Observations

When you travel you observe so many things. Maybe if you lived in a locale you wouldn’t notice those things but a traveler has heightened awareness I guess. Here are some things I’ve seen in the last couple of days.

There are absolutely no dogs on the streets I’ve walked. There are many wild cats. There are dogs someplace though because when I went to the botanical garden people walked the most well groomed dogs.

I tried durian ice cream (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian) but I don’t really understand the draw. The smell is horrible! The vendors on the street are selling durian everywhere and are always surrounded by people. People lovingly tell me it is the King of Fruit and urge me to try it. They even have a large art complex on the Esplanade where the architecture looks like a giant durian. They bake it into pastry and candy and have a grading system for the quality but still I don’t understand the draw. When compared to mango it didn’t stand up in my estimation. The woman who drives Shay said that if we ate it at a street stand we couldn’t get into her car but she has durian parties at home and her husband leaves home. Shay brought back a pastry but we had to throw it away and it didn’t work throwing it away in the room. I’m missing something in terms of this passion.

I ate the most wonderful little snacks from Malaysia called a kuih dadar. This is a cylindrical shaped treat with caramelised grated coconut flesh inside and a green pancake skin wrapping it. Yummy snack! There seemed to be many varieties of these snacks and I found some information about kuih snacks on Wikipedia. And I found a blog entry dedicated to these wonderful bites. Another I tried was a layer of sweet rice and then a green layer. I think this is called kuih serimuka. Another had multiple colored layers. I’ll try to attach a photo of this one. I want more all these treats when I get home. (I found a shop in Chengi Airport in Singapore as I left that sold lots of these so I got some for the trip home.) Singaporeans incorporate foods from the world into their lives so wonderfully, apparently these treats are served for Peranakan holidays but that makes sense since this culture is a mix of Malaysian and Chinese cultures.


I got sushi at a grocery store and each little piece of sushi was wrapped. You simple got a tray and picked the variety you desired. They had many kinds. Often the tuna ones were made from canned tuna although they had fresh maguro. I tried baby octopus and it was great. I’m attaching a photo of this selection too.

On the subway…I saw a man with very, very long nails on all of his fingers. I saw a young Muslim girl with a full head scarf flirting and snuggling with her boyfriend which I found interesting because I had this notion that a young girl wearing a head scarf would have less freedoms with men. Silly me! I often see young girls together, one with a headscarf and the other with the typical skimpy shirt. All over Singapore different cultures live peacefully next to one another. We have a lot to learn still in terms of diversity.

I walked through a residential area outside of town and stopped in a food court to find a vendor selling a cupcake. His son spent a lot of time talking to me and telling me what to see. People seem so interested in others here. They always want to know where I’m from and are so helpful with explanations and directions.

With all the humidity I would have expected at least one mosquito bite but have had none nor have I seen lots of pesky flies.

I ate freshly rolled soba noodles at a vendor who said the flour came from Tasmania. It is such a small world! And the noodles were wonderful. So different from the dried ones we get in the US.

On the subway, which is very efficient, clean and easy to navigate, people can use their cell phones. You know exactly when the next train will arrive because they have electronic boards updating the arrival time at the platform. Why can’t NYC do that? There is absolutely no eating, smoking or drinking in the subway stations or on trains. There are large fines for this. There is no litter and there are no trashcans.

At the famous Long Bar in the Raffles hotel (http://singapore-raffles.raffles.com/) I felt as though I had stepped back in time to the days when the British felt entitled to enter a country and claim it as their own. I need to learn more about how Singapore gained its freedom. But, after all, the British surrendered to the Japanese in WWII so perhaps their claim on Singapore was diminished. Anyway, Raffles hotel is a marvel of British Imperialism and is actually quite a nice hotel. I had a virgin Singapore Sling to drink. I’ll include a photo a little lounging area.








I’ve also tried a marvelous Rambutan Freeze. Rambutan is a funny fruit that is the size of a ping-pong ball, red and covered in soft spikes. It taste much like a lychee and has a large seed inside. You can see these sometimes in Asian markets in the US; I even occasionally buy it fresh in Portland. The drink was very cooling.

The government converted a beautiful school in the center of Singapore into yet another mall with nice shops and restaurants but the building is preserved and it retains its inner calm. It must have been a Christian school because there is a nice chapel, now used for weddings. The classrooms had lovely shuttered doors and deep corridors. It is now called Chimes.

There is a cricket club next to the large city green. This large field is called the Padang. The cricket club’s building was very nice and again harked back to the British days. They must have looked so civilized out there on the lawn pushing a little wooden ball around between hoops!

Stores for women sell lots of light skirts and tops. They do, of course, sell pants but dresses and skirts far outnumber pants. I have not seen a lot of coats or jackets. But the skirts are very tempting; the prices seem very reasonable. They must have more shops and malls than we have. I’m always amazed by how much they enjoy shopping. Over the weekend the malls were packed and every mall has a basement full restaurants.

At the zoo there were very large groups of school children on a field trip from China. Apparently this happens a lot. They come here to learn English. I had great Indian food at the zoo.

Well I need to get out and continue to observe. Luckily I’ve had Shay’s coordinator to help answer questions. Usually when I travel I have to try to guess why things happen one way or another so it has been wonderful to talk to her. The way she entertains us is amazing. I don’t think we do that in the US. She is so gracious and giving. I feel very indebted to her.