NSF-EAPSI Orientation (Day 2)

Day 2 also started crazy early. Good thing we were all still jetlagging. The second day of orientation was organized by the government instead of the schools. It consisted of touring the facilities.... in Singapore there are all these (government run) museums and tours about Singapore's technology and how awesome it is. I guess, as scientists, they thought we'd like it. That, or they wanted to make sure that the brainwashing started as soon as we got here (I'll say more about the socio-political climate at some other point in time... it's fascinating).

First stop was the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Singapore City Gallery. It had tons of city models, and talked all about the "Master plan" for Singapore. It had displays about all the different neighborhood, and all the new developments.

Next stop was the Land Transport Authority's Transport Gallery, which gave us an organized tour about the history and details of transport in Singapore. Being the sophisticated American scientists that we are, we were particularly fascinated by the room of transport models.






They also took us into "The Challenge Theatre", which I was really hoping was going to be some kind of gladiator ring, but turns out it was a movie theatre like place with buttons on the arm rest where we could vote on decisions for the future of Singapore Transit. For instance, if most of us voted for more public transit, they showed a cartoon that explained how our decision made everything better and people happier, and if we chose private transit, they told us how we were dooming our society (and I'm only being slightly facetious)

After the LTA, we went to lunch with some government officials from "Contact Singapore" a branch of the government dedicated to P.R. relations and promoting Singapore to foreigners. Yeah. Anyway, the food was awesome.

My two favorite dishes were the coffee glazed pork:


(it really tasted like coffee...amazing once you get over the weirdness)

And fishhead curry.

BEFORE:

(check out the teeth)

And AFTER:


The fish was apparently some kind of grouper. Which I've probably eaten before and just never seen what it looked like. But it was kinda weird eating something that looked like it belonged in an aquarium. It was really pretty. Red with neon blue dots. Oh well, it tasted good.

After lunch it was off to the NEWater plant, where they showed us how Singapore can reuse and recycle waste water through some fancy new technology, and how it's the pride of Singapore (in spite of the fact that other Singaporeans have told me they distrust it). At the end of the tour, they made us all ambassadors of NEWater, and instructed us that it was our duty to go out and tell everyone how great it was. Yeah... So, have you heard of this thing, it's called NEWater..

After a long day of propaganda that made me feel like I was in The Giver, or a Brave New World, we got a couple hours off to wander around Chinatown.



At first, it seemed really weird to me to have a Chinatown in Asia. I mean, isn't this whole place basically Chinatown? Not that all of Asia is the same, but I mean something like over 70% of the Singapore population is ethically Chinese, and most people speak Mandarin...so..?



But after some contemplation I realized it's much more of an era thing than a cultural thing. Singapore is modern, more modern than most of Asia, if not the world. It is what China will probably be like in 20 years. Chinatown on the other hand, is what China was like 20 years ago. Before the skyscrapers and westernization. While the food, culture, language and people may be about the same as the rest of Singapore, Chinatown is a throwback to the way things used to be.



And, as in all Chinatowns in the world, there was lots of nasty looking stuff that was theoretically supposed to be ingestible:





Before you ask, no, I didn't eat any of this stuff. It was at a medicinal place, and I think it was pretty much for display only. They grind up this stuff and make it into pills and syrups and creams and tonics, etc.

But here is a sign I saw at one of the outdoor eateries that was a meal:


..So, just curious, when they say "Organ"....???

After Chinatown we finished up at the Night Safari. Which Singapore is famous for.



It was pretty cool actually. Although I think "Safari" is a bit of a stretch. Really-cool-night-tour-of-a-well-done-wildlife-park, yes. Safari, no. A tram took us around the park. It was cool, because a lot of the habitats were not fenced in, so you could see everything really up close in a pretty realistic environment. Plus, because it was night time, everything was really active (we saw like 3 different types of animals mating). Usually lions and leopards and such are asleep when I've seen them at zoos. It was really cool to see them up and about. After the tram, there were some areas we could walk around. Some animals were behind glass, but other areas we could walk through. My absolute favorite was the bat cave. They had these huge flying foxes hanging on trees, so close you could reach out and touch them (if you were stupid).

Sadly, none of my pictures turned out in the slightest, it was so dark. You'll just have to check it out yourselves someday.