The Lion City

I arrived at Changi airport with a healthy appetite, as I had discovered that even if your travel agent has booked your flight with jet star that doesnt mean you automatically get more than one meal on your 10.5 hour flight... Having a metabolism that demands fuel every 2 hours lets just say I was hungry! Hungry for asian food and for having a good time with some of my friends here in Singapore. After 3 days in the city I can honestly say that I'm very sarisfied :)

I set up camp in my hostel right in the middle of china town and got my first impression of Singapore as a cultural, religious and gastronomical melting pot that takes your senses on a rollercoaster ride! 

The first morning after my arrival I met up with an old nemesis of mine, Neo who I first met in Polen back in 2012 at a little hobby gathering. We took a stroll in the national museum for a history lesson on how Singapore came to be and followed it up with my first experience of a Singapore hawke or food court. Here we met up with Justin and Lam for a nice 2 hour lunch of roasted duck and pork belly, while we discussed how I could best spend the next 5 days in Singapore. 

From here me and Neo head out to visit a part of chinatown that houses the many different religions represented here in Singapore. Here hindus, buddhists and muslims worship side by side as their temples and mosques are lined up neatly

               

To keep things a little european in this melting pot, we went for a refreshing Schneider Weisse weissbier at the Clark Quay ricer front along the singapore river, where we were joint by Dawei. 

 

Having gained some precious appetite from the beer we went to another hawke and joined John for dinner and drinks! 

You got to try and fit in with the locals, so here go, a V sign and noodles!

It was a very full, tired and jet lagged Rasmus Hammer that crawled into his hostel bed that night..

Next morning I endured a gastronomical 1st, 2nd and 3rd breakfast that would have forced even a hobbit to his knees! Me, Neo and Dawei went to the best Dim Sum restaurant in town, Red Star. 

Dim Sum is a sort of chinese breakfast/lunch consisting of steamed or fried stuff wrapped in little packages of thin dough.  

You sort of sit at your table and this little steam cart comes by with towers of baskets that are being steamed from below. Very cool and very delicious! This was the second breakfast of the day as I had foolishly eaten cereals at the hostel...

From here it was straight back to chinatown and the peoples park plaza mall where we met up with Justin that has his lawyer office here, for a third session of coffe/orange ice tee and little buns that I can only describe as "æbleskiver" but with coconut flavour. To top it all of the mall offers extensive foot and should massage. Especially the foot massage is supposedly a combination of pressure points that are linked to your organs and a particular sore point is an indication that this organ is unhealthy. 

 From left to right: Justin, Me, Dawei and Neo

The whole session was good fun, not because it hurt but because I'm awfully ticklish! The rest of the day was spend hanging out with the guys, meeting Andrew and Lee, while playing some games and telling old war stories!

 

The day was wrapped up with... Yes you  guessed it, a final late night meal of chicken and rice! I really enjoy the way of dining at these hawkes. It is very cheap, the selection and quality of the food is just impressive and it is fast enough to fit the impatient temper of the locals. The trick is just to look for the booths that is actually forming a que and then you know you are in for a treat! 

Tomorrow the plan is to head out for Ubin island to bike and hike around and explore the terrain as it looked before the urbanization of Singapore.