Yumi on the coast

Nothing a douse of garlic chili pepper sauce can't fix.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Chinatown.

Showering always feels good in Singapore, because nine times out of ten you feel very hot and sticky at the end of the day.

I went on a night safari today, which meant I got to see lions (and leopards and tapirs, oh, my!) and other cool rainforest animals that I usually don't see in a daily basis. After we got dropped off back to our respective halls, myself and two other EAP students randomly came across three locals chewing the fat and hanging out in the Eusoff halls drinking beer so we joined them for a while. They gave us tips on good places to eat exotic sea food such as frog legs, turtle soup and sting ray (apparently all on a street on the east coast of the island called Geylang Road) and sordid details concerning the drag shows of Thailand. I am very much excited to experience both at some point in my four-month stay here.

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The warning sign posters that they post in the subways can be quite unintentionally funny, such as this one below:

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It isn't enough that the expression on the man's face is the picture-perfect definition of swarmy. Some big wig in the advertising department took one look at a rough draft of the poster and said, "You know what, someone needs to photoshop in a wolf silhouette because otherwise the message won't be clear enough." Everyone else in the meeting room let out a collective "ooOooooOoooohh." Hands were shaken, and champagne bottles were opened, and everyone patted themselves on the shoulder for having a successful brainstorming session.

Or something like that.

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I went to Chinatown yesterday.

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Singapore has a very interesting demographic. Among the 3.32 million permanent residents, 77 percent are Chinese, fourteen percent are Malays, and eight percent are Indians. Whether you are walking through the city or riding the subway, you will always come across women in saris, headscarves, Indian men, and foreign tourists. Which is why you would find something like the Sri Mariamman temple, a Hindu place of worship, smack in the middle of Chinatown.


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It's always the little things you miss when you are abroad. Such as:

- napkins. To reduce the littering, I guess.
- toilet seat covers.
- Vitamin Water. God, how I miss Vitamin Water. Their brightly colored drinks, their snarky little labels. I used to have them every day. They were my life blood. I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now.
- My red Christmas lights in my room back home.

I also miss having the freedom to litter extensively without fear of being fined.