A picnic at Lazarus Island

My first visit to the southern islands was several years ago and I had been yearning to to visit the southern islands of Singapore since then. The 3 most accessible islands are St. John's, Lazarus and Kusu island.

The special thing about these islands is that they are beautifully quiet and scenic without massive weekend crowds at most beaches in mainland Singapore.

Not many people go there because it is that it is not particularly convenient to get there. It is now a lot more convenient with the new Marina South Pier MRT station that leads right to the pier, but some planning is required as the ferries leave every 2 hourly takes some time to loop from mainland to St. John's, to Kusu and then back to mainland. A return trip ticket is slightly at the expensive side of $18.

In addition, there are no touristy shops or eateries at those islands as you although we did see a sign pointing to a cafeteria at St.John's island. After all, it is home to the Tropical Marine Science Institute and Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore's Marine Aquaculture Centre. In essence, you have to take along with you everything that you will need on your trip there.

Here's what I brought for my trip:

1) A picnic mat
2) A cooler box
3) Lunch - a packet of Swiss Deli Rosti, Norwegian smoked salmon, sour cream and some pepper
4) Tea - a mixture of lavender and chrysanthemum flowers
5) Some nice cold yoghurt
6) Pre-washed salad mix
7) Trangia 25-4 Alcohol stove kit
8) 500ml of Methanol fuel

There are several beaches to choose from. You can choose one that overlooks the city skyline or one that faces the vast ocean. It is amazing to see yachts coming close to the shoreline and partying. Talk about exclusivity man.

We chose to sit at one that overlooked the vast openness and started boiling ourselves some tea using the Trangia. It was windy and the fuel usage was a lot more than what I am used to when playing with the stove at home. Thankfully, I brought more than enough fuel and the integrated windshield worked well in giving me usable heat for boiling the water. Honestly, while tea was good, I couldn't help feel that an ice cold beer would satisfy me so much more in such intense heat.

Unfortunately, we did not take too many pictures while we were there. Here is a nice aerial video that someone has uploaded to youtube. It really is a beautiful place.

Cooking rice with the Trangia 25-4 using solid fuel (hexi / esbit tablets)

Ok, this blog post is sort of a two in one post where I will talk about cooking rice using the Trangia 25-4 as well as the use of solid fuel instead of the regular alcohol burner.

Most outdoor people use their camping stove to cook food that is easy to prepare and fast. They do so for good reasons such as to beat an intense hunger from a long day's hike and daylight is diminishing fast. In Singapore, there is hardly any need to do so because scenic outdoor spots are a stone's throw away from delicious eateries, with the exception of places like Pulau Ubin and the southern islands.

The impetus of this write up is due the fact that my girlfriend dislikes eating canned food, but I like the idea of having a meal while watching a beautiful sunset surrounded by nature. To harmonize these two conditions, I have been trying out cooking proper food using my outdoor equipment while still in the comforts of my own home.

I read much about the cooking ability of the Trangia and wanted to try out cooking something proper. Being Chinese, rice is a staple food for us and it provides a good amount of carbohydrate. However, cooking rice properly without turning it into mush or burning it can be quite an art that not all dedicated rice cookers can attain.

The Trangia, with its ability to simmer to a near boil, comes in very helpful in helping the rice cook and absorb water without burning it. The simmer ring and its functions had been tried and tested many times by the good people of the interwebs. So, I wanted to give myself a little more of challenge and tried out using an alternative fuel.

I brought out the ubiquitous solid fuel (otherwise known as "esbit" or "hexi" tablets in the western world) that we use in the army. Unlike methanol, it is easy to obtain solid fuel at most army surplus or camping shops. The standard 8-tablet box that the Singapore Army uses and it is cheap to buy at about $1.40 per box.

Being solid, the fuel is easy to store and carry around. In addition, it is easy to distinguish between fuel and food. Methanol, or denatured alcohols are toxic but not unpleasant enough to warn people of it by itself. Moreover, it is not easy to obtain cheap denatured alcohols in Singapore anyway.

Ok, enough introduction. Let's get down to using solid fuel on a Trangia to cook plain rice!

A standard sized jelly mound for holding solid fuel

Firstly, Trangia sells an attachment for gel and solid fuel. I thought it would be strange to insist on buying an original cup just so it fits in the holder. So instead, I bought a cheap aluminum jelly mound from NTUC Fairprice to hold the solid fuel.

There is no special instruction to cooking rice. This would be the amount of water I mix with my rice if it was to be cooked in a rice cooker.

 

The Trangia cooking rice in complete silence. Note that the bowl was left open only for picture taking. I covered the bowl with the included frying pan soon after taking the picture.

Once the water starts boiling, I lowered the heat output by restricting air flow to the solid fuel. For simplicity, I used a piece of aluminum foil and it worked perfectly. It was able to slow down the burn of the solid fuel, keep the rice at near boiling point.

 

After about 30mins, the rice was cooked. One of my testers commented that it tasted normal. This was high praise for the Trangia.

 

The rice was slightly burnt at the spot where the flame is present. Thinking back, I should have taken the bowl off the flame once the rice had fluffed up but still slightly wet.

 

In simmer mode, the burn of the solid fuel was slow and efficient. I used less than 1 piece of solid fuel, leaving about 1/4 to spare for my next use. I was extremely skeptical when someone claimed that it was possible for a solid fuel cube to burn 30-40mins as previous experience suggest that it lasts 15-20mins per cube but looks like it is possible.

 

As expected, solid fuel does burn dirtily. In simmer mode, the amount of soot is noticeably lesser than a tablet exposed fully to air.

So, yes it is possible to use solid fuel to a high degree of control just like alcohol in a Trangia. The fully integrated windscreen design also makes it very efficient. The cost of cooking rice for 3 persons works out to be about 20cents (I bought a packet of 8 cubes for $1.40).

This will be a great addition to my picnic outings.

Have fun!

My Trangia 25-4 Camping Stove Kit

 The Trangia when fully deployed

I took a long time to consider buying this cooking stove set because, at $130, it is significantly more expensive than the other backpacking stoves I've got. My Campingaz Bluet was $25 and my solid fuel stove was a very affordable $2. To me, if an equipment is too expensive, I tend not to bring it out with me as I do not want to damage a beautifully designed and well made item.

The Trangia 25-4 is the bigger of the 3 sets and meant for cooking for 3-4 persons. The 27 series is for 1-2 persons while the Mini is adequate for 1.

Mmm... Cooking instant noodles is a breeze and you can fit the entire block of noodles inside without having to break it into smaller chunks. This packet of Korean Kimchi noodles is one of the bigger instant noodle packets and require longer time to cook to soften the noodles adequately.

The Trangia makes short work of this. I thought that it would turn this instant supper into a long wait but it was just as fast as my kitchen stove (any faster and its just wastefully boiling the soup away). Its easy to eat directly out of the pot, reducing the number of bowls to wash.

Well, unlike my other stoves, the Trangia 25-4 is a full self-contained set compete with a non-stick pan, bowls, kettle, windshield and alcohol stove. Being a set, it all nests together into the size of a bowl and fits well in a backpack. Being a non-pressurized alcohol stove, it is a little disadvantaged in terms of heating power compared to gas stoves and petroleum based (e.g. kerosene, white gas, petrol, etc.) liquid fuel stoves. Nevertheless, the designers have taken care of many aspects to overcomes its shortcomings and made it a particularly efficient and reliable stove.


The stove itself is a brass container to hold and burn the fuel. It burns methanol, ethanol (most recommended) and propanol (not recommended due to its sooty burn). Methanol and ethanol burns very cleanly and quietly. Its simple design means that there are very little that can go wrong with it when you are out in the wilderness. Despite its simplicity, it is still possible to control the flame up via a simmer ring which limits the rate of burn. Opening up the possibility of cooking more complex and delicious meals while you enjoy the sunset

For efficiency, the stove has little holes near its circumference. When the burner is hot enough, alcohol evaporates through those holes, forming a fire "bloom" similar to kitchen stoves, allowing of a better mixing of air and fuel for a leaner, more efficient burn. A blue flame is a hot flame. Yellow flame, not so good.

For reliability, the windshield is part of the whole stove set, greatly reducing loss of heat from the wind. In addition, it keeps the wind from blowing out the stove and forces hot air to travel up the sides of the pot before it escapes the stove. Another nice feature is that the stove itself is kept off the ground, minimizing heat loss and, lowers the chances of melting the snow beneath should it be used during winter time.

Just for fun, I used a tealight candle to heat up water, which explains the warm glow from the sides. It too was really slow, but I was surprised that it got hot enough for making coffee. Reaffirming the setup's high efficiency.

All these add up to form a very versatile, reliable and efficient stove for outdoor recreational use. For me, firing it up at a picnic would really open up a whole of food choices beyond prepacked sandwiches and pastries. The last time I went for a picnic, we had nice cakes, sandwiches and a thermos flask of mushroom soup. While it was nice, we couldn't help but envy the neighbouring picnickers who had a small disposable barbeque pit going on.

Unfortunately, like all things, it too has its weaknesses. First off, the stove is not particularly light and it can be an overkill for short hikes. Secondly, denatured alcohols or methanol is not easy to find in Singapore as people here have very little use for these. Pharmacies sell a small palm sized bottles for around $5 and some Home-Fix outlets sells a 500ml bottle for $3.50.

A small bottle of methanol that I bring along my stove. I have not tested how many meals I can get out of this.

About the fuel, methanol or denatured alcohol (methanol mixed with ethanol) is very unlike other obnoxious fuels such as kerosene or petrol. Alcohols typically smell pleasant and is said to taste sweet but it is just as poisonous as other fuels when consumed. Always use suitable containers and make sure that it is labelled clearly so that you and others do not mistake it as your booze stash. Consuming a small amount of methanol can cause blindness and subsequent death. If used correctly, its an extremely clean burning fuel that is easy to light up and dependable enough to work even in very low temperatures.