GROCERY SHOPPING

(my arsenal of groceries)

A new part of my life in this foreign land is grocery shopping. Back home, there was no need for this as mum used to take care of my needs in this area. Even if I needed anything when I went hungry or ran out of toothpaste, the nearest Cheers or 7-11 stall would be just a bicycle ride away.

There is no such convenience over here. Although there is a COLES supermarket (like our good old NTUC) that is open 24/7, it is like a 30min walk away. And the idea of walking for 30min in the whee hours of the night in the freezing cold and then lugging all the groceries back for another good 30min with the likelihood of being mugged or stabbed by some drunk idiots (there has been a recent spat of fatal stabbing incidents in Melbourne. 11 cases in the past week!) isn't very tempting.

So like a dutiful househusband, I make my weekly grocery shopping trips to anyone of the shopping areas that are within walking distance of my hostel during the weekends. (or hall of residence as they term it here). The public transport fees here is quite expensive. ($2.40 for a Met Card that is valid for 2hours = to an EZ link card but it's only valid for 2hrs. So if you exceed the timing, you have to get another 1. A Met Card that is valid for a day would cost around $4+) So if I wanted to take my own sweet time to shop around, there is a danger that I might need to get another 2hr MetCard. That's = $4.80 for transport fees = 01 X good meal = not a very good idea! So what to do? Walk lor! Lucky SAF provided me with lots of training in walking. No distance seems too far to cover and no weight seems too heavy to bear. (though the shopping bags can be quite a pain in the ass at times)

Anyway, the variety of groceries available here are extremely extensive. You can get all the Asian groceries from the Asian grocery shops opened by the entrepreneurial Hong Kongers who probably migrated here for a better living. (and looking at the long snaking queues in the stall, they seemed to be doing quite well) Indo Mee, Oyster sauce, Xiao Bai Cai, Chicken Rice Chilli, Melon seeds or Gua ji, Yeo's Packet Drink, Curry Sauce... And the list goes on. The range of stuff there never ceases to amaze me. There are so many options available that you don't know what to get . In the end, I always end up with nothing! You want to have everything but you can't cause it will just tear your budget up. Just can't make up my mind... So what to do?
Head down to the COLES supermarket behind lor! And get my weekly dosage of cereals and milk and fruit juice and biscuits and baked beans and campbell soup... (trying to be healthy and thrifty at the same time)

The choosing and buying of stuff is the fun part. The tough part is the journey back to hostel. Endure! Endure! Endure! That's where the tough training in SAF comes into play. 24km route marches with FBO really help you to last the distance back! Just that you can't break into an army song to take your mind off the physical torture. (Siao ah?!) It's ironic how often we link stuff in army to our normal civilian lives now. When you were in the service, you spent so much time thinking of getting out; Thinking of all the things you could be doing in a CV attire. But when you finally get out of the service, you just can't stop reminiscing about the times you had in SAF. Well, guess humans are wierd creatures...

So much for army talk... Today was a short day for most of the Singaporeans over here. We finished school at 1pm! Woo Hoo! How slack is that?! So the group of us decided to do our shopping early on a friday. Walked to a place called Clayton Shopping Centre where the Asian Grocery Shop is. Takes about 30min.

Then a few brave souls decided to make the long walk back.

Glad I survived... =)

Take a look at the stuff I got!


Miso Soup! More soup! and Wholemeal biscuits!

Fruits galore! Apples and Bananas!

Nestum Cereals! Snacks! Peanuts from Thailand! LOVED this back home...