Food Research - What's to Eat in and around Far East Plaza?

One other thing we did whilst we were at Far East Plaza was to find out what food was available at this mall for David's family. The British Chip Shop is there (see picture on left!) and it serves bite sized deep fried fish & chips, as well as deep fried mars bar! Other delectable delights in the mall include Burger King, KFC, Gelare (ice cream waffles on half price on Tuesday), a Hong Kong style cafe which serves thick toasts and some variation of "Western Food" and drinks along with other Chinese food, Ya Kun Kaya Toast, Long John Silver's (Fish & Chips, Scampi & Chips - Carol's sorted!), Anatolia Turkish restaurant, Han's (more fish & chips, spagetti, sandwiches, cakes, etc), and an assortment of local fare (chicken rice, curries, fried noodles). Across the street at Shaw House, there's McDonald's , more KFC and Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, TCC (where Carol had Sea of Passion), and Dome (more Western food such as Bangers and Mash, Steak, Grilled Chicken). And of course, with Orchard Road round the corner, and Singapore being a food haven, all sorts of cuisine can be easily found within walking distance.

Oh, there's a 7-11 on the ground floor; and across the road at Shaw House (see map on left), a supermarket (Cold Storage, for cereal, milk, sausages, sushi, etc).

Map from Isetan website. More Shopping! Great for shoes and Bags - Watch that credit card.

Hair & Makeup for the Girls

Took the opportunity during last week's long Chinese New Year break to scour Far East Plaza (left, where David's family will be putting up during their trip here) for places that offer hair and makeup services for the women. Alas, we found one place called Hollywood Secrets but their premises at Far East was very small and they only have 1 resident makeup person. So, I was advised by a very nervous girl to call their head office to find out if they can send in more makeup artists for the afternoon; it was this or marching everyone down a few blocks to their bigger shop in Paragon. I called, they spoke to 'management', and it was decided (on their part) that, yup, my 11 interested persons would have to boogie on down to Paragon as they are too busy to send people down. Surely the prospect of servicing so many people would more than make up for the trouble! Bah! Onwards and upwards. Since they're not bothered to make an effort, I'll just look elsewhere. Emails have been sent out to various freelancers and other boutiques to enquire about their services and prices. Fingers crossed.

Duty Free Shopping & Alcohol Restrictions

One of Singaporeans' favourite past-time - shopping - becomes even better for our overseas family and guests when they come here for the wedding as they'll be able to indulge in duty free shopping and claim back a portion of the Goods and Services Tax (GST, rising from 5% to 7% on 1st July 2007!).

More importantly, duty free shopping means that upon arrival at Changi Airport, visitors can buy, well, duty free alcohol and bring it into the country. There are, however, some limitations. First, the buyer has to be above 18 (legal limit, so no alcohol for young Chris), and, second, each visitor is only allowed a limit of 1L liquor, 1L wine, and 1L beer. As wine usually comes in a 750ml, the clever staff at DFS has also decided to sell small, individual sized, 250ml bottles of wine (conveniently placed at the checkout) to make up for the missing 250ml in one's limit. It is significantly cheaper to buy alcohol at the airport before entering the country but we've discovered that it is probably cheaper to buy in London (or Dubai). In London Gatwick airport, especially with the specials for some bottles - E.g. you can buy two bottles of liquor (e.g. Bacardi Rum, Bells', Gordon's Gin) for 15quids instead of the usual price of approximately 9.50 - 10.99quids each.

We can't confirm which is cheaper because in my excitment to be touching land again, I forgot to write down prices at the DFS shop at Changi. But just to give an indication of prices, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot at Changi costs about SGD87, which is about 29quids, and you can get this for about 27.99quids at Sainsbury's. A bottle of Australian wine at Changi is about SGD20, whereas at Gatwick, you can buy 3 bottles for 15quids.

Pine Gardens Cakes!

More cake tasting today, and it's FREE. Yipee!!!

We've finally got an appointment to see someone from Pine Gardens Bakery, located very very near us, in Ang Mo Kio. The girl, Petrina, was really nice and sat us through a short video presentation of the cakes they've previously made and, more importantly, produced 6 different cake samples for us to try! FREE! Now, that's service for you.


Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Brownie, Marble Cheesecake, Orange Zest Chocolate Cake, Lychee Martini Cake, Triple Chocolate Cake, and Rum Blackforst Gateau. Yum.



My favourite's the Lychee Martini. David likes the Orange Zest, it reminds me a lot of the Terry's Chocolate Orange that you buy in the UK which i am not a fan of but i must say this cake is delicious. Subtly orangey, very moist sponge, and a nice chocolate infusion.

After trying all that, it's a good thing we had to walk quite a bit to the bus stop to meet Jane for coffee (more added calories). But Pine Gardens is definately on the top of our list.

Permission to get married

It's official - our marriage, when it happens, will be recognised by the UK and will not pose a problem in Singapore even though David's not Singaporean!

One of the things about two persons of different nationalities getting married is eligibility. As I am on a student visa, I would have had to apply for a certificate of approval from the Home Office before we can register our marriage in the UK. In Singapore, if David was on a
work permit, rather than an employment pass, he would also have had to apply for permission to get married. Luckily for us, we're registering our marriage in Singapore and that makes both of us eligible because we're both not already married, David's on an employment pass, and of course we're also not related in any of these degrees of prohibition. So, the marriage will be legal in Singapore and in the UK.

Of course, when my student visa runs out I'll still have to apply for a spouse visa when we return to live in the UK. But, it's still good news, and I can't wait for the day that I don't have to answer the same old 'why are you coming to this country?' question again at the airport!

Order of the Day

Many questions were asked about the going-ons of a typical Singapore Chinese wedding whilst we were back. Here, and over the next few weeks, we will try to answer some of these questions, and provide some background on the significance of these rituals and traditions. For starters, this is an idea of what our day will look like:

Morning/Afternoon:
Bride gets up bright and early to get primed and look decent enough to not worry about getting her photos taken.
Other family and guests arrives in the meantime for the tea ceremony (around 10am).
Groom arrives, with 'brothers' (equivalent of best men) to 'pick up' the bride - 'Gatecrashing event' where Andrew and Chris sings on behalf of David.
Bride and Groom serves tea to the elders (tea ceremony).
Light luncheon. Bride and Groom leaves for Hotel to rest before the Evening reception

Dress code: Casual.

Evening:
Guests arrives at some point (around 6:15pm) and are received by the Groom and the parents. Presents/Ang baos (if not already given during the tea ceremony) are usually given at this point to the Groom or the parents.
Solemnisation takes place (6:30pm) - We sign the big contract and promise to take care of each other through all mingingness.
Drinks are served to pass the time whilst waiting for other guests.
Dinner is served and hopefully enjoyed.

Dress code: Smart.

Back in Singapore & Packed with Questions

We're back after a whirlwind and (much too) short trip back to the UK, but it was great seeing everyone again.

Anyway, now that we're back, and know that people actually read this, we are going to endeavour to write more. It helps that there were so many questions about Singapore, the wedding, traditions, and red packets! We'll continue researching and putting up answers here for everyone. If anyone has any other questions, they could email us or use the 'leave a comment' button at the end of each entry.

In the meantime, we hope the weather perks up a little and look forward to seeing everyone in June!