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.

Food courts are verrry popular here.  Every shopping mall has at least one, with 30 or 40 vendors, and they are packed with customers, and good food.

 

Singapore, amazing

Singapore is probably the most amazing city, even after having visited Beijing, Hong Kong, NYC, SFO, etc.  This place is organised, tidy, clean, and some really wonderful architecture.  My host Peter and his wife Jenny are much too generous, carting us around to see the town, assisting with our next leg, housing us, and treating us to really wonderful food.  Check out this chili crab.  Is this good or what?

Manila overnight

just landed in Manila, now in our hotel for overnight.  3rd world traffic, 12:30 at night and the traffic is wacky out there, horns blowing, racing cars and bikes.   Room is fine and nice price. 10 USD for 6hr WIFI, a bit steep.

Interesting, when I log onto the google blogger.com site to enter this post everything is in Filipino.



Blogging is not like life, it takes time away from living, but I'll post something here so you'll know we're still here. 

Here in Guam and Val & Chris' B&B.  Very nice place, good people, friendly neighbors, good coffee, quiet hilltop, just off the approach path for the international airport, so you can see them coming in.  Can't say enough good things about our stay with Val and Chris, the hosts with the mosts.  The pets are especially friendly, cats (5 or 6) and dog all love each other.  We added one black kitten, we found in the jungle at White Lady bridge while walking down the hillside toward town, who has been named Tolai (bridge in Chamorro).  Here's a clip coming back up the hill.