What a term!

6 weeks have flown by and I am now enjoying my mid semester break. It was a crazy first term, trying to juggle school and work (yes I have a part time job now!), while adapting to a foreign place and experiencing an entire spectrum of emotions. Despite the demands on my sanity and my brain, I do enjoy the learning process and the new career. 

It is difficult to describe the settled and peaceful feeling of setting my heart on a career that I enjoy. And I am thankful that I have the chance to be exposed to this, and the opportunity to be in this place at this time.

A few weekends ago, some of my course mates and myself went to the German town, Hahndorf, for a day. The pretty town really reminded me of my travels around Europe while I was on a semester exchange in the UK. Our first stop was at Beerenberg to pick some strawberries. Those babies were the sweetest I have ever tasted (beats the bunch I bought at Nikko, which were really good!). Beerenberg also has some of the best tasting jams and relishes for really reasonable prices. It was all too much of a choice and I eventually chose a bottle of plum jam that would pair well with peanut butter on toast.

Trooping along to the berries

Fields of strawberries

Gorgeous globes of sweetness

Our next stop was the Hahndorf Inn to satiate our meat cravings. The meat platter had a variety of meats that were wonderful with mustard. We got a little carried away and ordered a metre long sausage and wings for lunch (that is why one should never buy food when hungry!). Needless to say, we ended up having to doggy bag the leftovers. 

Cheese and pickles. Always a good thing with bread.

Our table of 8 were defeated by the amount of meat!

If it were up to me, and time and money were limitless, I would be travelling somewhere every weekend, like I did in the UK. And not being able to do so with such regularity is fine by me. Oh the places I'll go after this goal has been achieved! 

Cafe hopping in Georgetown

Before going on about street food in Penang, my inner caffeine and cake addict would like to write a post about cafe culture in Georgetown.

I've since grown tired of Singapore's increasingly pricey and crowded cafe scene and have returned to traditional coffee shops for my caffeine fix. But I still very much enjoy experiencing the cafe culture overseas, especially when a cup of coffee and a slice of cake are much more affordable. 

Besides being a trendy and gorgeous neighbourhood, Georgetown has plenty of cafes to choose from and in our short two days there, we managed to visit three lovely coffee places. 

While looking for Behind 50 and subsequently discovering that we were way too early since it only opens from 6pm, we stumbled into a charming place, Cafe 55. The place, which would probably do well as a part time art gallery, specialises in presenting cups of coffee topped with 3D latte art. Besides the cute coffee, the cakes were amazing too. The lemon/orange cake delivered a refreshing burst of citrus goodness to our sunburnt selves.

After a short rest, we trooped on to check out the street art around Armenian Street and settled on the amazing China House. This was my favourite cafe of the lot. We were spoilt for choice at the selection of cakes and spent the most time sitting around chatting and reading its eclectic selection of available books. Before setting off to feed our hungry stomachs, we were pulled into a short film festival of sorts upstairs. 

The next day, we went in search of siphon coffee and cakes baked by the Le Cordon Bleu trained owners at Été cafe. The friendly shop assistant taught us about brewing and enjoying siphon coffee and pairing the flavour with the available cakes. While it was a charming little place, we were slowly turning into mosquito feed!

The food is better on the other side?

Ever since my first plane ride out of Singapore, I've always lamented being "stuck" in my regimented and 99% man-made country (that probably sparked my insatiable desire to see the world). Yet when I recently read a post written by a former expat who quit the country and the subsequent comments left by readers far and wide, I was left blurry eyed and burning with a fierce sense of patriotism (or maybe it was just my emo-nemo self bursting forth). But! This post is not about my struggle to keep from crying in the train (!) It is about my love and hankering for street food across the border, even when my country prides itself on its food. 

A few weekends ago, I hopped onto a plane for two days in Penang. Our main priority was eating our way through Georgetown at a leisurely pace. And boy did we have a feast! It was street food at its best and Penang quickly won my stomach over!

I stubbornly refused to eat anything at home and promptly regretted it when my stomach began churning in hunger while up in the air. Once we arrived and checked into our hotel, I herded my girlfriends out in search of the traditional charcoal toasted kaya bread with soft boiled eggs in a narrow alleyway. Tradition never tasted so good! I loved the crispy toasted bread that won our home grown Yakun just by its simplicity and authenticity.  

Greed took a firmer hold on us when the nasi lemak seller delivered a tray of piping hot packets of soft fluffy goodness to the alley. It was simple - consisting of just kickass chilli, hard boiled egg, ikan billis and rice - but done to perfection. 

Breakfast was quickly washed down with fragrant cups of coffee. This first taste of Penang street food left our stomachs wanting. 

Galle: Cafe Town

This will be the last of my posts on Sri Lanka. As you can tell, I've stretched it out so that I can pretend that I am still vacation-ing.

We arrived at pretty Galle after a gruelling 7 hour bus ride, which saw us standing for a vast majority of the journey. This was due to the arsehole of a fellow tourist and his family who decided that their bags and asses were more important than fellow human beings. When the lady refused to remove her bag from the chair to allow a little Sri Lankan child or her weary mother to sit down, I almost morphed into an angry bear and mauled her. Key word - almost. Thankfully, this sweet local guy offered to sit the child on his lap for a part of the journey so that she could rest her legs.  

Anyway, we were famished after that ride and headed straight to the forts for food and a place to lay our heads. We settled on Crepeology, which served what resembled wraps instead of crepes. But to-mah-to/to-may-to right, and so I proceeded to wolf mine down in record time. 

The Galle fort area was littered with cool cafes, hippie joints and expensive restaurants, and reminded me of a fellow UNESCO town, Luang Prabang in Laos. I guess that is the look and feel that UNESCO likes? *shrugs*

Nevertheless, I enjoyed strolling along the walls, taking in the salty sea breeze and the sounds of waves crashing upon the shore, with my companions at night. The next morning, we woke up to catch the sunrise, which we unfortunately discovered was in the other direction!

Our time in Sri Lanka was not enough and we didn't make it to the beautiful beaches for crab. So we made sure we got our asses down to the Ministry of Crab once we got back to Colombo for our flight home. 

Ahh, Sri Lanka. I will be back! 

Finishing off our Sri Lankan adventure at the Ministry of Crab.

Up high in Nuwara Eliya

Having been born and raised in a consistently warm and humid country, a change to a cooler climate has always been a welcome relief. The tea plantation area of Nuwara Eliya provided that break from the tropical weather that left us sun burnt in areas that we neglected to block from the sun.

We dropped off at drizzly Nuwara Eliya without a room booking and promptly settled down for tea and started frantically searching for a place to lay our heads. Thankfully, we found a reasonably priced and available guest house, by the name of Chez Allen, with an eccentric and welcoming owner. Allen, who looked like Bob Marley, came by to pick us up in his pick up and recommended a great driver for touring the tea plantations and the waterfalls. 

The pretty Post Office where Allen swung by to pick us up.

Cold and hungry! Food at Chez Allen.

We stopped by two factories, Labokelie and Mackwoods for a tour of the factory. It was an eye opener seeing how the humble drink had its origins, and the processes involved in getting it from plantation to the cup. We ended our tour with a pot of the finest fragrant Orange Pekoe tea. Life is good.

Single estate tea leaves ready to be shipped out.

Nuwara Eliya is known as Little England as it was a sanctuary for the British during Sri Lanka's colonial days. I'm starting to detect a trend here with the Brits and their love for hill country retreats.

The next day, we abandoned our initial plan to hike at Horton's Plains due to the crazy expensive entrance fees and went trekking around Nuwara Eliya because Allen told us that the hike to the highest village, Shantipura, would be a two hour easy hike. (An aside: entrance fees to attractions in Sri Lanka are really high as compared to that in other countries, and I could not help but feel a little underwhelmed by the places).

While the views up high were gorgeous and worth the physical exertion, the hike was definitely not easy, nor did it take us two hours! 

Hiking up above the town.

Cultural Triangle

Due to its central location and proximity to Minneriya National Park, Polonnaruwa was chosen as our base to explore Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle, which consists of the ancient cities of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya.

The journey from Colombo to Polonnaruwa saw us on board the local bus, which was a crammed and unpleasant six to seven hour ride in the familiar tropical heat. Nevertheless, it took us to our destination for cheap.

After befriending a tuk tuk driver who won our hearts by recommending a cheap place for a big lunch, we decided to tour the ancient city with him; a rather good idea on hindsight since the oppressive heat called for minimal walking. The ruins at Polonnaruwa resembled other World Heritage Sites in Southeast Asia such as the Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Bagan in Myanmar, but for a much dearer entry fee. It is crazy that we had to pay US$25 to $30 to enter each of the ancient cities! So unfortunately or fortunately, we had to give Anuradhapura a miss due to the lack of time.

Still, Polonnaruwa was enchanting and the Buddhist images brought me back to my undergraduate days sitting in a lecture on religious art. Our tuk tuk driver was as tired as we were baking under the cloudless day but pushed us on to cover a majority of the sites.

After a tiring day under the sun, we decided to look to Trip Adviser for dinner recommendations and stumbled upon Priyamali Gedara. While I usually take Trip Adviser recommendations with a pinch of scepticism, the top place to dine in Polonnaruwa was a deserving one! The farmer host and his family really showed us true Sri Lankan hospitality. That was, without a doubt, our best meal in Sri Lanka.

The spread at Priyamali Gedara

The next day, we set off to Sigiriya to climb the lion's rock, blessed with great weather that made climbing the 1200 steps to the top a little more bearable. (I am starting to realise that the weather affects my appreciation of a place). If I were to choose only one ancient site to visit in Sri Lanka, it would be Sigiriya. The view at the top was truly breathtaking and I was content to find a spot to sit and enjoy the strong winds.

Well preserved painting of nymphs.

The view at the top.

Current Read

"We wander around in search of a plausible centre. We long for a plausible crucible of significance, for somewhere, anywhere to go in order that we may touch the essence of the genius loci, but in the absence of alternatives we usually end up listlessly touring a museum, ashamed of ourselves for the strength of our desire to go back to our hotel and lie down."

- Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton

Elephants in Minneriya

I was first drawn to vacationing in Sri Lanka when I flipped open an airplane magazine on board a flight and saw pictures of leopards in the wild . Instead of heading to Africa for the famed safaris, I decided on Sri Lanka.

Instead of seeing leopards, I set my sights on the elephants of Minneriya National Park. This decision was easily reached after reading about the elephant "gathering" every August. And well, the experience really lived up to my own expectations of seeing the majestic creatures in the wild. Minneriya is such a beautiful and peaceful place. 

Our jeep driver was amazing and frequently pointed out any wildlife that he spotted to us, although we seemed only interested to witness the gathering.

And boy can these elephants eat! 

We were so engrossed in them that we decided to head to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage to spend more time with those beasts. Well, all I can say is that nothing beats seeing them in the wild and that was a disappointing detour in our trip.

Sri Lanka

I have dreamed about visiting Sri Lanka for the past two years and was lucky enough to finally do so during the National Day weekend this year. 

The country has left an indelible mark on me especially after having encountered the colourful and warm personalities - from the humble farmer and his wife from Polonnaruwa who were superb dinner hosts, our amazing safari jeep driver who brought us to the best spots to see the elephants in Minneriya, sweet dear mama Kumari from Kandy with whom we bargained to relax the guest house's curfew if only for half an hour, the friendly Chinese owner of the popular Slightly Chilled Bamboo Bar who, we like to believe, was happy to see fellow Chinese people and to speak in Mandarin with, the hilarious Bob Marley wannabe who picked us up in a pick up to his rest house, and then sent us on an easy two hour trek to Shantipura (but which saw us panting up the mountains for half a day, no nearer to the highest village in Nuwara Eliya), to our fantastic and funny tuk tuk driver who gave us a death defying ride to the airport. 

Our trip was nothing short of exhausting, with constant travel from one town to another. But my awesome travel companions made me realise that I can and will forge new travel experiences and memories with like-minded souls. 

Away for yet another National Day

We have a tendency to want to leave our mark on things. Since we can't all be moon walkers, leaving footprints on the moon, we turn to leaving thoughts and experiences behind in words. 

That's why this medium is special to me especially when far from home. It is strange to be away, by choice, during National Day when my whole family celebrates with feasting. 

Eating in Grenoble

Switzerland is an expensive country so we were glad to drive across to Grenoble for two days. In stark contrast to the working culture in Europe where the border between work and play is clearly delineated, the parents had arranged a business meeting there during our vacation.

We arrived in Grenoble, hungry and on a Sunday, to mostly closed shutters. Thankfully, some restaurants and shops along the main tourist street were opened for the day. So we popped into an eatery across the Notre Dame for a hearty meal and some wine.

Baked potatoes with salmon

Beef!

As compared to where we came from, we ate really well in France as food was more affordable. We stocked up on fresh strawberries and cherries, crusty bread and yummy cheese. Ahhh...such indulgences are hard to replicate back home. And even if we manage to, eating such fresh produce is pricey and unsustainable in Singapore.

There was a bakery near the city centre that I ran into on three different occasions (over a period of just two days!) to grab some freshly baked bread and tarts. Grenoble is famous for the production of walnuts and the tarte aux noix (walnut tart) was divine! 

Breakfast from our spree at the supermarket

Tarte au citron, tarte aux poires, the most amazing tarte aux noix and a chocolate cake 

Our last meal before heading back across the border was at a creperie. While we were not in Brittany, where the humble crepe originated from, it was a great meal. I loved the buttered apples and salted caramel crepe, which we had for dessert. My sister who is an extremely picky eater loved the meal and kept asking for crepes over the next few days!

Hamburger steak galette

Buttered apples and salted caramel. Oh, be still my heart!

Family vacations

Family vacations are great times to reconnect with the ones that are near and dear. Despite living together in crowded little Singapore, I tend to spend less quality time with my family. 

Mayhaps it is because the introvert in me craves for private moments. There have been times when I desperately desire to move out and be on my own but there is always a feeling of homesickness that pervades the soul during long periods abroad. 

Our time driving around Switzerland and France, sharing moments over food was a dream. It doesn't hurt that the country is gorgeous (despite the hefty price tags).