A Piece of Home

"There's no place like home" is a true statement for me. Home being the place where most of your loved ones are, the place you feel most familiar and comfortable in.

This weekend, Ernest, Edwin and Mei Lin brought down a piece of home for me. Despite the flu (I'm recovering from a bad bout) and food poisoning (that struck Mei Lin) the good company of friends around me made this feel like home.

It was really great to hangout and do touristy stuff, thanks to Kel and Dave's hosting. Ever since everyone started going off to uni and work, it's a rarity to have more than four people from the metro gang hang out together for more than a meal.


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Our first destination for the weekend was meant to be Tony Roma's for dinner. But we had to make a little detour for a medical emergency. Mei Lin had severe gastric pain from food poisoning. The pills didn't seem to work, so we rushed her to Raffles Medical.

It was our first taste of private medical services in Singapore and we found odd that for a 24-hour Emergency Ward, we had to wait quite a while to be seen the first time. Although the ambience was far from basic, what didn't impress us was a not-so-polite reply when asked why were kept waiting even after the doctor had seen Mei Lin. After all, she got what she needed, a jab to numb her gastric pain.

Our questions were answered 2 hours later when Edwin was hit with a $357 bill, which included the blood test (for kidney function) and urine test (to check for pregnancy) they took, which seemed totally unnecessary. Hence Edwin's upside-down smile in the photo above.




The next morning started off with a quick jog around the Paris Ris Town Park with Ernest and then Yakun Kaya Toast Bread with the rest.



The Bugis Street market was next, but we had nothing much to buy, so off to Beach Road we went to check out camping bags for Ernest's friend. Good deals. One thing ticked off the to-do list.

Conveniently, the place Kelly wanted to bring us to for special Makan Sutra grass jelly was located downstairs.



Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly was smooth (not rubbery) and served in chunks (rather than grated) ala tau foo fa. Serving options included grass jelly with sea coconut, grass jelly with longan, or just on its own.

The trend for the day started to look like an eating day. Tony Roma's was next on the list for fall-of-the-bone BBQ pork ribs, followed by Max Brenner Chocolate Bar at the Esplanade.




To satisfy Ernest's craving, dinner for the both of us was Pastamania's aglio olio. Although I wasn't impressed with their vongole, I have to say that they can make a pretty good bowl of aglio olio for a fast food joint.

Most of that night was later spent along the canal enjoying the lights at the oh-so-happening Clark Quay. It was reall abuzz and we were fortunate enough to catch the Chengay fireworks by accident. Greg Lyons was playing at Indochine, but unfortunately my flu was wearing me down and we couldn't stay much longer.



Right after service at City Harvest today we met up with Edwin, Mei Lin, Kelly and David for lunch at Changi Village. Before you start thinking that all we did was eat, check out the pictures below.



Relaxing at Changi Beach Park. The wind was continuous, it was perfect for a post-lunch nap.

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Of course, it's always hard to part ways in the midst of something good. But life has to go on, and we all need money to survive. So, back to reality, back to work.