I have returned from Sentosa. It turns out my brother made a mistake with the dates when he told me we’re staying till December 26. It’s a good thing though. I was getting bored staying there.
The last thing I did in Sentosa was to have a nice lunch in a Chinese restaurant and returned home. There’s some things that one most probably will notice in a Chinese restaurant.
Firstly, the waiters and waitresses are Chinese obviously. It’s not a matter of being racist, it’s just giving the Chinese restaurant feel. So I don’t think it’s wrong for Abercrombie and Fitch to use blondes, well, never mind. I don’t want to talk about Abercrombie and Fitch and go out of point…
Anyway, it’s easy to spot chopsticks too, since it’s a Chinese tradition. Singapore is made up of more than 75% of Chinese. But truth is that more than 90% of Singapore Chinese doesn’t know how to hold a chopstick correctly. I am included in the 90% of course. Everybody holds it the wrong way and can still pretend to teach a foreigner how to hold one.
Despite Confucius teachings stress that no talking is to be done during the meal, everyone talks. Confucius must have been so upset that’s he passes down rules that no one follows. But talking during meals is really a good way to interact so no one complains. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual see people chewing and talking at the same time.
There’s still a little shyness in Singapore. No one wants to start eating first. Everybody will be waiting and waiting until one brave soul, usually the payer of the meal, starts first. Then everyone will rush to get the food in a particular order that’s pretty logical. Obviously the food that’s the nicest are snatched first.
Chinese eats lots of meat, chicken especially. So the food has got to get stuck in between your teeth quite often. If it doesn’t, it only means that your teeth are either too neatly pack or the other way round. So toothpicks are available. Although you supposed to do it in the rest room or something, Chinese prefer the more unsightly method, that is to pick the dirt from the teeth right in front of everyone. Luckily, most cover their mouths with another hand while doing so.
Lastly, wet towels at the end of the meal. You’ll hear popping sounds of wet towel packages. The popping sounds must have been so attractive, because lots of people pop here and there. Then there’s a really strange culture to use the tiny wet towels to wipe the palms, the mouth, the face, the wrists, and everywhere reachable without removing the clothes. It’s really funny to see people wiping their faces by the way.
Okay, all these restaurant traits does not apply to all Singaporeans. Some of which applies to me, I did that toothpick thing, lol. I was just bored, looking at my family, cousins, uncles and aunts eat their food. So most observations are written because they did that. Perhaps I should start learning how to hold a chopstick too, learn the right way that is.
This is written for amusement only and should not be referred to as a travel guide or the Singapore Tourism Board will kill me.
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Tags: food and beverage, singapore