Travelling with a Guide and Driver

Dec 2022

Travelling or touring Hokkaido is quite different from touring the other parts of Japan.

Hokkaido was only developed quite late - within the last 200 years. At which point, western advisers (consultants?) helped to plan the towns. Which is why if you go to cities like Sapporo and Asahikawa, you will find that the streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, and the cities have a "North American" flavour to them. And the roads are quite well planned.

Whereas the roads in, say, Tokyo, or Kyoto are often very "organic" - roads were built over customary paths and trails created by people and carts taking the most convenient routes, buildings sprout where they will, and roads intersect to create junctions and mega-junctions.

Narrow Tokyo street.

Sensoryscape at Sentosa

 Sensoryscape opens 14 March 2024.

2023 Bib Gourmand list

 Introductory Video:

Every Country's Top Tourist Attraction.

According to Trip Advisor.

Link to the map.

Things "Americano"... and Singaporeana?

Buzzfeed ran an article about things Americans (US Citizens) miss when they go abroad. Or didn't realise was "American" until they couldn't get it. (Throughout this article, I'll use "American" to mean "US Citizen" cos that's what the article did. Apologies to Mexicans, Venezuelans, Peruvians, Brazilians, Ecuadorians, and other "Americans".)

Enormous Supermarket in US.

1 Free Ketchup. For Singaporeans, it would be chilli sauce.

2 Ranch as default dressing. Singaporeans - Soy Sauce?

3 Ubiquity of red Solo cups. No Singapore equivalent. Sorry.

4 Strong water pressure. Same.

5 Giant gaps in public restrooms. You're on your own here, America.

Daughter takes over famed Mr & Mrs Mohgan's Crispy Prata stall to fulfil father's last wish

The SMU accountancy graduate says she is “proud” of her father for putting her and her sister through university as a prata hawker, and has now taken over the business because she made a promise to her father.

 

(Photos: 8Days)

Yip Jieying

07 Jun 2023 

Mr & Mrs Mohgan's Crispy Prata is a famous name in Joo Chiat. Customers from all over Singapore flock to this hawker stall, willingly waiting for up to 90 minutes to get their fix for the couple’s exceptionally crispy flatbreads.

In March last year, Somasundram Mohgan died after suffering a heart attack. He was 56. After taking a break for six days, Saroja Mohgan, 56, returned to work helming the stall without her husband.

Tips for Visitors to Singapore

So you're coming to Singapore?

Not put off by descriptions of Singapore as "Disneyland with the Death Penalty"?

Not fazed by our "totalitarian dictatorship" country?

Willing to quit chewing gum cold turkey?

Tourists!

Can't live without them.