Snow Ice

"If ice kachang [a local kind of sno-cone] and ice cream had a love child, it would be snow ice." Snow ice is a dessert that originated in Taiwan and which has found a home in Singapore. It is made by feeding frozen blocks of milk, or flavoured milk, into a machine that shaves it into thin sheets. The layers of milk ice, piled high in a bowl, are served with toppings that run the gamut from chunks of fresh fruit to chocolate sprinkles.

We took our visiting friend Robin to Chinatown to book a side trip to Bintan (Indonesia) later during her visit. After some exploring around the area, including a visit to the wet market that Raye frequents, we stopped for lunch at a hand-made noodle shop. After some more walking and a stop at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, we opted to go for snow ice at Mei Heong Yuen on Temple Street.

The place was jammed and we had to wait for about 10 minutes for the opportunity to squeeze 3 people around a table that moments before had been cozily occupied by a young couple. A jammed place is a good sign, particularly in ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown. [We were the only Anglos in the place.]

From the wide selection of flavors (example: mocha, chocolate, durian, yam, and green tea), we opted for mango and an off-the-menu flavor, strawberry. For S$5 (about US$3.50) per serving you get a small iceberg of the stuff. The flavors are terrific, but it's the texture that makes it really interesting. It doesn't have the graininess of a sno-cone, nor the creamy mouth-feel of ice cream. It's somewhere in the middle; perhaps best described as smooth and clean, but different than sorbet.

Raye & Robin are planning a return trip to check out some additional flavors. Next time I go, I want to try some of the traditional desserts like mango sago pomelo, black sesame paste or egg custard with ginger.

Ice Cream in Singapore

It's summer here. But then again, it's always summer in Singapore. And what goes with summer? Ice cream! And it's everywhere in various interesting varieties.

Like the Fair Price grocery store. It was on sale, so we decided to buy some. But how to get it home before it melted? A quick look at the sides of the box gave us the answer: it was prepackaged in Styrofoam.

And what intriguing flavors: Durian, Mango, and Sweet Corn.

The name "potong" on the box means "cut" in Malay. The traditional way of serving up what we call Popsicles was to cut a rectangle of ice cream from a larger block, put a stick in it (called a lidi, made from the spine of the coconut leaf), and serve it up.

Out on the street, you can see this tradition in action at any number of the portable ice cream stands. (Notice the integrated motorcycle; it's part of the stand.) For S$1, the vendor cuts your serving of your flavor of choice from the large block and gives it to you on a stick (Malay style), between two wafers (Hong Kong style), or on a slice of colorful bread (Singapore style). We tend to favor the Hong Kong option.

In the various shopping venues you'll find a wide international representation of ice cream options. There is Azabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream from Japan with such interesting flavors like green tea (of course), black sesame seed, sweet potato, and (one of our favorites) caramel and sea salt. Ben & Jerry's is here. (Our friend Hunter Rose, the Ice Cream Czar would feel right at home.)

And there are several gelato options: Bravissimo and Gelato Twist are two examples. While maintaining a strong Italian tradition (chocolate, cappucino), both cater to local palates with flavors like Milk Tea, Red Bean, and of course Durian. All will let you taste extensively, and that's definitely part of the fun.

But alas, there is no Graeter's in Singapore (except for a brief shining period when we managed to bring some back with us packed in dry ice). So as much as we may enjoy the exotic options here, our mocha chip and raspberry chip cravings have to wait for our visits to the US. At least Kroger's (in Texas) now carries it.

The Durian Day Tour

Ambivalent. This is one word that you never hear when it comes to durian, the "king of fruits." People pretty much either love them or hate them. Other stinky foods like Limburger cheese, or perhaps things like cigars, invoke the same kind of responses.

Tropical fruits come in two categories: seasonal and non-seasonal. (With 12 hours of sunshine and with the weather pretty much the same all year, it's a mystery of nature how plants know what season it is.) Durian is seasonal, with Malaysian season lasting from June to August. This means that mid-July is prime time and there are a variety of tours up into Malaysia to sample the current harvest. So we signed up for a day tour and off we went on another adventure.

A short taxi ride got us to the Yio Chu Kang MRT stop in plenty of time for the 6:15 coach pickup. After a second pickup stop to the west (oddly called Jurong East), we were at the Tuas checkpoint, the "second link" to Malaysia on the west side of Singapore. The procedural choreography was interesting: get off the Singapore bus, go through Singapore departures with your passport, get back on the bus, drive over the causeway, get off the Singapore bus with all your stuff, go through Malaysia arrival immigration and customs, and get on a Malaysian bus. It's actually the same procedures as any international travel, but with a bus ride over a bridge in place of the international flight.

The Malaysian bus was comfortable, with an unusual decor that included curtains over the windows and a karaoke machine (more on that later). We picked up a second tour guide, a Chinese Malaysian who talked to us in a mix of 60% Mandarin and 40% English. The tour group was ~75% Chinese, 20% Filipino, and 5% American (that would be the 2 of us).

Our first stop was in Gelang Patah for breakfast at a Malaysian hawker center. We opted for Fried Carrot Cake and an 3-egg omelette with green onions and a hint of chili. Carrot cake is neither cake nor has carrots in it; it's made from a white raddish. It's really good, especially the 'black' version that is made with sweet soy sauce. Together both cost 7 RM (Malaysian Ringgit) or about US $2.

The drive took about 2 hours and took us by countless palm oil plantations, rows and rows of regularly spaced palm trees. (Malaysia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil, an edible oil that is also used in making soap. The palm oil business is a point of eco-controversy because it replaces rainforest yet is also a potential source for renewable biodiesel.)

We arrived at Gunung Ledang Resort around 11:30 am. Turns out that the tour doesn't go to the durian plantations because of complaints about the quality and cleanliness of the facilities there. Instead of the durian comes to a resort where they have tables and tables set up, covered with newspaper and durians. It was crowded with eager visitors, more than ready for "makan durian" time.

Turns out that saying "durian" is like saying "apple." There are many varieties, but instead of being "delicious", "macintosh", "jonathan", they have names like "mao shan wang", "XO", "Sultan", and "black pearl." Some are know by the cultivar number, e.g. "D13" or "D101". We had several varieties on each table, and yes, you can taste a difference, just like you can with different kinds of apples. I like the D101; the fruit is orange (instead of pale green or yellow) and is creamier and sweeter than the others we tried. Durians in Singapore cost between S$10 and S$18 (US$ 7-12) per kg, and an individual durian weighs about 1.5kg.

There are also some important customs associated with eating durian. The durian is a "yang" fruit, one that increases heat. Proper eating require a balance of "yin" (cooling) foods. Mangosteens serve this purpose, and these were also provided about half-way through the 'feast.' Another option is to drink salt water, salt being a "yin" herb. True affianados drink the salt water out of the durian shell. We opted for the mangosteens, which are called the "queen of fruits", are very tasty and apparently chock full of anti-oxidants.

Next on the agenda was a rainforest hike up to the Puteri Falls. This is the very bottom of the Gunung Ledang Trail. It took about 20 minutes to walk up the trail, with lots to see both in terms of the natural surrounds and the variety of people who were enjoying picnics or camping along the stream. At the top was a natural swiming area and some additional minor falls that people were sitting under. We stayed about 20 minutes, chatting with a Singaporean tourist on a different tour (he went to Indiana University and has a son at Purdue) before returning to the resort for High Tea.

Back on the bus around 3:30 PM, we headed for Yong Peng for a shopping stopover at a local product shops. Along the way, they fired up the karaoke machine connected to the TV at the front of the coach. Fortunately, they only played the tracks that included original artists singing so there were no 'performances.' But it was a little surreal to be on a bus in penninsular Malaysia, half-way around the world, listening to songs like "Yesterday Once More" and "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

Our next stop was for dinner near Johor Bahru (just across the straits from Singapore) around 5:30 PM at the Grand Straits Garden Seafood Restaurant. We were grouped with a Chinese couple and the six Filipinos on the bus and had a great time. The courses: chicken feet soup, stir fried tofu, thai-style chicken, pink tilapia with sweet & sour chili sauce, stir fried kang kong (like spinach), Cantonese style squid ringlets, braised prawns, white rice, and a fruit salad for dessert.

By 8:30 pm were were back on the bus and headed over the 'first link' causeway into the Woodlands checkpoint and back into Singapore. This time, we got to stay on the Malaysian bus after Singapore customs. It dropped us off at Jurong East and we took the MRT (subway) back home, arriving around 10PM.

How much did this cost? Total value of the deal (including breakfast on us): US$85 for the two of us, including breakfast, transport, durian, dinner, guides, and tips. A great value and a terrific adventure!

(You can click on the slide show below to see larger version of the pictures.)

Attention to Detail

On the MRT (subways and elevated trains) there are "priority seats" near each door. Anyone can sit in these seats, but when an older, pregnant, parent with lap child, or disabled person gets on the train, they get the priority seat. And it's practiced faithfully here.

Sometimes a little too faithfully for our tastes, as in when someone offered Raye the priority seat. (To be fair, this happened when Raye was having her back problems at the end of last year and was using a cane.)

I found the sign itself to be interesting in a couple of details. Take a close look at it. (You can click on the picture to see a bigger version.)

Certainly the illustrations are simple and clear; they don't require translation into the four official languages of Singapore (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil).

Did you notice that the adult with the lap child is male?

What about the different spine angles for each of the figures? That was a surprise when I noticed it. They all make sense, too.

I guess that's what happens when you hang around with a physiotherapist for 30 years...

Keeping It Clean - Part 2 (H1N1)

Singapore takes the H1N1 flu pandemic seriously. This makes sense, not only because of the recent memory of SARS in 2003, but also because people are the single most important resource in Singapore's economy. Since Singapore is the #3 most densely populated country in the world, the Health Promotion Board of the Singapore Government is mission control when it comes to prevention. The Ministry of Health oversees the healthcare system, e.g. licenses doctors.

There's a full media blitz on the topic: print, radio, TV, and web (including downloadable Power Point slides for use in classrooms). There is even an official government site about H1N1. There are posters in the mass transit stations, buses, and trains. The one that really caught my eye is the one about "Stop the Horror" which emphasizes washing your hands as a way to stop the spread of the flu and other diseases. There is even a step-by-step set of instructions on proper technique on the HPB website. Have a look and see if you're following best practices. And if you have difficulty remembering the technique, check out the "Washy, Washy Clean" preschooler lyrics, sung to the tune "if you're happy and you know it...". There's even an MP3 recording.

Concerns about H1N1 are extremely visible in the workplace. We get daily e-mail updates on the infection statistics. If you travel away from Singapore, you have to report where you've been and you might be asked for a one-week work-from-home quarantine. We have to take our temperatures and record them on a card twice each day. When we arrive at work we have to show our temperature cards and thermometer. If someone comes down with a fever at work (38C or higher), they clear out the lobby, the reception/security team dons masks and gloves, and a ambulance shows up to whisk the infected person away for treatment & quarantine. I've seen this happen twice. Depending on circumstances (e.g if their is a positive diagnosis of H1N1) the entire work team might be sent home for a week quarantine and their work area disinfected.

When you go into a medical building (like when we recently went to the dentist), you get your temperature taken with an infared no-contact thermometer. You get a sticker to wear showing you've passed "incoming inspection." We've also seen this occasionally at arts performance venues. An interesting side note is that the people taking our temperatures seem to relax a little when we explain that we live in Singapore. They probably assume that we are tourists who just got off the plane from the USA, the country with the most reported cases of H1N1 anywhere on earth. (Imagine if they knew we moved here from Texas!)

Singapore's pervasive, proactive pandemic preparations are impressive, and we're appreciative of the energy and effort that are being put into them.

The Advance Guard Visits

We really enjoy having visitors and love having the opportunity to show them around Singapore. So we were very happy to learn that sister Kay's finance Pat was coming for a visit as part of a multi-country trip to Asia. May 1 is a public holiday so we had a 3-day weekend to do some exploring and some things we had not done before. And since Kay, Mom & my aunt are visiting in October, we teased Pat about being their "advance guard".

There are certain things that are de rigueur (and fun) to do when visiting Singapore. The Quays (Robertson, Clarke, and Boat) are a great walk and opportunity to people watch. Checking out Parkview Square (aka "Gotham City") is fun for people who like interesting buildings. We also like walking through the various ethic enclaves: Chinatown, Little India, and Arab Street.

What was new this time, was a side trip toward the Malay Heritage Center where we stumbled onto the Malay Arts Festival. The dance performers were going through a dress rehearsal, preparing for the opening ceremony. However, due to the H1N1 concerns, we all had our temperatures taken before we could enter the compound, and were given a bright green sticker to put on our clothing to let everyone know that we were "safe." Look at the photos below and the video to see some of the various costumes and part of the opening dance number rehearsal.

We also ventured out into the interior and walked the MacRitchie reservoir "tree top walk". It is a fairly long hike with some trail and stair climbing required to get up to the top of the rainforest canopy. But once you are there, the suspension bridge and view are spectacular. There are plenty of directional signs and the trail is paved and extremely well maintained.

Even with the excellent views, it was a little disappointing for Pat. There were all these signs about not feeding the monkey -- and we hadn't seen a single simian! But on the way back to car park, Pat's wish was fulfilled. We saw an entire family of monkeys playing in the trees across an access road. Better still, the papa decided to cross over to pick up some of the wild fruits that were dropping from the trees where we were walking.

No trip to Singapore is complete without trying some of the local seafood so we took Pat over the the East Coast Park. You are 'spoit for choice' among the many options. Pat opted for chili crab (even messier than the black pepper crab), served with both steamed and fried buns for dipping into the sauce. During his visit, Pat also got to try some Peranakan food, the local "nonya" cuisine that is a wonderful blend of Chinese and Malay cooking that's hard to find outside of this part of the world.

Who's next?

Lessons Learned

Today marks the passing of 525,600 minutes since leaving Texas to move to Singapore. With a tip of the hat to Jonathan Larson it's an appropriate time to 'measure the year.'

It's been remarkable, truly a spectacular opportunity that we've tried to make the most of at every opportunity. Even a year later, we find ourselves amazed and interested in all aspects of life here -- both the obvious and the seemingly mundane (ref: Keeping It Clean). My Singaporean co-workers occasionally ask if we are bored living on such a tiny island with no seasons. Far from it!

It's all just so darn interesting: there is always an opportunity to learn something new or see things from a different perspective. With this in mind, here are some of the "lessons learned" from our past year living here.

1. We can now almost always understand the Singaporean ways of speaking English and a tiny smattering of Singlish vocabulary. The accent and cadence/phrasing is different, in ways marginally similar to the way Caribbean English is spoken. We still don't have the "lah!" (an audible explanation point) down quite right, and we probably never will.
   
   
2. We know our way around rather well. It's been interesting to see how this has developed. It started with major destinations and subway routes. It then expanded & filled in more as we got familiar using the buses. Walking adding more detailed awareness and understanding. Starting to drive in November helped expand the size of the area we know. I remember how clueless we were as to the relative location of the various housing locations we were looking at a year ago.
   
   
3. Driving on the left takes about two months to get comfortably proficient. It takes about 2 weeks before you (mostly) stop turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. Even so, we remind each other to "drive past the median" when making a right hand turn. (And BTW it's not difficult returning to the US and driving on the right.)
   
   
4. Driving on the left has nothing to do with how one navigates sidewalks. Unlike Japan where "walk on the left" is strictly adhered to, in Singapore the sidewalks are "the wild west". People walk on either side and groups of people will walk 3 or more abreast and it's a game of "chicken" as to who will yield to whom. (see item 6 below.) This is probably the #1 comment that our visitors have made during their visit.
   
   
5. On the other hand, there is remarkable discipline when it comes to observing crossing lights. Compared to the USA, there is very little jaywalking. Some may think it is because of the traffic police and the cameras that are just about everywhere, but I think the major enforcers are the taxi drivers. Did I mention that cars have the apparent right-of-way over pedestrians? (And over means over - if pedestrians don't get out of the way, e.g. at driveways or after the walk light turns red.)
   
   
6. There's a difference between 'kiatsu' and 'kiasu'. The former is a Japanese mind-body energy therapy technique. Kiasu is an aspect of Singaporean culture. It mean "must not lose" or "cannot be second". Like making sure you are first to get into the subway to get a seat -- when the car is empty. Or pushing (slightly) to get on an escalator first -- only to stop suddenly at the top to decide which way to walk. (Lesson learned is to leave 2 steps clear behind a person who does this.) It's an aspect of the uber-competitive culture in Southeast Asia and we've learned not to interpret it on a personal level. In fact, sometimes it's the needful.
   
   
7. We are "pledges" in the overseas community. To a few of our friends in the US, the idea of living overseas is a scary choice and they consider our living half way around the world as dangerously adventurous. (Never mind that living in Singapore is practically like living in the Epcot exhibit on Southeast Asia - clean, beautiful, etc.) However, some of our friends and acquaintances here have been living outside their home countries for more than 15 years and in some rather unusual places. "What, you haven't lived in Uzbekistan? Drop and give me twenty!" "This is your first posting? How wonderful. Now get me a beer!". Hey, at least we've got a year under our belts now (and there are new pledges arriving every day.)
   
   
8. Actually, both the Singaporean and overseas community have been most welcoming, kind, and generous. Thanks to Raye's interests and activities, we've met some wonderful people from all over the world. (Even some fellow Texans-from-Ohio.) It's wonderful to be sharing each others cultures, traditions, foods, personal histories, and (of course) our shared Singaporean-and-beyond experiences. We are making friends that we know we will keep in touch with no matter where on the planet we all happen to be.
   
   
9. The Internet and the many forms of communication it supports makes keeping in touch with family and friends incredibly easy. We are so appreciative of everyone's support and efforts to include us and inform us with things that are going on back "home". Skype, Magic Jack, e-mail, Facebook, and of course this blog have been been wonderful 21st century tools for making the "distance" seem much smaller than 9,722 miles. And we especially appreciate our family and friends who have invested the time (25 hours each way) and airfare to share a bit of our adventure with us.

How do you measure a year in the life? When it comes down to it, it's really the last two items: In the life of friends.