Friday, June 25, 2010

Singapura, City of Love: Or, Sunset at Clarke Quay: Or, In Which I Fall in Love With the City

NOTE: I recommend you turn up the brightness on your computer screen - the pictures are kind of dark. Also, remember that you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

It's amazing how much differently you experience a city when you're aimless and alone. Today, I went souvenir shopping in Chinatown with a group of friends. Around 6:30, they decided to head to Little India for dinner, but I wasn't hungry, so I decided to head back to the dorm.

At first, I felt odd being alone. I didn't want to go straight back to the dorm: I was out and about, and it felt like a shame to simply return to my room and close myself in. I didn't know what to do, though - I wasn't hungry, I didn't have a notebook or a book, or anything to use as an excuse for just sitting down somewhere. So I walked towards the metro station and decided that if I saw something worth seeing, I'd stop. Soon, I embraced the idea of rambling aimlessly, and I felt it embrace me, and it actually felt relieving to not have to keep up a conversation or worry about negotiating the next destination. It's amazing how much more you see when you're not focused on the people you're with.

I came to the riverfront (remember the pictures from a few posts ago?) and looked around. Which way to go? To my right, the newly-constructed, just-opened-yesterday Marina Bay Sands resort (the three buildings with the giant ship on top of them - see: Day Four: Scavenger Hunt, Part II) stood against the mauve-streaked sky. The river glistened like melted pennies, and the buildings of the colonial district (see: Tuesday, the 8th: Parts I & II) peeked out from the opposite bank.

I took an underpass tunnel to my left to cross under a busy road. An old, bearded man sat on a seat inside, playing some sort of flute. For a moment, his wistful, melancholy airs were the only sound, and it was like the city outside the underpass ceased to be.

Then I emerged on the other side of the road, now opposite Clarke Quay (my favorite place ever - because of its name, of course). The sun was setting behind the skyscrapers and pastel storefronts, and the indigo clouds twinkled with gold and pink splashes. There were people everywhere: waterside restaurants buzzed with early evening guests, corny music played over sporadically placed speakers, people screamed as the Reverse Bungy (see upper-right corner of the picture below) catapulted them into the air. People lined the quay, watching the bungy riders and waving at the tour boats as they passed.


There were families, couples, friends, loners, locals, tourists, expats, Chinese, Caucasians, Indians, Malays, adults, children, and everything in between sitting on the concrete steps leading up from the water. Some were reading, some were talking, some were photographing with big, trendy cameras, and some were just sitting, like me. Both sides of the river were teeming with conviviality and that warm, orangey-pink feeling that always seems to accompany waterside sunsets.

The weather was perfect - humidity was low and there was the subtlest of breezes. It was the kind of warm that's so pleasant, you don't even notice it unless you make a point to think about it. Two Chinese women next to me snapped pictures of themselves with their phones. An Indian couple on my right shared a meal and waved at the people on the tour boats. A young, trendy Chinese guy in skinny jeans and wielding an SLR kept repositioning himself and peering through his lens. Two little girls talked and giggled, teasing each other. A 30-something white man sat reading a book, looking up from time to time.

This was the backdrop, and it was more than romantic - even for a single guy all by himself. It was mellow and peaceful at the same time that it was lively and vibrant. It was soft and warm and welcoming, like a kind smile or a hand on your back.

And this is when I definitively fell in love with Singapore.

Sunday, the 13th: Singaporean Homestay III - Din Tai Fung & Botanics

We woke up on Sunday after our late-night sleepover and Lydia took us to one of her favorite restaurants, Din Tai Fung. This was and to this day still is, hands down, the best meal I've eaten here. If this changes, I'll be sure to let you know, but as of now, it is still uncontested. Let me try to explain everything we ate.

^^ Shrimp fried rice...but it was not anything like American fried rice, and was very eggy, moist, and delectable.
^^ The two dishes from which people are getting food are essentially like chicken noodle soup, but not as salty. The chicken tray in between those is "drunk chicken." It is cooked in wine and tastes like it. It was a very interesting flavor combination.

These delicious dumplings (I don't even know what the real name for them is) were sort of the centerpiece of the meal. They are just thin dough dumplings surrounding shredded meat and soup, but I can't even describe to you how incredible they are! You have to pick them up carefully, because if you break the dough, the soup will spill everywhere!
Our chopstick skills definitely got put to the test! And Lydia, Aaron, and Andre had a lot of fun laughing at our failed attempts!
And then there were also dumplings filled with sweet red bean paste for dessert! Abby and Lacy and I all agree that these are our single favorite dish in Singapore, and continue to crave them!

After lunch, we headed to the Singapore Botanical Gardens. *Interesting tidbit* the gardens and the malls around them are a popular hangout for maids on Sundays. Many, many middle-to-upper-class Singaporean families have a maid, and Sunday is usually their only day off. Consequently, a lot of Singaporeans try to steer clear of these "maid hotspots" on Sundays. Anyway, the gardens were lovely, but it looked like it was going to start raining and Abby and Lacy and I had a test to study for, so Aaron and Lydia drove us back to PGP around 3.

And thus concluded a fantastic homestay experience! We really hope we get to see Lydia and her family again sometime before we leave Singapore!

Saturday the 12th, Part II: Singaporean Homestay II - The Two Singaporean Pastimes

After sitting around and talking of many things, we went out to enjoy the two Singaporean pastimes: eating and shopping! Lydia's house is really close to Orchard Road (remember I said that this is like the Champs Élysées of Singapore) and all of the "popular," "trendy" shopping places in Singapore.

Far East Plaza, which is essentially a mall. I bought a green polo shirt.
Lydia tried to feed us fried mars bars. They were sickening.
A Trendy candy shop! Lydia insisted on buying us macaroons, even though we were all so full!
Ion on Orchard - one of the swankiest malls in Singapore!
^^ Food court
^^ Just some food shop near the food court. I know it sounds stupid and closed-minded of me, but it was kind of surprising to see this in one of Singapore's ritziest malls.
^^ Oh yeah, soy sauce!
^^ A 3-storey escalator!
^^ Entrance to the men's bathroom (or "Gents," as they call it here)

After shopping, we went back to the house to "clean up" and change for church. Then we headed out for evening mass. The service was not really much different from most church services I've been to in my life. Here's a picture of us with the priest!

After church, we went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant where we ate "family style" (but it's called "Dim Sum" in Chinese). It was one of the top 3 meals I've eaten while here.
We had dessert afterwards. I'm still not exactly sure what it was...it was simply called "Green Bean," but it didn't look or taste like a green bean. It was pretty good, but not very sweet and kind of strange.

After dinner, we just went home and hung out the rest of the night, talking and laughing harder than I've laughed in a long time. It was very low-key and a ton of fun! I'll post another post soon that gives more details.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Saturday the 12th, Part I: Singaporean Homestay I - New Family, New Home!

I know I keep saying this about different things, but this was one of the best experiences I've had so far! Everyone from our group was put in groups of 2 or 3 and assigned to a homestay family. The families were friends and relatives of our Singaporean student leader, Hui Qian (hopefully you remember her and how to pronounce her name, because she's just going to continue popping up in these posts).

I was teamed up with two girls named Abby and Lacy and assigned to Hui Qian's cousin, Lydia. Here's our happy homestay family! (Also, note the trendy gray shirt I bought in the Arab Quarter for only US$21!)

From left to right: Lydia (18), me, Abby, Lacy, Aaron (21), Andre (16)

Essentially, we just hung out, shopped, and ate. They picked us up from PGP around 10 Saturday morning and took us to this delicious bakery called "Provence." The bread was amazing.














After breakfast, we went to our new home to look around and drop off our stuff!

^^ Home!
^^ Neighbourhood
^^ I got to play the piano for the first time in two weeks!
^^ Andre's room, where I slept.
^^ Lydia's room, where the girls slept.
^^ What a neat chair!
^^ Neighbourhood
^^ Me and Lydia in front of the house!