Its been a strange start to my weekend… since Friday evening, i had to play host to a foreigner acquaintance. (Really cannot bring myself to call her as fren, simply cos she is not lor… i am just being technically correct that's all!) Anyway, i was told to expect another 2 person, who were suppose to be the staff from Cam Chan Guan, my dad’s restaurant. But at the airport i was met with the foreigner, 1 male staff – a cook, and guess wat… A MONK! And they address him as SHI FU (MASTER). He was all dress in his monk-ly attire in dark brown. I cant help but have a O.o expression on my face, as non one did any explanation who he was and why he was here in this group that i am suppose to play host to.
The trip barely speaks English, but the acquaintance does manageable phrases for me to understand her; she is the comms personnel of the grp. Now, the obvious objective for this madam is SHOPPING, and the male staff/ the cook is the one who make the trip legitimate… sigh… Then there is the S F guy, he said he was here to visit temples…………… and shopping! He was visibly very excited alright. I wondered long and hard on wat shopping is he into… It din take long for me to figure out.
First things first, went thru the meeting with Mr David Ong and visited their catering kitchen… really interesting and impressed with the details they went into for the services they provided… can clearly see their pride. I’m glad i participated, and i hope some day i would be like them… beaming with pride as i introduce Cam Chan or even my own cafe in the near future. :)
After their kind reception, its to the temples! My first time into a temple actually… First stop, Si Ma Lu Guan Yin Temple… so much smoke really buay tahan! But the sea of worshippers stirred up something within me. Before we stepped in, our dear SF was lured to a stall… he wanted to buy a scripture chanting CD w music. The lady at the stall told us that, if SF wants she can give him discount cos he is a monk. And my acquaintance insisted that she pays for it.
Then after much looking ard in the temple, i scooted out… too much smoke for my liking. They proceeded with shopping… The lady was looking ard at clothes but kept saying not nice, or too expensive compared to States etc… argh… GRRR… Then the SF slips off to the beads section. My sis scooted off looking at watches, so i had to try to be help with the comms. Bargaining took place, and … GRIN … i had to help the SF to buy 108 beads. The deal closed @ a price which i still think is a rip off for some plastic, but they insisted it was crystal. And the SF was too attracted to the BLING BLING of the beads to wait for a further slash in price… OMG! SUPER BLING LOR! Question marks and exclamation marks were raining on my head like snow, but i kept to myself… If Christians like to wear nice cross, i guess monks are also entitled to BLING BLING chanting beads bah… :X
Next was the Burmese temple somewhere in/near Balestiar, thanks to the Heritage race that Dadi and gang roped me in, else i wont have a clue man… a nice place with plenty of photo taking for them… But it was a cow and horse sight when the Burmese and Vietnamese tried to communicate… hehehee…
We proceeded to shopping as requested, it was orchard road that we headed for. First Wisma Atrium then Taka; it was a trying time for me when they tested my patriotism but continuous sayings of SG no good, this too expensive think States or even Vietnam better, etc etc etc… Let me explain; 1) pekchek abt her complains abt sg no gd. 2) ask me bring them there then complain nothing here and nothing there. WOW LAU EH! wasted my time and parking lor… and some more kana fine lor…
Best way to calm one down is thru food; we then decided to have dinner. Our good frens say they wanna do food tasting, and told us to bring them to East Coast Long Beach. But seeing that the following day is Father’s Day, my sis and i exchanged looks when she insisted even after we warned her of long waiting time or no crabs/seafood. True to our suspicions, no parking and had to wait long long. Finally @ Long Beach, we were told crabs sold out. They were sorely disappointed, but i was glad… cos they had the same thing on previous nite and i am frightened by the frequent and amount they order lor. All i can say is, Long Beach @ East Coast standard dropped rock bottom. Shake head man… food sucks and price ex… totally not going back there at all. Think Jumbo is better.
Erm… forgot to mention, some credit for the SF, he was having vegan all the while. Poor fella sees all the nice and fanciful stuffs but he cant touch. But he does have a appetite though, the usual is 1 vegan fried rice, 1 vegan veggie dish, 1 vegan tofu dish and 1 vegan horfun. But i still dun think this amount of food justify his build, his build looks more like meat base build ley… hmm……
Anyway, i am just glad the bizarre sat went pass without getting too ugly. Dear God, thanks for showing me that i cannot be tour guide. From the bottom of my heart, i totally agree w you… no tour guiding for me!
*time to peng shan*
