Singapore: Day 51

Today was a bit slower, considering that we went to Sentosa the day before. I needed to finish my essay on the Symbolic Frame for ISF 187, so I woke up quite early in order to submit it before the 2 PM deadline (the essay was due Saturday at 11 PM PST, which was Sunday at 2 PM SGT). I grabbed brunch at the dorms: Taiwan style yangchun noodles from Taipei Delights, and continued my work. Nicole, Laney, and James made a trip to Chinatown to try Tian Tian for lunch, but I could not join them due to the ISF assignment.

Taiwan style yangchun noodles

We met at 4:30 PM and headed to Paya Lebar to explore. We were pleasantly surprised to find a bustling market; it is Ramaddan, so there was a Hari Raya Bazaar (Ramadan Market) selling all sorts of food and goods. It's amazing how there are so many different cultures and sub-cultures that are present in Singapore and I'm glad we're able to explore them during our time here. We tried a roti john from Ramly Burger. It was very rich in sauce and the bread was very soft and chewy, but overall the roti john was very delicious. I also purchased a sobyah, which is a traditional Ramadan drink made from barley.

Ramadan market

Freshly prepared roti john

The Ramly Burger stall!

Roti john!

Afterwards, we headed to Kembangan Chai Chee for dinner. This food centre mostly sold Muslim and Malay foods (after all, the area is home to the Malay Muslim community.) I followed the queau and went to the stall with a very long line. The stall did not have a menu, so I asked the man behind me on what was good to eat. With his aid, I ordered the Nasi Ambeng, which is originally an Indonesian dish. It was very interesting because the server scooped a variety of dishes into a piece of paper and folded it into a package. I saved the sobyah I purchased earlier from the Ramadan market to drink alongside my meal. I I have no experience with Muslim or Indonesian food whatsoever, so this was definitely an exciting dinner to try.

Sobyah, a traditional Ramadan drink

Nasi Ambeng

The food was very delicious. For some reason, the Nasi Ambeng reminded me of Vietnamese food which made the meal even more hearty. Because I previously had the roti john and the Nasi Ambeng was very large and filling, I was quickly full and could barely finish the meal. After we all finished eating, we explored the area and the markets. The goods ranged from electronics to carpeting services to pastries to toys; it was fun looking around this unique cultural market, especially because I do not know much about Muslim culture and I would not have had this experience in the United States.

After dinner and explorations, we headed to the NTU Alumni Club once again for a night of karaoke. We had an appointment for 9 PM and we sang until 2 AM. Michael, James, and Nicole's friend joined us a little bit after 9 PM, because Michael came straight from the airport (he went to Indonesia over the weekend), James left after our dinner at Paya Lebar to drop an item off with a family friend, and Nicole's friend only joined us for karaoke. It was an interesting night, and by the time we finished, we were very tired. We took a taxi home and unwound from there.