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.

Mongolian grill

Dinner at the hilltop officers' club, private concession, "Top o'the Mar" restaurant, with a spectacular view and good food.  Hard to screw up Mongolian grill anyway.  You might want to make reservations. We did not, and so had to sit right behind the outdoor Mongolian grills, garlic, ginger, and soy wafting from the 30 or 40 plates preceding ours.  Too mouth watering.  A bit pricey but worth the wait.  Did I mention that Whitie can do just fine here?

View from Nimitz Hill, Top o'the Mar

Again

yet again

further down the hill from an outlook

Chamorro BBQ

Every Wednesday at the beach-side pavilions known as Chamorro Village busloads of Japanese and Korean vacationers are trucked in from the disney end of the island to enjoy the local flavors.

We got ours to-go and went back up the hill for some spirits along with the local flavors.  Pretty much heart-attack food, but very tasty.

Conveniences in Guam

Guam has all the conveniences of home.
Here in Agana, near the Governor's mansion, the beach side strip reminds me of most Florida beach towns, half dilapidated, half the population trying to make a buck doing nothing.




Actually, on the northern end of the island are large hotels catering to Japanese and Korean vacationers (Orlando's I-drive with very upscale retail, and a big shopping mall anchored with Macy's for the hoi polloi.  Whitie can survive here just fine.

Here's some more:



update - this KFC (across from the Chamorro Village) has closed

Magellan lands in Guam

As I recall from, maybe, elementary school, Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe.  Well it turns out that he made a stop-off in Guam and we happen to be here the day of a reenactment of the event on the southern end of the island.

After the Chamorro revive him from near death due to scurvy Magellan prepares for departure.

As my sister says, Don't trust whitie!
By the way, across the road the dirt bike races got way more attention.