Here And There

Introduce yourself!
I’m Kai, and I grew up here in Singapore for 10 years before moving to Australia. I came back to serve my National Service (NS) in between, and now, I’ve just finished studying in Australia, so I’m travelling around Asia and am back for a bit to visit family in Singapore.

Oh, why did you move to Australia?
I moved because of my dad’s job, and we just ended up staying there.

Having grown up in both places, do you feel more Singaporean or Australian?
I used to struggle with that when I was younger, like when I was in NS and stuff. Now, I’d say I feel more Australian, but I do still try to connect with my heritage as much as I can because of my family.

I do so by spending time with family and spending time exploring Singapore. Even just walking around and talking to people here makes me feel a bit more connected to the country. And having friends here as well makes me feel the connection even more.

What’s your favourite thing about Singapore?
Anything food-related. I’ve been eating so much I feel like I’ve gained a lot of vacation weight (laughs).

One of the more memorable meals I’ve had here is bak chor mee (minced pork noodles) at Hill Street Tai Hwa—it was really, really good. It’s hard to find good bak chor mee nowadays. Every time I ask my grandparents, they’ll tell me there’s nowhere that serves good ones anymore.

Oh, we love a good bowl of bak chor mee too! Apart from Singapore, where else have you been or will be heading to this trip?
This is the end of my trip! I’m going back to Sydney after this but before Singapore, I went to Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Did you do a lot of eating in those places too?
I did more touristy things, actually, like shopping and cultural stuff. I also spent time with family and friends, and even got a tattoo in Kuala Lumpur.

For my tattoos, I usually have an idea in mind, then I’ll reach out to the artist a couple of months in advance, but for this recent one, I asked the artist to just go crazy and do whatever they wanted. The bulk of my tattoos don’t have much meaning anyway, apart from one of my last name on my leg, and another one to represent my time as a sergeant in the army.