Singapore: Day 58

On Sunday, I tried to sleep in but was unsuccessful. Perhaps it is because of the move to the new room. I woke up around 10 AM and ate the black sesame bun I purchased last night as well as finished my box of longan. This was enough to fuel me through my morning of blogging. I resolved to finish my blog as soon as possible, and spent the day creating first drafts for over 30 entries. Eventually, I became hungry and decided to move to the PGP canteen to do work and eat. I am quite fond of the Vietnamese stall in the canteen, because I have cravings for Vietnamese food often and their stall does not scar me. I ordered pho, which was thankfully almost similar to the pho back home.

Pho

After working in the PGP lounge for a few hours, Nelson texted me about dinner. He was eating in the other canteen, and I went to join him. I ordered the pickled shredded pork noodle from Taipei Delights. I am also very fond of this stall, because they have delicious soup noodles.

Pickled shredded pork noodle

 Nelson and I talked about how strange it was that the Berkeley group was no longer at PGP among many things. Eventually we separated ways, he to badminton while I to my blog. It was going to be a long night, but I was determined.

Singapore: Day 54

Today I had lunch at JJ Yong Tau Foo in the Kopitiam. I had an all vegetarian noodle soup, meaning I only picked vegetables and tofu to go with my noodle soup. It has been my favorite food place at my workplace, because I miss eating a variety of vegetables. On a work-related note, my project is winding down. However I have been leaving work earlier this week, because it is my last week with the program and I want to spend more time with my peers before they leave.

Tonight was going to be a big night. It was our last night with everyone after all, because Nicole was leaving on Thursday for Bangkok. James and Laney had dinner with their coworkers, so Michael, Emily, Angelo, Nicole, and I grabbed a Western dinner at Everything With Fries in Holland Village. I mentioned in a previous blog post about how there is a section dedicated to cultural foods, so I had a chance to at least try the food there. Nicole found the recommendation via Ladyironchef (she seems to always be craving fries.) Once at the restaurant, I ordered a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with curry fries. I personally don't like eating unhealthily, but ever since I've come to Singapore I've eaten at McDonalds on three occasions and other various fried foods. Food is food, and I shouldn't let previous habits restrict me from trying new foods. The grilled ham and cheese sandwich was a pretty good attempt at Western food, and the curry fries in particular were very good.

Everything with Fries

Grilled ham and cheese sandwich w/ curry fries

Holland Village at night

After we finished our dinner, we went back to PGP to rest and prepare for the night. We met again at 10:45 PM and grabbed a taxi to Zouk, one of the oldest and most popular clubs in Singapore. Most of the students from the Berkeley and USC study abroad programs were attending that night, and we joined a group of them pre-gaming outside Zouk. Eventually, we made our way into the club.

Zouk!!

The night was definitely memorable (both because of the club experience and the bonding experience afterward). We moved around the different rooms within the club and just danced within our Balongong group. For the final dance, we all huddled in a circle with our arms around each other and swayed to the music. It reminded me of my final dances at the JHU CTY summer programs at UC Santa Cruz, so it brought about a sense of happy nostalgia. It's been so long since I've felt so at one with a group of friends.

The Balongongs, PC:Estelle

We left the club around 3 AM and headed back home via taxi. We sat in the PGP lounge and ordered McDelivery, because we were all hungry. The food arrived around 4:20 AM, and as we ate we gave positive affirmations until 6 AM. It was a touching experience.

Our McDelivery feast

After our affirmations, we huddled for one last time and broke with a cheer to the Balongongs. It was definitely an emotional and memorable last night with them, and I am glad I had the chance to know and spend time with this amazing group of individuals.

Singapore: Day 53

Today, we were running experiments late into the afternoon and missed the lunch period at Duke-NUS, so we ate at the House Men's Canteen. I ordered the mee hoon kway, which had uniquely shaped noodles. I'm going to miss the cheap price of food. My meal was only $2.50, while a meal back in Berkeley is at least $6!

Mee hoon kway

I left work early today in order to stop by Chinatown and to attend our AIC event at the Night Safari. I bought two pork buns at $1.50 each and a box of lychee for $3. Because my time in Singapore is winding down, I want to try as much as I can. The pork bun was heavenly! It was incredibly juicy and soft and like no other that I've ever eaten. It was completely fresh and authetentic (not saying that my mother doesn't make authentic pork buns). The lychee were also large and sweet. I will definitely miss the fruit in Singapore.

The stall of delicious buns!

The buns are kept hot and fresh in these containers

Juicy pork bun

Box of lychee (photo taken later in my room)

Because I wanted to eat my pork bun fresh and food is not allowed on the MRT, I enjoyed the bun while wandering through People's Park Complex.

People's Park Complex

After I finished my bun, I journeyed back to PGP and gave the other bun to Emily, who lives right next door to me. I also tried the delicious lychee. Shortly after, we met at at the lobby and journeyed to Choa Chu Kang, where we were to meet for the Night Safari. Besides the mall was another Ramandan market, so we bought our dinners amid the stands of deliciousness. I purchased squid, chicken, and crab takoyaki as well as a cup of corn. The cup of corn may be questionable, but I love corn and I have been meaning to try corn in Singapore. I wasn't very hungry because I had the pork bun earlier, but I pushed through the food knowing that I only had a finite amount of time left in Singapore.

Ramandan market. So much food!

My half-finished cup of corn

Squid, chicken, and crab takoyaki

After the entirety of the study abroad programs met up, we moved to the bus stop, where we took public transportation to the Night Safari. At this point, it was 9 PM and the park closed at midnight. It is difficult for me to share photos, since it was almost pitch black and the pictures did not come out well. Here are my attempts:

 

 

 

Group photo outside the Night Safari

It was fun exploring the wilderness at night both via tram and on foot. Luckily there were trails within the Night Safari, and we followed them to sight all the animals. When we were finished exploring the Night Safari, we took a taxi bus back to PGP.

Singapore: Day 43

I am deeply sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog; things have been immensely hectic lately, and I will upload the other posts as soon as I can! My internship program is nearing it's end in 2-3 weeks, and I'm not sure how to feel. I am both happy to see my friends and family again, to resume the life I've lived for the past 20 year (yes I am finally 20, a challenging transition to say the least) but I will also deeply miss the 2nd home that Singapore has become. The Singaporeans never cease to impress me with their selfless concern and honesty toward others. For example, earlier today, I randomly approached a family in order to interview their children. I mentioned that I am a travel correspondent for Reach the World, and last week's blog post entailed an interview with a local child. I've felt like a creep for the past week, because I've been keeping an eye out for young children but sadly had not encountered any. That is why I grabbed the rare chance I had today and spontaneously approached the family during their dinner at Just Acia. A short interview with her daughter Isabelle turned into a 3 hour talk about many, many things. I've been struggling a lot with so many emotions and thoughts: my Thailand trip last weekend has led me to question my choice in career, my view of the world, and what I can do to alleviate the economic inequality. I've also lost hope in many things, from love and relationships to my own sense of being and past struggles. However, my conversation with her restored much of my faith. I usually have animosity toward happy families and stay-at-home mothers (perhaps animosity is too light of a world); it is a mixture of jealousy and near-hate. However, my talk with the mother helped me overcome some of that emotional barrier as well as restore my faith in familial relationships and love. She gave me her email at the end of the conversation and told me to contact her anytime I wanted to continue our conversations. I was deeply moved by her kindness and the kindness of Singaporeans in general. I cannot count how many times I've seen people run after strangers to return the cash or card they dropped, give up their seats for the elderly, etc. Singapore is such an amazing place, and as I become more acquainted with this country, my desire to stay here in the future only grows stronger. My study abroad experience has only instilled in me a thirst to see more of the world, to escape my comfort zones.

Thank you Isabelle! :)

Singapore: Day 34

Today, I left PGP earlier than usual so I could shop for travel supplies at VivoCity (Harbour Front). I bought a couple of small bottles from Watson's so I could package my toiletries as well as packages of cookies to bring on the Thailand trip tomorrow. Because of all the shopping, I arrived to lab in the afternoon.

After work, I was originally going to grab dinner with Angelo and Nelson, but our plans fell through and I made a trip alone to Chinatown after work. I looked around the area outside People's Park Complex, and asked the local couple standing next to me for their advice on what was good to eat in Chinatown. This snowballed into the couple and their friends excitedly showing me around the area and the local hawker centre.  I found this to be extremely cute. Singaporeans are definitely the most kind people! I ordered from one of the stalls the locals recommended, one that sold a couple of different noodle soups. I chose the kway teow bakso soup and a stringy noodle to go along with it and it was absolutely delicious! Whenever I eat something very delicious, I become noticeable happy and excited, and this meal definitely had that effect.

Kway teow bakso soup

After my brief adventure in Chinatown, I returned to PGP and continued my work. We had an essay due for our Singaporean sociology class on Monday as well as a short essay for ISF 187 due on Sunday. We were going to be in Thailand until Monday night, so I needed to finish both essays before our flight tomorrow afternoon. I am terribly slow with writing essays, so this was a very painful night.

Singapore: Day 33

Today, I went into lab a bit earlier than usual to continue my experiment. I arrived around 8:30 AM only to find my lab locked! I usually arrive later than 9 AM, but I realized that my usual arrival time was actually the norm. I waited around a bit before searching for Hong Ping's office and asking him for the key into the lab. After I gained access to the lab, I began my experiments for the day.

After work, we went out for dinner and drinks. Nathan was visiting James in Singapore, and James wanted to take him to a rooftop bar, which is why we made a trip to the Fullerton Hotel's rooftop bar. It isn't as high as One Altitude, but we wanted to try a new place. Before we went out for drinks, we had dinner at Lau Pa Sat. I ordered the Char Kway Teow from a hawker stand famous for its char kway teow. As with most of my Singaporean meals, the char kway teow was delicious! I ordered a soya milk with grass jelly (a.k.a. "Michael Jackson") alongside my dinner. It was definitely an interesting drink, because I would've never thought to combine soy milk with grass jelly. A most intriguing combination, for sure. I could not taste the flavor of the grass jelly over the overwhelming sweetness of the drink, so it was as though I was drinking soy milk with the occasionally lump of jelly.

Char kway teow

Soya milk w/ grass jelly

After dinner, we began our search for the Fullerton Hotel. After walking around the Clarke Quay and Esplanade areas, we found the hotel at last; it was fancy and definitely catered to the wealthy. The interior of the hotel and the rooftop bar itself were stunning and gave an upper-class and peaceful aura. I ordered one of the signature drinks, the Red Lantern, which I found to be quite tasty. The taste of alcohol was covered up by a delicious fruity mixture. We spent the night sipping our drinks and talking amongst ourselves.

Beautiful view

Group photo, PC: Angelo

Around 11 PM, we left the bar and separated ways. It was Ladies Night (every Wednesday), so Laney, Emily, and I wanted to take advantage of our free entry into clubs and free drinks and try the clubbing scene in Singapore. Butter Factory was only a block away, so we trekked there for an interesting night. I've never clubbed in the United States, but I would think that Singaporean clubbing is a hundred times better due to the orderliness and ambiance. Around 2 AM, we left the club and took a taxi back home. After showering and unwinding a bit, I finally went to bed at 4:30 AM.

Singapore: Day 30

Today was my 20th birthday, and it definitely felt strange celebrating it in a foreign country and without the company of my close friends and family. We were originally planning to go to the zoo during the day, but I wanted to work on my applications and workload. It may seem like a terrible way to spend a birthday, but the revelations I had last night definitely changed something within me.

I met with Nelson for a haircut shortly before my birthday celebrations began. I've been needing a haircut for a while, and it had been difficult to schedule one due to my general busyness. During this time, Laney and Emily walked into the lounge and gave me their presents: a slice of cake and letters spelling out "Clam." They are too sweet! After I had my haircut and cleaned myself up a bit, I met with Emily, Laney, James, Nicole, and Nelson at 6 PM and took the MRT to Raffles City Shopping Centre (Michael and Annette were to arrive to dinner later). We planned to eat at Din Tai Fung, an award-winning Taiwanese restaurant famous for its dumplings, and chose a location close to Clarke Quay so that we could go for drinks afterwards. At DTF, we ordered steamed pork dumplings, steamed vegetable and pork dumplings, steamed vegetable dumplings, stir-fried dou miao with garlic, stir-fried Hong Kong kailan with special sauce, steamed yam paste dumplings and were served a complementary red bean rice dumpling. The dumplings were delicious, and the yam paste dumplings in particular were pure happiness.

The dumplings are beautifully crafted.

Steamed vegetable and pork dumplings

"Queen of the dumplings"

Stir-fried Hong Kong kailan with special sauce

Stir-fried dou miao with garlic

Red bean rice dumpling

Steamed yam paste dumplings. Yum!

Group photo (minus Michael and Annette)

After dinner, we walked to Clarke Quay. We first made a stop at Azabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream to grab dessert. I fell in love with this ice-cream when I first tried it after the AIC boat tour, and have been dying to reunite with my beloved. I was tempted to order the black sesame and green tea w/ chocolate flavors again because they were so delicious, but I decided to try something new. We sat along the Singapore River and enjoyed our ice-creams while gazing at the beautiful lights.

 

After our ice-cream escapade, we went to Aquanova at Clarke Quay for drinks. The bar had a comfortable atmosphere: it was dimly lit and had a live band playing music. Besides the AIC-organized gathering at One Altitude, this was the first time I ventured into a bar on my own accord. My newness to bars as well as my lack of experience with alcohol made it difficult for me to understand and choose a drink from the menu, but in the end, I settled on the Long Island Iced Tea. The drink didn't make an impression, because it simply tasted like alcohol and I am not fond of the taste of alcohol. At some point, we were writing music suggestions for the bank and Michael wrote on his sheet that it was my birthday. He was hoping for a shout-out from the band, but instead they called me upon the stage and demanded that I sing a song (or pole-dance... of course I chose to sing). I was shocked by the turn of events and honestly, I wanted to kill someone! After an embarrassing attempt at Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years", I was released from their hands and offered a free drink. I made the most of this opportunity, and ordered the most expensive drink on the menu: the Flaming Lamborghini. This was quite an exciting experience, because my drink was aflame and I had to finish it quickly before the alcohol became too hot and inedible.

It was my first official drinking experience, so I was unsure whether or not I consumed a large amount of alcohol. I had two drinks, but I still felt reasonable and coherent. This made me curious as to what my limit was and what it felt like to lose control. I was tipsy from the alcohol, but I was still able to fully control my mind and body. I will leave this question for future adventures with alcohol. We left at 11:30 PM, because we all had work the next day.... and this was how I celebrated my 20th birthday in Singapore. I will be celebrating it once (or twice) again with my friends once I return to the states. Can't wait!

Singapore: Day 28

On Friday, we had class as usual. Before we made our way to class, we ate the food we packed from the talk yesterday for breakfast. There is one kitchen per floor, and it is well-furnished with a refrigerator, stove, oven, mini-oven, cabinets, and a kitchen table; it was my first time eating in this area, and I enjoyed the family-style breakfast I had with Emily, Nicole, and Laney. Because of a conglomeration of issues (such as the haze and scheduling problems), the past two field-trips were postponed, which made today our first official field-trip. We were to go to the Parliament House, and this entailed dressing formally. In relation to class, Prof Tan finished his three lectures last week and Prof Straughan took over today. Her lecture covered the total fertility rate, which I had already learned about in last night's talk, but in more depth and with less connection to Singapore's position in the world. It was interesting, but she powered through her 3 hour lecture without any breaks. I have a short attention span and can barely sit through a one hour lecture without squirming, so by the half mark of Prof Straughan's lecture, I was delirious (perhaps this is too strong of a world, but my point comes across.) After lecture, we grabbed food at the canteen; I wasn't too hungry after our large breakfast, so I ordered a dragon-fruit juice.

Purple beauty

Afterwards, we headed to the Central Library to print out our Thailand flight tickets as well as our Groupon deals (our pot-pie and manicure/pedicure deals). Our field-trip to the Parliament House was divided into two groups. I was in the second group, so those in the first group left earlier while I stayed in the library to do work. After a half hour of restlessness and inefficient work, I returned to PGP to drop off my laptop as well as finish off the remainder of the food from yesterday's talk.When I left to take the campus bus back to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences buildings, I bumped into other UC Berkeley students in the second group, so we made our way to the room together. After everyone had arrived to the meeting point, we took a chartered bus to the Parliament House. None of the other Balongongs were in my group (plus Angelo was in Hong Kong at this time), so it gave me the opportunity to interact with others from the Berkeley group.

Entrance to the Parliament House

I am not one that is interested in politics, but it was interesting hearing about Singapore's government. I cannot say much else besides note the complicated formalities and procedures of their government. Also, the ruling party, the People's Action Party, has been in power for many years and there is no check against them, while in the U.S. there are so many checks for power. Perhaps this explains the strong control of the government.

After the field-trip, we took our charter bus back to PGP, and I quickly showered and got ready for our outing. We made plans earlier that week to attend the Baybeats, which was a free concert featuring local bands. It was a great way for us to learn more about the local music scene as well as have fun on a Friday night. We grabbed dinner close-by at the food centre at Marina Square. I went to the Korean food stall, and ordered the mixed rice, which was essentially bibimbap. It was not very authentic in my opinion. The sauce was something similar to chili sauce, and the kimchi was spicier and not as good. Despite these remarks, the meal overall was quite good. It satisfied my cravings for Korean food.

"Mixed rice" a.k.a. bibimbap

After dinner, we went to Esplanade Theaters on the Bay for the Baybeats concert.

Here are some shots from the concerts:

My favorite band of the night: Hightime Rebellion (Indonesia)

Froya

Around 10 PM, we decided to grab dessert from Gluttons Bay. I ordered the cheng tng (no, that is not a typo), which is a Chinese herbal dessert. It reminded me of a herbal soup my mother made at home, but when I took a bite of the ingredients and tasted the stark bitterness, I resolved that cheng tng did not taste as good as my mother's herbal soup.

We're back, Gluttons Bay!

Cheng tng

After our brief break (as well as reunion with James, who joined us later), we listened to a South Korean rock band. This band was very different from the stereotypical Korean boy band, and the lead singer's hair deeply disturbed me.

 When the concert ended at 11 PM, we were tempted to stop by somewhere for a bite (James wanted to try kaya toast), but in the end we took the MRT back home. The MRT shuts down at midnight, so thankfully we made it back to PGP in time.