Sunday, May 21, 2006
My legs have deserted me. Woke up at 5 a.m. in the morning to join my family in the Big Walk today. I didn't plan the walk initially because I didn't ask to go in the first place. My elder brother suddenly said that he wasn't going to go (after registrating himself and his girlfriend) late last night when I reached home. He said that since his girlfriend was very busy with the marking of papers (she's a teacher), she's not going to go and then after a while he said that he wasn't going to go. So then, there were two extra spots and since my mom couldn't find anyone to fill in the now vacant spot. Then, my mother turned to me and asked, the moment which I was not prepared for. I striked a deal with my mom saying that if my younger brother was able to wake up at 5 a.m. in the morning and that he was going I would join them too. Big Mistake I made there!!! I should have drugged him last night with sleeping pills.
The Walk itself was okay considering that I have to WALK only and not do anything. But my brother was speeding away with his long legs while I was trying to catch up with my short legs. After a while, I just gave up keeping up with him and walked at my own speed (which is much faster than some others present there, but still slower than my brother's). At around the halfway mark, I saw and heard something that caught everyone's attention. Remember the infamous Falun Gong association? Yup, they were there too, equipped with loud music speakers, big yellow banners and lots of people (from the young in strollies to the elderly) from that association, walking the 10km together. But upon the destination point, they dispersed very quickly, alomst at a blink of an eye.
After the whole walk, I was soaked through with perspiration and kind of stinky. My brother then suggested that we get lunch at a hotel. I alomost mentally freaked out, I mean, after the tiring two and a half hours of walking, everyone is so tired and stinking and imagine going in to a hotel to eat!! I think people will shun that place in the instant we stepped in. Haa.. lucky that I brought deodorant a set of clothes to change into. My dad brought us to Hotel Phoneix's Garden Cafe for a buffet lunch. The place was kind of filled at that moment, perhaps most of them were tourists who stayed in the hotel. Although I was surprised that I wasn't very hungry after the walk, maybe I had drank too much water to replenish my system, I managed to try most of the things there, especially the dessert section.
The roti prata was absolutely delicious and cripsy thin, the way i like it not like those in the hawker centre where it's soggy and the prata at the hotel is made right in front of you the moment you order it. My dad, mom and brother tried the laksa which I heard was good, I didn't try it because I was afraid that it would upset my stomach especially after exercising. The chicken rice was also not bad as the rice is quite good (not sticking as a lump and not very oily) but I feel that it was lacking in the pandan fragrance. The dessert section was wonderful. I love the strawberry mousse cake, not too sweet nor sour, just nice with sponge cake beneath it. I wanted to try the chocolate mousse but when I got there, the bowl was empty. The pandan cake available was similar to Bengawan Solo's, the three layers of pandan flavoured agar-agar and in between then the two layers of sponge cake. The chocolate brownie with walnut garnished on top was too sweet for my liking and it was crunchy to the bite and had only a little chocolate on top (I like brownies that are moist and full of chocolate chips inside. Sinful, I know ^_^). After these, I wanted to head back again to try the chocolate mousse but I was too full already and my legs were also failing me from the long walk and the many trips back and forth between the table and the food.
After the lunch, we went to the Singapore Mint. I heard from my mom that dad has just took up coin collection in the beginning of this year so he was there to enquire about some stuff. At that time, the shop's staff was about to leave for lunch break, they had even off some lights already. It was kind of them to service the last customer before heading to their lunch break, I hope the staff who attended my dad had extended lunch break because it took up almost 20 minutes of her break. After that, I was on the verge of collapsing already from all the walking and the crazy crowd at Orchard Road. Finally we were going to go back home and here I am blogging when I really want to sleep.
I will come back later to blog about yesterday's night outing. Now I want to sleep so bad...
