Black Sands

And so he said
shall I
upon a summers night
in Waitara town
walk upon the black sands

cool to the toe
shuffling underneath to feel
the tuatua burrowing away
from the advancing tide

the bleached white ewe skulls
emerging above high water mark
brought down by rivers flow
scattered amongst driftwood
their upward arms towards a menacing sky

Could this be Singapore's Most Miserable Meal?

If you are thinking of eating Malay food at the padang stall in the basement foodcourt of Tanglin Mall - forget it!

The 'meal' above cost $4.50 and consisted of a mini bowl of rice and one small cube of beef rendang. So miserly was the meat portion that the vendor lent over and teased it out with a fork so it covered more of the platter.

No gravy was forthcoming until I asked for it and the vegetable portion size was barely adequate, as can be measured by the scale of the dessert spoon & fork utensils.

$2.50 in most hawker stalls will give you a reasonable meal of meat and two vegetables. While mall food is more expensive at the very least the meat portion should have been tripled in size.

Coming hard on the heels of the Great Prawn Rip-Off at Newton's Circus it is not surprising that several of the hawker stalls of Singapore are receiving a bad press.