I was thinking today that while I may not have really shown the outward signs, the past three weeks have been really not the best of my life. The break-up with T, the subsequent disappointment a couple of weeks later that I really didn’t blog about, the wacky shenanigans of the past weekend. What I needed most was to chill out and put that behind me. And this afternoon, as I sat outside at a bar at Boat Quay with some friends, both old and new, I felt totally at ease, completely relaxed.

I started off the day by hitting HMV – the selection here is just as bad as HK and the prices are just as ridiculous. From there over to Takashimaya – I’d heard that the food court there was one of the best in town, but this being a holiday, it was packed. I grabbed a chili crab puff and munched on that as I walked around, but there wasn’t even a hint of a spare seat, so I didn’t bother to get anything more.

Upstairs to Kinokuniya books, which is just wonderful. I would have spent much more time there but I’d forgotten to take my painkillers before I went out, which proved to be a limiting factor after walking around for an hour.

In desperate need of a place to sit, and with a very long line outside of Crystal Jade, I went to the next closest place, Sushi Tei. I figured that Singaporeans are so gonzo over food and that this is attached to a Japanese department store so it had to be good. WRONG! Very possibly the worst sashimi I’ve had in my entire life.

As I was finishing up, these two Singapore girls sat down at the counter next to me, grabbed the little sauce bowls, and proceeded to dump in a mountain of wasabi, with just a sprinkling of soy sauce. I was about to say to them, “that’s all wrong, you should just use a dab of wasabi, you really want to be able to taste the fish,” but the fish was so fucking bad that I was wishing I had done the same thing!

After that, over to Borders books, to try and fill out more of my list. Neither place had the new Michael Chabon novel yet, but I did find the Walter Isaacson bio of Einstein and several things less essential but probably fun.

Back at the hotel, I was thinking about stretching out by the pool when an SMS came in from Phil that he was going to meet up with some folks over by Boat Quay, so I went over and joined them at Harry’s Bar. I got to meet Indy – I never would have thought it from his blog but he and I think alike in many ways. Also in the group was someone I will refer to as Q, this incredibly hot, sassy, flirtatious Indian woman who is a cock teaser and proud of it and she can both dish it out and take it. Oh my. She has these long legs and was wearing these little shorts and I confess that I had to take out the camera and grab a picture of her rear when she was walking ahead of me. And apparently she doesn’t realize how hot she is, which makes her even hotter. (And at some point she mentioned Paris and I said let’s go and she said when and I said tomorrow and she said okay but I knew she was just joking and so was I but by the same token if she’d meant it I would have done it without a second’s hesitation.)

Phil, Indy, Q and I headed over to the East Coast Seafood Center around 6:30 or 7. Phil jumped in the front of the taxi, the rest of us in the back, Indy and I squeezing Q between us. Q said, “Phil, I want to have you in the back!” and we didn’t let her forget that one for the rest of the night.

Some other folks joined us at Jumbo and had chili crab, pepper crab, drunken prawns, fried rice, veggies and beer. We got the medium sized crabs which were plenty huge – and those Sri Lanka crabs are incredibly meaty and tasty. The bill for the six of us was just over S$200, maybe around HK$1100 or so, and I’m sure this meal would have cost far more at Sai Kung and not been anywhere near as good. Sitting there at an outside table, along the water, it was so nice I was actually starting to think that I should move to Singapore.

One thing is – I know this is stereotyping and a case of the grass being greener so forgive me in advance – Singapore women seem so much more cosmopolitan than most of the HK women that I meet. And all of these women are well educated and have good careers going. (And, yeah, okay, they all speak fluent English.) And every place is so green, so many public spaces, such amazing food (except for the cheap sushi). Yeah, okay, they’ve got this ridiculous government and ludicrous censorship and I’m sure the list goes on, but as I said yesterday, as a tourist, it doesn’t impact me. I only get to see the good sides and, from where I’m sitting, it all looks pretty damned good.

Following that, several more bars, the group shrunk down to just Phi, Q and me, another taxi to some more bars. At one point Q said I was looking at her like I was falling in love and I said I wasn’t falling in love but was definitely falling in like. Anyway,I think I’ll hold off on the rest of the evening and see how Phil chooses to describe it – he did such a good job on the previous night’s escapades. Let’s just say that tonight he was wearing long pants and was considerably more popular than the night before.

I just need to add – there was some discussion at various points about Phil’s upcoming 50th birthday party. It sounds so promising that I’m seriously considering coming back down for that.