Sunday 16 June 2013

Goodbye Yesterday, Welcome Tomorrow (Architecture pt I)

Singapore is ever changing. Anywhere you go, you'll bound to spot cranes and temporary walls apologizing for inconvenience caused by the construction work. Actually the typical apology is formulated that "Business as Usual" which it clearly is. Another nice sign apologizing for noises was that in the title of this blog post. This constant construction is driven partly by an intentional demolishing of buildings over 20 years of age and thus increasing artificial supply and demand in the construction market.

I visited the country on a tourist trip some 7 years ago for the first time. At that time the sea started from the iconic Merlion statue. Nowadays Merlion is spraying into a man made bay surrounded by completely new part of the town, Marine Bay, having risen from the sea through land reclamation. I wonder what is the going rate for a cubic ton of turf, which Singapore is purchasing from Malaysia.

Both of these drivers result in Singapore buildings being mostly brand new. They are also architecturally interesting. Here are just some of the examples.

Star Vista (Mall and performing arts center)

View into artificial island of Sentosa

Inside one of the domes at Gardens by the Bay

Detail within durian shaped Esplanade

UOB-Building as seen from 1 Altitude

MBS AKA Marina Bay Sands AKA The Pike as I prefer to call it

Not everything is brand new. Chimes is within Singapore's Colonial District


I titled the post fatalistically as Architecture part One as I expect to do a tour around the town and get some additional pictures with a proper camera.

Saturday 15 June 2013

Big Bowl of Facehuggers

The official national pass time of Singaporeans is eating. There are absolutely no good reasons not to eat well in Singapore. Probably the most established signature dish of the city would be Chilli Crab, which is a hard shell crab cooked in a thick tomato and chili sauce. A good contender for that would be Black Pepper Crab, which I finally was able to add to my been there/done that -list only this week.

Hard shell crab cooked and served as a whole can be a little intimidating dish to dig in at first. I actually do remember searching youtube for how to eat crab correctly videos before trying one myself. The localites offer a word of comfort saying that if my shirt (why it always just happens to be that white shirt?) remains spotless after eating chilli crab, I haven't been doing it right.

Apparently I did not now the true meaning of intimidating looking food. When I was leaving the sea food restaurant I looked what other choices they had to offer. This half a meter long, alien facehugger -themed animal (?) is probably not going to be hitting my plate any time soon.
Bird or a plane?



Monday 3 June 2013

The old continent with familiar nightly scents

Work has taken me into lively Dublin, Ireland for a week. As is already the tradition in this blog: couple of inevitable reflections between Europe and SG.

People don't really respect pedestrian lights over here. They are there only for generic guidance, but the decision to cross a street is driven by number of passing vehicles. Obviously you do see jaywalking in Singapore as well, but as you probably have learned it by now, that's yet another punishable offense.

Speaking of which, I only now realize that I haven't really seen any police patrolling the streets in Singapore. Very, very seldom I might have spotted one or two officers in one of the MRT stations. From what I have heard, police are mostly in their civilian clothes blended in the crowds. Plenty of police over here in Dublin though -- with occasional Guinnessy Irish bloke giving them hard time. But seemingly the officers have heard those comments before and not really paying too much attention to the verbal abuse. I really can't imagine seeing that happening in Singapore. That would be one fast track to receive quick corrective caning.

Neither can I imagine smelling the poignant scent of Friday and Saturday night in every other street corner. It is truly amazing how Singaporeans can behave so well even when royally drunk at Clarke Quay in the wee hours of the night. Surely you have the occasional few who are tad bit too tired to walk or might not generally feel so well, but the thing is that there is absolutely no one behaving aggressively or even overly loud.

Something that I am a little bit concerned is how can a Finn of all nationalities be spoilt with little bit of a warm weather and spicy cuisine so fast. I have been truly freezing in the damp yet sunny Irish summer with three layers of clothing, while the locals are welcoming June with nothing but T-shirts and shorts. Also I didn't remember Fish and Chips tasting so very bland before.

Majestic scenery of Cliffs of Moher -- or so I was told. Couldn't see a damn thing through the fog.