Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

Tuesday was an off day, as we were both tired from the previous days and we really didn’t do much. Also, it rained it really badly, so Top Chef was a welcome addition to our menu. For lunch we ran outside and found some sweet and sour pork and rice for Francesca and a spicy dish for me. After some more lazy time, Francesca was desperate for pizza for dinner and Pizza Hut proved to offer the solution. We ordered a Hawaiian ‘Twist ‘n Dunk’ pizza with triangular edges that we could rip off and dip in cheese and crumbled nachos. The triangles were even covered in a Doritos-like spice mix for added effect. On the side I got soup and Francesca opted for garlic bread and fried potato stars.

On Wednesday we tried to think ahead for Halloween, which Francesca really wanted to celebrate. Halloween isn’t celebrated much in the Netherlands, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially being in Singapore. We found an address online for a costume rental place near our hostel, and we walked there. Francesca and I started brainstorming, and came up with some really creative ideas. However, despite our creativity, the prices asked by the owners proved to be a bad match for us. We did not want to spend a crazy amount on a rental costume for one day, and $50 per person was really too much.

We had wanted to go to the Science Center that day, but by the time we left the costume place it was too late for us to go there. I suggested we go to Bugis again, to explore that place some more and perhaps buy some cool clothes. I knew Francesca had wanted to get her purple dress, so we walked pretty much straight up to Pure Milk, the shop with purple outfits with monkeys. We ended up buying a cute dress, and another two-piece dress, and got a cool bag for free.

Of course, I couldn’t be left behind and we found an awesome blue t-shirt that says ‘Rock Your Monkey,’ … it was a must-have. New clothes richer and happy with our purchase we hunted Bugis some more, but couldn’t find anything else that we would need to make our bags even heavier. It was getting late, and I was getting hungry, so we looked around for food. We walked up and down some of the side streets outside, attempting to find an interesting local dish to try. However, there wasn’t much available besides ‘Do-It-Yourself’ fondue ‘Singapore-Style’ which had bugs and looked interesting yet very dirty. We decided to try going back to the mall, to explore the food court we had seen earlier. But the food court was waaaay too crowded and giving me a headache, so we went downstairs towards the MRT, stopping for some ‘Nasi Lemak’ for me along the way.

Walking back from Lavender MRT station I decided to walk back through some backstreets. As we turned another corner we saw an awesome Buddhist temple. We both wanted to have a look inside, and soon after we were walking around barefoot looking at lavish statues covered in gold and surrounded by a rainbow of colors. A nice touch was the string of lights behind one of the statues that happily changed color all the time. Of course, we were invited to join prayer. We had no idea what to expect, but sat down on some pillows, books in hand and camera at the ready.



Buddhism is a religion of repetition, as we tried to chant along with the slightly more experienced locals. Eventually, we managed to figure out where on the page we were and actually fired quite a few words out loud. Francesca seemed really keen on catching on, and I gave her the book whilst I made some videos of the temple and the praying. Here’s a video to give you an idea of what it was like:



Almost two hours after we had started the session we finally were freed and went back to the hostel. It was a really interesting experience and we were both glad we were allowed to join and see an ancient religion still going strong these days.

On the 29th of October we finally managed to go to the Science Center. I had found the brochure much earlier during our stay, but we hadn’t really gotten around to seeing it. I knew it was going to take quite a while to get there, but fortunately the MRT station wasn’t too far from the Center and after 30 minutes on the MRT we arrived at the station. On the way we saw a little of the more rural Singapore as the MRT went above ground; the city certainly looks more developed than the country.

After a 10 minute walk we were greeted by a giant T-Rex that reminded us of the Jurassic Park movies. It growled at Francesca, making her jump. We bought our tickets and entered the gargantuan building. There were over 10 separate halls with their own unique themes. We had no idea where to start so we just went around as we saw new things and ran into some pretty awesome exhibits.



Our first stop was a hall dedicated to optical illusions. Francesca and I got to play with some pretty hands-on examples. We saw paintings that could be turned 90 or 180 degrees, changing perspective and the whole picture. Francesca also lost her head (or her body) and ended up on a platter. She made a very fine meal!



Next up was a room about famous mathematicians, and mathematical challenges and solutions. We got to try some very interesting puzzles, once thought of by Pythagoras: a so-called T puzzle that challenges the mind’s 3d-vision. Francesca also walked into a room which made her look very tall while she was in the back, and very short when she got much closer to me. Cool!





After exiting this room we found ourselves in the midst of a sound-exhibit. Several little cabins were set up with headphones, which one could walk into and sit down in to listen to some sound illusions. You will be able to find this on YouTube, so look for Mario the Hairdresser, and listen to it with headphones on. It’ll make you think you are actually getting your hair cut! Francesca and I also made our own music: there was a table with different pieces which, once put on the table, would result in a certain sound. Connected with other pieces we created our own symphony. Granted, it took us a while before we had something that sounded pretty good, but we got there in the end. Another funny experience was listening to a man telling jokes on the phone; the trick was that he would only talk if you were also talking. It gets much harder to listen to jokes when you’re blabbing away yourself! Oh, and here’s a little story to read out loud: let us know if you figured out what it was about!





As we hopped to the center of the Center we walked into a show. A man covered in a silver suit of some kind got electrocuted right in front of us! It got even more interesting when the man started holding balloons before the shock. Unfortunately, this did not sit that well with Francesca and her fear of balloons, so we had to back off a little. We did play with some other of the exhibits in this room: there was a smoke machine we could push down on, making smoke circles fly up if we did it right. It took a few tries, but eventually we had perfect circles going up (in smoke, ha ha!). We also got to play with a stream of water under a stroboscope. Did you know that if you slow down the stroboscope the stream of water seems to reverse and flies upwards? Weiiiiiird!



The future was the next theme we came across. We walked into a room with cameras that registered our movement, turning us into colorful images or a collection of pictures. We saw a very futuristic house, with a kitchen-of-the-future. Francesca wants to share that it reminds her of cartoons she used to watch with two little mice who would play around in a house-of-the-future. It reminded me of ‘The Jetsons.’ Basically, the fridge would tell if you’re low on milk; the microwave would recognize the food you put in and automatically warm it up for you. You could even leave video-notes for other people! We also got to play with games-of-the-future: a 3d Lord of the Rings Orc-slaughter game and a really neat Star Wars game, where you had to fend off enemies by waving your hands through sensors, acting as lightsabres. Fun!







Continuing our journey in the Science Center, Francesca and I strolled to one of the exhibitions she and I had really wanted to see: nano-technology. We learned about nano-silver: “minute concentrations of silver are highly toxic to many bacteria and viruses, but are relatively safe to animal and human cells.” Bacteria and viruses cannot counter the many attacks of the nano-silver, and therefore the stuff is used increasingly in the medical world. We also saw nano-clothing: clothing that would be able to keep water out, whilst on the inside absorbing any sweat and pushing it through the nano-material.

The next room was dedicated to climate changes and the effects of humans on Mother Nature. We saw how scientists predict that the world will have heated up so much by 2040 that most of the world will constantly be overheating. We’d better change our habits, or you’ll all be swimming in sweat soon!

After we walked through this exhibition we found ourselves looking at a contraption that looked to be broken: one of those big constructions where you can push a ball onto a track and it’ll keep going forever. However, this one had to be controlled manually, and the ball had gotten stuck. I leaned over the glass protection and managed to push the ball free. Finally, Francesca and I got to activate the lifts and get the ball rolling. We even saw loads of people try it after we fixed it. Go us!





It was getting late by then and we still had quite a bit to see and do, so we tried to hurry up. Everything was so interesting that we had a hard time doing so. Francesca and I finally managed to make it upstairs after reading up on DNA. We found a whole section on some of the world’s most well-known and horrible diseases and viruses we know. We got to watch a 3d mini-introduction into the world of viruses. Next, we got to read up on the causes and consequences of the various diseases. First up was HFMD (hand, foot and mouth disease). We learned about its symptoms and its history and we now know there is still no treatment for HFMD.





Also on the menu: smallpox. Francesca and I learned how the vaccine for smallpox was discovered: “Edward Jenner was a country doctor who had studied nature and his natural surroundings since childhood. He had always been fascinated by the rural old wives’ tale that that milkmaids could not get smallpox.” He made the obvious choice of trying this on his gardener’s son. “He took some of the pus from cowpox blisters and ‘injected’ some of the pus into the boy. The boy became ill but after a few days made a full recovery. He then deliberately injected the boy with smallpox. The boy suffered no ill effects.” Great discovery, but dubious plan of attack!



Some of the viruses on display do still exist in South-East Asia, so we were very interested in reading up on Dengue and Malaria. Francesca and I both played the “Spot the eight Dengue breeding spots” game. We had to run around and push buttons, having only 30 seconds to spot all of them. We both did well though, and should be safe from Dengue! We also sat down for a documentary on SARS, which had a crazy outbreak some years ago. The virus was caught by a Singaporean doctor that worked on the Chinese countryside. He did not recognize the virus and carried it back home. On his way back he infected several other passengers, some of which were flying to all parts of the world. SARS had quickly spread, without anybody knowing about it. Luckily, the doctor realized his mistake and on his deathbed informed his doctors. The SARS-outbreak could be contained to some extent due to the passenger lists and this saved many lives.

We sort of managed to finish this section, but we were already well past closing time, so unfortunately we had to leave some of the exhibits unvisited and headed home. Francesca felt like curry, and had remembered a nice place in Little India. Instead of taking the train back to Lavender, we switched over to the purple line and headed for the Little India stop. We got off near the restaurant and walked in. The waiter told us they had a cheap buffet going and of course Francesca was curious to hear if they had butter chicken. The waiter confirmed the presence of Francesca ‘s favorite Indian dish and so we sat down. As we walked through the buffet we soon noticed there was no butter chicken. Obviously, we got angry and soon we had a dearly apologizing waiter at our table. He would make sure Francesca would get her butter chicken, even throwing in some free naan. Not too bad, we thought. The butter chicken was pretty good and we got a good bowl full, so we considered the deal done. However, that was not the end of the story. The waiter had the audacity to charge us for both the buffets and the butter chicken. Again, we got angry and took it up with the manager. The waiter claimed we knew that we had to pay for the butter chicken, but we could claim complete innocence. The manager finally settled the dispute by charging us for one buffet and one butter chicken. No tip for them though!

Still steaming, but glad to be out of the restaurant we went back to ‘The Hive,’ relaxed for a while and fell asleep.

The day before Halloween was costume-hunt and Chinatown-day. Francesca was getting a little anxious about our outfits, so we spent the morning traveling to several places that might still have costumes for rent/sale. I remembered that there was a Toys’R’Us near the Harbor Front, so we went there, finding the whole place plundered. We then happened to walk past a superstore, where we saw some Halloween-costumes for sale. Most of them were for kids, and even though Francesca might fit in one like that, I certainly wouldn’t. We thought about buying some scary masks, and finally found two matching ones that we could work with! The masks had sad expressions, with a very shiny and colorful top layer. They made us both look very freaky, and with a cape we thought we’d be ready for action.



We looked around for capes for a while, but not finding anything we headed for our other big target for the day: Chinatown. We had a walking tour (yes, again!) planned for later that day, giving us ample time to have a look around ourselves first. We spent the whole afternoon in Chinatown and saw everything there was to see. We got out at Pagoda Street, still covered in traditional Chinese houses, but unfortunately also ripe with stalls and stalls of cheap souvenirs and other do-not-wants.



Our first stop was the Sri Mariamman temple. Perhaps a strange sight in Chinatown, but the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore (built in 1827) was built before the Chinese started living there en masse, and never lost its importance. We walked around inside for some time, taking in all the beautiful statues and temples. Unfortunately, there was some renovation/restoration going on, so not everything looked as grand as it could have. Nonetheless, it was a stunning temple.



After walking up and down some more of the cramped streets we felt like lunch and found a decent-looking restaurant. We sat down and shared a plate of pretty expensive sweet and sour chicken. The waiter had put some peanuts on our table beforehand, and obviously we snacked on them away whilst enjoying our chicken. We also asked for some tap water, and got a glass each. After we were done eating we cleaned our hands with some of the wet towels that were also on the table since we had walked in. I asked for the check, and to my surprise I found we had been charged for the peanuts, the water and even the towels! Wow, what a crazy world we’re living in… No tip for these people either.

Our somewhat disappointing lunch was followed by a visit to the Chinatown Heritage Center. Again, a huge place with many displays, lots of old pictures and very interesting stories. We read how many of the Chinese migrants came to Singapore unskilled. “As ‘Sinkhehs’ or new migrants, they dreamt of making their fortunes in ‘Nanyang’ and returning triumphantly to their villages. Some would make a living; others would be cheated to work in the mines and on the plantations. Only a few would realize their dreams.” We saw how they started their own associations, where they would work for other Chinese, keeping them safe from the bullying of many of the other nationalities.



We read how the young men were faced by many evils: prostitution, opium smoking, drinking and gambling. Francesca and I also saw some raw pictures of the many opium addicts that lived in Chinatown. We discovered how the male to female ratio in Chinatown in late 1800s was as bad as one to ten. Obviously, brothels sprouted everywhere. Getting sick was not an option for many of the Chinese, as not working meant no money, no money for their houses or food, and that meant death. One of the Chinese migrants said: “I had no money to see a doctor. I would clean a cockroach, pour boiling water over it and swallow it when I was sick.” I don’t think any of our grandmothers or mothers gave us that advice when we didn’t feel well!



We got to see the living conditions of some of the families that used to live in the very same place we were walking through. The museum had been restored to the cubicle living conditions of the 1950s. 8 families lived on the 2nd floor of this house, no bigger than any ordinary house. The rooms were extremely small, and completely devoid of luxury or comfort. Whole families of food hawkers, workers and craftsmen lived here, and it was pretty cool to get a glimpse of their life this way. At the end of the 2nd floor Francesca and I found several TVs that were playing some accounts of what life was like at the time. Most of the speakers had grown up in Chinatown during its explosion and could still very vivid stories. It took us at least half an hour to listen to all of them!





The first floor was inhabited by a tailor’s family, and we got to see their workshop, their kitchen and their ahem… back garden. The workshop actually looked nice, and we saw a very neat piece of furniture there. A little stool that could be turned sideways and then suddenly would function as a kid’s seat. Tailoring was one of the more respected jobs at the time, explaining why the family owned the whole first floor. One of the employees actually talked us through the whole first floor and told us several things we wouldn’t have found out otherwise.











The guide also told us about the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. We lighted some incents for oma and Christina and entered. Wow, we had never seen a temple this delicate, this huge and this fascinating before. The statues were all in perfect shape, and there were literally 1000s of them. The center Buddha statue must have been 4 meters tall, and was surrounded by the most detailed art.





Placed at both sides of the main hall are the statues of One Hundred Buddhas, each handcrafted by several sculptors. Under the Buddhas we saw rows and rows of offerings, varying from candy and fruit to money. After we slowly walked around the first floor, taking in all the views and marveling over the quality of craftsmanship Francesca and I took the elevator to the rooftop garden.



Here we found the Vairocana Buddha Prayer Wheel, a gigantic wheel used to get into a meditation trance for prayer. A piece of scripture is placed inside. Every turn of the wheel represents a single recital of the wheel represents a single recital of the scripture and mantra. The wheel is basically a convenient way to recite the sutra.



On the 4th floor Francesca and I walked around the actual museum, which told the life story of Buddha. We entered just before closing time of the museum, and had to walk through it pretty fast. The relics we saw were almost as impressive as the rest of the temple, and many of them were centuries old. I won’t tell you the story of Buddha here; you’ll have to Google that yourself. Francesca and I recommend Wikipedia! We quickly had a peak at the other floors, but we had no time to finish all of it, so we decided we’d come back another day.







Our walking tour of Chinatown, “the Secrets of the Red Lanterns” was about to commence. And just for a change, there was actually a guide standing at the entrance of the MRT station, the starting point of the tour. Our guide’s name was Helena and she would show us a different side of Chinatown, that of the brothels and red lights. Helena took us through the streets of Chinatown, telling us stories of the old days. We learned why the streets of Chinatown are still covered in Red Lanterns: red is festive color for the Chinese, used during many festivals and ceremonies, and therefore a good color to have around. She also told us Chinatown was not always called Chinatown, in fact it was known as Bu Ye Tian – the Place of Nightless Days, because people would be on the streets almost 24/7.



Francesca and I heard how many of the prostitutes were forced to work long hours, sometimes servicing 30 men a day. Many of them had STDs and some died of them. Others took a more drastic approach as Helena pointed out several houses that had had women jumping off them. She also showed us a little backstreet with some interesting curiosities: a large jar with deer-penises, apparently good for your libido. Strangely enough, nobody was keen on trying one. We also heard how many of the traditional Chinese medicine stores sell packets of libido-heightening pills. In certain Chinese restaurants you can even ask to have it added to your dish! Helena handed the pills around, but again, nobody took any.





After some more stories we walked over to the actual red light district. Here we were told that most of the brothels are actually gone from Chinatown. The government decided that the brothels could not change owners any longer, and therefore most places have turned into bars and hotels. Interestingly, Helena shared that the Hotel 81 supposedly had hourly rates ($69/hour) listed, and was an undercover brothel. The three brothels that remained in Chinatown are easily recognizable by their red house numbers. One of them is comically called the ‘ Kum In Yoga Club.’



Our walk ended here, but Helena had one last surprise in store for us: a local delicacy of sweet beef jerky by Mr. Ong, still made in the traditional way. We got to try some of it, and found it so tasty that we bought a little extra. Before we headed back to the hostel we came up with a good idea for our capes: we had seen some scarves being sold for cheap on Pagoda Street. We bought four for 10 dollars, figuring that we could wrap them around our heads and chests, so they would look like capes. Cheap costumes, but they looked awesome!



Francesca will tell you all about the day of Halloween! Stay tuned.