Singapore: Day 60

Today, I missed my alarm and overslept until about 10:20 AM. Two months of sleep deprivation have definitey worn me down, and I can't wait to go home and finally hibernate. While I was walking to the Kent Ridge MRT station, I couldn't resist my craving for Mr. Bean; whoever put Mr. Bean next to the MRT station is very clever, because whenever I am near the Kent Ridge MRT I am always tempted to make a quick stop at this delicious soya dessert store. I ordered my usual warm 25% sugar soya milk and tried the cheese pancake. As usual, it was delicious! I don't know how I am going to survive in the U.S. without soya milk and pancakes, especially since I eat them so frequently in Singapore. 

Cheese pancake and soya milk

 I arrived into lab in the afternoon, and quickly picked up my project. I ran a gel for the two genes that I left in the PCR machine yesterday as well as ran PCR for two more genes. I only need to run one more gel tomorrow, and I will be done with my project at last! I worked efficiently and quickly, such that I finished all that I needed to do that day by 4 PM. As a result, I left work early to explore Tanjong Pagar. Ever since last night, I have been craving the Pad Thai Jessica had for dinner; the egg prata also did not fulfill my craving for murtabek, so I wanted to actually eat mutton murtabek. That is why, at 5 PM, I found myself at Amoy Street Food Centre eating another huge feast.

Amoy Street Food Centre during the day

Pad Thai and mutton murtabek

The meal was very delicious, because I was able to satisfy my craving for Thai food and Indian food simultaneously. It is rare that I have cravings for two very different foods, and I was immensely happy that I was able to fulfill both. I quickly ate the food and shortly began my explorations of Tanjong Pagar afterward. 

Tanjong Pagar was one of those places that just resonated with me. I am not sure why, but sometimes a place just feels like home and we can't explain it. I felt this way with Chinatown as well, but I had the chance to explore Chinatown and now was my opportunity to explore Tanjong Pagar. I first went to the Red Dot Museum only to find it closed until August 2 (the day I leave Singapore, sadly); however, the receptionist gave me a "Design Map" that pointed out many stores in the area that featured creativity and design. I made it my goal to find the Little Drom Store. Here are some shots from my journey to find the store. I was lost on multiple occasions, which gave me the perfect opportunity to explore the area.

Thian Hock Keng Temple

Statues detailing Chinese processions

Ann Siang Road

Finally found you!

The interior of the store. Such a cute find!

At the Little Drom Store, I purchased a pair of hand-made owl earrings as a commemoration of my journey. It was fun exploring Singapore with friends, but I wish I had more independent journeys like the one I had today. Perhaps I like being by myself, but there is nothing like getting lost with a map.

After my explorations, I returned to PGP, took a quick shower, and headed to Holland Village for dinner with Luke, a graduate student I recently met. We ate at Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant, and I ordered the Enchiladas de espinaca y papa. The food was pretty good, considering that it is Mexican food in Singapore. It was not comparable to the Mexican food in California, but it fulfilled my cravings for Latino food. 

Enchiladas de espinaca y papa (sorry for the poor image quality)

 Afterwards, we went for dessert at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which is an Asian chain store similar to Starbucks. I ordered the raspberry cheesecake, which was overpriced at $5.80 and at best decent. As a baker of cheesecakes, I am quite critical about what a good cheesecake is, and this one was definitely too thick and dry. However, like the Mexican food, it satisfied my cravings for Western desserts.

Raspberry cheesecake

Looking into the distance

After our dessert stop, we made our way back to PGP and separated ways. It was an interesting encounter with Luke, to say the least. When I returned to my room, I showered and continued working on my blog until the AM.

Singapore: Day 56

Our time is winding down. Laney left tonight, and Emily, James, and Angelo are leaving on Saturday morning. We met in the afternoon for Korean BBQ in Chinatown. It was only $16 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. The restaurant had many kinds of meats and various Korean dishes (kimchi, japchae, etc.) The food wasn't authentically Korean, but it satisfied my craving for spicy rice cakes and kimchi.

Buffet style KBBQ

Our table of food

After eating, we walked around in search of a herb store. James needed to buy ointments for his mother, and Laney and I followed along by buying the same ointment. We also visited Fairprice to buy last-minute souvenirs. I purchased kaya, bak kut teh spices, laksa spices, dragonfruit, and longan. A kind Singaporean picked out dragonfruit for me when I asked her how to pick our dragonfruit (you'd expect me to know this after eating a dozen of them.) I thanked her, and left for the spice aisle. About 5 minutes later, I saw her walking toward me with another dragonfruit; apparently she had found a better one and wanted to give it to me. I was extremely touched by her kindness.

When we were finished shopping at Fairprice, we split ways. Laney and Emily wanted to continue shopping, while Nelson, James, Angelo, and I returned to PGP. We were all quite tired at this point (the fact that we stayed up to share affirmations only made it worse), and James and Angelo fell asleep on the MRT ride.

Nelson posing with the sleeping beauty

A sleeping James

When we got back to PGP, we rested a bit and then prepared for the Annual Dinner with the Berkeley Club of Singapore. The dinner was held at the Four Seasons, a high-end hotel in Orchard. A group of us met at 6:30 PM to take the taxi there, and thankfully we bumped into Laney and had a chance to say goodbye before her flight. We separated into two taxis, and after a bit of traffic, we finally arrived at the Four Seasons an hour later.

The dinner started at 8, so we mingled with the alumni in the lobby. It was definitely an interesting experience, because we were connecting with other Cal students in a location far away from Cal. It was also interesting learning about why the alumni were in Singapore and whether or not they liked living in Singapore.

We started off the night with a brief game. The president of the Berkeley Club called all the current Cal students onto the stage for a trivia about Singlish; the prize was an iPad. The president named several words which none of us knew (shameful, I know, considering that we lived in Singapore for two months). Some of us took painful guesses, but Kate took home the prize when she made a couple of lucky and clever guesses. However, the boxed Apple product turned out to be a hoax: inside was literally an apple!

The game was very fun, and afterwards, we returned to our respective seats and began our dinner. The dinner was definitely a new experience, because I never had such an elegant meal before. The portions were very small, and surprisingly the food wasn't that distinctive.

Beef Carpaccio with Tomato Basil Fondue, Arugula, and Pecorino Cheese

Cosmopolitan Granite

Pan Roasted Cod Fish Mediterranean with Charred Vegetables, Herb Oil

Warm Chocolate Cake with Spiced Ice Cream and Orange Tuiles

I sat with two couples and their children. I spoke the most with Eric, who graduated as a rhetoric major from Cal and is now an investment analyst at Fidelity Investments. I asked him questions about relocating to Asia, because after my study abroad experience I was interested in living and working abroad. Towards the end of the dinner, he connected me with Alice, who is a Health Economics and Market Access Manager at Johnson & Johnson. I spoke with Alice for a long time about science in Asia, and she suggested that I stay in the United States for graduate school and research. Asian R&D are focused on making affordable products for the Asian markets, while the U.S. houses the original R&D headquarters and thus produce more competitive research and goods. Alice also said the name of an American university will carry me further than an Asian university, so I should stay in the U.S. for graduate school. This conversation disappointed me, because I was hoping to return to Asia in a nearer future, but I directed the conversation toward research after my PhD and Singapore's health care system (after all, I may be pursing a MD/PhD route). Alice couldn't help me with these topics and suggested that I speak with two of her colleagues, Julian and another manager in the health care field. From these two men, I learned that Singapore's healthcare system is very well-off and that doctors earn very high salaries. This is hopeful in the case that I return to Asia as a MD/PhD; I can either become a doctor or start my own research lab. The possibilities are endless with an American degree, but I do worry that the research won't be cutting-edge research. I asked for the cards of those I spoke with so I could contact them with additional questions. The dinner was definitely a great learning experience.

Group table photo

After the dinner and profuse networking, the alumni brought us to Walbar, a Korean bar in Tanjong Pagar. Emily, James, and Jessica had dinner with Laney earlier to send her off, and joined us at the bar. The alumni purchased several bottles of soju as well as dishes of food. The night was actually quite fun, probably because I drank the most I've ever had. I don't remember the exact number of soju shots I had, but I do remember being inebriated to the point of falling asleep on Michael's and James' shoulders. The alumni were quite adamant about us drinking, and I found that amusing because I would expect working professionals to be more responsible. At the end of the night, the bill came out to be $3600! Thankfully we didn't have to pay for this immense bill.

Group photo!

 We returned to PGP around 3:30 AM, and I quickly showered and changed into more comfortable clothes. James had to do his laundry before his afternoon flight to Hong Kong, so I spent time with him in the lounge while he waited for his laundry. We ended up talking until almost 7 AM (don't worry, we were productive and packed whilst conversing). It was an interesting bonding experience and possibly one of the best conversations I've had in Singapore.