Address: 204 East Coast Road, Singapore
Date of visit: 15 August 2008

Well I was one of the first few thousand to get the iPhone. Yup… I was there at twelve midnight… On a working weekday to queue for the launch of the phone in Singapore. I had the strange idea that I was one of the exclusive few invited to the launch. That I would be able to just waltz into the place, get my iPhone and be out of there in a jiffy.

Yeah right… I ended up queuing for 7 hours before I got the damn phone. This meant that I saw the night turn bright before my eyes, along with it the sinking realisation that I might have committed one of my most foolish acts ever. Also this meant being stuck in between 2 middle aged men in the queue. Their sourpuss faces did not do much for the experience.

My delusion extended to hopes that I would get some freebies or special offers just for the launch… You know things like t-shirts that say I was one of the first (”idiots” dumb enough to participate in the telco’s marketing exercise) … Cheap souvenirs… Anything. I got nothing… Nada… Zip.

My anguish was compounded by the realisation that the telco had instituted a more systematic way of distributing the iPhone after the initial launch day. They are now proudly proclaiming to the customers that the wait would be less than an hour!

Why!!! Why!!!

The good thing was that I am now a proud owner of a iPhone… The same one I am now using to compose my posting. Heh. Cool shit rite. (ok i cheated slightly. Only the text above this sentence was written on the iPhone…the rest of I was through my pc after I felt my hand start to go numb from poking the iPhone screen). However, this state of ecstasy will be short lived as more and more Singaporeans get their iPhones and I understand the full enormity of my stupidity in joining the launch date queue.

In keeping with the theme of breakfast (unfortunately, I did not have breakfast after I got my phone…I had to go to work..), Chin Mee Chin confectionary is an institution in Katong. It represents old school breakfast taking for Singapore. Our Singapore National Library board confirms the history of Chin Mee Chin by referencing it in their infopedia here:http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_618_2004-12-15.html

You know it is old school when the tables are the white marble kind and the chairs are wooden (like how my legs turned wooden and at the same time wobbly while I was queuing for the iPhone).

There is a huge steel cabinet where patrons can choose their choice of bread, both savoury and sweet.

And of course we had to have their Kaya Bread (on the right). Step aside Ya Kun, Chin Mee Chin stays true to the path of tradition (and poverty?).  The sad little piece of bread on the left is our luncheon meat bun.

And what is bread without eggs.

Crack the egg on the saucer. Dump the contents.

Add liberal amounts of soy sauce and pepper to the mixture and slurp it all up - singapore style. The cost came up to S$7.70. Much less than the agony suffered by me when I had to queue 7 hours to pay $500 plus to the telco for a phone.