National Day

Sotong is so patriotic this year! Shall celebrate National Day this year, after a 2-year hiatus I think.

Of course, being a grown-up, instead of waving plastic flags and singing national songs, I have new ways of showing my appreciation for my dear homeland.

First, lunch at Auntie Kim's Korean Restaurant. This restaurant is highly recommended by my sister, so I shall go try it out! Haven't had Korean BBQ for a long time. Not counting Seoul Garden, the last time was 2 years ago in Taiwan. Took a cab there and almost missed the entrance to the carpark. The skillful driver reversed in through the exit ^_^;; Missed then jialat liao, got to u-turn, dunno where! The restaurant is located at one of those shophouses along Upper Thomson Road, so you can expect it to have a handicapped-unfriendly entrance.

The restaurant looked rather small. Glad I made a reservation. Must emphasize you want the air-con seats! That day was so hot and humid that we could have died eating spicy food out there.

First up, the appetizers. They were all so yummy that I could get by just eating them. Free-flow mah. But the restaurant sure not happy one haha. Say, has anybody tried doing that before? The potato salad-like thing was awesome! The kimchi was on the salty side, but still nice. I love salt. Yum.

The waitress' English was so heavily-accented that I could hardly understand her. Think she's the boss' daughter.

The highly-raved ginseng chicken soup with just a hint of ginseng. The chicken meat tore off the bone easily. Lots of goodies in the soup.

We also got BBQ beef, which we asked the kitchen to cook for us instead of DIY. After the experience in Taiwan, I'm convinced I can't do it as well as the cook, so let them do it, don't destroy the meat, make it worth the $$. Apply some bean paste and wrap in the vegee to eat. Sister did it for me of course. *empress dowager*

The bimimbap! 1 bowl for the 3 of us, but I was still filled to the brim. Why was the egg cooked? :(

So so so full! Luckily I didn't order the pancake.

Still had time to spare, so we walked over to Thomson Plaza. Nothing much there as usual. Had teh at Hans. Western food restaurant selling teh, hmm... Bought a new cushion.

Overheard a cheapo woman walk into a shop and asked very directly, "你们有 National Day sale 吗?" when there was no sale sign seen anywhere. And when the sales assistant replied, she still want to confirm again!! "真的没有?" *faints* Walk next to her also paiseh!

Went shopping at NTUC for provisions to sustain ourselves later. Spotted Haagen Daz sale with flavors still available! But couldn't buy now lah. Saw the Pure gummy that I bought from Japan! Damn expensive, but I want! Then bought a sandwich from Subway, cleared ourselves out at the toilet, bought newspapers and left. As usual, there wasn't any cab at the queue when it was our turn zzz.

Dropped at MBS. Watched the fireworks here 2 years ago too. The place was full of foreign workers lor. The odor was more evident at the casino entrance :X Went Cold Storage to look for drinks... very hard to find cheap drinks in MBS. Saw the Milo van. but long queue as usual. When can I have a Milo from the van again? Nothing comes as close as it. They were distributing sachets of instant Milo that could dissolve in cold water to make up for it, just needed to find a water cooler though.

The area where I camped the last time was out of bounds.

Found ourselves a great spot! Only con was that the sun was in our faces.

Not a big deal. There's a white board used for covering the electrical box.

Whiled the time away reading newspapers.

The sun hid behind the buildings soon.

Action started!

People from the marching contingent streaming into the cordoned area. Wa... special fireworks spot for them lor.

And the fireworks began! Spectacular! There goes my taxes! And nobody blocking me! Don't leave yet, still got round 2 de.

Too late for dinner, anyway it's crowded everywhere, so we went home. The cab queue was long as expected, but there was no cabs. Abnormal! Shouldn't the supply be endless here? Jialat lor, call also no use de. We waited in the line that hardly moved. The security guard also never offered to let us jump queue. Die ah die ah how many hours will this wait be? People in front, you really should take public transport you know.

A cab came and stopped next to us, offering to take us first. Really? Yay on! But it took us a bloody long time to drive out of the pickup point alone. I thought it was due to the ambulance parked in front, but it was stuck like us. Took us like 15min to clear the pickup point...

Carpark sign spoil liao. Negative lots available!

Missed call alerts started coming in. Phone signal sucks in MBS, with all the crowd.

Reason for the gridlock was because the road towards Suntec City was closed, so everybody had to u-turn. By the time we cleared the u-turn, the fare was already $9.70. Cabs were already hailed from the roadside when they were driving towards MBS. No wonder the cab queue was empty.

Dinner was Geylang beef horfun. I thought I surely had to eat instant mee after fireworks, like 2 years ago.