so foreign to me. Next time I go I plan on checking out the Orchid Garden.

I have been terrible for distracting myself and forgetting to write. I checked out the ginger garden, the evolution garden, the rainforest and the healing garden they were all incredible. Here are a few of my favourites for the rest check out the album I loaded onto Facebook

After walking through only a portion of the garden I was ready to eat again. I pulled out my trusty google maps and asked her where the closest hawker centre was. In luck I was only 1 train stop away from Holland Village Hawker centre.  I decided to try something new. Laksa and Otah were on my menu for the evening.  Laksa is a curry-based dish with cockles, shrimp, cuttlefish, vegetables and wide rice noodles. Otah is a fish paste, with spices, wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked over charcoal fire. This is one of my favourite dishes so far. I keep saying this. I never realized how much of a foodie I really am.

I thought this was interesting to spot at the train

A Tiger is waiting in the freezer

Today was a very slow day work wise for me. Jet lag is starting to clear from its ugly path. Although I was still significantly tired this morning. I jumped out of it with a morning Skype session, followed by the pool and the gym. I need to put on about 1 inch in my chest measurement, so that means bigger chest and bigger back.  My back is getting well taken care of with swimming, because face it I don’t swim that often and I can feel it pretty much every day. So today was a day to pump my Arnold sized chest into action. I cooled off and achieved some cardio in the pool afterwards.

I set up a meeting with the wonderful ladies at the agency to pick up my allowance and chat a little bit. We talked about my cat allergy and they all suggested Zyrtec from the pharmacy, its apparently not to expensive and works like a charm. My cat allergy hasn’t been bugging me that much. But I am very cautious to close my door any time I enter or leave my room. I spend very little time in the common area as a result. Only slightly off topic. During our discussion we talked about the new Pics from Luke Elijah and how we were quite pleased with them. We also discussed about building my book by doing other test shoots. The trouble is actually find a time that works for both a photographer and me. Good news of course! My schedule will be quite busy for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The details haven’t all been confirmed yet, but I got the corporate video gig, also the condo development one and I have another fashion show for Friday. If I were a little more androgynous I would likely let or a squeal or some crazy prepubescent Justin Bieber excitement sound. Instead, I am super stoked.  The video is a 12-hour day, which is kind of crazy. I think it should be fun too. Good experience…adventure.

After leaving OMM I was somewhere between Chinatown and Little India. I went back to the hawker centre that Pat took me to last week. I went straight to the same place to get an Avocado juice. So awesome. Lunch hour was tapering off when I was there it was close to 2:30, so many places were sold out and closed. I found that kind of interesting that many signs have an opening time say 11:00am and close when they run out of food. I found a soup place, to try something different. I wanted this pork rib soup but they were sold out. So I asked the guy, what the other 10 people in line had ordered. Majority ruled and I asked for Buddha Jumped over the Wall with some rice. I swear I took a picture, but it’s not on my phone for some reason. L . Anyway this soup had everything, oyster, squid, pork, chicken, celery, carrot, some sort of root vegetable, mushrooms, probably more that I can’t remember. He also gave me this little disc with a sauce in it. I dipped my finger in the sauce and it almost knocked me over, so salty. It was hot too which I love, but I didn’t use it.  The verdict, way to much food. It was decent I would probably give a 6.5 out of 10. The roasted duck the other day was an 8. Worth the experience for sure.

I saw 4 of these police special command vehicles today. This was outside a bank.

I wanted to continue my adventure so I Crip walked my way over to Dhoby Ghaut station and searched out the printer guy to get my new pics for my book. Curious the whole way I walked into 3 or 4 malls, just to see what they had. There are stores here where you go to play your FPS video games, pretty cool, although I have better things to do. I also darted in and out of the malls, as it felt more humid today than any other day, probably because it rained most of the afternoon.  

Melissa also got back to me and introduced me to a friend closer to my age here in Singapore and also a very experienced woman in Hong Kong with modelling. 

I came home for a bit, watched an episode of Dexter. After much effort I finally found a site that streamed video here in Singapore. If anyone has suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. Then the gurgle of my stomach called me to go grab dinner. Here it is:

I stopped by fair price picked up a few snacks, nature valley bars and some more nuts. And because I haven’t in a while and I have been craving. I spotted this and thought of Dad. He calls the bums that ask for money downtown this. 

And finally I bring you the title of my post:

I titled the post this so I wouldn't forget that my beer is sitting there. This will be my first beer in Singapore.

 PS. Thanks guys I cracked a thousand hits sometime over the last day or two. 10 countries are represented.