Picking the Golden Romance

Singapore

When the plane banked sharply to the left and burst out of the clouds, Rachel saw the whole picture of Singapore Island for the first time.

After leaving New York 21 hours ago, with a short refueling stop in Frankfurt on the way, they have finally arrived in Southeast Asia, which their ancestors called "Nanyang".But what she saw on the plane was not a misty and romantic land, but a metropolis with dense skyscrapers and brilliant lights at night.Already at [-] feet, Rachel felt the pulsing energy of a country known as one of the "world's economic powerhouses."

The electric gate of the customs slowly slid open to both sides, and the tropical oasis behind the gate gradually revealed its true appearance.When he walked into the arrival hall of Terminal [-], the first thing Nick saw was the big notice board in the hand of his friend Colin Qiu, with the word "best man" printed on it.Standing beside him was a slender, wheat-skinned woman holding a large bunch of silver balloons.

Nick and Rachel came up to them with luggage carts.

"Why are you here?" Nick asked in surprise as Colin gave him a hug.

"Please, of course I want to warmly welcome my best man back home! This is full service, brother." Colin grinned.

"It's me!" The girl beside him leaned forward and hugged Nick, and quickly kissed him on both cheeks.Then he turned to Rachel and held out his hand and said, "You are Rachel, I'm Araminta."

"Oh, sorry, let me formally introduce you—Rachel Chu, this is Araminta Lee, Colin's fiancée, and this is of course Colin Qiu." Nick said.

"Glad to finally meet you." Rachel smiled, happily shaking their hands.She didn't expect that they would come to pick her up, not to mention how she looks now after sitting on the plane for so long.

Rachel observed the happy couple for a while, the real person is always different from the photo.Colin is taller than he thought, playfully handsome with dark freckles, and with tousled hair that makes him look a bit Polynesian

surfer.Despite her thin-rimmed glasses, Araminta can still see her pretty face, even without makeup: she wears plaid pajama bottoms, an orange tank top, and slippers; Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail with a rubber band and hung down to her waist, and her figure was a bit too thin compared to her height.Although Araminta looks in her 20s, she doesn't look like a bride who is about to walk to the other end of the red carpet, but more like a student.They were an amazing couple, and Rachel couldn't help but wonder what their baby would be like.

Colin took out his mobile phone and texted, "The driver has been circling around for a while, I'll let them know."

"This airport is unbelievable - JFK looks like Mogadishu by comparison

Same. "Rachel looked up at the entire towering ultra-modern building with a look of wonder.

Indoor palm trees and huge lush vertical hanging flowerbeds appear to span the entire terminal, with fine mist spraying over the cascading greenery. "Will they sprinkle the entire wall? It feels like I'm in a high-end tropical resort." Rachel asked. "The whole country is a high-end tropical resort here." Colin said, leading them Go to the exit.Two silver Land Rovers were waiting on the sidewalk.

"Put your luggage in this car, and it will go directly to the hotel, so we don't have to squeeze in the same car with your luggage." The driver of the first car got out of the car, nodded to Colin, and walked towards Another car, give them the empty car.Because of the jet lag, Rachel didn't know how to react to the situation in front of her, so she just sat silently in the back seat of the second car.

"It's amazing! I never imagined that I would receive such a warm welcome at the airport when I was a child." Nick recalled the scene when a large group of family members gathered at the airport when he was a child.Coming to the airport was a thrill because it meant his dad would take him to the old terminal for a chocolate sundae from Double Saints.At that time, most people went abroad for long-distance travel, so they often saw women crying and saying goodbye to relatives who were going abroad, or welcoming children who were studying abroad to go home.Once when he was seeing his father off at the airport, he overheard a conversation between his cousin Alex and his father Harry Liang: "When you transit in Los Angeles, don't forget to help me buy that newly built penthouse. "

After Colin sat down in the driver's seat, he began to adjust the rearview mirror to match his line of sight: "Where are you going? Go directly to the hotel? Or go to dinner?"

"I can definitely eat it." Nick said, turning his head to look at Rachel, thinking that she probably wanted to go straight back to the hotel and collapse on the bed. "How are you, Rachel?"

"Fine," Rachel replied, "I'm actually kind of hungry too."

"Because it's breakfast time in New York," said Colin.

"Did you have a good flight? Did you watch a lot of movies?" Araminta asked.

"Rachel watched a bunch of Colin Firth movies," Nick said.

Araminta screamed: "My God - I love him to death! He will always be the only 'Mr Darcy' in my heart

'! "

"Great, I think we can be friends," Rachel replied.She looked out the window and was surprised to see swaying palms and bougainvilleas lining the brightly lit highway.It was almost ten o'clock at night, but the city still looked unusually bright, even vibrant.

"Nicky, where are we taking Rachel for her first meal here?" Colin asked.

"Hmm... Shall we treat her to Hainanese chicken rice, or go straight to the east coast to eat chili crab?" Nick was both excited and embarrassed - there are hundreds of gourmet restaurants here, and he wanted to take Rachel to experience them all right now again.

"Would you like to eat satay

? Rachel suggested, "Nick keeps saying that I haven't had real satay until I've come to Singapore to eat it." "

"That's it - let's go to Lau Pa Sat," said Colin. "Rachel, this is going to be your first experience of a hawker food court in your life, and they have the best satay."

"Is that so? I think satay in Sembawang tastes better," Araminta said.

"Wrong! What are you talking about? The first satay club is still in Lau Pa Sat, okay?" Colin retorted.

"You are wrong," Araminta shot back calmly. "The owner of the first satay club has already moved the shop to Sembawang."

"Liar! It was opened by his relatives, it's a counterfeit!" Colin insisted.

"Actually, I personally prefer Newton's satay." Nick interrupted.

"Newton? You're crazy, Nicky. Only foreigners and tourists go to Newton—there's no good satay snacks there," Colin said.

"Welcome to Singapore, Rachel. Arguing about food is a thing of the day here." Araminta turned to the audience aside, "This is probably the only mall in the world where even adults go to some goddamn mall for a snack A country that fights over the best chow mein. These are just idle arguments!"

Rachel laughed.Araminta and Colin are both funny and down-to-earth, and she likes them almost immediately.

The car quickly drove up Robinson Road and entered the core business district of Singapore.The looming place under the cover of a whole piece of high-rise buildings is Lao Pa Sat, which is also called "Old Market" in Hokkien.This octagonal open-air pavilion is packed with busy food stalls.

Across the street from the parking lot, Rachel could smell the delicious, spicy aroma in the warm air.

As they prepare to step into the sprawling food court, Nick turns to Rachel and says, "You'll be crazy with joy—this is the oldest Victorian building in all of Southeast Asia."

Rachel looked up at the cast-iron filigree arches suspended in the air, extending in all directions along the arc-shaped ceiling, and exclaimed: "It feels like entering the interior of a cathedral."

"A large number of worshipers come for food." Nick joked.

This is absolutely true.Even though it is past ten o'clock in the evening, the place is still crowded with tourists in high spirits.Rows of brightly lit food stalls served more dishes than Rachel had ever seen in the same stall in her entire life.The four of them wandered around, and saw countless bosses frantically cooking delicious food in their own stores along the way.

Rachel shook her head in amazement: "There are so many stalls here, I don't know where to start."

"If you are interested, just point it out, and I will help you order." Colin said, "The most distinctive feature of this food court is that basically every store only sells one kind of meal, so whether it is fried dumplings or fish ball soup, They only study the same dish for the rest of their lives.”

"More than a lifetime, there are many shop owners here who are the second or third generation, and they will continue the family menu." Nick interjected.

A few minutes later, the four of them found a booth outside the hall under a big tree with a yellow light hanging from it.The dining table under the shade of the tree is full of plastic plates of various colors, and there are all kinds of top street food in Singapore, such as the well-known fried kway teow, omelette with oyster eggs, Malaysian Rojak salad, hokkien fried noodles with lots of pineapple and gherkins tossed in a tangy garlic sauce, fish cakes called otah baked in coconut leaves, and skewers of chicken and beef satay .

Rachel, who had never seen such a sumptuous banquet, exclaimed in amazement: "It's too exaggerated! Every dish looks like it comes from a different Asian country."

"This is Singapore - the real origin of fusion cuisine without borders," says Nick proudly, "Because in the [-]th century, ships from Europe, the Middle East and India passed through here, so the food and beverages of these places can be combined Flavors and gourmet specialties all come together.”

Rachel first tried fried kway teow - the taste of kway teow, seafood, eggs, bean sprouts and black soy sauce fried together in a pan, made her eyes brighten.

"Why is this different from what I ate before?" she asked.

"Fall in love with the taste of stir-fry!" Nick said.

"I knew you'd like it," Araminta said, handing Rachel a plate of roti.Rachel tore off a small piece of solid golden crust and dipped it in some curry sauce.

"Hmm... what a paradise!"

Finally it's time for satay.The others watched her intently as Rachel took a bite of the juicy grilled chicken, savoring the sweetness of its roast.

"Okay, Nick, you're right, the satay I had was not authentic at all."

"I still think you suspect that I lied to you!" Nick clicked his tongue a few times with a smile on his face.

“Can’t believe we’re eating and drinking at this hour!” laughs Rachel, reaching for another skewer of satay.

"Just get used to it, I know you probably want to go straight to bed and rest, but we need to keep you awake during this time, so you can adjust to jet lag faster," Colin said.

"Gee, Colin just wants to keep Nick as exclusive as possible," Araminta said. "As long as Nick is in the country, these two will always be tight."

"Hey, I have to make good use of this time, especially when Mommy is away." Colin argued, "Rachel, you are lucky that you don't have to deal with Nick's mother as soon as you arrive in Singapore."

"Colin, don't scare her." Nick blamed.

"Oh, Nick, I almost forgot—I ran into your mother at the Churchill Club one day," Araminta said, "and she grabbed my arm and said, 'Alaminta! You're so black! You better Don't bask in the sun too much, or you will be mistaken for a Malaysian at the wedding!'”

Everyone immediately roared with laughter, and Rachel laughed especially happily: "Is she joking?"

"Of course not, Nick's mother is not a child." Araminta was still laughing.

"Rachel, when you meet Nick's mom, you'll understand. She's lovely like your own mom, but she's different," Colin explained, trying to put her at ease.Then he turned his head and said, "Anyway, it's a good thing your parents are not in China now, Nick, because you have to attend my farewell bachelor party this weekend."

"Rachel, you're coming to my bachelorette party, too," Araminta continued. "We're going to show these boys what a real party is!"

"That's right!" Rachel raised her glass and touched Araminta's.

Nick stared at his girlfriend, delighted at how instantly she was with his friends.Even now, he still had no sense that she and he were here, and there was still a whole summer vacation to come.

"Welcome to Singapore, Rachel," Nick said cheerfully, holding up a can of Tiger beer in greeting.

Rachel looked into Nick's twinkling eyes—she'd never seen him look more happy than tonight—and wondered why on earth was she so worried about the trip?
"How does it feel to be here?" Colin asked.

"Well," Rachel said, after a moment of thought, "an hour ago we arrived at an airport I'd never seen so beautiful, so advanced; and now we're sitting in a giant tropical tree next to the nineteenth century In the shade, enjoy the richest feast. I don't even want to leave!"

Nick smiled brightly, not paying attention to the way Araminta looked at Colin.