Clearly You've Never Been to Singapore

Someone name that movie!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all you Irishmen (and everyone else, too)! Thanks to my mommy, I’ll never eat green pancakes and milk again. She scarred me for life.

Singapore was like New York City, but greener, cleaner, and more sophisticated. They have these outrageous laws with hefty fines, or even jail time, like no jaywalking, no spitting gum out, and no durians on the subway. The people dress very high class, in collared shirts and dress slacks or dark jeans for the gentlemen, and cute dresses, pencil skirts, and blouses for the ladies. Flip-flops are the favorite for feet, along with very, very high heels. Bummer for me, because I wore sandals and a dress to fit in, but did enough walking to be wearing waterproof cargo shorts and nice, insole-ated hiking boots.

The main pastime of Singaporeans and tourists alike is eating, and boy did we eat. They have indoor pavilions called Hawkers, which I guess you could compare to a mall food court on steroids. Stands upon stands lined isles with numbered tables. The idea is to walk up to whatever stand you want, tell the people what you want to try (by peeking around their display… there are no counters for ordering), and then tell them the table you’re sitting at. They bring you the food when it’s ready. Noodles, rice, seafood, meats, soups, juices, ice cream, you name it, it’s there to try. Between the three of us who traveled together, Rolando, Eric, and myself, we had

1) fruit juices- pineapple-banana-milk, pear-banana-milk, dragon fruit-milk, durian-milk (I’ll go into detail about this one. YIKES), and mango-kiwi

2) meats- curried chicken, lemon fried chicken, sweet and sour chicken

3) seafood- I tried an oyster omelet, because we ran into my travel writing teacher and he made me. It was more fried than egg, and the oysters were squishy. Nice to try, but not something I would make a “usual” at Sunday brunch. Eric tried octopus balls. Open the bread ball covered in onions and what looked like drizzled frosting to find, surprise!, a fourth of an octopus arm, tentacles and all.

4) rice and noodles- classics, and a reliable choice

5) soups- Eric and Rolo warned me the soup at lunch had a kick to it, so I braced myself, but still ended up coughing and crying out of one eye. Not spicy, maybe more like I had swallowed a crab and it was now hanging from the uvula in the back of my throat. The soup I had for dinner was called solang and meatball. I don’t know what solang is (if you do, and it’s gross, please keep it to yourself), but I guess it tasted kind of fishy. Maybe. But so did the meatballs. Questionable. But good.

6) ice cream- my flavors were green tea, bubble tea, and mint. Green tea tasted just like green tea, but I was overwhelmed and nauseated by the end of eating that scoop, and therefore bubble tea tasted like green tea also. Other flavors included strawberry, mango, and something along the lines of peppercorn. Not my favorite.

Durian is a fruit in Asia that is banned from the subways. There aren’t allowed to sell it in Hawker markets as just the fruit. You’d think people would’ve been warned off by the spikes that cover its outside, but apparently not. Durian happens to be the most disgusting fruit I’ve ever smelled. Jenn and I just came to the decision that it smelled like rotten, moldy, wet food mixed with dry cow manure. Eric bought one in the form of juice, and we all tried it. Once. Eric played hero and wouldn’t waste his money, so he drank the WHOLE THING. We got it on video. He gagged quite a few times. This morning he said he could still smell it, and I believe him. It was a traumatic experience. Just another way to experience Asia! Once, but never again.

The central city of Singapore had sections like Little India, Chinatown, Orchard Road, and the Botanical Gardens. Orchard Road, as they described it to us on the ship, is the Rodeo Drive of Singapore. A girl in my travel writing class dropped more than $300 (yes, that’s American money) on three things there. We stayed for about 10 minutes. Then went to eat some more.

The coolest building in Singapore was one we joked was the MV Explorer caught in a tsunami.  High above three twin skyscrapers was propped what looked like a very long, luxurious cruise ship. We didn’t go in, but later found out it was a casino that charged $20 just to get in. Oh, the life of luxury. I think I’m satisfied on my ship.

I don’t think I said so earlier, but if you haven’t heard, Japan was cancelled right before coming into Singapore. Tonight the announcement was made that our alternative port will be Taiwan. All I know about Taiwan is that they make a lot of the things I have in my house in the United States, and there are cool forests there. Research will be tricky, as we don’t have any Taiwan guidebooks on the ship.  Four days, one less than Japan. After losing a day in South Africa and losing four more before we even got on the ship, we’re all crossing our fingers to get an extra day in Hawaii or China, but it’s not likely on account of cost.

Life is getting interesting! Or, at least, more interesting than the usual interesting when you’re sailing around the world.