Singapore: Day 30

Today was my 20th birthday, and it definitely felt strange celebrating it in a foreign country and without the company of my close friends and family. We were originally planning to go to the zoo during the day, but I wanted to work on my applications and workload. It may seem like a terrible way to spend a birthday, but the revelations I had last night definitely changed something within me.

I met with Nelson for a haircut shortly before my birthday celebrations began. I've been needing a haircut for a while, and it had been difficult to schedule one due to my general busyness. During this time, Laney and Emily walked into the lounge and gave me their presents: a slice of cake and letters spelling out "Clam." They are too sweet! After I had my haircut and cleaned myself up a bit, I met with Emily, Laney, James, Nicole, and Nelson at 6 PM and took the MRT to Raffles City Shopping Centre (Michael and Annette were to arrive to dinner later). We planned to eat at Din Tai Fung, an award-winning Taiwanese restaurant famous for its dumplings, and chose a location close to Clarke Quay so that we could go for drinks afterwards. At DTF, we ordered steamed pork dumplings, steamed vegetable and pork dumplings, steamed vegetable dumplings, stir-fried dou miao with garlic, stir-fried Hong Kong kailan with special sauce, steamed yam paste dumplings and were served a complementary red bean rice dumpling. The dumplings were delicious, and the yam paste dumplings in particular were pure happiness.

The dumplings are beautifully crafted.

Steamed vegetable and pork dumplings

"Queen of the dumplings"

Stir-fried Hong Kong kailan with special sauce

Stir-fried dou miao with garlic

Red bean rice dumpling

Steamed yam paste dumplings. Yum!

Group photo (minus Michael and Annette)

After dinner, we walked to Clarke Quay. We first made a stop at Azabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream to grab dessert. I fell in love with this ice-cream when I first tried it after the AIC boat tour, and have been dying to reunite with my beloved. I was tempted to order the black sesame and green tea w/ chocolate flavors again because they were so delicious, but I decided to try something new. We sat along the Singapore River and enjoyed our ice-creams while gazing at the beautiful lights.

 

After our ice-cream escapade, we went to Aquanova at Clarke Quay for drinks. The bar had a comfortable atmosphere: it was dimly lit and had a live band playing music. Besides the AIC-organized gathering at One Altitude, this was the first time I ventured into a bar on my own accord. My newness to bars as well as my lack of experience with alcohol made it difficult for me to understand and choose a drink from the menu, but in the end, I settled on the Long Island Iced Tea. The drink didn't make an impression, because it simply tasted like alcohol and I am not fond of the taste of alcohol. At some point, we were writing music suggestions for the bank and Michael wrote on his sheet that it was my birthday. He was hoping for a shout-out from the band, but instead they called me upon the stage and demanded that I sing a song (or pole-dance... of course I chose to sing). I was shocked by the turn of events and honestly, I wanted to kill someone! After an embarrassing attempt at Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years", I was released from their hands and offered a free drink. I made the most of this opportunity, and ordered the most expensive drink on the menu: the Flaming Lamborghini. This was quite an exciting experience, because my drink was aflame and I had to finish it quickly before the alcohol became too hot and inedible.

It was my first official drinking experience, so I was unsure whether or not I consumed a large amount of alcohol. I had two drinks, but I still felt reasonable and coherent. This made me curious as to what my limit was and what it felt like to lose control. I was tipsy from the alcohol, but I was still able to fully control my mind and body. I will leave this question for future adventures with alcohol. We left at 11:30 PM, because we all had work the next day.... and this was how I celebrated my 20th birthday in Singapore. I will be celebrating it once (or twice) again with my friends once I return to the states. Can't wait!