whine & dine

So I had a pretty bad week last week, and couldn’t wait to fly off to Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon. I was salivating at the thought of running away to one of my favourite neighbouring cities – a place that never makes me feel touristy, but feels more like another part of Singapore that I just don’t know that much. Of course, it also helps that I have friends living here (and by the end of this year I should have about 4 or 5 places to stay if I don’t want to splurge on a hotel) though I didn’t manage to meet up with one of them this time round.

Running away has always been a way of life for me. I know it’s not healthy, and I’m the first to admit that I’m a coward when it comes to these things. When I face a crisis, I’ll try to stand my ground for a bit and show off that bravado I pride myself on pretending I have, but, more often than not, I’ll end up fleeing the scene (preferably to a different country). A lot of things have happened in the past few days, and it’s just perfect that we had this trip scheduled. Bunny’s actually attending some work thingiebob, so I’m just tagging along and amusing myself. Relax, recharge, and spend time in one of my favourite cities. Sounds like a plan, yes?

Little did I know that by Saturday circa 12 or 1pm (yes – right now), I would have stepped out of the hotel room exactly once: for dinner last night. It’s almost sacriligeous that I’ve come to the land of food and eaten so much room service, but apparently I was a lot more tired than I thought. The weather outside is lovely (about 23 degrees in the day, dipping to 19-20 at night + the windchill.. yum!) and I really wish I’d had the discipline to push myself out the door.

Anyway, it’s now Saturday afternoon, and I’ll be dragged out later to central. I’m also hoping to get some shots of the buildings that will be stealing two of my beloved friends from me later this year. All I have to show (pictorally) of this trip so far are a couple of snaps of the Conrad OH-SO-CUTE bears, the world’s meanest weighing machine, and my view out the hotel room window. HEY AT LEAST IT’S A NICE VIEW.

If all goes well, I will be done coding and designing (yes: evidently that’s my idea of relaxation shut up I’m freaked out enough at what a dweeb I’ve turned into) by tomorrow morning. I’ve been helping a friend do up a landing page for his site, as well as working on a few other personal projects of mine. Then it’s back to school for me for 3 days, and then I’m off to Shanghai to run away once more!

Food Checklist:

• jü pa fahn
• dim sum
• congee with pei tan & salted eggs
• seafood (which was in pasta so that’s cheating a bit but nevermind)
• wonton mee (coming up at lunchtime!)
• roast goose (to be had tonight)
• egg tarts (hopefully squeezed in somewhere later today)

w00t. This is totally the kind of holiday I love. :)

Edit: The food checklist is complete and I’m back in SG. I had wonton mee TWO DAYS IN A ROW (okay technically I only had it today for lunch – but I ate at Mak’s yesterday’s as well and their zha jiong mein is FUCKING AMAZING. I also have a box of 9 egg tarts that I dabaoed home (ALL MINE STAY FAR FAR AWAY) and a box of 30 macarons I’M IN HEAVEN. Oh yes. Speaking of heaven. I discovered the joy that is the scrambled eggs and prawns with xo sauce from yung kee: HEAVEN ON A PLATE.