syncopation

A tale of the plastic bag…

Once upon a time, a girl went to Singapore for the first time in her life and had pineapple juice that was served in a plastic bag that is secured with plastic strings as a handle on top of the bag. The idea of having drinks in a plastic bag was such a novel idea to her and she had been fascinated by the fact that you can drink out of a bag since then. And the experience of drinking out of a bag has burnt to her brain that every time she is in Singapore, she would look for plastic bag drinks.

In February 2009, she arrived Singapore for the fourth time. It has been such a long time ever since her last visit that a lot has changed in Singapore. However, she still remember one thing about Singapore – plastic bag drinks – therefore she was determined that she would have to have to drink out of plastic bag for at least once before she left the country again. Unfortunately, Singapore as a country has progressed so much that plastic cups have managed to take over the country. Plastic bag drinks have virtually disappeared in every single beverage stalls. She was in Singapore for only 5 days therefore she was very desperate to make her dream come true that everyday, she would remind her local Singapore friends and companion that she was looking for plastic bag drinks: on the first day, they were very amused by the fact. And on the second day, they were still quite keen in trying to fulfil her wish. And then the next day, they actually saw plastic bag drinks in Maxwell food centre when they were having chicken rice there however they were too full to buy the beverage. On the fourth day, they could not find any beverage stall that serves drinks in plastic bag every where they went and started to find the request irritating and even promised to send her plastic bags for her future birthday. *HINT HINT*

On the fifth day was when the girl and her travelling companion were going to leave Singapore. She almost gave up on the idea of having plastic bag drinks because in no less than 5 hours, she was going to have to be in the airport and there is no way there would be room for drinks without class in a world-class airport. However, after her local Singaporean friend took them to Killiney Kopitiam for their last Kopi and Kaya toast. They went to the tiny food centre next door to have roast chicken rice. The girl originally did not have her mind on the plastic bag at all, however, a guy from the beverage stall approached them and asked if they wanted anything to drink. She therefore accompanied her local friend to the beverage stall to order drinks and something caught her eye – a pile of plastic bag!!!!!!!!!! She was so happy and ordered an iced tea and specifically requested that it be served in a plastic bag even though they were meant to be for takeaway.

At last, their local friends were so relieved that she finally found her plastic bag drink and the girl left Singapore with no regrets.

La fin.

It’s been… 9 years!

Nikki had full-on uni this morning, so Peter showed us around this morning. We were already kinda late when we got out of the house. Just while Candy and I were trying to remember which way of the bus we should take, we already had our first obstacle – we didn’t know how to open the gate to get out of the property… so we ended up climbing the gate just like how Nikki showed us last night, only instead of climbing the gate from the outside, we are climbing the gate from the inside…

After meeting Peter at City Hall MRT station, he took us to walk through the Citylink Mall which connects Suntec City, Marina Square, the Esplanade, ad the City Hall underground while providing retail and dining opportunities. The walk was a total bliss given that the mall is air-conditioned (duh). While walking is not an issue for Hong Kong, it actually would be nice to have something like this in Causeway Bay – not that I cannot handle HK weather (well, sometimes I can’t) but the fact that an underground link like that could help easing the human congestion in Causeway Bay is enough of a reason for me to get this built. And I remember that an underground link was actually proposed in Causeway Bay before, I wonder why it didn’t get through… and ironically, the developer and owner of the Citylink Mall is actually Hongkong Land.

Anyways, we first went to Marina Square and had breakfast there in a fast-food shop which of course, I forgot the name of… Peter was really excited to show us their specialised dish – a rice paper roll that is called popiah but we were told it’s not served until 10 in the morning so now you know how early we met! After breakfast, we went to the Singapore Flyers – the Singapore equivalent of London Eye and Southern Star in Melbourne – loosely translated, it is an over-priced Ferris wheel. And Peter claim it’s even better up on UOB or the New Asia Bar of Swiss Hotel (hint!). But from my point of view, London Eye capsules look cooler than Singapore Flyer’s.

The Singapore Flyer

We continued to the famous durian! Personally I think that the building is very mocking… I mean, why durian out of all the fruits?! You just can’t help but relate to the fact that this country bans durians on MRT and the overwhelming availability of $1 durian ice-cream on the street. Granted, it’s a special design… but special design does not necessarily mean good-looking – it doesn’t look pretty under the sun light. It only looks nice when the sun is down and lights are coming out from it. However, if they are going for the wow-factor or depth of impression, then that’s another story… you can totally forget the name of it, as long as you tell your cab driver you want to go to the durian, they know what to do.

Singapore CBD Skyline on the way to the Esplanade

The durian! (Peter is displaying his discontent with the architecture by refusing to even open his eyes… ;))

Peter then took us across the green of Singapore Cricket Club (without knowing what it actually is) to the Supreme Court building that looks like an UFO. We originally decided to go into the building, but Peter figured we look too much like tourists so we wouldn’t be able to get in. And when we left, he decided that it’s a good idea to jaywalk across the road right in front of the Supreme Court. What he didn’t notice was across the road is actually the Parliament and there are several police standing right there… and I thought it was actually his attempt to get us into the Supreme Court. (I probably forgot to mention that it seems he has picked up jaywalking as a sport – he took us jaywalk across a 6-lane segregated carriageway the night before! I was mortified! What has Singapore done to you?!)

On the green of SCC

The must-take picture in S’pore

Before all of our stomachs started to growl, Peter also showed us the Fullerton Hotel, and walked along the Singapore river. He also took us to took the must-take picture in Singapore with Merlion (some how I think I had already took that picture a million times…), and showed us the air-con street that he had found before we reached the cooked food centre that Nikki recommended for lunch. We had minced pork noodle with supersized fish ball that is quite tasteless yet very bouncy…! Coupled with the ‘after lunch sydrome’, the hot weather of Singapore had really got to me: the ceiling fans weren’t really helping, and neither did the barley drinks helped. It felt so stuffy that I had to lie on the table for a while, but we eventually left because a lot of people were waiting for a table for lunch.

This street probably has the highest density of air-conditioning unit in the world

It’s bigger than my eyeball!

Continue reading…

The 4th time in Singapura

I swear I will never fly by budget airlines if the flight is more than 2 hour. I am annoyed by the fact that there is no in-town check-in even I went to the airport by airport express. I hate waiting in line for check-in because there is no online check-in. (Well, it might just be some of them because I remember I can even print my own boarding pass with EasyJet if I did not have any check-in luggage.) I hate getting into the bus to get to the plane. And I hate climbing up the stairs. Then there is no any kind of entertainment or food or beverage included with the price I paid for the ticket.

Anyway, so after the nearly-4-hour-flight, I finally touched down at Changi Airport for the fourth time. To be honest, I really can’t quite remember how Singapore is like. I know it’s an Island, I know how it is like to be there. But I can’t quite remember how it is from a macro point of view… or, aerially. I was so excited when I got off the plane and I ran off to the immigration counter (which by the way, conversed with me in Mandarin… thank god I went to Taiwan in November and still remember how to react), baggage claim and through the custom in whoop-speed as I couldn’t wait to meet Nikki, Candy and Peter again after such a long time. (Well, only Nikki, I guess ;))

We took a cab to Nikki’s place and on our way got the lecture of how Singaporeans are divided into TWO groups: the eastsiders and the westsiders. From what I’ve heard, the eastsiders claim that there is nothing to do on the west. And the people of each group both claim it takes too long and it’s too far to get to the other side… more explanation will be given in later entries…

While we were settling at Nikki’s, I told Nikki about all the things that I want to do in Singapore, including durian ice-cream, lohei, chili crab, chicken rice, and drinking colourful yakults and a plastic bag of pineapple juice. And on our way to the bus stop to take the bus no. 14 to City Hall to meet up with Sherman, Nikki already took us to satisfy my desire no. 1 – durian ice cream! It almost tastes exactly like frozen durian!

Enjoying durian gelato while waiting for the bus

When we got to City Hall MRT station and waiting to purchase the Ezylink card (equivalent of Octocpus, and Myki, that is, if it ever comes out), I bumped into the German couple that I have met while waiting to check-in in Hong Kong! Anyways, we then walked to Singapore Art Museum (aka SAM) where the NUS students didn’t have to pay a dime, while Candy and I needed to pay 4 bucks… They have a very good collection of Korean Modern Art and some other modern art exhibition going on. Personally I think I am more into Asian modern art than European modern art… or maybe I have just seen too much already of it last year… I am not saying the European modern art is bad – it’s actually very good… but there is just a click that I saw in Asian modern art but not in their European counterpart. By the way, the building of SAM was originally a primary school. How is possible for Singapore to retain nice historical buildings in the middle of the city but not in Hong Kong?

SAM!

Resting our tired feet…

After leaving SAM, we then went to China Town to have dinner at the whatever building that has a cooked food centre that I went to a million times in the past three times I went to Singapore. I really like these cooked food centres in Singapore: they are really local and cheap yet they are very clean and the food is very tasty. You just need to take a table, and then you can pick which ever dish from whichever store that you like within the centre. There is totally no pressure, no pretentious atmosphere… We ordered fish, chili fried clams, clay pot rice (a total different story to HK style, if you are asking), stingray, and lohei! The lohei was my first one and was quite an experience. I think it is only available in Singapore and Malaysia. It is basically a salad that is only available in Chinese New Year period. Apparently you have to say some specific CNY greeting phrase while adding each specific ingredients. And you need to keep saying these greeting words while mixing the ingredients. I will show you later on video…

Lohei :D

Singaporean-style clay pot rice

Originally Peter wanted to take Candy and I to Zouk for party because of lady’s night. But we lastly resorted to Clarke Quay for a drink. To me, Clarke Quay somehow resembles Sydney’s Darling Harbour but Nikki thinks there are more happenings in Clarke Quay which to a certain extent is true… We also saw/get to know the bridge to the international/exchnge students in Singapore – Kaho, you have no idea how many friends that Peter has got in S’pore, I think he knows the entire bridge… We finally settled at the Clinic which is a hospital-themed bar that is located right next to the water fountain in the Clarke Quay and under the canopy. (And speaking of the canopy, its supporting structure certainly reminds me of Sherman’s dirty mind…) Going back to the bar, the Clinic uses gurney as sofas and wheelchair as chairs. They also have over-priced drinks that serve in syringes or an IV-bag. (Don’t worry, it goes into your mouth, not to your blood stream) Not having big bucks in our pocket, we resorted to normal cocktails and regular beer but their cocktail was disappointing, they all kinda taste like… medicine… maybe that’s why they called the clinic? Nicely disguised…

Under the canopy of Clarke Quay

Cheers!

A glimpse of the Clarke Quay