Singapore Day 2009 - at last

Singapore Day 2009

Let me set this straight : I didn't go there for the free food. I wasn't so desperate that I would pay 200 euros for an air ticket and another 200 for my tiny hotel room and London transportation just to attend Singapore Day 2009 and eat. At this moment, it would cost just as much flying all the way to Singapore if it's just for the food.

Singapore Humour

Believe it or not, I am proud that my country wanted to organise an event for us Singaporeans living overseas (with the added intention of wooing us home) and I felt that since London is just a 2-hour plane journey away, I should support the event. Besides, it would give me a reason to leave the kids with Hub for 2 days - something I've not really done before. And I hoped to catch up with a few of my friends who would be joining the event from Paris. Finally, I just wanted any excuse to go to London.

View from the plane (maybe Belgium)

I flew with Ryanair from Bologna to London-Stansted. Plane was delayed, then the Stansted Express train was delayed along the way (which was stupid as I paid £10 more for the train thinking it wouldn't go through traffic jams like a coach), meaning that I arrived in London itself 2 hours later than expected. I then made the mistake of buying the Visitor Oyster Card from the airport as it would be cheaper and easier getting the normal Oyster card from the Underground itself. Finally I was charged £5 for a journey that would have cost less than 2 because when I alighted at Hackney Downs (to go to the Burberry Outlet, what else) I couldn't find the card reader and didn't tap my card on my way out.

Visitor Oyster Card

Other than that, boy, London is shopping paradise. I went there planning to eat and ended up shopping till I literally dropped. Within a few hours I've busted both my baggage and pocket allowances. Just Burberry, Westfield Mall (one of the biggest in Europe) and Harrods...And I didn't even get to visit Oxford Street, Whiteleys, Saks or Neiman Marcus. And my 2nd day in London was frustrating since I couldn't buy anything anymore. I must return...

Burberry Outlet (29 Chatham Place, Hackney)

But the consuming euphoria was shortlived probably tainted by years living outside big cities. In Stuttgart the Germans don't shop much, they usually put their money in big houses and big cars; In Modena, there are few shops and whatever they contain cost the earth. The anti-climax after my shopping high was therefore a feeling of incomprehension. How could these people consume as much as they do? Everywhere you turn people are consuming. It's crazy and I wonder if not a little immoral. Hypocrite me, I know.

Still, I *heart* London (though maybe not the CCTVs everywhere! And they call Singapore a Police State...) There is so much to see and do. Shop and eat. Would have loved to visit a museum, catch a musical. How I've missed living in a big, vibrant and cosmopolitan city. There are people of all colours and sizes everywhere you go. In forums dominated by Americans, they would be warning you about how seedy and dangerous Hackney is. I was surprised to turn up and see how colourful the neighbourhood was, and how friendly and helpful all the migrants living there were. And loved the smell of curry and fried chicken in the streets. And the fact that you could walk into Tesco with a shopping bag and the security guard wouldn't seal it with stapler pins or another plastic bag. The Italians are paranoid when it comes to this.

Baby Matteo - Wendy and Franck's cutie

I've also walked till I got blisters in my feet. And I loved that. With Wendy, Franck and baby Matteo we walked from Harrods to my hotel in Bayswater on Saturday and that took us a lovely 45 minutes through beautiful Hyde Park.

Room above Circle Line

My hotel. Hyde Park Towers (3*) at Bayswater. Tiny room with a single bed and tiny en-suite bathroom. With the underground train running under it every 5 minutes from 5am till past midnight (and shaking the furniture in the room). But I expected that since I've read comments on the Net on the hotel and I knew that you couldn't ask for much when booking a single room in a city like London. Overall I'm quite happy with it otherwise. Room was clean and comfortable, very brilliantly located and even has a TV (though British television sucked). Heard the hotel has a good breakfast, but never got round to eating it. I took away lots of food (e.g. Prawn Dumpling Noodles, Cantonese Roast Duck, Seafood Hor Fun...) from 2 Chinese restaurants (Hung Tao and Four Seasons) in the neighbourhood plus a bun from Cinnabon one night at 10pm and had it for dinner, supper and breakfast all within 8 hours. Put on a kilo over the weekend. Ate so much I couldn't sleep.

SUKA London Bus

Singapore Day 2009. Wendy got me a seat on the double-decker London bus booked by SUKA (UK's Singapore Club) and it brought us to Hampton Court Palace. Thanks to her fast pass we managed to get in without queueing up and therefore were among the first people to - eat. There were more than 20 Makansutra hawker stalls serving food from Kueh Chap to Katong Laksa, to Satay, Roti Prata, Char Kway Teow, Mee Siam, Chilli Crabs, Chui Kueh, Muah Chee, Old Chang Kee Curry Puffs, Dough fritters, Indian Rojak, Yeo's Green Bean Soy Milk, kacang putih etc. OK, the food didn't taste as good as they would in Singapore (because they had to make do with locally-sourced ingredients) and some of the queues were really long - but it's still so good to be eating Singapore food and queueing up with a friend or 2.

Hampton Court Palace

And the Hampton Court Palace grounds were huge. There were 7000 of us (funny enough - many many Malaysians) and still enough room for everybody. We had goodie bags (the MICA one was great, I loved the t-shirt, Jazz CD containing Singapore oldies, the toys from the old days...), free magazines from Singapore, manhunters, performances from the Dim Sum Dollies, Liang Ziqiang etc. The mobile toilets were clean, there were people around to pick up rubbish, bref, the organisation was top. The day was sunny, making it so nice to picnic on the grass (individual mats provided) and guess what? I met my old friend Harin! She was manning the REACH stand. Also met my brother's boss from PSD. She confirmed that he would go far in his career.

Welcome to Singapore Day 2009!

Satay Man

That evening, we arranged to have dinner at Bayswater (they have some of London's best Hong Kong Chinese restaurants there) with MF and Rani (my friends from Paris) and the party enlarged to 9 in total as we bumped into another group of Paris-based Singaporeans on their way to dine at Gold Mine (102 Queensway, Bayswater). Even at past 9pm we had to wait quite a while for a table but it was well worth the wait as the food was really good - especially the Cantonese Roast Duck and Beancurd with Chinese Mushrooms. Wish I could bring some home for Hub as it was his birthday on Sunday, but as you know, my luggage was full. Had a really great time with these people and we were the last to leave the restaurant that evening.

If I had any regret it was the fact that I couldn't have some tim sum at Royal China during my stay. Or buy more. Or have the kids with me (yes, I can be quite masochistic at times). And that I had paid more for the Stansted Express but it had to send me back to the airport - on a coach.

Finally, I left London on a sunny day - and returned to a rainy Modena. C'était le monde à l'envers.

PS : A note on the London Burberry Outlet. It was easy to find, just take a train to Hackney Downs from Liverpool Street station. Walk towards Hackney Central, look out for the Tesco near Morning Lane, walk past it and then turn right after the Duke of Wellington Pub. However prices were only slightly cheaper than in the boutiques and there wasn't much choice, in fact, I suspect that the city boutiques probably would be cheaper during Sale. Still, there were some good buys, I got a £650 silk dress for a fraction of the price, for example. Couldn't find bags or shoes that I like though. Was told that the Burberry at the Bicester Outlet could be a more interesting option. I liked the Burberry store near Harrods - it was BIG.