Attack of the Dinosaur, Steve Irwin Avenged, and Midnight in Singapore
Mike and Wendy were out today for their friends' wedding, so I had much of the day to myself. Yesterday I had developed a nasty blister on my foot, so I wanted to do something that wouldn't aggravate things: cycling. I borrowed a bicycle and after grabbing a bite to eat (roti prata again) I rode to Lakeside park and followed the path south. Everything was really green, the sun was shining, and it was generally a great day to be on a bicycle.
After passing the bridge to Chinese Garden, I saw a statue of a very very large lizard in the middle of the path. When I looked again, I realized it was an actual lizard, about 4 feet long from tip to tail. It was, in fact, a Malayan Water Monitor lizard, which is in the same genus as the famed Komodo dragon. I took a couple snapshots from range, none of which turned out that great, and as I moved to get a closer look he scurried off into the brush. Note that this was a public park, not a zoo... and there was a free-ranging giant lizard.
As I came back around on the loop and entered the Chinese garden to take photos, it started to rain heavily. By the time I made it back to the flat I was totally soaked. I wanted to go out and grab some more food but it rained until about 5pm, when I went out to grab some Mee Goreng (red spicy noodles) from the market, and finished it off with a lychee drink (with the fruits still in it). I thought the day was wrapping up, but then Wendy's brother came home around 7 and invited me out to eat. Not one to turn down a good meal, we went back to the market where he ordered a couple beers and a stingray. Yes, you read that correctly. I ate stingray, topped with spicy red chili sauce. It was delicious. Then for dessert he treated me to Singapore's version of flavored ice, which had sweet red beans in the bottom and tropical fruitstuffs and condensed milk poured liberally over the top.
It didn't stop there. As he's a bit of a night owl, he invited me for a midnight bike ride through the city to one of his favorite eateries. At this moment my stomach was about to burst, but he told me it would take at least an hour to get there and we'd work up an appetite getting there. He was right. Strangely enough, this seems to be a tradition. Since the buses and trains stop after midnight, and cars are so obscenely expensive (we're talking 10 grand to get a PERMIT to buy a vehicle), a lot of people jog or walk or bike there. When we arrived after 1am, the place was completely thronged. We had enough space to grab some mutton curry and some roti prata (I swear that's becoming a staple food for me, but it's so good) and admire all the fancy cars and motorbikes the rich kids had parked out front. We biked back home, and got back around 3:30am.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Giant lizards! This definitely bumps Singapore up on my "places to see" list. It's a shame monitors can be so vicious; I'd love to get my hands on one.
Purely for the sake of scientific investigation, of course.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I hope you get a recipe for that roti prata stuff. It sounds as if you're having a good time! I didn't know people ate stingray. Did you hear a woman was killed in Florida when a stingray jumped up out of the water and hit her in the head? She was sitting in front of a boat that was tooling along at 25 mph. The beast weighed something like 75 pounds.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Did the stingray taste anything like a dish we have in the states? I am trying to imagine what it might taste like, but I guess I have no point of reference.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
"Here, lizard lizard..." Wow! You've got to love giant lizards who are known for feasting on roadkill and are equally at home climbing trees and swimming in the water. Beats your typical park squirrels any day. I mean, really, just how long do you think a squirrel can hold ITS breath? ;o)
March 27th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Talk about timing...John and I were flipping through the channels last night when we came across Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel (the guy who did the show on Japan than Mom & Dad showed you). The show was just starting, so we waited to see where he was filming from. Singapore! What a riot. We watched...he kept saying again and again how food IS their culture. He didn't eat stingray, but he did eat shark head, bone marrow soup, chicken & rice, chili crab, and some other cool stuff. Yum. Chew on a few crazy things for me...can't wait to hear all about it!
March 27th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
And Tracy called us, so we taped that show so you can watch it when you get home. I know you liked watching the one he did on Japan.