Chinatown!

     We had already decided that we were going to go to both Chinatown and Little India this weekend and it was time to visit Chinatown. After a big day at the aquarium and a small breakfast, we were hungry. We decided that we were going to have lunch in Chinatown and then shop and head back home and see where the day took us. Luckily, on the MRT, one of the stops is called "Chinatown" so it hardly requires much thought on how to get there

      When we arrive, it's as touristy as it gets. Red lanterns everywhere, shops selling Singapore souvenirs, Chinese stuff that is aimed at tourists, restaurants everywhere, lots of boutiques selling cheap clothes, the works. On the Chinatown map in the MRT station, there is a place on Smith St. labeled as a food market. We made our way there and were greeted with a big shopping complex. Rebecca was flustered about the directions and where we were and how it didn't match up with the map and how things weren't how they were supposed to be, Dad was trying to simultaneously calm her down and figure out where we were, and I went to ask a lady in a clothes stall where the food center was. She said upstairs. We made our way to the middle of the stall conglomeration, one lady with clothes, another with jewelry, the guy next to her had watches, whatever you wanted, it was there. 

    We found an elevator, pushed the up button and waited for our ride up. In the meantime, a woman coming downstairs asked us if we were looking for the food market. We replied yes, and she said it was on the second floor. We thank her for her help and make our way up. As we go up the stairs, we can smell all sorts of food, it sounds like there are hundreds of people in this space, and it's every tourist's dream. It's an enormous area. There probably were in fact hundreds of people in there, even thousands. There were probably enough food stalls for everyone to get his own. 

       I found a dim sum place and spent SP$10 (each dish was SP$2), Dad and Rebecca went to a different place and got two medium sized dishes that were both enormous. I got chicken feet, short rib, shrimps wrapped in sheets of rice gelatin stuff, shrimp puffs and a "carrot cake". Note: not a carrot cake like we think of it. It was more like the rice gelatin stuff formed into a patty with bits of carrot. Dad and Rebecca got a fried rice dish and a different "carrot cake". Theirs was more of a scrambled egg with stuff. 

     After we finished eating, we headed outside and did some shopping. I mostly shopped for myself, like the selfish teenager I am. I got a bronze ox and an black ox seal. Rebecca got me a Singapore fine shirt that has pictures of famously ridiculous misdemeanors. She also got her 2 and a half year old niece a pink chinese shirt and pants. Dad was lured into a tailors and got two really nice custom shirts and a pair of pants.