Anyway, as the biggest festival on the Chinese calendar, the lunar new year celebration meant that we university students had about a week off. True, the high school kids in Hong Kong and the students in Mainland China got upwards of 2 weeks for their break, but having the week off was still refreshing.
I mentioned before that I planned to go to Singapore and visit with Su for the holiday. HK Justin was a huge help (and I hope he realizes that) when I booked my trip. Unfortunately, you can't go anywhere for cheap in Asia during Chinese New Year. It's the single largest human migration every year, and it's not uncommon for people to buy plane/train/ferry tickets over a year in advance. As a stupid gwailo, I didn't book my flight until about 2 weeks before. Miraculously, after going to 3 separate travel agencies, I found ONE economy-class ticket from Hong Kong to Singapore and then back. Of course, because of my late booking, it was an indirect flight with a layover in Manila, Philippines.
I was so happy, though! February 1st, I spent almost the whole day in airports and airplanes, but I got to Singapore around 7:00pm. The taxi driver had little trouble finding my hotel (once again, finding a room at a budget hotel was extremely difficult, but I'm convinced my last travel agent is a superhero), and I signed in with no problem. Since I had booked a single room in a 2-star budget hotel in an over-crowded Asian city, my expectations were rather low. No safety concerns or anything, but I pretty much expected a windowless box just big enough for a single bed, and then a community bathroom down the hall. By no means was my hotel nice, but I did get more than I bargained for.
Exhibit A: double bed, window, and (broken) TV.
Exhibit B: private bathroom, and yes that is a shower-head on the wall. Almost all the bathrooms in Singapore are like this.
I did kill about 6 bugs a day in that hotel room, but thankfully not even one cockroach. Unpleasant, but I can live with that. Anyway, I called Su when I arrived and we met for a late-night snack. She had seen some hawker-centers nearby, so we went to have masala prata, a spicy Indian flat-bread eaten with fish curry:
After that, we called it a night and decided when and where to meet in the morning. I took the MRT to Commonwealth Station, since that's where the National University of Singapore is (and that's where Su is). I got there a little earlier than the time we agreed to meet so I took pictures of a couple of funny things in the station. Apparently, there's a new Kung-Fu Panda movie coming out:
And, my favorite, funny Singapore law: no durians on the MRT! It kind of looks like a grenade to me:
Once Su and I met up, we took the train to Little India for breakfast. On the menu was curry puff:
Something like an Indian hush-puppy:
And fermented tapioca (addictive!):
We strolled around, looking at the shops. The sights, sounds, and especially smells were wonderful.
Most of the places in Little India were shops or restaurants, but there were also several Hindu temples, the largest of which was the Shree Lakshminarayan Temple:
Nearby was yet another called the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. Hindi must be almost impossible to learn as a second language.
So many gods:
And so many people!
Next, we stopped at an Indian candy store. I wonder if there's anywhere in Hong Kong where I can buy milk burfi? On second thought, it's probably better if no one tells me.
The Little India Arcade is a famous shopping center...well, a market for tourists. We didn't buy anything.
Meme, you should come to Singapore. Fabric markets are hard to find in Hong Kong, but the Singaporean silk shops are alive and well in Little India!
Next, we took the MRT to City Hall Station, where a friend of Su's was going to join us for the day. It took a little while to find each other because the station was so crowded, but eventually we met up with Tatsu, a graduate student from Japan. Together, the 3 of us went to one of the most famous buildings in Singapore--the old Raffles Hotel, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, considered the father of modern Singapore.
Singapore has changed hands many times throughout history. First, it belonged to Malaysia, then was taken over by the Dutch, but treated only as a trade port. The British wanted it as a trade port only (not to govern), so they snatched it from the Dutch. Sir Stamford Raffles, knowing full-well that Britain didn't want it as a colony in the traditional sense, took advantage of the 6-8 month period it took to deliver letters to England, and claimed Singapore for England without permission. By the time his letter arrived, the city had already been colonized and developed. He was stripped of his titles and wealth, and died a miserable debtor, but England decided to keep Singapore as a colony. Eventually, Singapore passed back over to Malaysia, was occupied by Japan during World War II, and then became a separate city-state in the 1960s. Anyway, the Raffles Hotel is where all the British colonists stayed in the late 1800s when they just arrived and didn't have their own homes.
We took a walk around the grounds:
Next, we wanted to go to Merlion Park, which is located at Marina Bay. From there, we could see several famous structures. This one is the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The roof is actually a tropical beach:
You could see the best view of downtown, and here it looks like it's going to rain. Located at 1 degree North of the equator, Singapore is indeed one of the rainiest places on earth. It rains over 300 days out of the year, and heavily. Surprisingly, no matter what the sky looked like, it rained very little during my trip.
From across the bay, we could see the iconic statue of the Merlion. I'm sure that not many of you have heard of it, so here's the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion.
For some reason, there was a mini-Merlion too.
From Merlion Park, we had a good view of the Singapore Flyer, an attraction for later that week:
We found a nice guy to help us take a picture. I guess he really wanted to make sure we got a good one because he took 3!
Posing with the Merlion:
Tatsu tried to look like he was catching the water in his mouth, but instead it looks like he's getting hit in the neck:
This pose turned out to be a little easier:
Next stop was Chinatown, the happening place the day before Chinese New Year. It was packed with people, but the stores were all open for business:
For lunch we found the creatively-named "China Restaurant." Yes, that is literally what the white characters on the sign say. The black ones say Northeastern food.
I think Tatsu quickly developed a love for Chinese food. Just look at that face! We had fried water spinach, pork & mushroom chow mein, and soy sauce eggplant:
Yes, for only $2, you can purchase one tacky tourist!
Among our unusual discoveries in Chinatown was yet another Hindu temple! Location, location, location...
It was quite small, though, so we headed back out into the mobs of people:
An old man playing the erhu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu). Move over, bagpipes, you are no longer the coolest ethnic instrument!
Around 5:00pm, we decided to go to a small festival called "River Hongbao." Hongbao, in Chinese, means "red packet." Traditionally, older people will give these to younger ones, and parents give them to unmarried children. We took the Queen Elizabeth Walkway to get there. It's an interesting functional modern art sculpture overlooking the harbor.
Rabbits abounded everywhere.
There were giant coins with all the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. I was born in the Year of the Ram:
Around dinnertime, we came back to Chinatown since there were rumors of a big countdown party. At our insistence, Tatsu had his first (and, from his reaction, definitely NOT last) dim sum dinner. I think the dim sum in Hong Kong is still better, but Singapore's got the basics down at least: spring rolls, char siu baau, har gow, and siu mai.
Next, we found the performance area. They brought out some live bands, but we all agreed they were pretty awful.
That, and we were obviously tired.
Eventually, we all turned in for the night. Since February 2nd had been a long day, Su and I slept in a little bit, and met for lunch before heading out to Pulau Ubin, the only surviving Malay fishing village in Singapore. It took nearly 2 hours just to get to the ferry terminal, but at least the weather was beautiful:
The ferry ride took all of 7 minutes, and the view was gorgeous:
Tropical paradise much?
More like jungle actually. That island is a legitimate rainforest.
Mmm, rambutan. I wish these would grow in South Carolina. There are so many fruits in Southeast Asia that you can't find anywhere else in the world. I'm going to miss them so much!
Su, the jungle-explorer:
View this picture, if you want, in a separate window. It's one of my favorites. These are families camping out and playing at the beach:
The little blotch of white in the lower left-hand corner is a guy fishing. I'm kind of jealous, but just think of what kind of fish you'd catch here?
After about 2 hours of walking through the rainforest, we reached civilization.
Civilization, it turns out, is nothing more than overpriced seafood restaurants and bike rental shops.
We partook of neither. I would have liked to rent a bike, but Su doesn't know how to ride one, and I wouldn't just abandon her like that.
Pulau Ubin is certainly a must, especially for the nature-lover. You have to be able to deal with the heat and the humidity, though. Thank you, Southern USA, for all the years of practice.
Once we came back, we went to the most famous Chinese temple in Singapore: the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple:
Sadly for us, the Tooth Relic itself was not open for viewing. They did have a giant plasma-screen TV, where you could watch it 24/7, though. I don't understand why they needed a TV instead of a picture, actually, since it's not like it moves around or does anything. Oh well, Hainanese Chicken Rice for dinner--the unofficial official food of Singapore:
To finish the day, Su and I went to Clarke Quay on the Singapore River to watch the lights, boats, and people.
And here I thought this was in Beijing:
Friday was also an interesting day. Many places were closed because of the holiday, but the ones we meant to visit were open. Before meeting Su, I stopped at one of the hawker stalls near my hotel for breakfast. Behold the BBQ Stingray Rice, surprisingly one of the best things I've ever eaten...seriously! So chewy, spicy, and heavenly.
Anyway, our first stop was the Singapore Flyer.
You can read the sign yourself: World's Largest Ferris Wheel. Good thing neither of us is scared of heights!
It really was a great way to see the city, and the children in our cabin were hilarious. They kept looking out, screaming, then running back to their parents. Then they'd wait maybe 2 minutes and go peek out again. I'm glad I understand Chinese because those kids said some hilarious stuff.
We took a break for lunch, and headed over to Bugis Street, supposedly the site of many a cheap delicious restaurant:
It was already 2:00pm, though, so the lunch crowd had mostly moved through. That left us with slim pickings. Still, mine wasn't half bad. I got Nasi Ayum Penyat, which is Malay Muslim food.
After lunch, we met Su's host family for our next activity. She and 2 other exchange students (one of them is Tatsu) are assigned to a local person, who occasionally shows them around, takes them out for dinner, or just answers their questions about Singapore. Su's host is a nice guy named Mr. Koh, a former member of the Singaporean police, who loves nature and magic tricks. He took us to Sentosa Island, which is a famous resort in Asia. It's actually nicknamed "Asia's Favorite Playground," but for the lunar new year they had an exhibit called "Sentosa Flowers," which was supposed to be extremely good.
Entertainers dressed as rabbits for the holiday:
I'm convinced this is the world's largest chia-pet:
Another Merlion, in case you missed all the others around Singapore while you were living under that rock:
And then flowers:
More flowers:
Floating baskets of flowers:
Flowers on trees:
On buildings:
Flowers everywhere! It was so crowded, though, and ended up being my least favorite part of the trip. Well, that and this hallo-hallo-copy-laksa. Not good laksa at all...bleh:
By the next morning, I had really grown impressed with the variety of food hawkers near my hotel. I went for Chinese this time simply for one menu item: Crunchy Red-Bean Bananas. Delicious! I found a recipe online that I want to try out later because these are definitely worth sharing.
The food hawkers are so friendly and often throw in extra treats when business is slow. Since it was around the holidays, there weren't many customers, so the cook threw in some Tianjin meat buns for free.
After lunch, I met Su and Mr. Koh at Bugis Station, from which we walked to our first destination of the day: Sultan Mosque.
Sultan Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Singapore. Once again, I offer up wikipedia as a reference for anyone interested in the history of this beautiful monument: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Mosque.
Since none of us were there to pray, we were not allowed to enter the prayer hall, but we could look inside.
Su even had to wear a robe because of something with her outfit. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with it because she was well-covered, and didn't violate any of the rules listed in their dress-code. No problem, though. At least the mosque-workers plan for this kind of thing and let tourists borrow robes if they need them. That's much better than going to the Royal Palace in Bangkok where, if you're wearing shorts, you have to pay to rent long pants.
Thankfully, there was nothing wrong with my outfit:
There was also a Malay Muslim Heritage Museum on the premises, so we went inside and looked around. It offered a fascinating glimpse into Malay history, language, artwork, etc. I learned a lot about early Singapore, and the role of Malay Muslims in that society.
Across the street from the Heritage Museum, Mr. Koh found a yummy-smelling Malay cafe. Su and I had to trust him because neither of us knows much about Malay food. Really, I just know that it's spicy and I like Malaysian Fish Curry. Mr. Koh, though, is originally from Malaysia, although from a Chinese family. He grew up eating Malaysian food and told us just to trust him on the food ordering. I'm so glad we did!
One thing he recommended was the Malay coffee. I don't know what exactly made it "Malay," but it certainly tasted different from the coffee I'm used to. In Southeast Asia, both Malay coffee and Vietnamese coffee have tremendous followings. I haven't tried the latter, but I can totally understand the reason for the first.
This is the assortment he chose, although I don't know what most of it is. On the far left is some kind of spicy fish, sauteed greens, chilli chicken, etc. I'm not sure what the middle dishes are, but the bright green and yellow one on the far right really threw me for a loop. It was the only one I really didn't like, but was edible. Su didn't agree with me on that final point. When we asked Mr. Koh what it was, he said it was...bitter melon! True, it was disgusting as always, but I actually managed to swallow it, which is an improvement. If I had a choice between starving and eating nothing but bitter melon, it would have to be cooked this way. Otherwise, starvation would be much more appealing.
Next, we went to Tan Si Chong Su Temple. There's a wide variety of Chinese temples, but I'll try to break down the basics. There are 3 common pseudo-religious philosophies in China that often overlap with one another: Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism (read this to decide for yourself whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy). Taoism is essentially ancestor-worship. After death, family members become minor deities. The descendants pray and leave offerings and, in return, the ancestors watch over and help the living. Fun fact: female ancestors don't count. Confucianism follows the teachings of Confucius, which are too elaborate to list here. They include ideas about family dynamics as well as personal and societal responsibilities. Buddhism, of course, includes the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, the goal of which is to achieve Nirvana through meditation. Anyway, to make a long story short, some Chinese temples are strictly Buddhist (i.e. Buddha Tooth Relic Temple), some are Taoist temples where members of a clan worship that clan's ancestors, some are a combination, but almost none are Confucian.
The Tan Si Chong Su Temple is a Taoist temple originally built by the Tan Clan, who immigrated to Singapore from Fujian Province. They brought their family "gods" with them and built a temple where they could continue to worship them.
Fruit, juice, cakes, nuts, and incense are the most popular offerings:
Su and Mr. Koh in the entryway. Notice that there is one main entrance (the one they're in front of), and then smaller ones on the left and right. Old Chinese etiquette says that you should step through one of the side exits to show your modesty and respect. The main entrance is for highly important people, such as the emperor. When you step through the same entrance as the emperor, you place yourself on the same level as him, which is dangerous. A well-respected scholar like Confucius would also be allowed through the main entrance but, interestingly, it is against Confucian philosophy to do so. An ignorant man places himself on the same level as the emperor. A wise man waits for others to place him there. In other words, Confucius, following his own philosophy, would first attempt to enter through one of the side entrances, and only enter through the main entrance at the insistence of someone such as the emperor. Complicated, no? Of course, as a tourist, feel free to step wherever you like because there is no emperor in Singapore.
Lions, often called "Fu-Dogs" by Westerners, guard the entrance of most temples.
Another interesting factoid regarding respect in old Chinese society. In China, the dragon is the symbol of the emperor, so only the emperor was allowed to use depictions of dragons in his home. People caught decorating their homes with dragon imagery were often beheaded because, well, the dragon is sacred. Lions were the most popular alternative. When the Chinese moved to Singapore, though, there was no emperor, so many of them took pride in being able to decorate their homes and temples with dragons. The stone pillar in this picture actually has a dragon carved into it.
Here's a small tree of mandarin oranges. In Singapore, it's common to give people 2 mandarin oranges when you visit their homes. This is also the practice in some provinces of China. It's also an important aspect in the folk story "The Most Frugal Man in the World," which is the inspiration for the name of this blog: "Invisible Orange."
While most of the temple focuses on ancestor worship, and is traditionally Chinese, some aspects of it are undeniably Singaporean. Take this alter, for example. These statues are not of any ancestors or Chinese gods. These are old Malay gods, who aren't worshiped even in Malaysia anymore. Why? Well, the Chinese are practical, and Taoism isn't a religion in the strict sense. Eastern schools of thought differ significantly from their Western counterparts. Almost all "religions" native to eastern Asia are based in animism--belief in many small gods who reside in animals and nature. These small gods aren't all-powerful creators of the universe. In fact, they're almost totally uninterested in humans. Therefore, there is a supposed give-take relationship. People will make an offering to the little god so that it will do something for them. At least to me, this isn't "religion" in the modern sense--it's belief in magic. This kind of belief leads people to pray and leave offerings for any god that seems useful, whether it's Chinese, Malay, or whatever else. So a lot of Chinese temples in Singapore have shrines for Malay gods.
Su making a wish at the wishing well.
Tons of lanterns for the new year, in lucky colors red and gold:
Chinese gods who guard the Tan clan and assist the ancestors:
Our next stop was a large park called "Chinese Garden." It offered a beautiful view, especially since, once again, the weather was unexpectedly clear:
The Chinese Garden Pagoda, which is 7 stories high:
Turtle! This little guy isn't actually a native species. He's from Florida.
From each level of the pagoda, you can look out and take pictures:
Looking down from the highest point in the pagoda...yikes!
View this one in a separate tab for a gorgeous view of Chinese Garden!
We actually saw a lot of wildlife at the garden, including a monitor lizard, several rare birds, turtles, and red squirrels. Towards the end, we were all hoping to see a snake. Well, just as we were on our way out, we heard 2 little boys screaming and then their mother screaming too! They swore up and down they had just seen a snake. This group of Bangladeshi guys heard them and started freaking out too, which was kind of hilarious considering that the snake was a half-foot-long green garden snake. That has to be one of the most harmless creatures on the face of the earth. After all the screaming scared it off, we got talking with the family and the Bangladeshi guys, and got along right well. I exchanged emails with one of the guys, and we took a picture:
That evening, we said our goodbyes to Mr. Koh, and took the MRT to Eunos Station. Su not only has a host family, but also a peer adviser. The peer adviser is a Singaporean student who has studied abroad before. She then takes in 10 or so foreign exchange students and gives them tips on how to adapt, etc. Somehow, Su ended up with the nicest peer adviser ever, since she had invited all her mentees to have dinner at her family's apartment. Since she knew that Su had a friend visiting from Hong Kong, she invited me too. We brought Weitin and her family some Ferrero Rocher chocolates as a gift.
Weitin's family really had a full-house that evening. There were students from Singapore, Finland, Australia, Estonia, Malaysia, and China besides us Americans. Here's about half the group playing card games:
I'm not really sure whether or not Weitin's family wanted all the food gifts people brought because they already had a fair share. This was the snack table, piled high with Chinese New Year cookies, nuts, and egg-rolls:
Eating steamboat in the kitchen. This was round 2. Round 1 had about 15 people hovering around this table designed for 4.
Most everyone had a good time, or at least Su and I did. I talked to a lot of different people, in both English and Chinese, and made several new friends. I'm very thankful to Weitin and her family. After all, it's not many tourists who get to visit a local family's home for dinner.
The next morning began my final day in Singapore. I had some of the oranges I had been given for breakfast, and packed my things. Once I checked out of the hotel, I headed over to Su's dorm at the National University of Singapore. Because my flight would leave late at night, I needed to leave my luggage in her dorm for the day. After we finished that, we had some otah as a snack. This one is the spicy version:
Despite the snack, it really was close to lunchtime and we hadn't been able to find one of Singapore's most famous delicacies: the elusive chilli crab. We asked some locals where to find it, and they all said "Go to Chinatown!" So, we went to Chinatown. Near the MRT Station, the chilli crabs were so expensive...about S$38 each! Consider that S$1 equals US$0.78, and that's one expensive little sucker. The key thing was getting away from the tourist areas. Once we had done that, we found a restaurant selling chilli crabs for S$15--and they were big! We ordered 3 dishes to share. Fried Spinach with Garlic:
Chilli crab:
And chicken fried noodles:
Very much full, we meandered over towards Dhoby Ghaut to see the National Museum of Singapore, which is quite an impressive building:
The rotunda:
Although we toured many exhibits, my favorite was about the history of Singapore. By then, my camera battery was running low so I didn't take many pictures, but here are some highlights. A painting of early Singapore, back when it was still called "Temurak":
Birdcages like those sold at the wet-market:
An impressive litter:
And a coolie-driven rickshaw:
Photograph of Singaporean Malay village, circa 1900:
The entrance to the National Museum of Singapore:
After that picture, my battery died completely. I think it did well, though, since there wasn't much left to take pictures off. Su and I returned to Little India for dinner. Apparently, I know a lot more about Indian food than she does because she had no clue what kind of restaurant to go to or what to order. As an Indian food lover, I found that Little India has a lot to offer. I settled on a restaurant called "Amritsar Tandoori," and ordered for both of us. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about how Su would like the food because she hadn't tried much of it, but we both enjoyed everything! We had Chicken Tikka, Vegetable Korma, and Garlic Butter Naan. Sometimes I think I need to move to India just for the food, but then I have authentic Chinese food to tempt me away. Either way, I'm going to get fat if I stay in Asia.
Once I picked up my luggage from Su's dorm, we said our goodbyes, and I took a taxi to the airport. I spent over an hour just trying to check my bag with Philippine Air, so I'm not particularly thrilled by their service. However, at Changi Airport, I had little else to complain about. I can see why it's rated as the #1 airport in the world. I didn't get to see too much of it, though, because my layover was, once again, in Manila. I arrived in the Philippines around 3:00am on February 7th, and my flight got delayed until 9:30am. Instead of coming back to Hong Kong and sleeping late in my own bed, I ended up sleeping across 3 metal chairs in the Manila airport with my arms clutched tightly around my shoulder-bag, and using my backpack as a pillow. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well and wasn't tired when I arrived back in Hong Kong.
I had a fantastic time in Singapore, and think that I could even be happy living there in the future. That's still some ways off, though. For now, I just enjoyed myself and was so glad to see old friends and make new ones. My one regret: I missed chewing gum.
No comments:
Post a Comment