Singapore food log

DAY 1:

Breakfast #1: Instant noodles from Seven Eleven

Breakfast #2: Coffee at Starbucks (which opened at 7:30 am, making it one of the very first places to open in the morning).

Breakfast #3: Coffee, toast, fruit at Sleepy Sam's Bed and Breakfast

Lunch: Fish rice noodles (魚肉米粉) at a fantastic two-floor food court on Beach Road. The soup was slightly sweet (I noticed they were using sweetened condensed milk:



Dinner: Due to jet lag (and maybe also partly due to the three breakfasts), I did not eat dinner.

Day 2:

Breakfast #1: Penang stewed rice noodles (檳城馳名鹵面). The noodles were a bit disappointing. Not much flavor. The meat was supposedly pork, but it didn't really have the right consistency. It was possibly horse meat. To accompany the noodles, I had Hong Kong style milk tea (which I love!!!):



Breakfast #2: Coffee, toast, and fruit at Sleepy Sam's.

Lunch: South Indian food at a small place not far from the Singapore River. Very flavorful!



Dinner: Hainan-style chicken with rice + spicy shrimp + tofu. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph this meal.

Day 3:

Breakfast #1: Fried rice noodle with fried egg and curry paste + Hong Kong-style milk tea

Breakfast #2: Fruit and toast with coffee

[to be continued]

Singapore

Here I am in Singapore (for a conference). For the first three nights, I've been staying in a hostel called Sleepy Sam's Bed & Breakfast, located near the Sultan Mosque. In this photo, Sleepy Sam's appears in green on the left:



On the first full day, I remained in the neighborhood of the hostel, visiting the Malay Cultural Centre, followed by a few Hindu temples in Little India:



I thought of entering the MRT (subway) at one point to get away from the heat, but it turned out this was impossible since I was carrying a bag of durian slices:



The durian, incidentally, was disappointing (nothing like Thailand).

On the second day, I went for a jog in the morning (5:30 am) along the Marina Promenade. This was nothing really to write home about; portions of the promenade were blocked off for construction, and I ended up running part way in the middle of the road. After two breakfasts (Penang stewed noodle + the hostel breakfast of toast and fruit), I walked over to the Asian Civilizations Museum, where I encountered a Late Tang Luoyang epitaph on display (which was very cool since I'm into Late Tang epitaphs these days):



At lunch time, I strolled down the Singapore River, looking for food:



The restaurants on the bank of the river seemed overpriced, but I found a South Indian restaurant one street off the river.

That evening, I met two colleagues (Khee Heong and Von Glahn) for a dinner of Hainan-style chicken.

In subsequent days, I will be occupied with the conference, and probably won't post any additional information. I'll be moving out of Sleepy Sam's and into the university visitor's lodge later today.

Yosemite

Here are a few photos from our late March Yosemite trip. My dad and Helen stayed in a hotel in Wawona, while Gina and I stayed in a (very cold) cabin in Yosemite Valley itself. Here we are (with our matching Yunnan-style hats) at the Tunnel View coming in from Wawona:



On the first afternoon, the four of us strolled to Mirror Lake. I climbed a rock:



On the second day, we took the Mist Trail followed by the John Muir Trail until we had a nice view of Nevada Falls. The trail beyond the bridge (Dad and Helen didn't go beyond that point) had certain stretches of snow, so that at times we actually had to scramble off the trail to get up the hill. Here's Gina in front of Nevada Falls:



On the third day, Gina and I went up as far as we had time for on the Yosemite Falls Trail. We ended up with a lovely view of the Upper Falls (Gina was convinced I wouldn't make it into position in time for the timed shot...that's why she's not smiling!):