A bit jetlagged, our first day in the new city started sluggishly. After a month of traveling apart I met up with my parents in Auckland and we flew to Singapore, where we planned to spend a few days together before charting different paths north through Malaysia. I always enjoy their fun-loving company, and the upscale accommodations and meals they grace me with are a treat after living on my backpacker’s budget.
It was the lunch hour by the time we were descending in the hotel elevator. The concierge recommended food stalls across the street where we strolled with haste, excited to sample the renowned cuisine of the region. Headed for the top of a five story shopping complex we made our way through a maze of cubic shops displaying everything from tailored silk suits to cheap electronics. Merchants were respectful as we passed, exchanging smiles they didn’t hound us for a sale. English is the official language of Singapore but it is not the first language of most of its residents. If you’re eating where the locals do English descriptions on menus are limited, as is most merchants working grasp of the language, luckily pictures are common. Point at something that looks good and hope for the best. What comes out is always a gamble but the surprise is part of the fun, it usually turns out well. The port city has long been a hub of international trade, its citizens and thus its cuisine reflect this international influence—Chinese, Malay, Indian and Thai are the staples but Indonesian, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese are common, ranging from glitz to gritty. After the relatively bland fare of New Zealand, my taste buds thoroughly enjoyed the complex flavors concocted from the region’s sundry of spices, which of course finished with a beloved eye-watering burn of hot peppers. And for desert…coconut rice cakes, Chinese egg custards, fresh fruit smoothies. Yeah I think I can handle a few months of this...
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