Observations from the short Singapore trip

Burning the Kaya toast at both ends

Hello Humans,

I felt blank on what to write next for the first time in nearly two years. Don’t get me wrong, I have a bunch of drafts sitting around like half-eaten bananas. They’d make for a good Panchamritam someday, but today, none feel right.

Could Be Worse was always about… vibes. And right now, the vibes aren’t vibing.

Part of it is mental bandwidth. Lately, I’ve stretched myself more - freelancing for money and launching Breaking Good. I have plans, goals and to-do lists. More coffee is flowing through my bloodstream than usual. Instead of watching random funny videos, I’m listening to podcast bros. 😬

All this is good for ambition but bad for the random well of interestingness that fed this newsletter. I know it’ll refill itself eventually; some silly thing will happen as it always does.

In the meantime, here are some updates from a recent short trip to Singapore.

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Last weekend, N and I went to Singapore for the Chinese New Year holidays, where we ate at least two Kaya toasts every day, drank at least two Kopis daily, walked 60+ km in 5 days, and had many fun meals and good family time.

Toast box and Kaya Toast

During my first trip to Singapore (more than 12 years ago, when my sis lived there), I got off the flight and was taken to a clean, white, boxy place called Toast Box. Here, for the first time, I heard the word kaya, bought a toast with the name, bit into it, and immediately took a blood oath of loyalty.

There are some foods where the “you’re done” switch in my body doesn’t work. Exhibit A is potato chips. I’ve self-imposed a 100m restraining order from the aisles where Kettle bags are stacked in the neighbourhood grocery store. On the occasions when I do buy them, it's always a one-sitting situation (no matter the packet size). Kaya toast is another example. The correct answer to how many kaya toasts I can eat daily is undetermined.

Every hawker centre in Singapore has at least one kaya toast set shop, but for me, a trip to Singapore isn’t complete without a visit to Toast Box at least once. I need the full ritual—cracking those runny eggs into a bowl with questionable dexterity, dipping the crisp kaya toast in it, and washing it down with Kopi to feel the surging power of the Merlion coursing through me.

I am this close to wanting to franchise their store in Bangkok.

Burning the candle at both ends

N has two cousins in Singapore now. Since they’re sisters and, rather inconveniently for single-letter reference, both have names starting with D, let’s call them D1 and D2.

D1 is married to S, and together, they have a teenage offshoot, A—a fun Gen Z specimen I’d written about before. A was partly forced to spend the weekend with boring 40-year-olds instead of partying with her friends in the NTU dorm (but I would have you all know that she thinks we are the cool uncle and aunt).

Since D1&S are the direct descendants of Forrest Gump, the so-called vacation turned into a work-hard, ‘party’-hard kind of endurance trip. S casually knocks out 10K before breakfast every day, and D1 recently ran a half marathon. Consequently, we were waking up at 5.30 am to run around a beautiful lake or treking up to Singapore’s steepest point. By 11 am, I’d burnt my weekly calories every day.

Now, here’s the twist. D2 and V operated in a different time zone. They’d join us for lunch, and then the second shift started. This meant going to Sentosa at 10 pm and playing poker until the next day dawns. Between all this, N and I also packed in a couple of dinners with our old college friends.

Talk about burning the kaya toast at both ends.

Food stall aunties

I noticed this in Taiwan, but Singapore offers plenty of the same observations. Elderly business owners, especially food stall vendors, run their shops for 16+ hours a day, some even operating 24x7. Old uncles and aunties are there early in the morning and late into the night, managing the bustling stall. Their work ethic always stuns me. I am simply not built like that. I am a product of soft times.

But it’s not just about resilience or discipline. For many, it’s a necessity to sustain themselves. It’s admirable and inspiring but also, perhaps, a little sad.

Now, the food stall aunties always cater to such crowds that they don’t have time for niceties. The system is simple: come in, place your order, get out. If you umm and uhhh, she’ll slap you. If you smile and say good morning, you will be banished. In essence, everyone is like the Soup Nazi.

One night, as I stood fourth in line at a food stall in the Gardens by the Bay food court, I was unexpectedly drafted into service."You are the last customer!" the auntie running the stall jabbed a finger at me. Apparently, this came with a new responsibility of managing the queue. It was now my duty to inform anyone lining up behind me that the stall was closed.

So, as I waited for my turn, I stood there and informed a stream of hungry, hopeful diners that they wouldn’t get food. About half of them didn’t believe me (why was this random guy manning the queue). This, in turn, got the auntie berating me for not manning the end of the queue properly. At one point, the guy ahead of me turned around laughing and said, "She should be paying you."

I don’t mind this at all.

I would often be flustered on my Australia trip when every barista and shopkeeper wanted to chat about my day before even getting to the actual ordering. The moment a stranger asks me, "How's your day going?" a deep, existential blankness takes over my brain. We are never going to meet again, so why this elaborate charade?

Let me order what you want, and GTFO 👌🏼.

Singapore is close to my heart

Singapore is close to my heart. This is probably my seventh trip, but I haven’t been back in six years. Turns out it’s still Singapore. Everything runs on time, people still hustle you in the metro, and there’s more greenery than in most sprawling cities.

I know it’s still a mini-police state. It has ridiculous capital punishments, overly controlling of its citizens’ lives, and is not exactly a beacon of press freedom. But it's easy to forget all that in the cosy comfort of its top-tier urban living.

But one thing is different. Having gotten used to the smiles and the general attitude of sabai sabai in Thailand, Singapore felt even more rushed and stern. I am not sure if I have the energy to match an average working day rush here anymore.

Krung Thep is my vibe these days (except for all that grey smog 🙄).

Could be Worse,

Tyag