Though I’ve been getting little tastes of Singaporean culture throughout my time here and occasionally something will remind me of China, it wasn’t until last night that I truly felt a strong cultural impression in everything around me.  We had gone to East Coast Park, where there’s an outdoor cafeteria of sorts with stall upon stall of laksa, satay, dong dongs (I can’t remember what they were called), stingray, and who knows what else.  I felt at once lost and amazed among all the dishes I’d never seen and had hardly heard of before.  Paths cut through the park to allow bike riders, rollerbladers, and other such athletic activities to ensue.  A little stage consisting of a piece of carpeting and a half watermelon backdrop provided the scene for an acrobatics show.  On one side, we could look out across a small patch of trees to the ocean beyond, which was filled with ships.

Dong dongs? Use those sticks to pull'em out of their shells.

Upon arrival, we wandered around looking for a table for the six of us.  I noticed one recently vacated and we went to stand there as we waited for one of the table clearers to come by with a bucket.  After it was cleared, a nearby one opened up and since that one fit six exactly, we quickly shifted over.  With the dishes removed and the table wiped down, we sat down and discussed what to eat (more like I sat there listening to them!).  A guy with a handful of disposable plates in his hand said something to us and I think we ordered our satay that way.  I went for a walk around the stalls with Starfish’s best friend Foodie, who ordered food with Zen and Mac (our company’s creative director).  Zen pointed out a stall that is very well-known for its good beef noodles and is also notorious for opening and closing as the owner pleased.  Even when a minister from Hong Kong came by hoping for a bite, he refused to open up to serve the man!  Haha, now that must be some amazing recipe.  Meanwhile, Starfish and Violet (Mac’s wife who comes by to the office regularly) sat and watched the table for us.

Oyster omelet!

We ended up getting an oyster omelet, the satay, stingray, those “dong dongs,” some fried chicken wings, fried tofu, and some random noodles.  And thus I was introduced to “Singaporean junk food” at their oceanside park.  I tried a little bit of everything, even the scary-looking shells with the rubbery insides.  I hate rubbery foods and this was not much different, but at least now I’ve tried it!

Stingray.

The stingray was surprisingly good and not at all the rubbery texture that I thought it would be (come on, don’t they look like they’d be super chewy things?).  Instead, the meat was tender and much like some of the fish that I like to eat, so that was nice.  It was a pity that it was topped with some sort of spicy sauce though, so my mouth was burning the whole time and I mistakenly took all the food to be spicy when it was just that one thing!  Thankfully, when we were done eating, we got some nice cooling drinks – sugar cane!  I was surprised that the drink was a green shade, but I guess it makes sense since it’s from a plant.  The taste of that kind of sweet is very distinct from traditional sugar and it reminded me of a time in my childhood when I gnawed on the cane itself.  All in all it was a refreshing experience and I truly felt the vibe of a different culture.  Singapore in many ways is both Eastern and Western, so it was nice to see something that did not remind me of either China or the US.