Topics to talk about to avoid the awkward silence

You and a colleague are taking a cab to your client's office. After a 5 minute conversation, both of you realize you have nothing else to talk about. ~silence~

You are eating lunch with your boss. After discussing the issues on hand, both of you start to look down and all you can hear is the sound of your boss and you chewing the food.......

You met this really cute girl at the party. After a few hours you finally got your chance to talk to her. Your first sentence was awesome, you made her laugh, and then.... ~silence~

There are just so many situations that having a topic on hand would be useful to avoid that sticky situation. Here I would share some ideas on what you could talk about with a not-so-close person,

General Topics to talk about

Home: Where do you stay?

Family: Are you the middle child?

Situation and surroundings : I like this hawker centre!

Weather - OMG, its hot~

Sports - so what sports do you play?

Compliments : I like your shoes, where did you buy it?

Life: How's work?

Current news: Did you read about how ronaldinho lost his coke deal?

Food : Oh have you tried the new ice cream?

Tech gadgets : Heard of the new google I/O?

If the partner is a foreigner, you can additionally talk about:

Experience in this country: Is it your first time here? Have you been to see the merlion yet?

Experience in home country: How's it like back home? Do you like it better here or there?

Finally, I would urge you that the best way is to accept the silence. Do you feel uncomfortable if you and your partner don't talk for a while? The real breakthrough in a relationship is not when you have enough topics to break the awkward silence, but rather both of you feel comfortable around each other even when none of you are talking. In other words, both of you are just simply enjoying each other's presence.