Singapore at Christmastime
The Esplanade, art hub of SingaporeI have always found it a pleasure to visit The Lion City.
Broad highways, flanked on both sides with well-pruned trees, greet you after you clear customs at the Causeway. The cleanliness and orderliness of the place is a welcome change from the vehicle-jammed streets and haphazardness of JB.
Christmas, being one of the peak seasons for visiting the city, the malls and MRT stations were jam packed with people- locals, foreigners, all caught up in one collective last minute, frantic shopping frenzy.
On Christmas Eve, after a long hard day of prowling the shopping malls on Orchard Road (in heels *gasps!!!*) I ended up buying a pair of flats so my poor, hurting feet could rest and I wouldn’t have to limp pitifully along the street just to enjoy the festivities and lights.
My new pair of shoes. =D
The pedestrian pavements were teeming with Christmas revellers like myself and my family. Luckily, the Singapore government was far-sighted enough to cordon off a portion of the road at Orchard for people to walk on hence lessening the sardine can-like situation on the usual walkways.
Orchard Road
The night air was hot. Humid. Stagnant. But nevertheless filled with unmistakable Christmas cheer.
With sweat trickling down my back and forehead, I secretly yearned for the crisp, chilly air- the kind you can see your breath in when you speak- of Glasgow in December.
It occurred to me as I walked down Orchard Road, what a stark contrast the packed and lively streets of Singapore on Christmas Day is compared to the near deserted city of Christmas Day in Glasgow.
Christmas after all, is family time for Westerners and most shops close on Christmas Day itself and people stay at home to spend quality time with their loved ones.
Christmas tree at my grandaunt's place At Orchard, there was energy pulsating in the air. I watched youngsters chase each other, pushing through the crowd to spray each other with aerosol cans of “Snow Spray”, a frothy, foam-like substance that looked to me more like soap suds than real snow.
I observed rather untraditionally garbed Christmas carolers in earth-colored garments (some national costume perhaps?) singing to the familiar lilting tune of “Silent Night” but in their own language, an exotic tongue that I am unfamiliar with.
I admired the Christmas floats...
...and read in amusement the translations of idioms (direct translation from Chinese, I surmised) on the floats.
Beware of christmas?!
I also listened to the em-cee on the make shift stage speak in dual languages- English and Mandarin, introducing a local pop singer, conveying Christmas wishes to everyone, cracking jokes.
I realized, it was the first time I've ever spent Christmas Eve in Singapore.
On Christmas Day itself, my family and I had an unconventional Christmas brunch at one of those spotlessly clean hawker centers in Bedok, an area East of Singapore.
We had lots of local Teochew fair, my mum being the expert in what to order as she used to visit her aunty often in Singapore when she was doing her teacher's training in JB.
Warning: Do not continue reading if you are hungry. =D
Tau sua- My favourite hawker fare in Spore. A must have if you have a sweet tooth like me! It's a dessert consisting basically of split green beans in a clear potato flour-based soup, served warm with yau char koey.
Kua chap- Basically rice flour sheets in a soy sauce garlic gravy with a side dish of braised egg, tofu, fish cake and pig intestines. It tastes better than I've described it, honestly!
Sui kueh- which literally means water cake because the texture is as fine and smooth as water. Served with choy po (pickled, chinese raddish) and sambal. Delicious!
Singapore laksa- It's like curry laksa, but the gravy is thicker and milkier. The noodles used is also different. I didn't like it but my brother thought it was good.
Kue Kak- You can find this dish in Malaysia as well. Basically fried radish cake with eggs garnished with spring onions and served with sambal. This is the white variety. Very good, but oily... I think they allow the hawkers to use pig lat in Singapore. Sinful!
Lor Mee- Something like Lam Mee but tastier. They use the thick yellow noodles and also contains fish cake, tofu, boiled egg and other assorted fried liu.
A variety of kueh. Top pix is chai kueh which contains stuffings of vegetables mostly white raddish. Bottom pix is kueh stuffed with glutinous rice. The pink one contains addtional mushrooms and meat while the white one contains groundnuts. Not a big fan of these kind of kuehs, I was told the white one is tastier.
Hehe, made you salivate didn't I?
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. With good food, good shopping and quality family time.
posted by N.J.A.P.F. @ 12:06 AM
2 Comments:
Right. Shall now wait for Singapore to have some Food Fair before I visit. And make sure I bring plenty o' cash to enjoy.
Wow, those actually look good! I wasnt aware that Singapore had food like this.
Maybe its because the friend i visit there keeps bringing my to lousy places, where kuay teow is sweet and soup tastes like dish water...
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