Singapore: Day 55

Today, I didn't go into lab because I ended up sleeping at 7 AM and was too tired. I've also been a bit emotionally vulnerable lately due to a certain chain of events.

I met with Michael at 3 PM to check out Singapore's museums. We originally planned to visit the Red Dot Museum at Tanjong Pagar only to find it closed. We wandered and happened upon the Singapore City Gallery. Entry was free and the demonstrations were beautiful! It was the perfect closure, because the gallery had several small imitations of Singapore and it was nostalgic pointing out all the places we visited.

Singapore City Gallery

Last night's destination!

Afterwards, we walked around to find the food centre. We found one, and Michael was elated to discover a new centre, until I pointed out that it was the Maxwell Food Centre. Even with that disappointment, we were both excited to try Tian Tian, the stall that won against Gordon Ramsay in the Singapore Hawker Cook-off. We ordered the famous chicken rice.

Tian Tian

As expected, the chicken rice was delicious. It was rich and flavorful, and it made me wonder how it was humanly possible to pack such deliciousness into something as plain as rice. The chicken was tasty, but not astounding as the rice was. The rice had an amazing flavor, and I hope I can reproduce it when I return to the states (unlikely, but an adventure nonetheless). After our meal, we decided to grab dessert. I ordered a black sesame soya milk, and Michael and I talked to the stall owners for a while about what it was like to run a hawker stall and live in Singapore. The both of us like to interact with the locals in Singapore and are open to conversing with strangers, so it was definitely a great experience to meet Singaporeans with a friend. After our conversations, Michael hunted for dessert and eventually ordered a strawberry soya bean curd (which was delicious and later convinced me to try my own bean curd.)

Black sesame soya milk

After we finished our desserts, we made our way back to PGP. Those of us that were still in Singapore gathered for dinner at 6 PM, and Michael and I made it right in time to meet with them. From there, we headed to Orchard to eat at the Asian Food Mall in Lucky Plaza. I ate at the Filipino stall, Lutong Pinoy, and ordered the arroz caldo/goto with egg. It tasted like the porridge I usually ate at home, but it was chewier and also came with a lemon. It was my first time having Filipino food, and it was definitely tasty and interesting at the same time. I will need to have more experiences with Filipino food in the future!

Arroz caldo/goto with egg

 Afterwards, we grabbed dessert. I was beyond full at this point, but I wanted to try the desserts, so I split one with Jessica. It was delicious and contained shaved ice, ice-cream, corn, jelly, fruit, etc.

After eating, we watched Pacific Rim at Shaw Theater (still in Orchard.) The movie was interesting, yet uncomfortable for me. I disliked the character that the Asian female presented: she fulfilled the Asian stereotype of being quiet, obedient, characterless, etc. On our taxi ride back home, we picked apart the movie to its bones, which was a great experience. I definitely missed analyzing movies for the two months that I've been away from the states, so it was refreshing to do so again with friends. When we returned to PGP, Michael, Laney and I washed our laundry. Michael gave me the remainder of his Royce chocolate (he was leaving for Bangkok on Saturday and could not finish it) while I shared some of my contact solution with him.

While in the laundry room, I bumped into one of the graduate students I met a few weeks before. We talked a bit and he asked for my number so that we could meet up next week. While I waited for my laundry, he stayed with me in the lounge and chatted away. All I can say is that it was an awkward experience.

Singapore: Day 53

Today, we were running experiments late into the afternoon and missed the lunch period at Duke-NUS, so we ate at the House Men's Canteen. I ordered the mee hoon kway, which had uniquely shaped noodles. I'm going to miss the cheap price of food. My meal was only $2.50, while a meal back in Berkeley is at least $6!

Mee hoon kway

I left work early today in order to stop by Chinatown and to attend our AIC event at the Night Safari. I bought two pork buns at $1.50 each and a box of lychee for $3. Because my time in Singapore is winding down, I want to try as much as I can. The pork bun was heavenly! It was incredibly juicy and soft and like no other that I've ever eaten. It was completely fresh and authetentic (not saying that my mother doesn't make authentic pork buns). The lychee were also large and sweet. I will definitely miss the fruit in Singapore.

The stall of delicious buns!

The buns are kept hot and fresh in these containers

Juicy pork bun

Box of lychee (photo taken later in my room)

Because I wanted to eat my pork bun fresh and food is not allowed on the MRT, I enjoyed the bun while wandering through People's Park Complex.

People's Park Complex

After I finished my bun, I journeyed back to PGP and gave the other bun to Emily, who lives right next door to me. I also tried the delicious lychee. Shortly after, we met at at the lobby and journeyed to Choa Chu Kang, where we were to meet for the Night Safari. Besides the mall was another Ramandan market, so we bought our dinners amid the stands of deliciousness. I purchased squid, chicken, and crab takoyaki as well as a cup of corn. The cup of corn may be questionable, but I love corn and I have been meaning to try corn in Singapore. I wasn't very hungry because I had the pork bun earlier, but I pushed through the food knowing that I only had a finite amount of time left in Singapore.

Ramandan market. So much food!

My half-finished cup of corn

Squid, chicken, and crab takoyaki

After the entirety of the study abroad programs met up, we moved to the bus stop, where we took public transportation to the Night Safari. At this point, it was 9 PM and the park closed at midnight. It is difficult for me to share photos, since it was almost pitch black and the pictures did not come out well. Here are my attempts:

 

 

 

Group photo outside the Night Safari

It was fun exploring the wilderness at night both via tram and on foot. Luckily there were trails within the Night Safari, and we followed them to sight all the animals. When we were finished exploring the Night Safari, we took a taxi bus back to PGP.

Singapore: Day 52

Today is the beginning of the last week of the program. I started off my day at work with breakfast at Chinatown. I bumped into Nelson on my way to the MRT, and he recommended that I try a pork bun stall at Chinatown. I had the kway teow bakso soup and a long bean with meat pancake afterwards. I've been eating more lately so I could try as many foods as I can before I leave Singapore (a strange thought, leaving).

Kway teow bakso soup

Long bean with meat pancake

After I quickly ate, I went into lab and picked up my project. Because I had a large breakfast, I was not hungry and continued working past lunch. Later during the day, I was hungry and went to the Kopitiam for popiah. I talked to the chef and he asked if I was going to come back to Singapore to work. This has been a growing thought lately, going abroad for work. My study abroad in Singapore has only opened my eyes to what is possible. The world is so large, and I want to experience more of this international culture.

Laney and James had dinner with their coworkers, so Angelo, Nicole, Emily, and I remained to make dinner plans. However, both Angelo and I were running late, and plans fell through. Instead, I went to Just Acia for dinner. It is unbelievable the number of times I've been here (both with Emily and by myself), but this restaurant holds so many memories. It is the place I go to to heal wounds and find quiet space. I ordered the dory fish ramen in tomato soup.

Dory fish ramen in tomato soup

Afterwards, I returned to my room in PGP and continued working into the night. I felt like I was falling apart, because I was behind in my blog and Reach the World as well as in the ISF class. I also haven't been able to work with SASE often enough this summer due to my busy schedule, and I was unsure of the status of my applications. Too much to do, too much to worry about!

Singapore: Day 34

Today, I left PGP earlier than usual so I could shop for travel supplies at VivoCity (Harbour Front). I bought a couple of small bottles from Watson's so I could package my toiletries as well as packages of cookies to bring on the Thailand trip tomorrow. Because of all the shopping, I arrived to lab in the afternoon.

After work, I was originally going to grab dinner with Angelo and Nelson, but our plans fell through and I made a trip alone to Chinatown after work. I looked around the area outside People's Park Complex, and asked the local couple standing next to me for their advice on what was good to eat in Chinatown. This snowballed into the couple and their friends excitedly showing me around the area and the local hawker centre.  I found this to be extremely cute. Singaporeans are definitely the most kind people! I ordered from one of the stalls the locals recommended, one that sold a couple of different noodle soups. I chose the kway teow bakso soup and a stringy noodle to go along with it and it was absolutely delicious! Whenever I eat something very delicious, I become noticeable happy and excited, and this meal definitely had that effect.

Kway teow bakso soup

After my brief adventure in Chinatown, I returned to PGP and continued my work. We had an essay due for our Singaporean sociology class on Monday as well as a short essay for ISF 187 due on Sunday. We were going to be in Thailand until Monday night, so I needed to finish both essays before our flight tomorrow afternoon. I am terribly slow with writing essays, so this was a very painful night.

Singapore: Day 32

Today, I resumed my work life. I had already normalized expression levels with GAPDH, and I began the experiment by running my first four Wnt genes through the RT-PCR protocol and two genes through PCR. I left the two genes in the PCR machine so that I could pick up the protocol the next morning and run a gel.

Angelo visited Hong Kong for the weekend, and we organized a dinner at Maxwell Food Centre in Chinatown to hear about his travels. We were to meet at 6:15, but because I decided to run two more genes through PCR and finished at 6:30, I arrived much later. I quickly looked around and found an aromatic stall selling carrot cake. When I'm in Chinatown, I try to take every opportunity to speak in Cantonese (plus it is easier for me to speak Cantonese than for the Chinese to understand my English). I talked to the owner in Cantonese and asked him about the difference between white and black carrot cake. He explained that white carrot cake is savory while black carrot cake is sweet, and stated that Singaporeans generally like the white carrot cake. I tried black carrot cake at Gluttons Bay, so the owner's last comment pushed me to order the white carrot cake. I'm glad I did, because the white carrot cake was absolutely delicious! It was even tastier than the black carrot cake. The chili served as the perfect condiment, because it added an extra layer of flavor to the sweet saltiness of the carrot cake.

White carrot cake

But back to the main star of the show. Angelo enjoyed his trip to Hong Kong and talked about his lost explorations and his wonderful encounters with food. He also asked Emily, Laney, James, and I about my birthday, and I had to explain my embarrassing fiasco on the stage of the bar. It was a great dinner to reconnect, and when we were finished, we returned to PGP and resumed our usual schedule of homework-ing and blogging.

Singapore: Day 26

Today was another long day at work. I will try not to include details of my work life-- it is quite monotonous in that I run the same protocol for an unbearable number of genes and cell lines. Well, after I first finish normalizing with GAPDH of course, whenever that may be. It is a bit annoying having to tweak the odd expression by adding an extra 0.1 micro-liter of DNA, only to find it over-expressed, then to at last found it under-expressed. However, I will get through this soon enough!

I was jealous of the attendees of the ASTAR conference; Emily, Laney and Janes intern at ASTAR and they had a conference full of exciting science talks and delicious food while I played around with GAPDH. Science and food, what else do you need in life?  Thankfully, James saved me a couple of sweets (my favorite being the cheesecake), which satisfied my long-lasting craving for Western sweets. I have been craving cheesecake for weeks but my less-than-ideal experience with the blueberry cheese has made me hesitant to buy Western sweets again. The cheesecake from the conference was perfect though and I was immensely happy.

At 6 PM, we all met up for dinner in Chinatown. Many have told me that the food in Chinatown is amazing, so I was excited to finally have a meal there. Once Angelo, Emily, Laney, Nelson, Nicole, and I assembled at the MRT entrance facing Pagoda Street, we headed to Smith Street Food Centre (Angelo and Nelson work in Chinatown, so thankfully they know most of the food places in the area.)

Pagoda Street, Chinatown

Smith Street Food Centre

After wandering around the large centre, I decided on chee cheong fun and soon kueh. The woman serving the foods was very hospitable and explained what soon kueh was. Our conversation took place in Cantonese, which added a layer of familiarity. She even gave me a free sample of turnip cake! Now onto my dinner. Chee cheong fun is a Cantonese dish as well as one of my favorite foods, so I definitely wanted to try it in Singapore. For those that are unfamiliar with Cantonese foods, chee cheong fun is a thin roll of rice noodle and eaten with soy sauce and hot sauce. Soon kueh was foreign to me as well, but according to the web it is a steamed Chinese dumpling made of rice flour skin with chopped turnips strips in the inside. Both were very interesting for comparison, because back at home, my mother would make chee cheong fun and dumplings for a Chinese style breakfast. At home, I ate chee cheong fun with soy sauce, but the Singaporean chee cheong fun was served with sweet dark soya sauce and chili paste. Both the chee cheong fun and the soon kueh had the same dressings, which doubled the overwhelming sweetness of the entire meal. I have a huge sweet tooth, and even I could barely handle the puddles of sweet soya sauce combined with the sweet turnips inside the soon kueh. It was indeed overpowering, and I felt as though I could never eat sweets again. 

Chee cheong fun

Soon kueh

Of course, my initial conclusion turned out to be false because a few minutes later I found myself standing before one of the bakeries at the food centre. Who can resist? 

Perfection

I am a huge lover of black sesame, so I could not escape the lull of the black sesame bun. I purchased one black sesame bun (for now) to enjoy for tomorrow's breakfast. The bun was extremely tasty and soft. The entire bread was flavored with black sesame, and the filling was also black sesame and included walnuts. It is definitely the best bread I’ve had so far, and I can’t wait to go back to buy more! The meal was immensely filling. After dinner, we headed back to PGP and separated ways. I continued working on my applications, but I headed to bed a bit earlier because I was tired.