Singapore sling

---

- FOOD: EXCELLENT plane food; cheap noodles at one of the MANY roadside cafes; huge grapefruit type fruit; a tea brewing ceremony; egg brewed in tea for 8 hours; mooncakes; hot chicken curry; sweet, bright pink cakes made from almond, cashew and coconut; Gulam Jamun - a ball of cream cheese in a pot of syrup.


- PEOPLE: Polite and friendly. The whole population eating on the roadside. Nepalese man at a temple giving me orchids for good luck.

- AREA: So smart and clean. High rise, modern tower blocks with greenery surrounding them; space age CBD; wide lanes of traffic; narrow streets of Chinatown; Little India; temples and mosques galore; Chinese Heritage Centre. Easy to use train system. Lovely, clinical feel hostel. Safe feel.

- WEATHER: Some grey sky but oh my god, how very HOT it is here.


Tue 13th Sep: My suspicions about my bag weights were confirmed at the airport. I'm carrying around 26 kilos in total now. No wonder my back aches!
The plane ride was good and the food fantastic - lemon chicken with fragrant rice, fresh salad, coconut pannacotta, cheese and biscuits, wine...
But the film showing was 'The Longest Yard', that crap one I saw in NZ, instead of Mr and Mrs Smith damn.

I decided to take the MRT rather than the easy taxi option. Found it eventually and stepped onto the air conditioned, smart train.
My first impression of Singapore was how clean it is. The train passed lots of high rise colourful tower blocks with pretty temples dotted in between and lots of trees. The sky was grey but it was SO hot.

The main island is only 26 miles by 14 miles. Singapore consists of 63 other islands. Legend has it that a Sumatran prince visited the island of Temasek and spotted a lion while sheltering from a storm. He considered this to be good luck and so founded a city there - 'Singapura' which means 'Lion City'. In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles made Singapore part of the British Empire but this ended at the end of WWII.

I found my way easily to where I wanted to be and found a hostel that was more like a hotel with a nice lift man. The 4 bed dorm had a huge TV and a sink with a free toothbrush with paste already in it! COOL. It seemed very clinical - a bit like Singapore generally really.

I went out to explore and realised that everyone eats on the streets. There's hardly any room to walk on the pavements as they are so choc-a-bloc with people eating. I chose one that had a very friendly waiter and attempted to eat noodles with chopsticks without slobbering everywhere. How nice to be back in a cheap country - 1 pound for a dinner with soup.

The roads are very wide and there's a lot of traffic. I'd read that along with it being illegal to throw rubbish on the ground, it's also illegal to jay walk. Frustrating as after waiting for about an hour, the green man appears for 5 seconds only. As English is an official language in this highly developed Asian country, I had no problems being understood. I love the feel of it here - very safe and friendly. I felt fine walking around in the dark.


Wed 14th: I caught the MRT to Chinatown to do some sightseeing. Chinese make up 77% of the population here (Malay 14% and Indian 8%).
I passed the Great Southern Hotel, built in 1927 and where the high society used to live it up. Next door is the Tin Yin Dance Stage (now the Majestic) which was also built by the tycoon Eu Tong Sen. Quite sweet really - he built it for his wife as she was refused entry into the other opera house.
I walked down Pagoda Street which is narrow, mad and full of tack - interesting, colourful tack though.

Then off to my first of many Asian temples - Sri Mariamman. It's Singapore's oldest Hindu temple, built in 1827 and dedicated to the Mother Godess who used her powers to heal the Indian immigrants. The gopuram tower is beautiful - full of colour and detailed sculptures of gods, goddesses and mythical creatures. Two Chinese windows allowed Chinese devotees to pray from outside. Inside, the ceiling is painted and there are lots of statues and sculptured domes in the primary colours. So much to look at but I liked the cows all along the edge the best.
Whilst I was there, a drum beat and a trumpet got going as people came to pray to the Elephant goddess with candles. Of course, there were lots of bloody tourists who appeared at this point and stood in the areas it said not to. The temple had a really nice, relaxed, open feel to it - much nicer than all the cathedrals I visited in South America!

The Masjid Jamae mosque is next door and is a mixture of East and West - built by the guy who built the original Parliament House.
After a spot of lunch in the madness of Pagoda St, I visited the Chinese Heritage Centre. 3 stories of history about the Chinese who arrived in Singapore in 1819 by junk. The journey was bad and many died. Those who survived the journey rushed straight to the temples to give their thanks. The rich arrived in Singapore first, followed by the poor. The people consisted of many races and dialects - Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese and Teochew were all split into different areas. There was no water in the houses so a cart came along spraying it out for them to catch in buckets. Clan associates were set up to help people settle in but gambling, secret societies, opium use, prostitution and drinking all set in.

Each shophouse has a covered 5 foot walkway where business was carried out and by night, the streets were like a big playground. Multistories were built as the cubicles in shophouses became more squashed - the museum had examples of such squashed cubicles. You certainly couldn't fit a 6 foot Westerner in one!

I carried on walking, past Sago Lane which was nicknamed Death Street as this is where people were brought to die. Now I would nickname it 'Nothing Street' as nothing is there!
Trengganu Street used to be 'Japanese Street' from all the Japanese prostitutes that worked there. I call it 'Huge fruit that tastes of grapefruit' Street as that's all that's being sold down it.

I rested in an enchanting shop called 'Tea Chapter' which our Queen has visited. The traditional art of making tea Chinese style is practised here. I took my shoes off and sat on a cushion around a small table where I studied the menu of a million different types of tea. Each tea has to be brewed and poured correctly - a little ceremony is performed. I chose Red Tea which has to be brewed to a certain temperature before pouring - one of the simpler ceremonies. Oolong tea is the most complicated and the first brew can't be drunk.
The very polite waiter warmed up my fragrance cup and drinking cup first before performing the tea ceremony. It was good.

It helped to wash down a mooncake which is used to celebrate the current Moon Festival which takes place when the moon is at it's maximum brightness.
The legend surrounding this comes from ancient times when 10 suns appeared in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns and once he'd done this, the Goddess of Western Heaven gave him a pill that would make him immortal. His wife found and took it and so was banished to the moon. Her beauty is at it's greatest on the day of the Moon Festival when she comes out to dance on the moon's surface.

Another little culinary delight I tried was an egg that had been brewed in tea for 8 hours. It was so nice but the man didn't tell me the other secret ingrediants to it's flavour.
I briefly visited the Sin Chor Kung Temple which has 2 carved lions wearing red ribbons for good luck and prosperity at it's entrance; Thian Hock Keng Temple (oldest and most important Hokkien temple) which was built by immigrants from China and Malaya as a place to give thanks for the safe journey across the dangerous seas. It had a very detailed roof and painted statues around the edge with the story behind each. The main icon is Ma Cha Po who is the goddess of the seafarers. A Nepalese man approached me while I was there and gave me 3 orchids - just for good luck, no other reason. How sweet.

Next door to this temple is Telok Ayer Green - an area full of seats and trees, away from the manicness.
After my exhausting day, I checked out Little India for dinner. There wasn't a menu so I just asked for chicken curry - it arrived with lots of vegetables and dips. Yummy but VERY hot!


Thur 15th: After visiting Chinatown yesterday, I decided to visit Little India today. The market and surrounding streets are full of flower garlands, Hindi pop songs, Bollywood film music, sari material and gold bangles. In Tekka market I found the stall I was looking for and purchased sweet cakes made from almond, cashew and coconut. One was bright pink and they were all tasty. I also tried gulam Jamun which is a ball of cream cheese in a pot of syrup.

I passed by the Masjid Abdul Gafoor mosque which has the only sundial in the Islamic world (25 rays represent 25 chosen prophets) and the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple (1855 dedicated to Kali, Goddess of Power). I stopped for a lassi to get over my disappointment at not being about to get my fortune told by a parrot as they were filming - men were sat in front of the parrot with shoes in their hands for some strange reason.

Then I checked out the opposite side to Singapore - the modern, space age side. I caught the MRT to the Singapore river and walked past the Supreme Court, Old Parliament House, St Andrew's Cathedral (all white and stunning - it looks like something from a fairy tale), Raffles Hotel and the Esplanade Opera House (Singapore's version of Sydney's which looks like spiked golf balls). There is an area of green by the Esplanade which holds few monuments. One is a monument dedicated to the INA (helped to liberate India from the British) - the good old Brits took it upon themselves to destroy the monument shortly after it's erection.
This part of town looks very technological, clean and possibly more developed even than London. Oh, and I saw a stall outside Raffles selling very expensive CHAMPAGNE mooncakes!

I made my way to the airport, slightly worried about the cheap air ticket I'd found on the Tiger Airways website which was only 20 quid. But it was fine - basically the Asian version of EasyJet. No-one is allocated a seat so everyone does the bundling thing and you don't get food served. But all good and I definitely recommend it as the cheapest way to get from Singapore to Bangkok!

My time in Singapore was short but very sweet. The people are very polite and friendly and there aren't any sellers in your face. With it's modern architecture and wealthiness it was a very good introduction to Asia!

---

Photos

Where high society used to live it up
Great Southern Hotel

Some of the many colourful buildings here
Pagoda Street, Chinatown

Such lovely detail
Sri Mariamman temple

Spiky golf balls
Esplanade Opera House

Fairy tale castle
St Andrew's Cathedral