Singapore

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Hello all.

The past 2.5 days have been expensive but jam packed with interesting stuff! We have been doing a lot of exploring around the city of Singapore and I have learnt so much just in the past couple of days about this country.

So how can I describe this city?!

First of all - the national passion is shopping. There are shopping malls EVERYWHERE. I've never seen anything quite like it. I don't understand how ppl can shop so continuously and passionately! The shops are always chock full of ppl buying up a storm!

Secondly, it's an hodgepodge of cultures, religions, ethnicities and architecture. There are three main peoples of the Lion's City - Malays, Chinese and Indians. Like all cities, there are ethnic areas where there are certain shops and food. Similarly in Singapore, there is Arab street, Little India, Chinatown, etc etc. I've explored them all on foot or with the sightseeing tour we went on today.

The interesting thing is about this city is that the different ethnic areas are themselves not just concentrations of only Indian people, but a mix of all ppl. For example, in Little India, there is an Anglican church, a couple of mosques, Hindu temples, etc. The crazy thing is - is that 86% of the people live in government flats that the government controls - SO when ppl want to rent a flat it is assigned to them by the government so each high rise has equal proportions of Malays, Chinese and Indians. Crazy eh? ALSO - I learnt that because land is so scarce (Singapore is a tiny island trying to hold 5 million ppl), you can't get your own flat unless you're married (there aren't enough flats for single ppl). So, if you want to live on your own and not marry, you have to live w/ your parents until you're 35, and THEN you can get your own flat via the government. crazy!

The other thing about housing that I learnt was that b/c the land is so scarce, they are reclaiming land i.e. they are building land where naturally there is water. How? I have no idea but the houses on this land is INSANELY expensive - like a normal house is something like 60 million Singapore dollars ($1.3 S = $1.0 C).

So what else - I went to the best museum yesterday which was called the Asian Civilizations Museum which you could've spent a whole entire day at. It covered every Asian culture/civilization from BC to present, including galleries about the performing arts, religions, cultural practices, etc. of seemingly missions of different ppls. I was totally overwhelmed but loved it. I learnt even more about Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism. It's so interesting.

The other fun thing Tory and I did together last night was we went to a Night Safari at the Singapore zoo. It was actually really fun. You drove around in this tram and got to learn about and see all of these weird and different nocturnal animals from around the world, but mostly from Asia and SE Asia. My favourite animal was called a mouse deer. It was so weird! haah it was tiny - like a mouse (actually the size of a small cat) but it looked just like a deer with hooves and everything. Bizzare!

Today and tonight, we signed up for sightseeing tours around the city which was really fun to explore places that were too far to walk to. Tonight, we even went to the red light district and walked around - prostitution is legal here and there were lots of middle aged men, budget hotels and 'streetwalkers' all over the place. eeeeeeeeeeep.

Oh! Since there is such an array of cultures, the food here is incredible. We've eaten some very different things - the best was last night, Tory and I went to a Chinese place where there is this massive buffet of every kind of food possible including things like stomach, intestine, every type of seafood, mutton, fish, etc etc and you cook it yourself at your table in this pan of sauce on a hot plate. My sauce was so spicy, I bawled the whole meal. I must've been quite the spectacle! haha Tonight, I ate my weight in chapati, naan bread and curried lentils in Little India (which by the way mom, was FULL of crazy fabrics and sequins - way more than Gerrard street!). When my food came, I was given a banana leaf, my breads and little pots of vegetables and lentils. I thought my banana leaf was a placemat b/c it was so big so I was wondering where my plate was when I realized by watching the man beside me that you dump everything onto the banana leaf and mop it all up w/ the chapati and naan. It was delicious!

Ok - so I must get going. I'm at the hostel where there is free internet but there is a big line and so I should let someone else have a turn. Tomorrow - we head out early on the bus to Kuala Lampur, the capital of Malaysia. I'm not sure how long we'll be there for but I will write again soon and hopefully put up pictures. This computer is not liking my camera!

Much love to everyone.
Email me!
Celia
xoxo

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