Day Four: Scavenger Hunt, Part I

So on Friday we went on a scavenger hunt. Our Singaporean student guide designed it for us and got some of her friends to be our facilitators. She split us into groups and gave us clues, from which we had to deduce where in the city to go. We then had to use Google maps and other websites to plot our course (via public transport) to each location. At each location, we had a task to complete. The facilitator went with us to make sure we didn't get lost and didn't cheat.

It was the most fun thing we had done thus far because it got us into parts of the city we probably wouldn't have otherwise seen, and it was a ton of fun. Our group was not too competitive, so we spent a lot of time exploring each location and having fun, which was really the point.

And now, without further ado, the pictures! Here is our group!

From left to right, back row first: Me, Kristine, Kelsey, Jocelyn, Devika, Abby, Dave

Task 1: The National Library

This is only about half of the library! It is too big to easily photograph. It is not ALL library, though. It also houses various concert halls and auditoriums for dance, theater, and musical performances. Nonetheless, it's a very daunting building!

Here we are in front of the signs!

The actual task was to locate a certain book and find a message hidden within. It was neat and tricky, but it took too long, so our facilitator just gave us the answer :-) It was neat to traverse the stacks, though.

Task 2: Toa Payoh

(pronounced, roughly, "tuh-pie-oh")

Toa Payoh is an "HDB community." HDB = Housing Development Board, and it is Singapore's government agency which builds, owns, rents, and sells flats to 85% of the population. It is the most effective public housing scheme in the world, and while it has its fair share of downsides, I'll leave it at that for now.

Each community is sort of like a little town in and of itself. There are, of course, flats (which comprise the majority of these imposing high-rises - Singaporeans like to say they own air instead of land), but there are also lots of shops, both beneath the flats as well as in the surrounding area. This was the first time any of us had been in and around a housing area, and it was clear that this WAS a residential area - you could see people standing around talking, eating, buying things, relaxing. It was a different side of Singapore, and we all really enjoyed it.

Alongside the high-rise flats, there was this street of little shops. They sold all sorts of things from clothes, DVDs, fruit, ice cream, coffee, meals, shoes, purses, electronics, etc. It was a really neat place to meander around.

Our task in Toa Payoh was to find this ice cream stall, buy $1 ice cream, and take a picture of ourselves eating it. What fun! The ice cream was, as mentioned, only about 71 US cents, and it was a block of ice cream between two wafers. Delicious!