Roller coasting it out

Rain and Thunder
Heavy rain at 3am. Woke up to close the windows. Brazil vs Mexico playing (ended 0-0). Groggy but didn't go back to sleep immediately because the mind was filled with the excitement of the on-going live match.

Drifted in and out of consciousness and finally the alarm rang to put me out of my misery. There are still drizzles as we make our way to the stall in the middle of 5.30am. Some traffic can be seen. All the people who had just finished watching the live match and making their way home?

Sugar Burn
Apparently, the stove was rearranged too close to the sugar bag. A hole in the newly opened bag was burnt through while the soya milk was being "reprocessed" and precious sugar spilled. Didn't even realise until the smell of caramelising sugar filled parts of the stall.

"Oh <censored>!". A good half an hour was spent cleaning up and thus delayed the sales hour by that much.

"The soya milk is what? Finishing?!?"
But, thank God the wet and panicky morning was not the tone for the rest of the day. Customers came in bits and parts so serving was a breeze. And by 10am, the soya milk was left with less than a container. By lunch hour, we could only have enough to keep sweaty and thirsty customers happy till about 12.30pm before asking them if they prefer grass jelly or turning them away.

"Good thing" the sun was roaring hot with fire and made everyone get a drink anyway. By the end of the day, we finished everything and sold extra grass jelly, making the earnings of the day highest for a weekday, ever, in the 3 months. And we hardly broke a sweat. Everything was nice and cool. Cleaning up was done leisurely and by 2.15pm we were closing the shutters, to the envy of other stall owners (no, not really).

Tired but happy
Because I knew we took in quite a bit today. Secretly praying for similar weather and crowd tomorrow, at the expense of fellow Singaporeans who have to endure icky outdoors. Come to Mei Ling Market and Food Centre and cool off in delicious "Michael Jackson".

Hawking Truth

Life as a hawker can be tiring, physically. You start relatively early (maybe about 5am). Then its almost a rush to get the stall ready for the early birdies.The sun is not even out yet and you have drenched your tee shirt in perspiration.

You eat only during the off peak periods and not as and when you fancy, even though you work in front of food stalls.

Toilet breaks are not for quick snoozes or face checks in front of a mirror. Its fluid drainage at max efficiency. 

And efficiency will be your favourite word when you do such retails. You want max turnover of customers so you do your humane best to serve each customer, with a smile, and hope they won’t come back with complaints.

You maintain politeness even after customer have insulted you, intentionally or not. You take everything with a big stride and a huge pinch of salt.

When the sales hours are finally over, you turn around and face a mountain of dirty dishes and equipment to clean up, or face the nasty end of the stick from a government agency. After everything is sparkling again, you start getting whatever you can ready for tomorrow.

The trip home will not be how much you think you earned that day. It will be how fast you want to shower and sleep.

So when the opportunity for me to take over a stall with a 40+ years of reputation came up, I said “YES!”.

To be honest, I didn’t know that being a hawker can be such a challenge at the start. Its only when I started operations then I realise my lifestyle need a complete change. All of us do that. When we have a newborn, or when we discover a disease in our bodies, or any other major change in our lives. 

And now after 3 months (2 months technically) of sweating it out at an old neighbourhood market and food centre, I have new respect for those doing retail in the food industry. Things are better since and I guess you adapt to survive. You may not like the idea at the start but once you get the hang of it, its actually not that bad. 

I am in fact having fun observing people and discover the different kinds of people in our society from a hawker’s perspective. I have decided to digitise all my musings in relation to this venture.

Carnivore

Means meat-eater. Which is also a name for a restaurant located in a hip Dempsey area in Singapore. Guess what they specialise in at the restaurant.

Yeap, meat. Juicy barbequed meats in skewers, cut up and served to you by servers who thankfully know how to handle big knives. All you need to do is nod and they will happily fill your plate with slices and chunks. And if at any point you feel sick from chewing succulent animal protein, there is a self-serve salad bar with a nice selection to clean your palate for a second round of meat if you are game (hunger-inducing pun unintended).

No doubt a meat-lovers haven. And if you think that there can only be so many types of bbq meat, you cannot be more wrong. We counted at least ten different types before we are too stuffed to bother anymore. Ham, beef, chicken thighs, bacon-wrapped chicken breast, fish, sausage. Drooling even as I type.

The ambience in Carnivore Dempsey was good. Nice, quiet and cooling on a Thursday night, much thanks to a rainy day. The restaurant is spacious and mostly because to allow room for the servers to go around with their skewers of meat. The servers are attentive and friendly. Not fine-dining snobbish, but hawker friendly in a sincere way. 

While we enjoyed ourselves in this protein overload experience, the price can be a huge put off. At slightly over $70 nett per pax, its really pricey for average diners. But if you haven't tried Churrasco Brazilian style, don't miss Carnivore and its 1-for-1 special deal.

4 out of 5.

World War Z

The motion picture which stars Brad Pitt opened last week in Singapore to not much fanfare, other than promotional trailers and posters. But its Brad Pitt and with so much reputation, it should do fairly well in terms of box office, regardless of the reviews.

Honestly, I was not too blown away and its not because its about battling the-by-now-boring-theme, zombies. The idea of an Undead Apocalypse has gained traction the last few years and with so many movies a year on vamps, ghouls and zombies, you would think its getting old and probably won't generate interests. But throw in Brad Pitt, the movie becomes 4 stars cool. His shouldered-length uncombed locks and his unshaven face will get that final star.

Sure, it was fun watching the protagonist defending himself and his family heroically against hordes of undead. It was exciting to see him escaping a what would seem like a hopeless situation. I swear people around us wanted to cheer when he managed to prove that his idea worked against the zombies.

However that's about it. Its a fairly exciting movie where a guy left his family to save the world. And while some parts showed his vulnerability, reminding us that he is still human, there are also parts where his heroism was oozing so much that we wish we were like him.

For me, the movie just reminded me of how much fun I had with the Half-Life video game franchise. Thank you, Brad Pitt and Valve.

Food Court Haze

It was about 2pm in the afternoon. The food court was fairly crowded. There were tables available but most of them have used plates left by previous patrons.

A couple came in and made a beeline for a clean table. Now that they have a seat, the logical progression would probably be, "What to eat?". However, their chosen table was fairly far away from the stalls and definitely too far to read or even discern what the signs and pictures are saying.

So maybe now one of them will say, "You go see what you want and buy first lah. I jaga the table.".

Nope. Both of them stood near their table, blocking the walkway between the tables, squinting their eyes trying to make out if that bunch of blurry red is raw beef or just a chunk of chili. After about I would say 2 mins, I think they just gave up and proceeded to look around at other tables and see what other diners are having.

After another couple of minutes of turning hips to necks, they have finally decided to order. The man went while woman sat down and blank-stared into space. Remember, the food court was not too crowded. There were other tables albeit with uncleared plates.

There are a lot of different kinds of diners in the world. Those here in Singapore, seats are very important. Maybe because of years of overcrowding at food centres during lunchtimes. We are famous for reserving seats with packets of tissues, umbrellas or whatever we have with us and do not mind losing.

We can also stare at a sign of a stall for few minutes before deciding that "Nah. I don't take chili.". We can stand in front of a mall directory, whose eateries list is longer this post and still won't know what to eat. We are spoilt for choices.

I am not trying to laugh at anyone's gastronomic habits and concerns. I guess I am at point in life where observing people is more enjoyable than chewing on my favourite pan-fried dumplings.

Bali

More than 10 years ago, Bali, the island province of Indonesia was rocked by a terror attack. It took more than 200 lives, not counting collateral damages. But that did not stop people from flocking back to the island to look for excellent scuba-diving and even better food. I did just that over the Vesak Day holiday (observed by Singapore).

From huge wreck sites like Liberty Wreck and the nearby Drop Off, to the Gili Tepekong and Manta Point, Bali has lots to offer for all avid divers wanting to experience a very vibant and unique marine fauna. Mola mola and manta rays can be seen almost all year round, depending on your luck and/or perhaps how convincingly you can describe your encounters.

The scuba industry in Bali is growing. At the airport, you can see stacks and stacks of brochures most of them from offering free try outs for curious newbies, to perks like free nitrox to the more experienced. Your only problem is deciding which one to go with.

Even if you are not interested in diving, there are lots to do in Bali. The streets are lined with spas offering all sorts of treatment you can imagine. Cream baths, hair treatments, mani-pedis and other stuffs which I shall not be too obvious about here. All these for half of what you would pay in Singapore.

With so many tourists from all over the world coming to Bali, you can find all sorts of cuisine in Bali. Some may not be as common like french or chinese, but if you look hard enough you can get at least the <insert country name>-Bali fusion. Some of them prepared by actual chefs from <same country name as before>. Bakso, sate, keriting, KFC, Texas Chicken and of course the very familiar McDonald's, food is definitely not a problem.

Nice food and fun activities for really affordable prices separated by a 2.5 hour flight, I will be back!

In 10 days or so

I will be in Bali, gliding about underwater with the marine fauna, and adding some colour to my pasty asian skin!