Singapore is a fine, a real fine country,
»From the personal and singapore part of the brain.
”..kena pay all the time, bankrupt all my money”. Pulling up a satellite view of Singapore using Google Maps brought back some good memories.
Although I haven’t been back in about 12 years, I still remember good things about her.
- Cuisine. I could talk for hours about what I remembered. Newton Hawker Centre, Cuppage Centre, Adams Road Hawker Centre, Indian food, Chinese food… It just doesn’t stop. You can’t claim to be a food lover, and not have been to Singapore. Satay, kuay tieu, roti, pratha, curry, dim sum, nasi goreng, laksa, durian.
- MRT (SMRT). Awesome public transportation. I remember taking Somerset to Yishun to watch movies at the Yishun 10 Cineplex.
- Singlish. Add one part tamil, one part malay, one part english, and one part chinese and you’ve got an local slang that you either love or hate. I haven’t practiced in years though, so I’ve completely forgotten how to speak it. :(
- Soccer. Two words, Fandi Ahmad. Boo ya ka shaw.
- Nightlife. Not just clubbing, but in general places don’t close at 1 or 2am like they do here in Phoenix. I’ve heard the nightlife is amazing, but I was too young to be interested.
- Orchard Road, Centerpoint, Yishun 10, Jurong Bird Park, Haw Par Villa, Botanical Gardens, Far East Plaza, Lucky Plaza, even Changi Airport were fun places to visit as a kid.
- Chinese New Year. Especially festive with my family
- Malaysia. There’s not much I remember about Johor Baharu or Penang, other than cheap movies, eating a lot, and the Golden Sands Hotel.
I’ll have to write about a list of things I don’t miss about Singapore. Oh, and that lyric was by a local Singaporean band (at the time, >10 years ago) called the Kopykat Klan that doesn’t seem to be around anymore.
Updated Mar 8 2006: Ran spell check on “Johor Baharu”