Singapore - Seen and Unseen (Part 2): My Total Cultural Immersion and Uncovering Singapore's History and Modernity

- July 23-24, 2016, Saturday-Sunday.

- The events from Part 1 (click here) were just appetizers to what Singapore has to offer, and I was excited to find out and experience more things - both the usual and not so usual - in this little country. On the early morning of Saturday, I made sure that I'd wear something comfortable for me to move in, and that it should be Indian. For that morning, I was to attend the open house of the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS), located in Starlight Street in Little India (closer to Farrer Park MRT.) SIFAS is an organization/school formed in 1949, and currently offers various courses in Indian music (vocals and instruments,) dance (Kathak and Bharatanatyam) and visual arts (Indian painting, sculpting, etc.) Since it was an open-house day, they welcomed visitors to observe classes, or even participate in free crash courses in case they would be interested in enrolling as (ideally long-term) students. Sadly, I wouldn't be able to enroll due to obvious circumstances. Despite that, I was still able to experience a taste of "formal lessons" in Bharatanatyam and Kathak, two Indian dances I wish to learn if given the opportunity, and just for kicks, I also attended/observed a Hindustani vocal class and a sitar class.

Learning the basics of Kathak. (No photos for my Bharatanatyam class.)

Wrapping a string around my teacher's wrist as a sign of respect; he had to do the same to me.

Hindustani vocal and sitar teacher.

If only I lived in Singapore and if only I lived near SIFAS.

- I did some more shopping in Little India before going back to my hostel to change into my Chinese clothes for the second half of my cultural-immersion day. Since it was still early in the day, I decided to have the famed Singaporean chilli crab for lunch since I had all the time in the world to eat this saucy and messy-to-eat dish. I went to Smith Street and found a reasonably-priced chilli crab in the second floor of Chinatown Complex. The chilli crab there was priced around 40 SGD, while other formal restaurants sell it for around 100+ SGD. The crab was just right for me, and it was the only thing I ate. The uncles and aunties seated beside me seemed to be judging me as I was eating one whole crab, but I didn't mind; I was happy with my crab bathed in sweet-spicy sauce. I normally don't like eating crab in public because it's difficult to eat crabs in general (especially crab dishes like this one with a thick sauce), but I had no regrets. By the way, I also had chwee kweh (water rice cake) as an appetizer, though it's normally eaten as a snack or breakfast food. Chwee kweh has the consistency of noodles, and is topped with picked raddish and some chili sauce.  

Chwee kweh.

My giant chilli crab platter.

- After my long and tedious lunch, I rode the train to Bugis to stroll around and possibly shop for something. The souvenirs there were mostly similar to the ones in Chinatown, so I wasn't able to buy anything. Later on I spent most of my time in the National Library in Bugis, particularly in the cafe outside the library theater. For the evening, I was scheduled to watch a Cantonese opera performance. The original plan was to watch a minimalist Chinese theater performance in the Chinese Theatre Circle in Chinatown; they perform every weekend and visitors can opt to watch the show itself or have tea and dinner while watching. For this particular weekend, however, the Chinese Theatre Circle invited Cantonese opera performers from China to do various special performances alongside the Chinese Theatre Cirle's performers for the International Cantonese Opera Festival 2016, so I grabbed the opportunity and got a ticket for myself. Most of the people who watched were Singaporean-Cantonese uncles, aunties, granddads, and grandmoms. I seemed to be the only young person interested in watching it. There were other young people there, but they only appeared to be there since they had to accompany their parents or grandparents, while others were there since they appeared to be students fulfilling some academic requirement (i.e. they were taking down notes while watching.)

My city is just a street in Singapore.

Feels like I'm back at home.

Had an ice cream sandwich; typical Singaporean street food.

Wore a green Chinese polo for Madam Green Snake.

Chilli crab for lunch? Chilli crab pasta for dinner.

Uncles, aunties, granddads, and grandmoms.

- The story of Madam Green Snake is a reimagining of the last part of the Chinese folktale, Madam White Snake. It was even advertised as the sequel of Madam White Snake. To summarize, Madam Green Snake (a green snake turned human) was the best friend of Madam White Snake (a white snake spirit turned human). Madam White Snake and her human husband Xu Xian were recaptured by the antagonist of the original story, Fa Hai (turtle spirit turned monk.) It was Madam Green Snake's mission to save them both, by hiding Madam White Snake and Xu Xian's infant son in the human world by leaving him in the footsteps of some commoner's house. Through the years, Madam Green Snake learned many martial arts techniques from the Peach Goddess while the son was growing up. After 18 years, Madam Green Snake went to see the son, now an accomplished government officer, and revealed everything about his identity. Madam Green Snake, with the help of the son, was able to find Fa Hai, defeat him, and release Madam White Snake from the towers of Jinshan Temple where she was imprisoned, as well as the human Xu Xian.

- Apart from the usual singing and symbolic/dramatic martial arts, what I like about the play was the exhibition of the secret art of face changing. It's a kind of performing art where the performer has several masks on, but the performer can easily change from one mask to another in a split second. It's one of the closely-guarded secrets of Chinese performing arts.

Madam Green Snake's training session.

Madam Green Snake (aka "Xiao Qing" in Mandarin or "Xiu Tseng" in Cantonese)

Madam Green Snake revealing everything about the son's identity to the son. 

Temple high in the mountain where Madam White Snake and her husband were imprisoned. I love the giant big Buddha at the back.

Madam Green Snake with her snake mask; she changes her mask to confuse the temple guards.

Fighting the temple guards.

Say what now?!?!

Madam Green Snake fighting the evil monk Fa Hai.

Curtain call.

Photo op.

- While the actors were performing, a slight incident happened. A woman seated at the other side of the theater from where I was suddenly shouted, and through her body language I assumed that she had some problem with a man seated a row or two behind her. She shouted around 4 to 5 times during the first half of the performance and disturbed everyone (except the performers,) to the point that security had to escort her out of the theater; she had one last shout at the man before leaving the theater. I honestly had no information about the incident but it was the first time I saw someone being escorted out of a theater.

- Despite the incident I enjoyed the whole play and I was glad that I was able to book a ticket for this play. It is rare for me to watch Chinese opera in Manila since they don't stage a lot of them here. While feeling happy, I had to hurry up and catch the train so I can prepare my things for my upcoming adventures.

- From Sunday onwards, I concentrated more on the historical aspect of Singapore (most of which had to do with the British Occupation and the Second World War,) although the cultural and religious structures I visited prior were historical as well as cultural.

- On Sunday morning I rode all the way to Dhoby Ghaut Station to see the National Palace (Istana,) at least from the gate. The Istana is only open to the public on 5 days a year - Chinese New Year, Labour Day, Hari Raya Puasa, National Day, and Deepavali. Since I wasn't there on any of these five days, I could not go inside.

Palace gate.

- I walked to Fort Canning Park located on top of a small hill near the Istana, but going up there is easy through Park Mall. Fort Canning Park is an interesting place for me, and strange enough, not a lot of tourists seem to be visiting this incredible historical place. In the ancient days, Fort Canning was inhabited by royalty so they can easily oversee their territories on flat ground. Later on, the British took over the hill and used it as their administrative headquarters. The main attraction of the whole park is the Battle Box, which is a military bunker/headquarters in the heart of the hill (literally,) and in it was the exact room where the British surrendered to the Japanese during the Second World War. Entering the Battle Box requires a guided tour that can be arranged through the visitors center near the Battle Box entrance. No photography is allowed inside, but I highly recommend this place as a must visit in Singapore. The Battle Box is now air conditioned, but it was suffocatingly hot while it was in use. The Battle Box reminded me a lot of the Philippines' Corregidor Island.

What's left of the actual fort.

Reminds me of Intramuros.

9-pound cannon.

Alleged tomb o Iskandar Shah (aka Parameswara.)

Archaeological excavation site.

Different layers of soil.

Reminds me of some kind of cake or candy.

Burial grounds of some famous soldiers and high ranking officials.

The only photo I can take of the Battle Box - the door.

That's what it looks like. Strategic, no?

Hello Lizard!!

Fort Canning Arts Centre, former barracks. 

The old lighthouse.

Different eras of Malayo-Singapore history.

Javanese king.

- After going around Fort Canning, I went down the hill to visit the Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator (aka "Armenian Church") along Armenian Street. It was built in the 1930s, back when Singapore had a sizable Armenian population. The Armenian Church, which is still in use, was declared a national monument in the 1970s. It reminded me of the Armenian Church in Penang, Malaysia (click here to see.) 

Armenian Church.

Please read.

Main altar of the church.

This shows the background of the church and the declaration of the church as a national monument.

Sit with me?

Armenian Memorial.

- Also along Armenian Street is the Peranakan Museum, which used to be the Old Tao Nan School from the 1900s. This was different from the other Peranakan museums I've seen in Penang and Malacca, both of which were housed in old Peranakan mansions or houses (click here and here to see). Interestingly, this Peranakan Museum is a satellite wing of the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore (see in Part 3, click here). The Peranakans were Chinese or sometimes Indians who intermarried with the local Malays, which is why their own culture shows aspects of both Malay and Chinese/Indian cultures.

I realized the structure looked different from the ones I visited in Malaysia. Turns out it's because this used to be a school!!

Nice colors.

Wedding headdress.

Another wedding headdress.

For a  pre-wedding ritual.

The honeymoon bed.

Wedding procession.

Different gods.

Some peranakans became Catholics; look at the Chinese-style altar with the western-style image of Jesus Christ and his family.

One of the steps in the ornate peranakan beadworks. 

Fish ornament made from beads and a ton of skill!!

Beaded sandals.

- The rain was still pouring and I was already quite late for lunch; my tummy had no problem reminding me. There was no restaurant around, so I hoped that there would be some kind of restaurant either around or inside my next destination - the National Museum of Singapore. This museum, the oldest in Singapore, was built in 1849. Thankfully, it had a restaurant and I had a nice lunch before going around the museum. By the way, the structure of the National Museum reminded me a lot of Bangkok's Ananta Samakhon Throne Hall (click here to see.) Speaking of museums, I am also reminded that museum entrance fees in Singapore can be quite expensive.

My lunch is inside.

- The National Museum of Singapore was separated into different historical eras, from the arrival of the different influences and the early kingdoms, to the British Occupation, the Japanese Occupation, and post World War II Singapore.

Opium.

Singaporean/colonial fashion in the 1930s 

Lotus feet shoes.

Japanese propaganda postcards.

Japanese WWII propaganda posters.

North Korea performed in Singapore in the 80s.

People get to have the experience of watching 80s Singaporean movies drive-in-theater style.

- The rain stopped after my visit to the museum, and I rode the train all the way to a new iconic phase of Singapore, the Marina Bay Sands. It was a sharp contrast to my itinerary for the day; I jumped from colonial-historical to contemporary Singapore. The notable "three buildings with a giant surfboard" structure of Marina Bay Sands opened to the public in 2010. What I like about the Marina Bay Sands is its impressive view of old downtown Singapore and Merlion Park (likewise, the perfect view of Marina Bay Sands is from Merlion Park.)

Merlion from afar.

Sorry, you're not part of today's itinerary.

The Esplanade.

Hello there, I did not see you 11 years ago.

- One frequently visited attraction around the area is the Artscience Museum. This special museum has a few special exhibits that show scientific data in an artistic manner. I visited two galleries - one is on how scientists use particles from the Big Bang and use them as data, and the other one I visited was about nature and was more child-friendly than the first gallery. My favorite part about the nature gallery was where people could draw different designs on fish outlines, scan them, and see their fish/artworks come to life in the big screen.

Different kinds of maps on globes (maps are based on differently-themed statistics, like weather, freedom of speech, etc.)

True.

In the nature gallery. Pardon me for this.

Children playing with neon bouncy balls. Not sure what they were supposed to represent.

People could draw on different fish outlines and scan them to see their works come alive on the big screen. Some naughty person did this. (No this isn't mine of course.)

This one (not vulgar at all) is mine. It's my Chinese name in old Chinese writing.

It's alive!!

The lights in the tubes follow nature's rhythm, like the stars' twinkling.

Pardon me again for this dramatic shot.

Quite interesting (and quite expensive.)

The Artscience Museum from behind.

- While strolling through the open area of Marina Bay Sands, I realized that it was possible to walk from my side to the old downtown through the helix footbridge. I did that, and walked all the way to the City Hall MRT and went back to my hostel to rest a bit.

From right across the bay. If you look closely at the left side of the photo, you can see the helix bridge (previously known as the "double-helix bridge") where people can go from one side of the bay to another.

- For dinner, I went to Chinatown Complex again and found a stall that sold Singaporean laksa. Among all the kinds of laksa that I've ever had, the Singaporean variant appealed to me the most, so I knew that I had to have a bowl or two while I was still in Singapore.

My favorite hangout mall in Manila has an incarnation (but not related) in Singapore. What is this sorcery!!

My laksa did not have shrimp, but it had raw shellfish, which added a deliciously bizarre touch to the taste and texture of the laksa dish. I loved it!!

- More was in store for me in the latter half of my stay in Singapore, and I couldn't wait to discover more of Singapore's hidden historical and cultural gems!! (See Part 1 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.)