Category: I Used to Live There!

Voice of the MRT on Accents and Singlish

Bradley Farless4 Comments

I found this video on another American in Singapore’s blog.  She was doing a post on the voice behind the MRT announcements which was really neat.  Seeing the person behind the MRT voice was entertaining, but I also appreciated the first part of the video.

She makes it clear that she doesn’t approve of the taking on of accents to (I assume) try to impress people.  She also doesn’t approve of Singlish.  She thinks Singaporeans should speak clear, concise English and allow a mixed, natural accent to develop.  I agree.  The Singaporean accent should be a unique blend of the accents already present in the country, but it shouldn’t be a butchery of the English language either.

A few weeks ago, I made the observation that some foreigners tend to want to take on a Singaporean accent when they get to Singapore, because they think it’ll make them more international, or look more impressive to their peers and family / friends back in their own country.  I also noted how it instead just makes them look ridiculous.

I guess the same could be said for Singaporeans who try to take on foreign accents.  One commenter made the following comment on this YouTube video:

2Shae91:

She means a foereign accent. We’re Singaporean, our accent is British influenced but it’s not distinctly British either. Our newscasters sometimes speak with American accents which bothers me sometimes.

I agree that it’s ridiculous. I’ve said it before, though I can’t remember where, that Singaporeans should just speak and allow their natural accent to develop.  Developing a unique Singaporean accent is part of the nation building process and will help create a unique Singaporean identity.

Eating At Home Vs Eating At A Hawker

Bradley Farless3 Comments

Over dinner, my wife and I made an observation about the food we were eating.  It was heavy on vegetables and we liked it that way.  It was a home cooked meal of pork chops, broccoli, and a sinigang based soup with radish and a green, leafy vegetable.

It’s really easy to get roped into the habit of eating at the hawker all the time.  The food is good and it’s well priced.  Depending on what country you come from, you might even say it’s dirt cheap.  When you can eat a tasty, filling meal for a good price it’s hard to make yourself get into the kitchen and break out the pots and pans.

The problem with that is hawker food isn’t the healthiest choice more often than not.  Hawker dishes tend to be heavy on rice, a staple food, and light on vegetables which are necessary for a balanced diet.

Here are a few example dishes:

On top of that, most hawker food will be loaded with MSG.  MSG in small doses probably won’t do much harm, but if you fall into the habit of eating all of your meals at the hawker, or even eating there multiple times in one day, it can cause health issues.  Here’s a list of what you experience from too much MSG:

  • Headaches/migraines
  • Lethargy
  • Sleepiness
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attacks
  • Mental confusion/disorientation
  • Insomnia
  • Nausea/vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Stomach cramps
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Bloating
  • Asthma attacks
  • Shortness of breath
  • Chest pain or tightness
  • Runny nose/sneezing
  • Extreme dryness of the mouth
  • Hives or rash
  • Palpitations
  • Flushing
  • Mouth lesions

Please follow through on this link for additional information about the hazards associated with MSG, along with who should avoid MSG.  I’ve had an MSG induced migraine on more than one occasion and it is NOT fun.

Hawker food can also have other health consequences, like higher risks of food poisoning and even death, as reported in a recent case where 152 people fell ill and 2 died from food contamination at an Indian Rojak stall at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market.

By all means, enjoy Singapore’s food culture, which is most prevalent in the country’s numerous hawkers, but be aware of the health risks and remember to eat at home more often than you eat out.  When you do the math you’re not going to pay much more, and often it’ll be less, and you’ll have more peace of mind that your body is getting what it needs.

Singapore Budget Terminal Children’s Art Area

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If you haven’t been through Singapore’s Budget Terminal lately there’s a table set up for kids to play.  It’s one of those tables where you lay a piece of paper over an image made from raised edges.  You scribble a crayon (or pencil) across it and the picture carries over.

It’s a lot of fun!  The table was drawing a mixed crowd and when I walked up to it, it was composed of mostly adult tourists trying to get one last souvenir before getting on their flight.

Some of the designs are really interesting too.  Here’s the one I made:

Pastamania at Downtown East – GREAT Service

Bradley Farless2 Comments

This is just a short note I wanted to write to praise the customer service at Pastamania at Downtown East.

Tonight, we went up there to have dinner and there was a problem with the pizza I ordered.  Within a few minutes the manager came out, addressed the situation, apologized for the inconvenience and made sure that a replacement dish was made.

To follow up on that, he came back to let me know the pizza would be out in a few minutes and apologized again for the problem.

I was happy and impressed with the level of attention that was given to our problem.

When the replacement pizza came we finished our meal and then got up and walked out of the restaurant.

Surprisingly, we hadn’t gone more than five feet out the door when I heard the manager calling after us and running to catch up with us.  He said the problem with the food shouldn’t have happened, apologized for the extra time we had to wait, and that he hoped we’d be coming back in the future.  Additionally, he gave us a voucher for a free pizza.

That’s what I’m talking about!  This manager has a great personality and does his job well.  Pastamania in general has always had a great attitude in regard to customer service.  You can see it in how every cashier, waiter / waitress, and manager handles themselves.  Well, at the Tampines and Pasir Ris branch at least.

Despite there being something wrong with the dish I ordered, I’ll definitely be going back to the same location again.  Good service is worth repeat business.

Singapore 2010 Chinese New Year: Luck, Decorations, Crowds & Surcharges

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Last year my wife and I missed out on seeing Chinatown at Chinese New Year’s completely.  Somehow, I got the date mixed up and we wound up going down there the day after the celebration.  This year I made sure to mark my calendar correctly.

Luck

We’d originally planned on eating at Bugis Junction, at the Pastamania in the food court.  We didn’t realize the place would be shut down.  In fact, almost everything was shut down.  Yoshinoya was open but I don’t care for the way the food there tastes.

We decided to take our chances and headed on to Chinatown.  There was a hawker open across the street from the MRT exit so we walked over to it, using the pedestrian bridge to go over the road.  At the base of the stairs, hiding by the edge where the plants are, we saw this kitten:

 

This is the year of the Tiger and a tiger is basically a big cat.  Maybe this means luck will come our way this year?  We like cats, so my wife carries around a little cat food to hand out to strays that look hungry.  We gave some to the kitten before going into the hawker to have our dinner.

Decorations

The reason we went down to Chinatown was to see the decorations.  The atmosphere was very lively so we wound up staying a bit longer than we’d planned.  I was really impressed with the decorations.  They were very nice looking.  It put us in a great mood and we even stopped for ice cream.  There was a guy there selling ice cream from a push cart.  He cut a slice (literally) and put it between two wafers and handed it to me wrapped in a plastic.  It was really good and only cost me 1 SGD.

Here are some of my favorite photos.

There weren’t as many decorations as there were at Christmas, which surprised me, but the decorations that were there were really nice.

Crowds

For a short while, we considered staying for the main event, but the crowds were starting to press in real tight.  We could hardly walk.  The crowds kept bottlenecking in certain areas which made it hard to get around.  Also, having so many people in such a small area was cutting out the breeze.  The place was starting to get hot, sticky, smelly and just plain unpleasant.

The stage was set up in such a way that unless you were a special person, a VIP, and had access to the privileged seating area, you could barely see anything.  There were very few vantage points that would offer a decent view and they were packed.

I have to wonder why the stage would be set up in the center of the road like that.  It offers such a narrow viewing area.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to set it up caddy-corner in an intersection?  A LOT more people could get a good view then, rather than just the few VIPs that were likely sitting comfortably across from the stage.

If you’re going to have a public event, set it up so the public can actually see it.

DSC04548

We decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle and moved off into the side roads to look at the stuff for sale.  The crowds there were horrible too, so after fighting our way free to a major road we headed back to the MRT station and went back to Pasir Ris.

DSC04547

Surcharges

Toilets

I forget the name of the mall just outside the MRT exit in Chinatown, but they had a clever scheme set up.  I really can’t blame them because it makes sense from a business perspective, but it was still annoying.  When we were leaving we stopped in at the mall to use the restroom.  The female restroom on the lower level was conveniently closed for cleaning.  So, we searched further into the mall and found another restroom.  The difference was that it was a pay restroom.

Like I said, I don’t really blame them, because there were a lot of people going into the mall just to use the toilet.  They have to cover the cost somehow.  But still… obvious scheme was obvious.

Food

The hawker we ate at on CNY Eve didn’t charge us anything extra for our meal.  When we got back to Pasir Ris and had roti prata and beer, we weren’t charged extra.

Yesterday though, on Sunday, we went to Bedok to look for something to eat at the hawker.  We were hoping the New World Mutton stall would be open, but it was closed. There was a chicken rice hawker stall open though.  Great Wall chicken rice I think.  We ordered two plates and after our food was ready the guy told us there was an extra .50 SGD per plate as a holiday surcharge.  Thanks for letting us know up front.  At least the food was good.

Sunday evening after jogging we passed through the hawker to get dinner.  We ordered two plates of roast pork rice.  2.50 per plate.  After the food is ready the guy says, “7 dollar”. I asked him what he was talking about and point at the sign. 2.50 and 2.50 is 5 bucks. Turns out this jackass wanted to add 1 SGD to each plate as a holiday surcharge.  I told him he should’ve put up a notice.

Well, turns out he did.  He pointed to a tiny sheet of paper, covered in Chinese characters and prices which I had assumed was another menu, or the same menu but in Mandarin.  I just gave him a look.  I’m white.  The chances of a random white guy being able to read Mandarin are pretty damn slim.  I’m sure that there are people from a lot of other countries in Singapore that don’t read Mandarin either, which is why English is the business language. Nice calculated way of trying to pressure people into giving up more money.

Well, I didn’t have 7 dollars on me.  We had literally just finished jogging and we brought just enough for what food usually costs plus 1 dollar for either a fee or in case I felt like having an iced kopi.  So, I told him sorry, that I only had 6 bucks, and turned and started to walk away.  Of course, the guy called me back and said 6 dollars would be ok.  I figured he would say that.  6 bucks is better than him throwing the food away.  So… haggling win for me.

I understand the point that they’re working on a holiday, but something tells me the workers aren’t getting paid any extra.  Also, with only a few stalls open, I know they’re already making a killing picking up business from all of the other stalls that were closed. The .50 SGD extra from earlier I can accept, but 1 SGD extra on a 2.50 plate?  That’s about a 30% markup.  Seems greedy to me.

I don’t remember this kind of surcharge being added to food last year.  Hopefully they don’t try to drag that out for the full 15 day holiday.

All in all, it was fun to get out of the house and look around and we had a real good time seeing the decorations in Chinatown.  It reminds me of when I used to go to Chinatown in New York City as a kid.  I regret not seeing any dragon-lion dances but I’m sure they’ll be other times.  I’ve seen quite a few since being here in Singapore, especially with the opening of so many malls over the past year and a half.  Lion dances seem to be a tradition to bring luck to a newly opened store here.

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you all have good fortune this year!

The Truth About The McDonald’s Prosperity Burger

Bradley Farless2 Comments

When we went to the airport over the weekend we left the house kinda late, but our flight was delayed so we had time to get something to eat.  There’s a McDonald’s in the Budget Terminal, so we took a look at the menu and decided to try the Prosperity Burger.  I’ve never seen it anywhere else and it’s only put on the menu around Chinese New Year.  This will be our last CNY in Singapore so it made sense to try it at least once.

Well, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped but it had a nice taste to it.  I think I enjoyed the curly fries more than the burger though.

The “truth” I mentioned about this burger is that they do in fact sell it in the US.  Well, they sell the patty anyway.  The Prosperity Burger is nothing but a McRib sandwich with black pepper sauce instead of barbecue sauce.  So… good job at marketing, but bad job at creating a unique product.

The other “truth” about this burger meal is that it’s a serious gut bomb.  It felt like I had a lead weight in my stomach for the rest of the day.  Maybe we just weren’t prepared for the amount of grease involved in that kind of meal anymore.

I’ve heard some of my family and friends say they wouldn’t mind seeing those curly fries at McDonald’s in the US.  They make me miss Arby’s.

Mini Marble Is Back In Action

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Mob Photo 05-Feb-2010 AM 04 00 55

Mini Marble is back in her territory enjoying life.  After going jogging on Thursday night we walked by where she lives and called her name.  Right away she ran to us to say hello.  We went ahead and gave her a little something to eat, played with her a bit and then went on our way.

It was good to see her back in her usual spot.  It was kinda lonely walking through there and not seeing her the past week while she was at the vet getting spayed.  It seems like everything went well.  They kept her a few extra days to make sure she was ready to play outside again, which was really nice of them.

Bicyclists Vs Pedestrians, Battle For The Pavement

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Practise Zero Impact pavement riding, meaning you ride with minimal disruption to the pedestrians walking there. By the way, pavement riding is illegal in Singapore, but it is not enforced strictly.

On the Tampines Pavement Riding Scheme, an experiment where cyclists are allowed to ride on widened paths together with pedestrians, they have started to enforce penalties for dangerous cycling.

via mrbrown.com

The above quote is taken from a July 2008 post on the popular mrbrown.com blog. Since then, cycling on the pavement seems to have been extended to Pasir Ris, where I live now, though I’m not completely sure how it works. You see, there are separate riding paths for bicycles in some areas of Pasir Ris that are clearly marked by bicycle symbols painted on the pavement. These paths are very easy to distinguish from regular sidewalks.  However, cyclists seem to be trying to monopolize all sidewalks in Pasir Ris.

The reason I pulled that quote from his blog is because of his great advice.

Let me repeat it: “Practice Zero Impact pavement riding.”

Over the past few months I’ve noticed a trend in how cyclists use the pavement that’s annoying and often dangerous. Cyclists will often zip by you, going so fast that were something to happen, there would be no way for them to stop in time to prevent a serious accident. Despite the relative lightweight structure of a bicycle, it can cause serious harm to a pedestrian. A cyclist should take care to maintain a safe speed and watch out for pedestrians who may not be paying attention.

That leads me to my next point. Bicycles need to have bells on them and those bells need to be used.

Do not expect pedestrians to realize you’re there, especially if you’re approaching them from behind. Even if you’re approaching pedestrians from the opposite direction, you need to ring your bell. Bikes move fast, and a pedestrian may not have noticed you the last time they looked up to orient themselves.

Most of all, be courteous. Understand that you’re the newbies on the pavement. Keep in mind that sidewalks were made for pedestrians and because of concern for the safety of cyclists, the government is allowing you to share that sidewalk with them. Even if you’re on a dedicated bike path you have to keep it real. People are by nature going to take the easiest path and if that includes walking on the cycling path, they’ll do it. That doesn’t mean you should run them over and nearly clip them as you go by. You should still show courtesy and ring your bell to alert them to your presence. Who do you think will take the blame if you hit them and cause them injury?

The past few months I’ve been experiencing more and more instances of cyclists nearly running me or my wife over, or seeing it nearly happen to other people. I’ve seen cyclists swerve and nearly crash because they weren’t watching where they were going and almost hit someone. It really pisses me off because if a bicyclist slams into my leg with their pedal and breaks my shin, chances are they’ll get up and cycle away quickly to avoid having to pay what will be an excessively high medical bill. Where does that leave me, the pedestrian, who was simply walking on the pavement as I should have been?  What will I do?  Write to the forum?  I certainly can’t pay a hospital bill with ideals or popular public opinion.  I can’t say it wasn’t my fault and get a free fix.

photo via electricbicycle.wordpress.com
photo via electricbicycle.wordpress.com

Complicating this matter even further is the fact that motorized, electric bicycles are becoming more and more popular in Singapore. These cyclists typically travel at greater speeds than a person on a regularly pedaled bike would and, because what they’re riding is considered a bicycle, they’re not obligated to use the roadways. This poses a big risk to pedestrians.

Also, in this same category of potential disaster, why are motorcycles regularly driving down sidewalks in Pasir Ris? Ya, seriously. I’ve seen motorcycles make turns up the ramped curbs at pedestrian crossings and then use the sidewalks as a shortcut to get to their HDB parking area. The problem is even more serious in front of the hawker and food court area located at block 443, Pasir Ris Dr 6.

Motorcyclists regularly drive onto the sidewalk, shooing pedestrians out of the way as if they were the ones in the wrong place, so that they can then block pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk by using it as a motorcycle parking lot.

New Curb

Speaking of block 443, over the past few days there has been construction in that area. I was really happy with it… at first. I thought they were finally going to do something about the congestion on that sidewalk between the pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. I thought they were going to widen the sidewalk. There’s certainly plenty of space for it, given the 7 feet deep bushes on one side and the grassy area on the other. Instead, someone, in their infinite wisdom, decided to put a heavy, high curb along the edge of the sidewalk which makes the usable space even smaller and creates an even higher risk for physical injury. I’m sure they meant well. Perhaps they thought that putting the curb there would discourage cyclists and motorcyclists from using that area, but that’s definitely not going to be the case. This is a rather central area that sees a lot of bicycle traffic and this food court is a big gathering area for watching football (soccer) games and drinking at night.

Something needs to be done to regulate the use of sidewalks. Motorcyclists shouldn’t be riding on them at all, and if cyclists are going to continue to be allowed to use them, there should be a better level of policing going on by plain clothes officers lounging in highly trafficked areas, like along Drive 1 in Pasir Ris.

I shouldn’t have to worry about my physical safety every time I use the sidewalk, constantly looking over my shoulder to keep an eye out for reckless cyclists.

Sometimes A Dog Just Has To Go, Unfortunately

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Owning a dog in Singapore, as in any city, has to be a real pain in the butt.  It’s something that I intend to never try myself.  If I don’t have a yard I don’t want a dog.  In fact, even with a yard, I wouldn’t want a dog because I’m sure that involves hours of scouting the yard and cleaning up dog turds.  That’s just not something I’m willing to do.  Cats area easier for me.  You just clean the litter box every day.  Sure, it’s still scooping turds but at least I don’t have to play hide-and-seek with them in a lawn.

Anyhow, I often wonder how it is that people in Singapore can maintain dogs.  They have to be walked regularly and the messes they leave are supposed to be cleaned up, though I’ve seen personally that sometimes that’s not the case.  Most dogs are large and the HDBs are small relative to their size.  They can be incredibly noisy when barking at people or noises that they don’t like.  They eat a lot!  Still, I see quite a few people with large dogs in tow walking around the HDB estates and I think it’s great that some people have the patience and love for dogs that allow them to keep up with them and offer them a home.

I also think it’s admirable when someone takes on the responsibility of a grown dog.  That offers a unique set of a challenges.  In addition to the normal routine of caring for the dog, you have to try to integrate the dog into your household.  Dogs have a pack mentality and, having been raised elsewhere, the person they recognize as the Alpha Male won’t be present in your home.  That requires a new person to assert authority and let the pet know who’s in charge.  Personally I have no idea how to go about that, but I do have some experience with what can happen when things go wrong.

I room with a local family that adopted a grown dog.  When the dog arrived everyone was very thrilled to see him.  He was treated well.  Time was taken to play with him and walk him.  He wasn’t scolded when doing something wrong.  He was allowed to have fun.  Somehow, things went bad.  The dog became overly aggressive not only towards people outside the house, but towards people inside the house as well.

After a while, the family stopped walking the dog.  I don’t know the full story behind that, because it wasn’t any of my business, but given the later track record I imagine it’s because he was prone to trying to attack unfamiliar people.  He was so bad about trying to attack outsiders that the front door had to be kept closed because he would stick his head through the front gate and try to get at the people walking by.  Instead, they would keep him in his kennel until he used a tray for his business and then he was allowed out to run through the house.

Later, he started going after people in the house as well.  It seemed to me that as long as you let him do whatever he wanted, things were fine, but the moment you tried to shoo him away, or take something from him that you didn’t want him to chew on, he would attack rather than comply.  Some of you may remember my post where he attacked me and bit my arm for trying to take a work shirt away from him that I didn’t want chewed to shreds.  I wasn’t the only one that had this experience with him.

His behavior became more and more … touchy… I guess you’d call it.  He would glare at people as they walked by in an evil way that gave me the creeps coming from a dog.  Eventually it got to the point that no one wanted to closely interact with him for fear of being bitten.  It was even a harrowing experience walking past his kennel at night to get to the trash chute.  He had to be kept in the kennel at night or he would urinate and defecate all over the house.  I wound up trying to avoid him as much as possible.  I didn’t really want anything to do with him before, and I certainly didn’t after he bit my arm.  I told him, “[Dog], we can’t be friends anymore.  I’m afraid our relationship is over.”

So, in the end he made himself into a menace, a threat to health and safety.  There’s nothing fun about having an animal in your house that is more likely to bite you unexpectedly than not.  There’s also nothing fun about getting to know an animal and then having to send it away because it couldn’t integrate properly into your household.  Despite his rather aggressive personality, I guess I’d gotten used to him being around.  The house seems quiet without him here.

If you’re wondering, the dog was picked up by the SPCA.  I came home one day and was alerted by the maid as to what had happened.  Even though I really don’t like the dog, I’m sort of glad I gave him an ice cube the day before he was hauled away.  I don’t know why but he really liked ice cubes and would come to the kitchen whenever he heard the rattle of the ice tray.

Hopefully someone will find him there and have better luck with him.  If not, I hate to think of the alternative, but I suppose there was little choice.  How can you, in good conscience, give away an aggressive animal to another person, since it may harm them?