Deepavali

Today - October 26 - is Deepavali. Or, Diwali, as it's known in India. It is the Festival of Lights, and it reminds me that the holiday season has begun in Singapore (we've already had the Mid-Autumn Festival and Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan; plus, I heard Christmas music in the mall last Friday, October 21). To celebrate, Little India here has been alight with beautiful colors and decorations, and the crowds were out last Monday in preparation. Here are a few photos.

Formula One in Asia

I was fortunate this year to attend both Formula One races in southeast Asia. These bookend a large portion of the season, with the Malaysian Grand Prix being the second race of the year in April, and the Singapore GP being near the end in September (only three races followed it). Living where I do in Singapore, I may have the most convenient location for attending both races.


The Malaysian GP is run at the Sepang Circuit, which is a mile or so away from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The city of KL is 40 or so kilometres from the airport, so it is actually easier to fly in the day of the race, rather than go up early and stay in the city. The race was scheduled to start at 5pm, so I took an early afternoon flight and arrived around 2. After catching the shuttle bus and buying my ticket at the box office, I was in the circuit before 3. This gave me a couple of hours to look around the facility, but all I really wanted to do was get under the shade in my seat.

It was ridiculously hot and humid. Malaysia is never temperate, but it is really bad in April. It was raining when we landed, but it had cleared by the time I was at the track, and it felt like a sauna on steroids. My ticket was on the start/finish straight, under the canopy that covers the iconic stands lining the track and its 180-degree turn. So, I settled in, knowing that the weather forecast was for more rain.

The race started normally, with pole-sitter Jenson Button of the newly-formed Brawn team getting out to the lead. My seats had a great view of the start finish line and then a very fast down hill left-hand turn into a long curve that gave the drivers an opportunity to stay on the gas. The elevation change really make for good viewing. The cars the disappeared for a minute before rounding the slow 180-degree final turn that takes them down the start/finish straight. From these seats, you get a lot of viewing time per lap, which is great. Plus, I was high enough up (first row, but in the second deck) that I could hear what was being said on my hand-held Kangaroo TV set.





A few minutes into the race, we got welcome relief from the heat with a cool breeze. That (and the gathering dark clouds) signaled an impending storm, and the rain came a few minutes later. I had recently read a novel set in Malaysia, and the rain that day came as the author had described the daily downpours, as "violent silver ropes that flood the playing fields and force office workers to wade to bus stops in shoes that fill like buckets." It doesn't drizzle in Malaysia.



One thing about Formula One that separates it from other motorsport series is that they continue to race in the rain. The teams switch to wet tires, and off they go. That is, if the rain doesn't made racing too hazardous. Which it did that day. The fast downhill turn I described above became a slow maneuver in the rain, with rooster tail plumes flowing high and far behind each car. From my Kangaroo TV set, I could hear the drivers telling their crews of the terrible conditions. It was so bad that about halfway through the race, they stopped it. Eventually, they would abandon the race, the first time such action was taken since the 1991 Australian GP was halted because of heavy rain. Because the race was not finished, the top 8 drivers received only half points (Button got 5 instead of 10).

I waited to see the podium, which was still celebratory, and then trudged with the rest of the dripping masses out of the circuit. A 15 minute walk got me to the buses, and another 15 minute wait got me on a bus. From there, it was only a few minutes before I was back through security and on my way to Singapore. I was back home around 11pm, just about 12 hours after I had left that morning. A pretty good day, even with the rain.

Nearly six months later, the Formula One circus came to Singapore for the second instalment of the Singapore GP, the first night race in F1's history. Last year's race had been a wild success, but the 2009 edition was clouded by revelations that Renault driver Nelson Piquet, Jr., had crashed his car deliberately during the race last year, which allowed his teammate Fernando Alonso to pass several cars during the subsequent caution and claim victory in the race. The economic downturn had also dampened excitement for the race, and when I found I couldn't get walk-about tickets (which Alex and I had last year), I decided not to go.

Then, two days before the race, a friend at work gave me a ticket. In the Pit Grandstand. Right across from the Brawn pits. Probably 200 metres from the start/finish line. The seats were incredible. So, on race day, I headed out about 3pm to go to the circuit. From my front door, I was inside the gates within 13 minutes. Walk down the hill, get on the MRT, ride two stops, up the escalator, and out the door and through the gates. It was amazing! Of course, I then had to walk more than 20 minutes in the heat to get to my seats, which were on the very opposite side of the circuit.

The organizers did another great job this year. The food and beverage area near my seats featured all kinds of good food, including a re-creation of Emerald Hill, my neighborhood, complete with the shophouses and local bars. It was great to see Ice Cold Beer and Number 5 Emerald Hill right there, as if I hadn't even left home.




The cars look fantastic under the lights. After the excitement of the start, however, I found the seats to be less enjoyable than the walk-about tickets we had last year. Formula One cars are awesome machines, but you tend to sit in your seat for 90 seconds watching the big video screens for every 15 seconds of the cars screaming by. Kangaroo TV provides good coverage, but it is hard to hear when you are so close to the track (I was fourth row). All in all, a good experience, but I learned a lesson on where to view the action for next year.


My last four Grands Prix have been quite historic - the 2005 USGP, when only six cars raced because of problems with the Michelin tires on the remaining 14 cars, the 2008 and 2009 Singapore GPs, the first night races, and the 2009 Malaysian GP, the first race to be abandoned in 18 years and only the fourth in history where half points were awarded. I guess it's a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Singapore: Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple

Many of my Singaporean friends can’t believe that I actually like local coffee (it is different from Starbucks, but – frankly – not by much; it is still coffee). I guess it’s that they don’t see too many Westerners that adapt to the local lifestyle (and coffee is part of it). They would speechless if they found out I sometimes get on a bus and ride until I see a hawker centre that looks good and jump out for a bite to eat (it’s enough for many of them that I even ride buses). It would really floor them if they knew I actually took field trips to obscure local spots of interest.

Some friends of mine organize outings to interesting places every once in a while. I joined them a few weeks ago to visit Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple. The temple was originally built in Pasir Ris, in the northeast of the island, at a location where, as the story goes, several statues of different deities washed ashore years ago. The person that found them built a temple, predominantly a Chinese temple. But a Hindu statue was among those washed ashore, so a Hindu temple was worked in. A large percentage of the surrounding community was Muslim, so a mosque was built in, as well.

The original temple was a makeshift structure, really a series of what looked like shacks. But, rising rents required the move to a new location – just a couple of miles southeast down the road to Loyang, which is in a more remote area, closer to the airport.

So, we all started with lunch at the rebuilt Chinatown Food Centre, a massive structure one storey above the hustle and bustle of pre-lunar new year Chinatown. We then jumped on the train to go towards the northeast of the island, where we would take a bus the rest of the way to the temple.





Unlike its predecessor, the new temple was built with a bit of planning (and apparently money). It is fascinating. The Chinese Buddhist/Daoist section dominates, probably 60 percent of the total width. A sliver, maybe ten feet wide, was dedicated to the mosque. Less than double the width of that was the Hindu portion. Each stood side-by-side, and worshippers could be seen at all three, extending the Buddhist tradition of lighting incense to the Muslim and Hindu sections, as well.




It was the weekend before Chinese New Year, so the place was abuzz with preparations for the holiday. The Chinese section is familiar in its Buddhist/Daoist setup, with icons of gods, different places for offerings, reverent memorials for ancestors, the incredibly ornate carvings on the pillars, walls, and ceilings, and the ubiquitous incense smoke. Adding to the experience were the hundreds of worshipers, taking time out of a pleasant day to pay their respects in their own tradition (other than special occasions, Chinese worshipers do not have a set time to visit temples – they go when the impulse hits them). It is an interesting, if not well-known, little part of Singapore.




We ended the day with coffee and some local goodies at the hawker centre across the street. It was about as native a day a non-Singaporean could have. In fact, I was probably more Singaporean that day than most of my local friends.

Singapore: Chinese Garden

Another less hidden place of interest (I don't know if you call it a gem) in Singapore is the Chinese Garden. This replica of a Chinese garden (it contains a Japanese garden, as well; I don't really know the difference, but I think that Japanese gardens contain bonsai trees while Chinese gardens do not) is in the southwest of the island. I had wanted to visit and even got so far as the gates last year before I read the sign that said the garden would be closed for that weekend. So, I filed it in my "to do" list, and a year later was back on the MRT heading to, conveniently enough, Chinese Garden station. Off the train, through the turnstiles, and 300 metres down the path, you cross the bridge into the garden.



It really is a nice space. This is one of the places my local friends say, "Yes, I went there...when I was six!" But, it is worth a trip out on a nice day to enjoy the scenery. You have large, arched bridges that cross inlets from the sea, winding paths through forests and sculptures, old sun dials (and a more modern one - can you tell what time it was?), a garden with the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, a well-populated turtle pond, and statues of historical Chinese figures, from philosophers such as Confucius to warriors like Yue Fei, on whose back his mother tattooed four Chinese characters meaning: "Serve the country loyally." There are also the twin pagodas on the water and the 7-storey pagoda at the entrance to the garden.








I liked the garden with the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Each year was represented with a stylized statue of two of the animals, with a plaque showing the particular years of the animal (I was born in 1968, the year of the Monkey), and the characteristics of people born during that year. The oxen (pictured here) were adorned with red ribbons, in anticipation of the new year celebrations that would take place nine days later to usher in the Year of the Ox.


I found one particularly neat feature. Singapore has built a "model" of the solar system, spread out over the island. The sun is located at the Singapore Science Center, and the nine planets are then placed in public spots in scale according to their distance from the sun. I found Venus in the Chinese garden, and Mercury is in the Japanese garden. Each of the planets occupies a space along its orbit somewhere in the city-state, with Pluto rounding out the solar system all the way to the east. I thought that was a nice touch.


It was a nice Saturday evening, so I decided to take the PCN back towards town. It was a longer walk than expected, but it led me to Bukit Batok Park, with its thick forest and quarry lake, stuck right in the middle of a residential and commercial area. Another hidden gem! Singapore is full of them.

Walking the Ridges

Singapore has a number of hidden gems, if you are willing to look for them. One is the Park Connector Network (PCN), a series of trails and elevated walkways that connects several kilometres of public spaces in various places across the island. I had seen parts of the PCN from the road several times, and I decided to pay a closer visit.

I started with the Southern Ridges, which wind through the southwestern section of the island, connecting Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Hort Park, Kent Ridge Park, and West Coast Park. The trailhead is at the base of Mount Faber Park, just across from the port (and Vivo City, the largest mall in Singapore). Mount Faber is also where you catch the cable car to Sentosa Island. The first climb up Mount Faber is the toughest part of the the trip! It was a steamy day, and I was sufficiently warmed up by the time I got to the top.

The PCN is actually a series of walkways, each with a distinct style. The Mount Faber section is a "mountain" trail, winding along the top of the hill and through woods until it opens onto the Henderson Waves. The Henderson Waves - Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge - is a towering walkway above Henderson Road that links Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park. The Waves give way to a hilltop trail, which turns into series of traversing metal walkways taking hikers down the hill to the Alexandra Arch and into the Hort Park, a gardening-themed park. From there, you wind your way back up hills and into a treetop walk in Kent Ridge Park.




The Henderson Waves bridge is spectacular. The design is a unique wave form made up of seven undulating curved steel ribs that alternately rise over and under its deck (description and external photo courtesy of National Parks Singapore). The decking of the bridge is finished with a beautiful yellow balau wood, giving it a homey feel. The curved ribs form alcoves with built-in benches, giving hikers places to sit back and enjoy the views from 78 metres above sea level (and 36 above Henderson Road).




The hilltop trail on the far side of the Waves brings you to a beautiful multi-layered pavilion before taking you zig-zagging through the trees to the Alexandra Arch and the Hort Park. It had already been a long morning, so I quickly went through the Hort Park to the eastern part of Kent Ridge Park, home to Reflections at Bukit Chandu, a memorial for the 1,400 soldiers from the Malay Regiment who chose to fight to their death against 13,000 Japanese soldiers in February, 1942, during the fall of Singapore. This looks like an impressive memorial, but I did not stay, so it will be subject of a future blog.




I hear from my Singaporean friends that there is nothing to do in Singapore. I disagree. If you just take a little bit of initiative, you can find all kinds of interesting outings that can fill a half day and give you a better appreciation of the city-state.

Weddings, Singapore-style

Singapore is a multi-cultured town (city, state, nation?). And I have been lucky enough to experience two distinct cultural events recently – a Chinese and an Indian wedding.

Chinese weddings are complex, multi-layered affairs. I won’t go into all the events that take place in conjunction with a Chinese wedding – just know that there are all kinds of rituals and ceremonies that involve various friends and family at different times. One of the most significant is the wedding dinner, which includes invitations for extended family, friends, and colleagues. These are extravagant affairs that include eight-course dinners in a traditional Chinese style and are sometimes held a year after the actual wedding.

I was invited to the wedding dinner of a work colleague, and I was excited to attend. The invitation noted twice that it was not polite to be late, so I made a mental note to “NOT be late”. This was directly opposed to all the advice my native Singaporean friends gave me – it will all start late, they said. I showed up on time anyways, greeting my colleagues there, and went to my table.

Which was just me. I sat at a round eight-person table and watched the same slide show over and over, narrated by a single Chinese pop song (I later found out it was Korean) on repeat mode. It wasn’t until another colleague joined me 20 minutes after 7.30 pm (the start time) that I had someone to talk to. Good thing the single-song soundtrack kept me company.


A few other in-the-know friends came in before 8.30, when the bride made her entrance (an hour late). The bride was beautiful, of course, dressed in white (you can see her in the back of the picture above). She and her groom made her way down front (we were in a hotel ballroom with probably 40 tables for eight laid out). That was the signal to start serving food (I will remind you that it was 8.30 and I had not eaten since lunch).

And the food was wonderful. We had several courses of delicious Chinese dishes, including prawns, pork, chicken, and fish. I have attended a few such dinners here (mainly in business situations), and I always enjoy them.


Once settled, the bride (after a stunning wardrobe change!) and groom made it through the crowd to greet everyone, with their parents in tow. It was a very nice gesture to complement the superb meal. But, the dinner appeared to go on and on, so I left before the last course, as it was approaching 11.00 pm on a Sunday night.


Two weeks later, I had the good fortune to attend another wedding celebration, that of one of my Sabre colleagues at the Sri Thandayuthapani Temple (loyal readers will recall this is the ending point for the Thaipusam khavadi procession I described last January). She is a Chinese Singaporean, marrying an Indian Singaporean, and I attended the Indian ritual (she also had a Christian ceremony in a church). This was fascinating. It started at 10.00 on a Sunday morning, and there were three distinct ceremonies – one for him, one for her, and one for the two of them. I was afraid the ceremony would be outside in the humid morning, but we were upstairs in air conditioned comfort. And we had seats. Some of the other 3,000 (!) who were invited (most from the groom’s side, although not that many attended) stood the entire time.


It was hard to tell what was going on, since all of it was in Tamil (an Indian dialect) and was accompanied by relentless drumming by the trio sitting up front. Once the separate ceremonies concluded, a man went on stage with a microphone to explain what had occurred and what was going to happen. He first gave his lengthy speech in Tamil, and by the time he started in English, the bride and her entourage were making their way down the aisle for the final ceremony, which was the cue for the drummers. I didn’t hear a word of the explanation.


The bride looked beautiful! And with her husband, they made a handsome couple. There were several other rituals in the ceremony, including a curious game where the bride and groom plunge their hands into a pot and fight over a ring and conch shell (I still don’t quite understand). At the end, the bride and groom received us all on stage in a twist on the receiving line. A delicious vegetarian Indian meal ended the day.



Two down, one to go. I will have to see if I can find my way to a Malay wedding, which are supposed to be beautiful events, as well.