Walkabout

Yesterday, I went out for Larry's birthday celebration. I didn't know that until halfway through the day.

I went to Chinatown MRT at 1.30pm as Larry invited me for karaoke (Never been to Chinatown before. NEW!). I met up with Kai Siang, Hong Wee, Edwin (Chan) and Pixie?. We then proceed to the obscure shop, dunno what Ten Dollars Family Club or something like that. It only has a small sign hanging out and the sign is on the third floor, so its kind of hard to see.

When we finally found the place and went up, Larry arrived. After settling down we began to sing (I've never actually sang karaoke before. Went before - Yes, Sing - No. NEW!). After a while, Vinod arrived. About 1/2 hour before our time slot ended, Edmund (Shi) arrived after work. After we left the seedy little place, we walked to this place called "central ©" (Hey you can't blame me for being sua gu. I need to explore more. Anyway, I've never been here, and it is right on top of Clarke Quay MRT. NEW!). It is a pretty artistic looking shopping centre.

We went to this restaurant called "Marutama Ramen" (O.o Eat ramen. NEW!). It is an extremely "jap" looking ramen shop where even the waitress communicate with the cook via Japanese. Whether if they are acting I don't know, but I am sure that if a Japanese came here, he would have no problems ordering food. Anyway, I just ordered a "Marutama Ramen" (Ramen in Chicken soup)without any toppings ($12), and with 1 "kaedama" (ramen refill, $1). As we waited for our order to come, Edmund (Ho) came and joined us for dinner. After dinner Vinod's friend Daniel came and joined us. We bought vodka from Liang Court, from a supermarket called "Meidi-Ya" (O.o a Japanese goods supermarket. NEW!), then proceeded to Larry's house (I can't figure out why they all want to go to Larry's house. They spent quite sometime psycho-ing Larry to let the group go to his house. Anyway, NEW!).

Larry's house is a two-storey flat. I can't remember what is the term for that kind of flat. Anyway, we played some Indian Poker, and Larry is a bit drunk from almost everyone trying to make him drink. After an unsuccessful attempt for some of us to play Texas Poker (They get bored of gambling easily), I went to the balcony to listen to some gossips. After that, we left Larry's house at 2.15am to return home.

Since I already used quite a bit of money during the day, I opted to walk home (I've never walked home at a time where buses has stopped their services. I don't think anyone else would even consider this as an option though. NEW!). Larry's house is located deep inside the Kovan area, so I proceed to walk out of the estate towards a major road, Upper Serangoon Road. I then walked along Upper Serangoon Road, turning into Braddell Road. Afer that I followed Braddell Road to my home at Toa Payoh Lorong 8. Simple, huh? It took me only 1 hour and 5 minutes, including my journey up the lift and locking the door behind me (2.15am - 3.20am), which means the actual walk took only around 50 minutes to complete. Easy.

Notes:
- The dunno what Ten Dollars Family Club is really good value. Its a bit obscure though.
- I only sing Mandarin songs.
- The new "Dragon Generation" is really crazy. They gave a sex toy to Larry as his birthday present. There's like, a hole where you can use your "thing" to "poke" through it. Refer to this blog entry for more of my comments about the new "Dragon Generation".
- Oh ya, they gave 2 "women upper undergarments" to him also. Supposedly it was Pixie? who came up with the idea for Larry's presents.
- Chinatown is really a colourful and interesting place. Wonder if I can buy and live in a shophouse.
- The layout of central © is really confusing. I'll need to visit it more often if I ever want to figure it out. I suppose the strange layout adds to the aesthetic aspect of the entire building.
- Though I enjoyed the ramen, I still can't get over the price : ) After tax its $15-$16, which is harsh for my current finances. Also, I am still not used to eating food that cost more than $4 : )
- By the way, I don't know when my body will start rejecting the chicken soup. I just can't eat food cooked in chicken soup for some reason.
- Its a really good experience to walk home from somewhere far alone, late into the night. There are few cars and you'd wonder if any robbers or snakes will attack you suddenly. If you are a girl though, I won't recommend it. Women are targeted more often than men, so walking home alone late at night along empty roads might not be such a good idea.
- If you think walking from Kovan to Toa Payoh is hell, it's acutally only around 4.5 - 5km if you followed my route.