Seletar Hills, Tick Toc Man, Mee Siam, curry puffs, sweet tea loaded with condensed milk, Changi beach, Serangoon Gardens, Dr and Aunty Lim, the DeSouza family are just some of the memories that flood my mind as I walked from my hotel to the Hawker Centre.

I remember the excited anticipation that built before our regular 3 month trips for home leave to Singapore. We eagerly anticipated eating much loved food, shopping trips, day trips to Changi beach.

One memorable time Uncle Percy got a big bungalow (part of his job perk) where it seemed like 20 or more of us stayed. Cousins, aunties, mahjong kakis stayed up late into the night as we kids tried to sleep in the tropical humidity. The only whitie amongst our massive multi cultural gathering was Mum who made scones for afternoon tea which went down a treat and then at night we either feasted on noodles from the local hawkers all tied up in banana leaves or went down the road and sat at a roadside stall to enjoy a bowl of noodles. Delicious!

As I sat last night look at the twinkling lights of ships in Singapore Harbour I felt blessed to have enjoyed a childhood that included the Singapore of old where we danced in the rain which brought relief from the tropical heat – by contrast today I stayed in a coffee shop till the downpour passed and then, rather than jumping the fast flowing monsoon drains of old to get across the road, I crossed via the covered pedestrian bridges that have been build above the wide roads to convey people safely from one side to the other – Singapore has changed so much but the constant is the delicious food.

Michelle