Food tripping in Singapore

It was my sister's birthday. And we all needed the time off from work and a few moments together. My family, partner and I decided to hie off to nearby Singapore for a few days of bonding and yes, what better way to do it than to return to Singapore and laze off at the fabulous boutique Naumi Hotel on 41 Seah Street.

I've always felt at home with Naumi Hotel and truth be told, it's a posh boutique hotel right beside the legendary Raffles Hotel. While many of the taxi drivers are not familiar with this hotel (and I believe most of my blog readers as well), it is without a doubt one of the best hotels in Singapore. The staff are mostly Filipinos (yes PINOYS) and they are uber courteous and helpful. From the time the doors open up to the time you get to check out, there is undoubtedly that Filipino smile that has charmed the world. Then of course are the rooms. It would be an understatement to say that they are splendid and sprawling - with a mini kitchenette, Nespresso daily, soda and water in the fridge (free and replaceable anytime), a fabulously huge bathroom (tub and bath are separate and the shower has a rain shower) with Molton Brown amenities, iPod dock, free (yes free again) wifi throughout the hotel, and free (yes free again) buffet breakfast that serves only healthy food (organic bread and jam, freshly squeezed juices, steamed fish, freshly cooked eggs, non fat milk, boiled or broiled meat, a variety of garden salad, and those into champagne or wine with breakfast can avail of the early bubbly as part of breakfast. Did I mention that the cappuccino is refillable and freshly made?). There's a small but relaxing infinity pool at the 10th floor that overlooks Suntec City and the Singapore Flyer.

But this vacation on my sister's birthday had a different twist to it because we decided to eat our way through our stay. I could not even recall all the foodies we went to but one of the fantastic finds was YY Cafe right at the back of our hotel. It's one of those local "carinderia" - sinfully good, downright cheap and yes, you'd be back for more!

Then there was the Taiwanese dishes which we had at Vivo City and at Ion Orchard. Curiously the one at Ion Orchard had the Xiao Long Bao in various flavors!!! The milk iced tea was really flavorful and made the GongCha or Serinitea teas sold at the Philippine malls taste pathetic.

Obviously, we needed to try some seafood as well so we headed off to the Mandarin Marina area where a delightful assortment of pasta and flame-it-in-your face giant prawns in cheese dashed with excellent lime juice or a bubble gum drink to go.

But it wasn't simply a food trip. There was shopping and "green living" at the Orchid Gardens of the beautifully manicured Botanical Gardens. Our cameras just couldn't stop clicking away at the variety of orchids as they overwhelmed us on the beauty of this flower!.

It was a great weekend (and weekdays) to cap off the birthday of my sister. And even if we had to settle with pieces of cakes from TWG and their fine macarons, we got to celebrate another year together.

After all, money is only good if you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. We come into this world with nothing and we leave all of these behind.

My Singapore Fling

I was invited to speak at the Early Phase Clinical Trials Conference in Singapore.

Singapore is not new to me. Been there, done that. I guess it's one of the most frequently traveled countries on my list. In spite of the fact that I've been to the tiny country of 5 Million people that's bustling in prosperity and bursting out of it's economy gazillion times, Singapore has never ceased to amaze me.

I left Manila on SQ 917 at 210PM on a Tuesday. With a very tight schedule ahead, I was wondering how I would juggle my time there and get to work and play in my 24 hours stay in Singapore.

I arrived at 545PM at Terminal 3 (this was spanking new and they're building Terminal 4 now - geez where did the Philippines disappear to?), cleared immigration and got to the hotel at 630PM. Checked in, dropped my bags in the room and texted Marie that I arrived and would meet my former residents and students for dinner. I just needed to run to Orchard Road to get something. It was rush hour and I got to Ion Orchard at 715PM. Marie, Edmund, Miriam and Flei were already at Uniqlo waiting for me. After 30 minutes of quick shopping, we were off to Boon Tong Kee. Miriam had promised me the best Hainanese Chicken Rice in the world and I was hungry enough to eat.

This was one area of Singapore I have never been to. It's not a touristy area. The restaurant was located in an area of the city that tourists would not access readily. But the queue was long enough and Marie had made reservations so we didn't have to wait. Eventually, Braggy and Vince popped up to join us for dinner.

To say that dinner was great was an understatement. The food was fantastic and I loved everything that was served - from the Hainanese Chicken, Fried Chicken, Spareribs, Fried Tofu, Prawns (that were the size of my hand) cooked in cereal pork (I eventually named it Breadtalk Prawns because it's like the whole Prawn was cooked in Pork Floss just the like famous pork floss bread from Breadtalk) and of course, the rice! While gobbling on the food, my mind was thinking - where was I in all my trips to Singapore? How could I, a frequent traveler, have missed this place? But, yes, it takes a local Singaporean to find the best restaurants in the country. Forget about the Singapore Tatler's 100 best restaurant guides or the concierge at your hotel who makes a buck recommending a swanky place. Hands down, Boon Tong Kee was 5 stars and quadrillion miles away from the chic eateries on Marina Bay Sands! [Thank you Miriam for the dinner].

To say that dinner was fun was another understatement. It was time to catch up on each other. They were my students for God's sake. Which means that they kept calling me Dr. Co. Something that I was uneasy with. I guess it's the heirarchical tradition during medical school that leads us to address the oldies this way (sigh!). But the conversations had started with news about the UST Hospital and their training days there and how they compared the National University of Singapore's training (which had a wide disparity in both training, camaraderie and professionalism). Then it turned to a more relaxed atmosphere with gossiping about the shenanegans of even those wearing a cloak. This elicited so much laughter that we broke out in tears laughing out loud (I think the waitresses were looking at a bunch of crazy Filipinos who were on a day off from work). We talked and laughed for several hours, not minding the fact that they'd just kicked off from work and I just arrived from Manila and had to prepare for my talk the following day. We talked about life in Singapore, life in Manila, plans for the future and the reality that YES THERE IS A WORLD OUTSIDE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS!

How time flew and after 4 hours of food, conversations and laughter, we decided to call it a night. They got me a cab and I got back to the hotel at 1045PM, reviewed my slide presentation and asked the operator to get me a wake up call for 6AM. I hit the sack past midnight.

After breakfast, I had a short meeting with JP from Proclin, a Contract Research Organization for clinical trials based in Singapore and Thailand. I headed straight to the 9AM conference and participated in the round table conference up to 10AM. I then gave a lecture at 11AM on the scenario of Early Phase Clinical Trials in the Philippines as why the country is ripe for the picking (or not!) as an Asia destination for Phase 1-3 clinical trials. After my talk at 1145AM, I was on the next cab back to the airport.

After checking in at 1220PM, I had lunch at a quaint Chinese Restaurant on Terminal 2. Roasted Duck and rice with a large cold lemon ice tea. I was facing the glass enclosure of the terminal building which overlooked the planes on the tarmac. I couldn't help but muse the conversations with my former students (and now colleagues). How time flew and how successful they were in their own rights.

It brought a smile to my face that knowing that as a mentor, they have come to the crossroad in life where they have grown to be mature, responsible doctors. I also realized that while I may be at the twilight of my professional career, I have been part of their lives. Somehow, that makes it worth the effort of having mentored them.

As the doors of SQ 916 at 210PM had closed for my flight back to Manila, I will always remember this 24 hours Singapore fling - where friends will always be the reason why anywhere we are, we will always find a home.

[Photo from Carmelo Braganza - and that's the waitress taking the pic at the mirror's reflection! If I had not thanked you guys enough, here's the blog dedicated to all of you.]

Of gifts, happiness and walking away...our Singapore New Year

I spent the New Year with my family and partner in Singapore. It was a fitting cap to 2010. Perched on the roof top of the luxury boutique hotel - Naumi Hotel, we counted down to the fireworks amidst the splendor of Marina Bay, with champagne on one hand and canapes on the other.

The trip was a bonding of sorts - Universal Studios, shopping on Orchard, dining out, shopping on Bugis and Chinatown, eating out, shopping on Raffles, gastronomic experience. Of course, everyone who still had some cash left, shopped all the way to Changi Airport and onboard duty free on Singapore Airlines.

Naumi Hotel is a charming personal luxury hotel on Seah Street, right at the back (or side) of Raffles Hotel. The cab drivers definitely had a hard time looking for the hotel. It was a virtual unknown hotel to the locals. As a member of tablethotels.com, I had the opportunity to find a good hotel - swanky, personal and yes, fabulous location - at the heart of Singapore. I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to stay in a great hotel in Singapore. The personal touch, Molton Brown toiletries, the free minibar (sodas and water till you drop) and healthy breakfast is icing on the cake of the sprawling suites where the flat screen supersized TV sets are divided from the bedroom and living room and the bathroom shower has a rainshower head and a steam bath. Where the bedroom and living room has a divider controlled from your bedside panel. Where there beds have 7 layers and a menu of pillows to choose from. Where the lighting system can be controlled from romantic mood to study mood. Where wifi is free all over the hotel. But the selling point of Naumi is its great location and wonderful staff!

Universal Studios Singapore is a let down. For everyone that plans to go to Universal, may I suggest that you simply defer this until the whole place is finished (which I doubt will even be comparable to the US Universal Studios versions). It is tinier than HongKong Disneyland and quite expensive. For $65 per person per admission, the queue is so long that it would take you forever to enjoy a 50 second ride. I got the express land pass which meant an additional $48 per person. Of course, we didn't have to queue anymore so Universal was done in 2 hrs - rides, shows and shopping. Located at Resorts World Sentosa, unless you plan to play and stay at the Sentosa area for 2 days, then Universal should be in your wish list. But if you're just visiting Universal Studios and would not want to have anything to do with the casino and other sites at Sentosa island, skip Universal Studios.

As Singapore is at the equator, there is NO DAY that it does not rain in Singapore. Be ready with an umbrella or get ready to get really wet in Universal (not only from the rain but from the rides) or get wet while you're out shopping.

Marina Bay Sands is chic, but all hype. You need to be a guest at their hotel in order to have access to the pool at Skysands. Then again, if you're the spending kind and wouldn't want to stay at the casino cum hotel cum shopping mall, there's always the Skysands entrance at $20 per head. We had a sumptuous buffet lunch at $45++ per head at the Rise restaurant in Marina Bay Sands upon our arrival in Singapore. Unfortunately the restaurant was located in the lobby so access to Skysands restaurants was not allowed. The booking is a mile long and they have preferential booking for hotel guests.

Singapore is a revelation in itself. Sparklingly clean and safe, you could actually feel that it tries to achieve Nirvanah or Shangri-La where everything turns out to be perfect. I hate saying it, but too perfect to even be thrilled at anything. It's a country where business is business and where politics and graft and corruption is frowned upon. Where crime is deterred through severe punishment. Where drug trafficking is punishable by death (ironically, the Europeans don't even deter the death penalty in Singapore and even when they do, the Singaporeans tell them to just shut up and these die hard goodies just roll over shut up). Where laws are laws and rules are rules and no one, not even government officials are exempted from them. It's a country so ideal that it makes us cringe at the thought that we live in a third world country that is like a roller coaster ride with life and death.

Whatever I spent during this holiday spree (which was my gift to my family) cannot be measured in terms of seeing us all laugh, play, rest, and eat together. As the slogan goes - happiness is priceless, everything else there's Mastercard.

Which leads me to the end of this short blog.

The presents we give should be one out of love and from within our hearts. When we give presents, we must fade away quietly. We do not make a big fuss over these gifts and how generous we are. The real challenge in life is how to do something good and then exit or fade away quietly, how to live life and let go, how to play our role and do our part and then take a bow. That is how people will "notice our star when it has faded into the night."

And as we all start the new year, it is time to get back to work and save enough for the next gift for the coming year for my family. Again...