bLog By Pixels: January 2007

It's nice to spend time with your someone special. It had been a hectic time for the past 2 months juggling school-work, work-work and happiness-work. And one would rightly guess the happiness-work gets neglected, partly because one can hardly be happy with all the other not-so-happy-work going on. Anyway, this couple decided it would be a good idea to take a walk from Choa Chu Kang towards Bukit Timah. Both agreed we needed the exercise, me particularly. My physique officially mismatches my moniker, so it is high time to fight the battle of the bulge. Plus, the weather was perfect for any outdoor activity. So we walked and we had long conversations along the way. It was a good way to update each other of how we spent our time while we were apart. While the Girlfriend and I had sort of targeted to reach the Nature Reserve, we also agreed to stop wherever there may be good food. Well, we really were thinking about food hunting at The Rail Mall. I also didn't pass on this opportunity to take some pictures along the way, especially when there are some really interesting sights that I could recall from my impression of the route. One of the first things I remember that I would come across was the railway and the old things that would be around it. Time really flies when you are with the right company. And as Einstein explained relativity, when you are with a beautiful girl, an hour would seem like a minute. when we arrived at The Rail Mall, we had actually spent an hour walking. It's funny how we actually look at the time to determine if we should eat, instead of checking with the stomachs if they were empty. Since we were already there, it made sense to make take some time to see what was available. There were a few places for wine, a place for apple strudel, a few places for local fare like, noodles, kaya toast, laksa and so on, a few authentic looking Italian delis, a few seafood restaurants and a bar & grill. Surprisingly or maybe not, almost every eatery was filled to its capacity. We finally settled at hooked! because the healthy methods of cooking and the "smiley fries" for their kids' menu won us over. Plus it didn't make sense to gorge ourselves at the bar & grill after walking for an hour. That would have wasted the effort. We almost freaked out when we say the wait staff at hooked! pulled a table to the center of the restaurant, was that for us? The Girlfriend would have freaked out from the attention. Fortunately, we were ushered to a quiet little corner and were presented the menu. No one came by to ask if we were ready to order, which was nice as it added to the laid back setting of The Rail Mall. Things seem to take on a slower pace here and it is especially apparent when you look into the main road where the cars just whiz by. Though the food did take a little longer than usual to arrive, it provided plenty of opportunities to appreciate the effort put into restaurant. I shouldn't have take too long for us to finish the food but we did as we were constantly distracted by our people-watching. The Girlfriend and I share this voyeuristic hobby of sorts. As we made our way out of the place to cross the road, we were attracted by a commotion around the bar & grill. Turns out a traffic police had arrived and was having a field day issuing summons. Some patrons asked the bar & grill manager if such things happened in the past. The answer from the manager was, "This is the first time I've seen this too." It was obvious that patrons were angry. One had commented that the traffic police didn't have the right to issue summons there as it was technically a privately owned place. But the traffic police was visibly indignant from another patron who confronted him about his actions. We didn't stay on to watch, but when we went past the mall on our way back, he was still there issuing summons. I think he probably just hit his overdue quota. So that was the account of my Saturday, a visit to The Rail Mall, a place the Girlfriend and I have fallen for. We have already planned for our next visit already.