Pedant Society, Vol 2

Seen at a cafe in Singapore. What exactly do you think happens at a "flee market"? Everyone runs away as fast as possible? Or they buy people who can run away very fast? The mind boggles...

Pedant Society, Vol 1

Seen at Borders, Singapore. Do you think that the first piece of advice in the "Smalll Business" section is that they buy a decent word processing package?

Little Kent and a little hungry

We went on a tour of Singapore last weekend, and one of the places that I had read about and was keen to go was Little Kent. Now, I knew that Singapore had China town, and a Little India, so I was eager to see what Little Kent was like. Tens of middle-aged ladies talking about butter? Men growing hops and barley, and sitting on tractors?


As it turned out, it was not quite like that, but was a lovely (cue Kent-terms) place to visit, and all of the street names were named after towns in Kent. Mainstone, Folkstone, Deal etc, so it felt a little like home. I've even looked at the street directory here, and there is a Lambeth Walk, and a Bedford Road, so more exciting road name pictures to come. Where's little Bedford? I think thats coming next July.

Some of the houses around that area were lovely, and it was quite nice to see that they were in really good condition. And loads of the people there were British, and one nice British chap even said hullo, Famous Five style as I walked past his house.

This was strange, because I had just been standing in the middle of the road like a crazy man taking a picture of a street sign, with cars going either side of me. He must have thought that a cross between Evel Knievel and an amateur photographer had just stepped off of the plane.

After exploring Little Kent, we had a bit of an exploration trip. One of the places we went was the site of one of the last battles of Singapore before it fell in WWII. Right on top of a hill, with spectacular views of Singapore, it seemed to be the ideal place for a last stand.

There was a tank there, and a nice plaque to tell a bit of a story. There was a class full of kids there as well, which was a poignant reminder to us all; never visit anything of any interest when school holidays are on. Ever.

We were a little peckish after all this excitement, and headed off to get some food. Here's a pic I took of an Indian chap flinging some dough to make roti prata, whish those of you in Singapore earlier this years will know and love!!

肉骨茶

Today we had Bah Kut Teh. This is one of my all-time favourite dishes in Singapore. It's a kind of pork dish, served in a soup with rice and other vegetables. There's also a kind of fried dough that you can dunk in the soup. The soup itself is quite peppery, and herbal (unfortunately, I can't think of anything in the UK to compare it to, except a peppery kind of meat broth soup. Sorry!). It's meant to be quite good for you, and usually does wonders for my newby flu. Alas, I am still struggling today. But the Bah Kut Teh was good, as always.

The Youtiao (fried dough) is a popular kind of breakfast dish in different parts of Asia, and we used to have it in China quite a lot for a snack (served with warm soy milk). Its's also popular in Hong Kong, where I think I had the biggest (and most unhealthy) version I can remember for breakfast. I was full for nearly a day after that!!