You think you know Singapore, Think again!

Enough of the laments on yesterdays' blog. It must be the single's valentine's day syndrome that causes it. Nevermind about that anyway.

I was supposed to go SAFRA for my weekly sun tanning in the late morning. Due to a sudden lunch appointment made with Terence, Jin and ZD, the plan was KIVed to next weekend. We all had lunch as usual in Taco Bell Raffles City where I had a 6-inches sandwich all by myself. The lunch session was pretty enjoyable until an Indian kid sitting beside me kept releasing "German Gas" and forced us out of the place as soon as we finished our meals. Bloody hell! Stupid a** without manners! Er..hem... Back to where I stopped.

We headed down to Funan before ending ourselves in Settler's Cafe, a conceptual cafe whereby you see "grown-ups" (or adults who can't grow up) playing board games or cards. Duh! It was damn obvious that Terence's wavelength and ours were never on the same level or else he won't be bringing two '81s and one '79 to such a boring place. Peach tea was eventually ordered after we somehow got sick of looking at the expensive games+food packages the cafe was serving. It was those kind of peach tea that can be found from supermarkets and furthermore, diluted. Puke! Kopitiams could actually be a better choice.

Bidded farewell to Terence who needs to leave early. Jin was supposed to meet up with his pal but it somehow got delayed due to a rock band concert. So the three of us continued walking aimlessly passing the well-known but vacant Speaker's Corner and Chinatown Point. It was in the late afternoon and the post CNY Chinatown was very quiet, you can hardly see a shop doing business. The colonial shophouses looked pretty much like those in Malaysia where my late Grandfather used to own. Very retro kind of feeling as though I was being brought back to the 60's. We also tracked our way to Ang Siang Hill 安详山 where you would find a secret garden hidden on the top. Looking down were the rooftops of colonial shophouses and if you were lucky, you could even catch a glimpse of an uncle roasting pork 烘烧肉 on one of the rooftops. It is very interesting to actually discover the existence of such places in modern Singapore... so who says life is dull in our Lion City? You just have to look deeper and you'll find them. By seven plus, the three of us were already very hungry. We settled our dinner at a hawker centre in Maxwell Road that is just across the streets of Ang Siang Hill and near posh Scarlet Hotel (Do check it out: http://www.thescarlethotel.com/). After dinner, Jin called his friend again but his friend was still in the concert. Thus, we went down to Little India to check that place out.

Wah Piangz! Yeah I'm really damn shocked to find so many Indians when I stepped out of the train station. The percentage of Indians to other races in that area is like 99:1; I simply felt like a foreigner in home ground. There was absolutely no crowd control in that area, the banglas' and Indians there can easily form an army and take over our country. No kidding! Trust me on one thing, it is really UNWISE for ladies to go there after 7pm (like what Brenda said). Want to know why? Read on... Little India whether it is near Mustafa Shopping Centre or at the back alleys are practically filled with people. You never know when you might be robbed, molested or not to say... er...forget it, just don't go there cos' behind the back alleys is Desker Road. Now you know what I'm saying?

Ok I took a walk along Desker Road out of curiousity. The street was dark and you can sometimes see many Indians crowding over the front doors of a few shophouses. In there were either prostitutes or transvestites...and obvious enough they are trying to negotiate with the 'locals' (potential clients) for a better price. Another prominent thing that you will see when you walk along the back alleys is the red neon lights hanging above the back doors, indicating that they are doing those kind of businesses and how suggestive is that? It was a blessing that none of us were approached by any of the pros and trans. I don't want to kana the "Top Prize" neither am I a 随便 person. The thought of it only makes me disgusted.

On the whole, Sunday was really an eventful exploration / excursion of Singapore. Again, these things show us that there are always the good and ugly sides no matter how beautiful a surface might look.