Weekend Trips: Week 3
It's 15:30, 6 Sept. when I start to type this floor. I'm at Student Hostel now because of feeling quite bad today(actually I found myself unable to survive the strong cold wind of Science Library). Maybe I shall take a shirt there.
This is the background of my writing now. Now let's get back to the Weekend Trip of week 3.
We were simply lying at hostel room waiting for any idea of lunch on 27 August. My pal suddenly received a message from one of his elder relatives, who was mentioned by him during the preparation to Singapore, asking us if we have got any interest in meeting together. I thought for a while and decided to go with him.
We met the couple at exit E of Outram Park Station. After we met, my pal chatted with his relatives for a while. During their conversation I stayed inactive, answering their questions passively.
When the topic came to our lives at Singapore, I started to be talkative. It is quite annoying that paying 1440 SGD per month, only to have one room with bad painted walls, two beds with only mattresses and bad WiFi network.
As we were talking and walking, the grandpa asked us whether we've got a good knowledge about the neighbourhood. Just before my reply, he pointed out a shop we've never been hearing of. He decided to show me there:
The road crossing was realized by a pedestrian overwalk. The overwalk went directly into a commercial complex, where the supermarket is just at the exit.
At this shop, the grandparents bought some miscellanous subsidiary food for us, such as pickled raddish or bamboo shoots as well as peanut butter and Nutella hazelnut chocolate spreads. They also said that both of us were too thin. Come on, am I really thin?
It was just about lunch time, so we went back to the northwest side of Eu Tong Sen Street, pursuing our walk.
The end of our route was another commercial complex in Chinatown. This one is much bigger and I took a photo outside its main entrance:
The huge decorations of the left side of the photo showed the arriving of Mid-Autumn Festival, and added a lot of happy atmosphere to Chinatown.
And we entered the complex.
At first the grandparents were finding a restaurant named Din Tai Fung, but the search result of Google Map showed that the nearest Din Tai Fung was still too far away. As we were wandering in the complex, I sudden found a familiar brand:
Song Fat Bak Kut Teh
I have been seen this many times before I am here on Baidu Map.
I told the grandparents and they decided to have lunch here. During their order I started to search on the Internet for what Bak Kut Teh is. It is actually pork ribs lots of TCM herbs and spices. And I understood that Bak Kut Teh has two styles, and the Singaporean style is more pepper flavored.
Because the grandparents were thinking that we are thin, they ordered a little bit beyond our appetites. I was eating not very fast, tasting the flavor of every bite. The pepper flavor was intense, really.
As we were eating, we found that servers were adding soup for free. Interesting. The item actually costs is pork ribs rather than the broth.
After having a feast, the grandparents decided to take us to see the Marina Bay, where the famous Merlion locates. So we found the MRT entrance of Chinatown Station, which was accessible from the complex.
So we rode on the Downtown Line (DTL) to Bayfront Station.
After exiting the MRT station, we went through the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and reached the very edge of the Marina Bay.
We then found an Apple Store, a hemispherical building standing in the bay, connected to the bank by a bridge.
We went into the Apple Store and had a look of the new products since my last entry to an Apple Store. We saw the new iPad Air 5, iPad 9, MacBook Pro 14/16'' M1Max/M1Pro, and MacBook Air 13'' M2.
Getting out of the Apple Store, we walked along the bank and finally got to the famous Merlion Statue.
After viewing the fantastic scene of Marina Bay, we noticed that the nearest MRT station was Raffles Place, so we followed the signs to get there. Raffles Place Station is on EWL, which means that we need no interchange to ride from here to Outram Park. After arriving at Outram Park, we waved goodbye with the grandparents and home.
This was a long journey, but since we were very full after lunch, the journey didn't made us feel too tired.
第三周的周末之旅
现在是9月6日15:30（译注：现在是9月7日17:10），我开始码这层楼的字。我现在在学生公寓（译注：我现在也在），因为今天感觉不太好（其实是因为我扛不住理学部图书馆的冷风了）。改天得带件衬衫。
以上是写作背景介绍，回到正题，第三周的周末旅行。
8月27日，我们俩正躺在公寓屋内想中午饭该吃啥。我队友突然从他一位长辈那里收到了消息，他想要跟我们见面。这位亲戚在我们俩筹划去坡子的时候他提到过。我想了一下，决定去罢。
我们在欧南园的E口见到了他的亲戚夫妻俩，之后我队友跟他们聊了一阵。这中间我保持了不活跃的状态，只是被动地回答他们的问题。
直到他们问起我们在坡子的生活状况，我话匣子打开了。每个月花1440新的这屋子，结果墙粉刷地不行，俩床就俩垫子，WiFi还连不上，真恶心。
在我们边走边聊的时候，爷爷问我们是否对于周边有所了解。我还没回答呢，他就指出来了一处我们从没听说过的商店。于是他们决定带我们造访一下：
过马路是由人行天桥实现的，人行天桥直接进入了一座商业复合体，那家超市正好就在天桥那头的出口。
在这家超市，爷爷奶奶给我们买了各种各样的辅食，比如腌萝卜条还有腌笋，花生酱和Nutella巧克力酱。他们还说我们俩太瘦了，拜托，我怎么会？
恰好就是要吃午饭了，所以我们重新回到余东旋街西北侧，继续我们的路途。
我们这一段路的终点是牛车水（即新加坡唐人街）的另一座商业复合体。这一座大了许多，我在主入口门外拍了张照片：
照片左侧巨大的装饰品昭示着中秋节的即将到来，给牛车水平添了许多欢乐祥和的气氛。
然后我们进入了这座商业复合体。
开始的时候爷爷奶奶在找一家叫鼎泰丰的餐馆，但谷歌地图的搜索结果告诉我们最近的鼎泰丰还是远。我们在商业复合体内转悠的时候突然发现了一家熟悉的招牌：
松发肉骨茶
在百度地图上我已经见到这个名字很多遍了。
我跟爷爷奶奶说了，他们决定在这里吃午饭。在他们点单的时候我开始上网搜肉骨茶是个什么东西。其实它就是加了中药材和各种香料的炖排骨。肉骨茶分为两种流派，新加坡派重胡椒味。
由于爷爷奶奶认为我们俩太瘦了，他们点的东西有点超出我们的胃口。我吃得不算太快，每一口都在品尝味道。不得不说，胡椒味真的冲。
在我们吃的时候我们发现服务员在免费加汤。这很有意思，原来排骨才是那个值钱的东西啊。
大吃一顿之后，爷爷奶奶决定带我们去看看新加坡湾，鱼尾狮就在那。我们找到了牛车水地铁站的入口。事实上从这栋商业复合体内就可以进入地铁站。
于是我们坐上市区线（DTL）前往海湾舫站。
出站之后，我们穿过了滨海湾金沙商场，到达了海湾的最边沿。
我们发现了一家苹果直营零售店，是一座在海湾中矗立着的半球形建筑，有一座桥与岸边连接。
我们俩进入了这家直营店，看了看我上次去苹果直营店之后上新的产品。我们看到了全新的iPad Air 5，iPad 9，MacBook Pro 14/16寸屏幕 M1Max/M1Pro处理器以及MacBook Air M2处理器版本。
离开苹果直营店，我们沿着岸边走，最终走到了著名的鱼尾狮边。
看完了新加坡湾漂亮的景致，我们注意到距离我们最近的地铁站是莱佛士坊站，于是我们跟随着标志到了那里。莱佛士坊在东西线（EWL）上，也就是说我们甚至无需换乘就能到欧南园。到了欧南园，我们和爷爷奶奶告了别，回了家。
这是一段很长的路途，但我们午饭吃得都很饱，这次路途倒没让我们太累。
