Singapore – Page 11 – Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Dapper’s Little Twin

October 24, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Yesterday when I was heading to Tampines I noticed this cat hanging out on the sidewalk. I was shocked, because I thought it was my cat and that she had somehow escaped and gotten ahead of me. It didn’t make sense, because she’s usually a scaredy cat, but… well, see the photos for yourself.

The cat I saw:

And here’s my cat:

Well, when I got a better look at the cat outside I realized that it could be Dapper’s twin. It even had a bobbed tail, just like Dapper. The cat was smaller though. It looked like it was about 7 months old.

I wonder how Thumper would react if I had brought that cat upstairs, washed it and set it loose? Would she have been able to tell the difference?

Orchard Road’s Birds

October 21, 2009 Bradley Farless5 Comments

A post about birds doesn’t sound exciting, but when I say there are birds in the trees, I mean there are birds in the trees on the scale of Alfred Hitchcock’s old movie, The Birds.

“Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds in 1:40”

As you walk down Orchard Road you can hear them up there. It sounds as if there are hundreds, if not a thousand or more of them, roosting in the trees, squawking continuously at each other. I suppose for citizens and long-time residents it sounds like background noise. The first time I was down there, by Cineleisure Orchard, I thought something weird was going on. They were so loud, and if you sit and watch long enough you’ll see them moving from tree to tree in groups of a dozen or more.

The most bizarre part of it all is that despite there being so many trees, and so many birds in those trees, I have yet to see a sizable quantity of bird crap on the sidewalks or road. Orchard Road is a tourist area though, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there are workers out there at night spraying the area clean. That’s probably a good idea regardless. An excessive amount of bird feces could be hazardous to your health. That reminds me of a story from when I was in Iraq, but that can wait til another time.

If you’re reading this from outside Singapore and you happen to find yourself on Orchard Road, especially in the Cineleisure Orchard area, keep your ears peeled and you’re sure to hear them. After being in Singapore for a while those birds feel more like part of the scenery and make the area more interesting. I can’t imagine being down there and not hearing them chirping en masse.

Geylang, the Other Side of Singapore

October 17, 2009 Bradley Farless2 Comments

When you get into Geylang it’s like you’re entering another country. The buildings are all old and slightly run down. The ground is covered with trash. It smells funny. It’s just a really seedy type of place, especially when you contrast it with the rest of Singapore.

Geylang is a place that has developed a certain reputation, both good and bad. The good part of it is that Geylang is reputed to have some of the best food in Singapore. I have yet to find this out for myself, because during both of the times I’ve found reason to be there I already had a full stomach. I did see some frog congee I’d like to try sometime soon. Maybe I’ll do that next weekend! Geylang is also well known for prostitution. While we were down there last night I only saw a few hookers running around, but it must be a big problem, considering this sign:

The last time I was there I saw quite a few more. Maybe there’s been some sort of crackdown recently. I did see two uniformed police officers standing in a back alley where there are typically a few hanging around. My wife thinks that they’ve all moved to the clubs where it’s a bit safer for them to ply their trade, if you know what I mean.

Update: Prostitution in Singapore is legal.

And per HumanTrafficking.org:

Singapore is a destination country for women and girls who are trafficked from Thailand, the Philippines, the People’s Republic of China, and Indonesia for commercial sexual and labor exploitation. Some women voluntarily migrate to Singapore to work as prostitutes but are later coerced into sexual servitude.

One thing that I find surprising about the hookers in Geylang is that they’re actually very attractive. In the US, the stereotypical hooker is pretty rough looking, especially when you start heading towards the southern parts of the country. In Singapore, they’re usually poor immigrants from surrounding third world and developing countries. They’re brought over on promises of legitimate work and are then forced into prostitution. That’s a story for another post though…

Something else you can find an abundance of in Geylang are cheap cigarettes. You’ll see guys, or women, standing along the sides of buildings, or by pillars under overhangs with little baskets of cigarettes. They won’t call out to you to buy but it’s obvious what they’re up to. The reason these people are selling cigarettes on the street is that Singapore puts a heavy duty (or tax) on cigarette sales in Singapore, putting them in the 10.40 – 11.60 SGD price range, on average. In Geylang they go for about 5.00 – 6.00 SGD if you buy them from one of these people. That’s about half, and a really good deal. The way they do it is they bring in cigarettes from the surrounding countries where they’re a lot cheaper. This is actually a huge business for smugglers, but it comes with a very high penalty too. I remember reading stories in the paper of people being fined upwards of 10,000 SGD for trying to smuggle in shipments of foreign smokes. This is based on rumor, but I hear that some of the cops in Singapore wear plain clothes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the people selling smokes are actually cops. So, if you’re going to go that route, be mindful of that fact and scout your potential supplier before you just walk up like an idiot and try to make a purchase. Smuggling them into the country carries a fine, but so does buying them. Only cigarettes stamped with the SDCP logo on the stick itself, and with the Singapore seal on the pack are allowed to be sold, purchased, or consumed in the country, with the exception of the open pack you might have on you when you enter the country as a tourist.

It was kind of hot tonight as we walked around Geylang, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Like I said, it feels like you’re in another country. It reminded my wife of some places in the Philippines, and it seemed a bit like Phuket in Thailand to me. There were people everywhere. People were packed in tight at the food stalls watching football (soccer) on the TVs or playing cards while drinking and smoking. Besides those gathering around the TVs, there were a lot of folks simply roaming around. I guess Geylang is a spot where people naturally congregate during the late hours to hang out. The oddest part was that there were a lot of people just standing around or sitting on the pavement. Some of them were talking on phones, but many of them were just sitting there smoking. We also passed a lot of fruit stores. I would’ve been cooler with that except they all had huge supplies of durian for sale and the odor was very very strong and very very unpleasant. We did stop at one to buy a big round looking pear and an apple, but we haven’t eaten it yet. I hope they’re good. They were kind of expensive.

I took the above photo while sitting down and drinking kopi. We’d walked past them before and it looked like they were doing some sort of gambling. There were quite a few of these tables set up. Shortly after I took the photo I glanced back over and they were gone. It was weird. I thought I’d been discreet but I guess not. Later we walked past the same guys in an alley and as I came alongside the table they tore it down right away and everyone scattered. I wonder if it was because of me or because someone they had set up as a spotter had seen police coming? Or maybe there’s another reason. I thought gambling was legal in Singapore.

We had a pretty good time walking around Geylang, taking in the sights, having some kopi and stretching our legs. We wound up walking around until about 12:30 am, when we realized we should try to hop on a bus to get home. The last trains run at 11:30 pm. We missed the last of the regular buses that were heading to Pasir Ris, so we had to wait for about an hour to get on the NR7 to Pasir Ris. That’s a Night Rider bus, which is meant for late night travelers who had to stay late at the office, or for drunks. I think they go all night. It was a fairly quick ride, given that it stopped so many times.

I’m looking forward to going back to check out the food.

The Cats of Seashell Park

October 17, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

A few months ago my wife and I took a walk through Seashell Park. It’s a small park that’s located behind a hawker center in Pasir Ris. It’s not incredibly well maintained, but it’s nice nonetheless. One of the things I enjoy about Singapore is that despite it being a city, there are still plenty of open areas where you can try to enjoy nature a bit, manicured though it may be.

While walking through the park we were surprised at the number of cats we saw. It seems to be a home for many of them. There was one (not pictured below) that had a collar on, so I think that some of them must leave their houses during the day to enjoy the sunshine and then go home at night.

The problem of strays in Singapore is a pretty big one. People don’t seem to understand the value that cats hold in pest control, but rather think of the cats themselves as pests. I for one am all for the humane treatment of cats, even when they’re strays. There’s a better method than culling, which is what many residents and Town Councils seem to think is the answer to everything from cat ‘nuisances’ to there being too many pigeons in the area.

That’s really a story for another blog post though. I just wanted to share a few pictures of the cats we saw up there in the park.

Hungry Ghost Month, Singapore’s Halloween?

October 16, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

These photos are from a celebration of Hungry Ghost Month. Hungry Ghost Month is celebrated on the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar and is a tradition that originated in China. During the Communist Cultural Revolution (around 1966 I believe) it was stamped out there, but the tradition is still practiced in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There’s a lot of superstition surrounding the event and people avoid moving to a new house, don’t get married during that time, and won’t travel unless they have to. During Hungry Ghost Month, it’s believed that the Gates of Hell are opened and the spirits of the dead walk the earth, looking for offerings from descendants and potentially making victims of the unwary.

In an effort to appease these ghosts, offerings of food are made. Also, paper effigies of money, little houses and even maids (human sacrifice?) are burned to assist the dead in the afterlife. This is also a time when people will set up parties, like you’ll see in the pictures below. I suppose the parties are to celebrate life and to remember ancestors. At these parties, though, there will be one table that’s set but left empty. That table is set for the dead.

Oddly enough, Hungry Ghost Month is a time when a lot of people feel that they’ll find lucky numbers for the lottery. Some people will even go to graveyards with talismans and offerings, asking the dead to provide them with lucky numbers.
I happened on this event when it was still being set up and asked a few questions about what was going on. I only got a general idea, since the person’s English wasn’t very good, but it seems like they were going to have an auction. There were also buckets with prizes of food. I’m not sure where the proceeds went, but there was an attendance fee for the function. I believe it was 70 dollars, and it was open to members of a certain group. This was a few months ago so I’m fuzzy on the details.

I kinda saved this for October though, because to me it felt like the Singapore version of Halloween. Well, they’re not really the same, except that they deal with ghosts, scary stuff and superstitions. It seems fitting though, especially with the whole Gates of Hell thing.

Also, I thought it was interesting how the ceremonies honor the dead. In popular media, you get the impression that it’s something that only goes on in Japan.

Offerings for the dead perhaps?

Buckets full of auction goodies? Or maybe take-home door gifts?

A picture taken later, when the event was in full swing.

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An American girl in Singapore: Singapore…Then and Now

October 14, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

An American girl in Singapore: Singapore…Then and Now

A very cool post showing photos of Singapore’s past and present. It’s amazing how much this island has changed in such a short amount of time.

Give Singapore another 30 years or so and it will surpass most first world nations in terms of infrastructure and capital.

Roti Paratha (prata?)

October 12, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Just one of the many delicious dishes I’ve had the chance to enjoy since moving to Singapore. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Letting stereotypes pushed on you by the media influence the way you behave towards certain people is ridiculous and it could cost you some mighty good meals too!

If you’re not familiar with this dish it’s a flat bread that can come with a few types of fillings. The ones I’ve seen are cheese, cheese and egg, and even sardine I think. It’s similar to murtabak, and sort of reminds me of eating American pizza crust.

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Marché at Vivocity: Mediocre and Expensive

October 11, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

About three weeks ago my wife and I went to Marché at Vivocity. We’d seen the place quite a few times while at the mall and while passing through on our way to Sentosa, and we always thought about stopping there to eat but we never did. It’s a long way from where we live in Pasir Ris too so I’m not really surprised that it took us this long to make it down there.

Marché is a Swedish Swiss restaurant that serves food in a style similar to Manpuku, with in-store credit cards that you use when ordering and carry to the check-out register and all. It appears that cows are their mascot. These guys are sitting in front of the restaurant close to the door you exit from after paying. It’s a nice way to draw the eye and attract customers.

When we first walked into the restaurant there was a waiting area filled with people. Our wait wasn’t that long and the hostess at the desk was very quick, pleasant and professional. She had on a pretty neat outfit too. It looked like a milk-maid get-up. The place was starting to get crowded and when we showed up I think they opened up another seating area because they led a bunch of us into the restaurant at once to a seating area in a corner. It was way back past where the register is. It was nice because it was private, but it was also hard to get in and out of because of the line of people waiting to pay.

The first thing we did was walk up to the salad area and order a “medium” salad. The lady behind the counter then handed us a dish the size of a coffee cup saucer, smiled and turned away to work on something else. We looked at the plate in disbelief. Seriously, I’ve seen coffee come on bigger saucers. For 9.80 I expected more than that. It’s salad after all, not filét mignon. Then we saw the salad bar itself. What you see in the picture is it. That’s all. For a European restaurant their salad bar was lacking and didn’t even include things that are normally found on a salad, like mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon bits, croutons, shredded cabbage, kidney beans… In short the selection was severely limited given the amount we paid for our tiny medium plate.

The biggest let-downs was that besides having a small selection some of the items were running low and they hadn’t bothered to refill them. The “Fresh Sprout” (alfalfa) plate was empty. The lettuce was also pretty gruesome looking. I asked for both to be refilled with fresh food. The girl either didn’t understand completely or ignored me. She did put out more sprouts but left the lettuce as it was.

In an effort to spite the small plate size we overloaded it by going vertically where we couldn’t go horizontally. It wasn’t too bad, but … it just wasn’t 9.80 good. If you do go to Marché I recommend just avoiding the salad bar entirely.

For a few weeks before going to Marché I’d had this craving for pork chops and when we got there we saw that you could chops freshly grilled so we both went for it. You can see the meat before you choose it. They have it set out in pans over ice and you pick what you want by pointing to it. The cuts were pretty good sized. I think it was around 10 bucks for the meat. The potatoes you had to order extra, which was a bit odd. Everything there is bought by the item though, down to the buns or breadsticks.

This is probably the best thing to come of the whole trip. I’d never noticed this drink before going to Marché, though afterwards I saw that it’s stocked at the Shop N Save near where we live. It’s really good, and reminds me of Ginger Ale from back in the US. Since having it at Marché we’ve bought a few cases so we can have them with dinner.

I can’t say that Marché is bad, but it’s simply mediocre. The customer service is good. The ambience is comfortable. The food just wasn’t up to par though, especially not with the prices they were charging. I have to say though that my opinion is a little biased because we wound up getting sick later that night. After eating at Marché my wife and I both got headaches, felt lethargic in a recovering from an illness sort of way, and we had stomach… issues. So, Marché is one restaurant we won’t be returning to. At least, we won’t be returning to this one.

Another highlight of our evening was this delicious treat! I can’t remember what it’s called exactly. Double Brownie something maybe? It’s from the Ben & Jerry’s restaurant in Vivocity. It’s a tad expensive at 14.40 but it’s good for two people (maybe 3 since it was served with 3 spoons?) and is incredibly delicious! I suppose it depends on what types of ice cream you pick to go in it but this one came out great. I think I chose Cookies and Cream and New York Fudge Chunk. Just looking at this is making my mouth water. I’m a sucker for ice cream and baked goods!

Ion Mall

October 10, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

When Ion Mall first opened downtown I took a look through it. Well, it wasn’t exactly when it opened, but it was close. Maybe a week later. I came in from the ground level and went up a few floors and poked around a bit, but I wasn’t that impressed. Most of the stores are high end like Giorgio Armani, and other crap that I don’t care to know the name of. In other words, it was sterile and just like almost every other mall on Orchard Road. I didn’t stay long on that trip either. Besides my lack of interest in what was available, most of the stores were still closed. They opened the mall to shoppers long before the place was full.

The one thing I did see that interested me while I was walking around was a dragon dance for a store opening. After I stood around and watched that for a while, I got bored and left. I was hungry and didn’t see a food court so I was in a bit of a hurry to get to Tampines. I had a craving for beef pepper rice!

Yesterday (Friday night) I had the chance to go back through Ion, and I was actually a bit impressed. The place is a lot bigger than I expected and the food court was impressive!

I guess the most impressive thing about the mall is its size. The first time I went there I was in a bit of hurry and gave the place the brush off after a cursory walk through. I think part of the problem is that I entered the place from the ground level. I had no idea just what was lurking below!

This time around my wife and I were coming from Shaw Center so we used the tunnels underground to get into Ion. We almost got lost but then we saw a sign pointing towards “Jewelry Street” for Ion. I think that was the name. We followed it and sure enough it was lined with jewelry stores. It passed around the turn-styles for the MRT and brought us into Ion Mall itself… on the 4th basement I believe.

Ion is huge underground. I didn’t even realize we were in a basement at first. We kept walking and walking and we kept going up more and more escalators and then I realized I saw doors and we were on the ground level. It was a bit disorienting at first. By the time we got to the ground floor we’d seen so much that we were ready to leave.

My initial assessment about what type of stores the place has didn’t change. It’s mostly high end stuff that’s nice to look at, but isn’t really worth buying. Not in my opinion anyway. Not to mention that most of what we saw seemed to be overpriced. I imagine part of that huge gap in prices was due to the rent the stores are paying for those locations but we saw a skin care product that costs 19 USD being sold for 68 SGD. It would be cheaper to have two of them bought for us in the US and shipped to us than it would be to buy one in Singapore. Crazy! So, Ion is nice to spend time in for sightseeing purposes, but I don’t think I’ll do any real shopping there any time soon.

What I was impressed with was the food court. We were in the mood for some kopi, so I kept an eye out for signs to the food court. When we found it, we were pleasantly surprised with how classy the place looks given that it’s just a food court. That’s something I’ve noticed about Singapore though. They really do food courts right here when it comes to setting a nice atmosphere. My favorites are the Food Republic at Vivocity, which looks like a street out of a stereotypical back alley ‘Chinatown’ and the Food Republic at the SunTec Convention Center, which looks like a library. Very cool! This one had it’s own unique charm though and, as you can see in the photo above, is called the Food Opera. (Geek moment: The first thing I thought of is the Opera web browser when I saw this sign).

Here are some photos of the place:

I wasn’t really expecting to see deer heads mounted on walls anywhere in Singapore, let alone in a posh mall’s food court. Hey, thanks! It reminded me of home.

The food was displayed quite nicely in the stalls. I love the whole hanging piglet. That really adds a nice touch!

The seating area is nice. There are the standard tables and long bench type seats. The chandeliers were fun!

Scattered around the seating area were various statues of animals. Kids were playing with them and I saw a few other people posing to have photos taken with them, or taking photos of the statues alone. Kinda lame when you think about it, but on the other hand I don’t recall ever seeing anything like this in the US. Not at a food court anyway.

Me playing with the goat.

While we were there we only had kopi. I had mine iced and my wife took hers hot. It was pretty good. It wasn’t too strong or too mild. We’d already eaten or I’d have tried some of the food there. I think we’ll go back just for that. I didn’t see her but while I was in line to get the drinks my wife spotted a lady pushing a cart around selling food items. She said the lady had chicken feet.

It reminded me of some Chinese restaurants I’d been to in New York City’s Chinatown where a server will come around with a cart and you take what you want from it. I don’t recall if there was a menu to order from but if you just take from the carts you pay by how many plates you have when you leave. I can’t remember the name of the place but it was under a bridge I think. That was about 18 years ago. Heck, it might not even be there anymore.

In the end, I wasn’t overly impressed with the mall itself, but I’m always happy when I find another set of eating establishments to feast at.

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Multiple Menus At the Wedding Dinner

October 8, 2009 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

This is just a short update to the post I made on the 4th about how great the wedding dinner we went to was. I’d originally said that the fruit tray might have been leftover finger food brought in from the area outside the banquet hall. Actually, there were multiple menus. That makes a lot of sense.

First of all, the top of the menu that’s pictured in the previous post says “Chinese Menu” across the top. I thought it might have just been the menu that was chosen for the dinner. Also, a friend said he was sitting at another table with other Muslims. I thought it was just for social reasons.

I heard this from someone who heard it from Raymond, the guy who threw the party, so I’m a little unclear on the details, but I think there was also a Malay menu and a vegetarian menu.

Most importantly, the fruit wasn’t leftovers.