Wednesday started out a bit lazy and turned fraught at night. I decided to go to Mosburger at Junction 8 for lunch, and then went downtown to meet HWMBO to tour the Art Museum.
Mosburgers are Japanese, and thus have a distinctly Japanese flavour to them and to the restaurants. The one at Junction 8 is apparently favoured by the students of the nearby secondary schools, as on each table was a little handmade cardboard sign that said, “No Studying”. I ordered a “Spicy Mos Cheeseburger”, french fries, and a peach tea. You get a number, and go sit at a table. The Mosburger, when it came, had a spicy relish (including jalapenos), and a white sauce that was probably some sort of cheese but more like Cheez Whiz, I suspect. It tasted good and hit all the right buttons, but probably most bad for me.
Then downtown to meet up with HWMBO and go to the Singapore Art Museum. First we went to the Modern Art branch, called “8Q sam”, which had some disjointed exhibits but is primarily known for being HWMBO’s former primary school. Liked the exhibit on the ground floor, which was a tarted up jeep, and the paintings on the top floor were also very good (Masriadi: Black is my Last Weapon). HWMBO wasn’t very impressed.
Here he is with the sign in front.
Then we went down the street, where we saw evidence that the Circle Line (map) is going to at least partially open soon.
This entrance is right in front of the other building of the Art Museum, devoted to “classic” art, mostly Asian subjects and artists. It was formerly a secondary school. It seems that all the schools in this area have been taken over for other purposes, and the schools moved away to outlying areas. Here’s a picture of the school^Wmuseum front.
The interior is pretty but the exhibition is kind of flat, with only a few pieces interesting to me. HWMBO had seen it all before, so we didn’t spend long in the galleries. They have an auditorium, which is the former chapel. Here are two pictures, the first of the chapel/auditorium itself, and the second a closeup of the window.
Window
The restorers have even preserved the niches in the doorframes where the holy water stoups were.
We went to a kopitiam to have coffee (me) or a snack) HWMBO, and then walked to Bugis Junction where we parted after buying some shirts.
My next stop was my friends’ George and Chen’s place. I got directions from George, and they started by going to Harbourfront Station, and taking the bus down to “Manhill Restaurant”, (very apt name, that), and crossing the street. They live on a cul de sac, next house to the end. Easy to find, right?
Well, I couldn’t find the correct bus stop. After running around Harbourfront Station and Velocity Shopping Mall for about 1/2 hour, I finally got into a cab and gave the cab driver the directions. He couldn’t figure out where I needed to go either. After some conversation with the dispatcher, and a false end, I finally got to their place, and had a lovely dinner and conversation. I needed a beer to calm my nerves when I got there, though–it was really harrowing. (Of course, I’d left George’s phone number in my other phone and didn’t have it with me…)
George and Chen are going to California at the end of the week to get married–so I wished them good luck on that. George is one of my longest-standing friends in Singapore: I’ve known him for about 13 years now.
I did end up being able to get the bus home after dinner, and crashed into bed relatively late. A lovely day, overall.