Historical Shophouses

Far prettier and more interesting than the tall skyscrapers are Singapore's under-appreciated shophouses. Historically, Singaporeans would conduct business in the open ground floor, and live in the second floor. Later shophouses were more ornate, adopting ornamental and art deco styles. Theses colourful buildings in my neighbourhood have survived Japanese bombing, urban development, monsoons, mold and the blazing sun. Here are more pictures.

Above and Underground Tourism

Exploring altitudes in tourism, Barry and I recently visited Singapore's Battlebox. This underground WWII bunker recounts, in a sometimes cheesy fashion, the fall of Singapore to Japanese occupation. The wax figurines of surrendering British forces, however, did not recount the terrible hardships endured by the Singaporean people during occupation, so we still need to visit the other war memorials. One of these is at Sentosa, Singapore's tourist island reached by cable car. The view from said cable car shows hotel construction at Sentosa in front of the port, in front of downtown.

Tiger Brewery Tour

To appease our incessant intellectual curiosity, we toured Singapore's Asia Pacific Brewery. Sadly, since our guide's microphone only amplified vowels, we only learned the following:

1) Tiger Breweries, owned by Heineken, produces Tiger, Heineken, Anchor and Barron's and ABC Stout, and Kilkenny and Guiness via licensing.

2) ABC Extra Stout, the leading stout in Cambodia, is not to our liking.

3) Beer is made through a series of tubes and vats, which do important things, some of which involve caustic soda. Or, some vats are labeled "caustic soda" so that brewery visitors don't try to imbibe from them.

4) Beer bottles which are underweight are pushed off the conveyor belt, kicked around told to beef up.

5) During WWII, not only was Singapore occupied by Japan, but also only watered down small beer bottles were available.

6) You can sort of almost tell the difference between draft Heineken and Tiger with your eyes closed.

Several Updates

Here is what has been happening lately. The Deepavali decorations have been taken down, beaten to death as shown, and replaced with Christmas decorations. Barry demonstrated how to chase away geckos: you locate the lizard with the head lamp, then use one badminton racket as a shield while coaxing the gecko out the window with the other. Please make sure you're properly equipped should you be in an unwanted gecko situation. Finally, much joy was experienced due to these products at the Japanese Grocery store.

Mmmm, curry just like in Vermont.

Happy Halloween

I think I'll go as a triathlete. Scary!

Laura goes to Pulau Ubin

This weekend, Barry and I went to a lesser known Singaporean Island, Pulau Ubin, located in the Johor Strait. Here are some of the challenges we faced:

Getting stuck in the past.Being careful of the rather large jackfruits. Then, a vicious dog ate our map:

There wasn't enough parking:And there was clearly a risk of falling coconuts, or sinking into the coconut bog.Please see more pictures of our adventure here.

Balcony Sunsets

Gravy Train?

This is what happens when the subway comes after 6, rather than 4 minutes during rush hour. (We failed to board.)

Syndication

Recently, there have been events that happened much like last year. On October 6, we celebrated Durga Puja, though this year I did not wear a Sari. After facing the challenges of obtaining obscure western food such as turkey and pumpkin, we hosted a lovely Thanksgiving for 9.

Gritty Singapore

Lest the media, including this site, convince you that Singapore is immaculate and sterile, here is some evidence to the contrary. Singapore is an eclectic mix of old and new, rich and poor, clean and dirty. I hope these pictures, taken mostly in my neighbourhood, demonstrate some of this depth of character (cigarette butt shown for size).

McDosa

Here is the lesser known fast food icon, the Dosa Man of Komala's Southern Indian Vegetarian fast food. Known for its yummy fried goodness, sometimes surprising fillings, and flavourful accompaniments, dosa (Thosai) is surprisingly not that much like a Big Mac, though the statue is just as freakishly cheerful.

Deepavali Market

Deepavali continues to provide us, and the rest of Little India, with colour, chaos and excitement. These pictures are from the Deepavali craft market, where decorations, clothes, jewelry, A1 cookies, and Engrish shirts are sold. I have not bought anything yet, as I am waiting for the Day after Deepavali discount sale. Does anyone want a peacock decoration for Christmas? Bangles? Henna?

Fruit of the week

The mighty Pomelo is back as fruit of the week again. I'm just saying check out the 61cm circumference of this bad boy, don't you think he desereves it?

Camouflage of the week

Try to locate the lizard in the above picture. Today we went to the MacRitchie Reservoir, a source of Singaporean drinking water, and apparently also monkey proctology examinations,long, lean monitor lizards,and aforementioned water.

Dazzled by the Lights

Deepavali (Diwali), the festival of lights, brings us the above street bling. From our balcony, we watched these lights being painstakingly hung for about a month, and now we get to watch them in colour for another month! Sadly, these pictures only begins to demonstrate the fabulous spectacale that is our street.

Sunburn of the Week

Can you tell what number Barry was in his most recent half-Ironman race? Bonus points for figuring out who the sponsor was.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

This weekend Singapore celebrated the Mid-Autumn festival, which is also known here as the Lantern festival or the mooncake festival, describing the traditions involved. Essentially a harvest festival, the mid-autumn festival involves parades with dragons,

children carrying lanterns,

worshipping the moon goddess, and eating mooncakes. These are very pretty and sometimes tasty pastries with egg-yolks and other sweet and savoury fillings.