‘Pore Luck
We had the worst luck in Singapore. We arrived on a Sunday in Little India when, it turns out, the entire male Indian population of the city throngs to the area to just.. hang out. Droves, hordes of people cramming the streets, blocking traffic, spilling over the sidewalks, shopping. In hindsight, it was nothing to worry about, but arriving by bus to a new city late at night, it’s not exactly the calm, welcoming sight one might prefer.
The rooftop bar of our hotel was closed because it was Sunday (I know, the horror) and most restaurants were closed for the same reason. At least we did find the basic necessities of cold beer and hot, spicy street food which somewhat made up for the “hardships”.
The next morning, as we walked out of the door of the hotel, rain like an open firehouse poured down onto the streets. We walked 2 kilometers in the wrong direction for breakfast, and then when we gave up and took a taxi to a different place, the food was pretty… gross, actually. Then we took another taxi to the Asian Civilization Museum only to find out that it was closed on Mondays until 2:00pm. Thoroughly soaked, we walked through the rain further to find a mall, of which there is no shortage in Singapore.
And still it rained! We wandered, we window-shopped, we ate fabulous Indonesian food. We got lost, we found another breakfast place that closed down in front of us for maintenance work, we got splashed by passing cars in the street. And yet, despite all these wrong turns and foul weather, this place proved to be someplace I could happily live. It has all the things I love: good food, a variety of good food, clean streets, wine, warm weather, ocean, and pork belly. Pork BELLY. Take this 3-inch think piece of pork, 2 inches of which are fat, sear it and then braise it and serve it with lobster and all of a sudden this is one of my favourite cities.
