What a diverse, lively, interesting and strange city. Charles and I
thought 4 days might be too much for this small island nation, but planned it
because we had friends to visit as well. As it turned out, we would have been happy
to spend two weeks there. Oh well, we just have to come back I guess. :-)
The city is a flavorful mix of shiny, wealthy areas and
chaotic, bustling neighborhoods, separated by ethnicity. Clarke Quay, for
example, was a shiny Disneyland of bars and lights and boats and interesting
decorations. Chinatown was half fancy with expensive bars and lots of expats,
and half small alleys lined with restaurants and food stalls. Areas like Little
India were more chaotic, but filled with intriguing aromas and character. As you walk through the city you see signs of the different cultures like Mosques, Hindu Temples, Christian Churches, Chinese decorations, Offerings being burned on the streets...
As always, we love to find things that are odd or funny in our culture, though not in another. Things such as these popular drinks:
This one is no joke! We saw the "bird hotels" all over Indonesia where they attract these birds (Swiflets, I think) and sell the nests to China! Apparently these birds use mainly saliva to hold their nests together and somehow this became a popular soup, and apparently a drink too...
And these food signs:
And these signs:
This "Waiting seat" was in women's bathroom and was completely visible to walkers by:
I love these recycling containers!
And the food!! There are food courts all over the place with
a variety of different Asian foods. We tried as much as we could manage and
loved almost every bite. And it was so cheap! Our meals were around $3 to $6
each. Of course, they would have quickly gotten very expensive had we gone to
restaurants or the more expensive neighborhoods rather than eating from the
hawker stalls, but this is where it’s at.
And such great company! Charles’s friend, Eric, lives in
Singapore and is responsible for introducing us to our good friend, Laura.
Charles met him while working in Korea several years ago. What a great guy with
a charming sense of humor! We went out for several meals together and he taught
us about the contradictions in the laws and the ways of Singapore. Being gay is
technically illegal, but they have a Gay Pride that attracts more than 50,000
people, though they can’t do anything beyond standing together wearing pink.
Basically, the government is willing to look the other way because they don’t want
negative international attention. Littering will get you a $500 fine the first
time, then community service, then jail time…though Eric has never actually
known anyone to get past the community service phase. Selling/possessing drugs
will get you the death penalty. Durian fruit (a very stinky fruit popular in
many Asian cultures) is illegal, but you see it sold on the street and I tried
a Durian shake (not bad). HIV is also illegal. Eric said he got tested a few
years back and asked the nurse if it was really anonymous. The nurse responded
that s/he would have to report it and then the government had its ways of
finding out who. If he had tested positive, he would have had to leave the
country within 24 hours. Scary. And you don’t see many police because they
follow the self-policing theory that by having mostly plain-clothed officers,
people will generally police themselves because you never know who is watching.
But none of this is felt, at least to the nonresident, as you wind through the
streets taking in the exciting mash of cultures.
We also met up with our friend, Monkut, a
Malaysian-Australian with whom Charles went to UWC. He lives in Hong Kong now
and was here to take the equivalent of the GMAT. It was great to catch up with
him after….5 years? We walked around Clarke Quay and ate at a food court in
that upscale neighborhood – interestingly the least exciting food we had eaten
in a food court yet. The next night we walked through Chinatown and ate at a
Vietnamese place. While that wasn’t terribly exciting, we later went to a Malaysian
place (I think) and had Chandol! So friggin good. It was icy and coconut-y and
had a green tapioca that wasn’t too sweet and grass jelly made from Kandan
leaves or something. Sounds totally weird, but it was amazing!
We also attempted to meet up with friends of Derreck’s
(Heather’s brother for those of you who don’t know the Lilly clan), but it
didn’t work out. This city really is the crossroads of Asia.
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