Beer Fest Asia 2010

Finished up the weekend by attending Beer Fest Asia 2010. An annual beer competition. There were beers from all over the world. Available by the pitcher, jug, glass, bottle or free sample =). It was outdoors, right on the water, underneath the Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel). They were playing the World cup on huge screens, and there was live music and lots of food.

Yes. Pretty awesome.

Of course. We had to sample the wares.

Ben only had two hands and he was already using both of them for booze. So I decided to help out by pouring some more beer on his head. I can be so helpful sometimes.

My turn to double fist (unfortunately, two not very awesome beers. I didn't end up finishing them. Oh well, they were free).

Storm on the other hand, was awesome. It turned out to be one of our favorites. We had a few of them =)

Yeah...There were a lot of very interesting characters around Beerfest. I'm still not sure what this guy's deal was....although he told Tom to facebook him...

There was also a U2 cover band (from Australia I think?) They actually weren't bad (at what they did anyway)
There were also racing cars. Not sure why. But made for good pics.
We stayed out past midnight (when public transit shuts down) and so had to take a taxi back to campus). Poor Bobby is not quite over the jet lag yet.

The Weekend! Pulau Ubin

For my first real weekend in Singapore (you know, for which I was conscious and all), a bunch of people from EAPSI decided to go to Pulau Ubin--a tiny island off the coast (as if Singapore wasn't tiny enough).

It was pretty much exactly on the other side of Singapore from where I'm staying. We had to take a bus, and then a train, and then another bus, and then a ferry to get there. But it was totally worth it. Pulau Ubin is awesome.

I may or may not have tried to get Tim and Eliza to get into a fist fight, since fighting was strictly prohibited on the ferry (see the sign behind them?) But they were both too nice and didn't want to throw the first punch.

People say that Pulau Ubin is like what Singapore was like in the 50s. But it feels so much older than that because Singapore has developed so quickly. You definitely feel like you've stepped a few hundred years back in time. From skyscrapers and subways, into old bikes, outhouses and little electricity.

We all rented bikes and set out to bike around the island.
Boy did we bike. We made it pretty much around the whole island, but by the end of four hours, my knees were killing me. The bikes were not exactly of the latest design or the highest caliber. (for instance, the gears on the right of my bike only shifted up...on the left they only shifted down). And most of the road was unpaved. And then there were the "adventure trails" marked as "black diamonds" and such as if it was a ski slope. Yeah...we just did the "blue square" and that was enough. I had to walk my bike up some of the hills.
But again, totally worth it! The nature was amazing! There were lots of lakes and ponds, all with odd colored water. Gray-green, dark blue, solid teal....not sure what the deal was, but it looked awesome.
There were also lots of little huts and houses along the way. Which was such a contrast, because in Singapore proper, there are NO houses. The island is too crowded (5 million people on an island you can drive across in an hour). In away, the people on Pulau Ubin are living a life that people in Singapore could only dream of.

We were also lucky enough to see some wild life on P.U. I think that's one of the main reasons people go. We saw lizards and mudskippers and crabs and birds, and MONKEYS!!! I love monkeys and it was so cool to see them in the wild, just chilling up in the trees. Some people also saw a wild boar, but I just missed it. All I saw was a flash of hind legs as it ran into the trees.

So, this sign is apparently famous, so we had to take our pics with it. Firstly, it's written in Singlish (Singaporean Slang English). Secondly, it's graffiti-ish (serious no no in Singapore).
All in all, a great place, great experience, and great day. Don't you wish you were here?

This is Singapore: Skyscrapers and Cityscapes

Crazy-looking Marina Bay Sands Casino. Just opened last month. Lots of it is still closed and under construction. But you can now come in and gamble....as long as you are not Singaporean. Yes, that's right, Singapore build a casino that they won't let their citizens into. Because gambling is bad for you. Singaporeans have to pay a $100 fee to get in. And that's before the gambling begins. (sometimes I feel like all of Singapore is one big social psych experiment)

Memorial from the Japanese War

The Esplanade. Theatre right on the bay. Lots of cool shows and performances. Very controversial design. At least when it was built. Now it is considered one of the more impressive architectures in SE Asia. It's nicknamed the durian, because it resembles the fruit.

City shot down by the Quays.

Central Business District

Across the water from the Esplanade

The Helix Bridge. Seriously cool. It lights up at night and changes colors on different days.

Walking along the Helix bridge. Notice all the green and red lights? Know what they are?

Here's an up close shot. Get it?

(Remember it's a helix. Aren't Singaporeans' clever? I love this).

The Singapore Flyer. One of the largest Ferris wheels in the world. Takes about 30 minutes just to go around once.

Twilight setting in...

Another shot of the Sands casino and the Helix bridge.

Can we say skyscrapers?

View of the Central Business District

More Helix!

I love this shot. It's so hard to get good pics of the building reflections, but I think this one turned out pretty decent.

The Flyer

Along the water

And of course, it wouldn't be Singapore without the Merlion. The Merlion is the symbol of Singapore (that's right, a lion mermaid. Don't tell me you've never heard of them). It is a rather clever combination of Singapore's names. Back in the day it was called "Temasek", meaning "sea town"..thus the tail, and it's current name, Singapore, has derived from the title "Singapura" or"Lion City" .

Cool, huh?

Dragon Boat Festival Day

June 16th was the Dragon Boat Festival. Years ago in China, a famous poet drowned himself in a lake as a political statement (seriously, he couldn't just write to his congressman? ...although I've also heard a version of the story in which the drowning wasn't so voluntary). All the poet's followers raced out to save him, paddling dragon boats. They also threw rice dumplings wrapped in leaves into the water to keep the fish from eating his body.

They didn't save him.

However, now the tradition in China (and Taiwan and the like) is to race dragon boats and eat the rice dumplings on June 16th.

In Singapore, we couldn't find any dragon boat racing (Although reportedly there may be some in July. Will keep ya posted). But there was definitely lots of rice dumplings. We had to wait in a long line to get them.




But it was totally worth it. They were sooo good!

Dragon boat day was also supposed to be my first day of work. I say supposed, because very little work got done. I got a tour of the psych department and of main campus, and got introduced to some profs and admins, and settled down in my new office for all of a couple of hours before Pony asked if I wanted to go to dinner with her friends from Hong Kong at 8. Sure, I said. A little while latter, she said, "Come on, lets go". But it is only 4:30pm. "Yes," she said, "But we can get some more dinners on the way."

I seriously don't understand how people here eat so much. They say that eating is the national pastime in Singapore. Which sounds facetious until you realize it is true. Since coming here, on several occasions, we have literally finished one meal and then walked to the next. And I thought the force feeding in Taiwan and China was bad. I don't understand how people here stay so skinny. I've asked and they say it is the weather and the walking and the smaller portion sizes. But I am in the same weather and have been walking just as much, and eating smaller portions than them and I sure as hell am not any skinnier.

So I ended up with 3 dinners at three different restaurants. Which(as much as I bitched and groaned about how I was going to be sick if we kept it up), honestly was pretty fantastic.

In our NSF orientation in DC, they told us all about the food culture. And they recommended three classic Singaporean dishes that we just had to try. I had all three in one day. =)

First was Laksa. Which is really Malaysian I think.



It's noodles and meat and veggies in a broth. But then they add lots of hot sauce and coconut milk. Really fairly amazing.

Next was Chicken Rice. Which is exactly what it sounds like:



Also good, but in a much more average way, compared to all the exotic stuff I've been trying.

Last, but in no way least, the one, the only, the infamous...Chilli Crab:




There may be words to describe it. But none that would do it justice. Just really really good.

We had our last dinner at an amazing super fancy restaurant right along the waterfront. We sat outside, and for once, the Singapore weather was perfect. No rain, no humidity, no heat. A perfect 75 degrees and a cool breeze off of the water, a clear night sky and a postcard view of the sparkling downtown skyline. Just the right mixture of romantic, exciting and relaxing. If I sound a little smitten, it's because I am. I have to admit, thus far, I was not particularly taken with Singapore. It's hot. It's humid. The traffic is awful. It's crowded. It's not as exotic or fascinatingly foreign as the other countries I've been to. Yet it's not quite as convenient as being at home. It's expensive. It's strict and confining. It is a country of consumerism. I have never seen so many malls in my life. I hate malls. ...But that night...it was also magic. It reminded me of hanging out in Circular Quay in Sydney, my favorite city in the world. Sitting outside the Opera house at the Opera bar and watching the world go by. ...and I'll admit it, I was a little bit in love.

After dinner, we took a long and relaxing stroll along the waterfront, before hopping a cab back to NTU.

I could get used to this.