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Today I hosted a lunch for the Indian High Commissioner and my friend Prasoon at the Shangri la.

The Shang is having a 2 week Indian street food promotion buffet and so it was an appropriate venue for lunch.

The food was good but unfortunately because we were talking so much, I didn’t manage to eat much of the food

But the conversation was good. We spoke about Indian and Singapore economies and politics and the state of the world generally. I am glad to note that the relations between both our countries is good and the relationship between the 2 PMs is cordial. There is much that Singapore and India can do together in today’s uncertain world but important to make a start. We ended being there till 3pm, well after everyone else had left.

Am sitting in a plane waiting to return to Singapore.

Started the day with a coffee and almond cream with bird’s nest. Thereafter lunch was at Yue Hin restaurant, which is a top rated Cantonese restaurant in Nicolo hotel. Very good food. 5 dishes which cost me $48.

I had great weather whilst I was here and always there was great service. Nice and helpful people. Food is good, not salty and the desserts are not that sweet. Prices for all items I saw were cheaper than Singapore.

I shall come again.

Finally got to try their pastries. They are supposed to be one of the top bakeries in Chengdu and they now have outlets overseas, including Dubai.

It was so good . Not sweet at all and all freshly out of the oven. They keep making announcements to tell you to eat their pastries the same day.

Highly recommended.

I will certainly come here again.

I am spending my Deepavali this year in Chengdu. And my mother who was supposed to be in India is in Singapore.

Was an overcast day and I can feel it getting cooler everyday.

I started the day with a coffee from M Stand. Lovely coffee.

Visited a nearby bakery which I have not visited before. The bakes looked so yummy but I couldn’t eat anything at that time. So I shall visit this place again.

Thereafter I came across this restaurant at Tai Ko Li. A Szechuan Chinese restaurant which was the first Szechuan Michelin restaurant. So good!

Then I came across the Adidas flagship store in Chengdu, which is one of 2 stores in China that carries the latest collections. They had the latest Edison Chen Clot silver leather shoe, which was so good that I had to buy it. Now to find an occasion to wear it. Also got the green leather Shanghai old street limited edition shoes.

Started off the day with 2 coffees. Chengdu is great for coffee, in particular, at the M Stand. Excellent coffee and service. And they do not charge extra for alternative milks.

Walked around Tai Ko Ki and then had lunch at the Fujian restaurant. Good food as always. Slight drizzle but still many people out and about with mass exercise classes conducted every hourly.

Then I discovered another restaurant at about 5pm, called Gaga Forest. Excellent salads and unique juices.

Thereafter I was at IFS walking in the basement looking at the supermarket when I came across this wonderful bird’s nest restaurant with so many different types of bird’s nest desserts and with all of them having a no sugar option, which means they are not prepared in advanced. They confirmed that they only prepare the desserts after an order is made. So good!

Another delicious meal here. Amazing that they have maintained the quality. All the dishes I ordered were as good as the last time.

And the prices remain as affordable as well. 5 dishes and a very specially brewed cold tea came up to $68. And the place is as packed as well.

Good for them. Good food at very good prices.

Am now sitting in a plane waiting to take off to Chengdu.

I had made plans to go somewhere/anywhere because my mother was going to be in India with my sister during Deepavali and since my mother wouldn’t be here, I decided to travel on the same dates as her.

Unfortunately my sister couldn’t travel and so my mother will be in Singapore during Deepavali and I couldn’t now cancel my flight and hotel and so she will be alone here.

Sigh. Anyway after returning from Chengdu, I will travel with here to India in November.

No specific plans for Chengdu, just relax And eat.

Saturday was the 100th day celebrations for my colleague’s twins and so I was invited to their place yesterday.

Met up with both the happy father and mother and I managed to see the twins and their 2 years old daughter as well.

So happy for them that it all turned out well. Just wondering how she will cope when she needs to get back full steam to work at the start of the next year. Looking after 3 young children can be daunting especially of you want to give it your best at both.

Also never realized how expensive pre school can be. Apparently one of my colleague spends $3500 per month on his child. Wow!

I drove back from KL this morning. Left at 945 am and took the same route I did the last time via the MEX highway but strangely I took a wrong turn and had a make quite a detour to get off and get back onto the highway whilst driving through some town. Really strange….

Anyway I didn’t lose that much time as I still managed hit Tuas at about 145pm even after taking a 15 minutes charge break at Pagoh. I need to be more careful the next time. Strange how this happened.

Nobu KL celebrated it’s 10th anniversary tonight.

The moment I learnt that they were planning this celebration, I had made plans to come up to KL for this evening and I am glad I came.

For me, the highlight was talking to Nobusan himself and taking a picture with him.

It was a standing event with plenty of free flowing food of the highest quality but unfortunately there was a limit to how much I could eat. Also there was free flow of alcohol which I didn’t take.

The place was packed with well dressed people and the Sultan of Selangor was there as a guest.

They had a traditional Japanese drum performance, a violin performance, a laser show and a performance by Malaysian singer Siti Nurhasila. I was told they have been planning this event for one year!

Everyone left with a gift box and I am glad that I could be here for this.