Multimedia Extravalaganza!

Hey everybody!

I have a guest in my room...and I'm sure it's sleeping here overnight. My residence roolbook would deem the guest a "squatter" and my residence privileges could be taken away.

That is...if they can find my guest. Or if I can, for that matter.

That's right, there's a LIZARD in my room! And I have the .avi file to prove it.

Download this and enjoy the Vanishing Lizard. Where did it go??? I have no idea!! But I've seen it at various places on my desk for the past 3 or 4 days!

www.freewebs.com/colindodds/lizard.avi

And I meant to put up my post entitled "Toilet Troublez" a few days ago, but something went wrong with the Blogger upload again, so I'll try for that sometime in the near future.

Turn Up The Fun! (TM)

Anybody in the mood for a delicious Malay soft drink? I didn't try it but the slogan almost tempted me to. Actually my guess is that it's made and bottled by the Coca Cola Company, a lot of the drinks here are:



BONUS: Some other shots of Malaysia.

Malacca

I have returned from Malaysia. It was a good trip!

I went with Sheri, Gary and Cia, all exchange students from my Hall. I have not yet introduced Cia - she is (well was) studying at McGill. That's where Tyler D. (my brother) was during the summer!!! Coincidence? Probably.

The bus ride was a breezy 4 hour jaunt through up to the north of Singapore and over the causeway linking Singapore and Malaysia. For those not in the know, Singapore really is its own island, but the bridge/causeway linking the two countries is no longer than the Lions Gate Bridge. The ride was fine but they showed the latest Chucky film on the TV screen in the bus, with the sound blaring out of speakers all throughout the bus, so everyone was subjected to watching and hearing the film, which quite frankly seemed a bit to violent for some of the youngsters who were also on the bus.

We arrived in Malacca (also spelled Melaka) at 10PM and tried to find a cab to the hostel we were staying at. The cab driver suggested 20RM (Malay ringitts) which seemed like a rip-off and we found a different one for 15RM. In actuality, $1 CAD equals 3.1 RM, so it's a pretty good deal exchange-rate wise. But still we almost got served by the first cabbie.

To make a long story short, we happened to be located in Chinatown, so we went to the night market before going for sleep. It was just closing when we got there, but there were some neat things to be seen. As we were going back to the hostel, many people on the street were burning money and incense on the sidewalks or edges of the street. I don't want to get this wrong, but apparently burning money (it was fake money) appeases Chinese spirits, and this has to be done on the 7th month of the Chinese lunar year (as September is the 8th month).

The next day we walked around. There were many temples and it was nice to be out and about. Malacca is MUCH less urbanized than 100% urban Singapore, and many of the streets were very narrow and contained much more interesting architecture than the many malls of Singapore. We also visited the main tourist area, and some other stuff.

We stayed in a different hostel that night. That night we went to a mall (again...) and in the morning we tried to find Portuguese Village but couldn't. I'm not even sure of the significance of said village, as we couldn't find it. Blah blah blah nothing of note after that, we bussed back to Singapore.

Funnily enough, I saw Cody Dart (of high school fame) in the bus terminal!!! What a small world!

This is Colin, signing off.

Colin

Melaka

Hello everyone, I will be in Malaysia this weekend, in the town of Melaka, from late Friday night to late Sunday night. I was told to inform friends and family whenever leaving the country, so here it is!

I will have my cell phone with me, and it should work in Malaysia, but if not, you know why.

I will have an update with pictures upon returning!

Colin

Camera Pictures!

After an unpleasant encouter with a local shopkeep, I decided to order my Canon A510 from www.bargaincity.com.sg They were much kinder and grown-up than the shops I had been to, and no haggling was required. So I took a lot of pictures with the camera as soon as I got it!

This is my room in residence. Not too shabby, eh? The only problem is it is on the ground floor next to the street, so strangers like to look in and see what's up. And no, your eyes aren't fooling you, that's not an unfitted sheet on my bed, that's an elastic-less fitted sheet!

From left to right here is Sheri and Gary. Their names rhyme! They are exchange students who also reside in Sheares Hall. Sheri is from Hawaii and Gary is from Texas! I hope they don't mind me using this picture!!

From left to right is Jonathan (I think?), Nicole and Tyler. Nicole and Tyler are both from UBC. I think Jonathan is from Norway? But I'm not even sure if his name is Jonathan. Sorry Jon!

This is a picture from National Day events we were off to in the community of Jurong East. Along with a parade, and a huge marketplace/bazaar type thing, there were also tanks and other military vehicles on display, and young children were taking turns sitting in the cockpits. It was interesting. Singapore definitely prides itself on national defence, and all men have to serve for 3 years in the army following high school.

Well that was another blogalicious entry! Blog it up!

More Picalicious Pix

Hello again!

I took a well-deserved break from blogging to start my courses.

But I have more pictures!

This is of Little India on Sunday night. This was almost two weeks ago, but anyway it is neat because there are so many people on the street!



This is Rag Day, NUS' version of orientation, like UBC's Imagine. All the halls of residence and the faculties spend months (their summer holidays) putting together floats made of recycled material, and perfecting 5 minute dance routines. Below is the Sheares Hall (my residence) dance which won best dance/float. However, they didn't win overall because a bigger portion of the orientation challenge is Flag Day (a few days earlier than Rag Day) where donations for charity are collected.



Bizzelow is the Bizad float. Bizad stands for "business administration" and sounds much cooler than "commerce"!

This is a rain cloud on campus. It does not rain often, but when it does, it rains REALLY HARD and it takes only five minutes for the sky to cloud over from a completely blue sky. Mercifully it gets much cooler with the cloud cover!

Kojak vs. Rojak

This is a record-breaking blog entry, so many in such a short time!

Today I would like to compare two things: Kojak and Rojak.

Below: Kojak

Below: Rojak

I conclude the difference is in the first letter, "K" and "R".

Anyway, that was just an excuse to get a picture of Kojak up.

Today I ate at a small hawker centre in Clementi, which is the closest shopping centre. About 80% of Singaporeans live in owner-occupied public housing. These flats are all centred around shopping centres where you can get anything you like, including food. On a personal note, I noticed that this is what they are trying to do with trendy Vancouver apartments/condos, such as putting a Whole Foods or an Urbane Faire on the bottom of an apartment building. Interesting, no?

Anyway, in Clementi I decided to try Rojak, which is a Malay dish. I did not know what was in this dish, but it looked good on the sign. Also, there were many accolades and newspaper clippings extolling the virtues of this particular hawker.

However, I wasn't a fan. I think it was cucumber and pastries resembling "Churros", and it was smothered in a very strong peanuty kind of sauce. At least, I think it was peanuts. Tyler (Schofield, not my brother) did not think it tasted like peanuts, but he did not like it either.

This is a bit of a long-winded post considering I am just talking about what I had for lunch. But that is what blogging is all about, is it not?

Until next time,

Colin

Chopsticks and Texting

Just a brief note to mention two things I have gotten considerably better at:

1) chopsticks
2) text messaging ("SMSing")

Especially text messaging though. I can practically message something faster than I can say it. But not faster than I can think it. Because that doesn't make sense.

I also added some music to my blog. I like how it is conveniently centred at the top of the page, with a "Now Playing" featurette situated directly below. What will I think of next?

(C)

The Ol' Bait n' Switch

This afternooon included another trip down to Orchard Road, the main shopping district in Singapore. It consists of many large malls all the way down the street, with several street vendors outside and other little foodstalls and stuff like that.

I was in the market for a digital camera. I had heard the best places to go were either Simlim Square or Orchard Road. Simlim Square is a big boxy building with four floors that sells only electronics, only from vendors (no brand name stores). All of the vendors basically have the same goods in their shops, but their prices vary wildly depending on if they think that a) you are a tourist, or b) you don't know what kind of price range electronics cost.

But anyway, in one of the malls along Orchard Road is a section that is basically a mini-Simlim Square.

So I was checking for the Canon Powershot A510 (found here). I was first quoted $340S, but the next place I went to quoted $265.

From FutureShop, with the conversion to Sing dollars, it is about $350S. I should have keyed in then that $265S was too good to be true, but I didn't. So we agreed on the price (including a full international warranty), and the guy "called the shop" to deliver the camera in the next five minutes. This is when I got a bit suspicious, but I stuck around.

At this point in time one of the shop guys told me that Canon actually makes really bad cameras and there are better cameras out there for a similar price. I told him no thanks, I'll just take the Canon, but he proceeded to try to sell me what I knew were inferior cameras, and he also tried to sell me memory cards at extremely inflated prices. I must have told him 10 times that I wanted the A510 and nothing else. "But oh, I'm just doing my job, trying to make the customer happy".

Anyway after waiting for 10 minutes it turns out that, surprisingly, the camera was out of stock. Especially after the fact, it's surprising how transparent the shop was. In the end, the only thing I lost was 10 minutes, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.

To their credit, I think most of the electronics shopkeepers are on the level. Just not all of them. I ran into a similar problem when making a purchase off eBay.

But, just as eBay has accountability (positive, neutral or negative feedback), so does Singapore, in a way. It is possible to report shady shopkeepers to the main Singaporean newspaper, the Strait Times, and apparently this is what shopkeepers fear most.

So I am going to return to the store to write down its name and address, and file a complaint to the newspaper, to try to stop this kind of thing. I talked to another shopkeeper about it, and he was well aware of this kind of thing.

But in the end, I still don't have a camera. I heard the university has some sort of sale in mid-August, so I'll try to check that out, but if anyone has any other ideas for getting one (including shipment to Singapore), I'm open to suggestions.

Phew!! Hope you enjoyed the read!

(C)

RAIN

I just fell on the pavement for the second time while here.

The first time I was walking and talking about how the ground got very slippery whenever it rained, and I was liable to slip on it sometime. As soon as I said that I fell, and I skinned my elbow.

And this time I was walking out of one of the Arts & Science buildings, trying unsucessfully for the second time to add a course/module. I have to go back there for a THIRD time to speak to the only person in the entire university who has the authorization to add this course for me. Anyway I skinned my elbow again, although thankfully it is about an inch away from last time.

So I think I need to find sandals with better traction, or something else, as we are entering the rainy season.

Little India, Hats, Food, and Shaving

What's new in Singapore?

Little India:
Well, on Sunday we took a trip down to Little India, and it was quite an experience. There were many many people out, the streets and sidewalks were crowded. Also, it was a stark contrast from say, Suntec City (Singapore's largest mall), which, while busy, was not as exciting as Little India. Also the meal we had certainly seemed more "authentic" than the fast-foody places of Suntec City, although I think that big shopping malls have become a big part of Singaporean culture, and could be thought of as authentic, even if they aren't steeped in tradition or culture (other than pop culture).

Hats:
Yesterday I took a trip down to Orchard Road and looked for a hat, often known as a Tilly Hat in Canada, or an Angler's Hat in Singapore, or a mixture of the two. After shopping for hours, I still couldn't find one that fit my large, rather bulbous, head. All of them were two small. However, I did manage to find new sunglasses as I had lost my previous pair in IKEA.

Food:
Food is delicious here, but lacks some variety. There are several choices of rice, noodle, soup and wanton dishes, and they are all tasty and extremely cheap. An average meal from a Hawker stall (independent food vendors who all sell foods in the university canteens or mall food courts) costs anywhere from $2.00 - $4.00 Sing dollars, but it's usually around $3.00. A drink costs $1.00 for a total of around S$3.00 or S$4.00 for a full meal, which is only 2 or 3 Canadian!!

However, the only problem is that these dishes are loaded with grains/carbs, mainly rice and noodles. There is often also a sizable portion of meat, but unless you specifically order vegetables, they usually only come as sort of a garnish. So there are some deficiencies, according to the Canadian food guide, to my current diet:

1) dairy
2) fruits
3) vegetables

Luckily, the Hall I am at gives sizable portions of veggies and also a piece of fruit for dinner, which is nice. So I am getting on track. But dairy is still almost non-existent. I have yet to have a delicious slice of cheese here, or a real (fresh) glass of milk, although preserved milk is available if you look hard enough.

Below: Delicious pau.

But still, it is very delicious. My favourite food so far might just be pau, which is apparently pronounced "bow" (as in "L'il Bow Wow). It is a delicious food that has a kind of doughy outside (that is steamed) and delicious surprise fillings on the inside, from yam to chicken to honey chicken to egg and chicken to vegetable to bean curd. Apparently it also shows up as a dim sum dish, but here it is almost always available from a little cart that is often in canteens, and while I think it is more of a breakfast dish, you can get it 24/7!

I was happy to note that my meal plan at the hall affords me two pau in the morning, and a cup of hot drink. That's 2 free pau per day!!!

But more on food later as I have mostly eaten just at the hawker stalls and on campus.

Shaving:
I discovered the secret! To a smooth, close shave, that is. The pantry (aka kitchen) on my hall floor has a dispenser for cold water and near-boiling water. I tried shaving (for the first time while here) last night, using the near-boiling water, with some cold water mixed in because I didn't want to melt the plastic cup that was holding said water. To my amazement, it was a REALLY good shave, and I was excited because there was very little irritation.

If this is the case every time I shave with really hot water, I think I will have to boil water to shave all the time, as it really is much easier.

End:
Well I hope that has sated your appetite for all things Singapore. I should get more pix next time, and have other interested tidbits (tidWhats?) to tell.

(C)