"VT Meets in Singapore" Personal Page by bpacker

Here's the VT meets I've done in Singapore. I must admit I've been elusive in the past but the episode with my mom's debilitating illness and subsequent demise in nov 05 changed that a bit. Guess I'm grateful for the kindness that was shown to me and going out on those outings always help cheer me up a bit. Guess I have some catching up to do.

VT meet 6 Jan, Glutton Bay, Esplanade

We recently had a meeting at the Makansutra Hawker Centre beside Esplande. Generally we had a good time even though it rained cats and dogs! The conversation ranged from shopping in Bangkok to the need for drool trays in planes. The meeting ended on a high note at Pacific Coffee as the ladies made plans for a shopping extravaganza.

Meeting agenda: To welcome chiabh, niceguy1 to Singapore. Chia couldn't make it to the meeting but we carried on anyway, rain or shine!

From L-R (niceguy1, icyjo24, jenaikes, imstress, bpacker, ZENDER+ wife, TheNanyangChinaman) . Photographer - imstress' hubby.

Sony Cybershot

The second meeting was schizophrenic and pretty much like Lord of the Rings. Yup it came in 3 parts and it was quite a long drawn affair since I was told later that those fellows went home only at 1am! And can you believe it, food was consumed in all 3 intervals! Delicious hawker food at Mt Zion Hawker Centre, Coffee and Cake at Coffee Bean and Chicken Rice at 5* Chicken rice. What a yummilicious time. But I chickened out after #2 and went home at round 12am and accompanied dear workholic hubby to a late midnight feast somewhere else.

Meeting agenda: To gorge ourselves silly? Naw, to welcome airasia to Singapore and meet up with SimplyRed, Tenzin and squashnut.

From L-R (Gwen_tifa,bpacker,imstress, tenzin,airasia, SimplyRed, icyjo24) Photographer - imstress' hubby

Nikon Coolpix - Jenn's cam

Now how did a chilli crab feast turn italian? Well, it happens when the organiser gets hospitalised and when a couple of friends were just itching to meet and eat. What can I say? We still had a good time. I feasted on salmon with herbed butter, Jenaikes had delicious lamb shanks, Imstress+hubby had her seafood platter and Zender and wife had lasagne and a pasta dish. All were good. Guess all of us had the same philosophy! Vivere per mangiare! Some of us also have the same wedding anniversary dates, lol;p

Sony Cybershot

AS I mentioned earlier, our VT meets are becoming more LOTR. Yes, adventurous ( food-wise), alcoholic(merry and pipin are always drunk right?), awesome and they come in a series of threes. This trilogy started at Swensens, continued at Seah St Deli and ended with drinks and fireworks at the New Asia Bar.

Meeting agenda: To welcome Jason (Tzu) from Taiwan and revel in his stories of how he duped the folks at New Asia Bar that he was older by 11 years.

From L-R (tezzy, dimanche, icyjo24, mignonne, simplyred, jenaikes, doreeny, aukahkay, THLIN, imstress, bpacker, wilson. Photographer:Basil

Zender's Cam - ?

This is by far the most intellectual and indulgent meeting that I've attended so far. Indulgent as we had more than delicious dishes than I could count and intellectual since I was seated beside an art historian! Patt and I traded tales of Ramayana, temples in SEAsia and a discussion on similar temples in Thailand and Angkor. Honestly, if I weren't so distracted by the delicious food, I could talk to this intelligent VTer for the whole evening. And why was I so distracted? Let's just say that everything was out-of this world-delicious. The star dish was whole Sri Lankan crabs drenched in buttery Hollandaise?Bearnaise? sauce and crammed with creamy roe. Need i say any more?? Well, if that wasn't enough proof, a whole table of TCS stars turned up and ordered the same dish. Among them was noneother than the gallant Mark Lee who volunteered to take 6-7shots of us. What a gentleman;)

Meeting agenda: To welcome Pattayaraj from Thailand and to indulge in the famous crabs that kept us drooling for the longest time.

From L-R
Ist Row(aukahkay, icyjo24, suet poh,mignonne, ZENDER)
2nd Row(jenaikes, imstress, bpacker,Pattayaraj, Basil)
3rd Row (squashnut)

Panasonic Lumix

This time round, the VT meet was a little schizophrenic. It begun with a binge of fried prawn noodles, fried carrot cake and blood cockles, yes, you read that correctly, and other earthy delights at Glutton Bay before ending in the classy St Julien's with flutes of champagne. Looks like everybody loved bubbly Aussiejen as a huge turnout came to welcome her! There were 18 of us and we had major FUN. We traded tales of travel, funny boat names and other stuff. I will bring hubby to these meets once his dissertation is over and done with;p

Meeting agenda: To welcome Aussiejen and partner, Tony from Melbourne. Other visitors included rachel_simhon who's enroute to India ( Gd luck Rachel! ) and Ed from the US.

From L-R
Ist Row: rachel_simhon,applelyn, applefool, Weehui, aussiejen, rinaneo
2nd Row : Ed (rachel's friend), flying_dolphin7, imstress, sailor_p, bkoon, jenaikes, icyjo24, bpacker
3rd Row: Tony (aussiejen's +1) and ZENDER

Photographer: Wilson ( Basil, the official photographer was eating pasta). Arrgh, bad mistake to up the ISO and take away the damm flash. Results are grainy.

Panasonic Lumix FZ20

Ah, a VT meet with a theme. Jen was definitely thinking of the Arabian nights when she arranged for 2 part meetin in Zam Zam's and Samar's. Despite the fact that it was a Monday, everyone turn out in full force. I went too, despite feeling a little tired from all the excitement in Melaka! Everyone feasted on Bryani ( Fragrant rice ) and Indian Bread ( Roti Prata) and Omelette ( Murtabak ). Click here for more pictures.

Meeting agenda: To welcome 2 gorgeous senoritas from the Phillipines - Jasmine_Trias, , arni_ph075, one senor from Ohio, US - Jim_Eliason, and new comer, ladyleo0408 from Singapore ( Herny, thanks for clarifying! )

From L-R
Ist Row: icyjo24, sailor_p, supernova1, Jim_Eliason, ac_76, arni_ph075, Applelyn, victorwkf, bpacker
2nd Row : TheNanyangChinaMan, RinaNeo, imstress, jasmine_trias, ZENDER, Suet Poh
MIA: ladyleo0408, bkoon

Photographer: Thankfully, a tripod this time round.

Panasonic Lumix FZ20

Many left after dinner and those who remain were brave enough to follow me thru' back alleys were rewarded with a tour of Sultan Mosque and an interesting nugget about its early construction. We trooped to Samar's upper floor after that and the party went wilder with Shishas (Water Pipe). But truly, not everyone had to puff on that thing to get wild. Just check out squashnut in a Vogue pose and ...glasses!

From L-R
Ist Row: squashnut
2nd Row:icyjo24,jenaikes, Jim_Eliason
3rd Row :RinaNeo, imstress,arklandtravel ,Jasmine_Trias,ZENDER,bpacker

Photographer: A waiter this time round. Results are always mixed when you ask a stranger to frame for you! To avoid mistakes, I simply up the flash to max.