BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINATOWN

This weekend we decided to take a walking tour of Singapore's CHINATOWN and one of it's popular areas CLUB STREET. After doing some business and the Bank and the Post Office (I can't remember the last time I stepped foot in an actual post office...), we grabbed some lunch at one of our favorite spots KPO Cafe Bar and enjoyed a delicious burger, we then took the MRT (yes Gamble, I took the train) to Chinatown.

Chinatown is cool, much like the San Fran or Vancouver Chinatowns, it's filled with different little shops selling trinkets, weird roots and every manner of salted/cured fish you could imagine. There are also some big ass malls (it wouldn't be Singapore without some big ass malls), restaurants, spas and a few cool temples and mosques. We toured around for a few hours and then headed to the kitschy shophouse-filled Club Street. Now at night, this place is hopping as it is lined with tons of restaurants and bars but during the day it's much quieter with only a few eclectic shops and bookstores open to the public. Michelle found some great perfumes while I ofcourse was enamored with all the toys.

We then walked through this cool little park at the end of Club Street called ANN SIANG HILL that took us back to another part of Chinatown where we found an awesome temple quietly celebrating the FESTIVAL OF THE HUNGRY GHOST. What the hell is the Festival of the Hungry Ghost? Well here's a quick explanation: The seventh month of the lunar year is devoted to the Festival of the Hungry Ghost, during which the gates of hell are thrown open and the spirits of the dead are released on 'parole' to roam the earth. Food, prayers, incense and 'hell money' are offered to appease the spirits. Celebratory dinners are held as well as performances of Chinese street operas or wayang. No marriages or dangerous journeys, such as sea voyages, embarked on.

Pretty cool eh? Anyway, Singapore is littered with burning barrels, incense and prayer tables for the ghosts so it's a pretty interesting time to be here. Anyways, we enjoyed our day tour through Chinatown and will be sure to return to Club Street one night when it's alive and kicking. For now though, you can see the pics from our day right HERE!!!

THE LOCAL MONITOR LIZARD

So Michelle was on our deck watching the rain when she looked to her left cause she saw a log floating against the current in the canal. Upon closer inspection she realized it wasn't a log and then when it's legs started paddling, sure enough she realized it was a big MONITOR LIZARD. Supposedly they hang out in our area and like to swim up and down the canal to travel around, needless to say Michelle was shocked & excited and quickly grabbed the camera to snap a few pictures of the Lizard. We don't have a super zoom lens but Michelle did manage to grab the pic above which shows it quite well.

Welcome to Singapore, don't step on the lizards!

GIO'S MOVIE ROUND-UP: AUGUST '09

HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

• Good, very good... but not great. Three is still my favorite. This one was entertaining but long and the mystery of "the Half-Blood Prince" was no mystery at all, it was reduced to a few lines of dialogue at the beginning, middle and end of the flick, no mystery at all. Still, entertaining and I must admit, I am glad that ALL the actors stuck with the series since the beginning. It will be cool to follow them until the end.
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT (BLU-RAY DVD)

• DC continues to impress with its animated line as FIRST FLIGHT chronicles the origin and inaugural adventure of my favorite DC character, Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern. A great story (a mix of the classic origin and recent events like "the Sinestro Corps" from modern comics), solid voice acting and decent animation with the right amount of space violence make this a memorable animated movie that I am sure to watch again!
  
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP

G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

• It finally happened, my childhood has finally come to an end with the disaster that is G.I.JOE. If this movie was called anything other than G.I.JOE it would have been a light, cheesy, action romp with some over-the-top sequences. Instead we get this abortion that has nothing to do with all the cool comics and cartoons we grew up with. Snake Eyes has lips? Duke & Baroness used to date? Ripcord is a comedian? Brenden Fraser is Gung Ho? Cobra Commander wears a plastic halloween mask? Dear god, what happened to G.I.JOE??? The story was awful, the FX were subpar and the whole film should be avoided if you are a fan of the original source material. If I can pull anything out of it, at least Storm Shadow was cool.
  
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS DOWN
  

THE PROPOSAL

• Time to speak some truth, I like Sandra Bullock romcoms, they make me smile. Another truth, I think Ryan Reynolds is funny, don't believe me? Check out JUST FRIENDS, it still makes me laugh. Put these two together and it's romcom gold as far as I am concerned. I laughed a lot in this flick, she plays a Canadian bitch, he plays a spineless American and well, you can guess what happens. It may not be that original but it works
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP

WATCHMEN: DIRECTOR'S CUT (BLU-RAY DVD)

• So beautiful to look at, so boring to watch. What a disappointment, everything about it is fantastic except the overall movie, WATCHMEN truly is the unfilmable comic book and Alan Moore has the last laugh on us all.
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS DOWN

THE HANGOVER

• This is a funny, funny movie and lookee here Hollywood. No a-list stars, no crazy special effects, no huge marketing tie in, just a good funny story with some memorable characters. How did that happen? Bottom line, it's fun and it makes me miss Vegas.
  
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS UP
  

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (BLU-RAY DVD)

• "When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."
  
• GIO'S OPINION: THUMBS WAY UP

BYE BYE AUGUST '09

Wow, hard to believe that we've been in Singapore for 3.5 months already, time is flying by! Here's a look back at the month that was August:

• Both Michelle and I returned from our trip back to NORTH AMERICA. Michelle spent five weeks in Vancouver (with a small camping trip to Portland) while I spent two weeks in San Francisco (work) and Vancouver (play).

• After a few days of being home, I flew to TAIWAN for the Digital Entertainment Summit which was awesome! As was the Karaoke and Whiskey afterwards! Great people and a great city!

• We tried FISH HEAD CURRY!!! Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like... awesome!

• We also visited Singapore's World Famous ZOO which will definitely need a return visit as it's impossible to see everything in one visit, yes it's that big!

• Our first medical emergency overseas, Michelle cut her FINGER!

• Finally, a look at all the rest of our AUGUST PICS!

THE ZOO ZOO ZOO!

It's been a while since we've done anything "touristy" but we took care of that this weekend by visiting THE SINGAPORE ZOO! Opened in 1973, this 28-hectare open-concept Rainforest-themed Zoo is home to some crazy cool animals. We saw Orangutans, White Rhinos, Cheetahs, Giraffes, Lions, Otters, Pumas, Komodo Dragons, Kangaroos, Elephants, Pygmy Hippos, Warthogs, Snakes, Polar Bears, Crocodiles, Zebras and a whole host of other awesome creatures. We went during a bit of a rainstorm and that only added to the adventurous feel, I commented that it felt like "Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs" but then I saw the big Komodo Dragon and the even bigger Crocodile and then it did feel like Jurassic Park, those things were huge. It was an awesome day and I can't wait to go back, the open concept idea of seeing these beasts without them being in an iron cage made it an even better experience.

Here's some pics from our day at the ZOO!!!

OUR FIRST MEDICAL EMERGENCY

So Michelle decided to make me dinner, which is always awesome! She was trying out a new Salmon recipe she learned at a cooking class here in Singapore. Steamed Salmon with lemon served with Zucchini Pappardelle in a Butternut Squash Ragout. It looked and smelled awesome! While she was cutting up the Passionfruit for her Dessert Dish, the knife slipped and sliced deep into the knuckle of her index finger... blood and screaming ensued.

Okay, we've been here for three months and other than my medical exam for the job, we've never had to visit the doctor (we both went for exams while we were in Vancouver in July). It's 8pm, are there even clinics here? And if so, are they open? Michelle remembered seeing a medical clinic in the mall across the street from us, so as we headed there with her hand wrapped in a towwel, I called my buddy Aamir. He confirmed that yes, there are medical clinics but unlike Vancouver, they are opened and closed at all different times. Okay, if this one was closed, we'd head to the Hospital. 

Luckily the clinic closed at 8:30pm so we made it in and had a pretty decent doctor to boot, so much so, Michelle might make him her regular doctor, so she asked the receptionist is Dr. Houng accepting new patients.

"Excuse me?"

"Is Dr. Huong taking new regular patients"

"Umm, yes, you just come in and he sees you"

"Oh, okay, and what days is he in?"

"The hours are on the back of the card"

"Yes, I see that but which of these days and times is he in"

"Umm (looking at us like we are from Mars)... all of them"

I guess things run a little differently here. Anyway, it's good to know that we have a 7-day a week clinic right across the street with a capable doctor if it's ever needed again. Michelle won't require stitches but she won't be able to bend that finger for a couple weeks. We came home and enjoyed that kick ass dinner. Crisis averted and finger saved!

FISH HEAD CURRY

Last night we indulged in #9 of the Top 10 Dishes to eat in Singapore: FISH HEAD CURRY.

Now I know what you are thinking and yes, it's exactly like it sounds, a giant fish head with ridiculously bulbous eyes, swimming in an even bigger pot of Indian Curry. Guess what... it was awesome!

Aamir & Denise took us to "Little India" for the classic Fish Head Curry at one of Singapore's best known Fish Head Curry establishements, The Banana Leaf. There's you are given a giant Banana Leaf as a plate and utensils although most people eat "old school" by using their right hand as the untensil. You order your meal (we had Fish Head Curry, Vegetable Korma, Spicy Lamb and Palek Paneer), then servers come around with giant tins of Rice, Veggies & Cabbage and fill your leaf. Then the food comes and you pile that onto your leaf as well and dig in.

Now Michelle and I were both skeptical of our enjoymanet of said Fish Head Curry, I mean c'mon, it's an actual fish head and while we both enjoy seafood, we've never indulged in the delicacy of the entire head... Halibut cheeks is as far as I've gone. So when this massive bowl is placed in front of you wish a giant head looking at you, well, let's just say that the skeptisism was running high.

Denise, is a master of cutting up the head (with only a spoon) and scooping out the meat for everyone which was awesome since I've would have been lost trying to dissect that beast but once we all had our share and started to eat, I was amazed at how tasty the actual fish was. Sure you could say "anything tastes good when it's cooked in curry" but trust me, this fish was top notch, juicy, tender and so full of flavor. Michelle and I both loved it and she even ate "old school" which gave her much props from our waiter (who looked like the little pissed off guy from The 40-Year Old Virgin).

We will definitely be going back for FISH HEAD CURRY especially when my dad comes to visit next year as I am sure he will appreciate the tasty adventure. One last dish to go on the Top 10 List and once we hit that, I will share them all with you!

Fish Head Curry = Awesome!!!