January 4, 2010

• New Year’s Day in Singapore

  “Welcome to Singapore!”, once again after visiting it about five years ago. I don’t remember much from my last visit, making this trip something quite new. A land littered with HDB flats and anything but litter, Singapore is an urban jungle a million times cleaner than their neighbours across the crossway. A city state created with a twist of irony, after originally being kicked out by Malaysia to its doom, only to become exceedingly better than those who betrayed them. The only draw back is the dense population, the over crowded malls and the stressful atmosphere which makes many Singaporeans impatient, particular and perfectionist (kiasu) – the ethics which made Singapore of one the best cities in the world.

  Of all its attractions, the zoo was the first on my hit list.. went there straight after chucking my stuff at Yasmeen’s place. One of the world’s best zoo, the zoo is not visited only for the variety of animals it has, but also how well the animals are kept and the feeding times or shows they have daily. It totally whoops Zoo Negara which is so bad, most Malaysians will irk if you asked them to go to any zoo.. all that stigma came from Zoo Negara. Try it yourself – ask a Malaysian to a zoo and you’ll be given the “are you crazy?” face. Anyway, Singapore Zoo failed to dissappoint, though my regret was missing out the araipaimas (the biggest freshwater fish in the Amazon  ) feeding session. One tip for those planning to visit – try doing a single long whistle when you’re at the mouse deer and otter enclosure. The animals will appear from hiding! Apparently its the zoo keepers way of telling them food is ready.

  
  Left: Local otters.. apprently you can find them in Malaysia. Perhaps they meant 100 years ago. Right: The leopard came right up to Morniques face! Was just waiting for it to smash through the glass and have her for dinner.

  Apart from the zoo, I spent most of my time with friends.. just catching up, even met a few new people. Overall, the cost of food and public transport in Singapore is not as high as it is in Melbourne. Public transport is not just efficient, it is also cheap! I don’t know the exact rates, but my Ezylink card with a value of S$10 supported me for 3 days. A single ride cost no more than $2.50 (that is from one end of Singapore to the other). Taxi’s are quite reasonable as well, at least wayyy better than those rip offs in KL.

  I guess the only thing Singapore looses out to Malaysia to is food. Although not horribly wrong, it surely isn’t as tasty as Malaysia’s (perhaps cause its cleaner). There was one exception, a local delicacy unique to Singapore (no, not Singapore noodles. It doesn’t even exist in Singapore!). It’s called the kuey chap. Large rice noodle sheets with a bak kut tehish soup and pork side dish. Excellent. A must try!

  I intended to be in new year for Singapores fireworks of which my friend told me was much better than the one in Mooba Festival. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the hill, with the city at the opposite direction we were on. We did get a small fireworks display though, but not the grand display I was hoping for. That also means I’ll be in Singapore again next year!

  After the fireworks, we met a few ex-OCFers and some of my former housemates at a nice Bali-themed bar (forgotten to take a picture). The next day we met up again in the city and tried out a fish spa. There was an offer that day, $15 for 30 minutes electrifying fish biting experience. It was part tickle-part pain, jab like pain. Two separate pools were available with different fish sizes. While waiting, you had the option of using their computers to surf the net while fish nibble away your dry skin. The end product is really smooth skin.

  

  Left: Fish getting to work. Right: Jack’s in agony thanks to the fish.

  Before I knew it, times up in Singapore! No time to take a stroll in the city, no time to visit Sentosa and no time to catch up with other friends. I might be back really soon! More updates then. Special thanks to Yasmeen, Joel, Mornique and Faith for bringing me around.

  • 12:37 am
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