This Was Not A Fun Post To Make

This blog post is about pests.

It will have pictures of bugs and creepy crawlies.

The back-button is at the top-left.

And now that you've gotten your fair warning... To be honest, I'm not even sure why I'm blogging about this topic since it's such a common thing to me, but I guess what's common to me might be news to others, so. If you're a local reading, sorry to bore you. If you're an expat living in or visiting Singapore and you're reading this, and you haven't had the opportunity to come across these lovely creatures yet, I'd like to introduce you to...

THE COMMON COCKROACH

...it seriously is really common here. The common cockroach in Singapore can grow to as large as the size of an adult thumb, and they are near impossible to kill. You can smack them with newspaper or bugspray them and the little buggers just either reanimate, respawn, or come right back. Even better, a lot of them are apparently psychic and they'll run straight at you - instead of away from you - if you try to attack them directly.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a non-blurry picture
of a cockroach that's running toward you while you're simultaneously
running backwards away from it

Not only are roaches invincible, they're everywhere too. You'll find them scuttling between the shadows, hiding in the drains, feasting in the garbage bins, hanging from the ceiling; they even ride the bus to work with you and fly into your hair. More than once I've witnessed full-grown cockroaches creeping along the windows or poles of the public buses while riding the commute to work, and the latter happened to me only a mere week ago. (I got rid of it by doing a impromptu three second rain dance on the sidewalk and then just stared after it as it continued to lazily fly away.)

As disgusting as I've made it sound though, be rest assured that a large majority of the public buses (and Singapore in general!) are roach-free, and while they do fly roaches normally prefer to creep along flat surfaces than take to the air. Most places are regularly fumigated every couple months too, keeping the roach population in check (although the only downside to that is having to pick your way through the hundred of dead bodies carpeting the floor the next morning).

And next up is...

COMMON HOUSE LIZARD

Often found on the ceilings of bathrooms, in the corners of room ceilings, under the lights on the wall and behind the automatic kettle on the kitchen counter, the common house lizard reaches various sizes depending on how stable its diet of flies is and is also very likely the source of that weird chittering noise you hear above your head while sitting on the john. Nearly transparent, they move in short, zig-zaggish bursts of speed and may or may not drop down on you from above instead of running in the opposite direction while being chased. Young lizards can be as tiny as the first joint of your thumb and well-fed adults can reach the size of an outstretched hand (from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the palm).

They're always hiding somewhere. Always.

Some of my personal notes on house lizards: hosing them with hot water from the showerhead will not melt them through the shower stall drain, and fishing their partially liquefied bodies out after is not a pleasant task at all. Also, the tail stays alive for up to ten minutes after dropping off the body and it will somehow continue wriggling menacingly towards you even long after the lizard itself has run away.

And last but not least...

STRAY CATS

You heard me. These fuzzy little cuties are considered pests in Singapore, mostly because of the noise they make during heat and during fights, and even though the Singapore Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) have taken measures to stop them from breeding via neutering, they somehow keep multiplying. You'll find at least one cat in the void deck of every HDB building there is in Singapore. And despite numerous signs telling the general public not to feed the strays, people still do because face it, cats are cute. (I haven't really heard of anyone getting fined for doing so though, seems like most people close an eye to it.)

You can tell if a stray cat's been fixed by looking at its ears. After it's been picked up by the SPCA, the cat in question will be dewormed, vaccinated against rabies and common diseases, and neutered before being returned to where it was found, with one small difference - a little slice of one of its ears removed. It sounds painful, but it's done while the cat is under anesthesia (with a hot metal wire, very quick and efficient) and it doesn't affect the cat's hearing at all. It's also very common for most stray cats here to have a kink in their tail or two, but not to worry because this is actually a genetic defect, and not a result of abuse during kittenhood as I had previously thought. (According to Michelle, all the cats in Ohio, USA have long straight tails. Now that was unusual to me!)

And that ends the post on pests for now. Have a kitty.

Food: Our Shopping List

Alright, we can't really post our shopping list because uh. We don't have one. One of the not so nice aspects of taking a room rental rather than an apartment rental is that you usually do not have access to the kitchen and therefore are pretty restricted in what you can cook. We'll leave the discussion of accommodation rental for another time, though.

As such, the majority of our consumption comes from ready to eat foods and those bought from hawker centers and restaurants. Luckily, this gives us a pretty good idea of what to pay for a whole host of items since we're so incredibly cheap economical.

My prices and comparisons are going to be coming from an American (Ohioan, at that) standpoint, so do take them with a grain of salt. Also, this is a completely incomplete list. We just noticed we had a lot of pictures with food prices. Feel free to add to the list in the comments!

What you should buy:

• Fruit- Just do it. If you don't like fruit now, learn to accept it. It's fresh, cheap, and delicious and you'll never run out of selection. Maybe make an exception for durian. You don't have to like that.

(look at that now. envious, right?)

• Local ice cream- notice the emphasized local here, you'll see why later. You can find ice cream vendors pretty much anywhere and their prices (and selection, usually) are always the same. For $1 SGD (about 70 cents USD) you can get a big hunk of delicious ice cream whether you're in Orchard or Tampines. They offer to put the rectangular piece between wafers or pandan bread. Go with the bread, even if it seems odd, I promise you you'll enjoy it. You're allowed to avoid the durian, yam, and corn flavors.

• Local favorites- Your best bet of finding good eats is always to go with where the longest line of locals is hanging around. This is important as you'll see plenty of places crowded with foreigners you want to avoid. Aside from the price tag, if you don't see a local eating there it's probably not good food. Local favorites are the obvious chicken rice, along with prata, nasi lemak and...well, a lot of noodle dishes. These are easily accessible, convenient, and always delicious. And cheap. 

(this is going to be your favorite meal soon. milo and chicken rice, what more can you want?)

What you should avoid (usually):

• Yogurt- Of course with some hunting you may be able to find some yogurt that isn't going to make you bankrupt, but seriously, it's just not worth it here. For healthy foods you aren't going to have to hunt far, and your choices will definitely be fresher and less processed.

(this is PER YOGURT. seriously, find me anyone who's willing to pay $5.10 for a yogurt and i'll show you someone with no budget)

• Any other ice cream- Okay, I'm a hypocrite here. I can't stay away from Haagen Dazs (did you know it was spelled that way!? I had to google it) caramel biscuit and cream, but we are sure to make it only a very now and again treat. And at about $15 per carton, for good reason. I don't care how good it is, the local ice cream is just as good and, well, 1/15th the price.

 (i'm sorry, my love, i promise i'll eat plenty of you on the next trip to the States)

•  ALCOHOL- Sorry to drinkers out there, but it's not terribly feasible unless you're loose with money. Even after converting currency, prices for a bottle are at least double and can be triple or more per drink. You may get away by staying away from the city center or finding sales, but otherwise you can expect to pay about $15 for a shot.

(maybe you can be forgiven for one Singapore Sling from the Raffles Hotel. this pic's not by us, just so you know, we haven't been able to justify the $25 charge yet)

You'll be able to find a lot of value for your dollar over here as long as you know where to look. Of course, indulging in some pricey foods now and again is alright too, so I'll leave you now to go indulge in my overpriced Magnum Chocolate and Strawberry ice cream bar.

Making February into Music Appreciation Month

 Pris and I have spent the last two weeks being utterly, miserably sick. I caught it first from my work and enjoyed the agony so much I passed it right on to share. We're not sure what it is since neither of us has been willing to go to the doctor, but since we aren't writhing in pain much anymore and we're only hacking every other minute now, we're sure it'll be fine.

However, our bug has put a bit of a damper on our activities since it's all but eradicated all of our energy and we've been trying to head back early every night we can to rest up. Regardless, we have been able to get out a little bit over the time and have a bit of new stuff to share.

Last Sunday, the 20th, we took a trip to the Esplanade for the 2nd of 3 in the Beautiful Sunday series, a series of free concerts performed by a few different orchestras. This month's concert was from the Mus'Art Wind Orchestra in celebration of Valentine's Day with a selection of love songs from Japanese, Chinese, American composers and others. The venue should be pretty familiar to those who've already been through our blog, we were there for the first concert too!

This time we arrived more than two minutes before the performance was set to start and ended up with not such high seats. The venue itself is gorgeous and worth a trip out, even if photography isn't allowed.

(they weren't too happy with me sneaking a shot or two. at least i wasn't fined.)

I can't lie, as far as performances this one was far more fun than the last. The conductor even had the audience clapping along for a few songs. Or...trying to clap along anyway. As it turns out, the Singaporean crowd in general had about as much rhythm between them as a  single person should have and the offbeat clapping led to more than a bit of laughter.

But all in all it was a very fun show and we'll definitely be there to catch the last in the series on the 6th of March, 3pm for all those interested.

February has been a pretty musical month overall, as the concert at the Esplanade wasn't the only live performance we caught, although the second was quite a bit more down key. Held at library@esplanade, which does have its own performance corner, we caught the NUS Guitar Ensemble for a quiet hour and a half or so recital.

(there were many more than just these guys, maybe 25 or so in the ensemble who took turns in groups or solo performances)

We caught word of this small affair through the monthly library brochure, which often highlights tours, performances and the like people can take either for a small charge or free. You can find some of their listings online here as well. (There's another free tour through Chinatown scheduled this Saturday that we'll likely have to miss, but catch it if you can!)

Unfortunately, there's not too much else to say for now as we're pretty exhausted just from our meager entertainment offerings, so hopefully we'll have some more exciting activities to post about next time!

 (we'll see you out with some music. kind of.)

Food: Teppanyaki @ Pepper Lunch

It's a Singaporean thing, I think, to constantly add the @ sign between a place and event. Library@esplanade is the actual name of... the library at the Esplanade, for example. Well, it gets the point across, anyway.

It's also a Singaporean thing to eat out a lot. A lot lot. Like, almost every meal a lot. This is due to two main factors, I believe. 1) Kitchens are usually pretty tiny and 2) It's ridiculously cheap. If you want a nice helping of chicken rice it'll only put you out about $2 SGD, about $1.40 USD. For a decently filling meal, it's usually cheaper to just head to the nearest hawker center and buy some mixed rice or nasi lemak than to eat in. As such, you'll usually find Pris and I at one of the said hawker centers getting our dinner, but now and again we do head out to town for a bite to eat.

As the day before Valentine's Day, it's already quite busy in the city center with couples heading out to dinner and the like together. But more importantly, today is my birthday. In celebration Pris and I headed out to a movie (The Rite, not too bad!) and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants- Pepper Lunch.

We're going to highly recommend this place, it's got something for pretty much everyone. Pepper Lunch is a Japanese chain with a few outlets here in Singapore and around Asia, but none in America yet. The food is served teppanyaki style, which means they throw all the ingredients of your meal onto a sizzling hot plate and bring it out for you to cook at the table. I always end up getting the beef and rice and Pris swears by the salmon, but they've also got teppanyaki pasta and even hamburger dishes all cooked on their hotplates.

Better yet, you're not going to be breaking the bank for a meal here. A huge meal serving of your main course, plus drink and your choice of dessert, salad, or miso soup only runs about $12 SGD.

We were pretty full after popcorn and drinks at the movies so we ended up just grabbing one upsized meal to split, the beef since I'm the birthday girl, of course.

 

(it doesn't look so great when it first comes out though...)

 (...and even less when you first start the mixing)

(but mix in their honey brown sauce and garlic soy sauce after making sure your meat isn't burning to the plate)

 (and suddenly...heaven!)

We've never had bad service at any of the Pepper Lunch outlets. The food is usually out within just a few minutes of ordering and you're eating about 10 minutes after arrival. After the meat and egg are done cooking and everything is mixed together you're free to dig in. They provide handy little instructional videos outside the stores though, so I doubt you won't be able to figure out what to do. It's a very fun and delicious way to get your dinner, definitely worth a check out for anyone in the region!

(don't take just our words for it though)

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Hong Bao Na Lai

  

Now in its 25th year, the River Hongbao is an annual event celebrating the Lunar New Year (3 - 4 February this year) and lasting 13 days, opening daily from 12 noon to 11.30pm until this coming Sunday, 13 February. This year's event was held on The Float @ Marina Bay, and with 2011 being the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac it was only appropriate that the entire event had rabbits displayed in nearly every form, size and direction, alongside the customary Asian decorations.

Upon stepping onto the Float we were greeted by numerous strings of lanterns swaying gently overhead:  

  

A giant double-sided "coin" of a rabbit had been placed at the entrance, with bells strung along certain points in its wireframe. Many people came to toss their loose change at it in hopes of striking one of the bells for good luck and fortune:

 I'm not sure which is rarer: actually being able to hit a bell,
or witnessing Chinese people parting so freely with their money.

Right beside the Rabbit Coin was an enormous statue of the Chinese God of Fortune, Cai Shen. We didn't get to see it, but at certain intervals during the day the statue sprays gold glitter and confetti onto the waiting crowd below. Superstitious Chinese and delighted children were picking glitter off the ground around the statue when we arrived, so I can only guess the God of Fortune had given his blessings just a couple of hours beforehand.

It was at least three storeys tall! No idea where the confetti
came from, but I'm placing my bets on the ingot in his hand.

 The Float @ Marina Bay is right next to an open-air stadium normally reserved for race car events and the like. For River Hongbao this stadium was made freely available to the public and we were able to take a seat and settle down to enjoy the nightly performances. There were songs and dance:

 

Martial arts and acrobatic displays:

 

More songs and dance:

BO BEE BO BEE BO BEE BO BEE BO BEE BO BEE BO BEE AH!!
...why did they hire those creepy things
to dance instead of getting a couple of girls?

...more songs and dance: 

 

......more songs and dance:

"Love your mama! I love my mama!
Listen to your mama!" Yeah, I wish I was kidding too.

Eventually (but not entirely regrettably) we decided we'd listened to our fair share of cultural music for the night and made to leave, but not before taking one last picture of the bustling float in its entirety.