WHY I TOOK A GRAB TO THE CHANGI AIRPORT

Because I have always been a Grab rider ever since Uber sold out although I always take the green tricycle from 137 Panay Avenue to the Capitol Medical Center for my prescribed therapeutic sessions after which a brief encounter with Roxy at Sunnymede before booking a Grab to NAIA Terminal 2 which took me to Changi where I rode a Grab to the Fort Canning Lodge, erstwhile exclusive zone for the British where Mr. Thomas met us 8 hours later, since Singapore's train services ends before midnight.   

And all along, I though Grab was invented by the Singaporeans until Oskar told me it was the Malaysians as we walked to 23-A Coleman Street where District Grand Master William Henry Macleod Read laid the cornerstone of Singapore's Masonic Hall in 1879.

We walked still, through the National Museum of Singapore to a collection of fire fighting mementos at the Civil Defense Heritage Gallery and across the colonial Asian Civilization Museum that stands out amidst the towering forest of glass panelled modern skyscrapers.

The promenade along the shores of Marina Bay eventually led us to Marina Boulevard and the Red Dot Design Museum which is the gateway to the bowels of the Marina Bay Sands in the artificial city of The Shoppes where we ogled at merchandise that we could not and would not buy even if we could before disgorging us on the other side where we crossed the Helix Bridge into Raffles Avenue.   

Oskar then said he will treat me to a teh tarik so we took a table in the Toast Box at the Esplanade Theaters on the Bay where we conversed on more nonsense before deciding to head back to the comforts of the Fort Canning Lodge by way of Battery Road which evolved into Chulia Street that led us to the corner of Upper Circular and New Bridge roads where I convinced Oskar to have an early dinner of bak kut teh at Song Fa --- pork ribs cooked into such delicateness that the meat literally falls of the bone.  

Then it was Thursday so I booked a Grab to the ACN office at Keppel Towers and then later in the day after finally "discovering" the heritage House of Tan Yeok Nee, I decided to take a Grab to Changi instead of the airport train since GPMU does not give a damn on my circumstances and therefore I don't give a damn about them too. 

THE LEGEND OF THE MERLION

There was once upon a time a fishing village called Temasek that was guarded by a lion from the Kingdom of Singapura which was caged in cement fondue and placed at the mouth of Singapore's only river to scare off pirates and opium runners, agreeably one of the "Three Major Disappointments of the World" with the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen and the Manneken Pis in Brussels such that it was relocated to give way to the more visually resplendent Esplanade Bridge and to borrow greatness from the stunning modern architecture of the Marina Bay Sands.

That was the Merlion which permeated my conversations with Bulan as he gnawed on Buffalo Wings from The Yard and tested the sisig and banana split from Iceberg, the wings overwhelmed by an acerbic aftertaste and the sisig nothing extraordinary although the decadent ice cream was fine which is like what I got in my Business Class upgrade while the rest of PR 509 have to do with a rock-hard frozen mass served in plastic cups, the former further illustrating my first two meals of Week 1 in Singapore which is a traditional breakfast of kaya toast-soft boiled eggs-kopi and a hawker lunch of sweet & sour pork-kangkong in sambal sauce-fish in soy sauce and cold milk tea served in a Tiger Beer mug.    

All that before my encounter with the Merlion that got me crossing the Esplanade Bridge and walking under it to Esplanade Park and through Padang Field where cricket is played [which we eat in the Philippines, and probably rugby too which is sniffed in Manila] right in front of the old Supreme Court and City Hall that has been fused as the National Gallery Singapore where I segued into the grounds of St. Andrew's Cathedral just when my camera battery died.  

But what is more fortifying than chicken rice with blood still oozing out of the thigh bones on the day where I struggled whether to take a taxi or a Grab to 333 Orchard Road, that strip of high end malls and shops where I met with fellow advocates for responsible agriculture investments in the ASEAN after which I decided the best option is to get out fast via Somerset to the Lavender Station where I killed time gawking at Singapore's culinary legends --- halal Malay food at Jalan Sultan Nasi Padang, Bee Cheng Hiang's bakkwa barbecued meat, and the curry puffs of Old Chang Kee.  

The Merlion was upon me so I went walking to the turquoise Malbar Mosque and past the old and forgotten Malay and Muslim cemeteries before deciding to cross Victoria into Arab Street corner North Bridge Road where I dined on murtabak in an Indian restaurant called Zam Zam before crossing back Victoria via Jalan Sultan near where the Nan Wha Chong Fish Head Steamboat Corner do business.        

That evening of June 21, I took the Green Line to Changi at 20:00 and slept until the 23:45 boarding call, got nuked and electrocuted and kneaded several hours later in Manila, and was able to get back to the bike trails on a Saturday when the heavens finally decided to cease crying for a while.   

PASAN KO ANG DAIGDIG

ang lulang Pinagpala at ngalan ng impaktong Sanggol ang mga kumutkot sa paypay kung saan nakasandal ang mundo

balabal ang natetanong litid at laman sa nirayumang pakpak at kadenang hatak sa piging ng mga kabalyero   

nanginig ang balikat ngunit ang pagtinag ng mundo ay napigil sa haplos ng terapewtiko at amoy ng bagong telepono  

pasan ko pa rin ang daigdig pero puede na ulit maglakad patungong Timog at mamulutan ng hinurnong pakpak ng manok  

THE WORD ACCORDING TO GOOGLE

Google says...

DIPLOMACY is the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and tactful way.

CAUCUS is a group within an organization or political party which meets independently to discuss strategy or tactics.

DEBRIEF is a series of questions about a completed mission or undertaking.

CONSUL GENERAL is a consul of the highest status, stationed in a major city and supervising other consuls in the district while a...

...VIN D' HONNEUR Is akin to a prolonged social celebration after an official ceremony like a marriage.

MYOFASCIAL PAIN SYNDROME or MPS is a fancy way to describe muscle pain, and refers to pain and inflammation in the body's soft tissues which requires...

...PHYSICAL THERAPY which is the treatment of disease, injury or deformity by physical methods such as massage, heat treatment, and exercise rather than by drugs or surgery, or perhaps a lot of...

...MOUNTAIN BIKING which is the sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially designed mountain bikes.

YAOWARAT

Yaowarat is actually the main road that cuts through Bangkok's Chinatown which is among the city's oldest districts having simultaneously evolved with the Grand Palace area where the original Chinatown was until the Chinese community there was displaced by the establishment of Siam's new capital city more than 200 years ago.

Yaowarat the Road was established years later in 1891 and has become synonymous with Bangkok's Chinatown, in fact referred to as Chinatown itself, and is now a famous food street, which is why it has been in my bucket list.

And an invitation to a workshop in the UNDP placed me within striking position at the Nouvo City Hotel where I was billeted which is just 3.9 kilometers from the street food capital of Bangkok.   

But before Yaowarat is the Samsen Road area right where my hotel is which turned out to be a gem of a food street with family-run restaurants squeezed on both sides of narrow streets offering great food at backpacker prices like Pad Thai and fried spring rolls at Jeng Noodle for 100 baht, the amazing chicken dish and ice cream dessert at the Patonggo Cafe also at 100 baht (I came back for the 60 baht crispy pork), and the spicy chicken topped with Thai-style omelette at White Conner's for 80 baht.   

The big event though is a trip to Yaowarat which I did on the night after the UNDP workshop, sore shoulder not withstanding, where I intended to start with the crisp oyster omelette at Nai Mong Hoi Thod but ended up at the equally famous Lek and Rut Seafood stand, and there tested a 150 baht oyster omelette [which is the only item I am willing to spend for from an expensive menu list] that turned out to be disappointingly bland and limp, and wondered how it would have been at Nai Mong Hoi Thod or at T and K Seafood on the other side. 

So I walked as patches of sweat began to darken my green long sleeved shirt, gawking at an array of roasted duck and mound of dried fruits, snapping at a pedestrian walking through a fruit stand, getting lost in the wafting aroma of boiling soup and steamed chicken that competed with the unctuous smell of sewage and a sweaty horde.

The sight, sound and smell of Yaowarat at 7 pm is overwhelming and paralyzed me like the lobster on the grill, the noodle cart beside the dessert stand after the smoked ducks just too much for my senses, so I sought comfort in the familiarity of stacked durian fruits until the aroma of burning bread led me to a tiny street corner bakery where a piece of 15-baht toasted bread brought me back to my bearings.  

That was when I noticed the locals queuing on something that must be good so I joined the line where 10 minutes later, a betel chewing "assistant" pointed me to a red plastic stool under a stainless table already shared by two young ladies where I was served a 70-baht bowl of white noodles with sliced crispy pork and assorted innards swimming in a peppery soup that I later found out to be the Kuay Jab (Thai pork noodles) served by the popular Nai-Ek Rolled Noodles, glad to have sampled another Yaowarat culinary landmark but not quite awed with the lingering strong paminta taste. 

 

A big let-down though is the huge neon advertisement for shark fin soup which seems to be a classic Yaowarat fare too, and shark fin is in my personal list of unethical food that include dogs, cats, snakes, rats and wild game in general. 

One visit is simply not enough for the full Yaowarat experience plus I was too full, the dull sensation in my left shoulder has become more than bearable, and I smelled like a Chinese kitchen so I took one last shot at Chinatown before negotiating a taxi fare back to the hotel.   

The hotel bed never felt so comforting and the next day and the other day, I was enjoying the Frankenstein Protocol in Manila and Nueva Ecija.