A Hawker Center: An open air food center where "hawkers" sell their local and authentic fare at very reasonable price. The Singaporians like to eat out with their family and friends as a way to socialize. There are many Hawker Centers around the island.
East Coast Park: This is a undeveloped park along the East Coast of Singapore. There is a continuous paved path that has about 10 miles designated for biking, inline skating and walking/jogging. There are some scattered seafood restaurants, ice cream stands and bike rental stores all along the path. It overlooks the south china sea which is always filled with very large ships loaded with tractor trailer sized containers.
Okay, Now I can begin!! Friday night I took the lead and we went to eat at Tiong Bahru Hawker Center near our house that I had heard great things about. After weaving our way to find a parking space, not an easy task, we started our adventure! We found the center and then checked out all the stalls to try to make some decisions on what to order. The kids are getting a bit more adventurous but in any new area, they aren't ever quite sure what to order. Morgan found some wanton noodle soup. This is her safety food! She should be able to critique many places once we are done!! They boys on the other hand, don't have any safeties! So Paul got them some steamed dumplings. No worries, they can always find something at home later!! I can't remember what Paul settled on, but I found something fun and new. I got bitter gourd with fish and fermented black bean sauce!! It was wonderful! I tried this because I had just conversed with my Mandarin Lao Shi (teacher) about how to cook and eat bitter gourd. It was fun to try something new. We finished our dishes and then I decided to get a bowl of shaved ice with a dark sauce with random things in it. It has some homeopathic properties I think! Something else different. Not new cause I had had it one other time with a friend who is Vietnamese. After dinner we had to jet set back home for one of Paul's grueling conference calls.
Saturday we decided to go out to East Coast Park (definition above!) to rent bikes and get some exercise. We did bring our bikes to Singapore, but we have no way to transport them around the island! We taxied out so Paul and I could indulge in an adult beverage after biking and got dropped off at the McDonalds! No we didn't stop for a big mac, but MickyD's is always busy here! We successfully rented 4 bikes! One for Paul, one for Cathy, one for Ethan and one for Morgan and Marshall! That's right M and M opted for the two seater! Of course they would need to swap out with Ethan later so all could enjoy the fun and giggling that goes with riding a tandem bike!
We headed off north toward Changi Airport on the wonderful path that is clearly marked with arrows. The paths are also clearly designated for bikes by a big yellow bike painted on the path and walking/jogging with big yellow feet painted on the path. You wonder why I mention this....because no one in Asia knows how to follow the directions. People were all over the place. Walking in the bike path, riding in the walking path, standing in the bike path, parking their bike in the middle of the bike path, you got the point!! It reminds me of the streets of Ocracoke on a busy summer day!! We weaved, rang our bells and mutters some unpleasants under our breaths but none the less made it to some areas that were less densely populated and had some fun! It was fun in a weird kind of way. We rode for about 2 hours and returned the bikes with visions of food and beverages on the mind.
East Coast is known for it's seafood restaurants and for it's steamed crabs in particular, so when in...we went to Jumbo seafood restaurant and ordered the local crabs. These crabs are different looking than blue crab, but the crab meat has a very similar taste. The Singaporians like to smother their crabs in a chili sauce and other things. We ordered one chili crab and one black pepper crab, a seafood clay pot, a platter of garlic broccoli, two bowls of steamed rice, a pitcher of tiger beer and three cokes!! Then we went to town! It was very yummy. Next time, we will only order the pepper crab, cause it was the best! I actually need to find out how to make this!!
After that we made the mistake of telling the kids that they could have a try at 360degrees cable wakeboarding only to find out that really they should go for the first time in daylight. I guess the tiger had warped our brain a little. We didn't give in and they didn't get to wakeboard that time. We did stay and watch some of the "locals" perform some great tricks on on the ramps though!! After that we needed to call it a night and head home. Got a taxi and got home safely.
Sunday was Sinapore National Day...just like July 4th for us so Singapore was hopping. We went to mass at 11:30, went to our usual food court for lunch (like the food courts in the US, but all asian food) after mass and then to the grocery store to pick up some food to grill for a small family gathering later. I do need to mention that even the stores in Singapore run out of hotdog buns on their independence day!!! Got home around 2 in time to make the salad, coat the steak and head down to the bbq pits. In our complex, there are 2 grills with a common area that can be reserved for gatherings. We met up with two other families and had a great time getting to know some new folks, kids swam and we ate and ate and ate!!! It was fun.
Monday was the "official" public holiday so Paul had off work! Woo Hoo! He took the kids, as a surprise to them, back to the wakeboarding and let them have a go at it. So at the end of the great weekend everyone got what they needed...some quality time with each other.
