Friday was started on an exhaustive mode, coupled with the fact that I had hilariously ugly bangs.
Scheduled to meet a client at Suntec show, but ended up meeting almost half the world there, except the very client I am supposed to meet.
Bumped into Mary, and we chilled with a few of my ex-colleagues before hours of small talks, mingling speed-forwarded the day, and evening beckoned, that saw the beginning of a weekend of food, shopping, and us finding out more about Singapore along the way.
***
The weekend could be summarised by the amount of food I had.
Friday night was Jumbo seafood at Dempsey, welcoming Suki and Crystal as they made their very virgin trip to Singapore.
We had: Chilli crab, Pepper crab, Oatmeal crayfish, tofu, salted egg prawns, and plenty of other food that made us burp in delight when we were done.
I love man tou! So did Minibean, who seemed to love the chilli crab so much that she was asking for it again when we were out on Saturday.
Fast forward to supper, we had wanted to go to Newton for sambal stingray, but realised the hawker centre was closed. Bummer.
So off we went to Balestier to search for the sambal stingray and perhaps some barbeque chicken wings, but had ended up making do with Boon Tong Kee instead as the hawker centre had not much to offer.
Imagine 4 of us, at 4am in the morning, downing: half a steamed chicken, fried tofu, osyter sauce kailan, sambal kangkong and sweet and sour pork, which made me feel impossibly bloated for the night.
Saturday’s lunch was at Singapore Cricket Club, where a huge group of women gathered, to that a male member came up to us and asked if he could be the thorn amongst the rose, and we joked he could be the rose among the thorns instead.
Minibean had a field day stealing chips from my beef burger, indulging sinfully in satays and I had scones and many tarts to fill the tummy.
Dinner was char kuey tiao, satay beehoon, buah keluak, chai tao kuey, BBQ chicken wings, indian rojak, and local desserts at Wisma’s food republic after the girls went shopping.
I had wanted to get the kueh tutu, but when we wanted to get it, the stall was closed. As if someone above heard my prayers, as we concluded the night, uncle passed me some curry puffs and kueh tutu he was given earlier in the evening!
It was no wonder this morning when I woke up and dusted ash from my dress, I witnessed my tummy wobbling as I patted the dust away.
Dim sum lunch on Sunday before the girls board the plane to return to Hong Kong.
***
Asked if they would return, Suki said, “Probably in a couple of weeks’ time, I really like Singapore, and it is just 3 hours away.” in her graceful, English accent.
Definitely welcome, my dear 
***
It started from Dempsey on Friday evening, and it was such a cool, chilly night by the time we made our way to Night Safari.
Unfortunately, the flying squirrels were fed and probably felt a little too fat to strut their stuff for us. We only caught them gliding once, and it was already entertaining enough for the visitors. Minibean even went up to one upclose when it decided to climb down to the tree and let his other counteparts led the show.
The lion roared and it sounded as though it had smoked too much. Minibean actually roared in response, and did a really impression imitation of its roar.
We went past some peculiar animals, which probably belongs to the deer family, and then Minibean started excitedly proclaim, “It’s a PIG!”
Mummy went on a long debate with her, insisting, “It is NOT a pig!”
She decided to be cheeky, and was persistent in correcting me with that cheeky grin and a voice an octave higher, “YES! IT’S A PIG!”
So the exchange went on and on, and on, and the girls were laughing at the cheekiness of Minibean as she debatedly loudly with Mummy-with-the-baby-voice then, out of nowhere, she suddenly said, “PAPA IS A PIG.” and the girls all burst out laughing.
I finally nodded in agreement to praise her for getting that one right at least.
We missed the showtime again, and by the time we finished, it was already 11pm.
We sent Minibean back, before fetching Suki from Fullerton, then to Zouk to look look see see, and then down the all important Orchard Road, before ended up to meet up with the rest at Butter Factory.
Had originally wanted to go in after calling up the boss to sign us in, but since Suki would probably seen all the night scenes she needed to see in London, we ended up sitting by the river, and chilling by One Fullerton, after we bumped into Rajah, who was having a break after work with his colleague.
Such a small world afterall.
We opted for a quieter alternative of crossing over to Postbar at Fullerton Hotel, chilling in the cool evening outdoor, sipping Gunners and tea. Bill was on the tab as we spoke about raising kids these days and the kind of drunk friends we have. I spoke fondly of the time when a friend made me go on the podium in Zouk in my horrible get-up when she was drunk.
Just as we were chatting, a loud screech was heard, and was followed by a loud clang of metals that shook the silent night.
We got a shock, and Rajah was the very first to rush to the road to see if anyone needed help, followed by the ladies with hurried pace.
We got to the main road and saw nothing.
But the sound was of close proximity, thus it prompted Rajah to half sprint around the hotel’s perimeters in search of the scene.
There was a police car just opposite the road, but the police did nothing. They did not even move rom their position even though it sounded like quite a serious accident.
We turned round to where the road diversion was (that led to Battery Road), and saw the car in a damage lesser than what we thought it had been. The clang of metals wasn’t from the car, it seemed.
The car had mounted onto the pavement and hit straight into the sign.
It went out of control and we could see the trail of skid marks left on the pavement. Fortunately, no one was on the pavement or it could have really unthinkable consequences.
By the time the ladies reached the car, the air bags were fully bloomed but the driver was nowhere in sight. We joined Rajah at the scene, and he later told us that when he reached, the young chap was shaken and disoriented (probably drunk), he quickly whipped out his phone when Rajah had told him to stay put and not go anywhere.
When Rajah wasn’t looking, he took flight and sprinted away from the scene.
Quite the coward and also quite the stupid.
The fatality from the accident, which was retired by the next day when we returned to the hotel:
We joked to Rajah that he was kept up by us so he could witness and be of help, since he was already done with work for the day.
Suki was probably entertained by how interesting her first day in Singapore was.
We left Rajah to do his job and we left for supper at 3am, only to return home after dropping off everyone off at 5am.
***
Finally got down to checking Ion out (yay! No longer the country bumpkin), though I didn’t even manage to finish one entire floor due to a lacklustre stamina.
When getting off the car, Minibean was her usual cheeky self and started running to the back to change her soiled diaper and as we fussed over her, she cheekily ran away slightly from us, ended up going too close to the scorching hot exhaust pipe, which caused her to whimper, “Hoooott…”
I pulled her away quickly and asked if she was scalded. She stood there in a daze and almost crying, asking, “What’s that….?”
I told her those are exhaust pipes and she should never go near to them and quickly distracted her to other things.
The brave girl didn’t cry at all, though I almost did when I found a line of slight burn on her upper thigh later that evening.
***
Ion was busy, huge and crowded, as expected. I was thrilled to see Giuseppe Zanotti store in there!
As I ain’t that much of a shoppy person, I joined the others when they went into Aldo and I was glad I could rest my feet. NOT!
Before I could take a breather, the lil imp was running up and down as the girls were choosing their heels, and she started… trying to dress Mummy’s feet up.
She took some gladiator sandals for me to try, before grabbing the loud yellow and red heels to force me to try. She even wanted me to stand up to show her, as she busied ransacking the shelves.
Eventually she got tired, and ended up putting up a show for all of us.
She drew the sunglasses from the racks and started to parade around them, sashaying up and down the shop.
She would then insist Mummy to take pictures of her.
It wasn’t long before the hairbands and sunglasses weren’t enough.
And the cheeky Minibean was up to something else.
Trying on the rejects from Mummy.
And then, proving herself to be an absolute fashionista…
She needs some sunnies to go along!
When she got a lil more adventurous, she grabbed the striking yellow pair of heels and tried to walk in them.
I didn’t teach her how to pose okay.
So lovely, the lil Minibean
And while waiting, I tried on what I would never spend money on:
A pair of slippers that cost 500 pounds.
Seriously.
My ugly black slippers was “despised” by them enough for them to buy me a pair of glittery $65 slippers from Aldo to replace my $10 pair.
But my $10 pair more comfortable!
Nonetheless, thanks
***
Shopping is incredibly tiring and after carrying a sleeping Minibean into the room, and changing her, wiping her clean, I was ready to be knocked out.
But I treasure my me-time too much and watched Gran Torino instead.
It made me cry.
And it is a good show.
***
Could barely woke up in time for Sunday dim sum at Paragon before bidding the girls goodbye.
Minibean didn’t join us this time round and we managed to do a bit of shopping.
I was too tired but I popped in to Miss Sixty and got a snug-fitting pair of jeans at 70% off. Enough to keep me happy for a while!
***
Heading home and rested for the rest of Sunday.
And was feeling good enough to start the new week with a high!
Then again, I think my least favourite day of the week is Sunday, and not Monday.
