A Nice Little Saturday Lined Up...

"Go to the zoo, look at lions, orang utans. Maybe see a play. I don't know, I don't know if we'll have TIME."

That's basically what my first Saturday was like in Singapore. It was a packed day that began around 11am (in Singapore, nothing gets started before 11) when Anji called and we made a plan to meet up to visit the Singapore Zoo. We had talked about going to the zoo earlier in the week, and Singapore's zoo has a good reputation. I was excited as well because we were getting out of downtown and had a chance to ride the MRT and buses on a different route, for a change. We met up with Anji at the MRT and then boarded a bus for the ride over to the zoo. We got there around 1:30pm, which is usually blazing hot, but this week we've had cool, pleasant weather. So we headed into the zoo and casually strolled around for a couple hours. The zoo itself is very beautiful, incorporating lots of greenery and picturesque lake. In fact, the zoo hosts weddings and yesterday there was one scheduled for later in the evening. Nima was fascinated with the baby chimp who was playing with his daddy, "monkeying around" and climbing all over his back. Anjali was excited to see penguins at the Singapore zoo, though we didn't catch them sliding on their bellies like in March of the Penguins. I personally could relate with the giraffe, since both of us can see clear over the top of everyone else here in Singapore.

After finishing up with the zoo, we headed back home to get ready for the big date Nima planned for the night. We had dinner reservations at Paddy Fields, and then tickets to "Photographs from S-21", a play at the Esplanade, Singapore's world-class performing arts venue.

Without going any further, let me say: Paddy Fields is the best Thai food I've ever had in my life. Period. The entire experience was amazing. The restaurant provides a charming, authentic, warming atmosphere and the staff is curteous and friendly. The menu itself tells a story and is well designed, and offers more than enough choices for everyone's tastes. What I really appreciated were the creative dishes on the menu, including many authentic ingredients such as kang kong, potato leaves, and olive rice. These are items you simply won't find at standard Thai restaurants in the U.S. We started with shrimp lettuce wraps and a mushroom-coconut milk soup. The soup was very tasty and we were impressed with the way the coconut flavor came through without adding sweetness to the soup.

For dinner, Nima and I split the steamed bass with Thai chilli and basil, stir-fried kang kong with black soy sauce, and pineapple rice. First of all, thank goodness we didn't order they suggested 1 main course and 1 vegetable per person, because I was about ready to explode when dinner was done. The kang kong was very tasty and I was pleased I ordered it despite not knowing really what kang kong is. The pineapple rice was served inside a hollowed out pineapple, with cashews and pineapple chunks. It was ridiculously good, I could easily have been satisfied with just the rice. And the steamed bass - we ordered a half portion - was gigantic and flavorful. It was served in an authentic fish-shaped steel dish with a burner underneath to keep it steamed throughout dinner. The fish was a bit spicy for my taste, but the Thai iced tea and pineapple rice were more than sufficent for cooling me off. The blend of Thai basil flavor came through nicely.

The dessert menu looked appealing as well, though we were completely stuffed after dinner. The restaurant was running a promotion, giving free dessert when you show your Singapore Airlines boarding pass. However, we didn't qualify because despite the abundant amount of food we ordered, our total bill came to less than $60SGD. In the U.S. you spend more at Olive Garden for a dinner for two. Its probably better we didn't get dessert right then, though we definitely hit up Haagen Daas later on.

After dinner we headed to the Esplanade to see "The Glass Box", a contemporary Cambodian dance and "Photographs from S-21", a play about the prisioners in one of the brutal Cambodian killing camps. Both performances are part of the Singapore Fringe Festival, an art festival focused on healing and awareness of those suffering around the world.

The dance was somewhat interesting but not really what I was there to see. I have a reputation of falling asleep at performances (Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Harry Potter 3 at the movie theater, Nima's 25th birthday dinner in NYC), and the dance was dangerously close to putting me to sleep. The play, however was very good.

I personally am very ignorant about the history and politics of Cambodia - basically I knew it was overtaken by rebels and there was a long spell of genocide and brutal killings. This performance derived from the "Photographs from S-21" exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, an exhibit that showed photos of many of the prisioners who were detained, put to work, and killed in in Cambodia. The play took an angle of brining to life a man and woman who's photos were in the exhibit, and told their stories and personified what the ghosts of those people might say or think when observing the exhibit. I wish I knew more context about what happened in Cambodia before seeing the show, but it definitely prompted me to do some more reading.

After the play we spent some time on the roof terrace with all the other Singaporean teenage kids to take in a great view of the Singapore skyline, and then went down to Haagen Daas and had dessert. Though a "Cookie Crunch" runs close to $10USD, you can tell by the picture its absolutely worth it.