Category: I Used to Live There!

Ajisen Ramen @ Tampines Mall

Bradley Farless16 Comments

Yesterday afternoon was a little cool out, surprisingly considering Singapore’s typical weather this time of year, so my wife and I were both in the mood for something soupy.  Typically, that means a trip to Manpuku for their Aoba Hokkaido Ramen, but our last visit was a little less than appealing, so we decided to try something new.  There’s a restaurant on the top floor of Tampines Mall called Ajisen that serves ramen.  We’d been by there quite a few times because we typically go to the outlet of Pastamania! that’s right next to it, or passed by it to go to the movies when we lived in Tampines. We’d glanced over the menu a few times but never given it a try, so we figured it was the perfect opportunity to give a new (to us) restaurant a chance.

My wife ordered the cha shu ramen, to compare it with what we normally get at Manpuku.  I decided to be a little adventurous and went with the scallop ramen.  The ramen came as a set, so for our set items we ordered the cuttlefish and California maki.  We also ordered a side of dumplings, again for comparison with what we usually got at Manpuku.

The meal as a whole wasn’t that bad at all.  The taste was good and it was well worth what we paid for it, which totalled 37 SGD for the two of us.  We got quite a bit of food for that amount.  It wasn’t a meal that wowed us, and I doubt I’ll be pressuring my wife to go back anytime soon, but it’s a decent meal and a suitable lunch destination.

What really appealed to me about the place was the pleasant appearance of the restaurant and the good service the staff provided.  When we initially entered the restaurant we were immediately greeted and seated.  When we asked to be moved to a booth, which was more comfortable than where we were initially placed, the staff was more than happy to oblige us.  Our servers were very polite, casual and friendly and they always had a smile on their faces.  It was a very pleasant experience.

Later, when we got home, I checked HungryGoWhere, a review site for Singapore’s restaurants, and saw that quite a few people had complained about bad service on the part of the staff.  I didn’t see it, at all.  Perhaps the manager had been reading the reviews there and gave the staff some training, because they did a great job for us.  That, more than anything else, would encourage me to want to go back.  Nothing makes a meal more enjoyable than proper service from the staff.

So, if you’re in Tampines Mall and you’re looking for a nice ramen meal, Ajisen is a decent place to go.

Review: Hei Sushi @ Downtown East

Bradley Farless4 Comments

Hei Sushi at Downtown East

After having a great time watching Clash of the Titans my wife and I walked down to the lower level of Downtown East to look around and decide on dinner.  We hadn’t eaten at Hei Sushi before and the conveyor belt full of sushi looked pretty appealing, so we got in line and waited to be seated.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hei Sushi but the entire experience was more than a little under-whelming.  There’s a restaurant by the pool and gym in Tampines (that I can’t remember the name of) that sells sushi off a conveyor belt and their selection is impressive.  The taste and quality is impressive as well.  I’d expected the same thing from Hei Sushi. We’d eaten a heavy lunch and we weren’t that hungry so the idea of just getting a few items from the conveyor belt is what roped us in.  The place also has an interesting method for ordering items: an interactive computer screen complete with an optical mouse on your table.  I was excited to play with it!

Computer Ordering Screen

The table we were seated at was near the front of one of the conveyor belts, so I was sure we’d get the best pick from the items coming out of the kitchen.  That would have been true, I’m sure, but no items were actually being added to the conveyor belt the entire 30 minutes we sat there.  Not that I could tell anyway.  Plates with the same, six or seven varieties, of sad looking pieces of sushi with wilted fish kept going round and round.

We initially took a few plates to try them, but after sitting for 30 minutes and realizing that they weren’t going to add anything new, we turned to the menu in disappointment.  After looking through the menu for a while we settled on an item we could both enjoy, the ika teriyaki (squid).  So, my wife took the mouse and tried to place the order.  She couldn’t get it to work, so I tried it.  The screen was frozen.  Left click, right click, it all resulted in no click.

Hei Sushi Sitting Area

At this point we were both disappointed with the place and decided to leave.  A meal is supposed to be a relaxing experience.  I shouldn’t have to face technical difficulties after already being disappointed by the small selection of choices on the conveyor belt, which, by the way, were barely a fraction of what their menu said was supposed to be available.  We were supposed to call for our bill by clicking a button on the computer screen, but that didn’t work so I had to flag down a waitress who seemed rather surprised that we were leaving after only eating 6 plates from the conveyor belt.

Speaking of those plates, they’re also overpriced.  That restaurant by the pool (wish I knew it’s name) had set the price at 1 dollar for two pieces of sushi on a plate.  Hei Sushi had the price set at 2.18 per plate, not including GST.

Now for my final complaint.  We were charged a 10% service fee.  10%!  And for what?  Being shown to a table?  Being presented with our bill?  We were never given any service to have to pay for it.  We picked up everything ourselves off of the conveyor belt.  I understand the concept behind a service fee, and I’m willing to pay it, but only when I’ve received service, and good service at that.  Hei Sushi’s service staff were pleasant, but they didn’t actually do anything for us to warrant a 10% service charge.

Hei Sushi isn’t a terrible place by any means, but we won’t be returning simply because there are better options where we can get better food at a better value.

A Trip To the US Embassy in Singapore

Bradley Farless1 Comment

Yesterday I had the opportunity, or really a need, to go down to the US Embassy here in Singapore.  This was my second trip there since being in Singapore.  I remember the first time I went I was really impressed with the whole idea of being in an embassy, because how many Americans actually get to do that?  That’s something I’ve mentioned to my wife before.  Most Americans will never leave the United States.  In fact, some Americans don’t even leave their home state for the entire lives.  That last group isn’t that big, but it’s true.  Traveling is a rare thing in the US, and traveling abroad is even more rare.  I suppose it has something to do with how big the US is, and how expensive it is to get anywhere interesting.  Here in Asia, you can hop on a plane for a short flight to any number of countries and it’s really cheap.  In the US, unless you want to go to Canada or Mexico, you’re looking at paying quite a bit of money to make that hop over the Atlantic of the Pacific.

Anyhow, the first time I went to the embassy I was expecting to see a heavily fortified building with lots of guards.  I wasn’t entirely disappointed.  The building is imposing and there did happen to be guards patrolling the street out front.  Oddly enough, though, they weren’t the US Marines I was expecting.  It was Singapore police, carrying rifles and wearing blue uniforms with maroon berets.  The entrance check-point wasn’t guarded by Marines either.  The guys appeared to be a contracted local security outfit.  Not that that’s a bad thing.  I just had a different image of how regal the embassy would look.  I suppose in a country like Singapore, having Marines guarding the doors isn’t necessary.

So, my idea of what the embassy would look like, based on movies I’d seen, was entirely shattered.  It was a sort of comforting experience, though, being surrounded by a lot of people speaking English with an American accent.  I don’t run into too many Americans here in Singapore.

It was also comforting in another way, both times, but more in a ‘familiar process’ way, than an actual ‘I feel good being here’ kinda way.  I spent 8 years in the US Army, and one of the catch-phrases that you’ll often hear associated with getting anything done in the Army is “Hurry up and wait.”  I could go into that quite a bit, but suffice it to say that with most things the Army does, you rush to get somewhere and then stand around for hours on end waiting for the actual event to occur.  This is never so true as it is with paperwork, and the US Embassy excelled at conveying that old familiar feeling to me.

On this trip, my wife and I went down there to get a document notarized.  There were six people ahead of us in line waiting for consular services.  I expected to be in and out in about 20 minutes tops, but I kid you not, we sat there for an hour.  I suppose you could say this is a reflection of all government related paperwork and processes though.  Things take a LOT of time to get done, unless it involves the government taking your money of course.  They’re pretty quick on that one.

Anyhow, it wasn’t a completely unpleasant experience.  Again, it was nice to be surrounded by native English speakers and the staff were all pleasant.  Still, I hope I don’t have to go back down there again any time soon.

Singapore is Blooming!

Bradley Farless5 Comments

Over the weekend while my wife and I were on the MRT green line we noticed that the trees are starting to bloom with large white and pink blossoms.  You can see it especially well between Pasir Ris and Tampines MRT stations.  It’s definitely no sakura blossom viewing event, but it’s still attractive.  I wasn’t able to get my camera out in time to take photos of the trees along the train line, but I did take photos of some of the trees around my neighborhood.

This photo was taken on a different day from the first two.  Those are the same two trees, but from across the street.  You can see Loyang Secondary School behind them, as well as two women below them taking photos of the trees just like I was the day before.

These trees are planted down the middle of some of the roadways here in Pasir Ris.  It’s really nice to look at.  I’m going to take a walk down to Pasir Ris Park sometime this week, if I have time, to see if the trees there are blooming and to try to get some better photos.

Yamazaki @ Tampines 1 Mall

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With all of the times we’ve walked right by this place I can’t imagine why we never poked our head in to look around.  I guess it was the really fancy cakes they had in the display cases facing out towards the mall walkway.  Tampines 1 isn’t really the place I’d think of when I want good, but reasonably priced, baked goods.

However, with my time in Singapore fast coming to an end, I got curious and looked around inside.  I was surprised to see great prices and a great variety of sweet baked items.  There were things with chocolate cream, custard fillings and apple pies and it was all completely affordable.

We quickly loaded up a tray to take home with us.  We’re gonna have to go on some long runs this week to burn off these calories, but they were definitely worth it!

The custard was better than I’d hoped, the waffle was sweet and tasted like it’d go great in a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and the apple pie my wife picked out was incredible!

If you’re looking for some good quality pastry type items for a good price, I recommend this place.  You can even get some Japanese milk tea or cafe au lait from the cooler to wash down your pastry.

Triple Homicide At Tampines 1

Bradley Farless2 Comments

When we walked into Tampines 1 earlier this evening, there was a large crowd gathered around the opening on the first level, looking across to the other side.  We were curious to see what was going on, so my wife and I quickly joined the crowd.

On the other side of the opening there was a crime scene, cordoned off with yellow tape.  Three bodies were on the floor, surrounded by tape to mark their positions on the floor while a photographer was taking pictures and people in Crime Scene Investigation vests were examining the area.

It only took a few moments to realize the whole thing was staged.  The large speaker playing club music to draw attention was, of course, the main giveaway, but there was no blood or signs of trauma on the bodies.  Plus, they were uncovered.

Later, while walking through the other end of the mall we saw that there was a similar scene being set up with a different group of people, one of which was a fairly attractive woman who had her legs cocked open, offering a scandalous view up her skirt.

What I’d like to know is what the point of the whole thing was.  Unless I was really being unobservant, I couldn’t see any signs for obvious branding, other than the Crime Scene Investigation vests.  I suppose it’s possible that it was a hip new recruiting technique spearheaded by Singapore’s police force, but I didn’t see anyone handing out flyers either.  My wife suggested that it might be for a fashion magazine, which makes a lot of sense.

I took a few photos of the first ‘scene’.  Sorry, no upskirt porn!

Does anyone know what was really going on here?  And how much does a person get paid to take naps on the floor all day?

On another note, the center area in the bottom floor by cold storage is completely closed off.  You can see the green barrier in some of these photos that’s hiding it from viewing from above.  I’m curious to know what they’re going to open there, and whether or not it’ll be done before I bid Singapore adieu.  The area was previously used for seating and also held an upside-down Christmas tree over the holiday season.

Singaporean Funeral Procession

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Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at the kopitiam near where I live and I heard music, so I turned and looked up the road.  I saw what I thought was a parade and, being curious, I started taking photos.  I quickly finished my coffee and then moved down to the road where I could have a better view.

The decorations were very interesting and I thought the two guys wearing the costumes were very cool.

As another set of vehicles approached I noticed the music playing was more somber and mournful.  The music playing from the lead vehicle had been cheerful and lively sounding by comparison.  I then realized that the group of people following the vehicle were carrying an ornate wooden coffin above them, draped with flowers.  I didn’t take a photo of them, or the coffin, out of respect for the recently deceased.

The smile quickly faded from my face and I waited respectfully as the funeral procession passed before walking back home.  I guess not everything coming down the road playing music in Singapore marks a happy occasion.

The procession was similar to funeral processions in the US, but only vaguely.  In the US a procession is usually led by two police on motorcycles, followed by a cavalcade of vehicles with the hearse at the tail end followed by two more police on motorcycles.  It’s common courtesy and tradition (if not illegal to not do so) to pull over to the side of the road and wait for the procession to pass completely, before continuing down the road.  By comparison, traffic on the road around the procession here in Singapore couldn’t have cared less from what I saw.  One vehicle almost ran over some of the people walking while quickly turning onto a side road.

Different places, different customs.

Tapa King in Singapore

Bradley Farless6 Comments

Tapa King Banner

Tapa King is a restaurant that serves a popular Filipino dish called tapsilog.  The restaurant is very popular in the Philippines and has finally opened branches here in Singapore at Lau Pa Sat (same place as where the only Wendy’s in Singapore is) and one at Century Square in Tampines.  There may be other branches but those are the only two I’m aware of.

Anyhow, my wife found out about it because of a person handing out flyers by the Tampines MRT station.  She was a little disappointed at first but then realized she should check the food court.  It wouldn’t make sense for them to hand out flyers there otherwise.  Sure enough, Century Square had a Tapa King outlet:

Tapa King Menu

She was so excited she couldn’t wait to share the experience with me, and I mean that literally.  She went there for lunch and then told me in great detail about how good it was.  Tapa King’s reputation is well known to Filipinos and many of them were lined up, along with curious locals, to get a taste of this great Filipino dish.

Line at Tapa King

She didn’t want me to miss out on the experience so she sent me a copy of the menu so I could choose something for her to bring home with her:

Tapa King:

Tender beef strips marinated in a savory sauce cooked over a griddle, served with fried egg, chopped tomato and garlic fried rice.

Tapa Queen

Tender beef strips marinated in a spicy sweetish sauce cooked over a griddle, served with fried egg, chopped tomato and garlic fried rice.

Tapa Prince

Tender beef strips marinated in sweetish sauce cooked over a griddle, served with fried egg, chopped tomato and garlic fried rice.

Tapa Joe

Tender beef strips cut in small pieces marinated in herbs and spices cooked over a griddle, served with fried egg, chopped tomato and garlic.

They all sounded pretty good, but I went ahead and asked for the Tapa King.  The tapa dishes are their specialty so we didn’t bother with the other dishes.  My wife says the Spicy Tuyo is good, but it’s dried fish and she figured I wouldn’t like that.  Crispy Liempo is a piece of pork, if you’re wondering.

When she got home I eagerly opened the box, ready to dig in:

Tapa King Meal

Tapa King Meal

When I took the first bite, I knew I’d found a new favorite dish.  I literally found myself scraping the container to get the last few bits of garlic rice and wished I’d had a second helping available.  I’m excited to try the other versions the next time I’m in Tampines.

If you’re interested in trying some Filipino cuisine in Singapore, then I highly recommend Tapa King.  You definitely won’t be disappointed!

Pulau Ubin and Young NTUC’s Run350

Bradley Farless3 Comments

A few weeks ago, my wife told me she’d signed us up for a running event called Run350.  It was encouraged among NTUC employees, since it was a Young NTUC sponsored event.  The purpose of the run was to gain attention for climate change.  The atmospheric carbon dioxide for February 2010 was 389.91 parts per million, which is far above the safe upper limit of 350, which is where the run got its name.

The event was fairly well organized.  The only real problem was that on-site storage of goods wasn’t available, so if you didn’t have someone along to just hold your stuff while you ran, you had to go light, which is what we did.  Even though we could bring everything that was completely necessary in our pockets it was annoying, because it didn’t even afford us the convenience of a towel to dry our faces with after the event.  Thankfully we don’t live that far from Pulau Ubin anyway, so the trip home was pretty short.

Pulau Ubin itself is an island off the coast of Singapore’s mainland.  To get to it we had to take a ferry from Changi Point Jetty.  That was pretty cool and almost made the whole trip worth it on its own.  I hadn’t been on a boat of any kind in a long, long time.

The ferries each carry a group of 12, which still leaves plenty of space on the benches.  As you can see, the sky was overcast.  There was a steady drizzle up until about 15 minutes before the 5k run started.  That helped keep it cool but it also made it incredibly humid.

Approximately 1000 people attended this event, and at 12 per ferry it took quite a few trips to get everyone to the island.  You can see the ferries lined up to dock at Pulau Ubin above.  To the right of the photo, in the background, you can see a ferry heading back to the mainland to get more people.

The boarding of the ferries was really well organized, with staff and volunteers directing one group at a time down through the departure area and out onto the pier.  It would’ve been madness to have a huge group of people pushing and shoving on the pier and someone would’ve wound up in the water.

That’s me, standing by the welcome sign by the jetty on the island.  The shirts aren’t too bad and the print actually matched my regular running shorts. Double win.

Pulau Ubin itself is like another country when you compare it to the regular, sterile areas of Singapore.  When I first saw it, I was reminded of Malaysia, or even Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand.  There were a lot of stray dogs wandering around, which added to the liveliness of the area, just like at Patong Beach.

The whole atmosphere is very relaxing and we’re going to make plans to go back on another weekend.  Getting there from our place only costs about 1.50 in fare, not counting the ferry price of course.  On the island you can rent a bicycle for about 2 dollars for the whole day and there are cheap places to eat if you’re not bringing your own food.

The Run350 event was divided into a 10k and 5k run with 500 people each.  We took the 5k.  We briefly thought about doing the 10k, but I’m glad we changed our minds.

I had my wife’s waterproof camera out while we were running, thinking I would get some good photos, but I only managed to take one before I realized I needed to focus.  I run 5k regularly, but dodging people and a bunch of hills really wore me out.  There was one hill in particular that was pretty steep.  Almost every in front of me was stopping to walk to the top after going about halfway up.  It gave me flashbacks to what was called “Canyon Runs” when I was in the Army at Ft. Bliss.  Ft. Bliss is situated at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains and there’s a road that runs up the side of it that company commanders think is a great PT challenge to undertake about once every two or three months.

In the end, we still finished the 5k in about 33 minutes, despite the heat, humidity, hills, and navigating around the other runners.  It wasn’t a race and there were no prizes, but I wanted to do my best anyway.

I found out later that I’m in the photo that goes with the ChannelNewsAsia story about the event.  I’m also in their video, which is linked to from the article:

I wanted to embed the video, but ChannelNewsAsia’s site doesn’t allow it for some reason. Too bad… can’t even save a copy.

Anyhow, it was my first organized run (outside of the Army), an opportunity to see a new part of Singapore and an overall great experience!

Update: The event organizers managed to get a copy of the ChannelNewsAsia video up on YouTube so I’m embedding it here. I’m in it at 37 seconds on the left, in the tan and black hat.

Update (September 11, 2013): While editing bad formatting after importing this post from Blogger to WordPress, I noticed that Channel News Asia has removed the original article and the link is dead. As a safety precaution, I uploaded a copy of the video to my blog, in case the YouTube video eventually goes down as well.

Horrible Singaporean Buyer (SMS Conversation Screenshots)

Bradley Farless14 Comments

If you’ve ever tried to list something publicly to sell it, you’ve probably had a similar experience.  I doubt many of you have had to deal with this level of annoyance though.

Just to give a little background, last month I sold a Nokia e51 I had sitting in a drawer, because, well it was just sitting in a drawer.  I use my iPhone all the time now and there was no point in keeping the thing around.  I could use the money for other things.

Anyhow, I listed the thing on Singapore’s eBay and the following is a conversation I had with a prospective buyer:

First off, note the time that this guy sent me this SMS.  This was a Saturday night, sure, and we were still up, but who in their right mind sends an SMS to someone about an eBay listing at that time of the morning?  Also, the listing made it clear that I was selling the phone and not representative of a company, so why did he think I had multiple color versions of the phone laying around to sell off?

When I put this phone up for sale I anticipated that I might encounter some less than bright questions or behavior, but this guy seriously tested my patience, as you’ll see as the conversation continues.  I tried my best to humor him, because it was my goal to sell the phone.  I figured I could always post screenshots of the conversation later.

I stated the condition quite clearly in the item description in the eBay listing, and simply repeated it to him.

On the eBay listing I posted the low end of the bidding at 185 and the high end at 200.  I thought the point of setting those figures was so that people would know immediately what your “best price” is, but… guess not.  I let him have his 5 dollar discount because I figured he would feel like he won something and stop being so troublesome.

His question about my age threw me off guard.  I couldn’t figure out what bearing that had on selling a phone, or why he would think it was appropriate to ask.  Later, I realized that it was a calculated question.  He was trying to do a quick mental calculation to see if I was potentially easy to rip off.  That’s probably why he kept going on and on and on too.  Trying to wear me down to just give up and sell it for a lower price.

Still trying to be polite and conversational here, so I deflected his question, but I was pretty sure my eBay listing was for a Nokia e51 and not pimping services.

If you’re from the US and wondering about the ‘Happy New Year’, this was right around the Chinese Lunar New Year.

So, if you notice the timestamp, this was two days later, again at an inappropriate time of the night for him to be sending me a text message. Regardless, I took the opportunity to tell him that I’d gathered the stuff for the phone together, and hoped he would stop fucking around and just agree to meet and buy the thing.

I thought I was pretty clear about why the SIM was in the phone.

This is when I realized this guy was just trying to screw me over.  First off, I’d looked around and roughly 180 SGD was the average price for a used e51, both here in Singapore and in other countries around the region.  Second off, this guy was trying to get me to sell it to him for what a pawn shop would give me for one.  That’s some pretty flawed logic, and I was insulted that he thought I was that stupid.  It was also pretty obvious that he didn’t work for a shop, for a number of reasons, and that this was just a ploy to try to get me to sell the phone to him for a ridiculously low price.

I felt like I was in a video game and he was trying to use a special attack on me or something: “Barrage of Stupidity! Go!”

There’s a time stamp here because I decided to ignore him.  I wasn’t going to play that kind of stupid game.  Sure enough, he messaged again and then launched right into another ploy.  The phone was worth 180 without the 4 GB memory card in it.  I just left that in there to act as an added incentive, so someone would choose to buy my e51 over another sellers.  That should be obvious, so I don’t know why this guy thought I’d keep a 4 GB memory card I’d have no use for and then let him rip me off on the price.

By the way, I think I’m being generous calling this person a guy, because it seems more like I was talking to a boy of about 16, trying to lie and cheat his way into a good deal on a phone because 130 bucks was all mama would give him.

I decided to just ignore him and sure enough, he started SMSing again.  Then, as you can see at the end of this screenshot, he launched right into another game.

So, now all of a sudden I’m his “bro” and since we’re such good “bros” I should let him pay me part-now / part-later and because he’s my “bro” I’ll just be able to trust that he’ll pay me the rest?

Of course, the guy never sent me another message after that, since it was obvious I wasn’t going to sell him the phone for 130, or let him trick me into giving it to him for 130.

I feel sad when I see that people this annoying and retarded manage to survive, but it did teach me a few important lessons.  When I listed the phone on eBay the second time I left a VERY detailed list of what came with the phone, what didn’t come with the phone, what time to message me and not message me and I made it very clear what the “best” price was.  I had a few more people try this same bullshit on me but I didn’t bother with it again.  I wasted enough of my monthly limit of SMS messages on this one fool already.

This whole “best” price thing is something that annoys the hell out of me.  It’s not local to Singapore, but this is the first place I’ve had to deal with it with any regularity. Singaporeans are so hellbent on getting a “best price” that even if you tell them that what you asked for initially is the “best price”, they’ll think you’re just playing hard to get and keep trying to haggle with you, or start playing games like the jackass in these screenshots did.

The day after I listed it for the second time I was contacted by a very polite woman who met me at Tampines, looked over the phone and handed over the asking price without trying to find out the “best price”, so I gave it to her for 10 SGD less than what I was asking for, out of thanks for her being so pleasant.