At Long Last...

Usually whenever you're trying to recover from a major flight, chances are that you're going to encounter some serious jet lag. I completely missed out on dinner the whole day, and passed out until six in the morning. I was suppose to meet my colleague, David Liu, over in this recreational area called Bottle Tree Park. Basically it's a place where you can catch fish, paintball, eat, and do other outdoor type things. I made my way towards that area around eight in the morning in order to help him film some B-roll footage for his older brother. I assumed it was going to be a long day, and the forecast predicted thunderstorms... so I made sure I brought everything I needed to get through the worst parts of the storm.

The drive took about 20 minutes from the downtown area. When I finally arrived at Bottle Tree Park, I decided to do a little bit of exploring beforehand. When I finally met up with David, we spent about a few hours catching up and talking about FPS corporate growth over the last four years. It was definitely a great moment to finally get to see the other guy behind this incredible organization.

Most of the day in Bottle Tree Park was spent making sure that everybody had a good time catching fish while capturing the candid footage in the process. Believe me, there was a lot of big fish out there! As you can see from some of the images, most of the village folk that do this all day are really pro at this... so it's usually very entertaining to watch! And you know when big crowds gather around, it was definitely a big catch! All in all, we had a good time, and ended up splitting the commission check we earned.

One of the great things about venturing out into the city with friends is that you have a lot of options offered to you. I'm the kind of tourist that just goes along for the ride, but I knew that I wanted to get something good to eat. When you spend most of your morning in the hot and humid weather, your appetite is going to surge! From what I heard in LA, Singapore has the best chicken rice the world has to offer... so I told David to take me to the best restaurant where they served chicken rice. Around noon it started to rain like crazy, so we had to move swiftly. During the monsoon season in Singapore, it's usually advisable to carry an umbrella or some sort of windbreaker/poncho.

We headed towards Balestier Road, a busy urban area towards the center of Singapore. There's a restaurant called Boon Tong Kee, which is a place I would definitely recommend if you're looking for an inexpensive sit down place. We were so hungry and tired that we just decided to load up on chicken rice and sweet and sour pork! From what you can see, it was definitely enough to feed three people. Amazingly, the entire thing came out to around $47 ($25 US). Not too bad, so like I said... great cheap place to sit down and get some good food. Here's something great that I discovered just 10 minutes down Rochor Canal Road is a mall called Sim Lim Square, or SLS. I gotta say that this place is the mecca of IT and electronics in Singapore! I can see why it's a common tourist trap, because from what I hear... many of the tourists fall victim to the various scams and ripoffs, and from observing... these "salesmen" know how to take advantage of that. From a professional haggler, it helps to be able to negotiate and also know your conversion rates. Since I've been dealing with the banks for the last few days, I'm totally aware of it now, and I used it to my advantage. I was able to get two 8 GB thumb drives and a Canon battery charger for 50 Singaporean dollars ($35 USD). This is definitely going to be my next stopover place again when I come back to Singapore around the 31st. At the end of the day, David was cool enough to drop me off at the Raffles Hotel. For those of you that aren't familiar with what that is... it's one of the most famous hotels in the country. If you go to Wikipedia, you would probably get a list of things that it's noted for, but the most notable thing about it of course is that this is where the "Singapore Sling" was invented.

Amazing food from Boon Tong Kee in Singapore.

The Long Bar is featured in Peace Arch Entertainment's "UberGuide" television travel series as one of the top ten bars in the world. I happened to stumble upon it by accident, but I'm glad I found it! This cocktail may be the fruitiest drink I've ever had, but damn it was so good. If you're ever in Singapore, this is something you must do... even if you're not an alcoholic drinker! After the drink, I had a nice walk through the Suntec City Mall. During the holiday season, there are so many people... so you just have to fight your way through the crowds. The Suntec City Mall is right across from the Marina Mandarin where I was staying, so it was very convenient for me! I got another early day tomorrow, and I'm going to be doing some studio work with David and Linus... so I'll update you on how that goes!