Uniquely Singapore

Not much new to report in the last week or so... I've settled into a daily routine of wake up, go to work, come home and relax, and go to bed - not much different than the U.S. We've started to repeat some restaurants such as the Chicken Rice place for lunch yesterday. I decided to write this blog entry to highlight some peculiarities of Singapore:

Beer - The most popular beer in Singapore by far is Tiger Beer, the country's own product. Its actually pretty good and can be had for cheap prices compared to everything else. Outside of Tiger, the common imports are Carlsberg, Heineken and, much to my content, Hoegaarden. Here's a tip - if you ever come to Singapore pick up as much beer as you can from the Duty Free shop at the airport, the prices are literally 1/3 the retail prices in the country. I'm gonna go have a Hoegaarden now and complete the rest of this blog...

Singlish - On my very first cab ride in Singapore at 7:00am from the airport, my driver went on a tirade of how, among other things, people in Singapore don't know how to speak English. I didn't quite get what he was talking about until really interacting with people here. "Singlish" is the term used for the Singaporean style of English, where often times sentence order is wrong, words and accents are added, and its generally funny sounding. "Lah" at the end of sentences is the big one, for example:

Satyan: Anji do you want to meet for dinner tonight?
Anji: Okay lah
Satyan: What the hell did you just say?
Anji: Hehe

Don't be surprised if Anji is talking funny by the time she gets back home in a couple weeks.

Durain - also known as the "King of Fruits". This goofy looking spiky fruit is the worst smelling natural fruit on earth. Its the national fruit of Singapore - i guess - and its definitely an "acquired taste". It smells so bad, like a rotten sulfury smell, that its banned on the MRT, buses (see photo), and in cabs. Yet these Singaporeans eat it fresh, in shakes, in cakes, in bread, you name it. We tried a slice of durian cake and it was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten. I wish someone took a picture of the look on my face after taking a bite!


Food Servings - Not surprising, the serving size for a typical dish/meal in Singapore is, let's say, realistic. This is more about how in the U.S. we gorge ourselves, and the contrast was truly evident when Nima and I ordered in Pizza Hut last night. We ordered the "Family Meal" for 3-4, which included 2 "regular" pizzas (they have small, regular and extra large), 2 loaves of garlic bread, and a 1.5L bottle of Pepsi. Well, the garlic bread loaves were about 6" long each, the Pepsi wasn't even 2L, and the pizzas were about the size of a personal pan pizza you get in the U.S. The picture illustrates the size of the pizza box in relation to my Accenture laptop. Needless to say, there's a reason why Singapore is full of a bunch of skinny short people while the U.S. is the fattest country in the world. Here, its not "Supersize Me", its more like "MINI Me!"

Singapore Sling - This is the "thing to do" if you ever visit Singapore. Go to the Long Bar Raffles Hotel and order yourself a Singapore Sling, the signature drink of the country. Its a pricey $20SGD but you're paying for the ambiance, history, and novelty of drinking at the premier hotel in Singapore where the drink was invented. The drink itself isn't bad at all, especially if you're in the mood for a fruity tropical drink. We had our stop at the Long Bar the night before Meeli and Avana were heading back home.