Yesterday...

City in the Morning

It was a beautiful day, and the sun was not so harsh even though the clock went past 9 some time ago. There were tour groups harbouring where you could catch a good view of the Merlion stationed beside Clifford Pier. There was an even larger crowd gathering below the statute. I was taken aback by the people, as it was unusual for me to see tour groups in Singapore, much more so on such a day.

After the rest of the people turned up for the 5-km run, which was an expected pathetic trickle of the actual size of the group for the Mt K expedition, I was glad to have the company of the HI girl to run with me. We did not talk much: I was still lacking in my communication skills, and she was the awfully quiet one from the night trekking session last time. However at the end of the run, the ice was very much melted, if not broken. Her name is Caroline, and she works in JP.

The run was beautiful and exceptionally quiet. One would expect the city to be bustling with activities, but it seems to be asleep on lazy Sunday mornings. Even my walk towards Chinatown later, which traversed Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, carried on the quiet mode of the morning. It was exhilaratingly enjoyable to me, and I rested in the calmness. A thought started to conjure in my mind of the possibility of getting people to go for city run with me on another Sunday.

Chinatown in the Afternoon

I arranged with my mother to meet me in Chinatown, which was where she wanted to go. I did not mind as I have been longing to try out the small food outlets found scattered throughout that cluttered area of shops. I wanted to steer clear of the mainstream roads used by most people, and cut into small alleys instead. In one of them, we stumbled into this nook called "Old Shanghai". Not to say the food is spectacular, it was satisfying both to the mind and body. I like trying out food in new places. After we walked another few rounds, we went back to the same alley to a dessert shop I had spotted earlier. This must be the shop that my boss boasted about the nice sesame paste dessert. So we both had black sesame paste, which was wholesome and not too sweet.

Changi Beach in the Evening

My final destination for the day was to meet my friend (you can call her my best friend), to celebrate her birthday, which was on Saturday. In a normal year, both of us would try to name a day between our birthdays so that we could celebrate together since ours was merely a week apart. She went cycling with her friends and colleagues at Pulau Ubin, which I refused her invitation as two weeks ago, I was there with the Mt K team. Besides I thought I would have to give tuition (which was thankfully cancelled).

It had been a long time since we caught up with each other, so there was loads to talk. We walked from one end of the Changi Beach to the other, sat down in between to rest and enjoy the sea, and still had things to talk. It was a good feeling, that we had things to talk. I always felt this way about her, that if somehow we don't get to meet up for a long time, when we see each other again, there will be things to talk about.

We had dinner at the Changi hawker centre, where we painstakingly waited for an hour or more, just to sample the famous nasi lemak there. She spotted a Mediacorp male artiste, who I was not particularly familiar with. He, too, was queueing up with his daughter and her friends to buy the nasi lemak. One must wonder what is so fantastic about this stall. Well, to be honest, the food simply had to taste better, and it did. The sambal was super good, and the fried chicken wing, too. I suppose this is the kind of response you would get from the stall patrons who have queued hours just to buy their nasi lemak.

All in all, yesterday was good.