Asia Travels: food court convenience

The apartment where we stay includes shops on the ground floor of adjacent buildings so we can simply go down stairs, walk for 20 yards and there's groceries, produce, alcohol, smokes, a 7-11, dry cleaners, and a food court with 5 or 6 different vendors. These folks in the neighbourhood and most all around Singapore speak an amalgamation of Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, with some Malaysian thrown in for flavor), though English is the official language. We can communicate in English, but nothing complex, and my Indonesian (Malay) will not fly here. The price of prepared food is 1/4 to 1/2 that in the US, but smokes and alcohol are steep. Beer is about 2x from the grocery store, but reasonable in a restaurant.

Pat and I have been eating Asian food for many years, but the variety here is kind of mind blowing. I think there's probably nothing like it in the US.

So, when we go down to the outdoor, covered, food court we pay about 2 bucks a plate, and 4.50 USD for a 22oz bottle of beer, don't forget to bring your own napkins. Folks typically bring those little travel tissues wrapped in plastic. It's cafeteria style, with different vendors providing different styles, and a stall dedicated to coffee, tea, and such. The old boys are down there already at 8 AM with liter bottles of beer. You see, beer is served from 6AM till midnight. I'm told that near midnight we pay in advance for our expected late night consumption as a means to skirt the system. The old boys stake out the best seats in the food court for beers and laughs, whereas in the States they would be relegated to some hole-in-the-wall bar. I think this way is better for the old guys. It seems we don't have the tight connection between alcohol and sin here.

The food is great, the noise level is high, with 40 or 50 people eating and sharing the morning, and a couple of big flat screens blaring. "Give priority to football" the sign reads under the TV. Of course that's soccer.

Oh, I forgot to mention that beer is served by uniformed waitresses hired by the respective beer companies, and whose job it is to make sure you drink a lot. They're a bit pushy, shown here sweet talking a 75 year old guy. I like the one (not shown) with bottle caps riveted to her sleeves, as if to signify her rank.