Category: Travels

I was out with a couple of my blogger friends in clementi on thursday night. There was a pasar malam in that area and at the same time, I thought that it would be nice to show my friend Attilio what a night market here was like.

In larger pasar malam, there could even have rides such as a viking ride and feris wheel.

I like pasar malam because of the atmosphere and how festive it felt with the bustling of crowds. You could buy almost anything here – cds, clothes, even household appliances. But personally for me, the highlight of a pasar malam would be the delightfully sinful food that is sold there.

One of these food is the ramly burger. One of these burgers would probably choke your arteries with the amount of condiments that is added in, but I think that its something that one should try at least once.

Here is a clip on how a ramly burger is being made :

The burger wasn’t the best though as the best ones would definitely be the original in Malaysia.

Link

• Aaron
• Arzhou
• Chilicraps

On monday evening, I saw the flickering orange flames from the burning of hell money and joss-sticks. As I walked back home, I noticed a red and white tent and a platform being erected.

Picture by amorphity

By tuesday night, I could hear the loud singing of the getai. And I knew then it was the Hungry Ghost Festival.

The Taoist belives that during the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival, the gates of hell opens up and the spirits of the dead goes back to earth to seek food and visit their living relatives.

As there isnt much food and entertainment in hell, Taoists will burn paper articles such as paper clothes and leave plates of buns and fruits for their deceased loved ones.

A getai is a stage performance, meant to entertain the spirits during the Hungry Ghost Festival. These performance are loud, with jokes and singing. The entertainers would typically wear garish outfits.

Traditionally, instead of getais, I remember that the Chinese Opera was a very popular event during my childhood days of the 80’s. It seems to be dying art form now though. I can hardly find one anymore.

On wednesday night after my night class, I managed to catch a getai performance. Here is a short clip :

Sidenote: Yesterday, a respected colleague passed away on an accident in Kuala Lumpur on his way back to Singapore. Today, Juli told me that two of our ex-schoolmates passed away recently. Gone too soon.

I know that we are mortals. But it still shocks me. I cannot imagine how I will cope when my loved ones pass on.

What an incredibly beautiful day. The big fluffy clouds over the blue sky is gorgeous. I was tempted to lie down on the grass and just stare at the sky all day. It was a perfect way to spend national day.

After finding out that the entry to the Singapore Museums would be free on national day, I finally decided to visit the Singapore Arts Museum.

It has been so long since I’ve visited the museum that I don’t even remember the year when I visited it last.

But I still remember how beautiful the building was. The building was built at the year 1863, which explains the charming, colonial styled architecture. As I walked around the compound, I like to imagine how it was during those time.

Every turn was a peaceful, beautifully quaint sanctuary. It was easy to get lost in one’s own imagination. And then we go back to the realisation of the present time with the large and colourful banners which was decorated around the area.

Whilst inside, this charming display greeted me and as I walked up the staircase to see the gallery, I can’t help to notice the many wedding food recipes gracing the walls.

When I reached the second floor, there was a bustling of activity. I see children participating in a competition, roaming around the museum, looking for the next station to retrieve their clues. I also see couples and families walking, pointing to what catches their eyes.

I see this colourful canvas shoe display which was done by kids all over Singapore. This was to represent the diversity and uniqueness of Singapore.

I took my time taking in the views in the different galleries. The museum was segmented in different parts of South East Asia – I walked from Indonesia’s emotive expressionistic Affandi, to the peaceful works of Vietnam’s Le Pho.

But in the seemingly innocent museum, lies some memorable pieces. Gallery 2.10 housed contemporary South East Asian works. I saw many abstract arts as well as some very interesting ones.

I can’t help but to chuckle out loud when I saw a huge canvas of a painting of a man sitting on top of a toilet looking horrified as a woman looked in his cubicle. In the real painting, there is no woman covering the man’s bits.

But I think the highlight of the gallery was the video display of three different performance art. As I sat down and watched the show, my eyes nearly popped out at what I saw. Although the footage looked amateur and slightly grainy, the content was a little risque.

The first footage showed a many different people peeping in a kaleidescope and I heard suggestive human sounds. Eventually we find out what the curious view in the kaleidescope was and I felt a little uncomfortable, with the wide eyed young kids sitting beside me. But since their parents was right next to them, I guess it was their perogative.

The second footage showed a lady picking out random audiences to the platform and took off her apparel to be exchanged with the chosen audience. I think this particular performance was held in Vietnam. I doubt that the typical Singaporeans would be as daring to take off their clothing in front of everyone.

The third footage shows another lady asking some visitors to close their eyes while she puts her hands over them, but not touching the visitors. All I can think to myself was, “Huh? Is this art? Oh ok.”

Nevertheless, I did enjoy my tour around the Arts Museum. And the gallery certainly was a feast for the eyes and not to mention, an eye popper 😉

It was truly an enjoyable an lovely day.

Singapore Art Museum
71 Bras Basah Rd
Singapore 189555

You might also be interested in :

• Going to the Arts House
• The Museum of Shanghai Toys

Its always interesting to see an the point of view of someone who has not been accustomed to our way of life and lifestyle. To observe how ordinary things that we take for granted is seen as amazing to others.

When Cartcart came over to Singapore, I was amazed at the things that he noticed. Like the countdown timer at the traffic lights and the tri-pole in trains.

Cartcart gushed about the usefulness of these features, and started to wonder aloud as to why he did not have the same feature back home.

I met up with Attilio, a reader of this blog whom has recently arrived in Singapore. Attilio is a native from Italy and will be here to undertake his phd at a local university.

After a bit of a blunder at the train station, we finally met and started to chat. I listened to him amiably describe about his first experiences here.

As Attilio was game enough to try some local food, we headed to Ananda Bhavan, a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Little India.

We talked about a multitude of things over dinner, such as life and inevitably compared notes on lifestyles of our countries.

Attilio enthused bout how efficient things are run here. Like how the trains were on time and the speed of how administrative matters were resolved. Being the devil’s advocate, I mentioned the ever rising cost of living and the fast pace of life here.

On the other hand, we both agreed that because our countries are a melting pot, there are some similar traits. Attilio said that some of the Indian sweets reminded him of those back in Sicily.

After dinner, we decided to walk around the area. It was a bustling saturday night. There were a lot of people and activities around. We walked past goldsmiths, saree shops, provision shops. I see customers inside, examining the items sold or haggling with the owners.

Eventually we spotted a temple and decided to take a look inside. There were so much activities going on. It looked rather festive. There were already a number of people entering the temple.

Whilst inside, I observed the devotees praying, some were prostrating to a deity, some were carrying oil lamps and walking around an altar. I noticed some devotees clasping their hands to the priest who was inside a prayer hall. The priest then later pressed a dot of ashes on the devotees forehead.

Attilio was walking here and there, observing different prayer halls.

It was so facinating to see.Truth be told, that was the first time that I watched a Hindu prayer up close as I’d usually be too nervous to go an event such at this by myself.

Attilio explained to me about the statues, and the items needed to prepare for a prayer ceremony. I felt like such a tourist in my own country. But it was really very cool to see the devotees praying and I really enjoyed myself.

We found out later that it was called the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. The temple was built by Bengali labourers and it was said to have sheltered the devotees during the bombings in World War 2.

Eventually we called it a night and said our goodbyes. Grazie mille Attilio! It was very nice to meet you 🙂

Related links

• From Bugis Street to Serangoon
• A beautiful temple in Jurong East

I was back from buying some groceries and I came across a lion dance troop. How really cool!

Back at the old house, we’d see these performance about once a month. The lion dance club house was in the block beside us, and us kids would rush out and sit down on the grass patch as the troop performed. I really enjoyed the loud and festive drumming as the lions balanced themselves on top of planks.

I think that these lions were there today as there is a new shop opening in the shopping center. The owner of the shop hired the troop to bring in good luck for his shop.

Here is a clip showing the performance 🙂

I’m wondering why the lion throws things from its mouth. Anybody knows?

You might also be interested in :

• Hungry Ghost festival
• Museum of Shanghai Toys
• Chingay Parade in Jurong
• Field day at the Japanese Garden

While I was walking out of the carpark, I saw this colourful sign.

There was a showroom going on in the flat near us.  No wonder there have been quite a number of unfamiliar people coming over. Being the inquisitive person that I am, I thought I’d stop by to take a look as I’ve never seen one before.

Like the majority of other Singaporeans, I live in a flat. These are high rise buildings which was meant to accomodate our 4.5 million (estimated) residents from overcrowding on an area of 693 km²

Inside a regular 5-room flat, the space is comfortable enough to accomodate a regular sized family. For the curious, the flat that we are staying in is 116 m² and was bought for 252k after the Selective En-Bloc Scheme.

I like the area where I am living. It had a nice suburban-ish charm to it. It wasn’t too crowded nor too still. There were plentiful of facilities around like the stadium, a small shopping center, a community center, food centers, a mosque and others. All of these were within a few minutes away from each other.

But I still have memories of our old house. I spent a huge part of my life here. It was not modern. It was only 5 storey tall, no lifts. It was a rather small, being a 3 room flat. It was a choice accomodation for the workers in the Jurong Factories nearby.

This picture of me and my brother was taken in 1985. In the background are the type of flats that we used to live in, and if you looked carefully, you can see some kids playing in the background.

If the place was still around right now, many people would probably be creeped out. I remember when I brought my classmates over for a study session. They said that the place was pretty run down and dilapidated.

But I loved the place. There were so many memories here.

Hari Raya with friends in 1994

The friends I’ve made, and how we’d play games that we made up, like ‘hantam bola’, ‘police and thief’ and catching. I remember when my best friends in primary school, Michael Tan Xue Ming and his lovely sister were the first ones who taught me how to ride a bicycle. When I was able to go around the block without any aid, it felt like such an achievement!

It was the age of innocence. Where everyone looked out for each other. I could leave the house unlocked, innocently floated some paper boats in the drain and still come back to see the house intact.

I was a tomboy then. Even after a broken arm from climbing trees, a chipped tooth from overzealous showing off from the metal bar, some burnt hair, numerous bruises and scratches, I’d still feel safe here.

Looking back even further, I can still remember when mum brought me over to my grandparent’s place. My grandparents used to live and own a provision shop in Pulau Tekong before it was taken over by the government to become military training grounds.

This picture of mum and her friends was probably taken in the 1970’s. The huts in the background was a typical accommodation then. My grandparents house looked different though, being a shophouse. I cant find any pictures of them unfortunately. Many of the pictures were left during the transition.

My dad waiting at the Jetty at Tekong

There were so many things to see at my grandparents shop. There was a pulley that you can pull and a tin can will drop down. This was where change will be kept to be given to customers. At the back of the shop there were bales of cloth. I remember seeing my grandfather calculating rapidly using an a abacus. Sometimes my grandfather will ask me to accompany him to the small hut where the rice and oil was stored and I would observe him measuring the weight of the rice or carefully pump the cooking oil from huge containers using a metal pump into small individual bottles.

Mum by the cloth bale

My grandparents house was so cool.

There was so much space to run around and explore. Me and my cousins would make forts out of the things that we could find. At the backyard, my grandparents kept chickens which I would play with and sometimes if I’m lucky, one of my uncles or aunts would take a coconut to husk using a spear. We bathed in well water and it was refreshingly cold! I found simple pleasures in pulling out water from the bucket tied with string.

Try to spot the chickens!

I think the coolest thing about the place was that the neighbours kept aligators in their backyard. I’d sneak in to take a peek at those mesmerizing shiny yellow eyes. And some times, my uncle would take me and the rest of the cousins to the boat and we’d see him scrape the barnacles and shellfish from the chassis and then have some toast and kaya in the chinese coffeehouse afterwards.

I feel blessed to have such an interesting childhood 🙂

It’s a pity that I don’t have more pictures to show. I wish we had a device to capture all our memories and we can replay it ala virtual reality. Wouldnt it be great?

I’ll all treasure the memories that I had.

21st of July is Racial Harmony day in Singapore.

When I reached my workplace yesterday, I saw many students and colleagues donning their traditional costumes. It was a lovely sight seeing people in their beautiful and colourful outfit. I admired the Chinese Cheongsam, the Indian Sharwani and the Malay Baju Kurong.

I really liked seeing people wearing these costumes. In some way, it shows that we still have the spirit of our roots. It was a warm day, but no one complained as today was once in a year that we could dress up like this.

I feel thankful that we are living in a fairly meritocratic country. Many of us has friends who are of different races and it’s so natural for us to mesh together. I feel amazed at why some outsiders are so surprised that we could get along so easily.

At the same time, lets not forget that about 40 years ago, Singapore wasnt as meritocratic as it was then. In 1964, Singapore witnessed the riots between the Chinese and the Malays.

And another incident that is close to my heart is the Maria Hertogh incident.

I feel for the two women, Che Aminah, who has been taking care of Maria Hertogh since she was a baby till she was about 13. You can see how close they are to each other in the picture. Maria has been brought up as a Muslim, Malay girl.

Eventually, the biological mother, Mrs Hertogh came back and demanded for her child. Even after fighting for custodial rights for Maria, Che Amina’s efforts was in vain as the rights were won by Mrs Hertogh.

I suppose Mrs Hertogh was too upset by the incident to think clearly and felt that it was the right thing to do to put Maria in a convent and made her renounce her religion and then later moved them back to the Netherlands.

But I don’t believe that she really did get used to life there and I really feel bad for Maria, whom was fervently wishing for her life back in Singapore, not being able to visit Che Aminah in her dying days.

Such a tragedy.

We need to appreciate the freedom and liberty that we have now. I pray that another incident like the Maria Hertogh incident doesnt happen.

But one question nags my mind. If we emphasized so much on race, does that make us racist?

Link :

• Mia’s first time to a malay wedding