Alvin Lai

Pepper celery/onion/meat

Tomato/onion/meat

Bak Kut Teh!

Although I succumbed to not wasting the extra red dates and it turned out a little more like red date soup grr

Finally, after wading through tons of work and distractions, I found some time to post this up. Enjoy!

Uncertainty was abound during the first week, when we arrived without knowing about anything. But it was also the period where everyone learnt the most about themselves. A wonderful experience!

Takeoff from Changi Airport

Transit in Narita Airport

2 hour wait, with Kaiwei looking funny :)

Esther and Quek

Kaiwei and I were bored so we went exploring.. and found a Akihabara store!

that sells delicious looking cuttlefish!

and some kinda small fish.

Finally, off to America!

Food-fare on board Northwest Airlines.

Some nice looking American bridge

Reach liao woo!

Breath taking scenery outside San Francisco airport

More breath taking scenery outside San Francisco airport

Waiting for seniors to pick us up. Still remember Devika coming to pick me up wearing her act-seh sunglasses :)

What's my first meal in America? In and out burgers!

The burger you guys saw in the previous blog post

Fries done animal style!

Seniors kindly put us (Bernard and I) up at their place, at Bernado's.

Bernardo's damn hip la.

As public transport is virtually non-existent here in Sunnyvale California, the first batch rented a Pontiac — USD$400 for a week man!

Weather's great, nice and cool with interest flora and fauna to see..

Beautiful leaves, aren't they?

The Vine's household, who put up the rest. Wonder what Bernard is really clutching. :)

Driving around in the rented Pontiac

Vine's mini eco-system in a rice-cooker..

David then brought us around in San Francisco..

The car got hyperdrive mode one u know.

You never know how it feels like in hyperspace.

Happy that we came out alive, 70MPH hyperspace haha.

Saw Gap!

The night streets of SF.

Try parking man.

Can eat happy liao :D

Shuyang no look tea pouring

Here comes the food. Jellyfish!

Crab! But still no match for my Dad's :D

The walnut prawns are seriously good.

Pork, I think..

A wholesome spread!

Awesome fish..

I couldn't resist a picture with this steep a car park.

We then drove up to Twin peaks and savored the stupendous scenery..

Happy birthday Yingli and Xinyi! My JC classmates of CG25 decided to celebrate with crab this fine Saturday evening.

I was initially puzzled having to meet at 1730 for dinner. Upon reaching I understood why.

And mind you, it's not a restaurant or anything. It's a KOPI TIAM (COFFEE SHOP)! We started queueing at 1800 and the kopitiam auntie was like broadcasting a 60 to 90 minute wait for a table, even suggesting to try out a rival kopitiam just across the carpark!

Eventually the queue spilled onto the carpark and they had to redirect it.

I can't resist Xinyi's expression here :)

They even take orders while we queue to ensure that our crabbies arrive promptly when we get a table!

The birthday girls beaming when we're finally next in line for a table. Notice the sign at the background, it reads: Please Q For Table N Order, Thank You.

Interesting!

Just look at the queue that formed behind us! Singaporeans will die for food.

A group of a while later, we learnt that a group of expatriates came by and unknowingly occupied a table was meant for us, without realizing that you actually had to queue to eat at this kopitiam.

Additional waiting time..

We got a table! Look at the happy girls.

And a hungry Bingxiong :) Joel looks like he's wielding a light saber on his head :/ We finally got the table at 1910 - a 70minute wait!

Here comes the food!

Fried bread to go with the crab sauces..

Playboy Chicken. Serious! That's what it's called! It tastes damn good too!

Paper wrapped ribs.

Wok egg toufu. This is the bomb I tell you.

I can't resist a nice closeup!

Front shot of the first crab. Butter crab! This is just sinfully delectable man.

Rear shot! They use fresh lettuce which goes so well with the sauce! Ohhh!

Frontal shot of the black pepper crab. Apologies for the unfocused picture.. Didn't have many clean fingers left after the butter crab :p

Rear shot.. Thank you everyone for patiently waiting for me to take a shot before attacking the crab haha..

Damn solid the meat I tell you!

The flesh would like fray out like sea anemones!

The butter beehoon (thick vermicelli) crab is their signature dish. It doesn't look much but I tell you the soup is.. you gotta try it out for yourself man. Butter and crab goodness!

Satistied tummies.

Marvelling at Bingxiong's big bike..

A failed attempt for an artistic night shot at some random bushes..

Before finally leaving for AMK Central..

for supper at MOS Burger..

Wonderful night! Happy birthday Xinyi and Yingli!

I think many would be pretty suprised when I mention of meeting my primary school classmates for BBQ. It's like who keeps in touch with theirs?

I'm thankful to meet them after parting ways for more than a decade since the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). There's also this warm fuzzy feeling when you try to piece names to faces and recall class seating positions.

We also had lots of fun trying to compile the full name list of our P6 class, updating each other about whereabouts and sharing nostalgic experiences.

The BBQ at Pasir Ris Park pit 36 was nice. After CiBao and I set us up the fire (I couldn't resist the set us up the bomb pun haha), the ladies wanted to grill the crab sticks.

The only problem was, the crab sticks would fray above the open fire and we didn't buy aluminum foil. We came up with the idea of finishing the Otaks (yummy spicy flavored fish slabs pre grilled in banana leaves) and using the banana leaves as placeholders:

It was an interesting sight.

The fire was glowing a nice amber and the food done in an utmost surprisingly delectable manner, with unbelievable great tasting chicken wings seasoned with honey garlic BBQ sauce at the last minute.

The fish balls were heartwarmingly tangy too.

XiaoJing couldn't really bear to eat some of the food after a discussion of cruel slaughter methods, and I was chided for saying "hey more body parts, oops wings!" haha..

YanShan was really capable in keeping the place spick and span and was unbeatable with the finances.

ChuanYun.. A new face and a new name for me today! "Pass Transport", a nice mnemonic!

Jihua came shortly after and man has he changed. Looking damn fit sia!

After the BBQ, Jihua drove us (Yes all 6 of us, including himself) to White Sands for a drink at Macdonalds.

Just as we were leaving, a Macdonald's auntie came to help clear our drinks.

The next moment she came up to ask us: "Did you know that Pasir Ris starts the day half an hour later than the rest of Singapore?" all that in perfect mandarin.

She said that during her time, the government wanted Pasir Ris to have the same time as the rest of Singapore, for purposes of time synchronized stock exchange with the Malaysian stock market, understandably for economic reasons.

"But is this good for the people?", she questions, throwing us aback.

Ah, the opposition, I thought to myself.

She goes on to explain that its not healthy to wake up prematurely, then going on to the situation of school children (in Pasir Ris) waking up extra early, due to the time discrepancy.

In a nice transition, she mentions herself as a teacher back then fearfully teaching the son of a rich indian man, whose name wasn't officially enrolled, under instruction of the principal.

She relates how she gave extra lessons to her EM3 students back then, helping them, only to be faced with disagreement from her superiors.

Rather than increasing the salary of teaching staff for some reason I forgot, she felt that the education system should focus on solving problems associated with the EM3 system.

Battling with her conscience, she quit the teaching profession that pays a monthly $3000 for a research assistant job at NUS that pays $700, a noble sacrifice for aspirations, I think, and finally ending up at Macdonalds for $400 a month.

Was she ranting? Maybe. But it was a refreshing take on things, interesting nonetheless.

Kena chided for being too patient with her by the rest later.

A splendid evening it is :)