Part 3: Hawker Center....
My final day in Singapore was met with a little sadness. There were so many more areas and places to explore, but I decided to leave these for my return visit.
Most of the food I had eaten up to now, had all been a first time experience - I was not disappointed, and I fully expected that trend to continue for my travels. On my last evening, my friend deciding on leading us to one of the many Singapore Hawker Centre's, or an open air food court.
But first I decided on doing something completely out of the blue - albeit with a customary rush of blood to my head, by adding to my increasing obsession with Tattoos.
I was feeling inspired after overcoming one of my greatest fears and what I decided on doing had more than just a sense of randomness to it.
Little more than a year ago I would not have even boarded a grounded plane let alone a moving one for 16 hours.
So I wanted some poignant words of inspiration in Chinese inked on my back, putting my trust in my Chinese guide and the young girl at the Tattoo parlour who also happened to be Chinese.
They conversed in their native tongue, for a while giggling as listened on - and for a brief second I was beginning to have second thoughts, but then I went with my instincts, and after a discussion with them both, I decided on the following words.
'To over come all fear 100 times over, through strength and adversity'
A bold statement I know, but It seemed to hit a chord and was somewhat apt based on my experiences of late.
And before I knew it, there I was face down half naked on a chair with the familiar buzz of needles and unmistakable antiseptic smell - there was no going back now.
I chatted with my friend as the Chinese tattooist worked her somewhat different tattoo technique - she was more delicate and far more gentle than my regular tattooist, covered in beautifully inked traditional Chinese art and scriptures, and was soon in her stride, it didn't take too long either as she was shading and doing the outline together as to not go over the same spot twice, thus limiting the pain; and in no time it was done.
So there it was on my upper back in a traditional Chinese font - I gently put my shirt back on, and not for one second did I even begin to consider that the sticky humidity outside would be really uncomfortable, so I thanked the tattooist with a warm embrace and we left.
My brother was in Malaysia on business and had deciding on taking a short taxi trip across the border to join us for food - the Newton Hawker centre beckoned.
When we arrived, it did not disappoint. A melting pot of different cuisines from Thai, Malay, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Singaporean and Fusion.
We sat right in the centre so we could see all the tiny hut like kitchen cabins surrounding us in a perfect symmetrical circle and as expected, it was busy being peak time.
The chefs were furiously cooking, working, and preparing food at a frantic pace - there was so much to choose from. Me and my brother were struggling to decide on what food to and did not know where to start.
So my friend volunteered and ordered us a rather large selection - and soon, dish after dish arrived from all angles.
We had sweet n sour chicken, kambing mutton soup, mee goreng spicy fried noodles, kang kong, morning glory, traditional chicken curry, nasi lemak coconut rice, sting ray topped with sambal chilli and more. All complimented with fresh sugar cane drink. We shared and sampled everything before the heavens opened up leaving us to scramble ourselves and each dish to a covered table.
It all added to the sense of fun and did not dampen our spirits.
Our friend then gave us a brief background and history of each dish.
I fully understood why
Singaporeans are truly knowledgeable and passionate about food. According to my friend, eating definitely holds the accolade of being the national pastime here and it is easy to see why they are such food lovers.
We all then decided to hit one of the bars for a drink, and what better way to finish the night than with an ice cold Chinese beer.
The Asian acoustic band performing laid back covers of classic tracks was just the right volume and were surprisingly good. Me and my brother spoke and he commented how relaxed I looked. He had no Idea at the slight apprehension I was feeling about my next destination deep down.
I was putting my freshly inked, and by now, bleeding tattoo quote to the test.
I was heading into the unknown.
Manila, Philippines.
Here I come...