Arrival In Quito

Our journey began with a familiar hiccup – another delayed flight. A storm within our flight path forced our plane to fly around it, delaying us an hour. Fortunately, we made the connection and arrived in Quito by afternoon. And another hiccup, our cruise package included an airport transfer, but no one from the cruise company showed up. After learning that Uber was technically not legal in Ecuador but still commonly used, we summoned a ride. Our driver wasn’t concerned, and the ride went off without issue, and we arrived at the hotel.

Brazilian Steakhouse

Dinner that night was at the hotel’s Brazilian steakhouse, Fogo de Chão. It operated on a simple system: green side up on your card meant “more meat, please”, and red meant “stop”. Servers rotated through the tables offering cuts like filet mignon, sirloin, pork ribs, and leg of lamb. Though the selection was impressive, the sheer volume of meat was overwhelming. We left the table stuffed to the brim and almost regretted that extra slice of steak. Afterward, we walked it off by exploring the hotel. Near the pool, hotel staff gave us food for the koi pond. The koi swam up in anticipation, mouths already open, having clearly learned the drill.

Touring Quito’s Historic Centre

The next morning, after a buffet breakfast featuring fresh passion fruit, guava, and plantains – fruits native to Ecuador – we joined our tour group for a full-day city excursion. Our first stop was Plaza San Francisco, located in Quito’s historic centre. On the top of a nearby hill, we noticed a statue with wings – known as the Virgin of Quito, is unique to the region and symbolizes the Immaculate Conception through Andean artistic traditions.

The adjacent church and convent, officially known as the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, is among the oldest religious sites in South America, constructed in the 16th century atop an Inca temple. Much of the interior and cloisters were constructed using locally sourced volcanic stone and alabaster. Its central courtyard was tranquil, framed by arches and dotted with trees bearing what looked like lemons and olives – some people even picked and tasted them right off the branches.

The city sits at an altitude of roughly 2,850 metres (9,350 feet) in the Andes, and the effects of high elevation quickly became apparent. Climbing stairs at the convent’s bell tower left me short of breath, apparently a common experience for visitors not yet acclimatized.

Indemini Báez Chocolate

Unlike bulk cacao used in mass-market chocolate, fine-flavour cacao is prized for its complex taste notes—often described as floral, fruity, or nutty—and is grown under specific conditions with greater attention to fermentation and drying. Ecuador is known especially for its Arriba Nacional variety, which has earned a reputation among artisanal and high-end chocolate producers worldwide.

Plaza Grande

Plaza Grande, also known as Independence Square, is surrounded by some of the most important civic buildings in the country, including the Carondelet Palace, which serves as the presidential residence and the seat of government. We also learned about the Ecuadorian political system and the country’s recent presidential transition. Our guide mentioned that voting is mandatory in Ecuador, a measure intended to increase civic engagement.

The guide also mentioned that if we hadn’t already noticed, Ecuador’s official currency is the US Dollar. They adopted it as its official currency in 2000 after a severe economic crisis. We’d brought some U.S. dollars, assuming they’d come in handy for currency exchange, without knowing the official currency prior.

Church of Gold

We also visited La Compañía de Jesús, a Jesuit church famed for its Baroque architecture and lavish gold-covered interior. Built in the 1600s, the church’s ornate design reflects both Spanish influence and local craftsmanship. The interior is said to be covered with more than 50 kilograms of gold leaf, adorning everything from the altars to the intricate ceiling mouldings.

The sheer amount of gold gives the sanctuary a warm, glowing appearance, especially when lit by candlelight. Despite the obvious value, theft isn’t a concern – access is tightly controlled, security is present during opening hours, and the gold is bonded to surfaces in a way that makes removal extremely difficult without causing noticeable damage.

Crater of Life

For lunch, we dined at a restaurant overlooking the Pululahua crater – the lunch was simple, but the view was the real draw. The owner also kept a few llamas on the property – one of them even spat out its grass at me.

Unlike most volcanic craters, this one is inhabited. Pululahua’s fertile soil and sheltered microclimate allow a small community to farm and live within the crater’s walls, shrouded much of the time by drifting clouds.

The City at the Centre of the World

The final stop was Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. This monument was built in the 18th century based on French geodesic measurements to mark the equatorial line. However, later GPS data revealed the true equator lay about 240 metres north.

Still, the site remains symbolic of Ecuador’s connection to the equator – “Ecuador” literally means “equator” in Spanish. When the country gained independence in the 19th century, it chose the name Ecuador to reflect its location on the equatorial line.

That evening, we returned to the hotel for a final dinner in Quito before we left for the Galápagos. The meal was delicious, but it didn’t quite compare to the indulgent buffet from our first night. This brief stop in Quito, nestled high in the Andes and steeped in colonial and Indigenous history, offered a nice intro to Ecuador.

See more of Quito here

This is probably the most iconic area in Singapore – Marina Bay. Starting with the Merlion, we toured around the bay. I didn’t actually understand what a Merlion was until I saw the actual statue.

The placement of all the buildings and the water was so perfect for photos!! This area is a must-go.

There’s even a spot for an outdoor band to play.

And an outdoor street food market.

I ate my very first stingray. Another one off the list.

Another must-go destination in Singapore – The Supertrees! There is a whole grove of them and they constantly change colours. They’re powered by solar energy and capture rainwater for reuse.

In Chinatown, there is a famous Michelin 1-star place located in Chinatown called Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle. The lineup almost went out the door and it was next to impossible to find a seat.

The chicken was not dry at all, but rather juicy with all the flavours of the soy sauce, and every bite was tender.

The chili crab is also worth trying if you’re willing to splurge.

In Maxwell Centre, Tian Tian is the best place to go for Hainanese Chicken Rice. If this place existed where I live, I’d go there all the time.

There’s also Song Fa Bak Kut Teh. They serve a ribs cooked in a flavoured soup. The ribs are super tender and fall easily off the bone, and the soup is a complex soup with lots of strong spices (kind of savoury and peppery). The shop even sells their own flavouring powder so people can make the soup at home!

Chinatown is pretty much a place where tourists go and most of the street vendors are catering purely to tourists. But the food here, on the other hand, is terrific.

The Buddhist temple there looks incredible. Unlike the temples in Hong Kong, photography is allowed and look way cooler.

Next destination was Little India. It was amazing at how all of a sudden, the streets were no longer filled with Chinese Singaporeans, but rather Indian Singaporeans. Many shops sold fabric for saris, and jewelry.

This was my first time visiting a Hindu temple.

There’s also an Arab Quarter. It’s incredible how in one city there are so many visible ethnicities.

Sentosa is another great place to visit. It’s the home of many resorts, Universal Studios Singapore, and the aquarium. It’s also the most southern point of continental Asia! I always thought the Vancouver aquarium was pretty amazing, but the one in Singapore is SO much better.

This was the most impressive aquarium display I had ever seen. The picture doesn’t capture how absolutely massive this room was. The window itself has a thickness of 70cm!!

Singapore also has a world class zoo – except this one is open at night, just to show off nocturnal animals.

Gordon Ramsay recommends 328 Katong, for Singapore’s famous Laksa. The soup is slightly spicy and contains chili, coconut milk, and evaporated milk. THe fillings contain noodles, shrimp and mushrooms among other things. The other two dishes are Nasi Lemak, which is a rice dish with dried anchovies and a spicy sauce, while the other is Otah, which is a fish cake with spices inside (these two items were probably the only dishes I didn’t like).

Pretty much all the restaurants and places I went came from recommendations from friends who either grew up in Singapore or lived there. Thanks to them, I got a bit of a local’s perspective on the most awesome places to go!

Photo album: here

Breakfast

Hong Kong breakfast is what I crave, and a lot of it is simple enough to make at home without too much effort with the exception of Dim Sum.

These are all Dim Sum dishes, typically cooked by steaming. On the bottom left, there is Shaomai, which is a dumpling containing pork and shrimp. This particular variety is what is most well known in English speaking countries, and actually has its roots in Inner Mongolia. Clockwise (ignoring the half eaten dish) is steamed ribs in black bean sauce. Top right is either a Chiu Chow dumpling or a chive dumpling, but they are both similar in that they both contain vegetables, fungus, and sometimes pork. Bottom right is a shrimp dumpling. Bottom middle is a steamed meatball. It contains beef and water chestnut and other seasonings and is served with Worcestershire sauce.

Another classic in Dim Sum – this are steamed rice rolls. The white part is made of a wide strip of rice noodle usually with filling from shrimp, pork, or beef, and the sauce on top is soy sauce.

The sight of chicken feet as something edible frequently scares foreigners. Rather than just calling it chicken feet, it’s commonly known as Phoenix Claw. It’s prepared via a complicated process of frying, braising, simmering, and steaming – one of the most difficult Dim Sum dishes to make.

The top left is the usual eggs, ham, and bread (in this case garlic bread).  The middle is Satay Beef Noodles.  Satay refers to cooking meat with a spicy, sweet, peanut sauce that originated from Indonesia.  The noodles in the picture are just rice noodles, but it doesn’t have to be.  The top right drink is Hong Kong style milk tea.  It’s similar to the British style of black tea with milk and sugar except that the Hong Kong variant uses condensed or evaporated milk – I would drink this over coffee any day of the week.

This is a pineapple bun with a slab of butter inside it (the bun is served warm so the butter slowly melts inside of it). The bun doesn’t actually contain pineapple, but it the crunchy top can sometimes resemble a pineapple. The bun itself tastes like a regular bun, but the top adds a slight sweet flavour, and of course there’s the flavour of melted butter.

The bowl of noodles is just regular instant ramen noodles (typically Nissin 出前一丁 noodles) in the restaurant’s own soup with a deboned chicken drumstick. This dish is often served with fried eggs and Spam instead of chicken.  The drink to the right is Horlicks, a malted milk drink. It’s often associated as a kid’s drink, but still enjoyed by adults.

The dish on the left is macaroni in chicken broth with ham slices. I ate this a lot growing up and for some strange reason a lot of non-Asian people I’ve explained this dish to think it’s gross. The dish on the right is the typical egg, sausage, and toast, and the drink up top is milk tea.

Congee is a popular breakfast dish and it’s common to add all sorts of different ingredients like fish, chicken, pork, Chinese doughnut, etc. The one above is congee with Chinese doughnut, fish balls, beef balls, and peanuts. Another popular one has lean pork and century egg.

Lunch/dinner

Food is cheap enough in Hong Kong such that people are okay with buying food everyday rather than cooking at home!

Hotpot is probably my favourite. Take a broth (beef, chicken, fish, spicy, or whatever) and just cook whatever you want inside it. Traditionally, the entire table all share one giant pot and everyone cooks their food inside it, but in recent times, having one small hotpot per person is becoming more popular.

These two dishes are classics in Hong Kong “Cha Chaan Teng” (茶餐廳) establishments. The one on the left is Baked Portuguese Chicken Rice. It’s not actually Portuguese and has its origins in Macau (just a ferry ride away from Hong Kong!), which was a Portuguese colony at the time. It’s essentially chicken and potatoes on top of fried rice in a creamy sauce with spices (e.g. turmeric, cumin, etc.), coconut milk, and chicken broth. The one on the right is Baked Pork Chop Rice. It’s baked in the same way as the previous one, but it’s fried pork chop and tomatoes on rice with a slightly sweet, cheesy, tomato sauce – one of my favourites. The drink is a lemon tea, which in this case it’s black tea with lemon slices and sugar.

The dish on the left is a roasted goose. It has the consistency of chicken, but has all dark meat and a more intense flavour than chicken. The dish on the right is poached chicken and roast pork belly on rice. Poached chicken might sound strange to some people, but it is actually quite flavourful if the brine is made well and the chicken is of high quality. The poached chicken is typically eaten with a sauce made of minced green onion, ginger, and oil. Roast pork belly is special mainly because of its thick crusty skin.

This is poached chicken and barbecue pork on rice. The poached chicken is the same as before and the barbecue pork is the same that is available in North America.

This is Claypot Rice. It’s essentially rice, meat, and soy sauce among other things all steamed together, but it doesn’t count unless there are crusty bits of rice on the side of the bowl formed from the steaming.

This is Wonton Noodles. The Wonton is the dumpling with shrimp and vegetables (one could argue that the above isn’t an actual wonton due to the shape of the dumpling, but let’s not get into technicalities), the noodles themselves are egg noodles cooked al dente, and the soup is usually derived from fish. The soup itself has flavour, but not so much so that it doesn’t overpower everything else.

These are also typical noodle dishes. The one of the left is beef brisket in a beef soup and the other is fish balls and fish tofu in a fish soup.

This is wonton noodles with beef balls. Good for a quick meal.

Some might tell you that the dirtier the place looks, the tastier it is.

Snacks

These are the street food style snacks. Huge ones that I’m missing here are bubble waffles and egg tarts unfortunately!

The bun on the right is the Pork Chop Bun, originally from Macau. It’s essentially a pork chop sandwiched in a Brazilian style bun (so-called piggy bun).

This looks like a dessert, but it’s actually served at some Cha Chaan Tengs. The white one is steamed milk pudding and the yellow one is steamed egg custard. It’s essentially milk or eggs with sweet flavouring (e.g. sugar, vanilla extract, etc.) that is steamed. It’s almost like a Hong Kong style crème brûlée.

This toast with butter and condensed milk. Very simple, but also very delicious.

These are fish balls. A lot of times they are made from processed fish, but can be made from fresh fish as well. Generally they are served a curry sauce, but they are also available in other types of sauces for people who can’t handle the spice.

The bowl of soup on the left is Imitation Shark Fin Soup. This has no actual shark fin in it, and instead the shark fin is replaced by clear rice noodles, since actual shark fin can sometimes have a similar consistency to it (to be honest, actual shark fin is rather tasteless). The key ingredients in the soup itself is chicken stock, chicken, various types of fungus, and dried scallops, and soy sauce. The dish on the right is Shaomai. Not to be confused with the kind at Dim Sum – this is the street food version, which is made of similar ingredients as the fish balls above.

Photo album: here

Rib Fest 2012

I don’t really know why this exists, but I do know that the ribs here are absolutely delicious.  Since it was the last day of the rib fest, some of the vendors added more servings for each meal purchased (at least that’s what my cousin thought who said that they don’t usually give so much).

We ordered a pulled pork sandwich, a bunch of ribs, chicken wings.  Would have been nice if there was some veggies to balance it out, but it was delicious so I can’t really complain.

After the meal, we made our way to the boat tour of Thousand Islands.

Thousand Islands Boat Tour

I actually wondered whether or not this place actually had a thousand islands.  I was tempted to count, but let’s be realistic.  That wouldn’t work.  It would be easier to just check Wiki, and according to Wiki, the Thousand Islands area has 1864 islands.  Hmm, I guess it’s true.

One of the nice things about these islands is that rich people buy up the land on them and build houses on them that are only accessible by boat.  This adds to the scenery quite a lot.  It’s better than seeing just random islands with trees on them.  With houses, suddenly the view becomes a lot more interesting.

To top it off, there’s an actual castle on one of these islands.  It’s called Boldt Castle.  It is an unfinished castle that was originally meant as a private home for a really rich family – the Boldt Family.  It was never finished because of the of the George Boldt’s wife.  Tourists can still tour the inside of the completed part of the castle though.

After the tour, we drove back to Montreal, where we’d spend the next couple of days.  After a good rest, the next destination was Old Montreal.

More photos here

Yesterday, I decided to give this a try.  I scooped two cups of rice into a bowl and then filled it with some water  to wash it.  After draining the water, I transferred the rice into the rice cooker pot.  At that moment, I realized that I could have just used that container to begin with.  I filled the container up to the line that said “2”, since I only used two cups of rice.  I plugged the rice cooker in and set it to cook.  It was that simple.  The rice I cooked would be for my lunch for the next day.

While cooking this rice, I helped my roommates cook lasagna.  There were three of us, so we delegated different tasks to each person.  My job was to cook the ground beef on the frying pan.  The last time I did this was in the cooking class in Middle School.  I took the spatula and broke apart the big clump of ground beef.  As I did that, my roommates would add peppers, and onions to the mix.  I then moved the bits around to cook the red parts of the meat.  Even I know that red is bad for ground beef.  I cooked it until all the beef turned dark brown.

While I cooked the ground beef, one of my roommates prepared the sauce.  All he did was pour some pasta sauce into a pot, fill it with water, and heat it up.  He also added some spices, but I don’t remember what.  Another roommate cut up some veggies to put into the frying pan with the ground beef.

Once the beef and the sauce was prepared, they poured some of the sauce onto a lasagna pan, then added a layer of lasagna pasta.  I grated some cheese for it too.  Grating the cheese proved to be more difficult than it should have been since the cheese was just taken out of the freezer, which meant that little chunks would break off while I was grating it.  They would prepare layers using a combination of the sauce, pasta, cheese, and veggies.  Once they filled the  pan to the top, they put it in the oven for about half an hour.

They said, “this is how you make homemade lasagna.”  Once it was done, we ate it and it was pretty good.  I guess this has taught me that cooking stuff like this isn’t that hard.  I’ll also need to get used to it, since I’ll probably be cooking for myself regularly once I move out.