The Children of Rempang

Playing during recess time in between lessons and a mock oral exam. The children gather outside one of the classrooms and play in the drain nearby. They're a high spirited bunch and love having the photo taken for the most part, posing happily for the camera.

This was a fortnight before their English exam and the team from Singapore was there as they usually are, every fortnight, to teach and conduct an oral examination. Participation from the students is voluntary since it is a Sunday but the turnout is usually good with classes largely about 20+ in size from primary one to six or as they term it, Class 1 to Class 6. The students range in age as well as they sometimes start later than would normally be the case in a more developed country.

Squelching through the Mud

The wind in my face, the dogs on the leash, running with me. The mud squelching beneath my shoes as I brush through the grass to the narrow strip of land beside the canal. It's' a little piece of freedom to walk my dogs in a busy city filled cheek to jowl with people rushing here and rushing there. But on a slightly wet Saturday morning, on a piece of grass no one goes to because it's too muddy, I have the space to myself and my dogs. That's freedom.

I share it with the kingfisher, which swoops past periodically and if I get too close. A flash of blue and brown and red. He fishes in the large monsoon drain I walk past. The egrets are around this time of the year, migrating from north to south away from the wintry lands. So I see maybe one or two of those. Sometimes a little grey one, sometimes a pair of large white mature ones.

I see little wild weeds with little bell like flowers and purple centres or little mimosa plants with leaves that close if I touch them. I see the dwarf coconut tree, bearing fruit. The old tyre that has been there so long, it's half covered with grass growing over, embedding it into the earth as part of the landscape.

My dogs love it. And I do too. Sometimes I sit with them next to me, savouring the silence and peace and solitude with just my dogs for company. It's not that I'm alone as there stacks of flats just across, towering above and a construction site nearby with private condominiums sprouting up. So I'm never alone. But I feel alone enough that it feels good. There is a peace that nature and solitude bring that cannot be had otherwise.

The Singapore Social Inequality Map

Inspired by David Brooks


Welcome to Singapore. It’s a tiny place and we all have to get along for life to be bearable. So here’s a brief guide to the social mores of inequality for our many visitors and foreigners who come to spend time with us.

We are a nation of whiners and whingers. We love complaining. We complain about everything under the sun. From the excessive amount of rain and floods (why can’t the Public Utilitiy Board engineers read God’s mind as they have done so well before and what have we become, a third world country?) to too much sun, to crowded (albeit excellent) transport infrastructure., we complain about everything.

However, like it is in many families, I may complain about my little Red Dot but that is because it is mine and it is home. Do be aware that while you are welcome, there are a few social norms to be observed while complaining about inequality in general.

Food inequality is not acceptable along ethnic lines or foods dear to the Singaporean stomach. You may not like durian or curry smells emanating from your neighbour’s home but you may not complain about them. Instead you must consider them to be an integral part of the exotic landscape. You may even be fed some strange food like fish-head curry and are expected to slurp up and enjoy it or be a good sport and at least taste it.

Food inequality is otherwise acceptable within narrow bands. For example queuing up for hours for your favourite bak chor mee (a minced meat noodle dish) with or without ter kwa (liver slices) or doughnuts while there are many perfectly acceptable substitutes nearby is seen as normal. As is raving about it in minute detail for a good half hour in polite conversation afterwards.

Academic inequality is acceptable at University level. It is perfectly acceptable to indicate which university you’re from whether it is the local universities or the Ivy League or Oxbridge or a London based university. Or any university for that matter. You may do this by subtly referring to it in your conversations or by wearing some university insignia or shirt with a logo.

Income inequality is acceptable only if you happen to be in the upper echelons in which case you barely notice it after all you earned it. For hoi polloi it is gradually becoming less acceptable. So, try not to brag about how much you earn. Instead you may endear yourself and underscore your social status indirectly by your largesse as in buying your employees, friends, generally lesser economic beings lunch or dinner. You need to figure out who earns the most at a table and if it is you, grab the bill when it arrives while the others put up a show of fighting for the bill but you must be sure to end up the payer if you’re the biggest earner.

Religious inequality is still generally unacceptable. It is wrong to look down on other people’s beliefs even if you consider them erroneous and your own faith is blindingly obvious. It is acceptable to share your beliefs provided it is done in the spirit of understanding.

Racial inequality is not acceptable. However we are so relaxed about race, we can often freely ask what someone else’s racial heritage which may come as a surprise to visitors from more politically correct climes. We can also shock visitors by sometimes discussing prejudices but you should refrain from making any comments. Do remember, regardless of our skin colour, we have all done Basic Military Training together, at least the guys have and in the light of a sergeant yelling in our ear, our colour matters not particularly when we’re all sprouting deep suntans and botak (shaven) heads anyway.

Toy inequality is definitely acceptable. You may line up for hours outside a fast food joint because it offers a Hello Kitty or other cult toy gift with your happy meal and you may crow when you are one of the successful ones. However it is not acceptable to start a brawl because someonone cuts in front of you.

Transport inequality is acceptable in a mild form. You may be very proud of your car which you will have paid through your nose for but any boasting should be restrained to remarks on how well the car handles or how comfortable and convenient it is for your children or elderly parents. After all, your car will speak for itself. You may also complain about the ERP (road tolls), traffic and parking problems to underscore your car ownership.

Job inequality is generally acceptable and often tied to the money it brings in. Bankers and doctors rank high on the social scale. Yes, even now despite the slight taint from the broken banking system and evident systemic greed. Teachers used to have a higher status but while still respected have fallen lower in the hierarchy since they now earn relatively less. Even gamblers have a high social status as long as you have several million dollars to play. However politicians ranking pay with job worth has become distinctly less acceptable of late since they are now paid quite a bit.

Space inequality is acceptable. Owning a landed property or private condominium is seen as having “arrived” and you are duly allowed to boast gently about it but only very gently. Like cars, your property will speak for itself. If you want to fit in, it is better to talk about your HDB neighbourhood unless you already move in exaulted circles.

Sports inequality is entirely acceptable. If you are a hobby tri-athelete you may moan about how hard the swim was while showing off your tight buns in a figure hugging outfit.

Technological inequality is entirely acceptable. Boasting you have just updated your phone as soon as you became eligible on your telco billing plan for the latest iphone is entirely acceptable. Showing off how much you know how to convert your last smart phone to a remote control for your high definition TV set is fine if you can do it.

Welcome to Singapore. We are an egalitarian (although less so now), meritocratic society, dedicated to a hedonistic enjoyment of food and shopping and having fewer kids so we can enjoy our shrinking apartments. Instead we welcome fully grown foreigners to make up for our baby shortfall, so welcome

Night Walk around Marina Bay

I have to say that the Singapore skyline around the Marina Bay area now looks spectacular at night. I took this shot while at the F1 race earlier this year. I've not been up though onto the Sky Gardens at Marina Bay Sands building which is the tall tombstone like 3 blocks in the background. It costs S$20 per visit and it's apparently spectacular. So one day I shall go. Oh and one of my favourite things about living in the tropics is that walking out in the evening is lovely as it's cool but not cold and in Singapore, remarkably safe so strolling out with friends is really nice particularly with stunning views like this.

Spot the Difference

These were a trade sample. But as I photographed, them, I realised other than being left and right, they weren't identical. I was really impressed with the level of detailed attention to even the eyelets which had the brand names on it.

I still think of them as souped-up batas though with that wonderful white mesh fabric. Certainly would have qualified me to be the best dressed convent girl.

For anyone who's curious, these are original Feiyue's direct from the French owners. Not grey goods.

Tiger Prawns for Dinner

This was at a seafood restaurant along Patong Beach where the customer can choose his seafood, and it is then cooked for him. The tiger prawns are really tiger sized and succulent since they are so very fresh. However I would say that the quality of the cooking was watered down in flavour compared to what Singaporeans are used to. Evidently the cooks are catering to blander palates with less robust flavours. Pity. Nevertheless it was still a very enjoyable dinner.

Patong Beach

I just came back from Phuket, Thailand on a corporate beach holiday. As the company I went with is young, hip and happening, we stayed on Patong Beach, the most built-up, well known, beach in town. While it is not a place I would have picked on my own, I was very pleasantly surprised indeed by the hotel we stayed in: The Sea Patong

Despite the punny name, it was a hidden gem. It cost us less than S$50 per room per night (with each room taking two people). It's conveniently located since it is within walking distance of Patong Beach, all the shops, pharmacies, pubs along Patong and even a major shopping centre, JunkCeylon, is within walking distance. And no, I'm not being paid for this blog entry.

The food was excellent too on the roof top by the pool dining. And drinks in the sister hotel, The Nap, next door, were reasonably priced and made with fresh juices (and of course the required alcohol). All at 20% off.

However, the price we paid is probably not going to last as it is a young hotel less than a year old and we went in an off peak season. So get it while it lasts! A stylish, modern hip hotel at budget prices. Just make sure you don't lose any of the beach towels on the beach as at that price, they're bound to charge you for any lost items.

A Once in 50 years Incident?

It seems to me that quite a number of people do not understand what probability means in the recent flood. Due to the very successful flood alleviation programme instituted by the Public Utilities Board of Singapore, the flood areas in Singapore have been reduced drastically over the years so that the public in Singapore has become accustomed to flood free situation despite living on a low lying, increasingly built up tropical island. However, in the last month, there have been flash floods on three occasions in low-lying areas of Singapore including the famed Orchard Road, around the Scotts Road junction.

Horror of horrors, are we living in *third world* country?

The reaction of the public would be amusing if it did not betray such innocence of probability let alone other physical and economic factors. When the public is told, this is a "Once in 50 years event" what they do not seem to recognise is that this is a probability. In other words, there is a one in 50 chance of such a flood occurring in the same way that if one flips a coin, there is a 50% chance it can turn up heads but it could easily be flipped 100 times and still be heads all times and that still does not change the truth of the original statement that there is a 50% chance of it being heads although of course that is certainly a rare series of events.

As a bunch of engineers, generally excellent at what they do, PUB engineers forget that the general level of understanding of simple probability, let alone an understanding of engineering, rainfall, tides, permeable versus impermeable surfaces and a low lying island, is sorely lacking. So perhaps what is needed in this case is for engineers to improve their ability to communicate with the public in simpler terms. Idiot-proof explanations are needed and any comments relating to probability should be avoided.

Good luck engineers and don't forget you can always hire a spin doctor but make sure your spin doctor understands some rudimentary engineering and probability and has a good dose of common sense.

The Full Monty

Adrian Pang is the one new face on the Singapore acting scene I really like. I first saw him in a TV series acting as a supposedly blind man tracking down the killer who tried to do him in and was duly impressed. I then saw him in a production of Much Ado about Nothing and realised he was more than a good actor, he was a hot bod. Then he finally set up his own company with his family including his young sons and I watched the debut production, the Full Monty last Sunday.

It was excellent. The acting, the sets, the singing and choreography all came together well. I enjoyed it and laughed at all the right places. While I enjoyed the story better as a movie, and think that genre better suits a tale of down and out men who go to work as strippers to earn their keep, and find their self-respect, it remains highly enjoyable as an upbeat musical.

I look forward to Adrian Pang & family's next production.

My Gray Victorian Dress

It's always a pleasure to find a locally designed dress that is affordable, comfortable, and fits me. And I like grey. I found this in a shop that is called Celadon, which used to be in Bugis Junction some time back but the slip did not shrink quite as much as the outer shell. I finally got around to getting it altered to raise the hem. It now fits better than it used to as it was a mite too long to be flattering before. I'm more delighted with it than ever. Now for an occasion to wear it.

The Backyard Cola-mentos experiment

For my nephew's birthday, my brother, decided to try out the coca-cola - mentos experiment. It works. I was never fast enough to capture the first full spurt so here is the best shot I managed to get after one of my nephews capped the bottle with his hand immediately after the mentos went in.

For those of you who have never seen this before, if you add mentos to carbonated drinks like sprite or coca-cola, the two react to form a fountain. As we were using small bottles, the fountain did not last long but if you use a large 1.5 litre bottle and more mentos sweets, then chances are you will get a result that you can capture more easily on camera.

One wonders how this was discovered. Some chap eating mentos and drinking coke perhaps?

Let them Eat Cake!

I forgot to buy more bread and one Sunday morning awoke to wonderful baking smells and thought it was my neighbour. When I came back from walking my dogs, I realised there was a lovely lemon cake on the kitchen table, still warm and in its baking pan with a beautiful, cracked top. It tasted heavenly with little crunchy bits inside. And that the table was not its usual laden self with a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and another of jam.

My ingenious maid must be a descendent of Marie Antionette. And unlike the hapless poor of that time in France, my kitchen is still well stocked enough for her to rustle up enough eggs, flour, sugar, lemons for a fabulous breakfast cake. Definitely no need to riot.

I should forget to buy bread more often.

A Crumb of Old Singapore

Where I grew up, my mother used to order groceries from a grocery store called Chop Soon Heng in Beauty World. It was a dry goods grocery store which sold canned food, rice in heavy burlap sacks, biscuits in glass jars scooped out and sold by weight. My mother would call every week or more often and they would then deliver to our doorstep. No delivery charge in those days. It saved my mother a lot of heavy carrying.

Recently, I discovered an old provision store in Commonwealth Drive that still sells these old style biscuits by weight. My friends and I were delighted and promptly bought some and munched our way through an entire packet very rapidly. They taste like yummy jam biscuits with apricot jam in the middle.

Nothing like the taste of childhood.

Supping Bak Kut Teh

There's nothing quite like the Singapore tradition of adjourning for a late night supper. Tropical evenings are the perfect temperature for a stroll out to the nearest coffee shop after aikido practice and we're all tired and hungry. So four guys and I from class late one Friday evening decided that a bowl of soup would really hit the spot and we went in search of the bak kut teh (pork bone herbal soup) down Balestier Road.

Balestier Road in Singapore is one of those roads with a lot of mixed use development ranging from old to new commercial buildings. There are some lovely shophouse blocks which must have been built over 70 years ago (and in Singapore this qualifies as old) with their white decorative facades. Surrounding them are blocks of apartments built anytime between the early 1970s and beyond. It's a higgledy piggledy mixture of buildings with a bunch of little restaurants thrown in and the hill rising up on one side of the road and a pile of cars parked on one side or the other forcing the traffic to slow down considerably as cars pull in and out into the flow of traffic.

Me, being me, insisted in trying to find the "best" bak kut teh (pork bone soup) stall down the road, which meant we trekked from the car park near Mandalay Road all the way along Balestier until we found it, with me striding along, hungry but determined and a fellow aikidoka keeping stride beside me and the rest trailing in a more desultory fashion behind. Unfortunately, this one bak kut teh place is so popular, there was a line of people outside and at this my determination melted away since I loathe queues for food. So much for being able to try the Malaysian bak kut teh again which had me drooling for more the last time I went.

So I settled for the more traditional Singaporean version of bak kut teh which has a clear soup and a peppery taste in a shop house that still had the green tiles running up to halfway up the wall, and the very high ceilings for good air circulation, built in an era without airconditioning and the mosaic tiles on the floor. We ate our way through bowls of bak kut teh (pork bone soup cooked with herbs including pepper), white rice, pigs trotters, intestines and kiam chye (preserved green vegetables).

Much to one of my friend's delight, it was an old fashioned enough place to have a little charcoal brazier at each table ready to fire up a little earthern teapot with a bright pink packet of tea next to it. The tea is served in absolutely tiny teacups only slightly bigger than a thimble and one is to down the tea within a minute or two of it being poured. It's bitterness cleanses the palate and is supposed to help clear the cholesterol-laden meal we had just inflcted on our stomachs.

So there we sat, whiling the evening away and our tiredness melting away with each mouthful of food we ate and bowl of soup we drank. The harsher sounds of kitchen clatter and the gutteral Chinese dialects bounced off the walls and I was happy that evening.

Human Dignity

It struck me forcibly in last Sunday's homily, given by a wonderful missionary priest, who has spent his whole life in SE Asia, that really the choices that we have to make, not to sleep around, not to act out of jealousy but to rise above all these temptations, are really so much about human dignity. And that is what purity of heart is: not using people but to have respect for each person as a child of God.

And I think what gave his homily force is simply his ability to live out this message in his own life. His great gentleness and love that emanates from him, that all around him have experienced, give credence to his message. To hold to standards which seem archaic in the modern world of how to treat people and ourselves is not always easy to live up to when I think of it in terms of "Thou shalt not..." as it seems harsh and joyless, but transformed into a notion of love and dignity of each person, lifts it into a higher plane and suddenly it all makes sense. And it is most certainly not joyless but a celebration of life and each person.

Dogs teach me to Pray

One of my favourite old priests, who serves in my parish, said something which really struck a chord with me. He related an incident where he was grumbling on his way to church as a young priest, to do his duty about mass or some other service. In his grumpy mood, he arrived back home and was greeted by his favourite pet dog, a dalmation, a dog he has always found very appealing. As dogs do, he was given an enthusiastic and warm welcome and shown much affection, and it occurred to him then that if a dog can show his master so much affection over a simple return home, how ungrateful and ungracious it was of him to be grumbling to see God, our master.

I loved the story because I have on many occasions, come home and have had my spirits lifted by my dogs who rush to the door or the gate, and when they cannot get out the door, will make all manner of noise, standing on their hind legs, pulling at the door handle in a fruitless attempt to let themselves out. Never mind that I only saw them just this morning, but I get a welcome as warm as if I had been away a year. It's especially heart-warming when I've had a hard day at work and they're one of the best stress relievers I have.

I can't believe sometimes how much love they have in their little bodies to pour out to me, so unconditionally and yes, I too can certainly learn from them to serve my master, God, well, with more affection, more willingness to go to prayer and to serve wherever he wishes me to serve, and bear whatever cross he wishes.

My Feathered Friend

Having seen several wild parrots around my home, I was delighted to be able to see my friend's pet parrot. This was a very cleanly kept parrot so there was no smell and it was a very clean bird. It was also very tame so it was willing to meet a bunch of strangers and sit on our hand or shoulder. It has its flight wings clipped so that it cannot fly too far away. It almost made me a convert to keeping birds!

Signing

Shall I learn sign language? There's a short course for sign language for religion in my church and I was thinking, it is such an elegant and beautiful language, I am tempted. I see glimpses of it when the deaf community gathers for Sunday morning mass in one wing of the church and they're all signing with the intepreter intepreting to them. It's so poetic it goes straight to the heart . The snag is that I am not a natural at languages, learning new ones I mean. I struggled with Chinese for years and still not that fluent in it. And I did a passing bit of french, only just about enough to order food in a restaurant and not much more. (Ah, yes, the important bit of the language, I agree).

I'll think about it but if anyone wants to weigh in on the conversation, please do. Or what version is worth learning.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Sometimes we fear to dream too much. Safety and security matter a great deal to most of us as they do to me. However once in a while, I need to dream to and while in much of my life I have clung to what is safe and familiar in my life choices, that desire for venturing into the unknown sometimes rears its head. It is built into the human psyche, that desire to explore, to find that which is unknown, to seek that which is not limited by our own experiences thus far. And when we encounter that which we find limitless and beautiful and terrible, then the emotion we experience is wonder.

For me, that desire has partly been expressed in my practice of aikido. And for me, today since I am grading for nidan in aikido, it really brought home to me that even for someone like me, who loves clinging to that which is safe, I too need my little bit of adventure, and I need to that sense of exploration and wonder. I have never stopped learning. I have never stopped being amazed by what I can be taught by those who are skilled both in the art as well as in the art of teaching, of sharing what they know. It is a joyous experience to step on the mat and simply see where our skills can take us. And I never thought I'd get this far or stay this long on this journey.

Gambatte!

The Boy and his Bubble

A blast from the past: I have taught my nephews to blow bubbles made out of some sticky plasticy material that I used to buy at 10 cents a tube as a child. Now I buy them by the boxful from the one remaining toy shop near my office which still stocks a number of these old time toys. These bubbles last for weeks as the material is airtight so I've yet to actually see one deflated as usually someone manages to squash it well before then.