Continuation from yesterday’s post.
I finally ate the ice cream which is sandwiched between two wafers that I saw before and it was yummy because there’s like a huge block of ice cream and the wafer was thin. I chose peppermint chocolate and raspberry swirl. It was really fun to eat that on the helical bridge that totally looks like a DNA strand. I really love this region and it was also the same place where the fun run was held. So I got to go across the helical bridge twice. I am also very happy to finally seen the Merlion and since it was early in the morning during the fun run, the place was rather quiet and there were not many crowds. I wanted to properly run the fun run but I end up walking most of the time just enjoying the scene and talking to people since it was supposed to be a networking event. Delegates from 142 countries were there but I only manage to make friends from Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Germany and New Zealand. It was quite hard to make more friends because I was occupied with the seminars, the exhibition booths and poster presentations. Actually there’s just too much of activity with very little time that I feel that few days were so fulfilling and worthwhile.
As my family wanted to meet me every night, I did not manage to fulfil my plans to go running around the Esplanade area again (I will just go there once I graduate or look out for other major congress held in Singapore). I am glad that I didnt have to choose between family and friend as both parties were cool to go out together. So the second last night I met my aunt from Canada again with my sister in law and the last night I invited my German friend to join me and my sister in law for dinner at China town. I think I was rather stingy when my friend asked if she need to pay for her dinner since I paid for dinner and without thinking I told her 5bucks. I felt quite bad about it because I invited her to join us and to make matters worst she later on paid for beer and refuse to split the fees. She then said because I already bought food which I did - some extras consisting of the mala Chicken feet and chives pan cakes. The price of the beer is the same without conversion $10 for 3 bottles of QingDao (my favorite Chinese beer but then again I have never tired other Chinese beers). My German friend told me that there’s so many good beers in her country that she don’t know what is the best and I am so impressed by the way she pours beer correctly.
One phenomenon which amuse me is the response people have when I could converse in mandarin. There seems to be a lot of exhibitors from China and some of them have very good English but some are struggling and if they see delegates that are unlikely to speak in mandarin they would refer the person to their other colleagues. One of the exhibitors was saying I look so cute in mandarin due to my petite frame and I told the exhibitor that I understand what he is saying back in mandarin and he was surprised. Of course once they know I can speak the language they become less stressful to converse in English and was happily speaking in Mandarin and also encouraged me to visit China. I’m so glad my parents ensured I attended Chinese school because it certainly help me a lot to know mandarin in speech and writing. Actually like my teacher have always mentioned and I think I have highlighted this before - an additional language opens an additional path in your life. Most of the China exhibitors are friendly and they often end the exchange with “come visit China, China welcome you”. I really would like to visit China someday and my game friend told me if I go to Qing Dao he will treat me a meal and likewise I told him the same if he visit my country (provided the place he go I am around. I’m like everywhere and I’m not sure after November this year where will be my next destination).
Other than the MRT I did try their bus too and both are equally efficient. Looking back at my expenditure I only spent $24.02 for transportation from the time I arrived at 11am on 3/3/24 to the time I go back to the airport at 2pm on 7/3/24. Average about $5 a day if I want to round it to the closest figure. So I guess the locals without car there probably spend somewhere around $150 a month maybe. Definitely cheaper than having to pay for a car and maintaining a car and looking for parking and having to worry about driving skills. Of course no personal transport comes with some lack of freedom and the lovely feeling of being behind the wheels. Anyway still a good trade off given their transportation system is just too good! I was impressed 12 years ago but now I am more impressed since I am studying the map and understanding the amount of lines they have - the circle line, downtown line and east west is the one I have used for this trip. I think I must be missing the voice from the MRT announcement that I dreamt about it last night - “next station Farrer park…please mind the gap” (okay I’m not sure if there’s please mind the gap but I remembered it was written on all the doors). Someone actually got their bag stuck when the doors were closing and other passengers help to pull the bag pack in. The only complain (must complain, to match our Singapore counterparts, just a joke*) I have is that I think a lot of outsiders don’t have common sense of keeping their mouth shut while being on public transport. I mean didn’t they do their research? I thought what I read was it was an unspoken rule to keep quiet while on board and sometimes when it is quite packed I feel quite stressed having people talking because I’m short and I think their germs must have fell on me when they open their mouths to talk and it is also noise pollution! Definitely a lot of people uses the public transport and in 12 years the place became more packed because I don’t remember sitting on a packed MRT or bus even when it was Christmas in 2012.
There are so many good feelings when I think about my short trip and I think if I need to feel inspired I just need to cross over and visit again. I also manage to touch the fountain of wealth and it wasn’t crowded since they only allow 8person at a time. It seems Suntec was build in a way that the 5 buildings is representative of fingers and the palm is where the fountain of wealth is which also won the 1998 Guinness book of records for being the biggest fountain and the convention center is the wrist. I believe the wish I made there will definitely come true, it felt so good to touch the fountain and walk 3 rounds around it and this activity is free. Again I was not able to stay till the night to watch it get lighted up so I shall reserve it for the next time (that’s the beauty of Singapore I guess, their lights, which gives you different experience when you see things in the day vs the night).
I think I must be admiring Singapore so much that I couldn’t stop telling my partner about it and he was like “why don’t you move there?” Seriously I would like to experience living there, maybe then I will see the stress and the reality because everything is so clean and efficient which makes me happy. I don’t remember feeling angry at all unlike here in my country I am often angry with the smelly wash rooms, angry with the bus which was scheduled at 7pm but only comes at 8pm and leaves at 855pm. I am really mad when my time is wasted and I think in Singapore, time is being valued which results in everything being efficient. There’s also proper announcement for change in schedules so that people are well informed. My partner shared with me some documentaries about the planning of Singapore and they actually have planned their country in 20-30 years advanced.
I didn’t buy any souvenirs although I was so tempted to buy the tiger balm since that is made in Singapore but then again I can always buy it here. The only souvenirs I brought back was 2 limited edition of the late PM LeeKY coins which was given to me as a gift. I offered one to my partner but he didn’t want it so I get to keep both of it! I think it is a very precious gift and a meaningful one for a coin collector like me. I really have no idea what to buy back and I was not smart for not getting a bottle of duty free liquor because when I did get back to compare prices, the liquor at the airport and on flight was definitely a lot cheaper.
Oh and I totally change my mind about hostels. The hostel I stayed was very clean and I like it that I do not have to feel like I’m sharing a space with strangers because my sleeping area is just for me and there’s curtains where I can pull across and I won’t be seeing other beds and it was nice to see all the curtains were shut for all the other beds. I love making friends but not at the place where I paid for me to rest. I think I like some privacy and good rest when it is time for me to wind down, take a hot shower and just have some me time and updating my family on my trip. So I was very happy with the layout and the house rules such as no food at sleeping area, keep quiet especially 10pm-8am, and to use the common area for phone calls. The common area was nice and very homey with lots of story books, games, plushies and comfortable sofa. There’s also free coffee and tea and a coffee machine with coffee beans. They have a tip box and oh they had a jar filled with “tap water” but there’s also a boiler available so I don’t have to drink tap water. I am afraid to drink directly from the tap because I think the water would have a lot of chlorine and boiling helps remove chlorine.
Okay I can’t think of anything else that I want to mention about my trip - oh actually there is but I will write about it another time. I’m feeling a little nauseated looking at my phone while the bus is moving. I really dislike the bus service here and although I have complained so many times about their timing all they could say is just sorry or “yeah it’s usually a little late” - a 2 hour delay is not a little late and even AirAsia pays MYR200 for flight delays more than 2 hours if I’m not mistaken (at least a few years back cause I claimed it twice before this). I really cannot stand living in an inefficient place, it’s just pure torture :”(
The last food I had there was 2 scoops of ice cream from Birds of Paradise. I had the famous white Chrysanthemum and Spiced Pear and both was really good! They ran out of thyme cone but I don’t know why I felt my cone had some thyme smell to it. Anyway I wish I can try all their flavours! Somehow the ice cream stand at Gardens by the Bay was not there or maybe I didn’t look in the right place because I wanted to recreate the image of me eating lavender flavoured ice cream in front of the ice cream stand just like 12 years ago. I think I can visit anytime it’s just that I often need to get clearance as a civil servant which is so troublesome!
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