Dream: the sun doesn't set at Dripstone anymore

In this dream, a whole bunch of us from the hospital are at Dripstone cliffs, sort of like the medical registrar welcoming party they threw us in January. We are standing around chatting and sipping drinks when I looked up and realised the sun was gone.

"Are we here to watch the sunset?" I ask the nearest person.
"Oh, no, the sun doesn't set at Dripstone anymore." They reply (I can't remember who they are at all!)
"Why not?" I ask, puzzled how the sun can choose where it sets.
"Well, the hospital ran out of money and stopped paying the subscription fee, so the sun has gone somewhere else now."

Disappointed, I look down at the sea to see if anything else has changed at the cliffs. Then someone says "We can get the sun back if only we win this competition."
"What competition?" murmurs the crowd.
"Actually it's more like a randomised controlled trial. We take these two types of laundry powder and if we can guess which is the more high powered one, we can get the sun back."

Someone else walks among the crowd with a large cane basket, distributing two identical packets of white powder to everyone. I'm just looking at my packets when someone shoves a trophy in my face and says "Congratulations! You've won the most enthusiastic participant award!"

I splutter, "What??" and look at the trophy. On it my name is all garbled, and I can't quite make out what it says. I put the packets of powder in the trophy. Then I wake up.

Dream: the radioactive barramundi

In this dream I'm just about to embark on a long road trip with my dad, I think we were planning to drive from Darwin to Sydney but I can't remember the route we were going to take. I look out the window and our Honda is parked just outside, but it looks like the alleyway outside our house in Shanghai. I wonder how it's possible that our car seems to have made its way to Shanghai for a roadtrip starting in Darwin. Looking around, I seem to be sitting in my living room in Shanghai too.

I tell my dad that we are already running late, so we need to look at the map and check how far we can get that day. He tells me not to worry, then there is a knock at the door.

When I open the door a man comes in pushing in a catering-style trolley, covered in a cloth. This is the type of trolley that's used to serve food at meetings etc, with enough space for big platters to be stored on several tiers. He says he has a present for us and without delay starts telling us about how he caught a giant barramundi and wants to give it to us to take on the road trip.

Just as I'm wondering why there are giant barramundi in Shanghai, he lifts the cloth from the trolley and I see a whole row of giant jars like the ones used to preserve rice wine. He starts taking the jars down and naming the fillets "this one came from the front of the left side of the barra... this one's from near the tail" - fillets of barramundi seem to be swimming in some amber-coloured unidentified liquid inside the jars.

He finishes unloading the jars, probably about 20 of them in total. There are 3 jars left on the trolley and I ask the man "what's in those?" He picks up one and shows it to me, and it is the most hideous fish head I have ever seen.

"Hold on, you can keep those. I don't like fish heads." I say to the man.
He looks disappointed and points to the other two jars, "What will I do with these then?" he asks.
I look at the other two jars and each seems to contain a giant hideous fish head.
"Wait, if you only caught one barramundi, how come you have three heads?" I ask.

He stares at me like I've just asked a crazy question and finally says "Don't you know? This fish was raised in radioactive nuclear-contaminated water in Japan, it's full of genetic mutations!"

Then I wake up.

A day in Singapore

On my way back from China, I decided to stop in Singapore for a day of food.

Yes yes, the Singapore river was very picturesque in the morning light, but where was all the food? Every store and stall seemed to be shut, and hardly anyone was on the street except a few confused looking tourists and some street cleaners. I walked in some random direction till I finally came across a shop full of people even at 8am on a Saturday morning.

I've never had bak kut teh before, but this was pretty good. Pork rib soup simmered till the stock is full of flavour, and the spices have really shown their true flavour. There is no greasiness at all, instead a pleasantly refreshing after taste. The pork falls off the bone, and makes for a delicious accompaniment to rice and pickles.

Feeling rather content, I walked down the road and somehow ended up in Chinatown. Walking down the side streets, I found myself first at the muslim mosque, where workers were painting the walls furiously. Then I came across the Sri Mariamman temple, where some serious procession was in progress. Around the corner I went into the Buddha's Tooth relic temple and even there, there was a crowd chanting prayers and lighting incense.

Out of luck with temples, I ended up in the Chinatown food court. Not really feeling hungry, I couldn't resist the sight of a super long queue heading to the glutinous rice stall. Here a man with funny chorea like movements was dishing up the glutinous rice along with a sprinkling of peanuts and salty fried shallot crisps. It was quite savoury, and would have been nicer if there was an element of sweetness to it.

Feeling truly too full, I headed to the Singapore Art Museum for a spot of air conditioning.

It just happens that the Biennale is on, and I happened to arrive at the SAM at the time of a guided tour with a very interesting and spirited lady. This was a fantastic exhibition (I didn't even make it to the other three sites) of modern art, with the theme being "My Home". The idea was to invite a group of artists from around the world to use the spaces within the exhibition centres to explore the concept of home. My absolute favourite exhibit was an artist who followed six Singaporean families on their usual shopping, and then set up a room with six fridges full of their purchases, inviting the viewer to think about what sort of lives they lead...

Coming out of the SAM, I set off in another random direction and ended up in Albert Centre near Bugis, where I actually stayed last time. I stopped for some more snacks.

Soy milk pudding with almonds.

Nasi lemak (coconut rice) with fried chicken.

Too much shopping in Bugis later, I headed back to the airport. At Tanah Merah interchange, I saw an amazing sunset over the top of a handful of apartment buildings.

Meanwhile, I munched on a curry puff from Old Chang Kee...

Feeling rather bored in the airport, I finished off my day of eating with a bowl of fish ball noodle soup. The fish balls weren't as good as the place that serves fish ball laksa in Terminal 3, a little bit too chewy for my liking. The soup was rather bland too, but it was pretty all right for an airport meal!

It did feel like half of Singapore was out on the day I was there, probably because it was a Saturday and plus it was election day too. There's food just about everywhere in Singapore... I'd love to live there for a bit and try everything out. And of course there's great shopping too, I couldn't resist this sign in a MRT station.