Muar itself appeared to have changed very slightly since I was last there. I mean, I can’t even identify the changes myself, other than obvious name changes in some shops – but even those shops only had surface changes and not much else. If anything, there were just more people in Muar, more new houses and nothing I can really put my finger on.

However, the rain sure put a damper on things LOL! Haven’t been back for so long, my body was so not used to it (not that it was the last time I was back, but I sure as hell wasn’t perspiring buckets). The humidity, the heat, the rain… and the damn bloody mosquitoes. Interestingly, I wasn’t as affected by the mozzies as I used to be. So, it was a surprise to find a few large bumps or so when I got to Singapore.

I have always said this: The thing I miss about Malaysia and Singapore was the convenience of good food. Canberra has a problem where there’s an abundance of good ingredients but it’s filled with restaurants that cook pretty average food – and they are all close at all odd hours of he day.

Where else, a walk behind my grandma’s place reveal road side stalls that have been there for eons, that opens early enough or till late enough that I don’t have to worry about when I turn up.

Most importantly, I miss my breakfast prata although, sometimes, this breakfast prata also ends up being breakfast bee hoon goreng or char siew mee etc, etc etc… apparently, while i eat only bread, cheese ham here in the morning, it’s ok to eat all sorts of food that isn’t rice for breakfast back home. My brain accepted that and actually adjusts to each place without me really noticing it.

Of course, Muar was also the place where I eat vegetarian and mostly don’t realise it. The curry that we got for catering at grandma’s wake was amazing – but there’s no meat in it. cultural practises dictates that we eat vegetarian for a week or something (it wasn’t as strict for the grand kids, as far as I understood).

Muar also reminded me of how interesting and yet despairing the lives of manual labourers were

Completely unsafe make shift housing for the workers, made out of spare pieces of cardboard, wood and aluminium roofing. bet you there’s dengue mosquitoes in there!

By the way, shaved ice/ice kachang? it’s the bomb in such crazy humidity. if only the man was there selling it T_T guess I was too early.

I must say though, the relative lack of changes to Muar made me more apprehensive to return to Singapore. I haven’t seen Singapore in 5 years. I have heard so many things about the changes, I was worried I had get lost and I didn’t know what to expect.

My plans also allowed me to stay at a friend’s place. After being away and being on my own for so many years, I wasn’t sure I could get use to living with my parents and my sister in a small space. While I love them dearly, I have never managed to get by a day without getting pissed off at my mum’s snide remarks or something that she had inadvertently do. 5 years is a long time to return to being pissed off every day.

I was glad I did that for various reasons, although I think my dad was kind of clingy, worried and all sorts about me

Mains: Prosciutto wrapped broccolini, steamed shiitake with oyster sauce, potato gems, chicken nugget in dino shapes (because I can!)
Soup: spiced lamb soup (Winter, need more ginger-lised soups! Funnily enough, it turned out a little like kambing soup, one of my favourite mutton soups from singapore)
Rice topped with random furikake, given by the seller of this bento set

okie so, I waited 3 weeks for this bento box but, ya know, looking at these pictures? it was damn worth it <3

Here’s a look at how everything looks altogether