Singapore and Malaysia

Nick and Kristen write:

Happy Chinese New Year! Xinnian Kuaile!!! It’s the year of the ox this year. The Taiwanese close everything down for a week of celebrations, and so Nick had a week off of school. Because we love to travel so much, we decided to go to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to see more of Asia, especially non-Chinese Asia, which we get so much of here. We ended up spending three days in Singapore and 1½ days in Kuala Lumpur.

For those that don’t know which part of the world this is located in, Singapore and Malaysia are located south of Taiwan and China next to Thailand and Indonesia. Singapore is a tiny country, actually a city state like the Vatican. It's just a few miles north of the equator, and so there are no seasons here. It's just warm all the time. Singapore is a very strict country, which you are reminded of before entering the country on the boarding document you have to fill out upon entering the country. It states that drugs brought into the country bears a penalty of death. Chewing gum is illegal and yields a fine if it is brought into the country. Homosexuality is frowned upon and illegal as well, although we have been told that it is not truly enforced. The authorities turn their heads, not only to this but to other things as well. Singapore is strongly influenced by its Chinese population (who rule the place despite the fact that it's nowhere near China), but has different areas of town called Little India, Arab Street and a Malay portion of town.

We started our trip on a Sunday and came back on a Friday. Sunday night, upon arriving in Changi Airport in Singapore, we made our way on the subway to our hotel. Singapore’s subway system like many in Asia is extremely clean and well functioning. The subway signs are in four languages - Mandarin Chinese, English, Malay and Indian script. The first thing you notice when you leave the airport in Singapore is the diversity that exists in this small part of the world. Chinese, Indian, and Malay Arabs all co-exist somewhat peacefully in a small country. It was so refreshing to see different people milling about, making their way to their Chinese New Year festivities. It was Chinese New Year’s eve when we arrived in Singapore and found to our pleasure that we made it just in time to see the show near the bay. We wandered down the street and found a whole stall of local foods and a show about to start. We saw the Nanjing Acrobat Group perform amazing spins and twirls, ate some kabobs and fried rice, and enjoyed the rest of our night.

We woke up on Monday morning to loud, banging drums outside of the front of the hotel at 8:30am. Since we were on vacation, as you can imagine, this was not an ideal way to wake up. Apparently to bring good luck and drive the evil spirits out of the hotel (we didn't know there were any), they were performing a lion dance for Chinese New Year with gongs and drums. This continued for the better part of the day throughout the corridors of the hotel and all around the exterior. It was interesting to witness, but not the first thing you expect to hear in the morning.

While we knew that Chinese New Year is celebrated widely, we had no idea that for three days during our stay, everything was almost completely closed (restaurants, malls, small shops, etc - whole parts of town). Luckily that day we had scheduled a couple’s massage at the hotel spa and so we were each treated to an 80-minute massage and were pampered for an hour. It was a wonderful, relaxing experience (at least when the gongs stopped again), and we had a lot of fun. What was interesting is that when we asked what else we could do for the day, most of the Chinese staff said that everything was closed and nothing around the city was open. But remembering that Malays and Indians don’t celebrate Chinese New Year, we asked whether those portions of town would be open. Everyone at the hotel told us they would be open, but what we found interesting is that we had to even ask. It's almost like they were ashamed of the other parts of town, and didn't want us to know about it. These areas of town are big tourist draws and are very interesting, and so it made us wonder whether racial tensions do exist on some level in Singapore. Nevertheless, we promptly made our way over to Little India and had a wonderful time seeing Hindu temples, small jewelry shops selling their gold, clothing shops, various Indian restaurants with wonderful smelling food and a lot of shopping! Little India is so vibrant, bustling and full of life. However, we were stared at the entire time. Everyone is selling beautiful looking vegetables, and we stopped at this bakery and had halva and some other wonderful desserts. Nick had fresh coconut juice from one of the vendors on the street; he drank it straight out of the coconut! Because everyone had the day off of work, the streets were filled with people and many gringos/wai guoren as well because there was nothing else to do in the city! The lesson is don’t listen to other people, find out for yourself because sometimes people just have a bias and their own preferences.

We also made our way to the Raffles Hotel - a famous, grand hotel in the center of the city. We stopped and Nick had the famous Singapore Sling. He tells me it was well worth the money! We ended up walking nearly the entire day. We saw (from the outside because even it was closed) a Christian church, St. Andrews. Every part of Singapore is clean and has no litter or trash. It is so nice to walk around clean streets. Because their laws are so strict, their crime is nearly non-existent. Afterward, we made our way to Arab Street near the Raffles Hotel. We walked around and saw the many tailors and fabric part of town, and the nearby beautiful mosque that had an prayer service underway. We decided to have dinner here and found an Islamic restaurant where we had some wonderful lamb and chicken dishes. Although the staff was rather short with us, the food was excellent and well worth the visit. Middle Eastern fare is difficult to find in Taipei, and so we decided to relish it on our visit to this part of the world. After dinner, we decided to walk down to the Boat Quay. It’s an area by the river with a multitude of restaurants, beautiful skyscrapers lighting the sky, a walkway and many bars. It is filled with tourists. We finished our night with a serene walk home.

Tuesday we started the day trying to find something to do and decided to go and visit the Singapore Botanical Gardens. We got into the cab, which costs more on Chinese New Year, and decided to do an impromptu tour of the city after talking with the cabbie. He was extremely knowledgeable and well spoken. Apparently the first language of everyone in Singapore is English. It has been that way ever since Raffles found Singapore and was colonized by the British. In fact everyone speaks flawless English in Singapore for this reason, and apparently have the choice of also learning Malay or Mandarin in school as their second language. What a wonderful option - to be able to learn so many languages. The whole tour was two hours and very reasonably priced. We started out by visiting some of the areas of town we had not gotten to see including the Malay part of town, which is very interesting. Least of which is because of the underground prostitution that happens to be near this part of town. It’s near the Red Light District. He actually drove us near the ladies, and apparently the ones who are “available” sit with an open umbrella. Very colorful to say the least! He also brought us to the highest hilltop in Singapore, Mt. Faber, which overlooks the bay. You are able to see all of the container ships, oil tankers (which bring oil to this part of the world), and the beautiful views of the city. There were also many people on top trying to make a quick buck off of the tourists, and there was this one guy with a huge python. You could hold the python for a few bucks. Nick couldn't resist, and he held both the big and little one. The videos are attached! It was a lot of fun. We visited a few others stops, but did manage to end up at the Singapore Botanical Gardens, which was gorgeous. They have a wonderful orchid exhibit, and we have never seen so many beautiful varieties of orchids in our lives. Kristen absolutely loves orchids, and had a wonderful time here.

After the orchid exhibit, we decided to rest for a few hours and then go to dinner. We made our way to Boat Quay because we wanted to have the experience of trying the local specialty, which was chili crab. It was less romantic than Kristen had hoped, but not because of Nick. The views were gorgeous but the chili crab was SO messy that Nick required a lobster bib. Not very romantic! Kristen ordered a steamed fish dish. Immediately after sitting down, this rude albino-looking Australian couple started starring us down as if we didn’t belong there. Either that or the girl was extremely jealous of Kristen’s good looks Nick believes. Soon afterward they left, which made the night more pleasant. When dinner finally arrived, we were horrified to see that they brought us enough food to serve a family of 12. We assumed when ordering that the portions would be equally as small and normal as they are in the rest of Asia. We couldn’t believe how much food there was. You could feed a small village, and unfortunately the wait staff didn’t have the common courtesy to inform us that we might be ordering just a little too much food. It was like being in America again! The final indignity was the bill. They actually had the gall to charge us over $300 Singapore dollars (equivalent to over $200US), which Nick reluctantly but dutifully paid. All this for a meal that we barely touched and was not worth the money. Lesson: Don’t eat dinner at Boat Quay - only have a few drinks. Go eat somewhere else.

Wednesday we made our way to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We decided it would be a very interesting side trip. It was only an hour flight from Singapore. Upon arriving in Malaysia and after making our way through customs, we found out it was a US$70 cab ride to the city with very few options otherwise. The airport is in the middle of nowhere. So, we took the cab ride, which is an hour away. Everything is very different in Kuala Lumpur. The country is mostly Islamic and the people are very conservative. However, we did find bars near the hotels probably to cater to the tourists because Islam forbids alcohol. Our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, was wonderful. No drums this time! They cater to your every whim as you arrive. They open every door for you, lead you up to your room, and make sure everything is perfect. The cost is of course apparent, and they do expect tips. However, it was a very plush room with a grand view of the Petronas Towers. It was wonderful and their swimming pool on the third floor was a rooftop pool with spectacular views of the city.

After settling in a bit, we walked over to the Petronas Towers to grab a bite to eat. We decided to grab some Malay food and ended up eating samosas and other very interesting desserts and foods, which we don’t know the names of, but were very good. The stores in the Petronas Towers mall were very upscale and expensive like in Taipei 101 with such stores as Hermes, Cartier, Bvlgari, etc. Very expensive and like Taipei 101, the affordable stores were on the very lowest level. Interesting layout. After walking around a bit, we decided to get out and see the city. Malaysia is another former British colony that was given back to the Malay people back in 1957 during a revolt. The city has a mostly Islamic influence, especially the architecture and the Islamic chanting during prayers, but still retains a bit of British colonial influence, especially near Merdeka Square. Merdeka Square is where the Sultan Abdul Samad Building is located, which is where the country was given back to the Malaysian people. The architecture is very interesting in this part of the city. Even though this influence exists, however, the city center is nothing but tall, modern skyscrapers. Very reminiscent of Chicago and Washington, DC alike with DC’s winding streets. We walked all around Kuala Lumpur and saw many historic and local sights, including Central Market, which is in their Chinatown. Central Market is a collection of mostly Chinese vendors in small stores selling every item imaginable. It was a hot day in the high 80’s and so we were tired to say the least. We ended up walking for over six hours that day, and tried to take a cab home but not one would stop for us. We couldn’t figure out if if was because we were foreigners or just on a busy road, but somehow we think it’s because the cabbies didn’t speak much English. So, needless to say, our walk home was slow and tiring, specifically because it was pouring outside. We were soaked walking back into the hotel. After changing, we dined at a nice Indonesian restaurant - a first for both of us. We really enjoyed the food. The food is a little spicy but otherwise it can't be described. You just have to taste it.

Thursday was a slow day in which Nick and I simply enjoyed the pool, shopped and ate dinner at the most excellent Indian food ever, next to Kristen’s friend Sunitha’s mother’s cooking. The spices were excellent and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was called Spice of India, and is highly recommended if anyone is ever in this part of the world. All in all, Malaysia is interesting and there was quite a bit we weren’t able to see because our trip was so short. If we ever are able to visit again, some of the outlying areas and states also have so much to see and do. It was a great side trip and we enjoyed the experience very much. Malaysia is a mix of Chinese, Indian and of course Islamic Malay people (who make up the majority of the population at about 60%). Again, the diversity was quite interesting and makes us miss home quite a bit. Kristen really wants to visit India after this trip!

Friday was mostly traveling for us - in and out of airports. However, a most welcome visitor met us from back home (temporarily residing in Okinawa, Japan) - our friend Mack. We took this weekend to show him around Taipei and had a blast in the process. It was nice to see a familiar face! Nick and Mack actually tried Chou Doufu (aka: Stinky Tofu). Nick says it was interesting! Stinky Tofu is a very local dish that we were afraid to try (and Kristen still won’t) that is famous for its horrendous smell. You can smell is from blocks away. It is tofu fermented over a period of time and the locals say it is so tasty. Nick says it was good. The closest smell would be stinky feet. One of our Taiwan guide books describes it as eating garlic ice cream over an open sewer. Not too far from the truth.

We enjoyed our vacation immensely. It is a blessing to be able to visit different cultures and places in the world. We are grateful to be here, and to have an opportunity to take in some sunshine and 80-degree weather during our otherwise cold and clammy 50-degree winter.

Take care of yourselves!
Nick and Kristen

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