Cycling at East Coast Park

East Coast Park is the best sidewalk area in Singapore. It is extra best on weekdays, because there is one-for-one hour bike rental and limited amounts of crazy inline-beginners on the paved paths. 1-for-1 is the same as buy one hour, get one hour extra for free. In Swedish "1-for-1" makes no sense, so just putting things straight. And by sidewalk, I mean that this is a park where you can stay safely on the pavement and watch planted nature at a comfortable distance, at all times. Not a park where you need to venture into the unknown with mosquito spray and a knife for protection.

The best way to experience the park is to go by cab all the way to the hawker centre East Coast Lagoon Food Centre. Close to the car park you can rent your preferred bike; the little wagon bikes or tandem bikes being by far the most fun choice. Normal bikes are available for boring people. Take note that if you want to cycle all the way up and down the park (15 km according to Wikipedia!) the wagon bikes are not a good choice. One (or strictly speaking all four or six persons) can trample and hit the pedals like mad but still hardly get anywhere.

Going north (left from the bike rental) will give you the classic Singapore ocean view: loads of ships out in the sea, man-made white beaches, palm trees and every now and then a military drill, a Qi Gong group or a bbq party. Going south gives you opportunities to stop for coffee or at least grab a drink from a convenience shop. Other nice things to do is trying to spot some red faced lovers crawling out of what must feel like hell but actually is small tents, which in Singapore must be the equivalent of human steaming huts. As housing prices in this country are beyond insane, most Singaporeans live at home, and therefore practise the naughty stuff in hotels or tents.

More fun stuff: show off your upper body strength or at least try hanging & dangling, in one of the outdoor "gyms". Then stop by Ski360 cable ski, and check out some cool dudes and dudettes circle the lagoon and hopefully jump or fly over a couple of obstacles/ramps. Or watch the beginners fall flat in what is know as "the superman fall" two to three meters out from starting point. From what I have seen and heard mini golf at LilliPut, dinner at Brusselsprouts, swimming, skating at Xtreme skatepark,  bowling at Regent Bowl and jogging are also among the things to do in this park.

Heading back to return the rented bicycles, don't forget to fuel up at the hawker centre. Satay, sea-food and local classic such as laksa, fried carrot cake and mi goreng are among the great dishes you can indulge in here.

Bicycle rent is around $10/hr and person, depending on what bike you go for. One can also get to the lovely East Coast Park by bus, and if Brusselsprouts is not your thing, there is everything from hawker to Carl's Jr (for hungover carnivores), Jumbo Seafood (try the chili crab),  and availability to rent your own BBQ pit.

  

Dim Sum boogie-woogie

The legendary Swee Choon Tim-Sum restaurant has according to word on the street been around close to forever. Since the company has existed for almost 50 years, and the state of Singapore only 47 years, I said okay lah, true, let's check it out.

So off we go, commenting on the rising expectations whilst walking over to 191 Jalan Besar Rd. During the walk the question also rise of what a dim sum really is. In my personal opinion it is a fluffy ball with stuffing. The fluff is something close to a compact white and flavourless spongecake, and the filling can be quite sweet, especially if it's red beans and lotus hidden inside. Being a Chinese type of food, one can also be sure to find some pork in the mix.

Swee Choon Big Pau

Swee Choon restaurant is popular, lots of people are hanging around crowding up this little hawker-goes-restaurant type of place. Upon arriving at 8pm we were given a cue number and told to wait for approx 30 minutes. Thankfully we were given menus, started to fill in the order form while working up a roaring hunger, and then we were quickly offered a table outside around the corner. With fans and cool weather this is no problemo. We also realised Swee Choon takes up quite a number of shophouses, it is not just a small little piece of Dim Sum Heaven, it is also quite a big chunk of Jalan Besar Rd. 

According to Wikipedia, dim sum literally means "touch the heart", and is supposed to be a light snack served with tea. Light enough to only touch the hearth is pretty long gone though. Even if these little fluffy balls are steamed (healthy right?!) they are not overall that healthy. Nevertheless we tried a hearty number of snacks including; Swee Choon Big Pau, Salted Egg Yolk Custard Bun, Lotus Paste Pau, Chive Pork Dumpling, Fried Dou Miao, and then there was something very slimy but tasty (noodles and shrimps among the things identified from the dish), another couple of buns with stuffings, something pale with a black sauce, dumplings, the classic spring rolls and a pumpkin cake with sesame seed that really did not live up to expectations (to be fair the pumpkin thing was not a dim sum, so Swee Choon legacy stands intact).

Since I am not a great fan of dim sums, I think the best thing about Swee Choon is the awesomely low price. With no service charge and seriously cheap prices it's enough to bring along some pocket change, and you'll still be dining like a king. 

If you want to visit this legendary dim sum restaurant, please take note they are open from 6pm to 6am only, 6 days a week. Check out their website for more info:  www.sweechoon.com