Singapore

Arrived in Singapore yesterday. Highlights of the flight:

• thinking about writing a list on what the highlights of the flight are
• drafting a list similar to this one
• leaving drafted bullet-points blank in case something eventful happened

I got off the plane and was met by an armed man standing at the gate. Either he was a policeman or someone dressed as a policeman. I'm not sure if his job was to create an image of security or to provide actual security because he was the one and only armed authority I saw. Going through customs/security was quite boring standing in 21.5m queues so I played a game in my head where the people in the queues beside me were in a race to reach the front. I won the race but only to be met by the most unceremonious finish - customs officer Ms Something bored out of her brains stamping passports. To her credit she was incredibly efficient at using that stamp and also at matching my face to my passport photo. Once through, I picked up my bags and walked through wide-open gates out onto the street. To my surprised there were no strip-searches at knife-point or interrogation under incandescent globes; I guess incandescent globes are expensive to run compared to current tech.

After exiting the airport and boarding the MRT (rail) service, it was pretty clear right from the start that the system was designed with users in mind, unlike CityRail where they've designed everything to piss people off (success). Firstly the trains themselves are an open carriage design where the whole train is just one long continuous tunnel, kind of like the insides of a snake? There are no upper or lower levels, no doors separating carriages, and minimal seating reserved for what appears to be hunch-backs, people carrying watermelons under their shirt, or those with walking sticks (e.g., Master Splinter). Carriage interiors are amply fitted with rails, electronic signage showing stop information, and a little light indicating which side the doors will open on. Unlike those shit CityRail trains, you don't have to stare blankly at a vandalised rail sticker on the wall or wait for that scrolling sign to finish scrolling, or embarrassingly stand facing the wrong door (which sometimes leads others to follow suit).

Outside the trains there are simple but effective arrows on the ground at the door entrance indicating that those entering the train should stop and wait for those leaving. The train itself is actually separated from the platform by a glass barrier which has automatic doors which align with the carriage position. I imagine this is the same in other parts of Asia (or places far away from Sydney). Tickets are magnetic and the cost of travel is ridiculously cheap, I think in the region of S80c for a journey about 5 stops. Trains arrived every 5 minutes and a connecting service was often just across the other side of the platform.

 

 

 

 

 

Moving along, I caught the train to Little India today. They say it's pretty authentically Indian but not in the same way they say Chinatown is like a little Chinese town. Little India showed signs that it had developed into a bustling ecomony within itself, built up over what seemed like many decades of Indian settlement and migration. There were Indian banks, jewellers, many Indian humans, and other like Indian stuff.

A street tailor who hems your pants for $1. A DOLLAR I SAID!!

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was a sugar-cane juice for $1.70 ($2.00 without ice), roast duck with rice and chicken rice (i.e., chicken with rice, not rice that is chicken) for $3.50. It was good for the price and a great way to fill my belly after weaving my way through Little India. Dessert was a little peanut cakey-puffy-thing for 70c.

Afterwards we (I'm staying with a dear friend Olivia who is so hospitable enough to host me at her most opulent $700/night apartment. I can not even fathom that some businesses would pay their employees accommodation at that rate!) went to Clarke Quays which is kinda the touristy harbour area where beer is expensive and there isn't really much to do. After drinking more beer than could reasonably fit into my stomach (the happy hour value was too good to refuse/the salesperson was a pushy bitch) I waddled home for a nap.

For dinner we decided to find a really 'hip and cool' place but after wading through a sea of reviews and testimonials we just decided to head out the door and cast our luck into the wind. That worked well because we ended up in Newton which boasts a little cluster of about 100 tiny hawker stores running kitchens no bigger than 2.5m x 2.5m. The cooks man the stoves and prep the food while a team of hawkers try to usher you to buy from them. I figured they are actually paid a commission off the food sales they make for the respective stores they can take orders for. In any case it's a bloody hard job I would never want to do and the competition from others is fierce but friendly. Below is something I don't know the name of but I will now call The Rolly Polly Thing With Beansprouts. It tastes 'good'. That's all I can say. My palette is pretty shit and my vocabulary is even worse so I can't conjure up any tasting notes like 'has hints of organic sun-ripened juniper berries with a smooth lingering finish of fresh-cut grass and smoked rose-wood'.

 

 

Pork and chicken skewers. Ten for $5. Value questionable. See below

The Meat to Skewer Ratio (a.k.a. M:S) was pretty poor. Careful observation will note approximately 4/13ths of the skewer is covered by meat. This is quite unacceptable and any self-respecting BBQ Technician would never let such a tragedy touch his grill. According to the BBQ Operater's Almanac v13 you should be aiming for coverage equivalent to 83% plus. I hope one day there is legislation against this sort of crime but for now I'll just have to eat it.

 

Afterwards we headed for Marina Bay, which is just full of really tall buildings which I imagine would be the place where lots of important and rich people do important work and have meetings and stuff. There's not much more to say on the place so just look at the pictures.

 

Apparently those tall buildings are really cool and are linked at the top by some open deck pool forest something amazing.

 

 

 

And that's like the end.