evesamuelsson

Even though I have been cheering and praising the Asian food, I have really longed for a simple and fresh dish without garlic, onion and chili. The food here is delicious, and there is a variety to die for. Another positive thing is also that every place serving food is valued on a scale from A-D on the hygiene perspective. These are rules that are set up by the government to guarantee good hygiene and health.
But today I really felt the need of eating something that felt a bit lighter, and that I could still prepare in our kitchen. I went to the supermarket and was completely astonished by all the different fruit and vegetables. I felt like a child in a candy shop and ended up buying a lot of weird fruits and veggies.

My delicious lunch;
Salad made of tuna fish, red pepper, ginko nuts (some sort of bean) ,snake gourd (cucumber look-a-like from india) and sesame seeds. Delicious! As the cream on the cake I finished with a seedless guava fruit from Thailand, which was one of the tastiest fruit I have ever tried. Yummm!

I did it again. I got lost in Mustafa center. We started this lovely Tuesday with a morning session at the gym together, after which Nico went to work and I went home to eat breakfast and make myself ready for the day.

Since I don’t have a lot to do before school starts next week, I promised Nico to do some errands for him. He needed to buy food boxes and I was sure that I would find them in Mustafa since mr Mustafa supplies everything you can possibly need in life. But, on the third floor I accidently took the wrong turn and ended up in the “spice” area.
It might seem like an easy fix to get out from the spice area, but think again. This is no regular spice area with salt, pepper and maybe some chili. We are situated in “Little India” which means spice- heaven for the Indian population. Miles long corridors with cinnamon, curry, nutmeg, dill, mustard etc. The lack of cardamom in Italy has now been substituted in different forms. Green, red, black and grounded cardamom, all the cardamom you could possibly want. And as if all the spices were not confusing enough for me I was also pushed around by loads of Indian woman on curry hunt. I gave it a try to excuse myself to pass them and find the exit, put it was impossible. The English is very difficult to understand, and I think that my only Indian language skills “Berhati-hati di Ruang Platform” (meaning= “mind the platform gap”, which I learned in the underground train) would come in better hand than “Excuse me, can I pass”.

After a long while I was finally out in the fresh air and I promise every single one of you that I will not return to Mustafa before I have a map or an indian-english dictionary in my hand!

He – had his first working day. Completely astonished. Completely satisfied. Dream work, as it seems.

Me- had the worst stressful day including running sweaty in the underground, almost missing my appointment, a funny taxi ride with a taxi driver that used the signal horn to every single traficant and giggled about it and 3 hours complicated meeting at the immigration office.

Evening; found topshop/topman = heaven.. Finished with a nice dinner and a walk through the city hearing about a successful first day from a very pleased and excited man.  

We have had a minor problem facing the law against chewing gums, since both of us are quite addicted to chewing.
I have tried ever since we landed to find a substitute that can ease our everyday life..Läkerol, fisherman,tictac, you name it...




But today I thought I found the best solution; "Ken-Ken", prepared cuttlefish, "Chewing gum of the orientals"

Perfect!!
.... until I tried.. 

To make the entire cenario worse, I was standing on the street, completely horrified and unable to spit the shit out of my mouth.. Those kind of behaviours can get you killed here with all of their rules and regulations, so it was just for me to continue chewing and try not to make a scene.. 



Im warning you people.. Do NOT try this at home.. 
Ken-ken, $ 0,60 in any singaporean supermarket, do NOT buy..
the only similarity to chewing gums is the "not being able to swallow"- effect..
which is why Im giving this product 0 out of 10 stars.. 

Now im gonna stick to läkerol, mints and pills of all kinds!!



 


 

Not only are we not able to feed monkeys and pigeons, the other day we were trying to buy chewing gums we were told they are illegal in Singapore. Okey, we knew we could not spit them on the streets, but to even buy or sell chewing gums is considered a crime. Receiving email from my university where they literally warned us about eating too much because of the heat and to keep a healthy lifestyle.

Arriving to the viewing of a flat. Everything is really nice. Very tiny room, but clean, fresh and central and with a good rent. But one little catch; We cannot cook in the flat!!

What does the Singaporeans have against eating? Furthermore.. Why do they display delicious food everywhere? We have found soo much nice food, very spice, very greasy, very smelly.. and without chewing gums, a breath killer!!

Aside from the food we have now settled down in the flat. Couldn’t be happier to get out from the hostel. It is a pure nightmare to share a shower (with kind of no roof) with 50 other backpackers and youngsters.. So now we are happily living near to “Little India”, an area with a lot of indian people, restaurants, shops etc. The area is quite central and makes it possible for us to walk to work and school. Something that feels like a luxury when we compare to a lot of other students, living approximately 40 -50 minutes away with bus or train. Very close we have a great shopping mall with everything we could possibly need, and “Mustafa” (yes for real) a shopping center open 24/7 selling everything from heavy medication to hammers, electronics and Britney spears newest perfume.

The “no cooking” issue we have already made plans on how to manage. Earlier today we buckled up with every kind of canned food you can possibly eat. Tuna fish, beans, corn, peas, mackerel etc. I don’t think we will have much problems though, since food is everywhere (not kidding) and very very cheap. Food out in city cost around 3 $ (around 18 SEK/1,80 euros) and in a nice shopping mall it’s around 6 $.

We also actually made a deal with the owner to be able to boil eggs, pasta and other easy stuff. Otherwise we will only use the kitchen to “prepare” food like salads, nudels and other easy things. But there will be no advanced cooking for me for a long while ahead, which if you know me, is something I really like to do.. So dear friends, prepare for a lot of dinner invitations after Christmas.     

Otherwise this day has just been an easy day in the city center and all of the many shopping malls, some shopping and a stop for delicious frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit. Yummm. The night was spent in Clarke Quay with a walk by the wonderful riverside and a fantastic dinner including sushi, sashimi and some other contemporary Japanese delicacies. Tomorrow Nico is starting work so I will walk the streets of Singapore on my own and also have a meeting with the immigration center. Hope they are nice and dont send me out of the country.. Wish me luck!! 


 
Cheap meal





















 

We are now in Singapore after around 10 hours of flight. Rather okey journey except from minor disruptions from a little thaiman behind us, some screaming babies and people who felt the need of releasing more gas then is acceptable for travellers’ pleasure. 

But the biggest issue was definitely the little middle aged barefoot man behind us. Not funny at all to have somebody elses feet in your face, scratching your back and pushing your arm. There should be a law against barefoot travellers on airplanes. Or at least a requirement to take serious pedicure before departure. I mean, it’s serious. I could be scarred for life.. Literally!! The toe nails of that man could easily leave scares on my back for ever. 

Im the first to admit that my feet could potentially create an accident or emergency landing situation. Nobody, not even my very own family would have liked me to force my bare feet in their surroundings.     

Anyways, after we arrived in Singapore we took a taxi to our hostel which was situated in Little India. Dropped of our bags, went for a walk, passed both Nico’s work and my school (huge) ate in a typical Singaporean food stall and fixed our phone cards. First impression; HOT!! But as we know; “ We have to get used to it” and we did NOT feed he monkeys and pigeons! Today as our first full day we have been around all town, checking 3 different flats, eating delicious food. Now we are resting our feet and head, trying to come up with a plan for our living situation… Stay tuned…





Attention! Notice the feet in the background..

5.34 I opened my eyes to stay awake for the rest of the day. Is it normal? Absolutely not. Can it be the stress? Hell yes. Waking up feeling a bit nauseous, both hungry and full, both tired and sharp, but completely unable to sleep. The thoughts of being in Asia in a couple of days not knowing where to live, not what to study, and Nico not being sure of where to work is piling up to an inner stress mountain. But it will be fine, as soon as I can decide what to bring in the limited 20 kilos of luggage. But do you wear long trousers in Singapore? Still the question remains unanswered.

Wanted to thank all of my beautiful friends for the nice afterwork/farewell evening on Wednesday. Nice evening for us to say goodbye and for Nico to show off the premier of his first (and probably last) cinnamon bun baking-
talents. Great to collectively say cheerio, and Evelina, I really hope to see your “köks-ö” on Christmas day..