Unfriendly customer service with politeness 

There are so many different kinds of snack in Singapore . It is wonderful ! But as I foreigner here, I have little idea of what are those snacks and cookies are made of! So here is the funny little story. 

In general, people are polite here, so I stopped by a bakery and intrigued by all these different local cookies and biscuits. As I was bewildering at what is inside it and which one to buy:


I asked the staff, a middle-aged women selling her biscuits , “what’s the difference between this one and that one ?” , pointing two different “Piah” She explained it, then I asked what is the difference between “pong Piah” and “Lau Poh Piah”. 

She replied , to my surprise , “it would be very tiring for me to explain differences among all of my biscuits. As I have so many kinds. !” 

I laughed, ” okay , I will buy this one that I have no idea what is in it” . But it could be a surprise ! 🙂

Outgoing and smart 

Today, I went shopping with my Airbnb guest in the supermarket. She liked ice cream and asked me which brand of the ice cream is the best in Singapore. I told her that I have no idea about ice cream. 

She then picked up a Haagen Dazs, I told her that you picked up the most famous one . That’s the only brand I know! She didn’t know the brand ! She is from a small city northern Russian by the way .

Anyway, when we approached the cashier, there was another women lining behind us, she said to us, “can we buy these ice cream together, as they are in promotion, we get 50 percent off if we buy together! ” It came to me as a bit surprise, but my guest replied smiled and naturally replied,” why not ?” 

So she gave my guest some cash and both of them get 50 percent off of the ice cream. Brilliant! 

I will have to say this women is smart and outgoing. This kind of thing just won’t happen in Japan, where women is shyer and reluctant to talk to strangers ! This is one of things that I love about Singapore !  

Singapore’s world-class public transportation 

My colleague was telling me once you have kids, you better to have a car in Singapore despite its ridiculous price tag. 

I have to admit that you need a car in Singapore here if you want to be convenient. Singapore’s public transportation, as I am writing now in 2016, is still far less developed than Tokyo. 

 My experience tells me that if I go from a place to another place where MRT is nearby in the city centre , taking a taxi or driving is still twice or sometimes three times faster than taking MRT, thanks to the road that is designed for car owners , the rich people. There are not many traffic lights and crossing for pedastrain . 

I think the Singapore government should build more MRTs, seriously. 

签证与护照

前一段时间在晚上找到了一个很不错得马来西亚乐队,经过几次交流, 在网上看到他们的表演,特别不错。准备请他们来中国唱一些老上海Jazz。但是怎么也没想到,他们打了几十次中国驻马来西亚大使馆电话关于申请以艺术家身份来中国签证的问题, 到现在还是没有得到答复。 
国人有抱怨外国对待中国公民不公,故意加上繁琐的签证手续。我看是中国先对外国公民不公。比如B1/B2美国签证,我一个印度同事申请了拿的是有效期都10年,我去年去夏威夷的时候却是一年的。到网上查了一下,才知道其他国家都是10年,只有中国是一年有效期。原因是中国不愿意给美国公民10年的签证,美国没法给中国公民10年。

蘑菇意大利面

锅里放入橄榄油,放入切碎的洋葱,大蒜炒香。

根据个人喜好加入一个小辣椒
等到洋葱变成金黄色,放入butter,西红柿,菠菜和蘑菇炒2分左右。稍微加一点新鲜碾碎的胡椒和海盐。再加入orégano 和市贩的番茄酱翻炒均匀即可。

在另外一个锅里,根据意大利面包装的烹调时间煮熟。

最后滤干意大利面的水分放入炒锅搅拌均匀

Artistry cafe

I am at the Artistry cafe near bugis station now where some live music is performed, there is a quite unique musician today with flute, guitar violin combination.
It is quite nice cafe! Love it .

cafes and mobile payment in Jiaxing, China

Two things staggered me this time when I went back to my hometown Jiaxing.

The prevalence and booming of modern cafes which serves authentic Italian espresso beverages and imported craft beers. The can outmatch many cafes in Tokyo and Singapore!

The ubiquity of mobile payment in every retail shop, cafes, fruit shops, shopping malls and restaurants, you name it! One year ago these two things did not exist.

If you don’t believe me, please check out the following two youtube videos which introduce two stylish coffee shops in my hometown.

 

美女盘坐

今天在办公室周围看到一位打扮穿着都很斯文优雅的美女,竟然盘坐在一个露天餐厅!

在日本可能就是千年难遇的景象!

Dessert wine recommend by my host

I just had a guest who is from France. I am a wine lover and so I took this opportunity to ask him recommendations of wines.

He told me that Monbazillac is one of his favorite sweet wines.

So I did some Google search on the Internet, it looks like it is a quite undiscovered sweet wine.

The red wine he liked a lot is the Montepulciano.

Just pin down these two wines here for my future trip to France.

祭神拜祖和杀猪

好久没有看到杀猪祭神拜祖了。在新加坡每逢初一十五很多人都吃素, 但是猪还是要杀。这只猪好可怜。

有谁能解释一下祭祖为什么要杀猪?