One night in Geylang

I wasn't the one behind it; Serious. Wendy planned it all. She was the mastermind behind the trip there. And so 27 February saw my maiden voyage to Gelyang.

The gang of three guys and a girl that happened to be us happily disembarked at a more crowded street which also happened to be a more sleasy part of Geylang. Turning into an dark alley, we caught some lewd stares from some Chiko peks; Even from far off I could read what were on their minds and they weren't planning to ask where Peter Pan was.

As for me? I was just blindly following. I had no idea where we were. I only knew we were having some Tim Sum , which was good enough for me. Apparently taking the number of customers as an indictor of the quality its food, we found a moderately sized crowd camping outside a Tim Sum stall and voted in its favour. Stomachs rumbling, we practically congratulated ourselves on our own resourcefulness and found ourselves a table.

The Waitress who served us was a girl who mumbled almost intelligeable Chinese. Listening to her repeat our order sounded like a Jay Chou song sung on an octave higher. She did it so well , I didn't know when she stopped and disappeared altogether- only to appear several mini seconds later bearing our plates and chopsticks. Our drinks came later.

Now , I ordered Crysanthenum Tea and My friends ordered Chinese Tea. Chinese Tea came in a metal container complete with China Cups. Fair enough. Crysanthenum Tea , howver was served in a Tuperware affair more suitable for JollyBean bean curd and if it weren't for the straw I would have mistaken it to be a finger-washing bowl.

I felt like basnishing the straw like a swordsman at the audacity of it all. It all felt so chinese, with intricate China and Chinese pictures on the walls and even a menu written- gasp- in Chinese. Up to the point of the Crysanthenum Tea I thought I was living in the Golden Era in a very chinese part of Singapore.

The food was sinfully good. A great deal we ordered were steamed. Prawn wrapped in Chee Cheong Fan and Prawn water Dumplings were my particular favourites. Wendy entertained herself with bouts of narcissism , taking pictures of herself with Jia Hui's phone while Jia Hui
took the initiative to film her speech on why one should take photos now when we were still young.

Both ended up equally hilarious.

After a second round which positively was a torture in itself, we got the bill and left. As a testimony to how popular the place was , it was still rather crowded when we left at an inhumae time of 2348.

Taking the bus home , both Alan and I left Wendy to amake her way back while we took 38 at Bedok Bus interchange. Waiting in line at the bus queue, I spotted a pair of ah lians wanna-bes in front of us.

Wearing a pink long sleeve shirt with a brown artist's cap the one nearer us struck up a particularly loud conversation with her friend, who looked less ah-lian like.

Ah Hui: What you thinking sia Alice? Your Ta Por is it?
Alice: Si mi? nonsense la. Me is not..

She was cut short by a playful shove on her shoulders by Ah Hui and retalliates back with a double upper cut. Almost falling over the railings they proceeded on to step on each other's toes, complete with squeamish shrieks and high-pitched pulses of soundwaves I could only assume to be some alien life-form trying to make contact with us.

Fortunately, their bus came and seeing that they have joined the wrong queue climbed between the railings in a way that would have put soldiers clearing SOC to shame.

At that instant, peace was no longer just a dream.