Geylang sepaku Geylang

Geylang Serai is the place i feel most at home in Singapore. Possibly because a vast majority of the population are still Singaporean and i speak the language they speak there - Malay. Also, it hasn't changed that much. OK, it has, but i'd like to think it hasn't. We ate at the new market there which used to be a little better than an open sewer. But it was our open sewer and we loved it. Geylang was heaving with people getting ready for Ramadan. On the table we have sup kambing, otak-otak, nasi padang and rojak.


Drinkswise we have lime juice, Kickapoo and teh. It is hot - really hot. We are all pespiring and we can feel our clothes stick to our skin and bellies and thighs. Our hair is continuously in our faces, dripping and sticking too. The only thing that brings relief is a soak in the pool or a shower and an airconditioned room. No wonder when the boys came back, the first thing they said was, ah, it's great to be back in th cool weather again!.


Singaporeans love their food. We eat all hours of the day. I only felt hungry for the first time in four weeks Monday past. At the office, just before lunch. Singaporean eat even if they aren't hungry. They eat because it is time to eat. A typical conversation around lunchtime would be like this.

So, what dyou want to eat?
I'm not hungry.
Japanese, Indian?
I'm not hungry.
Shopping centre, restaurant. There's this new coffee shop just opened.
I'm not hungry.
What time? 12? 1?
Ok, we'll eat at 1.

You kinda just give up. After a while i wasn't interested in the food i had missed for years. I didn't care anymore. Life is too short to feel this sick all the time. Pass the epok-epok.


Food glorious food.


Ghin having roti prata and sugar.


His favourite breakfast food. As you can tell. Even though this is lunch.


That is kuih lapis, or layer cake. Also called rainbow cake. Made from glutinous rice and coconut milk and sugar. It is delicious and children LOVE it.


It's not your rainbow cake, it's mine. All three pieces of it.


After that we took Ghin for a haircut. Dragon lady was very taken by his red cheeks.


He sits so quietly for her, which is a real surprise.




Then for dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant. Here is Peking duck. Ghin had five helpings.




Keropok, or prawn crackers.


Breakfast the next day... in Minang. Just in front of the Sultan Mosque. This is also a Malay joint. It was a coincidence that we had Malay two days in the row.


Teh Peng!!!! I cannot reproduce the taste here, it just ain't right.


Pa having lontong, which he said was tak speca. And expensive. So Minang has been cancelled from the list of acceptable places to go to.


Epok epok and kueh lopes. I think it is lopes anyway. I'm so crap at the names of local cakes cos i hate anything with coconut in it.


That's Ma's lontong.


It was Derek's 40th birthday and we celebrated Singaporean style in his parents' flat. His mom made curry chicken and beehoon and we had rambutans for dinner. Real party food!!!


That is rambutan... from Ubin. The fine hairy one is soft and sweet and juicy and the spiky ones are crunchy and chewy. They were all so wonderful. I could write odes about local fruit. Apart from the durian, which would have an anti-ode.


Inside the rambutan.




This is the tauk yu that i should have bought home. The best tauk yu in the world.