Taking to the Air

Fornarina Store Opening party - Berd, Teddy et Peiling.

Now that I am about to leave, I start to realise that I am a greater urban boy than I imagined myself to be. In Foshan where I will be, the experience is a little suburban – after what I saw during my interview there. Can I put sexy back into suburban like John or Gabrielle on Wisteria Lane?

Last fortnight’s art-fuelled weekend also set me thinking about the urban pleasures that I get in Singapore. I can go to the museum when I am bored; I am constantly plugged into the urban experience.

At Art Singapore’s opening night, I was with Kenny, I was intrigued by Mao Xiao Chun’s Last Judgement in Cyberspace. Spoofing Michaelangelo, Mao crafted a 3D model of his body and replaced his image for each of the figures in Mike’s seminal work. So there you have Mao’s large painting that came into being with digital technololgy. Using computer-generated effects, he contorted his body into different positions to allow representations of him to explore the different ‘positionalities’ that one (and especially so for the original characters in Mike’s work) could have in the painting. Not only did we get to see exciting works, but I also bumped into familiar faces – such is the comfort of home.

Feng Meng Bo descended on our city last Friday at his exhibition opening at Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Drawing themes from computer games, this Onitsuka-wearing artist from Beijing painted a dragon-chain of faces (his own face in repetition that is) catapulting from a certain angle, resembling a dragon and a facial ar du gern all at once.

In what seems like a wave of Chinese artists, Ui Kong and I were invited to join Ying Kun for dinner at Jumbo/East Coast Park last Sunday. Ying Kun is represented by Art Seasons Beijing/Singpapore and is one of those folks working out of 798/Dashanzi Art District producing Mao-inflected pop art babies on canvas. Very fun and very dramatic.

Man, even National Museum managed to lure Cartier past its doors! The Art of Cartier exhibition reveals French culture’s shameful Orientalist slant in its obsession with Egypt (and also of East Asia) through the works exhibited. Curated and arranged thematically, there was an entire section on works produced during the second wave of France’s obsession with the Moyenne Oriente. Of course I didn’t say all that to the other guests at the Cartier party hosted by National Museum. With Huiling and Jose, I merely popped macaroons and sipped prosecco and left my two cents at the door. Haha.

Huiling on the steps oｆ National Museum après-Cartier.

All these leave me thinking about what I would miss when I leave – the pleasures of urban living.

In less than two weeks, I will be swinging to a different beat in a city called Foshan 佛山 where I will work for over a year. It is a small city just 30 minutes from Guangzhou in Guangdong Province

So tonight, I got together my relatives and family and we tucked in to a hearty meal at this ‘hood joint that’s fast gaining popularity. Apart from being quite good in its own right, I suspect it’s also because it gets spill-over traffic from the oft-crowded Hong Kong Street Chun Kee. It was all very tasty, and tonight we—as much as we could—stayed away from (our) predictables since I got to call the shots, hehe. I’m actually paying with my second pay cheque now that I have become a full-fledged working adult!

Seeing that no one was particularly decisive, I made executive decisions and over-ordered the following: Soup of Six Flavours, Sambal Prawns, Claypot of Duck and Sea Cucumber, Black Bean Sauce Hor Fun, Beancurd Rolls with stuffings of meat, duck egg yolks; Coffee-accented pork ribs, Squids with a side of KangKong (rather than the reverse hohoho), and a deep-fried fish doused in a thick gravy…

Man I am going to miss all these flavours that are so close to ma heart.

KENG ENG KEE SEAFOOD
124 BT MERAH LANE 1, #01-136
SINGAPORE 150124.

One year on, I return to Bangkok yet again. The sheer predictability of oft-visited Bangkok makes it less intriguing than before but that it’s become comfort zone makes it that much easier to navigate. I could actually feel at home. Not to mention that my pasa thai, after close to a decade of use and re-use, has evolved into comfortable stanzas that I could actually sing off with well-lubricated ease – pai Soi 2 na I’d say to the cabbie, jing lor? mai mee gor hok na? I’d hiss in jest at my newfound peun khon thai.

This trip is slightly different and refreshing. It’s a work trip. I had just returned from a job interview in Canton, so I rushed home, swapped luggage and shit, and went back to Changi again. I was all groggy the whole of Sunday when I arrived in Bangkok, thanks to two heavily-inebriated nights geisha-ing comme Sayuri in the KTV lounges and clubs of Foshan that weekend. Foshanista you say? lolx.

Starting on the wrong footing, I hightailed to Soi 2 to get my Long Island fix—and still reeking of Budweisser-breath from China. I ran into coupla of LJ boys, danced and then danced some more at after-hours venue at Soi 6 which I was visiting for the first time.

Oh did I even mention that the coup took place? It’s against Thaksin, not against the people. So there’s really little to fear. And by the way, I can’t even count the number of coups that have taken place with my two hands!

With my superior, we went to girlie bars at Soi Cowboy and Nana Complex – quite eye-opening. It’s been a while since I last went to a girlie bar. Was it 1998 in Pattaya? And 1997 in godknowswhere on Silom? Hohoho. We played pool with pool girls, chugged beers while entertainers of all sizes jigged away in their bikinis and heels by podium poles, bathed in a glow of bubble gum pink. Tiny Arabia, just across the road from Nana, was where I went to get my shisha fix and blended coconut smoothies. Heaven.

Retail therapy just got more exciting in Bangkok with Paragon and the soon-to-be-ready Central World Plaza. I really could do with more time to drop by the department stores. I split my time between retail and working out at Paragon’s California, which is spanking new but very tiny (Sukhumvit 23’s is way bigger). And the Food Halls! Central’s version might just rival Selfridges’ on Bond St when it’s ready. Over at Emporium, I had time to go shopping at Propaganda after dropping by at our partner’s office at Emporium’s office towers, do dinner at Ging Kalprapreuk and catch V&A’s deliciously-curated Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the Thai Creative and Design Centre.

I bought close to nothing on this trip, long sick of Siam Square-sizes that don’t fit me. What’s a boy like me to do but to settle for bespoke? Hah. I went to Arena fashion near Silom Soi 24 at the advice of a banker friend and made two shirts with cuffs, plus a pair of cuff links thrown in. Sigh, now that I am working, I am consciously updating my work wardrobe. Whatever happened to shopping for casuals? Boohoo.

Oh no I just realised that I haven't polished off the medley of macaroons I bought from Emporium's Lenôtre!

Now that I’ve started working (at a market research company, if that’s what you are asking heh), my everyday existence has been filled with clients, research projects, pitching, questions from clients (Which city should I set up my group’s hospital in? What do our consumers think of our bank’s services? Can we test fluids and solids all at one go in a focus group session?). While it’s fun and engaging, I still look forward to the end of the week. I get to breathe, spend a little longer time at California and meet ma pals.

What better than to do Friday dinners? Under natnor’s recommendation (his regular post-Zouk supping spot), mouth_nonstop and I got the lot together for dinner at Sin Hoi Sai, that tze char eatery in Tiong Bahru. I think I fancy alley-dining a lot more rather than being positioned in that glaring, dismal spot carved into a building. It’s been cored completely, leaving an empty space in which the proprietors proceeded to furnish with the mise-en-scene of a funeral/wake in mind: canvas drapes, light bulbs strung, plastic chairs, sloppy sets and even a picture of the deceased (ex-poster boy Fei Yu Qing! lolx) - the look was as raw as it could have been.

Thankfully, the company made up for it. We did the catching up over rather delicious plates of chilli clams, har cheong gai, wow-worthy fried cereal (and curried?) prawns, black pepper crabs (a good reminder that they are just as good as my other favourite) and chilli crabs.

But perhaps Bangkok-based freelance writer, Jennifer Gampbell,  might know the official names better. In her travel story on Singapore, which ran in New York Times earlier this year, she gave Sin Hoi Sai a mention. ‘Chilli clams’ was written up as kiwi clams sautéed in XO cognac, ‘cereal prawns’ described as wok-fried prawns smothered in curried crispy cereal. Also, it was a rather rude shock for one our friends when the bill came- the aloe vera drink comes at a whopping S$6. If only I paid closer attention to Gampbell’s story, I would have noted the line that went, locals top off their meals with a dessert of aloe vera chunks floating in crushed ice and barely sweetened water ($6).

It was a superbly hearty meal- I’m looking forward to more of these Friday three-hour-dinners (as exercised in the spirito Italiano della dolce vita!) with friends in the weeks to come.

 
SIN HOI SAI
BLOCK 55, TIONG BAHRU ROAD 01-59
SINGAPORE
t: +65 6223-0810

Without much consideration, Famous Five, Peiling and I decided to have Berd’s birthday dinner at Tien Court. Tien Court is one restaurant chinois that is severely under-rated with little walk-in despite a healthy database of clients. Tien Court is a smart-looking space with hints of chinois here and there, situated in a very smart-looking and feel-good hotel. According to the manager, it’s an ex-SzeChuan restaurant that has gone the way of Cantonese.

We enjoyed what we randomly ordered: kung pow chicken (mild and elegant-tasting, none of that oily, spicy excesses that plague kung pow disasters as served up in Beijing, Shanghai where I tried them) sautéed venison, a dish of vegetable and eggs (chicken, duck and century?) and fried seafood udon (a little on the spicy side, but with great potential to make it to one’s little black book).

Judy, the manager, brought around complimentary desserts (mango pudding spiked with pomegranate & orh-nee) when we told her it’s Berd’s birthday. To show our goodwill, we gave her a slice of our Ganaja from Rive Gauche.

We are making plans to come back for dimsum!

 
Tien Court
Copthorne King's Hotel Singapore
403 Havelock Road Singapore 169632
tel: +65 6318 3193 / 6318 3198