Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Modern and Historical Side of Singapore!
We started our day on the 23rd of October around 1:00 pm, after of course taking advantage of the free breakfast our hostel provides. Just toast and spreads (and cereal for Henk) but that's fine for us! Henk suggested that we learn how to use the MRT system, and that we purchase frequent rider MRT cards in the process. You pay $5.00 for the card, but get a discount on every ride you take on the train. Really good idea! We did just that and jumped on the MRT for the first time.
Our first goal was to check out some of the interesting museums we heard were around the Colonial District. But before we could find one of them, directly outside of the MRT station, we caught sight of St. Andrew's Cathedral. Bright white and towering above us, it reminded me of something a 'Prince/Princess Charming' would live in. Looked almost magical! I kept staring at it and asking Henk to take some pictures, as he wondered aloud if we could go inside it. I had spotted a glass door that led to a little exhibition hall on the Cathedral, and led him towards it.
Once we got inside, we were approached by a woman who offered us a free tour of the Cathedral, which was one of the few examples of English Gothic Revival architecture in Singapore. Of course we weren't going to pass that up! Our guide first brought us down to the brand-new 'underground church' the Cathedral had just finished building. The underground cathedral was modern, with no stained glass or 'divinity' figures displayed, and they had drums and electric guitars set up for their mass to attract younger people.
A stark contrast to this modern area was the original 1862 building, with all the bells and whistles of a typical Cathedral -- divinity statues, stained glass, an organ. One interesting fact we learned about the 'old' part of the Cathedral was about the building itself, which was built by Indian convicts sent to Singapore from India by the British during their rule. The Cathedral's walls are made of 'Madras chaunam' plaster, which is a composite of egg whites, shell lime and sugar rubbed smooth with lumps of rock crystal. We were amazed the Cathedral was still standing!
Anyways, after our tour of the Cathedral, we asked our guide for some suggestions on museums. She told us to walk straight down towards the National Museum, and we ended up doing just that. The oldest museum in Singapore, the National Museum was really cool! Outside the museum was a group of statues which represented the 5 Chinese elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth and their corresponding mystical animal signs: the white tiger of the west, the green dragon of the east, the black tortoise of the north, and the red phoenix of the south, plus a qilin in the middle. Henk and I went straight to the top of the museum, starting with an exhibit on one of my favorite subjects: food!
I was amazed to see an entire exhibit on the local cuisine of Singapore, its history, and its flavors. Awesome! We learned about how the original Singapore food vendors -- called 'hawkers' -- provided the almost completely male population of Singapore with cooked meals. The men who came to Singapore to find work, or because they were criminals sent by the British were of many ethnic backgrounds. As a result, Singapore food is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Peranakan, Indian, Indonesian and even Western tastes. And the result is VERY different from the original dishes...
Here is a discription from a Singapore Food History website that explains it well:
The Hainanese chicken rice with its ubiquitous ginger-garlic chilli sauce, is as different as its Hainanese counterpart; black pepper crab and chilli crab in many Chinese seafood stalls are native inventions; while roti prata and curry is quite unlike its Indian cousin, and Indian rojak is really an alien dish to anyone from India.
Here are the details of some of the main Singapore dishes from the museum:
My Favorite Dish:
Char Kway Teow: ('Fried Flat Noodle' in Teochew) Prepared by stir-frying Chinese broad, flat noodles in very high heat with light and dark soya sauces, garlic, lard, fish cake and Chinese sausage... The dish was first sold by fishermen, farmers, and cockle gatherers who moonlighted as sellers in the evening to support their income... Very popular with laborers, the dish's high fat content was a cheap source of energy.
Sounds of Food:
Tok Tok Mee is so named because noodle hawkers would make a 'tik tok' sound to signal their presence by striking a bamboo stick against a piece of split bamboo. The 'tik tok' rhythm became the hawker's distinctive food call, alerting customers in the vicinity. Tok Tok Mee hawkers went around with three-wheeled wooden pushcarts, complete with ingredients, charcoal stove, pots, bowls, and utensils. The hawker's assistant, usually a young boy, would strike the 'tik tok' sound around the neighborhood to take orders and then deliver the bowls on wooden trays.
Hawkers used different sounds to distinguish the mee (noodles) they sold. Those selling wanton mee (egg noodles blanched, drained, and tossed in a savory sauce, served with pork dumplings, roast pork, and vegetables) used a smaller piece of bamboo to make high-pitched sounds with a quick beat. Those selling mee pok (flat yellow noodles blanched, drained, and tossed in a savory sauce served with fishballs) were identified by a low-pitched 'tik tok' sound.
After watching some short clips featuring elderly Singaporean people explaining their knowledge of the food hawking trade, we explored an attached exhibit detailing the spices used in Singapore foods. After that, Henk and I walked through a few other exhibits explaining the more modern history of Singapore. One displayed photographs of family life in early 1900's Singapore, and the other was on the evolution of fashion in Singapore through the 20th century. In between these exhibits was some crazy looking modern art! Terra Cotta Warriors with modern technology! :P So cute. OH! We also later passed an interactive 'video' exhibit, which displayed me as art! Cool...
Next we headed towards an exhibit on Singapore's previously flourishing movie industry. In the 1950's and 1960's, Singapore was a center of Chinese and Malay movie production. However, since independence in 1965, Singapore's movie industry has dramatically declined. Many of the post 1960's movies made in Singapore were not even released in Singapore, and it is thus sketchy how much of a 'Hollywood-esque' epicenter Singapore actually remains. There was also a short exhibit on the history of Chinese opera in Singapore, which was popular at one time.
Upon entering the second museum area, we were given a couple of headsets and sat through a couple of short videos. The coolest one was about the creation story of Singapore. The island was originally not named Singapura, but instead Temasek. Here is a summary of the story we were told:
The story begins with a young prince named Parameswara, who was one of the grandsons of Alexander the Great. Prince Parameswara had many famous treasures, but the most famous of them all was a jeweled crown that was said to be part of the treasures of Solomon.
The prince was returning home from a voyage at sea one day when he noticed a new, unfamiliar island in the distance. Upon his return, he decided to return to the island for colonization, and gained his father's approval to put together a sailing party to return to the new island. Unfortunately, the gods had other ideas.
As soon as the ship left it's home port, it encountered the most violent storm that any of the veteran sailors had ever encountered. All were sure of certain doom, but Prince Parameswara declared that he knew exactly what to do. According to the Merlion myth, the prince calmly walked to the front of the ship and hurled his famous crown into the see as a gift to the gods. The see was instantly calm, allowing the group smooth sailing to the island they were destined for.
When the men arrived at the island, they were greeted at the beach by a fierce lion. Again, all were sure of certain death, but the prince proclaimed that he knew exactly what to do. As Parameswara reached for his blade, he unintentionally locked eyes with the lion. Each instantly gained a mutual understanding of the other, and the lion disappeared into the jungle, never to be seen again.
This second part of the museum was a history walk-through, where you could pick to follow either the 'history-buff' path or the 'creative' path. (Basically, if you liked history class, you go right and if you didn't, you go left.)With your headset on, you would punch in different numbers on the PDA and be 'told' the story of Singapore in the style of your liking.
Henk and I wanted to see both, so we sort of zig-zagged between the two of them, crossing over a few times. The paths were pretty different, and it was good to see both. But WOW! That museum had a LOT of information and could get very confusing, very quickly... Henk and I slowed down for the parts we found more interesting, and tried to hurry through the rest.
A Few of the More Interesting Tidbits:
One of the artifacts we saw was a piece of the famous Singapore Stone. To explain, here is a little description from Wiki:
The Singapore Stone is a fragment of a large sandstone slab which originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River. The slab, which is believed to date back to at least the 13th century and possibly as early as the 10th or 11th century, bore an undeciphered inscription. Recent theories suggest that the inscription is either in Old Javanese or Sanskrit. It is likely that the person who commissioned the inscription was Sumatran. The slab was blown up in 1843 to clear and widen the passageway at the river mouth to make space for a fort and the quarters of its commander.
The slab may be linked to the legendary story of the 14th-century strongman Badang, who is said to have thrown a massive stone to the mouth of the Singapore River. On Badang's death, the Rajah sent two stone pillars to be raised over his grave "at the point of the straits of Singhapura".
After the museum and a quick stop at an Armenian Church, (the oldest Christian church in Singapore, but simple and not that interesting) Henk and I were both getting a bit hungry for some dinner. We planned to go to the Hard Rock Cafe to kill two birds with one stone: fill our stomaches and get a pin for my Uncle Randy's HRC pin collection! However, before that, Henk suggested I get my nails done at one of the nail salons we had passed on our way to the museum. Since I really needed to get them fixed, and we saw a sign that advertised a really good price for a mani/pedi, we went in. I decided on Halloween colors and some light nail art.
However... it was only after I was already in the process of getting my nails done that the salon informed us the deal was only for 'special card members' and thus we weren't able to get it. 'Alright,' I thought, 'that's still not so bad.' The prices they then quoted us were much pricier than the other salons around had advertised. However, by that point my nails were already part-way done. We had no choice but to stay with the over-priced salon.
Furthermore, once the manicurist came to me with our bill, I almost had to laugh! It was insanely overpriced for a manicure/pedicure -- and in the most ridiculous of ways! Listed on the bill was charges for "$3.00/nail for a sparkle topcoat, (x 20 nails) $2.00/nail for 2 colors, (x 20 nails) $3.00/nail for nail art (x 20 nails)... etc." Only the last charge of nail art would make any sense. I looked at her practically rolling my eyes, telling her there was no way I would be charged such blatantly overpriced services. Thankfully, she didn't argue and crossed out some of the charges. I won't be ripped off!
Still a bit steamed from the obvious attempt to rip us off, Henk and I headed for the Hard Rock Cafe. We picked out an awesome pin for Uncle Randy!! Take a look at it...
After doing our bit of shopping, we sat down and ordered some very large, very American cheeseburgers for dinner! YUM! Gotta love that mushroom, onion, Swiss burger!! (upgraded to onion rings from French fries of course.) Since we were there pretty late, we got to enjoy the music of a live band playing downstairs while we ate. We even decided to splurge a little that night and order a chocolate brownie dessert with ice-cream. I know, not the smartest thing to do while backpacking. But we figured, with the prices for all our other meals here being so cheap, it would even out by the time we left.
We left the HRC around 11:00 pm, with a balloon! (Henk grabbed one for me!) We walked down the 'expensive' area of Singapore called Orchard Road, which is also the 'touristy' area. Streets filled with stores like 'Prada,' 'Louis Vuitton,' and 'Haagen Dazs' ice-cream. It looked awesome, but pretty typical for any big city. The rest of Singapore is so much more unique! I was glad we decided to stay closer to the locals. Oh! That balloon came with us on the subway too... and back into the room where it was tied to the doorknob for the night. Hehe! :P
Talk to everyone soon,
Francesca
Our first goal was to check out some of the interesting museums we heard were around the Colonial District. But before we could find one of them, directly outside of the MRT station, we caught sight of St. Andrew's Cathedral. Bright white and towering above us, it reminded me of something a 'Prince/Princess Charming' would live in. Looked almost magical! I kept staring at it and asking Henk to take some pictures, as he wondered aloud if we could go inside it. I had spotted a glass door that led to a little exhibition hall on the Cathedral, and led him towards it.
Once we got inside, we were approached by a woman who offered us a free tour of the Cathedral, which was one of the few examples of English Gothic Revival architecture in Singapore. Of course we weren't going to pass that up! Our guide first brought us down to the brand-new 'underground church' the Cathedral had just finished building. The underground cathedral was modern, with no stained glass or 'divinity' figures displayed, and they had drums and electric guitars set up for their mass to attract younger people.
A stark contrast to this modern area was the original 1862 building, with all the bells and whistles of a typical Cathedral -- divinity statues, stained glass, an organ. One interesting fact we learned about the 'old' part of the Cathedral was about the building itself, which was built by Indian convicts sent to Singapore from India by the British during their rule. The Cathedral's walls are made of 'Madras chaunam' plaster, which is a composite of egg whites, shell lime and sugar rubbed smooth with lumps of rock crystal. We were amazed the Cathedral was still standing!
Anyways, after our tour of the Cathedral, we asked our guide for some suggestions on museums. She told us to walk straight down towards the National Museum, and we ended up doing just that. The oldest museum in Singapore, the National Museum was really cool! Outside the museum was a group of statues which represented the 5 Chinese elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth and their corresponding mystical animal signs: the white tiger of the west, the green dragon of the east, the black tortoise of the north, and the red phoenix of the south, plus a qilin in the middle. Henk and I went straight to the top of the museum, starting with an exhibit on one of my favorite subjects: food!
I was amazed to see an entire exhibit on the local cuisine of Singapore, its history, and its flavors. Awesome! We learned about how the original Singapore food vendors -- called 'hawkers' -- provided the almost completely male population of Singapore with cooked meals. The men who came to Singapore to find work, or because they were criminals sent by the British were of many ethnic backgrounds. As a result, Singapore food is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Peranakan, Indian, Indonesian and even Western tastes. And the result is VERY different from the original dishes...
Here is a discription from a Singapore Food History website that explains it well:
The Hainanese chicken rice with its ubiquitous ginger-garlic chilli sauce, is as different as its Hainanese counterpart; black pepper crab and chilli crab in many Chinese seafood stalls are native inventions; while roti prata and curry is quite unlike its Indian cousin, and Indian rojak is really an alien dish to anyone from India.
Here are the details of some of the main Singapore dishes from the museum:
My Favorite Dish:
Char Kway Teow: ('Fried Flat Noodle' in Teochew) Prepared by stir-frying Chinese broad, flat noodles in very high heat with light and dark soya sauces, garlic, lard, fish cake and Chinese sausage... The dish was first sold by fishermen, farmers, and cockle gatherers who moonlighted as sellers in the evening to support their income... Very popular with laborers, the dish's high fat content was a cheap source of energy.
Sounds of Food:
Tok Tok Mee is so named because noodle hawkers would make a 'tik tok' sound to signal their presence by striking a bamboo stick against a piece of split bamboo. The 'tik tok' rhythm became the hawker's distinctive food call, alerting customers in the vicinity. Tok Tok Mee hawkers went around with three-wheeled wooden pushcarts, complete with ingredients, charcoal stove, pots, bowls, and utensils. The hawker's assistant, usually a young boy, would strike the 'tik tok' sound around the neighborhood to take orders and then deliver the bowls on wooden trays.
Hawkers used different sounds to distinguish the mee (noodles) they sold. Those selling wanton mee (egg noodles blanched, drained, and tossed in a savory sauce, served with pork dumplings, roast pork, and vegetables) used a smaller piece of bamboo to make high-pitched sounds with a quick beat. Those selling mee pok (flat yellow noodles blanched, drained, and tossed in a savory sauce served with fishballs) were identified by a low-pitched 'tik tok' sound.
After watching some short clips featuring elderly Singaporean people explaining their knowledge of the food hawking trade, we explored an attached exhibit detailing the spices used in Singapore foods. After that, Henk and I walked through a few other exhibits explaining the more modern history of Singapore. One displayed photographs of family life in early 1900's Singapore, and the other was on the evolution of fashion in Singapore through the 20th century. In between these exhibits was some crazy looking modern art! Terra Cotta Warriors with modern technology! :P So cute. OH! We also later passed an interactive 'video' exhibit, which displayed me as art! Cool...
Next we headed towards an exhibit on Singapore's previously flourishing movie industry. In the 1950's and 1960's, Singapore was a center of Chinese and Malay movie production. However, since independence in 1965, Singapore's movie industry has dramatically declined. Many of the post 1960's movies made in Singapore were not even released in Singapore, and it is thus sketchy how much of a 'Hollywood-esque' epicenter Singapore actually remains. There was also a short exhibit on the history of Chinese opera in Singapore, which was popular at one time.
Upon entering the second museum area, we were given a couple of headsets and sat through a couple of short videos. The coolest one was about the creation story of Singapore. The island was originally not named Singapura, but instead Temasek. Here is a summary of the story we were told:
The story begins with a young prince named Parameswara, who was one of the grandsons of Alexander the Great. Prince Parameswara had many famous treasures, but the most famous of them all was a jeweled crown that was said to be part of the treasures of Solomon.
The prince was returning home from a voyage at sea one day when he noticed a new, unfamiliar island in the distance. Upon his return, he decided to return to the island for colonization, and gained his father's approval to put together a sailing party to return to the new island. Unfortunately, the gods had other ideas.
As soon as the ship left it's home port, it encountered the most violent storm that any of the veteran sailors had ever encountered. All were sure of certain doom, but Prince Parameswara declared that he knew exactly what to do. According to the Merlion myth, the prince calmly walked to the front of the ship and hurled his famous crown into the see as a gift to the gods. The see was instantly calm, allowing the group smooth sailing to the island they were destined for.
When the men arrived at the island, they were greeted at the beach by a fierce lion. Again, all were sure of certain death, but the prince proclaimed that he knew exactly what to do. As Parameswara reached for his blade, he unintentionally locked eyes with the lion. Each instantly gained a mutual understanding of the other, and the lion disappeared into the jungle, never to be seen again.
This second part of the museum was a history walk-through, where you could pick to follow either the 'history-buff' path or the 'creative' path. (Basically, if you liked history class, you go right and if you didn't, you go left.)With your headset on, you would punch in different numbers on the PDA and be 'told' the story of Singapore in the style of your liking.
Henk and I wanted to see both, so we sort of zig-zagged between the two of them, crossing over a few times. The paths were pretty different, and it was good to see both. But WOW! That museum had a LOT of information and could get very confusing, very quickly... Henk and I slowed down for the parts we found more interesting, and tried to hurry through the rest.
A Few of the More Interesting Tidbits:
One of the artifacts we saw was a piece of the famous Singapore Stone. To explain, here is a little description from Wiki:
The Singapore Stone is a fragment of a large sandstone slab which originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River. The slab, which is believed to date back to at least the 13th century and possibly as early as the 10th or 11th century, bore an undeciphered inscription. Recent theories suggest that the inscription is either in Old Javanese or Sanskrit. It is likely that the person who commissioned the inscription was Sumatran. The slab was blown up in 1843 to clear and widen the passageway at the river mouth to make space for a fort and the quarters of its commander.
The slab may be linked to the legendary story of the 14th-century strongman Badang, who is said to have thrown a massive stone to the mouth of the Singapore River. On Badang's death, the Rajah sent two stone pillars to be raised over his grave "at the point of the straits of Singhapura".
After the museum and a quick stop at an Armenian Church, (the oldest Christian church in Singapore, but simple and not that interesting) Henk and I were both getting a bit hungry for some dinner. We planned to go to the Hard Rock Cafe to kill two birds with one stone: fill our stomaches and get a pin for my Uncle Randy's HRC pin collection! However, before that, Henk suggested I get my nails done at one of the nail salons we had passed on our way to the museum. Since I really needed to get them fixed, and we saw a sign that advertised a really good price for a mani/pedi, we went in. I decided on Halloween colors and some light nail art.
However... it was only after I was already in the process of getting my nails done that the salon informed us the deal was only for 'special card members' and thus we weren't able to get it. 'Alright,' I thought, 'that's still not so bad.' The prices they then quoted us were much pricier than the other salons around had advertised. However, by that point my nails were already part-way done. We had no choice but to stay with the over-priced salon.
Furthermore, once the manicurist came to me with our bill, I almost had to laugh! It was insanely overpriced for a manicure/pedicure -- and in the most ridiculous of ways! Listed on the bill was charges for "$3.00/nail for a sparkle topcoat, (x 20 nails) $2.00/nail for 2 colors, (x 20 nails) $3.00/nail for nail art (x 20 nails)... etc." Only the last charge of nail art would make any sense. I looked at her practically rolling my eyes, telling her there was no way I would be charged such blatantly overpriced services. Thankfully, she didn't argue and crossed out some of the charges. I won't be ripped off!
Still a bit steamed from the obvious attempt to rip us off, Henk and I headed for the Hard Rock Cafe. We picked out an awesome pin for Uncle Randy!! Take a look at it...
After doing our bit of shopping, we sat down and ordered some very large, very American cheeseburgers for dinner! YUM! Gotta love that mushroom, onion, Swiss burger!! (upgraded to onion rings from French fries of course.) Since we were there pretty late, we got to enjoy the music of a live band playing downstairs while we ate. We even decided to splurge a little that night and order a chocolate brownie dessert with ice-cream. I know, not the smartest thing to do while backpacking. But we figured, with the prices for all our other meals here being so cheap, it would even out by the time we left.
We left the HRC around 11:00 pm, with a balloon! (Henk grabbed one for me!) We walked down the 'expensive' area of Singapore called Orchard Road, which is also the 'touristy' area. Streets filled with stores like 'Prada,' 'Louis Vuitton,' and 'Haagen Dazs' ice-cream. It looked awesome, but pretty typical for any big city. The rest of Singapore is so much more unique! I was glad we decided to stay closer to the locals. Oh! That balloon came with us on the subway too... and back into the room where it was tied to the doorknob for the night. Hehe! :P
Talk to everyone soon,
Francesca
2 Comments:
Hallo Lieve Kids,
Ik wist niet wat ik zag Francesca,alweer een pracht verhaal,
Heerlijk hoor en al die mooie foto,s.Wat een prachtige nagels heb je.Jullie eten wel lekker he.Wennen jullie al een beetje aan de warmte.Het is hier vies en nat.Veel liefs en pas goed op jullie zelf. Oma.
Hey there,
we just read youre great story about singapore. You did good by not agreeing with the price that the nailsalon charged you for. You don't fool these two young people, isn't it?? We hope you have a great time and we hope to hear the two of you soon!! Have a good time, lots off hugs and kisses from us. greetz ronald and gina
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