Monthly Archives: August 2007

Samy’s Curry and Oosh

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So this morning was not that exciting… Ron didn’t have class until 2pm so we headed to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority to pick up his student pass and so I could apply for my long-term social visit pass (LTSVP). These documents allow us to stay in Singapore past the 30 days allowed when first entering the country. It’s a very interesting “queueing system” (called this instead of “waiting in line”) but seems to be very efficient. There are several kiosks for each specific task: collection of passes, student passes, social visit passes, etc. You scan your disembarkation card or your previous visit’s queue number and you are issued a “Q-no.” The numbers are lit on multiple screens and you don’t even have to wait there, you can request an SMS (text) message on your cell phone to inform you when there are less than 5 numbers in front of yours. We just ended up waiting and the processing from the officer was quick. We just needed to make some copies and I can go pick up my stuff on Monday.

For the evening, one of the students had put together a “Foodies” night and we were headed to Samy’s Curry. We didn’t know how to order so we just ordered the beers and had the event planner order for the crowd.


This is Chicken Tikka, crunchy shell served with fried basil:

This is some fried cauliflower, made delicious by the spices and breading:

The prawn (1 per person):

Dried mutton (lamb):

More chicken:

The famous fish head curry (yum!):

Everything together served on a banana leaf plus veggies:

Ron happily full of food and drink:

The dinner was excellent and very tasty. The staff kept on refilling our beer glasses and coming by to give us extra rice and sides. The fish curry was steaming hot and as delicious as everyone says it is… the fish cheek meat is especially tender. All this only cost S$26 per person, not a bad deal for all that food.

An especially friendly cat was at the front door when we were leaving (I Miss my kities!):

We headed across the street to a pretty swanky bar where no pictures were allowed inside.

It was a beautiful place to lounge around. It is a huge place with lots of outdoor venues/patios but also with indoor seating for food. It really felt like a tropical island and the weather was perfect tonight with a slight breeze and clear skies. Not to forget to mention that the drinks were yummy (although on the more pricey side, S$15 per drink).

The parking lot was full of expensive cars: Mercedes, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, etc. I wonder who these people are?

Exploring Orchard Road

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So I spent most of this morning updating our blog… I’ve finally caught up to today! The first entry is dated August 18th if you want to go that far back to start reading 🙂

But this afternoon I decided to go explore Orchard Rd, probably the most famous shopping (and most expensive) district in SG. I took the MRT but wasn’t exactly sure the shortest route. I ended up transferring twice and taking three different lines (green, purple, and red) but I made it there by myself. It took approximately an hour from my door to bus to the Orchard Rd MRT station.

Oh, yeah, Ron and his classmates were at a class bonding trip with Outward Bound. They left early this morning around 7:45am and wouldn’t be back until around 7pm. So I basically had the whole day to myself to wander around.

The first store I wanted to go to was Borders, just something familiar and to check out their stationary. I ended up getting this book called SHOPSMART SINGAPORE

It seemed to have some pretty good tips and was S$16.

My next destination was the Takashimaya Department Store where the majority of the stores are way too fancy for me (Burberry, Chanel, etc) but I really wanted to go to the Kinokuniya Bookstore. I love their pens and stationary. Also lucky for me they had lots of imported Japanese books. I was lucky to find a beading book focused entirely on Hello Kitty and her friends. I can’t wait to try it! I just need some beads…

I found some nice Sakura Gelly Roll pens, named “Tiara” to use for my card making. These pens are super glittery and will really add some sparkle to my cards.

I spent quite a few hours in the bookstore just wandering around and exploring each corner of the store. I eventually headed down to the basement level 2 to the food area to get some dinner. Stopped by Watson’s (a retail pharmacy) to buy a bath loofa and some more wet towelettes. I checked out their OTC meds (aka General Sale Items or Pharmacy Only Items but Non-Prescription) and was looking at their stool softeners and laxatives. They have things like lactulose for constipation and potassium citrate for alkalanizing urine without a prescription. The lady watching the shelf came up to ask me “are you having a problem with constipation?”. I wanted to laugh because she was so blunt but I just told her that I was a pharmacist from the US and was just checking out their products… hehe 🙂

There is a wonderful food court and Cold Storage grocery store in the basement level 2. I had a hard time choosing what to eat but finally settled on a Korean place called Seoul Street Food because they had duk bok-kee, a chewy rice noodle about the size of a finger in spicy sauce usually with fish cake. I forgot to take pictures before I ate it all, I was too hungry after spending so much time walking around. I also ordered 2 fried chicken skewers with chili sauce. My dinner cost S$6 (S$3 for bowl of noodles and the skewers for 2 for S$3).

I’m pooped now though because again I had to figure out a way back on the MRT and walk the rest of the way home. Ron and our flatmates had already gotten home from their Outward Bound trip. They told me there was an easier way to get to Orchard without having to transfer twice, instead only one transfer, cheaper, and shorter. I’ll have to try it next time.

National University of S’pore and Giant Hypermarket

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I think I’ve caught up now on my postings, yay!

Today I had a 10AM meeting with “Prof Chan”, the Head of the Pharmacy Department at the National University of S’pore. It was an informal interview for a job. I found my way on Bus 95 to NUS, Science Drive 4. Joyce, the NUS prof and grad from UCSF, called me yesterday to give me good directions or else I would’ve been easily lost. The bus was completely packed at the stop I boarded, I had to squeeze and jam myself in or else I would’ve been late.

The meeting went well I think. Prof Chan was very thoughtful and came down to meet me and treated me and Joyce to coffee and cakes as we chatted. She was eager to find out what I wanted to do and also to talk about the plans for developing a PharmD program at NUS. It was a very pleasant meeting and I hope to have more soon.

I went to go have lunch with Joyce and Alex, a past pharm resident from UCSF who now works in SG. He’s been a great resource and a great help in getting me this interview (and job!) at NUS. He’s always willing to help and you can depend on him. We met up with another prof and had lunch at the student food court. The food is even cheaper it seems, dishes can be S$1.50! We had claypots, yum!

I stayed to attend the student conference where they act out 2 cases in front of the class. It was interesting and rather fun to be in the classroom again, it’s been quite a while since I’ve sat in on conferences. The students do a good job acting and the tutors provide good guidance.

After an exhausting day at NUS, I headed back to INSEAD to meet up with Ron. We ended up heading home to drop off stuff and took a taxi to IMM Giant Hypermarket. But first we had to eat!


We chose Ajisen Ramen because it was close to the entrance and ramen sounded really good at the time. We had something like okonomiyaki called tonpei yaki except instead of noodles inside, it was cabbage:

I had the spicy cha siu ramen:

Ron had the tom toro ramen (fatty pork):

It all really hit the spot but since it was a sit down restaurant, they charge 10% service and 7% GST (17% taxes!) so it was rather expensive. As we were leaving and turning the corner, there were tons of other restaurants… next time we know better.

We went to the supermarket next. It’s very much like a HUGE Wal-Mart with household goods and a full supermarket. We spent something like 2 or 3 hours there and didn’t get home until 10:30pm. We came back with a full cart of stuff in a taxi 😛


(Pictured: Cindy, Ron, and Justine)

But now we have REAL food!

Moving Day

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Note: I am post-dating these entries to make it more chronological. I apologize for any strange mistakes that I might make.

Yay! Today was move-in day. We left the INSEAD Residence at 7:30AM to take a taxi to our new home. We again have way too much luggage but at least it was more manageable this time because we packed better.

Ron had to rush off to class and I stayed back to unpack and do some laundry. It started storming pretty hard with thunder and lightning so I didn’t want to leave the house. I’m not fond of torrential rain. But I did have the chance to make our master bedroom more cozy and did 2 loads of laundry. I had my first experience with hanging our laundry up on a clothesline because there is no dryer.

At 2:30PM, I headed over to INSEAD (still raining) since there was a Partners Orientation and Afternoon tea. The meeting was very short so we headed home quickly afterwards.

We ended up having dinner at the other HDB food court behind us (on Commonwealth?), only S$2.50 for a plate… still so amazingly cheap to me. We also bought some pastries and milk for breakfast and some fresh fruits. It’s so hard to live without a refrigerator!

School Starts

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Note: I am post-dating these entries to make it more chronological. I apologize for any strange mistakes that I might make.

Today school started. Singapore must have been sad, it was raining really hard. I stayed inside all day while Ron was running around for orientation.

We attended the opening ceremony at 5pm and had cocktails and snacks at the INSEAD cafeteria afterwards. The class seemed not at all worried about going to class the next day so a large group went to New Asia Bar for drinks and more networking. It’s located on floor 71 and 72 of the Swissotel The Stamford.

I had a drink called the Coco Loco:

It’s a mix of Kahlua, banana liquer, cream, chocolate, ice, and other things. Tasted like a delicious milkshake!

It was great and a beautiful view from up top. I didn’t take very good pictures though… I’ll have to figure out how to use my camera better.