Singapore (May 4th - 8th, 10th, 2009)

In my naivety, I expected Singapore to be a bigger version of Chinatown. For my first time going to Asia, I had these wild expectations, and not that they fell short, but I didn't clue into the fact that it would be Singapore, of all places in Asia that I would be first arriving to.
My impression of Singapore is that it's nice. I don't know if I'd be my first choice place in the world to live, I mean, it had some nice qualities to it, but there were some other things that I don't know if I could get used to. I'll probably talk a little bit about them in this post.
The best thing about this trip was having the chance to see friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, catching up and seeing where their life has taken them.
So without further adieu, here's Singapore...

The Raffles Hotel. Seeing architecture like this was really nice, but I wasn't expecting seeing this in Asia. Stuff like this confused me a bit, until I thought about the history of the area. I wanted to walk around the inside of the hotel and even see some of the rooms, but I was good and didn't go where I wasn't supposed to. I took a picture with the doorman, just like any good tourist should.
Here's the first example of what I don't like about the city. When I first saw this building, I thought that it looked cool and that it would probably be a convention centre or something. Nope, it's a shopping
mall. I should have known, seeing as how it's located on Orchard Road. And the mall doesn't stand out from the rest, they're all huge and contain so many different shops. You know how there's a Tim Hortons at every corner? Well, in Singapore, there's a Gucci or Prada at every corner. It was really bizarre. You'd think I would have been in heaven, but I actually found it overwhelming. This mall looked crazy - there was a super huge escalator that led from street level (outdoors) into the mall. I can't describe how strange this street was with their uber-commercialisation. I think I just made up a word.
I did like having a chance to visit different types of religious centres. This is a small Buddhist temple that I'd actually spent an afternoon in. It's a small world, and going to Asia for the first time means that there are many things that I had to do. I'm probably going to talk more about the feeling of belonging, going home and understanding myself better in a future post, but spending the afternoon in this temple was really an experience that I will not forget any time soon.
The temple is located in the Joo Chiat area which I wanted to see to hopefully get a butter feeling of the culture of Singapore. Part of why
I didn't fall in love with the city is that I could figure the place out. It was a mix of different cultures just like Toronto, but didn't really have that same 'we love multiculturalism and that's why our city is amazing' feel that Toronto has, and I also got the sense that it was very ex-pat business person-centric. I don't work in the financial district for a reason. So Joo Chiat houses a lot of Peranakan culture and you can see what their architectural style is in this picture. I like the colours of the buildings.
One regret of the trip is that I never got a chance to eat laksa. For the first part of the trip, my body was trying to adjust to the sweltering heat (+30 degrees for sure, and with the humidity, I don't even want to think about how hot it was). I'm sure that my body was overheating and it didn't really know how to regulate my body temperature. I was prepared with the right attire, but nothing can prepare your body for a shock to the system like that. I was lucky not to get heat stroke, but I was getting some crazy symptoms of the significant shock to my body. I was so intrigued with how my body was reacting. I'm such a nerd. Anyway, so for the first little while I was too hot to eat much at all, let alone laksa. Add to the fact that I'm not really good at eating spicy foods (I'm told that my face changes to quite interesting colours) and there was so much other food that I wanted to try as well. Next time. I HAVE to go
back. There was also a shop that sold rice paste goods (I guess that's what you'd call it). I bought a couple sweets to try (had fun trying to understand what it was that I bought - I really was proud of my ability to communicate, but I know that I could be better) including a plastic cup of that snot green stuff you see in the picture. It's a spread that you put on bread although I would be happy to eat it like pudding. It tasted like the custardy part of an egg tart. I also found out that people call those banana leaf wrapped things 'dumplings'. I guess that's fine, I mean, I don't know what else I'd call them, but I'd never had to call them anything in English before and I'd always though of dumplings as being those things similar to wontons, but I suppose you need an English name for everything at some point.
A nice panoramic shot taken from somewhere I could see myself hanging out. At the bottom, you can see water...that's actually a pool and we're on the top of a building. So cool. Anyway, here, you can see Singapore's version of the London Eye, the durian shaped Esplanade buildings and the colourful seating for the F1 race.
Now a smattering of pictures from the Singapore Zoo. P.S. I love animals and zoos.





















I tried to get in as many feeding sessions as I could. It's a nice way to see the animals close up and how they interact with the keepers. This zoo is pretty special because a lot of the animals' habitat overlaps with that of the visitors, so you really do have a chance to get a lot closer to the animals (which you can see in a couple pictures that I really did - my camera doesn't have an amazing zoom lense or anything).




I think they'd just had a row.








Double fisting. Nice.




I enjoy watching primates. I think a lot of us do, because we're closely related so we want to better understand ourselves or see some of our characteristics in them. It was the first time that I saw a lot of these species, obviously as this is a different part of the world with a different climate than at the zoos that I'd already visited.




This little one looked so comfy.






Not the most flattering position, but when you've got food going into your belly, who cares? Why do we need to be so prim and proper anyway?











I see bum bums!



Is it mean that I wanted to grab their tails and pull?








I was chatting with one of the orangutan keepers about how at the Toronto Zoo the keepers give nursing female lowland gorillas Guinness. They thought I was crazy. He even called over one of his colleagues to tell him what I'd said and they laughed at me. Boo. I swear I wasn't making up the fact that they did it and I don't like being made fun of. At all.





Someone's grumpy bears.




They had a huge netted tent set up where all of the animals living within it could roam free and roam free they did. I don't think that I'd been that close to a sloth before and at one point, I almost stepped on a lizard. And the lemurs were bopping around. I wanted to play with them, but I really didn't think I was supposed to interact with the animals. Anyway - here's more pictures.




















This picture makes me laugh.










Why do so many of the animals look like they're ignoring each other? Some sort of marital dispute I'm sure.

More animals hanging around. Also, I admit that I youtubed the video of the zoo worker getting mauled. I only watched about 5 seconds, before needing to stop.


Back in the city, I did a LOT of walking. I think I underestimated how much my feet would hate me for wearing flip flops for the first time this year and walking crazy distances. Oops.











I didn't go into this mosque. As much as I wanted to, I just didn't feel right about it. It looked very nice from the outside, though.


My feet were so tired that I needed to sit down somewhere. I guess that's one thing that those crazy malls are good for. Yes, this is the interior of a mall.



Heading into the core of the city. By the water is a ton of restaurants which tourists love, but the ex-pat men in suits love to go after work to
have a couple drinks. I have to admit, it's a nice atmosphere, but it just seemed weird. I think I'm just not used to boozing culture. I used to love going out after work to sit by the lake and stare at the mountains and have a drink at the same time, but I can't really describe why...this atmosphere just seemed different. That building in the middle of the picture with the block cut out of it - that's where that panoramic shot with the pool was taken. Right where that cut-out area plant filled area is.

Look at all the air conditioners. My friend told me that the reason they have so many malls is that people need somewhere to go to get out of the heat. Okay, I admit I did it too. At the end of my stay in the city, I'd actually caught a cold from the overly air-conditioned zones.

Wandering around the esplanade. And at the time, wondering when I would have the courage to eat a durian.

Some shots from the Singapore Flyer:
You know, if I had never lived in Europe, I probably wouldn't be so mesmerized by water. Growing up in the the suburbs, I probably would have transitioned into any old high-rise int he city and been happy with a city view. I don't think I'd ever seen so many ocean liners in a harbour before. I liked it. I also like seeing Indonesia in the distance.


I can't believe how much construction there is going on in this city. I suppose there's constructing here in this city too, but I found this view to be shocking. It's all part of a grand plan that the city has to fix up the waterfront. I guess Singapore is really growing, but with that over-commercialization thing that bothers me. I feel like if I go bad in a couple of years, it'll be so much more Westernized than it already is and that I won't be able to feel any sort of culture to the city.










The merlion in the harbour and a shot of the architecture of a bridge that I thought looked pretty nifty.

This was the first Hindu temple that I'd ever visited and unfortunately my strongest memory of the place is that of pain. Silly me, didn't think of the fact that the stone floor of the temple would be scalding hot in the sun. As we had to take our shoes off by the door, I had to scamper from shaded area to shaded area while everyone else seemed perfectly fine walking around the area. I liked looking at the sculptures on the building.

Inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, I was in complete awe. I couldn't believe how different temples could look. Visiting all of these different centres of worship made me wish I knew about each religion. It also reminded me how lucky I am to have experienced all of this.












Both of the temples are located in Chinatown, which was swarming with tourists. This is where I found the market that I finally found some interesting fruit to sample. I liked the tables set up for Chinese chess. Every city seems to have something similar. As the only female lingering in the area, I felt a little out of place. I wonder why it was all men?
Another favorite memory of this area is just chatting with the locals. It was clear that I was a tourist (in so many ways), but I liked being able to comminicate with them even if I wasn't as eloquent as I wanted to be. Every time I travel, I always try to learn a little bit of the language I think it makes a big difference in how I'm received as well as my own experience of the area.
At the National Museum of Singapore, they were having a special exhibit on the costumes of Christian Lacroix. It was an exquisite exhibition. The drawings were incredible (I would like to one day have an original sketch of anything framed in my place) and not having the
costumes behind glass made for such a better experience. I don't think that I've ever seen a display using netting. I wonder why more places don't? Security, perhaps. I also want a beautiful gown. Or at least I want to touch one to feel the material that was used and the intricate detailing. Gorgeous.




More tourist photos. I can't help it. I love being a tourist.

One last shot of the interior of a mall. I can't beleive that I didn't buy anything from Singapore. Maybe it was because I was turned off by the crazy malls. I was seriously considering purchasing a bag that I regret
not getting while in Europe, but they didn't have the one I wanted (I don't know if they ever will again - apparently they're changing the style a little bit in upcoming seasons). I'm seriously pining for this particular bag. Nothing else really stood out to me - I mean, I can get Prada, LV or Gucci almost anywhere around the world, so why would I be more tempted to get it from Singapore? I do have to admit that it was nice to walk into a Massimo Dutti store again.
This is one of the many hawker food markets in the city. I guess like a food court of sorts. I couldn't believe how cheap the food was, and how good at tasted as well. I couldn't get enough of the fresh fruit juices and noodles. I tried a lot of different types of food from different cultures
and of flavours that I wouldn't necessarily have tried here in the city. There were some dishes that reminded me of home, and others that looked too interesting to pass up. I think this night, I had hoped for a basic noodle and roast duck plate, but the vendor had already sold out (it wasn't even that late) and was cleaning up to go home. I ended up getting a noodle soup just like what I'd grown up with and something called murtabak. There were too many onions in it for my liking and they'd mixed up the order and given me one with mutton which I'm not terribly fond of. Oh well, it was still neat to try. I think I tried two different fruit juices that night as well. I should rally invest in a mini=blender and go fruit juice crazy.
How sad for the durian. Can't take it anywhere. This is part of the reason why I never had the chance to eat it in Singapore - I didn't know how to transport it home effectively. I didn't want to walk the streets of the city for a whole afternoon with the stench coming from my bag and as you can see, you're not allowed to take it on public transport buses nor on taxis.

It's been awhile

This past Monday, I did a coupe chasse, pas de bourree for the first time in at least 10 years. It was just like riding a bike. How funny.
Sorry I didn't put the effort into adding the accents, but I figure the few people who actually know what I'm talking about know regardless of if I added them or not.

My balcony

I love having a balcony and I love the view that I have.
The past couple of days, I've been sitting out, staring and dreaming (sometimes literally, as I'm pretty sure I've dozed off a couple of times). I even got a free fireworks show over the weekend.
I like lying out on the weekend better than weekdays, because I'm paranoid that the construction workers are staring at me from all that ways away.
The one issue I have is that sitting out at night, it's dark (duh) so I'm stuck staring at my laptop screen or at the world going by. Not that those are bad options, but I would like the option of reading a book. I'm behind on my reading. I suppose I could take a lamp out, but I don't want to attract the flying creatures, so maybe I should just stick with what I've already got.
I also started taking my headphones out with me, which has really made a world of difference. Not being part of the i-pod club, I would drag my laptop out, but the outside noise would usually drown out its piddly little speakers. I'll probably still lie out there music-less, every so often. There's something nice about the natural noises that the city makes and being completely in tune with the world. Or even keeping up with your own internal soundtrack.
I think I'm going to sit outside for a bit until I really start drifting off and call it a night.

A nice outing

A couple weekends ago, I went strawberry picking.
I loved it.
We'd picked a warm, sunny day, eager to get outside and soak up some vitamin D.
It's a shame that farms are little bit out of the city and some have pretty tight hours of operation. Luckily, when you've got access to a vehicle of some sort, it's not a problem.
We went at the end of the day and were warned that the fields had been picked over, but we were more than welcome to give it a go.
We trundled off to the far corner of one of the fields and started searching. Personally, I wasn't very successful at first, and being impatient didn't help matters either. I think I ended up picking strawberries that were good, but not as good as I would have piked. They were passable, but being greedy and wanting the best possible strawberries, I kept hopping around from row to row, hoping to get lucky...and I did!
After filling up my first basket, I struck gold. The best strawberries to be found...and lots of them! It was a mad dash to get as many as possible (I get into frenzies). Somehow in the excitement I sat on a strawberry. I swear I was being really careful, but luckily wearing a lot of black has its advantages.
Anyway, as I said before, I had a great time, and I got some yummy berries to eat over the next couple of days (in hindsight, maybe I should have picked more, I finished them way too fast).
It was a really fun outing and I'm looking forward to the next fruit picking outing.

Michael Buble

I've recently been reminded that I enjoy Michael Buble's music. Listening to Lost, from his Call Me Irresponsible album...I'm getting that tingly feeling.

Markets, everywhere!

This past Saturday, I along with hitting up my regular St. Lawrence market, I went the new St. Andrew's MyMarket. It was a little disappointing. The lot was quite empty, but the vendors who were there were very nice and I had a couple good chats. I learned about garlic scapes and was pretty close to buying a couple things, but the weight of the produce in my market bag from earlier that morning reminded me that I really didn't need anything more. The prices were higher than St. Lawrence market, and due to the smaller selection, I don't know if this new market will be my top choice for future shopping trips.
I suppose it has a lot to live up to. That morning, I wasn't pressed for time and had a grand old time at the St. Lawrence market. Not that I don't usually enjoy my trips to the market, but this one was really good. After buying everything I needed (or could afford - I hit $20 dead on this time), I head to the South Market to continue my stroll. While rounding the back corner where the cheeses are, I heard the sounds of a string trio playing Por Una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel. You may know it as the tango from Scent of a Woman. I practically melted on the spot. To more practical things, among other things, I bought a couple different varieties of peas, a potato and rosemary loaf and eyed a jar of mustard. I'll probably end up getting one in the near future. I never ate mustard until I went to Europe. I didn't like the stuff. I suppose I still don't love it, but I've gotten used to it, and I can appreciate it as long as it's not too hot. Everyone in Switzerland seemed to eat mustard, so I forced myself to start eating it and well, now I kind of enjoy it. One of the varieties of peas that I bought, the vendor told me that I was actually supposed to only eat the peas after they'd been shucked. A la Green Giant, I suppose. Well, that's kinda cool. Seem like a little bit of a waste to me, but I'm all for trying new things. Turns out that I've eaten these peas before, fully encased in their pods. Hmm. I'm also finding that I'm buying more produce than I can finish in a week. Does that mean I should cut down my budget? I think I can use up all the produce if I really plan it out right. One week that I made a huge pot of chili and soup used everything up, so I'll just have to do something similar. I already know that I'll going try making a couple pureed soups in the near future. Mmm, soup and bread and salad. Is it Saturday yet?

TED talks

Someone had mentioned TED Talks to me this past weekend, and I had to check it out to remind myself that I had indeed watched a talk before.
And yeah - they're good.
I've been watching a couple talks over the past couple of days and while they all have a nice take home message, some have been more moving than others.
Two that stood out so far are "Benjamin Zander on music and passion" where I outright laughed at his deceptive cadence comment (I think I'm guilty of doing it too) and "Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight".
I'm looking forward to watching some more talks and am in awe, of course not only of their message, but of many of the speaker's public speaking capabilities. This is something that I'm trying to improve upon.
Anyway, I'm enjoying listening to the talks and am happy to have yet another outlet for procrastination.
It's a shame Randy Pausch didn't have a chance to speak.

Market strategy for recessionary times

In order to curb my enthusiasm at the market, I've devised a plan. I've got a $20 bill to spend and that's it.
Makes it easier on so many fronts. No need to constantly be fishing around for my wallet. I know that I'm not going to overspend. I know that I'm going to get the stuff that I want the most. I know that I'm not going to get more stuff than my shopping bag can carry.
It's only been one week so far, but I figure it'll actually help me save money because I'm not swift enough to spend exactly $20 so I'll always be under budget.

Pretty

I really like living close to the water. I like it even more that I can kinda see the water from my place.
People who have been living in the city nonstop may guffaw at all of the waterfront renos that they say are going to happen, but in my short time living in the city, I'm happy with what I see and I do see changes taking place.
Today, the Simcoe Wave Deck was opened up, and it is nice to look at. I don't know if a wavy deck was necessary, but I appreciate the effort. And as my post title suggests, it is pretty.
I am, however, looking forward to seeing rollerbladers, skateboarders and bikers tear up the space and do amazing things.

It worked out

So I had the intention of buying some jewelery, but ended up getting ice cream instead.
So I guess it's official, my ice cream season for the year has begun!
I really was hoping to pick up a necklace from SOOS, but nothing was calling out to me.
Instead, I went to The Big Chill. I was trying to diversify, so what else is out there, but I'm sorry, my heart still belongs to Greg's. I tried the ginger ice cream at The Big Chill, and although it did taste right, it didn't blow me away like Greg's does. I was told to try the pomegranate ice, but unfortunately, I think it was one of the worst things that I've tried. I ended up getting Polar Bear Paws which was some sort of mix of white chocolate, dark chocolate, truffles and raspberry and I was quite happy with it. Did it inspire me? Not really, but it was okay.
Next time - Greg's.

Chasing Harry Winston

Chasing Harry Winston, by Lauren Weisberger

Obviously, another piece of chic-lit, but you know what? I didn't like this one too much.
You expect these kinds of books to leave you with generic endings where everything works out perfectly and I'm not trying to ruin the ending for anyone, but I just didn't like how it finished.
I was happy, along the way, with how the book was progressing, but it was just that ending that I thought was a little bland.
This book had both the fashion and love components to it.
Anyway, it's an okay book. Another quick and easy read, but it should not be on a chic-lit reader's "must read" list.

- picture courtesy of www.chapters.indigo.ca

Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed, by Emily Giffin

This book is you generic chic-lit book. It was perfect to pass the time. Wonderful, mindless reading.
Not a lot of stress on the fashion side of chic-lit, this one was all about love.
Even though, you know that these types of books will have a predictable ending, as I was reading this one, I seriously wasn't sure how it would end up.
For chic-lit, it was pretty good. I would sum it up as being a good, sit in the sun and relax on a weekend kind of reading.
What more can you say about chic-lit?

- picture courtesy of www.chapters.indigo.ca

A Complicated Kindness

A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews

This book won a bunch of awards, but I don't really get it. I think that may have something to do with the fact that I look a really long break from the book halfway through, so I kind of forgot what was going on, but I'm not really sure I get the point of the novel.
It seems to be about a Mennonite girl and we get a glimpse into how she perceives the world and the story makes you question your perceptions of their culture. At least, that's my take on it.
From that point of view, it's kind interesting, because it really did show a different story to what my stereotype of their culture to be, but the book just didn't seem finished to me and that's probably why I'm left wondering if I missed something.
It seemed to be quite an easy read (which is always a good thing for me) and I suppose I enjoyed the fact that it made me reconsider what I know about Mennonites and their lifestyle.
The book left me indifferent. I'm glad I read it, and I'd recommend it to other people, but I'm obviously not passionate about it.

- picture courtesy of www.chapters.indigo.ca

Since I don't like to read...

I like this photostream. It gives me a vague sense of what's going on in the world as I'm not too good at reading newspapers and such (although, I have to say that I've kind of been following what's happening with Air France's flight 447).

Finally cracked it open

I finally started writing in my book.
This is the book that I wrote about here, here and here. I tend to make a big deal about silly things.
I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to do it, but I took the plunge and started writing some lists.
I was happy with the way that my chosen pen was writing on the page. It's a perfect size and it does the job I want it to do. Black as black is supposed to be, inky and stuff.
And then I turned the page to start my next list.
My pen bleeds. Crap. I've left the pages in for the moment, but I might be tearing them out once everything gets settled.
So now, I've turned to a crappier black pen that definitely won't bleed through pages, but doesn't write as well. And it's too long for my book.
I'm not too sure what's next.

Gack!

I didn't realize that Art and Sole – Customized Keds by 24 Canadian Artists and Designers was an exhibit, or else I would have gone to see it. For some reason I just thought that it was a one night event.
Blerg. I would have liked to see what all of the different artists did with the Keds.
I'm bummed.

LuminaTO 2009

Another festival is here!
Luckily, the great weather is here (to stay?!?) and I'm sure the festival will be just wonderful.
The events that I've already penciled into my book are:
- 1,000 Tastes of Toronto
- A Thrilling Ride Through KOOZA
- Cirque du Soleil Finale Performance
- RedBall Project Toronto

Today at the market...

Okay okay, it's true. The market is much better the earlier you go. Sure, you can't get ridiculous deals ("Here! Take all of the carrots I have left for $2!"), but there's a lot more choice and all of the vendors are still there.
What did I buy today, you ask? Let's see:
- asparagus
- broccoli
- brussels sprouts
- lettuce (not arugula - frowny face)
- sweet potatoes
- sweet potato cookies
- Swiss muesli and raisin bread
I shared a candied apple, and I think it was the first time that I've ever had one. Let's just say, it might not be the last...uh oh.
The market was wonderful as always...strawberry season is coming. I think I'm going to make plans to go picking. As much as I love the market, picking fruit is always a fun outing.

Worldwide Short Film Festival

I've never attended the Worldwide Short Film Festival, nor do I know much about it, but I'm considering going to one of the screenings of this programme. I'd assume that it won't sell out? I'll have to make a mental note to remember to look into it closer to the date.

SYTYCD Season 5

OMG, I'm having mini heart-attacks in front of my youtube screen. I can't even begin to...eeeeeeeeeeee! And West Side Story during Vegas week? Aaaaaaaaaah! I'm never going to school. This is crazy. I have to leave now or else I will die! Stop the madness!

Lovely

I smiled through the entire read.

Foreign fruits

While in Asia, I wanted to try some local fruit that although it's possible to find them in Toronto, they're probably better from the source.
There were a couple fruits that I had on my list based on memories of childhood or stories from relatives, but others were just simply picked up at the market based on the fact that I'd never seen them before.
It actually took me awhile to find some of the stuff (especially in Singapore) because many of the grocery stores have a Western influence on them and sell more fruit that I wouldn't think of as being really exotic.

My bounty from Singapore:
Clockwise from bottom right:
Malay apple - I'd never seen nor heard of this fruit before. I actually thought that it was a vegetable when I first saw it...for some reason I thought it was a pepper. It was pretty tasty. Not much flavour, but quite watery. A little bit like a good Japanese pear. Taste-wise, like I said, not much flavour...maybe a little bit pear-ish? Apple-ish? I could see it being really refreshing on a hot day.

Rambutan - I'd eaten these before and remembered liking them, although not remembering what they taste like. I've come to think that a lot of fruit from the area have similar flavors. The ones that I'd picked (I also don't know how to pick these things) weren't the best. I think it was a little early in the season anyway. As soon as a opened them, I knew...I remembered that if the skin from the seed sticks to the fleshy part, it's not the best. To me, they fall into the "lychee flavour" category. Just like lychees, you pull off the funky looking skin and have the translucent fleshy bit inside that you eat. Inside the fleshy part is a seed. I like these fruit.

Passion fruit - I suppose that this isn't the most exotic fruit of the bunch. There's lots of passion fruit juice on the market, and I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the taste of passion fruit stuff, but I still wanted to try the fruit just in case the fruit was better than the flavour (just like with blueberries, in my opinion). I'd actually eaten half of a passion fruit once before in Kenya, but it was extremely sour. Anyway, this one was much better. At the market, I wasn't really sure how to pick a good one, so the vendor was really nice and told me to select a wrinkly looking one (I think he was a little assumed by the fact that I was picking up just one of all of these random fruits and asking him was each of them were called - I don't really Chinese very well). Luckily, he didn't scam me (the thought did cross my mind) and I ended up with a really yummy fruit. It is true, the fruit tastes better than the juice. It's pretty much the same, but I still like the fruit better. A friend didn't want to eat it as he thought it looked like "snot". Great.

Dragonfruit - I'd seen lots of these at the market in different places, but I think this was the first time that I'd ever eaten one. I knew that
dragonfruit were white on the inside with black poppyseed looking specs, but I never knew that a vibrant magenta version existed too. How fun! It tasted, well, kinda boring. Starchy. I don't know if I got a dunce, but I wasn't too excited by it. A friend said that they'd eaten better, but I can't remember what they said was better about it. I'm willing to give it another try, but so far, I think it looks more exciting than it tastes.

Custard apple - another fruit that I'd never seen before, it was kind of mushy on the outside, and I would soon find out, super duper ripe! A little bit of searching on the internet makes me unsure of which species of custard apple/sugar apple/whatever I ate, but all I know is that it was damn good. My favorite fruit that I tried by far. I had no idea what to expect once cutting open this fruit and I'd happened to pick one of the smaller ones at the market just in case I didn't like it. This one was
probably about 20cm in length. To eat this fruit, you just take each of those fleshy bits, shove 'em into your mouth and spit out the black seed inside. I don't think I'd eaten/seen a fruit with a similar composition like this one before (I would come to find out that there's a whole bunch that are similar - durian, soursop, jackfruit...). As mentioned before, I got lucky and had picked a ripe one (so I felt like I was just smushing the pieces together when trying to pick out the pieces of flesh and making a mess out of it), it was really sweet and tasted like mango (in my opinion). It was soooooooo good. When walking in Chinatown last week, I found a shop that sells a smaller species of them at a pretty exorbitant price, but I'm sure I'll suck it up one time to see if it tastes as good as I remember.

I also tried a couple of pieces of soursop, via a drink. The juice was quite tasty, although I wouldn't be surprised if they'd put something in it to make it sweeter. It wasn't really sour per se, but had a flavour that I can't quite place. They suck a couple pieces of the fruit in the juice for good measure and it looked to be white in colour and sort of spongy-ish. It was okay, but I would like to try it in its natural state at some point.

In Kuala Lumpur, I got my hands on a couple more fruit:
Jackfruit - Seeing the size of these suckers, I didn't want to buy a whole one, but luckily, vendors were selling packages of a couple packages. This was the first fruit that I tried that I really didn't like. It had a dry quality and tasted like - I don't know - bad. It left a weird filmy texture on my mouth. It wasn't sweet, nor bitter. It wasn't a sticky texture, but I would describe the flavour as sticky (if that makes any sense). It also had a seed inside each of the fleshy units, and now I have absolutely no intention of opening up that can of jackfruit that's been sitting in my parent's pantry from many many years.








Mangosteen - I'd also eaten these before and liked them as well. I received a warning that the rind would stain clothing, so I was careful, but luckily, my black wardrobe is stain proof. Anyway, another tidbit of information that I got was that the number of "petals" on the "flower" on the bottom of the fruit would be equal to the number of fleshy units on the inside of the fruit. We picked two different petal-numbered fruits to see if this theory was true. Photo evidence to show, my gosh, it's true! How fun.









Just like a lot of these exotic fruits, each of the flesh units has a seed inside of it. the consistency of the flesh is a little bit more pulpy than a lychee (which I would define as been pretty smooth and consistent). I don't really know how to describe the flavour of a mangosteen. It can be sweet or sour (depending how good they are - I don't really know how to pick these either, but I know that the ones I picked were tasty!). I guess the taste is unique and not really like anything else that I would assume most people have eaten before - why is my mind racing about educational theories, Vygotsky, Piaget, associations and past experiences?

I also found some salak being sold in a grocery store, but there were probably 15-20 in a package and I wasn't quite ready to get that many. Why can't they just sell them in individual units? Darn it - I wanted to try this one too.

In Taipei, I didn't see anything else that I hadn't seen before. I did have the chance to try some attap fruit in a dessert. It was like eating a stiffer version of jello. The flesh was a sort of white-ish, translucent and I couldn't distinguish it's taste from the sweet dessert that it was in. I liked it, but I don't know if that was the sweet syrup that they'd added to the dessert or the attap itself. Again, I can't really place the taste. It didn't really have a taste to it, it was more about the texture for me. Wow - it's really hard to describe stuff that's unique.

In Tainan, I knew the end of my trip was near and that I had limited time to try the remaining fruits on my list (I was starting to see repeats of all the other "new" fruits that I tried...nothing looked exotic anymore so I had nothing new to try).
It had been on my list from the very beginning, but I had never found the right moment for it (to be explained in a future post about Singapore) and of course, I was always a little scared aout the prospect of eating...durian.

I'd seen durian everywhere, but it took me awhile to find a place that just sold a couple pieces in a package. Finally, I found a place and some other people who were willing to eat some with me and the stink began. It was brutal. It got worse and worse and so bad that I actually started to feel sick and get a headache. Still, I wanted to try eating it (I think I tried it when I was younger, but I have no idea what the result was. I know that I've seen it in my parents house before and the smell is definitely familiar, but I had no recollection about the taste). By golly, the taste really is completely different from the smell. The texture weirded me out completely. It's really mushy. Creamy. I can understand how people say that it would be better to eat after it's been in the freezer. Just like ice cream. The taste, well, the pieces that we got ended up being a little too ripe, and to me, it tasted like caramel. No joke. Unfrotunately, due to the over-ripeness, I got a little kick of you weird alcohol/liqueur taste (at least that's what I associate with the taste) which turned me off. I could only eat a piece the size of toonie as the flavour was overpowering. My brain was thoroughly confused. First of all, the texture didn't match the taste (in my opinion) and secondly, the taste didn't match the smell. I also had to stop eating, not because the taste was bad, but as I was eating, the smell of what was in my mouth made me sick. It was a horribly weird feeling. I can't tell you how many times I brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth out that night. The smell lingered (but not the taste - although I did have that gross filmy feeling on my tongue) and my head hurt even as I was trying to fall asleep. So, I'm not the biggest fan of durian, but it wasn't horrible. If there was some way to get rid of the smell, well, that would make things a lot easier. I'd like to try a piece out of the freezer, but again, that smell thing. There's got to be some kind of solution. I always thought that taste and smell were linked. Other than the sour, bitter, sweet, etc sensations, I thoughts that what we "taste" is actually what we smell. So if that's true, what's up with durian?

I guess the other fruits that I ate that are kinda exotic are mango and guava.
I do have to say that the Taiwanese species of mango really are superior to any other mango that I've had. I love mango, and I couldn't really believe that one mango would be better than another, but it's true. Those smaller, green skinned mangos are amazing! They are sweeter and tastier...I only realized it after I'd been eating the better ones for a couple days think that they were pretty good, but not really understanding what the big fuss was about, until I ate the larger red/yellow skinned ones and found out that while they're still tasty, they just don't quite compare.
I'm not the biggest fan of guava, but I eat 'em. That's all I have to say about that.
Oh yeah, I ate a couple lychees as well, but luckily, they're pretty normal in Toronto, so I wasn't too excited by them. Apparently I was there just as the season was getting started, but apparently they get really really good, so I would be interested to taste just how good they get. Come to think of it, they said the same thing about the mangoes. Gosh, if those little green mangoes taste even better during peak season? Amazing.
Hmmmm - I didn't eat any persimmons on my trip. Didn't really see many though.
The one fruit that I did not even bother going near was the papaya. I've had many opportunities to smell and eat papaya in my lifetime and each time ended up with bad results. The smell makes me sick. Literally. There was no way that I was going to give in on this one becasue I was pretty convinced that if through all of these years of having access to the fruit and still not being able to tolerate it, trying it in a different country probably wouldn't make any difference. I am proud to say that I did eat one tiny piece of one in the fruit salad on the plane. It wasn't the best quality papaya that I've had, which actually worked out better for me because the flavour wasn't as strong. I think I took a little nibble on the cube, felt pretty good about the fact that I didn't immediately throw up, and then moved onto my dessert. I still didn't like the flavour, but I managed to take a nibble. That's success in my books.

Anyway, that's my fruit tales. It was a lot of fun seeing and tasting so many different things. The clear favorites for me were the custard apple and mangosteen. I know that I pretty much like anything in lychee flavour category, so lychee, rambutan...it's all good as well. And mangoes...always a special place in my heart for those.

Wonderful

I had a great day today.
Dance class, market, walking.
I think I'll have to start getting up earlier on Saturdays and go to the market before my dance class, because by the time I got to the market today, almost everything was packed up. What was left was on uber-sale, but that's not really the point. I had been craving some arugula, but the vendor that I was hoping to get it from was already gone. Boo. That's okay, I just got some asparagus (it's in season!) and it's really really tasty. Unfortunately, I will have stinky pee as a result.
I think forcing myself to wake up early and go to the market first will actually be better for my dancing. I'd actually woken up surprisingly early today (I think I'm over my jetlag) and had even eaten breakfast with enough time to let some of the nutrients coarse through my body, but class still felt a little bit rough. Maybe OJ and a poppyseed muffin isn't a good enough breakfast. I think going out for a walk first will help get my body going. And chances are, I'll probably pick up a snack from the market with some sort of protein content.
It was a beautiful day today, and I didn't really have anything pressing to do (after class and the market), so I just kinda wandered and got more groceries from Chinatown. It was a leisurely stroll and through light sun showers, street artists and a Capoeira demonstration, I had an enjoyable afternoon.
I'll probably curl up in my lounge chair and read a little bit.
It's been a good day.

A couple things

1. Going to Chan Hon Goh's last full-length ballet performance on Sunday - Giselle. Woohoo!
2. Walking in the rain's not too bad if you're prepared with a hat. I think I want to buy more hats. I'm not an umbrella person, but only because I like to be hands free. I like the compactness of small umbrellas so I can toss 'em in my bag, but I love the look of big umbrellas. You know, the ones that hotels let you borrow. If it's crazy-raining then a hat isn't enough. I like walking, and downtown really isn't that big. I think I should start walking around more often and forget the streetcar/subway.
3. The Royal Ontario Museum's new Schad Gallery is AMAZING. I can't wait to spend more time discovering the space.
4. What's with this weather. It's cold here. Too cold.
5. Still jet-lagged. Go to bed at 9-ish (later today because I didn't get home until 8.30pm and still need to eat dinner) and wake up at 6am (after waking up a couple times in the middle of the night (which I never usually do).

Meh

I used to get anxious and intrigue from my walks through Chinatown. The veggie and fruit stands were my favorite. Now it just seems so lack lustre. I suppose it is a rainy weekday afternoon.

Product placement at Porter

I like getting free snacks on Porter. I wonder if companies donate their products for marketing purposes. All I know is that I'm going to look for Walkers Stem Ginger Biscuits and the mini-yellow wax covered Emmental Babybel cheese at the grocery store.

Catching up

Boy, it takes a long time to catch up on a month's worth of TV shows.
Watching one season finale cliff hanger after another is exhausting!!!
Oh wait - season finales? What am I going to watch until they start up again?

Montreal, Canada (March 27th - 29th, 2009)

My trip to Montreal was a chance to travel somewhere. At that point I was itching to do something and I knew Montreal was would a fun place to go.
I hadn't been to the city since high school and my bad memory meant that I hardly remembered what the city was like. Actually, I was there for a night in university, but it was hardly a trip to see the city.
For the first time in my life, I rode the train in Canada. The seats on the Via train were much bigger and comfy-ier than any train that I've been on. It was great. I'd be happy riding the train again.
Anyway, I enjoyed the trip.
I got to see a couple sights, do a little shopping, ride the metro (on wheels!), eat some good food and walk walk walk walk walk!
I don't know what's gotten into me, but recently I haven't been able to buy anything. Or maybe I just haven't found anything that I adore. Right, that's what I'll keep telling myself.
As I said, the trip involved good food.
I like knowing a foodie because then I've got the inside tip as to where to go. I don't need to sort through the riff raf. Just go to where the good stuff is.
If you have the chance to go to Montreal, go to Le Club Chasse et Peche. If you didn't know that it existed, you probably would walk right by it. Located in the vieux quartier, this restaurant had a scallop appetizer that was just ridiculous. Everyone in the restaurant knew it. A diner at the
table next to us even told the Gods so. It was the best. I am a sucker for good service and this restaurant made me happy. The timing was good, people chatted with you just the right amount, they were knowledgeable about the dishes. It was sweet.
For such a great meal, I was surprised at the price. Seemed really reasonable. Is Montreal one of those places where people never cook?
And then there's Au Pied du Cochon. I was a little bit nervous about going as I don't like foie gras, but I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't give it a try. I had a couple recommended dishes to go on, but so many other things on the menu looked tasty. Our reservation was pretty late so we didn't have the best appetite, but enough to try some good stuff.
The restaurant way packed, the vibe was hype and the service, yet again was great. A different kind of situation from Le Club Chasse et Peche, but it fit with the personality of the restaurant. The people who work there must crash after the night's over. Although, having guests buy rounds of drinks every so often probably helps them.












For you non-frenchies, that's a duck in a can. At least, certain parts of the duck. I felt like my heart was going to stop beating.
I'm hoping to go back when the sugar shack location is open.









It's no secret that I love markets. I love seeing what vendors have got and I really have to restrain myself from buying copious amounts of food. I want to eat everything!!!
We went to both the Marche Atwater and the Marche Jean-Talon.
I wanted to buy tourtiere. Instead I had a tire sur la neige. It was much sweeter than I imagined it would be, but it was well worth it. So yummy.
I love zoos too. Well, animals. We went to the Biodome and saw some animals. I love watching animals, watching their behaviour and somehow trying to connect with them. I think all animals are beautiful. I should have been a zoo keeper. I think it was the first time that I saw spoonbills
feeding.
The Biodome was set up so that, while you couldn't get super up close and personal to the animals, they weren't exactly behind a glass case (for the most part). It was a better way to experience the way that they lived, in their own environment. The only I issue I had with the Biodome was that it was too small.

I get the feeling that I'll be going back to Montreal soon. And I'm pretty sure that I'll fly Porter. Not that the train wasn't amazing, but Porter's better.

More from Ottawa

Today, I took a personal day for myself.
I'm pretty sure I'm still jet-lagged as I didn't get to bed until 3am and although I knew I'd sleep in, I didn't realize how late it would be.
I didn't set an alarm clock, but I expected the sun and my body to wake me up at a fairly decent time.
3pm.
Ooops.
I actually had to check a second clock to make sure that my watch hadn't stopped overnight.
I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to make the couple tourist stops that I wanted to cover in Ottawa, but after getting my butt in gear, I managed to do everything on my list.
The two museums that I went to were the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of Civilization.
At the National Gallery, I wanted to check out the Karsh exhibition and the Governor General's Awards stuff. I happened to walk through the Nomads exhibition (so weird) as well.
The two exhibitions at the Museum of Civilization were also well done. I liked learning more about mummies and it's kind of neat learning more about myths from different cultures.
I walked around the city a bit and enjoyed the sun and the architecture. I loved listening to the French and figure that pretty much everyone in the city is bilingual. I love it. And French accents are fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.
On the way back to my hotel I noticed a man dressed quite normally give our socks to some homeless people. He offered them water as well, but I didn't catch what the response was and what else he had in his backpack. I wonder if he was working with an organization or if he was just doing stuff out of the kindness of his heart.
In the elevator up to my room, I overheard a tourist (comes in handy to understand foreign languages) say that elevators go to the floor that's button was pressed first. I had to refrain from laughing.
Yesterday was the Ottawa marathon, and as I had a little bit of a late start, I walked by some of the festivities. It caused a little bit of a transportation nightmare, but out of the goodness of someone's heart, I was offered the use of their cellphone to clarify where my bus was being re-routed to. I've been very impressed at the hospitality of the people in Ottawa.
Also, am I a sucked for punishment or just can't pass up a challenge? I just googled 10k runs in Toronto. I'm thinking of doing one.