Singapore Some More

After the people watching at the main shopping street we headed back to Pasir Ris and rested for a while. I noticed that Pasir Ris is a cycling suburb perhaps because of its proximity to the very big park. There were even cycling tracks purposely built alongside the pedestrian walkways. I guess they were built to separate the cyclists from pedestrian but I noticed that pedestrian were nonchalantly walking and some pushing strollers on the cycling track forcing the cyclists to cycle on the pedestrian walkway!! Or was it the cyclist forcing the pedestrian? Ah well……

Later, all of us went out for dinner at a buffet restaurant in a peoples’ complex in Pasir Ris, which was a walking distance from the apartment. This restaurant appeared to be very popular as it was full and prior reservation was needed to secure tables for dinner, that too on a week day.

When we arrived, the place was full. We got a table at one end of the restaurant, away from the constant rush of people taking food that were laid on dispensing stations in the centre of the dining hall. We thought that was nice as we could eat in peace and quiet. But that was not to be, because next to our table was a group of young men who were very noisy and often laugh aloud amongst themselves. Anyway, the good food served lulled my senses and I forget the noisy lot!!

There was a very wide spread and selection of food from starters to main entrees and desserts of a wide variety. There was local, Japanese, Western type of food offered. I started with Japanese, which was quite a natural selection for me and Ram’s nephew guessed it right, moved on to Western and finished off with cold stuff like fresh oysters and other shelled items before dessert. I did not touch rice and salads as those I often take when at home. Whilst taking desert, I was doing something that I naturally and consciously do, that was trying out various options of eating them. I was eating fruit that I dipped in the Japanese wasabe sauce. Ram’s nephew’s eldest daughter thought I was absent mindedly dipping them and commented on it. Ha ha! I caught her attention and surprised her. I assured her that that was natural to me. I like doing that kind of silly stuff!! Sort of adding spice to the food!! It tasted nice, so…. that was that. For drinks, there was a wide selection of cold juices and hot drinks from the standard coffee or tea to cappuccino and chocolate. Ohhhh, I really had my fill. This is always the problem with me….. food…. all my disciplined self melt away when there are good food, more so of the type that I like, and I like many types, and most of them were available in this restaurant. A sensible suggestion after the dinner was to take the longer walk through the park to go home and everyone agreed.

The walk through the park was in deed refreshing. It was breezy and also peaceful. We could see the distant lights of Changi point on one side and Johore Port, across the straits on another. There were also others walking or cycling in the park but mostly couples, not a big group like ours. We were not noisy though.

We returned to JB the next day using the cab again as it was more convenient. The trip this time took us only about 1.5 hours door to door, a far cry from the trip we made into Singapore. There was hardly any queue at both the checkpoints, which was most satisfying to us. A‘lull before the storm’ I guess as it was Friday morning before the long year end weekend. I could imagine the queue building up as the day gets later and later in the evening. To the checkpoint staff its part of their routine to handle big crowds but to people like me, getting caught in such rush and long queues will be more than a little daunting…….

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya