Chinese New Year

Today is New Years Day. For the lunar year, that is. As we were walking into the the subway station today, we heard drumming coming from the shopping mall that is connected to this particular station. We went down the escalator, and there was a lion dance troupe in front of the grocery store.

 

During the Chinese New Year lion dancers will visit the houses and store front of businesses to "chai ching" (picking the greens). The business would tie an "Ang Pow" red envelope filled with money to a head of lettuce and hang it high above the front door. The lion will approach the lettuce like a curious cat, consume the lettuce and spit out the leaves but not the money. Some other types "Chai Ching" requires the lion dancers to open the lettuce carefully to retrieve the reward and create a design or a pattern out of it, and place it back from where they had "eaten" it from.  The lion dance is supposed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the dancers receive the money as reward. The tradition becomes a mutual transaction.

You can see the offering in the photo below.

 

... and here is a shot of the Lion consuming the lettuce and spitting out the leaves.  You can also see the drum and cymbals in the background.

I was not able to get a good shot of them putting the offering back after creating the design with the oranges and vegetables.   It kind of makes the U.S. tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Years Day kind of boring, huh?

WTF?.... No, seriously, WTF?

 

Yes, this is a depiction of a person having their head sawed in half vertically. This and many other disturbingly gruesome things can be seen at Haw Par Villa.  This was one of the depictions of the "Ten Courts of Hell" display at the "Chinese Mythological Theme Park"... their words, not mine.  Probably one of the weirdest theme parks I have ever seen. 

In Chinese Mythology, sins and past transgressions are paid for in the Ten Courts of Hell, each sin or transgression calling for a different punishment... anything from "being cast onto a hill of knives"

 

For money lenders charging exorbitant interest rates or plotting someones death for his money or property.  Or how about being crushed under a stone for neglecting the young or the old, or being dismembered for robbing, murdering or raping?

Yes, the Ten Courts of Hell have it all... pick a sin, they have the punishment for it.  Now I want all of you to go to your rooms, and think about what you have done. 

The Prata Man

Yesterday, Tom and I went to check out Little India. Our first stop was at Tekka Center to wander around the market and possibly find something to eat. The market side is a fresh food market where you can get all kinds of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood and all kinds of great spices. Before wandering around there, we checked out the Hawker Stand side. In the US we call this a food court, but there isn't a food court anywhere in the states where you can find food as good and as cheap as you can at the Hawker Stands in Singapore. We came across a man and his wife selling Prata. It is basically a crepe filled with egg, cheese onion served with a wonderful curry sauce.


A perfect breakfast! We liked it so much, that today we went back to have breakfast there again. As we were eating, I noticed a framed newspaper article next to the stall about the owner traveling to Taiwan and the US to showcase Singaporean food at different festivals, mainly his Prata. I found another article on him here. On this mornings' trip, we had to wait in a line of about 8 people to get our prata, but it was worth the wait... the entire time we were there, he had a huge line... most people buying stacks of 5 or 6 prata at a time. So if you are ever in Singapore, take the trip to Tekka Center and visit The Prata Man!



and, just for fun... here are a few more shots of the Tekka Market

This is the nice woman who sold me some saffron... wow is that stuff cheap here!



The seafood stalls... lots of stuff still flipping here!



...and the produce stalls



more later...

Meat on a stick

Wednesday was the hottest day we have had since we arrived in Singapore. We still did some sightseeing, but it was planned such that we could duck in and out of the apartment to cool off between sessions. Kate got off work a little early, so we decided to show Tom one of our favorite places to eat in Singapore.... The satay vendors on Boon Tat Street next to Lau Pa Sat Market. They close the street at dusk, and it turns into what looks like a giant block party... tables and chairs covering the street, and satay vendors set up along the side of the street.



As soon as you round the corner, you get surrounded by people guiding you to the tables in front of their stand, trying to make sure you get your satay from them. It is a little overwhelming if you aren't expecting it. As soon as you sit down, the Tiger Beer Girl is usually right there to see if you want a jug of Tiger Beer. Order beer, order satay and enjoy!



After dinner, Kate headed back to the apartment, and Tom and I did a bit more sightseeing around the CBD and the river.

Better than bacon...

I know what most of you are thinking.... that is crazy talk! How can there be anything better than bacon?!?!? Well, I found it in Singapores' Chinatown. It is called Bakkwa, and they have entire stores that Bakkwa is all that they sell! It is marinated, spiced, and roasted pork, pressed into portable, tasty squares... Insert drool inducing photo here:



So... how does it taste.... I could just say "amazing" but that would not really tell you how it tastes, so I will attempt to describe it. Some people say it is a bit like jerky, but I didn't really think so, it is not as dry as jerky usually is. It is not moist like roasted meat, but not as dry as the jerky we are used to... somewhere in the middle. It comes in different flavors, the one In the photo is chili flavored which is sweet, smoky and bitingly spicy all at once. We also tried the plain roasted and another flavor whose name escapes me right now.... and they were all good. You can read more about Bakkwa here. While you do that... I am going to get more!

To the other side of the world.... again

So, I am back in Singapore for a visit. The biggest difference about this trip, is that I won't be wandering around the city by myself while Kate is at work. I was able to talk my good friend Tom into making the journey to the other side of the world with me. The trip over here was not as posh as the last trip, but it wasn't too bad. Since the flights were on our dime this time, we couldn't quite afford the Singapore Airlines nonstop flight from Newark to Singapore. I did manage to find a Singapore Airlines flight from New York, that made only one stop (Frankfurt) and we didn't have to change planes. Those of you who have flown on Singapore Airlines understand why I went out of my way to book the tickets with them. Those of you who haven't had the opportunity to fly with them, I highly recommend it... much more comfortable, fantastic service, and best of all... good food!

Even as nice as Singapore Airlines is, a 7 hour flight, immediately followed by a 12 hour flight is a damn long time to be on an airplane. We had quite a bit of turbulence on both of the flights as well, so I think I had about 2.5 hours of sleep total for the entire trip. After arriving in Singapore, we got to Kate's house, got cleaned up and headed out to do some exploring. Tom has never been here before, so we did a quick familiarization with the neighborhood, then did some walking around the city... anything to help kill the jet lag. Kate got home from work around 5:30, and we went out to grab a bite to eat and have some beers. We got back to the apartment about 8:00 pm, and that was about it for us...by this time, Tom and I had been awake for almost 48 hours, and Kate had gotten up very early to pick us up at the airport. We all turned in for some very sound sleep!

Over a year later

So I originally started this blog while on a trip to Singapore so friends and family could keep up with me. I thought I would also post pictures and other random stuff once I was back home. Here it is, over a year after the last post, and I have done nothing with it. I am once again back in Singapore, so maybe it is time to start posting again. Maybe posting my adventures over here will kick-start me to do more regular posts once I am back home.... maybe not.