Indians, Chinese, Arabs … and Prada and Gucci – a day touring around Singapore

“Singapore is so choice.  If you have the means, I highly recommend going there.” — paraphrasing Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off //

This weekend I had a chance to tour around Singapore, which was awesome.  On Saturday, I woke up and headed to Tiong Bahru, a stop on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) green line, to grab breakfast witha friend of a friend living in Singapore.  Tiong Bahru is a bit off the tourist track, in an area without as many of the tall skyscrapers that pepper the city skyline, where many locals live.  I had a bit of a difficult time meeting her, as I got to the address of the restaurant we were meeting at, The Orange Thimble, and was greeted by a different restaurant.  It took a little bit of time to realize that the address I had was the address of the building, and that each restaurant in the building had an additional address (like a suite number) that they were located at.  Well, I finally found her and was excited to have my first Singaporean breakfast outside of the hotel (something along the lines of Kaya toast or another specialty of the area) … but the only substantial breakfast menu item they had was eggs, bacon, and toast.  Ah well, local breakfast food was to come, I’m sure.

While there she told me a bit about what to see in the area.  We had to cut the lunch short because a repairman  was coming to check out her air conditioning unit.  You see, there is a law in Singapore which requires folks to have their A/C checked ever 3 months.  Being just 75 miles from the equator, Singapore stays fairly hot and humid year round, so the government ensures people’s A/C units are running efficiently to save on electricity costs – ultimately leading to an  more energy efficient Singapore.

Oh yeah, and while I was at breakfast guess what song came on?

On the way out of breakfast, I saw a percussive street band playing – but the sound, style, and instruments were totally unique.  Really cool.  There was one younger man laying down a back beat on what looked like a cymbal, with a woman interjecting accents on a wood block, and then an elderly man hitting a really large gong intermittently for emphasis.  The music definitely had Chinese influence.  They didn’t have a hat out or anything to make money, they were just playing for the simple pleasure of expressing themselves musically.

From there I took the train to Little India, and took a stroll down Serangoon Road.  The heat, my oh my, the heat.  I’m so glad I brought sun screen on my trip, but I was so stupid for leaving it at my hotel that day.  90 degree weather feels a lot hotter with 90% humidity.

When I wasn’t busy trying to avoid the sun, I was taking it all in.  It was certainly a multi-sensory experience, from the smell of incense burning, fresh spices, and palak paneer, to the colorful clothing of the Tamil people and vivid storefronts selling everything from A to Z, to the sounds of commerce, Saturday morning market shopping, and store music spanning from Bollywood to Kanye West.

And what deals to be had.  Designer sunglasses starting at $2.  Designer jeans starting at $10.  For some reason I don’t think these were genuine items.  I headed over to Mustafa Centre, a well-known 24-hour store which specializes in everything and carries (or at least is supposed to carry) genuine goods.  I’ve never seen so much stuff crammed into one store, with such a wide range of products to choose from… over 150,000 in total!  By this time, it was only about noon and I was already feeling pretty exhausted as I’d been knocked out by the oppressive heat.  I headed back to the train with a quick detour through a temple (my first of many, I’m sure) called Sri Veeramakaliamman.  Now say that 10 times fast.  One of the oldest temples in Singapore, it is still in use and dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali.  It was actually pretty cool, but all very unfamiliar.  One man was lying face down on the floor, in prayer.  Others were lined up to get incense, for what I’m not sure.  Hopefully I’ll have the chance soon to explore some temples with a guide to have a better sense of what I’m seeing in these beautiful and spiritual buildings.

From there, I took the MRT and got off to walk (after a few wrong turns, including by Park Royal apartment building which actually has a park built into the side of the building) to Chinatown.  I have no idea what the name of the restaurant is that I ate at, as the writing was all in Chinese, but you don’t have to understand the language to agree that my meal (picture here) was amazing.  And in case you were wondering, yes it was just as spicy as the pictures makes it look.  Good thing they gave me some rice to take the edge off.

I then met up with a friend who is an expatriate in Singapore.  As a brief aside, it is estimated that about 40%, or about 2M of the 5M people living in Singapore, are foreign expats.  With an unemployment rate of about 2%, incomes of over $250K for 40% of expats, and one of the lowest crime rates in the world, among other attractive city facts, it is not a surprise to know that Singapore has historically been and continues to be an attractive place for expats.  With the massive inflow of foreigners, Singapore has effectively brought in additional people with ability to spend money and help contribute to a fast growing economy.  The price for this explosive growth has been seen as real estate prices have sky rocketed across the relatively small 275 square miles that make up Singapore island, contributing to the third highest population density in the world of about 20,000 people per square mile — compare that with the USA, which is about 90 people per square mile.  As a result the country has undergone extensive land reclamation efforts, as well as an ongoing initiative to build housing vertically rather than horizontally – with the result being that 85% of Singapore’s local population lives in public housing, from poor up into upper-middle class.

Anyway, coming back to my day, my expat friend and I headed over to Orchard Road, the famous shopping district in Singapore.  Almost 1.5 miles long, Orchard Road, once a home to nutmeg plantations and fruit orchards, now boasts multiple multi-floor shopping malls rivaling the likes of New York’s 5th Avenue.  It was amazing to see every famous shopping brand along the malls in this road, many charging double what they do in the USA, packed with locals and tourists alike.  Given the crowds despite how expensive some of the stores were, it was no wonder that Singapore has the highest per capital of millionaires in the world and shortest amount of time to get to be a millionaire (just under 10 years on average).

From there we walked to Arab Street, my last area to tour around that day.  The beautiful Sultan Mosque stood framed by the sun at the end of a boulevard filled with local shops and restaurants.   We also happened across a couple getting married and I managed to snap a picture of them in their traditional wedding clothing.

I ended the day with pineapple fried rice f0r dinner, picked up from a local hawker centre (open-air food court), Gluttons Bay.  Their food vendors have all been selected for being best of the best, so the food is great and, although expensive relative to other hawker centres in Singapore, still cheap relative to other great meals I’ve had (my dinner was under $10 USD)  I meant to take a picture of it to share, but by the time I got around to turning on my camera, I had already eaten all of it  

Itinerary Highlights

• Little India – Serangoon Road, Mustafa Centre (24-hour shopping), Sri Veeramakaliamman (temple), food, shops
• China Town – architecture, temples, food, shops
• Arab Street – Sultan Mosque, food, shops
• Orchard Road – high-end shopping malls
• Gluttons Bay – hawker centre