Singapore Tour: Newton Circus, Durians, et al.
The last week in Singapore saw us doing these...
Eating at Newton Circus twice. Once with the kiddies and the next with a friend from Colorodo who were in town for business.
Seen on the pictures: Indian Noodle Soup, and Roy trying to eat his Vegetarian Murtabak "locally", i.e using fingers. We also had Butter Crayfish, Sambal Stingray and Baby Kailan. Despite it's new location and a probable change of hands of tenants, the food at Newton remains divinely delicious and cheap.
Durians. It was hillarious watching Roy eating them for the first time.
I couldn't help taking a video to capture his expression. Watch the
video (2.2mb, 1m1s) to see and hear what Roy said about his first durian experience.
He also said that durians tasted better than they smell, and always thought the flesh was hard like apples due to it's smooth and shiny texture. So now he knows what Durians are like and thought it was fun experiencing eating in front of my family who went all the way to Geylang to get the fruit. But he wouldn't want to eat them again the next time.
Lazing around by the pool.
Drinking cocktails and listening to the piano playing live at the hotel Lobby Court.
Walking along Orchard and immersed ourselves in the Christmas lights.
I think the best design goes to Tangs.
Watching movies is also a top priority for us in Singapore as movie scenes in Japan is rather pathetic, at least as far as English movies are concerned. We managed to watch five movies in two weeks as oppose to typically one a month in Japan, the second largest economy in the world. This is largely due to translation processes that could take months before any English movies hit the theatres. When blockbusters are way over and printed onto DVDs, Japan is just about to show them. There are exceptions such as Memoirs of a Geisha which was re-titled "Sayuri" by the way, but these are rare.
So we've watched King Kong, History of Violence, Wallace and Gromit, The Dark and Derailed. Roy and I love movies and they were a given in Singapore.
And of course shopping. Though the post Christmas sale was all over town, I only got myself t-shirts from Giordano. I wasn't so keen when I went into the various Mango and Zara stores. The colours were too dull for my liking and the season's collection were a bit of a bore.
Two and half weeks came and went so quickly when you were having a good time. We didn't look forward to going back to Japan due to several reasons. I've heard too often of how boring Singapore is, but how can it be boring when you have decent bookshops like Borders to browse at, different version of coffee outlets you can choose from, efficient and inexpensive train, bus and taxi fares, loads of good and dirt cheap food of many different varieties, movies, clean, safe and a whole lot of other things.
The notion that Singapore is so small and so crowded is nothing compared to Tokyo, or even Kobe. Singapore is a small country. Once you've been there, you've seen everything. Well, it's better than seeing nothing. Singapore may lack snow capped mountains, rolling green hills, and will never come close to the glamorous city of Paris, but it is equally modern and highly successful considering it's size and short history of independence. The grass is always greener for most people, but life is what you make of it. To some, Singapore has no identity, no soul and pretentious. I agree but only to a certain degree. You can be living in the most desired places in the world, but in reality there is no such place as perfect. I've been there and done that. If you are lucky to have found that dream place to settle in without any major problems and be happy for the rest of your life, I say good for you.
I felt relaxed in Singapore not because it was home but it's more of the feeling that it seemed less rushed and Singaporeans don't look as miserable as where I currently live in which everyone is uptight about everything. Singaporeans may not smile enough and there are weirdoes whom you want to avoid (it's the same everywhere) , but believe me there are other places worse than that.
Admittedly there were sales staff in Singapore who shouldn't be sales staff. If they are very unhappy about their boring job, no one is stopping them from doing something else that's more fun and meaningful instead of ignoring customers and pretend to be working while looking miserable.
And then there were people who have no qualms about staring at you especially by some men and I suspected the fact that I was with Roy. If Roy happens to be and look Singaporean, they would continue staring into space.
There are many other things I could moan about such as politics, but what's the point when politics itself is never honest anyway, even in the most developed nations.
Weather-wise, there is nothing anybody could do about the humidity, but there are Singaporeans who still choose to wear the most impractical of clothing. Fashion victims looked really daft wearing knee-high boots in summer Singapore.
We were taken really good care by my family and Mum never tires herself cooking a storm in the kitchen. The kiddies were a great bunch of, well, kids and wished I had more time to teach them how to use software applications. Soon after school started, they were given homework and I helped them as much as I could. I wondered about the calibre of some teachers when Asyraaf was taught to spell fourteen as "forteen, because you spell forty without a "u". Total bollocks! If that's the case do you also spell "four" without a "u" too?
I also noticed how wrong some words were pronounced and felt sorry for them because no one is to there to correct their mistakes since teachers themselves are equally wrong. So what does that tell you about the standard of English in Singapore? On top of that, some teachers are also bullies and tend to pick on a students about something that has got nothing to do with education.
Anyway, the end of our trip came. To be honest, it was rather sad saying good bye to my family at the airport. Roy and I had a smashing time in Singapore and like most holidays you can never do everything.The things I would miss most would be food. Every morning for breakfast I stuffed my face with Nasi Lemak, Roti Prata, Rice Congee, Carrot Cakes, and whatever you can name that is typically Singaporean. The Swissotel offered superb and mouth-watering breakfast buffet. I am going to miss those.
That's the end of our Singapore Tour 2005 /2006.
We'll be back!
Japan, Singapore, Travel, Video
Eating at Newton Circus twice. Once with the kiddies and the next with a friend from Colorodo who were in town for business.
Seen on the pictures: Indian Noodle Soup, and Roy trying to eat his Vegetarian Murtabak "locally", i.e using fingers. We also had Butter Crayfish, Sambal Stingray and Baby Kailan. Despite it's new location and a probable change of hands of tenants, the food at Newton remains divinely delicious and cheap.
Durians. It was hillarious watching Roy eating them for the first time.
I couldn't help taking a video to capture his expression. Watch the
video (2.2mb, 1m1s) to see and hear what Roy said about his first durian experience.He also said that durians tasted better than they smell, and always thought the flesh was hard like apples due to it's smooth and shiny texture. So now he knows what Durians are like and thought it was fun experiencing eating in front of my family who went all the way to Geylang to get the fruit. But he wouldn't want to eat them again the next time.
Lazing around by the pool.
Drinking cocktails and listening to the piano playing live at the hotel Lobby Court.
Walking along Orchard and immersed ourselves in the Christmas lights.
I think the best design goes to Tangs.
Watching movies is also a top priority for us in Singapore as movie scenes in Japan is rather pathetic, at least as far as English movies are concerned. We managed to watch five movies in two weeks as oppose to typically one a month in Japan, the second largest economy in the world. This is largely due to translation processes that could take months before any English movies hit the theatres. When blockbusters are way over and printed onto DVDs, Japan is just about to show them. There are exceptions such as Memoirs of a Geisha which was re-titled "Sayuri" by the way, but these are rare.
So we've watched King Kong, History of Violence, Wallace and Gromit, The Dark and Derailed. Roy and I love movies and they were a given in Singapore.
And of course shopping. Though the post Christmas sale was all over town, I only got myself t-shirts from Giordano. I wasn't so keen when I went into the various Mango and Zara stores. The colours were too dull for my liking and the season's collection were a bit of a bore.
Two and half weeks came and went so quickly when you were having a good time. We didn't look forward to going back to Japan due to several reasons. I've heard too often of how boring Singapore is, but how can it be boring when you have decent bookshops like Borders to browse at, different version of coffee outlets you can choose from, efficient and inexpensive train, bus and taxi fares, loads of good and dirt cheap food of many different varieties, movies, clean, safe and a whole lot of other things.
The notion that Singapore is so small and so crowded is nothing compared to Tokyo, or even Kobe. Singapore is a small country. Once you've been there, you've seen everything. Well, it's better than seeing nothing. Singapore may lack snow capped mountains, rolling green hills, and will never come close to the glamorous city of Paris, but it is equally modern and highly successful considering it's size and short history of independence. The grass is always greener for most people, but life is what you make of it. To some, Singapore has no identity, no soul and pretentious. I agree but only to a certain degree. You can be living in the most desired places in the world, but in reality there is no such place as perfect. I've been there and done that. If you are lucky to have found that dream place to settle in without any major problems and be happy for the rest of your life, I say good for you.
I felt relaxed in Singapore not because it was home but it's more of the feeling that it seemed less rushed and Singaporeans don't look as miserable as where I currently live in which everyone is uptight about everything. Singaporeans may not smile enough and there are weirdoes whom you want to avoid (it's the same everywhere) , but believe me there are other places worse than that.
Admittedly there were sales staff in Singapore who shouldn't be sales staff. If they are very unhappy about their boring job, no one is stopping them from doing something else that's more fun and meaningful instead of ignoring customers and pretend to be working while looking miserable.
And then there were people who have no qualms about staring at you especially by some men and I suspected the fact that I was with Roy. If Roy happens to be and look Singaporean, they would continue staring into space.
There are many other things I could moan about such as politics, but what's the point when politics itself is never honest anyway, even in the most developed nations.
Weather-wise, there is nothing anybody could do about the humidity, but there are Singaporeans who still choose to wear the most impractical of clothing. Fashion victims looked really daft wearing knee-high boots in summer Singapore.
We were taken really good care by my family and Mum never tires herself cooking a storm in the kitchen. The kiddies were a great bunch of, well, kids and wished I had more time to teach them how to use software applications. Soon after school started, they were given homework and I helped them as much as I could. I wondered about the calibre of some teachers when Asyraaf was taught to spell fourteen as "forteen, because you spell forty without a "u". Total bollocks! If that's the case do you also spell "four" without a "u" too?
I also noticed how wrong some words were pronounced and felt sorry for them because no one is to there to correct their mistakes since teachers themselves are equally wrong. So what does that tell you about the standard of English in Singapore? On top of that, some teachers are also bullies and tend to pick on a students about something that has got nothing to do with education.
Anyway, the end of our trip came. To be honest, it was rather sad saying good bye to my family at the airport. Roy and I had a smashing time in Singapore and like most holidays you can never do everything.The things I would miss most would be food. Every morning for breakfast I stuffed my face with Nasi Lemak, Roti Prata, Rice Congee, Carrot Cakes, and whatever you can name that is typically Singaporean. The Swissotel offered superb and mouth-watering breakfast buffet. I am going to miss those.
That's the end of our Singapore Tour 2005 /2006.
We'll be back!
Japan, Singapore, Travel, Video
posted by Wati at 12:50 PM
1 Comments:
Roy was so brave with the durian! And I don't blame him at all for passing next time.
I'm becoming more and more appalled all the time with the English standards here, so I'm glad to hear it's not just me. I tried very hard to accept Singaporean English as just another version of English, like British English differs from American English, which differs from Australian English, but there's just so much that is out and out incorrect, and no one seems to care.
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