on the Go with Bo!

Hachi Japanese Restaurant

There are several great Japanese restaurants in Singapore, but this one I thought was exceptional.

A friend took me here for a treat.  His wife and me did some work for him today ... role-playing on the phone, pretending there was an emergency situation in Pakistan.  Well I guess we did such an excellent job that we deserved a fantastic meal :-)

The restaurant is called Hachi and is located on No. 23 Mohamed Ali Lane #01-01, right off Club Street (Tel: 6734 9622 or HP: 9155 1072).  I had arrived there first and found this lovely table outdoors, under the arched terrace.  As my friends arrive, they say no-no-no, we're moving inside.  We're going to sit by the counter.  I'm all for sitting outside but they convinced me ... and they were right.

We went for the 'surprise menu' which basically means several surprise - and delicious - dishes in a row.  The mantra is that everyday they will serve you what's fresh.  To begin with, the portions were very small and I felt like simply inhaling my food.  But then came another plate, and another ... and another ... so by the end we were really full from these small portions.  The food was excellent!

Add some Sake to that ... and I can say we've had a wonderful Deepavali evening.

Oh, the cook also mentioned that they have a great lunch menu.  I think he understood I planned to write something as he saw me snapping photos of his creations.

Feel the Breeze at the Scarlet Hotel

Saturday night we were looking to do something special.  We were celebrating new beginnings with a friend from Switzerland, an Indian couple and a Singaporean girl.

I wanted something outdoors for I love tropical evenings.  After having lived in Belgium and Holland for several years, where being able to sit outside happens 6 times a year ... I tend to saviour every tropical evening.

The Breeze Restaurant at the rooftop of the Scarlet Hotel fits that bill perfectly.  Al fresco dining under the stars!  It's not a large place, and just like the hotel, feels somewhat boutique-ish.  For larger groups they have these canopied tables that feel very lush.  The champagne came in very funky flutes and the seafood platter for two was very fresh.  To end the evening we had a chocolate fondue, which put my taste buds into over-drive.

Since we didn't want to go home yet, we went for drinks to the Loof Bar at Odeon Towers.  It was packed when we got there, with groovy music and a great view overlooking the Raffles Hotel.  It's a perfect rooftop terrace for drinks after dinner.

We came home with a sense of mission accomplished.  And drunk!

Little India

It finally happened today!  They stole my shoes ... ok, $10 flip-flops ... in Singapore ... at the Sri Veeramakaliamman temple in Little India of all places.

In a way it really feels like it made Singapore more humane to me, more real.  It's hard to believe that a city can be so perfect.  So I found a flaw.  Yeah!  It put a smile on my face :-)

Since it's Deepavali next week, the Indian festival of lights, I figured this was as good of a time to see Little India.  Deepavali is kind of like New Year's for Westerners.  The word Deepavali literally means Deepa = oil lamp and -vali = row.  So put together, it becomes oil lamps in a row, which is what you will see everywhere.

The Indian population in Singapore is primarily from the southern part of India, which is Tamil.  Southern India is characterized by darker skin, spicier food and hot characters.  And as in India, which is primarily Hindu but has a large contingence of Muslims, Christians and other faiths, Little India in Singapore will have a church, a mosque and a temple all within a few blocks of each other.

The main thoroughfare in Little India is Serangoon road ... thus the Little India MRT station is the perfect place to start your discovery of the Indian part of town.

I laughed about my flip-flops getting stolen at the Hindu temple, for as much as Singapore is perfect, Little India is most probably the 'least perfect' part of this city state.  It's slightly dirtier than any other neighbourhood, noisier, chaotic ... a micro version of the colourful mother India that it tries to emulate.

A great place to start your tour of Little India is the Tekka market.  Although right now it's been temporarily relocated to Race Course Road, right across from Farrer Park Field, the original location which is currently under renovation (will be completed sometime in 2010) is at the intersection of Bukit Timah Road and Serangoon Road.  You will be interested to know that Farrer Park Field, throughout its many reincarnations, has been a horse race-track, sports field and even an airport.  In 1911 a French pilot took off from this field for the very first time.

They say that Tekka market is the best market in town, with the best bargains.  If you're searching for colourful saris, fabrics, antiques, junk, vegetables, meat, fish, etc ... this is the place to be.  If for nothing else, it's very colourful to walk through the market and experience it.

I'm always amazed at the range of patterns and colours that you see in Indian clothing.  In a western store, you will have a pile of red sweaters in different sizes, next to blue sweaters in different sizes ... you get the picture.  In Indian stores, you have a million different saris, not two that seem to be alike.  The diversity is dumbfounding.

At the food court in Tekka market, I finally also realized the difference between coconut milk and coconut water.  While coconut water is the clear liquid that you find inside a coconut (somewhat self-explanatory), to make coconut milk, you first have to grate the white pulp of the coconut and then squeeze/grind it.  The juice that comes out is coconut milk.  As someone who doesn't cook, I always wondered how they made the milk!

As you walk up Serangoon Road and meander through the streets savouring the smells and chaos of Little India, head towards the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple.  Absorb all the colours and richness of the Hindu religion and its many gods.  The pujas (prayers) are at 0800, noon, 1600, 1830 and 2100.  To get the full experience, these are the best times to come.  If you're interested in seeing additional Indian Temples, the two other prominent ones are the Sri Mariamman in Chinatown (South Bridge Road) and Chettiar's Hindu Temple on River Valley Road and Tank Road.

If you're hungry, there are several restaurants in this area.  It's hard to recommend any, for they all seem good.  Just pick a place and order something with a name that you've never heard before ... and saviour the aromas and tastes.  Another must is to try the Indian ginger tea.  There's a place called Mubarak Restaurant on Clive Street and Campbell Lane.  Take a seat and watch the server pour you tea.  You will see what I mean once there!

If more shopping is what you're looking for, you can either go to Mustafa Centre (which is a shopping mecca, Indian style) or go to the Little India Arcade, on the corner of Serangoon and Hasting Road.

       

To end, I just want to give you another little piece of information on the area.  The history of Buffalo Road, which is in Little India.  As I've been learning recently, a lot of the street names are literal in Singapore.  They either led to someone's mansion, and thus the street name is related to the family that lived there, or ... as in Buffalo Road ... it's literally because there was a buffalo market at that location.  A long time ago, of course.  Because several farmers were poor and didn't have the money to own a buffalo, they would come to the buffalo market and rent one, plow their fields and then return it the next day.

And where did I learn this?  Geraldene of course, the Singaporean tour guide extraordinaire :-)  To discover Little India with her, email her at geraldenestours@hotmail.com or phone her at +65 8155 1390.

Emerald Hill

Of course I've been to pub row at Emerald Hill several times ... No. 5 and Que Pasa are wonderful places to spend your muggy Singapore evenings.  But every time I go there I tell myself ... I want to discover more about the neighbourhood.  The shop houses are colourful and full of history, and I've been curious to see what's going on behind all those closed doors.

Well today it happened!  I got an email from my favourite Singaporean tour guide Geraldene saying she's doing a guided tour of Emerald Hill.  So I quickly signed up, grabbed my next-door neighbour, and showed up this morning, in the stifling heat, on the corner of Orchard Road and Emerald Hill Road.

Already in the first 10 minutes I found out the difference between a shop house and a terrace house.  I've been ignorantly calling all the traditional Chinese row houses in Singapore simply shop houses.  Well, they're a shop house if they were built to house a shop.  Otherwise, if they were built as a residence, they're called a terrace house.  So technically, only pub row has shop houses, and the rest of Emerald Hill contains terrace houses.

What I also didn't know is that several of the roads around Orchard Road were named after wealthy Irish and Scottish landlords, that used to have their mansions in this area when there were still orchards and nutmeg and pepper plantations.  Thus Koek Road, Cavenagh Road and Cuppage Road were all roads that led to the mansions of wealthy Europeans from the turn of last century.  And Emerald Hill supposedly got it's name in reference to the Isle of Emerald ... a nod to all the homesick Irish settlers that used to live here around 1900's.

Emerald Hill is a heritage area located right next to Orchard Road.  Within 50 metres you go from a shopping and commercial mecca to a wonderfully preserved community of old-time typical Singaporean peranakan houses.  Peranakan usually signifying a wealthy family that was locally born.  As you walk around the area you will notice that each house has different influences.  Geraldene pointed out the typical green roof tiles, which were originally made by Chinese women on their thighs.  That's why the roof tiles had the tapered look for the lady's legs were very thin.  And of course, no two tiles were thus the same.  Each house has very ornate windows and doors, and several have different styles of European tiles decorating the facade or floor.  So even though at a quick glance, all the terrace houses look alike, they have all been meticulously customized expressing the tenants very individual tastes and often religion.

This is of course even more noticeable when you enter these terrace houses.  What I love about Geraldene's tours is that besides showing you the neighbourhood and explaining the history of it, she always takes you inside the houses to see how the tenants lived and decorated their abode.

We visited three terrace houses and all three couldn't have been more different from each other.  One was a beautifully appointed, very large terrace house that still had all the original furniture.  It had an interior courtyard with a wonderfully crafted water feature.  I prefer these type of terrace houses, for by nature, terrace houses tend to be dark.  Since there are no windows on the sides, if it doesn't have an atrium in the centre of the structure, then there is no natural light to illuminate the interior.  The other two terrace houses were not as traditional but yet wonderfully appointed, both expressing the very individual style of the current (and sometimes past) tenants.  I also peaked into a few houses that had their doors open, due to renovations, and two had a very modern interior, full of glass features.  It actually looked stunning, the juxtaposition of modern and old.  One of the houses we viewed was rented by an American lady who came up with a fantastic quote.  After asking her where she worked, she said 'work ... tends to interfere with life'.  I laughed, for I tend to agree!

I'm always amused that terrace houses, as well as black & white houses, are mostly occupied by expats.  The locals tend to see these houses as old fashioned, dusty and with no air-conditioning ... while expats find them colourful, full of history and character.  Different points of view, I guess!

And of course, Geraldene is full of anecdotes.  And to some you simply have to laugh. She was telling us how number 4 is an unlucky number for the Chinese, for it sounds like the word for death.  Of course, no respectable Chinese family would live in a house with a number 4.  But expats would.  And expats don't know that 4 is unlucky ... or at least most of us don't.  So the Chinese families used to buy houses with unlucky numbers, aggressively bargain on the price, get them at half-price and then sell them to unassuming expats for full price.  Brilliant business people :-)

To discover Emerald Hill, or for that matter any other part of Singapore, email the best ... Geraldene at geraldenestours@hotmail.com or phone her at +65 8155 1390.  You will come back home full of insights and having had several good laughs.

     

Lunch by the Grand Hyatt pool ... and don't forget to check out the spa

Before we moved to Singapore, we would always stay at the Grand Hyatt when in town.  I love the hotel, especially after the major renovations that were done to the rooms.  Everything was great ... but the pool/gym/spa areas were just OK.

Not anymore!  Recently the whole pool area, gym and Damai Spa were re-opened ... and the result is magnificent.

The pool area is very hip and the Oasis restaurant by the pool is a perfect place for a mid-week lunch.  And if you think you deserve a spa treatment before heading for lunch, definitely try out the Damai Spa.  The interior is something to see.  Each of the 11 treatment rooms has its own water feature and garden view.  And the corridor has got some funky lighting happening.  You walk down the hall and you see vertical panels with a white staggered effect, you turn around, and the whole hallway is a long tunnel illuminated in moving blue lights.  Check it out for yourself!

     

Pasta Brava!

It's always great to be invited out for lunch and to discover something new and fabulous.  OK, it's true that there is no shortage of Italian restaurants in any city, however, Pasta Brava, located on the edge of Chinatown in a beautiful shop house, is something to brag about.

It was funny to walk into a typical Chinese shop house ... and then you enter ... and voila, you're in Italy.  It was like walking into a time warp.

The menu was very Italian ... but of course ... and the agnolotti with salmon that I had were delicious.  Add a glass of wine, a tiramisu and espresso for dessert, and you've got a great meal.

Perfect for lunch or dinner.  Make sure you make a reservation though.  Pasta Brava has been around for more than 15 years and there's a reason for that.  Because they're great ... and everyone knows that!

Brazil - Rio de Janeiro (Sep 2008)

We came to Rio to go hang-gliding. It was a wedding gift of ours ... and we were very excited to do this. The way this idea came about is that the last few times we were in Rio, I often noticed hang-gliders flying around the cone-shaped hills surrounding the city. It looked beautiful ... to be able to glide through the air in such a beautiful city. Of course I had mentioned this to our friend Gina who lives in Rio ... and so she decided to gift us this experience. Brilliant gift :-)

Unfortunately, it didn't happen. The weather was shite! On a good note, this means that we have to come back to Rio. There could hardly be a worse place to return too ... right?

Why do I love Brazil?  Read on ...

Thank god for SQ!

Sydney was the last stop on our 5 weeks 5 continents trip.  Even though it was a wonderful trip, we're both very happy to be returning back home.  The concept of packing and un-packing every 4 days becomes tiresome quite fast.  On this 5 week escapade we have flown many different airlines but I have to say it's fantastic to be back on Singapore Airlines.  Moreover, we're flying the new A380.  SQ is truly in a class of their own.

I'm a plane fanatic.  And it was my first flight on the A380.  We were supposed to come back on it from London this summer but our plans unfortunately changed.  It was funny, for when I walked onto the plane and sat down I realized that actually the interior doesn't look that much different from any other plane.  And with this I don't mean the seats but the ceiling, panelling, lighting, etc.  I don't know what I was expecting ... perhaps a radical redesign of the interior.  Or at least different signs for 'fasten your seatbelts'.

But then bit by bit I started realizing the small differences.  The window seats have storage bins on the side (like on the upper-deck of a 747), the windows are inset quite deeply, the bathrooms are much bigger, the wings on the A380 are massive, the plane is noticeably quieter ... and then of course, there is the big, stately staircase that takes you downstairs.

The one thing that totally impressed me this time occurred during the meal.  As I proceeded to unroll the napkin and laid out the cutlery on my table, I realized a little note that was tucked into the serviette.  I read it ... it was informing me that due to Australian regulation, 'we are obliged to use plastic knives onboard.'  I now look at the knives again ... and only then realize that they don't entirely match the rest of the cutlery.  When we flew Air Canada from Vancouver to Sydney, the knives were a simple see-through plastic that you would use at a BBQ ... and were visibly out of place with the other stainless steel cutlery.  On Singapore Airlines, the plastic knives were silver, with ridges in the handle, as if they were out of metal.  That is what I call attention to detail and what makes an airline supreme.

Australia - Sydney (Oct 2008)

I always used to say, Australia is a beautiful country but $1,000 away from everything! Well, given today's prices ... make it $2,000! And going back down under reminded me how truly far away this continent is from the rest of the world.

We came to Sydney for we were invited to a wedding ... and to a farm. This was wedding number 3 out of 5 for 2008. I'm not sure what is in the water this year, but all our friends are getting married. It was a dry spell for several years ... and now the wedding bells just don't stop ringing.

Well, it's not all that bad coming to Sydney for a wedding ... right?

Read on to find out more about one of the most beautiful cities in this world ...

Canada - Vancouver, BC (Sep 2008)

Vancouver is definitely one of the most beautiful cities in this world. And a very laid back one at that.

As I was flying into Vancouver on a clear and warm day this September, looking out the window at the lakes, mountains and forests, I fell in love with the city once again. I lived here for 10 years ... throughout the entire 90's. And every time I come back, I feel totally connected to the natural setting.

Discover beautiful Vancouver...