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Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 22:50:06 GMTServer: NCSA/1.4.2Content-type: text/htmlLast-modified: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 18:49:54 GMTContent-length: 81834<html><head><title>Brian's First Trip To Singapore</title></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#2233AA" LINK="#EE0000" VLINK="#952045" ALINK="#000000"><!WA0><!WA0><!WA0><a href="http://www.sg"><!WA1><!WA1><!WA1><img border=0 align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singflag.gif"></a><pre></pre><h1>Brian's First Trip To <!WA2><!WA2><!WA2><a href="http://www.sg">Singapore</a></h1><br clear=all><p><!WA3><!WA3><!WA3><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/buddha.gif"><!WA4><!WA4><!WA4><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-buddha.gif" align=right></a><b>10/15/95:</b> My wife Charmaine and I recently returned from my first <!WA5><!WA5><!WA5><ahref="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/sog.html">trip to Singapore</a>,actually my first trip overseas. It was my first opportunity toexperience another culture firsthand. It was also my first timemeeting Charmaine's family. Before the trip I had briefly spoken toCharmaine's oldest sister, Corinne, on the phone and I had met anotherof her sisters, Veronica, when she visited us in December 1994. I hadno other contact with Charmaine's family.<p> Despite a few problems (<em>e.g.</em>, with Charmaine's visa), Ihad a great time in Singapore. I got along very well with Charmaine'sfamily, especially the kids and Douglas, one of Charmaine's brothers.Charmaine's parents and her brother Kelvin generously paid for thewhole trip.<p><hr><p><h2>Contents</h2><p><ul><li><!WA6><!WA6><!WA6><a href="#observations">Observations about Singapore<ul> <li><!WA7><!WA7><!WA7><a href="#weather">Weather</a></li> <li><!WA8><!WA8><!WA8><a href="#florafauna">Flora and Fauna</a></li> <li><!WA9><!WA9><!WA9><a href="#architecture">Architecture</a></li> <li><!WA10><!WA10><!WA10><a href="#appliances">Appliances</a></li> <li><!WA11><!WA11><!WA11><a href="#transportation">Transportation</a></li> <li><!WA12><!WA12><!WA12><a href="#shopping">Shopping and Restaurants</a></li> <li><!WA13><!WA13><!WA13><a href="#Food">Food</a></li> <li><!WA14><!WA14><!WA14><a href="#media">Media</a></li></ul></li><li><!WA15><!WA15><!WA15><a href="#characters">Cast of Characters</a></li><li><!WA16><!WA16><!WA16><a href="#journal">Trip Journal</a><ul> <li><!WA17><!WA17><!WA17><a href="#week1">Charmaine departs for Singapore</a></li> <li><!WA18><!WA18><!WA18><a href="#week2">Brian departs for Singapore</a></li> <li><!WA19><!WA19><!WA19><a href="#banquet">Our "Wedding" Banquet</a></li> <li><!WA20><!WA20><!WA20><a href="#visa">My First Trip to the US Embassy</a></li> <li><!WA21><!WA21><!WA21><a href="#photos">Our Photo Session</a></li> <li><!WA22><!WA22><!WA22><a href="#birds">The Jurong Bird Park</a></li> <li><!WA23><!WA23><!WA23><a href="#sentosa">Sentosa</a></li> <li><!WA24><!WA24><!WA24><a href="#tea">The Tea Chapter</a></li> <li><!WA25><!WA25><!WA25><a href="#safari">A Taoist Temple and The Night Safari</a></li> <li><!WA26><!WA26><!WA26><a href="#hawpar">Haw Par Villa</a></li> <li><!WA27><!WA27><!WA27><a href="#reserve">Bukit Timah Nature Reserve</a></li> <li><!WA28><!WA28><!WA28><a href="#home">The Trip Home</a></li></ul></li></ul><p><hr><p><a name="observations"><h2>Observations about Singapore</h2></a><p>These are just some of my observations of the first country other thanthe US where I stayed for a significant amount of time.<dl><p><dt><strong><!WA29><!WA29><!WA29><a name="weather" href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/land.html">Weather</a></strong><dd>It is hot. It was 90+F every day I was there until it rainedjust before I left. And, when it rains, it rains heavily! The drainson Singapore streets are 1m-deep trenches on both sides of the road,rather than small openings to an underground sewer. The trench drainslead to a network of canals that carry the rain water back to theocean. I wonder why the canals don't channel the water into thereservoirs? Singapore must buy most of its fresh water from Malaysia.Even with such a drain system, floods can still occur duringthe monsoon season (fall). Other than by the amount rain, there is noway to distinguish the seasons in tropical Singapore.<p><dt><strong><!WA30><!WA30><!WA30><a name="florafauna"href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/flora.html>Flora</a> and <a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/fauna.html>Fauna</a></strong><dd>The plant life is totally different. There are manycolorful flowers. The most common trees are rain trees, which linemost roads, and palm trees. I saw many wild banana trees, too (wildones apparently don't bear fruit). The most common bird is the mynah,which I only see in zoos in the US. Geckos crawl around inside thehouses on the ceiling and walls.<p><dt><strong><a name="architecture">Architecture</a></strong><dd>There are many tall buildings. Singapore is a moredensely populated city than Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Houston.I have never been to New York City, so I can't compare it with Singapore. Most newdevelopment is in the form of high-rise buildings. <!WA31><!WA31><!WA31><a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/housing-main.html">Apartmentbuildings</a> are about ten to thirty stories, and are painted severalbright colors. I have never seen buildings painted so many colors inthe US. I'm told that part of the reason for this is so thatilliterate tenants can recognize their own buildings. The buildingsare made of steel and concrete. There are few wooden buildings. Withconcrete ceilings and walls and marble floors, the houses do notretain odors and are cooler than they otherwise would be. Because ofthe warm weather, some windows have no glass, only metalwork. Manybuildings have small steps only a couple inches high in odd places. Itripped over many of these. Literally everywhere you look is<!WA32><!WA32><!WA32><a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/urban-main.html">construction</a> and, consequently, noise and dust are problems inSingapore.<p><dt><strong><a name="appliances">Appliances</a></strong><dd>Light switches are placed higher and closer to the edgesof walls than in the US. The switches are also smaller. There areswitches for electric outlets (50 Hz, 240V) and water heaters as well.A water heater in Singapore is a small box that heats a small stream of water as itpasses through. Many places do not have hot water. Because of theyear-round heat, it isn't needed as much as in the US. Most toiletsare the old-fashioned squat-type. Showers are in the corners of thebathrooms with no stalls. I saw no bathtubs except at hotels. Manypeople wash clothes by hand. I saw no dishwashers. Refrigerators are"rotary", whatever that means. They have a small freezer compartmentat the top, like most fridges here, and an equal-sized maincompartment. There are also two drawers at the bottom that open fromthe outside of the unit, rather than from the inside. Airconditioners are called "aircon" units, and most are made by Sanyo.The units are four to five feet long and a little more than a foothigh. They are installed in interior walls near the ceiling.Many people do not use air conditioning in their homes because theythink the air is somehow artificial or bad. All malls and restaurantsare air conditioned. All lights are fluorescent.<p><dt><strong><!WA33><!WA33><!WA33><a name="transportation" href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/trans-land2.html#pub">Transportation</a></strong><dd>Japanese and European cars are the most common types in Singapore. Idon't remember seeing any American-made automobiles. The models aredifferent, too. For example, I saw no Toyota Tercels or Celicas, butthey had models called the Crown and Corona.Cars are very expensive, largely because of a 200+%tax on automobiles. One must also buy permits to enter various areasof the city during peak hours. For these reasons, most people do notown cars. Those who do drive swerve in and out of their lanes,seemingly not conscious of the lines painted on the pavement.<p>Taxis are very common and convenient. We took taxis almost everywhere.Taxis are much cheaper than in the US. The minimum fare is S$2.40(the exchange rate was about S$1.4 to $1). Our average fare for thewhole trip was about S$5. During the first week, we spent S$20 toS$30 per day on taxi fares. Charmaine was averse to walking in theSingapore heat, so we mostly commuted by taxi. <p>Whenever I went out alone, I took the MRT, Singapore's rail system.Outside the city, it is elevated. Downtown, it is underground. It isvery convenient and cheap. It has stops within a mile of just aboutanywhere you would want to go within the city. The trains andstations are very clean, as is all of Singapore. Actually, the lawbanning public use of chewing gum was passed because kids had stuckgum all over MRT stations, including in the doors, causing them tojam. We took buses a few times. Singapore has a couple competing busservices, so service was good.<p>Rickshaws are still commonplace on less busy city streets. Theyno longer travel some streets because many rickshaws were hit bySingapore's reckless drivers. Charmaine's mother takes rickshaws tothe market.<p><dt><strong><a name="shopping">Shopping and Restaurants</a></strong><dd>Singaporeans like to shop. There are malls everywhere. Most shopsare registered as being private limited (PTE LTD can be seen on moststore fronts), which reduces their liability in some way. One muststill haggle at some shops, but that isn't as common as it used to be.Supermarkets are just breaking into the scene. I didn't see any whileI was there, but I did see a commercial for a Food Lion. I sawone mini-supermarket in a shopping mall. Most Singaporeans shop veryfrequently, even daily, at wet markets, where they can buy liveseafood and chickens. They like their food fresh. Most Singaporeansdo not even take leftovers home from restaurants. I saw also a fewspecialty shops that only sold different kinds of driedfish, or only different types of bananas. I never knew there were somany different types of bananas.<p>Some old men can still found pushing small carts selling sandwiches,but they are rare.<!WA34><!WA34><!WA34><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/hawker.html">Hawkercenters</a> are very popular and very cheap. Hawker centers are likefood courts. They are called hawker centers because the proprietors of individual stalls used to attemptto harass people into buying their food. Thankfully, this practice isnow banned and only practiced at a few of the older hawker centers.Usually there is one shop in the center that sells only drinks.Hawker stalls do not supply napkins, so you have to remember to takeyour own. It is possible to get a good meal in Singapore for a coupledollars. Many people eat out rather than cook, because it isn'tsignificantly more expensive. <p>There are more malls, restaurants, and hawker centers in Singapore thanyou can imagine. Practically every office building has a mall on itsfirst few levels. Practically every mall has a few restaurants and ahawker center.<p><dt><strong><!WA35><!WA35><!WA35><a name="Food" href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/food.intro.html">Cuisine</a></strong><dd><!WA36><!WA36><!WA36><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/info/people.html">More than 75% ofthe population is Chinese. There are also significant numbers ofMalaysians and Indians</a>, so Singaporean cuisineis a blend of the cooking styles of these cultures, but prodominantlyChinese. The Paranakans have completely blended the Chinese and Malaysiancultures and cuisines. I didn't get around to trying their food whenI was in Singapore, unfortunately. Authentic Chinese cooking isfairly greasy and salty, with a heavy emphasis on meat, especiallyprawns, pork, and fish. Dried shrimp and fish are also commonly used,and of course various types of tofu. Popular foods for breakfastinclude dim sum (Chinese, mostly meat in small wrappers or buns),<!WA37><!WA37><!WA37><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/ls.html">laksa</a>(Malaysian, a curry soup), <!WA38><!WA38><!WA38><ahref="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/ms.html">mee siam</a>(Malaysian, spicy noodles),nasi lemak (rice, egg, dried fish, peanuts, and chili paste wrapped in⌨️ 快捷键说明
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