Hello Friends
Before I go any further there are two announcement I have to make. The first is that I have a website where I will post some images as well as additional stuff that I won't email at http://ignatris.blogspot.com. Feel free to check and comment at any time. Secondly, if anyone can think of a good title for these emails let me know. I am struggling to think of anything good.
Anyway, I made it to Singapore and I am staying at the InnCrowd Hostel in Little India which I can recommend to anyone as a nice hostel where you will meet plenty of people. The throughput is phenomenal. So much so that I am starting to get tired off meeting new people and telling my story again and again. But the small nature of the hostel means that you are forced to interact with each other. I am told that this is not the case in the rest of Asia. But the thing I love about the hostel is the location in Little India, definitely one of the best places in Singapore. You step outside in to the street and there are people everywhere and not tourists, but people living there lives. Buying their groceries catching up with friends or just hanging around watching life go by. And so I spent about two days wondering around the area looking at all the shops and people. Though be careful, as one small street which had a few stores in it turned out to be the local red light street. But back on the main street one fine young salesman even managed to get $60 for a camera tripod out of me that I wasn't really intending to buy. It took him over an hour but he was persistent and in the end I gave in. Luckily, I have made use of it and it has not been wasted money, but I have my doubts about how sturdy it is. I will let you all know if it breaks.
Eating and shopping is the Singaporeans favourite past time and the there is lots of it and reasonably cheap too. They have these hawker centres which are like food courts but instead of food chains you have small little stalls selling all kinds of food, purchased from the wet markets directly behind. I particularly like the Indian stalls who sell a particular thing called Prata, which you can get made with banana and served hot. Fantastic breakfast along with some Marsala tea. So that has been keeping me healthy now that my appetite has improved as I get used to the hot weather.
There is a lot to do in Singapore and I would like to do more but it is time I moved on. But I talk about a couple of things that stood out. Firstly going to a Chinese tea house in Chinatown. Chinatown itself I did not find that amazing, as it is like all other Chinese shopping streets around the world, and you don't get the feeling people are living there in the way you do in Little India. But after all the hustle and bustle of the shopping streets, to step off the street into a little tea house called the Tea Chapter.
With many kinds of tea, most of which even I hadn't heard of, you are taken to the top floor where you sit down on the floor, select your tea and your teas set is brought to you. Now unfortunately I can't recall all the finer details of how you prepare your tea but it is quite an interesting and convoluted process, much of which is about keeping the tea hot. I tried to replicate it, but I fumbled my way through it and split water all of the table and must have looked rather foolish. Despite this it was nice just to sit relax take in the atmosphere and if you are alone, definitely take a book with you of something to do. (Photo)
Secondly was the Chinese Opera. Held in a smallish but modern theatre in the Singapore National Library, it was a very interesting, enjoyable though somewhat taxing experience. The Singapore National Library is an impressive building and though completely different in style to the National Library of Australia, it has a similar aura as a centre of scholarship and community. The plot of the opera was very complicated.
Just quickly; King takes concubine, concubine loves scholar, concubine gets killed as a result, scholar leaves, meet another woman how is an exact replica of the concubine and start a relationship, king hears of woman and wants her as concubine, woman acts insane in order to avoid becoming concubine, original concubine comes back and talks to scholar, long debate, king senses something is up and tries to assasinate scholar, etc... and that is only half the story. The whole show lasted 4 hours and hence it was taxing to get through, and it didn't help that I was out the night before till 5am. Stylistically it was accompanied by traditional Chinese music and involved spoken word, singing and stylised movement. Particularly the drums are rough on the ears to start with and then first time the woman sings you need to take a moment. But after a while you get used to the sound of it and you follow it (with surtitles) in the same way you would any musical or opera. Due to the complex story it is continually engaging and apart from the length and my weariness it was a great night out.
Thirdly, was a free concert at the esplanade, Singapore's equivalent of Sydney's Opera House. It is a Concert and Theatre hall that look a bit like a pair of Hedgehogs. The outside is very unique, and the inside is one of the more beautiful contemporary concerts hall I have seen. Being more ornate than many others. The concert was by a group called GENUS who are a 50 guitar and percussion ensemble, I believe from the local university. Now I for one have never before seen an ensemble of fifty classical guitarist playing together like an Orchestra and it was interesting to contrast the two. A professional orchestra is very attuned to the rhythm of the conductor so that 20 violins can almost sound like one. In contrast on a regular basis your could hear the guitarists ever so slightly out of time with each other. I presume this is largely because guitarists as a whole are not used to playing with a conductor and thus are not as competent in following him. Secondly, the volume that 50 classical guitars output is not a lot and the range of volume is quite small, which make for a much quieter concert in comparison to even a small orchestra. It was also interesting to see the different sizes of guitar, from what looked like 3/4 size down to a guitar that looked about 30cm thick and was held vertically like a cello. They played a selection of pieces from Asia, South America, Disney and Glenn Miller's In the Mood. All in all a good concert and a very beautiful concert hall.
Beyond those three things I have been doing the usual such as the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari which were both fantastic but largely speak for themselves.
They are very well setup with only a few of the animals in cages, and for the rest the use water and other means to contain the animals. As in any other zoo the feeding times and animal shows allow for further entertainment. I also went to the bar on the 72 floor of the swisshotel to see the view, took the bus through orchard street (shopping, shopping and more shopping) but never bothered to get out, went for a walk in the rain forest, took the train all around the island, went partying and the Ministry of Sound (which was surprisingly average) and the The Attica at Clarke Quay, did a tour of the oldest buddist monastery (Shueng Lim temple) and walked around the colonial district.
I like Singapore and in particular Little India, but it is now time to move on. Shortly I will be traveling to Malacca for a few days and we will see what happens after that.
I am still well but I think I was going a little too hard as today I started to get a sore throat, and runny nose and kept on falling asleep in Buses and trains. So tonight I am going to bed early catch some sleep and then go a do some more shopping (particularly shirts) before I leave. Thanks for reading.
--
Political assets, unlike financial ones, are not apt to increase over time. If not made use of, they can, in an instant of crisis or war, evaporate - John Shell, 2007
Eating and shopping is the Singaporeans favourite past time and the there is lots of it and reasonably cheap too. They have these hawker centres which are like food courts but instead of food chains you have small little stalls selling all kinds of food, purchased from the wet markets directly behind. I particularly like the Indian stalls who sell a particular thing called Prata, which you can get made with banana and served hot. Fantastic breakfast along with some Marsala tea. So that has been keeping me healthy now that my appetite has improved as I get used to the hot weather.
There is a lot to do in Singapore and I would like to do more but it is time I moved on. But I talk about a couple of things that stood out. Firstly going to a Chinese tea house in Chinatown. Chinatown itself I did not find that amazing, as it is like all other Chinese shopping streets around the world, and you don't get the feeling people are living there in the way you do in Little India. But after all the hustle and bustle of the shopping streets, to step off the street into a little tea house called the Tea Chapter.
With many kinds of tea, most of which even I hadn't heard of, you are taken to the top floor where you sit down on the floor, select your tea and your teas set is brought to you. Now unfortunately I can't recall all the finer details of how you prepare your tea but it is quite an interesting and convoluted process, much of which is about keeping the tea hot. I tried to replicate it, but I fumbled my way through it and split water all of the table and must have looked rather foolish. Despite this it was nice just to sit relax take in the atmosphere and if you are alone, definitely take a book with you of something to do. (Photo) Secondly was the Chinese Opera. Held in a smallish but modern theatre in the Singapore National Library, it was a very interesting, enjoyable though somewhat taxing experience. The Singapore National Library is an impressive building and though completely different in style to the National Library of Australia, it has a similar aura as a centre of scholarship and community. The plot of the opera was very complicated.
Just quickly; King takes concubine, concubine loves scholar, concubine gets killed as a result, scholar leaves, meet another woman how is an exact replica of the concubine and start a relationship, king hears of woman and wants her as concubine, woman acts insane in order to avoid becoming concubine, original concubine comes back and talks to scholar, long debate, king senses something is up and tries to assasinate scholar, etc... and that is only half the story. The whole show lasted 4 hours and hence it was taxing to get through, and it didn't help that I was out the night before till 5am. Stylistically it was accompanied by traditional Chinese music and involved spoken word, singing and stylised movement. Particularly the drums are rough on the ears to start with and then first time the woman sings you need to take a moment. But after a while you get used to the sound of it and you follow it (with surtitles) in the same way you would any musical or opera. Due to the complex story it is continually engaging and apart from the length and my weariness it was a great night out. Thirdly, was a free concert at the esplanade, Singapore's equivalent of Sydney's Opera House. It is a Concert and Theatre hall that look a bit like a pair of Hedgehogs. The outside is very unique, and the inside is one of the more beautiful contemporary concerts hall I have seen. Being more ornate than many others. The concert was by a group called GENUS who are a 50 guitar and percussion ensemble, I believe from the local university. Now I for one have never before seen an ensemble of fifty classical guitarist playing together like an Orchestra and it was interesting to contrast the two. A professional orchestra is very attuned to the rhythm of the conductor so that 20 violins can almost sound like one. In contrast on a regular basis your could hear the guitarists ever so slightly out of time with each other. I presume this is largely because guitarists as a whole are not used to playing with a conductor and thus are not as competent in following him. Secondly, the volume that 50 classical guitars output is not a lot and the range of volume is quite small, which make for a much quieter concert in comparison to even a small orchestra. It was also interesting to see the different sizes of guitar, from what looked like 3/4 size down to a guitar that looked about 30cm thick and was held vertically like a cello. They played a selection of pieces from Asia, South America, Disney and Glenn Miller's In the Mood. All in all a good concert and a very beautiful concert hall.
Beyond those three things I have been doing the usual such as the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari which were both fantastic but largely speak for themselves.
They are very well setup with only a few of the animals in cages, and for the rest the use water and other means to contain the animals. As in any other zoo the feeding times and animal shows allow for further entertainment. I also went to the bar on the 72 floor of the swisshotel to see the view, took the bus through orchard street (shopping, shopping and more shopping) but never bothered to get out, went for a walk in the rain forest, took the train all around the island, went partying and the Ministry of Sound (which was surprisingly average) and the The Attica at Clarke Quay, did a tour of the oldest buddist monastery (Shueng Lim temple) and walked around the colonial district.
I like Singapore and in particular Little India, but it is now time to move on. Shortly I will be traveling to Malacca for a few days and we will see what happens after that. I am still well but I think I was going a little too hard as today I started to get a sore throat, and runny nose and kept on falling asleep in Buses and trains. So tonight I am going to bed early catch some sleep and then go a do some more shopping (particularly shirts) before I leave. Thanks for reading.
--
Political assets, unlike financial ones, are not apt to increase over time. If not made use of, they can, in an instant of crisis or war, evaporate - John Shell, 2007
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