Christmas in Singapore

Some of most the enjoyable aspects of Christmases were lost this year. Bundling up in heavy coats and hats gave way to t-shirts and shorts. Instead of cut trees decorated with bulbs, there were numerous tree-shaped displays like the one above. That's not a real tree under there, just metal and plastic. Another example is the tree-shaped display of Ferrero Rocher chocolates (although not real chocolates, which would melt) seen below.

Here's another one, hollow in the center so that you can walk through.

Finally, a real tree! This one is at the Raffles Hotel, one of Singapore's finest.

One doesn't need a real tree to get in the holiday spirit, though, as these rowers on the Singapore River showed. They were donning Santa hats and yelling "Merry Christmas" to everyone watching.

Happy Holidays!

At the Raffles Hotel, home of the original Singapore Sling.

One of many trees lighting up the Singapore night.

Christmas cake at Cova.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. We wish you the best in 2011.
明けましておめでとうございます。2011年もよろしくお願いします。

Verve Pizzeria

A new Italian restaurant recently opened near our home. Verve Pizzeria serves a range of salads, pastas, and pizzas, all in a casual atmosphere. The restaurant's theme is that icon of Italy, the Vespa. There are colorful images of Vespas of different eras on the wall, and even Vespa handlebars fashioned into a statue on the bar. The restaurant faces a small stand of trees, the last remnant of a forest that once covered the hill where a new condominium and the NTU alumni center sit.

I ordered the meat lasagna. It had a rich flavor, enhanced by the generous slices of Parmesan cheese on top. Unfortunately, one of the pasta layers was chewy, as if undercooked or of a different thickness than the other layers. The dish came with a small mixed salad with a balsamic vinegar and oil dressing. It was a small highlight of the meal.

Hisako ordered the linguine with sun-dried tomatoes. I'm not sure why though, since she has never been a fan of sun-dried tomatoes. It also featured pine nuts and Parmesan cheese. this dish was far from terrific. The pasta was quite chewy, leaving both of us unsatisfied. There was too much olive oil, yet it was dry overall.

The atmosphere and the free pizza slices brought out as an appetizer were the real highlights of the meal. There were few customers and the music was not very loud, meaning it was quiet enough to carry on a conversation. There was a large Christmas tree and other decorations, making it festive. We might return, but we'll order one of the meat dishes instead.

Sentosa

Before visiting Sentosa, a tiny island south of Singapore proper, the name conjured images of throngs of people vying for a tiny square of space along a man-made beach, or waiting in long lines for a tourist attraction. It's curious how hearsay and snippets of conversation can create vivid images in our minds of places we've never been. These images can prevent us from giving a destination a chance, as our eyes are conditioned to look for verification of what we expect. I'm not sure where I got my impression of Sentosa. The only images I had seen prior to visiting were of Amazing Race participants taking a long zip line from the top of the island down to the beach, which looked quite amazing.

We decided to visit Sentosa on a whim. After playing tennis on a Sunday morning (our first tennis in over four months in Singapore), we decided that it would feel great to be on the beach. The sun was beating down from a clear blue sky, but a steady breeze made the heat bearable. We hopped on the train, then switched to the monorail for the last leg of the journey. While crossing the water, we passed some of the immense container ports, endlessly loading and unloading the 'stuff' that causes conflicts and drives economies around the world.

The entrance to Sentosa.

The first stop on the monorail is Universal Studios Singapore. We were annual pass holders of Universal Studios Japan, when we lived in Osaka. We enjoyed strolling around the New York sets and doing the Jurassic Park ride. But my interest in this particular theme park is waning. So, we continued on the monorail. The next stop lets people off to see Singapore's largest Merlion, a creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion is a symbol of Singapore, and there are several of them, of different sizes, throughout the island. Since we've seen Merlion elsewhere, we also skipped this stop and continued on the monorail.

The last stop is the beach - not only the beach, but a series of restaurants and bars that face the beach. 

The beach was surprisingly clean, both the sand and the water. We rested under a few palm trees in a classic Southeast Asian beach pose. Then we continued along the beach, past a number of clubs and restaurants. We saw a few sea kayakers, but mostly people were just lying on the beach or poolside.

One of the highlights was Wave House, an outdoor restaurant that features a surf pool. I first saw this on a tv commercial for a cruise line, but I didn't understand how it worked until I saw it for myself.

Water streams from one corner of the pool, constantly flowing toward the center of the pool, where the surface of the pool curves upward to mimic a big wave. Beginners, like the guy in the image above, hold a rope while first stepping on the skimboard. They try to get their balance, and when ready, release the rope. After a matter of seconds, beginners usually crash, then end up at the far end of the pool. Sometimes the water is so strong it shoots them over the blue wave into the back of the pool. I would want to wear a helmet (and mask out of embarassment) if I ever tried this.

More advanced riders start by sitting on the side and jumping into the flow. Advanced riders turn up the water volume, creating a bigger wave. This guy (above) was the best rider we saw. He was able to ride up the wall, twist the board in different directions, and make it look fairly easy. This is probably especially fun to see at night, and it's open until past midnight on weekends.

Overall, Sentosa was far better than expected. We even saw the zip line, which still looks amazing. I'm sure we'll go back.

The Street

On Sunday we went to East Coast Park, a very popular weekend spot. On the way, we stopped by the area known as Arab Street, which features streets of cafes and shops with vague inspiration from the Middle East. Given the location near a large mosque, one can also find Muslim goods like caps for men (called taqiyah or songkok) and scarves for women, and other items needed for prayer.

I was impressed with some of the design work around the neighborhood, like this hummingbird drawn on a post and these sprayed figures on an alley wall.

After walking around for about 30 minutes, we continued on to East Coast Park. It features a beach, bicycle and rollerblade rental, and numerous restaurants. We also saw something quite unique: Ski360, a cable-based water skiing park. Having grown up water skiing on lakes behind a boat, I never imagined the possibility of cable skiing. But cable skiing takes out a lot of the risk of boat skiing. No risk of hitting another boat or something floating in the water, and no feeling of being abandoned while waiting for the boat to return to pick you up after going down. The cable also pulls at a uniform speed, so you can get out of the water easily and maintain a good speed. I don't know how clean the water is, but the agricultural run-off in Iowa's reservoirs was never clean either.

We ate lunch with some friends, while watching the wakeboarders do amazing jumps.

The Common Cold

Everyone knows the misery of a summer cold--sniffles, coughs, and the chills, all in 90 degree heat. When you catch a cold in Singapore, it is always a "summer cold."

In the U.S. everyone gives advice: chicken soup, vitamin C, mentholated rub, herb teas, orange juice, steam shower, garlicky food. In Japan, people always suggest gargling.

In Singapore, there are many over-the-counter medications, and the most common everyday advice is to sip warm or hot water - never cold water. And against all the advice I heard growing up, the doctor told me to stop drinking fruit juice, claiming that the acidity would bother my throat. It makes it hard to know who or what to believe. I suppose we're all inclined to favor the advice we grew up with, but since there is no "cure" for the common cold, I guess one person's advice is as good as another's.

Seven prescriptions in two doctor visits.

The first time I visited the doctor here with a cold, I simply went to make sure it wasn't more than a cold. I have learned that one catches a cold from contact with others, not from a change in the weather or getting caught in the rain. As I already said, there is no "cure" for the common cold, or people wouldn't continue to suffer from them every year, and people wouldn't keep inventing new "cures." The best one can do is to simply wait out a cold. The only reason to take medicine is to relieve the symptoms while waiting for the cold to run its course.

But try telling that to the doctors here. When I visit the doctor in Singapore, I get 2-3 minutes of conversation with the doctor and a handful of medicines, one for each symptom. And the system makes it hard to avoid taking the drugs. The doctor prescribes a bunch of things and sends you away, and the total cost of the visit is less than US$5. With no alternate advice, you end up taking the medicines and hoping for the best. 

I guess the upside is that it isn't freezing cold outside, and I don't have to shovel a walk or scrape a windshield while sick. And I can still find something close to chicken soup, which always makes me feel better.

For more on the common cold, I like this collection of info:
NY Times - the common cold

Cheese!

This past Saturday we went to a friend's house in Pasir Ris for dinner. It was the farthest I've traveled on the subway/train here, all the way to the other side of the island. It doesn't sound like much, but when your daily life consists of shuttling back-and-forth on a single bus between home and the office, a long ride on the train becomes eventful. Dinner consisted of chicken curry on noodles (instead of rice), pork sausage from Taiwan, and some of the best chicken wings I've ever had. They were Philippine style, and they would put many U.S. happy hours out of business.

Sunday we went for a four-hour hike around MacRitchie Reservoir in the afternoon. It was a great day for it, until it began raining with about an hour left. We were pretty wet by the time we caught a bus home. But it was a good day nonetheless. You can't beat tramping around tropical forests for an afternoon out. We saw some butterflies, including a purple one (maybe the purple duke), plus some long-tailed macaques.

We also crossed the HSBC TreeTop Walk -- a 250m (273 yards or 820ft) long bridge above the rainforest that rises as high as 25m (82ft) above the ground. It is quite narrow, so it is strictly one-way only. Once you reach the far side you have to pass through a gate, which clanged shut behind the person in front of us, temporarily making H think we were trapped on the bridge. That would have been terrible, but the door just closes so that no one can enter from the far side.

Once home, we went out for dinner at Everything With Fries in Holland Village. As you can imagine, everything comes with fries. And the fries really were the food highlight. My best memory, though, was the conversation with the waitress about, of all things, cheese.

Being friends with Wes, I have come to appreciate a quality burger, plus, when you eat a burger at most U.S. restaurants, you have any number of cheese choices. So when I asked, "What kind of cheese is on the cheeseburger?" I didn't anticipate any problems. However, she paused before answering, as if she'd never heard the question before. So, I shouldn't have been surprised when she finally answered, "Melted."

Of course.

I really have to laugh, since the interaction reminded me of a previous cheese-related conversation I witnessed ten years ago in Winterset, Iowa. A friend was visiting from England (where they know a thing or two about cheese). While at a grocery store, she was eyeing a whitish-cheese in the case labeled "Swiss", and she inquired of the man behind the counter, "What kind of cheese is that?" He replied, "Swiss." She repeated, "What kind of Swiss?" And he repeated with a somewhat heated tone, "Swiss." She fired back, "I can read that it's Swiss, but what kind of Swiss?" At this point I felt compelled to step in and stop a potential international incident.

Growing up in Iowa, I knew that Swiss cheese is the generic name given to a cheese with holes in it. The fact that this is related to the Swiss Emmental is something never learned. In fact, I probably never heard the word "Emmental" until I was in my 20s. The cheese in the case certainly was not imported from Switzerland. In the U.S. this holey cheese is called Swiss cheese, despite the fact that there is nothing particularly Swiss (as in the country Switzerland) about it.

However, my friend had grown up with similar grocery stores and similar cheese cases in England, where some of the cheese actually was imported from places like Switzerland and France, and it was labeled as such. However, since there are many kinds of cheese from Switzerland, calling it "Swiss" did nothing to help her understand the flavor of the cheese. The cheese man in Winterset may or may not have known that the country Switzerland produces a large variety of cheeses, but at that moment, there was a great disconnect in cheese communication, one which I was able to experience when ordering my burger.

Incidentally, it was melted cheddar.