Accidental Tourist in Singapore - Weekend Stay at Pod coupled with cupping (TCM) and catting sessions

We had a "radical" idea to spend a night at a pod hotel and basically prodding down the streets of Chinatown Singapore with a vague itinerary of hitting a cat café in the evening.

Why radical? Well, when you combine the ages of all 3 of us, you will realize it ;)

Here are my beginning thoughts before starting on my stay......"On my way to Pod stay at Matchbox Hostel with long time old friends F and L. Staycation with a difference because pod stay means solo cocoon- communal like living - something that 40 year olds like us stay away from.

What seemed like a good idea back when it was first conceived but now? A sense of anticipation of what to expect (or not expect) hahahaha"

We started our program for the day by taking a morning walk that coincided with the Heritage Fest 2015 Delicious Chinatown Walk(http://heritagefest.sg/events/delicious-chinatown). It was a nice walk to re-acquaint locals like us to what our little city can offer.  

Whilst walking amongst the stalls of the wet market, we were introduced to the history of our now famous 'Chili Crab' first introduced by Madam Cheah who started this culinary delight at her stall located in Changi Road which was the original location of the now famous Palm Beach and shown stalls that sell the spices and ingredients for Laksa (Chinese noodle soup with chili and coconut milk) and traditional herbs used to make soups that allow kids to grow big and tall (peanut soup) and Lemongrass (Malay origin) for its anti cancer and wind removal properties. 

We also went down to individual shops like those selling traditional biscuits like Lou Poh Pang (Old Wives biscuit). The biscuit has winter melon filing and the story of how it got its name is that in the olden days, a dutiful wife sold herself to get money for father-in-law's medical bills and her husband sold these biscuits to redeem his wife's freedom. 
We ended our little walk at a Chinatown dim sum eatery called Yum Cha (drink tea in Cantonese).

Our next leg was at a Traditional Chinese Medicinal (TCM) shop where we tried out cupping therapy (which according to http://www.tcmwiki.com/wiki/cupping is s a treatment in which a cup sucked to the skin to create local stimulation for disease treatment and prevention). We came out of the cupping session with slightly bruised skin in those areas where wind was removed and feeling rather sleepy so we headed back to our pod stay for an afternoon nap.

Our pod stay was at Matchbox Hostel located at the top of Ann Siang Hill. We opted for the lower bunks given our slightly creaky knees and less nimble bodies in a 'ladies only' room instead of the much bigger area for the mixed dorm.

Evening stop was at the Cat Café appropriately called 'The Company of Cats'. It was my 1st time at the cattery and frankly it can be quite therapeutic to be surrounded by the fluffies. I will leave it to the photos to showcase these fluffies.

We didn't realize it but our night was not yet over until we partake in the festivities near our pod stay that included a ‎Bhangra‬ performance.

All in all, a unique and unforgettable staycation involving long time friends.

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!

Accidental Tourist - 500px photo walk around SIngapore Chinatown

One of the ways I try to continue shooting in my own country is to take photo walks. For the past few months, I managed to bag 2 international walks by joining the 500px photo walk in September and the Scott Kelby Global photo walk in October (another post). 

The 500px photowalk was a first for me - Led by Wilson of Singapore Photography Interest Network aka SPIN, the participants took a romp around Singapore Chinatown area. 

Starting at the new Telok Ayer MRT (Downtown Line) (named after the Hokkien (dialect) that used to populate this area) a pit stop at Thian Hock Keng Temple (an iconic temple in this area -as it is the oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore back when I did another walk in 2012 - http://accidentalsingaporetourist.blogspot.sg/2012/10/accidental-tourist-october-2012-walking.html) before heading out to the main Chinatown area via Amoy Street market. 

Some trivia about this location: (extracted from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_656_2004-12-31.html) 
Malay name: In Malay, telok means "bay" and ayer means "water".
Chinese name: The Hokkien name for Telok Ayer Street was Gwan Sun Koi, where koi meant "street" and Gwan Sun referred to the name of a shop along Telok Ayer Street. Telok Ayer Bay was also known as nan wan or "southern bay" by the Chinese.
 
It was the usual humid hot day for sunny Singapore but the walk was made better with good spirits and good company. Once into Chinatown, a stop over at the beautiful Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (one of those places I have taken frequent visits - http://accidentalsingaporetourist.blogspot.sg/2013/06/accidental-tourist-annual-vesak-day.html and http://accidentalsingaporetourist.blogspot.sg/2010/06/accidental-tourist-vesak-day.html) 

Teatime stop at the new Chinatown Food Street area before heading upwards to catch the Mid Autumn opening ceremony and traffic jams. The night ended on a high with light trails and evening light. 

Thian Hock Keng Temple

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple - Mid Autumn Festival Celebrations

Mid Autumn Festival Celebrations

More photos available on my Flickr account - https://flickr.com/photos/56563125@N00/sets/72157647315190372

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond! 

Accidental Tourist @ Annual Vesak Day Shoot

This year is my 4th set of photographs depicting the Vesak Day celebrations - previous postings made earlier in 2012, 2011 and 2010. 

I have been faithfully documenting the '3 steps 1 bow' ceremony held at Bright Hill monastery (aka Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple) as I am deeply humbled by the experience every time. 

Although I am not Buddhist, I have full admiration of the inner strength required from those who undertake to  perform this deceptively simple '3 steps 1 bow' ceremony every Vesak Day. I heard from some worshipers that the attendance for this ceremony has risen over the years and it is getting more and more difficult to get the tickets for performing this ceremony. 

For every shoot during this ceremony, I am constantly reminded that it is often not the physical strength but a case of mind, devotion and perseverance over physical body strength.

On the actual Vesak Day itself, I took an early morning trip  down to a temple I visited last year called Lian Shan Shuang Lin Temple in Toa Payoh, hopped over to Thekchen Cholin Tibetan Temple at Balestier Road before ending my Vesak Day temple shoot at my favorite temple in Chinatown, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. This is also the 1st year that my Vesak Day shoot has been marked by heavy rainfall....well, there's always a first time for everything :) 

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!!

Accidental Tourist - Singapore Walks conducted by the Original Singapore Walks

I discovered that an interesting way to spend the mornings in Singapore is to go for some of the morning walks organised by the Original Singapore Walks http://www.journeys.com.sg/ Their walks start around 9.30am and ends around 12pm. 

I got myself a 3-day pass at a discount of $78 (usual $90 or $30 for each walk) and went for 3 morning walks with them from Monday to Wednesday. It is definitely a different experience to walk around the city I call home and being able to act like a real tourist :) 

The walks are enjoyable as they are often history/ facts peppered with many personal stories that the guides shared while growing up in Singapore. As much effort and time was done to research the facts and plan the itineraries, I am obliged to not share most of their stories and routes taken but safe to say, I am extremely pleased with the coverage (both in terms of locations selected and stories shared during the walks). 

I would like to share at least 1  (un)known facts I found particularly interesting for each of the walks. For the walks covering Chinatown and Little Indian, it was revealed that the Indian community were first allocated the areas around Chinatown to settle as part of the town plan formulated in 1800s during Raffles time. They subsequently found it to be unsuitable for their main trade of cattle farming so they shifted to the current Little India site which was flanked by the Rochor canal and the Kallang River area. That is why the oldest Indian temple is located in Chinatown. The Chinese on the other hand first settled in Rochor area but relocated to Chinatown as they found that the soil was unsuitable for padi farming. For the walk covering colonial Singapore, an interesting fact indicated was that the Raffles Hotel is actually the sole remaining structure of what was once a cluster of bungalows set aside for European section of the Raffles town plan. 

As usual, some pictures of the places visited during the walks. 

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond! 

Accidental Tourist - Friends of the Museum (FOM) Chinese New Year hawkers Food Tour with makan guru, KF Seetoh of Makansutra.com

Had a fabulous opportunity to go on a themed Food Tour with Singapore food guru, KF Seetoh organised by Friends of the Museum Singapore for its Super Saturday programme. He presented us with his interpretation of the culinary delights that is associated with Chinese New Year (CNY) period which will be celebrated in about 1 week’s time.

First it was a stopover at Chinatown Food Centre. This hawker centre is one of the oldest and biggest (about 180 hawker stalls) hawker centres in Singapore and is located in *drum rolls* Chinatown. At that location, he spun many exciting tales about the hawkers (still operating & recently past) and the local food scene while we soaked in the busy atmosphere of the streets from inside the hawker centre. It was a choice location setting the perfect mood as the area was thick with food delights and smells.

We ventured forward in our culinary journey in a specially chartered bus to an old establishment called “Lai Wai Restaurant” in Bendeemer Road. For those who don’t know (including yours truly), the founder was one of the 4 heavenly culinary chefs that came up with Yu Sheng, a ‘made-in-Singapore’ dish that has come to represent Chinese New Year in Singapore. One does not feel that he/ she has celebrated Chinese New Year in Singapore unless a meal comprise of Yu Sheng, a multi-colored auspicious dish filled with flavour, colour and good tidings. To accompany the Yu Sheng, which is wonderfully moist and crispy, a dish filled with perfectly Fried Prawns which are succulent and roe-filled red legged prawns coated with special crispy dough. This prawn dish is associated with CNY as prawn means ‘happy’ in Cantonese. We were also presented with a “Fa Chai” dish, which is another ‘lucky’ dish special for this festive season. This stop was too short to be considered a meal as we were (unfortunately) told to only be 30-40% full at this stopover.

On the way to our next stop, Seetoh provided us with carefully orchestrated descriptions of other famous food dishes associated with Singapore like fried carrot cake and fried hokkien prawn noodle before finally informing us that our next stop was to be a 2^nd generation hawker specializing in the fried hokkien mee (carefully called "Lor 29 Geylang Road" although it is now located within food stall at East Coast Road). It was definitely a delight for all when he brought us right next to the ‘master’ chef when he was whipping up the dishes over an extremely hot furnace that is fired by charcoal (rare nowadays). This hawker is also unique as he had retained the use of the betel nut leaf (for takeaways starting from medium portions) which adds to the aroma of the dish. The stall helper explained that this practice is hardly adopted by other hawkers due to the scarce supply of the betel nut leaf as only 1 leaf is shed by the betel nut tree each month(!). By the end of this 2^nd stop, many of us are perfectly filled up (although our mandate was to be only 70% full) with the fried hokkien prawn noodle and fried carrot cake that were both exceptional in both taste and texture. This place definitely warrants a return trip! 

Our last stop-over was surprisingly at Geylang Serai, an enclave for all things associated with the Malay (not Chinese) culture in Singapore. Seetoh explained that he brought us here because Chinese hawkers in Singapore are generally closed for extended periods (7 -15 days at a stretch) during CNY, people who wish to have their hawker meals will throng to places like Geylang as they are mainly operated by Malay stallholders! 




We ended our tour happy, contented and perfectly stuffed to the brim. Thanks to Seetoh for a delightful 4 hours and FOM for organising this one-in-a-lifetime food treat! 

Gong Xi Fa Cai to one and all!

Off to the world and beyond!