Last Week in Review

Phew...that Bali entry was a dagger. I'm still way behind on my blog entries because it took me forever to write about Bali. I'm going to catch up by writing about the week of 3/6-3/10 all in one post.

• I was hoping to get confirmation about the ICTA project by 3/6, but yet again no word. Basically the hold up is lawyers approving the contract. As of now, 3/20 is the new start date, but I am starting work remotely on 3/15. I have to put in full 8 hour days from Singapore if I want to get paid.
• Anji had been talking quite a bit about Bugis, the open market shopping typical of what you'd picture in Thailand and other Asian countries. I met up with her Tuesday afternoon to check out Bugis, and as it turns out I really liked the place. The area used to be ridden with prostitutes but now its a thriving scene of shopping and social hangouts, particularly filled with college-aged kids. I even did my first bit of shopping, and picked up a cool shirt for $15SGD.
• The food tour resumed this week in Singapore. We revisitied Margarita's on Tuesday night because it was Nima's friend Erika's birthday. The food was again tasty, and yes Greg they did accept Mastercard.
• One of my to-do's was check out Little India, so on Wednesday we had dinner at Khansama Tandoori Restaurant. The food was delicious, as I shared the Malai Kofta and Butter Paneer with Anjali. I didn't try Nima's chicken dish. However, as often occurs with oily, heavy north Indian food, it ran right through me afterwards and I paid the price that night and the next morning. Still, the food tasted great.
  
• As an older brother I've been delighted to be treating Anji to lunch and dinner whenever we go out (except that first time when she lost credit card roulette!). However, she promised to treat me to lunch one day at Netwon Hawker Centre since its right next to her apartment. We went for lunch, but unfortunately the place was just opening so there wasn't much activity at all. I got a nice cup of fresh pineapple juice, but for some reason none of the food looked appetizing at all. I wasn't in an adventureous mood to try the chilli crab, fried carrot cake, or fish head curry, so we passed all together.
  
• On Thursday night the three of us went down to Clarke Quay and had dinner at a popular restaurant called Coriander Leaf. The restaurant is super-gourmet, as they host cooking classes and sell high-quality ingredients right at the restaurant. The theme of the restaurant is Asian Fusion, and they had a nice mix of Indian, Japanese, and south Asian influences in their dishes. My Frontier Chicken dish, chicken pieces stir fried with coriander seeds and chili flakes served with naan and yogurt was excellent. Nima had a tasty lobster/seafood curry as well. One thing I noticed is that every single patron for dinner than night was a tourist/visitor, which is reflective of the Clarke and Boat Quay areas of Singapore. Still, that part of town is a must see if you're in Singapore.
  
• Late Thursday night, Nima's friend Meeli arrived from the U.S. and Friday morning Avana came into town. The two of them are visiting Nima for the next 10 days, and in those days trips to Langkawi, Malaysia and Thailand are planned (I was included for Langkawi, which will be a future blog post).
• On Friday while Nima was at work, I took the girls out for a mini tour of Singapore, hitting the big spots like the Merlion, Esplanade, and Raffles Hotel. We also met up with Nima for lunch and finally had the signature dish of Singapore - Chicken Rice. I had low expectations for this simple staple-food dish, but it honestly blew my expectations away. It was great to also move away from the fancy restaurant and eat with the locals during a packed lunch hour, at a place that doesn't have a menu, just chicken rice and drinks.
  
• On Friday evening, me and the girls headed out to our weekend in Langkawi, which will be the next blog post...
  

Note: Lots of pictures were taken all week, but they're spread across everyone else's cameras. I'll update the blog when I get those pics. My Canon S410 is officially dead because of the memory card error bug. I need to figure something out for taking pictures in Sri Lanka, argh!