Wow, time flies when you're not sitting still.
People ask what's new, and honestly I have to say, not much. I have settled into the routine I think, at least as routine as it can be. Singapore is probably the fastest any new place has felt like home. As I have said to a few people, I think part of that is the contrast. After a week or so on the road in some of the less prosperous centres I visit, or perhaps just more crowded, with foreign language all around, landing at Changi Airport can give me that sense of "ahhhh" that in some cities I have lived has taken much longer to develop. My current theory is it's a sense of comfort when everyone speaks a version of the same language, and the streets are way less crowded. Being a tiny little nation makes it easy to get around as well, and I really do think that all adds up to feeling like "home"
That's not to say that certain things don't still surprise me, but Singapore doesn't shock me much anymore. Most of the time anyway.
I would be remiss if I didn't continue to share some of the oddities I see. There are a few things I actually have gotten used to over the last little why, things I would never have thought "acceptable" have become the new normal in some places. You just roll with it.
Street food is one of them. Here in Singapore they don't allow the traditional food carts you see in many countries, instead they have taken the concept under cover, what the call a "Hawker" centre. Here they have rows and rows of stands, usually sorted haphazardly by ethnicity. It's a little like a traditional food court, but the stalls are usually independent and usually I have no idea what they sell. I took a page from my brothers handbook, and just point and hold up a couple fingers. I don't think I have been disappointed yet. Of course the other key is to follow the line. Always line up in the longest line.
There are many delicacies I will never learn to love, but I no longer do a double take when I am served my lunch on a banana leaf (much more environmentally friendly than a paper plate). I've also learned to pay attention to the neighbourhood as I approach an eatery, you never know when you'll meet the chef in the street, preparing the vegetables.
Not only can I not imagine the meeting where they all sat around suggesting things to make their units stand out but imagine the various levels of approval they went through before green lighting a FLY just above the screen. Makes perfect sense to me. I was going to take a few pictures so you could see the impact of a dozen urinals all with a fly in the same spot, but I got some strange looks when I pulled out the camera in the pissior, so you will just have to imagine it.
I have been asked a lot about what I miss, and aside from the usual family, friends, and chicken wings from chickens larger thanpigeons, I really don't long for much. We have already discussed the Asia interpretation of Canadian cuisine, but I do have a couple secret spots now, when i really need a hit from home.
People ask what's new, and honestly I have to say, not much. I have settled into the routine I think, at least as routine as it can be. Singapore is probably the fastest any new place has felt like home. As I have said to a few people, I think part of that is the contrast. After a week or so on the road in some of the less prosperous centres I visit, or perhaps just more crowded, with foreign language all around, landing at Changi Airport can give me that sense of "ahhhh" that in some cities I have lived has taken much longer to develop. My current theory is it's a sense of comfort when everyone speaks a version of the same language, and the streets are way less crowded. Being a tiny little nation makes it easy to get around as well, and I really do think that all adds up to feeling like "home"
That's not to say that certain things don't still surprise me, but Singapore doesn't shock me much anymore. Most of the time anyway.
I would be remiss if I didn't continue to share some of the oddities I see. There are a few things I actually have gotten used to over the last little why, things I would never have thought "acceptable" have become the new normal in some places. You just roll with it.
Street food is one of them. Here in Singapore they don't allow the traditional food carts you see in many countries, instead they have taken the concept under cover, what the call a "Hawker" centre. Here they have rows and rows of stands, usually sorted haphazardly by ethnicity. It's a little like a traditional food court, but the stalls are usually independent and usually I have no idea what they sell. I took a page from my brothers handbook, and just point and hold up a couple fingers. I don't think I have been disappointed yet. Of course the other key is to follow the line. Always line up in the longest line.
There are many delicacies I will never learn to love, but I no longer do a double take when I am served my lunch on a banana leaf (much more environmentally friendly than a paper plate). I've also learned to pay attention to the neighbourhood as I approach an eatery, you never know when you'll meet the chef in the street, preparing the vegetables.
This is far more common than you'd expect, and again, something I have just kind of gotten used too. If you've been following on Facebook since I went to Thailand in 2010 you may remember this guy peeling fruit.
You may recall we talked about Toilets recently, and I was remiss on a couple shots. One - public urinal at a beer festival, you can image they got a lot of use. Anyway, I suppose it also speaks to the lack of personal space and general sense of privacy here in Asia.
This is not in a separate tent, or cordoned off area. There was no sign specifically calling it a mens area, but I understand from the ladies there was no where to hang a purse so they opted for the more traditional facilities. Speaking of urinals, there was one other picture I had missed. I have no explanation why, but this particular manufacturer makes a number of styles of receptacles with their trademark glazed onto the porcelain.
I was amazed that they could perfect the undercooked, over priced Canadian pizza. And they deliver.
Beyond that, there are things that do occasionally spark a wave of nostalgia. Do you remember these?
And I still enjoy the things that are lost in translation. Be it a business I don't quite understand the need for, the size of some of the things made in Asia or an item that doesn't seem that appealing.
Well, that's about it from the Lion City. Not sure you know but the national symbol is a Merlion, - half fish, half lion. History says there likely was never a lion here in Singapore, but a half gecko, half fish probably wouldn't have been as dramatic at the Lego store. It would have been easier to walk.
