Sleepless In Singapore: Pulau Ubin

Jan 27, 2008

On Jan 20, we went to this island near Singapore called Pulau Ubin. The word "Pulau" in malay apparently means Island and "Ubin" is Granite. It was organized by a group of students/alumni for exchange students. They announce and promote all their events through facebook and I guess it is working fairly well.. It forced everyone who doesn't have facebook to cave in and get an account; great advertising for facebook! They created an event for this and only 25 ppl were allowed.. But the interesting part was that those who said would show up on fb didnt show up and random ppl who never said anything in fb did. There were about 35 ppl and only about 2 group leaders.. They couldn't keep track of the people and overall, it was poorly organized. Nonetheless everyone saw all that there is to see in the island.

We had to rent a bike and the whole island is basically a trail and some dilapidated houses (there was a village there, but I suppose only a few live there now). But it is a place to see for nature lovers and adventurers. You get to see all kinds of random animals and plants. Like very little crabs running around everywhere, a durian like fruit growing at the bottom of a tree, tadpoles, etc. We took the bike and went around the island until we got to this point where there is a beach, but we were not allowed to go there because people were doing some biological exploration there. It was more like a swamp with stagnant water with plants growing everywhere. But, it was sight for sore eyes.. fresh clean water everywhere and the other side was Malaysia! Some people even got a "Welcome to Malaysia" SMS on their phone.

I got lost on my way for a while and took this opportunity to just enjoy the view while trying to find my way back to the group. Luckily I had a map and I was able to do that easily. But I went to this restaurant and they had some Mango dish. I bought it thinking it will be one of those things that you experience once in a lifetime and you only get it in that specific place or whatever. I was fairly disappointed because it was simply tofu and a salad. It was pretty bad actually and it was the worst $8 I've spent so far in Singapore. I finally found my way back to the group, and then headed back. We came back to mainland and went to a hawker centre for dinner (Hawker centres are everywhere in singapore. Its like a food court with all kinds of south-east asian food: Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Malay, Indian, etc. but not as posh or clean as a food court). You get nice big meals for as little as $2 and they are very good. So I ate even though I was full from the bad mango salad.. I was physically exhausted, i don't know why... People were pretty OK, I was fatigued for some reason. Thats when I realized that I'm pretty soft compared to most people. I couldn't take the heat, the humidity and biking for like 5 hours. Anyway, I was glad it was over and we came back home. There was nothing special about Pulau Ubin. Just a place to see if you're in Singapore for more than 2 weeks.

Sleepless in Singapore: A Series of Fortunate events (Waning: Long!)

Jan 24, 2008

Singapore is pretty famous for its Hindu Temples.. It has some very old (around 150 years old) hindu temples. Sri Mariamman Temple is apparently the oldest temple built in Singapore. So, a trip to three Hindu Temples was organized by the Hindu Society of NUS and I had signed up. It was last saturday at about 9 am. I arrived at the meeting point at 9:35, which was a bit late I suppose :P. The entire bus was held up and I got some intimidating looks from people as I entered it. They were waiting for me cuz some my friends had told them I'm coming.. So, we finally left at about 9:40 am and headed towards Sri Mariamman Temple. It is located in Chinatown and is quite big.. It has the look of a typical South Indian temple with the mantap like architecture in front and the like. You have to wash your hands and feet as you enter any South Indian temple.. I was surprised to see that many North Indians were not familiar with this custom. They don't do it in North Indian temple, but it is mind boggling to see them soo ignorant of the South Indian culture.. I've witnessed their ignorance in many things like this, including the pronunciation of our names, where some of the places are located (a couple of people I've met in Canada think Bangalore is a state.. so when I say I'm from Bangalore, they ask me, "from what part".. and when I tell them Bangalore is a city.. they start arguing!) Anyway, I will rant about the ignorance of North Indians later.

The temples are pretty traditional with the ganesha mantap on the left side, the main diety in the centre and the other dieties surrounding it.. The people conducting the tour took us in some random counter-clockwise order around the temple.. But, it was pretty well organized overall and a lot of the information they gave was new to me as well.. It is a tamil temple catering to the tamil population (which comprises the majority of the Indian population here). There was a mixed wedding going on there.. The guy was Indian and the girl looked Chinese. It was nice to see the Chinese dressed in sarees and traditional Indian jewellery.. The wedding was being done very traditionally with the nadaswaram and the drum playing in the background.. Reminded me of the weddings I used to attend in Bangalore almost every other week. I still havent tried the banana leaf food though, but I saw some people posted up pics of them eating dinner on a banana leaf. It is hilarious.. All these white people trying to eat with their hands (I'm no better.. I was told by a 4 year old that I should practice eating with my hands!).

The most interesting part is that we have all these cultures back in Toronto. There is a little India, Chinatown, etc and people never make an attempt to visit all these exotic places in their own backyard. Me included, we had to travel across to world to become open minded and gain the willingness to try different cultures. Another thing that is important to point out is all these mixed marriages that are happening here. The society here is much more accepting of other cultures than any other society I've been in. In Canada, there is a wide variety of ethnicities and each have their own specialties.. But I guess people have gotten used to the segregation and don't seem to get out of their comfort zones. The thing about Canada is that people are too new to the country and they do not feel very welcome in the Canadian Culture.. so they seek refuge in their own culture and their own "kind", which I guess sticks with them.. Maybe in about 3 or 4 generations, people in Canada would become more accepting.. But so far, even in Singapore I have seen some inward hate for a particular ethnicity [my hall mate was telling me that he hates this particular ethnicity and whenever he has to referee a fencing match (he is a fencing expert) in which a person from that ethnicity is playing, he always makes sure that the person loses!].. but the overall society has been generally more mixed and accepting than Canada.

After Sri Mariamman temple, we went to Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, which is a very similar temple. The South Indian Architecture, the washing of feet, the various temples starting with lord Ganesha were all the same as Sri Mariamman Temple. This temple also had a wedding going on and it was also mixed. The boy seemed to be a mix of Tamil and maybe Malay and the girl seemed Chinese. It was nice to see them following the traditional marriage customs in a temple. Overall, the Hindu temple trip was well organized by the Hindu Society of NUS and I got to see and learn a lot of things. After the temple, we branched off and about 10 of us went to a proper North Indian restaurant to have lunch. We had nice naan, various types of gravy and lassi. It was very filling and satisfying.

My initial plan for the day was to visit the temples, have lunch, then go to VivoCity Mall for a "Muscle Wars" bodybuilding show. However, what ended up happening was completely different and unexpected. After the lunch, we walked around Little India for a while looking and shops and such, then made our way to Chinatown where there were a lot of decorations for the Chinese New Year. So we saw that, then just walked around till we got back to Sri Mariamman temple. There was this very interesting store I saw in Chinatown. It looked like a Chinese guy sitting in the fancy store selling all kinds of bangles, t-shirts, etc.. but the music he was playing was Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam! It was very funny to see him sitting there.. There was this girl who was one of the organizers of the trip and she sort of looked chinese or malay.. I guess she was mixed or something, but her name was Vigneshwari and she went by 'Vicki'!

After Chinatown, we dispersed and became a group of 5. Looking for an MRT, we walked around Chinatown, into random malls and markets. It was very interesting. Finally around 5 or so, we found the MRT and left for VivoCity, the biggest shopping mall in Singapore. We went there.. it was indeed HUGE.. The Muscle wars was like in the terrace, but it was over by the time we got there.. but no worries, the scenery from the terrace was excellent and the mall was pretty amazing. There was some show for Chinese new year or whatever and there were martial arts performances, dances, music.. It was pretty amazing. It is great how we found such great things by just aimlessly walking around the city. Singapore is a place where you can do that and there is always a story to tell (as you can see from the length of this post).. But wait, I'm not done yet. If you have read this far, I congratulate you! Enjoy the video of VivoCity Mall as a reward!



After VivoCity, we became 4 from 5 and proceeded towards The Merlion (Symbol of Singapore) and Suntec City (The largest fountain in the World!).. but we went to the center of the city first and walked around Singapore downtown. It was prolly the best thing I've done so far in Singapore! The buildings are absolutely AMAZING! The architecture is incredibly artistic and unique. There was this building that had such sharp edges that one can get cut in half if they ever happen to lean next to the edge! Then there was this other building (If you can make out from the picture in left) it had like a curved edge.. simply amazing. Then, we got to the place with the famous Merlion. Merlion is a statue of a creature that is half lion and half fish. It is the symbol of Singapore. When we got there, my friend Ernesto described it most appropriately: "This, right here, is Singapore".. The picture of the Merlion with the skyline in the background would alone draw tourists from around the world. I've been to many similar downtown areas with equally famous skylines: Toronto, New York City, Montreal, etc.. But I must say, that Singapore skyline would have to be my favourite. It is absolutely amazing, what with the ocean next to it and all. You have to excuse the pictures.. they are taken from my cell phone and they definitely don't do justice to the beauty that is Singapore. After Merlion, we made our way towards The Durian, which is a theatre where all the famous shows in Singapore happen. It is designed in the shape of the Durian, which is deemed to be the king of fruits. We walked around there, then made our way to this harbourfront where we were treated to a free concert from a local Singaporean Rock Band called "Early in the Morning".. They were actually very good. I wouldn't mind checking out their album. We watched the band for a while, then made our way to Suntec City! (The night was still young.. it was about 9 pm at this point, and we had done SOO MUCH!!!)

It was a mission getting to Suntec City. We could see the building, but didn't know how to get there.. We walked around for an hour or so through random hotels, saw another wedding haha (We saw a total of 3 weddings that day).. This one was in a big Hotel and it was very formal. We were trying to get to Suntec City by walking through all the buildings and tried not to go outside.. But ultimately, we were forced to walk outside, and we entered a mall where we ate dinner at McDonalds. The mall was pretty nice. Finally after about an hour or so, we made it to Suntec City, but the fountain was closed.. but it was HUGE!! not tall, but the area covered by it was pretty big and it is indeed the biggest fountain in the world!

Finally, fearing we would miss the last bus, we started making our way back to NUS. We caught the MRT and came back to Clementi station, but the last bus had departed. It was not 3 of us and we are contemplating walking some more! But we ended up taking a cab and came back home around 12 or so... This was the best day I've had here in Singapore and one of the best days of my life! If you have read my entire post, I wholeheartedly Thank You! and even if you haven't, thank you for trying.. The intents of these posts are many fold: To record my travels in Unique Singapore, to Entertain and tell a story, and finally in some cases, make you think.. So, I hope I have accomplished my goals. Stay tuned for more to come.. This was only one day in Singapore.. I am here for 4 months!!!

Sleepless in Singapore: Arab Street

Last thursday, I went to a street called Arab Street here in Singapore and it was quite exotic.. I suppose it is an ethnic place for the muslim Malay population of Singapore. I went on an organized tour from the exchange office of NUS and they organized it pretty well. We first went to this shop called "Grandfather's collection" where this whitty Malay man gave us a glimpse of the different objects in his shop and their history. The objects i liked most were this paste thing which you put on a straw, and if you blow in it, it becomes a nice bubble; and a hacky sack like game, but you play it using a thingamagic made of feathers. It is also interesting to see that many of the games played by the Malays are pretty universal. They play marbles, which, as an Indian, I am all too familiar with. I remember playing in the street with them and I was horrible at it. I usually lost all my marbles (no pun intended!) in the first game itself and I would be forced to borrow them from my friends.. The Malays also play with a top, which they spin using a thread, again similar to those in India. The object of the game is to spin the top on top of an opponent's top and break it. And again, my top spinning skills were disgusting and I usually got mine broken in a day or two...anyway, back to Singapore!

The best part of the Arab street trip was this restaurant, in which they had organized a HUGE table upstairs just for the exchange students and it was filled with exotic Malay dishes.. There was this deepfried banana that was very tasty, some sort of jelly fruit thing (It has some, difficult to pronounce, Malay name), some gravy and something similiar to a rice pappad (Its like a crispy deepfried chip).. Fruits galore!: there were exotic fruits that I've never eaten or even heard about in my life.. There was this fruit called "SnakeSkin", which has a skin, that looks like scales.. but if you peel it, there is this very tasty fruit that resembles a guava and a peach, but a little harder (but nothing like the two).. Absolutely amazing.. Another fruit called DragonFruit.. I guess I had heard about it somewhere.. I think it was in one of those picturebooks for little kids.. The one that has pictures of all the fruits.. I think I read it in that book at some point.. (my memory is not that good.. i might've seen it when some random kid was reading it in the subway or something..) anyway, it was also pretty excellent. It was sort of like custard, but looked like one of those white chocolate hershey bars with the cookie crumbles.. The taste was pretty unique as well.. There was also guava, which was pretty good; and Jackfruit.. ahh, my grandma's house in India had a jackfruit tree and I used to eat it all the time come jackfruit season.. Then, after going to Canada, I was deprived of all these amazing and exotic fruits :(.. The other exchange students weren't as impressed as I was with the jackfruit though.. They said it tastes like bubblegum. I suppose deprived of chewing gum in Singapore (It is illegal here, with a fine of $1000 for importing it!), they are prolly having withdrawal symptoms and it is going to their head! Haha.. jackfruit is amazing.

You will notice that a lot of the time, I will talk about food.. It is indeed what Singapore is famous for. The favourite past-times of people here are shopping and eating. You can find any type of food here for very cheap prices.. One can survive for about $5/day if they want.

There is another fruit that I am yet to try, which they call, the "King of Fruits". I always thought that was the Mango, but apparenly its the Durian. It sort of looks like a jackfruit with all the spikes and all, but I dont know how it tastes like.. Most people dont like it.. Apparently its an acquired tastes, but people who do can't get enough of it! I will try and then you can expect a blog entry dedicated to it alone!

Sleepless in Singapore: Long Overdue

Jan 13, 2008

This entry has been overdue for a long time. I've been procrastinating this for a while now, and I have to write or else, I will be far behind on my travel documentations;) I'm currently on an exchange to the National University of Singapore and I plan to tour most of South-East Asia before I get back to Toronto.. Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and beautiful Bali. But that is in the future.. I've been here for exactly a week now and this city made a very good first impression on me. The rumours are true, Singapore is the cleanest city I've ever seen and you are fined for practically everything you do.. Jay-walking, Spitting, littering, and even chewing gum are punishable offenses and you are fined a heck of a lot of money if you get caught the first couple of times. The third time or so, you are possibly caned or imprisoned for a while.. And the caning isnt like a slap on the wrist with a ruler, like in Catholic or Indian schools.. Apparently they strip you down and get a big heavy guy to whip you until your flesh peels! The intention is to leave a permanent mark so you would never even think of repeating your offense.

The result: An almost ideal society where the Crime rate is practically nil, and everyone is incredibly law abiding. I would think due to all the rules and restrictions, there would be people trying to rebel against it, giving rise to a lot of underground things.. but in my first week here (which is definitely too early to judge), I haven't seen any traces of such things.. Sure, my dorm mates smoke and drink from time to time, but thats as far as they go.. People are pretty honest with money too.. There were often times when I paid too much at a restaurant or a store and people have been honest enough to return the extra money.. there is no tipping anywhere.. Restaurants, taxis.. because it is already included in the bill. I suppose it is a good system where there is no discrepancy in the amount of tip a customer may give and no obligations or formalities.

The system in place is not less than ideal. Public transport connects the entire city to incredible depths.. Sure, the country is only about 40 kms wide, but the entire city can be reached through the Mass rapid transit and buses. The system is such that you buy a prepaid public transport card and you tap at a transponder when you get in (either Bus or MRT) and tap once you get out and it automatically calculates the distance traveled and deducts the appropriate amount. The transponders are soo sensitive that you don't even have to take it out of your wallet or bag. You simply place your bag near it and it reads your card.. It is incredibly quick.. none of that fumbling with change and tickets or fighting with the bus driver about the amount of change put in or whatever. And the pricing is based on distance, which is another thing that the Toronto Transit should consider. I should perhaps elaborate on each of things a bit more later, but for now, the first impressions will do :P

The customs are also pretty interesting.. Apparently you cant point with your fingers.. the right way to do it is make a fist with your thumb on top, then point your thumb in the appropriate direction.. I found this pretty weird because it looks like youre shaking your fist at someone! However, I guess pointing is considered rude in a lot of cultures and Singaporean is no exception.
When giving or receiving money, especially notes, it is best to hand it to people with both hands. Same goes with business cards or any other documents of importance. This is an interesting custom that shows the people's respect towards documents of importance.
The custom of addressing random peoples as Uncles and Aunties is also here in Singapore.. But, I simply cannot make out who is old enough to be an uncle or aunty.. People in their 30s and even 40s look incredibly young and could pass as teenagers.. Its an amazing gift that the asians have and I for one am envious.. I am already getting wrinkles around my eyes for gods sake! Yea, the asians are pretty small and still have some childish features... kinda cutsey.. It's pretty great in my opinion.

Food is available in soo much abundance that I cant believe how no one here is fat. Every single building you go to, there is a Food court or as the locals call it, Hawker Centers where you get all kinds of variety including Chinese, Vegetarian, Muslim and Indian.. It is amazing how cheap the food is and the quantity that you get.. One can survive eating luxurious food in great abundance with about $10 a day! The only thing expensive is the drinks.. any sort of soft drink, juices, etc cost almost as much as the food.. I dont know why, but all kinds of exotic drinks are available.. I've been living on Watermelon Milkshakes, Jackfruit Juices and other juices made of random fruits.. There is a drink called Milo which is really popular. It is available in every vending machine, cold and sometimes even hot.. It is a milk based drink that is supposed to be really nutritious.. It is a great alternative to coke.. and pretty cheap too.. you can get it in vending machines for 80 Singaporean cents... Last night, I drank this drink called a Horlicks dinosaur (Horlicks is another drink that is milk based). Get this.. it was warm milk.. then loads of ice.. (I dont know why they use warm milk).. Then Horlicks powder sprinkled on top like a mountain... Horlicks powder is AMAZING to eat.. and the drink is really good too.. so this dinosaur thing is some sort of evolved hybrid combination of the two and it was pretty excellent, I must say.

I cannot talk about food enough.. Yesterday, I ate cheese, potato and egg parata, which was pretty amazing.. I've been eating all kinds of things.. sometimes not knowing what it is, but its all been good.. The dorm food is horrible though... who eats oily noodles at 8 in the morning??

All the guys here have to do compulsory service in the army right after high school so they are all mostly pretty fit and have strong adaptability and immunity to eating random things.. They seem pretty nice, but apparently they are pretty self conscious and shy.. they didnt really approach me the first couple of days after moving in.. then a few of them said hello and talked for a bit, and slowly they are being friendly.. They seem like a lively bunch.. I think I will really enjoy the next couple of months living with the Singaporeans..

The girls.. OH my GOD!.. they're really pretty.. I may be getting biased due to the growth of my overall likeness for the country, but Singapore has really pretty girls.. but they are also really self conscious and shy and dont talk to strangers at all.. At this cultural seminar which was organized for all exchange students, they said they are very well protected here... any advances and if they cry for molest, it is straight imprisonment! So, I better watch myself.. This is a place to see and to be seen, but nothing more than that.. but I wouldnt mind befriending a few of them if they dont mind ;).. then again, its only my first week here and I suppose they will come about soon..

The first week has been pretty amazing so far and I cant wait to see whats next.. Coming up in my next entries: NUS, Places Visited, Other exchange students and IITians, Singapore: The strongest resource.