A much needed post!

Apologies for the lack of blog posting, I believe its been a month since my last one? To be honest, I don't think I've been brilliant at this blogging business, if you've read my earlier posts you would know that this was set up for a class and then it was something I decided to keep with because I found it to be rather interesting. But now I've left Singapore, I'm not too sure what to do with it anymore...

I'm in Hong Kong right now because I didn't want to go back to England so soon! So I've been here for a month and the realisation that I don't have long left in Asia finally sunk in and I leave for England in less than 2 weeks =( *sob* So I guess if I wanted to do things right, I should have blogged about the things in Hong Kong too?? But ah wells, HK is a great place to be and the perk it has against Singapore is that the streets are still very much alive after work and only simmers down around midnight (no offence Singapore). That's mainly the reason why I've been mostly tweeting around midnight because it's when I come back, settle down and relax from the day and check out any news I might have missed.

I have been working on a final 'farewell to Singapore' type of post but I'm finding it difficult. I'm not sure whether it's because I don't want to have to say goodbye, or whether I really want the post to be perfect? So many things I can reflect on or give tips on about Singapore I just don't know how to squeeze it all in.

Anyhow, it's still being drafted, although to be honest, I haven't really touched it in the past week and the coming week looks to be rather eventful too...

Perhaps the perfect post might come to mind when the reality of goodbye finally arrives? That'll probably be when I'm back in England and back in my home comforts that I left a year ago.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

The closest thing you'll get to a rain forest in Singapore is Bukit Timah's Nature Reserve. With different hiking trails and even a cycling trail within the forest grounds brings you into another dimension of Singapore away from all the city buzz and modernity. Although I must say, the residential district of Bukit Timah is rather lovely.

There are 3 different paths you can take each with a different level of 'intensity' and all lead you up 163m to Bukit Timah Summit. After that you can mozy back down or carry on walking around the rain forest and see if you can spot monkeys and squirrels on your way or weird twisting tree branches like the one we saw on our way up (pictured right). We also spotted monkeys out of the park on our way to the bus stop, there were more roaming around the residential area than actually in the rain forest!

A lovely peaceful day out for the family or just for a walk and some exercise that doesn't have to be boring. Entrance is FREE!

Happy Mother's Day Singapore!

It's Mother's Day in Singapore today so here's wishing all the Mother's a lovely day and I hope their families show their appreciation and love to you for all the things you've done!

...

Maybe I'll ring my own mum wishing her another Happy Mother's Day later today (it was Mother's Day back in March for the UK).

When you're looking for accommodation in Singapore

So recently I've had a really stressful time with my accommodation situation due to a mixture of a bad agent (ours), the landlord's arse of an agent, a rather suspicious landlord, ungrateful/selfish/uncaring/misunderstanding/uncooperative bad housemate(s), and my virginity to house hunting in the "real" world. So, for the new house hunters, pushovers and the naive, here are a few pointers for when you're looking for a place in Singapore:

1. If your new to house hunting (like I am/was) it's important to fully understand that property is where people can get a lot of money from, fast. Yes Singapore is a lovely country, and yes, Singaporeans are generally lovely people too. But when it comes to estate agents, they're money grabbing whores they're still after a sale and will do what it takes to get it. So Just keep an eye on your agent and don't be afraid to ask for exactly what you want. Some will tell you lies about the landlord's position, some will disclose information from you, and some will try to push you to sign things. How you deal with your agent will depend on which one of the above you come across. You're incredibly lucky if you get a nice agent or even one that does everything well and then disappear after the contract is signed and after you pay them their agent fee (because they're not much use after that anyways). Which brings us to the next point.
   
   
2. The agent fee. This is only paid if they successfully find you a place and you agree to sign the contracts. The agent's fee is normally half the property rent. Make sure you check with them first as some do charge a full month's rent.
   
   
3. Negotiate negotiate negotiate. 1st thing to negotiate is the rent price, this is just so you get a better deal, even if you think it's cheap compared to what you're used to back in your home country. If they won't budge, try to get some other deals instead. You're paying the agent half your month's rent, make them work for it! That's if they're not doing their work properly in the first place. If you're a student, a good one to ask for is that you're deposit will be used to pay for the FINAL months rent. Only do that if you don't need the deposit at the end. Make sure you get this in writing in the contract, or if not, speak to the landlord and see if you can have a mutual agreement on this. (This is where most of my problems came from)

4. Read the contract carefully. This may sound like common sense, but sometimes the wording of the contracts are so formal and archaic with lots of "herein to" appearing two or three times in the same clause with some other old fancy sounding words that confuse the hell out of you and detracts your attention away from the main point of the clause. So under confusion you end up agreeing to it without understanding fully what it means.
   
   
5. The biggest estate agencies in Singapore such as ERA are not necessarily the most reliable. My agent was an ERA (Electronic Realty Associates) representative and she was nice... at the beginning. Then she turned sour when things got complicated. But that's not to say all ERA agents or general estate agents are like that, I know some students had great agents and delivered everything that was asked for. It's easy to think that because they're from one of the largest realty companies in Singapore they should be more reliable. WRONG! You should be aware that their representatives can be any Tom, Dick or Harry because they accept and hire pretty much anyone.
   
   
6. Make sure you have housemates you can rely on. Not exactly relying on them in the sense that they'll take a bullet for you, just rely on them enough so that they'll pay rent (the right amount of rent) and that they understand that a shared house means shared responsibility. I found that this is something that is personally very important to me, not only from the past year but from the past 3 years since living away at University.
   
   
7. Speak to your landlord. Not only after you've moved in but during the negotiation and pre-moving in stage too. Sometimes agents may say straight up that something is not possible without even going to the landlord, but if you actually ask the landlord yourself, who knows you may just get what you want. A friend had an agent who would tell them stories about the owners such as their landlord was some big shot guy who bought the house for his son but his son didn't want it so is now renting it out and doesn't really need the money anyways. Turns out their landlord worked in a store in Sim Lim and actually does need the money. Make sure you know your landlords so you know who they are and building some sort of relationship can be helpful especially if you're gonna have to deal with them in the future anyways. They're the ones who have the final say, so it's better to go straight to them and try your luck.
   
   
8. It's o.k. to be a bitch/arse. After all, these are the terms and conditions that you'll be living under. Might as well be selfish and make sure they're the terms you're happy with. Obviously don't be too mean or too aggressive because that's just general bad practice and you might lose out in the end, and obviously don't make too many requests or be plain uncooperative.
   
   
9. Get everything in writing. Everything that your agent says you can do or should be able to do, get it in writing or have it in the contract.Well this should have been done in my case but it helps for future reference.
   
   
10. If the building is old, check that it's not going to be demolished after a few months. This happened with a batch of Fall 2008 exchange students where they found a place at Killiney Road only to be told that it was to be torn down after 3 or 4 months... Singapore has a tendency to build over old things to keep the island modern.

If you're an SMU exchange student and you're not looking to stay in the student hostels and want a place of your own, then do refer to the white list of agents you'll be given by the international office before you get here. Take note of the ones on the black list too, just in case you might come across them as they might represent your landlord. (Both our agent and the landlord's agent made it on the black list, but our agent no longer works for ERA now so who knows if she's still in real estate).

For hassle free accommodation then stick to the hostels that are suggested by your school. They're recommended for good reasons!

So don't be too naive when you're house hunting (like I was), and stand your ground when you need to. Don't let the greatness of Singapore cloud your judgements and remember that not ALL Singaporeans are nice.

Hope this helps and good luck! =)

Random stumblings down Haji Lane

My friend Rupek took Sophie and I to a place called Going Om. A nice little cafe/bar down Haji Lane, Bugis. Before, I was told that this place was a chill out spot for my friend and that he went there last week and there were fire eaters and people playing music and he just jammed along with them. It didn't surprise me at all when he guided the way to Haji Lane.

Haji Lane is parallel to Arab Street and if it's not in your Lonely Planet books, it should be! (Actually I think it is) I went there once last semester when a friend took me there to shop. So, during the day Haji Lane is home to boutique stores with vintage and fashionable clothes and accessories. But at night, it's a where people go for Shisha and drinks and Going Om oozes a sense of hippy and bohemian lifestyle.

The video is what manifested from events at Going Om.

I guess Singapore isn't so clean after all

Over the past few days I've heard news about some severe food poisoning in Singapore after the second death was announced yesterday from eating at a Geylang Serai hawker centre.

Story can be found here, and the first outbreak of the news is here.

The owner of the store is devastated, as he had no idea what was happening until the health authorities came. He seems like such a sweet man, really unlucky for everyone affected.

I'm just wondering what on earth could have been in the food to have caused such chaos and extreme consequences??
...

o.k. just found an answer a little closer to my question... nice...

The Celebs and the Conservative of Singapore

Today I saw Ben Yeo, a Singaporean actor, whom I originally knew as Terry from TVB's Yummy Yummy drama series (one of my favourite series)! On my way to dinner at Cathay I recognised Ah Ben (as he's other wised known as in Singapore) queuing up for the ATM just outside Cathay! Then I heard my friends talking about him and I was so tempted to go up and ask for a picture, but I didn't have my camera with me and my Asian-ness also stopped me from randomly going up to people on the street asking for photos! I only remembered later that I have a camera function on my phone! I don't think Singaporeans randomly go up to local actors and ask for photos and autographs either hence why none of my friends thought of doing the same thing. I do wonder how those in the media spotlight would react to being approached on the streets. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had gone up to him as I'm not Singaporean, just an international fan haha.

Then after dinner, back to the library as usual, but there's music blasting out from outside, sounded like a concert. Then I recognised one of the songs as Kaiser Chief's "Every Day I Love You Less and Less"! Then another familiar song was played after it. Did a little research on the internet only to find out Kaiser Chief were actually playing at Fort Canning Park! Right next to school! No wonder I could hear loud music throughout the day! Must have been rehearsals. Then later on, I heard "I Predict a Riot". These are the songs that remind me of student life back in England and my friends back home! I really wished they were there with me at the library to play "guess the Kaiser Chief song" or even better, actually at the concert. I was in no mood to do work after I found out I was missing out on their gig which was happening right next door! (><) Gutted! So I had to force myself out of the library and head home to do work and blog about it to get the adrenaline and frustration out of my system. I was so tempted to stay and just listen to the concert from SMU! But deadlines are closing in on me, so I needed my will power to come into play. So not a bad day today!

One more random thing that I want to share which happened yesterday. I was wearing my We Walk Butterfly tee (pictured left and right but mine is in orange) and as you can see from the picture on the left, it shows a lot of the back, so I decided to wear a black cropped bandeau top underneath so I'm not showing too much flesh, just the lower back and top half of my shoulder blades (but from the front it looks just like a normal tshirt right). Whilst I was on the MRT, an "aunty" (Singlish for a woman of the older generation) getting off at one of the stops tugs at my top from behind a few times as she passes me and says something in Mandarin. I only heard 'hou bien' which means 'back', so I guess she was trying to cover me up??? I found it rather amusing to be honest, but also thought 'since when was Singapore so conservative?'. There are girls who wear short shorts and tiny tank tops everyday and show a lot more skin than I was yesterday, I was wearing baggy jeans too! At least I was wearing something underneath. Only in a Chinese community do things like this happen. That's why I love it. =)

Confessions of an Amatuer Blogger

This blog was originally started as an assignment for my Digital Media Across Asia module and what started as something I felt like I had to do in order to pass a course, become an exploration in the digital/social media phenomena and I've enjoyed all my experiences with the blogging and other social media tools that I was introduced to. So as a final post for class and Prof Netzley I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet but looking at my posting patterns, it's going to be hard! See 'Note to Prof' at the bottom

First of all, thank you Proffessor Netzley for giving us this option as an assignment. I used to think a "blog" was an oxymoron in itself, because as a non digital/social media follower (or maybe I'm just slow at following these trends) I understood it as an online diary, so here was my logic:

Diary = journal, often kept to oneself.
Online = a cyber space that everyone can access
Question: Why put your secrets somewhere where everyone can read them? can you understand the confusion I had?

But now, I understand that it's not just about keeping an online journal. Blogging may have started out that way, but now it's evolved and has become more of a source for information as bloggers often write about one specific topic, be it social media, fashion, games, food, politics or sport, there are blogs out there for everyone.

My blog was supposed to document about my experiences during my one year student exchange in Singapore and I tried to keep it consistent and not digress too much, but from my tags, I know I went off track a few times. Perhaps the reason for this was that I started it too late? I wanted to reveal the culture differences and the "weird and wonderful" things about Singapore but they no longer seemed weird to me after the first semester. So instead, I blogged about anything new that I came across and where I did encounter some cultural differences, I found myself having to explain the whole concept before going into the actual topic of the post in the first place.

Was my blog a success?
I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I'm still completely new to digital media so I feel I don't have the required knowledge to judge, that's where you come in Prof haha. As I got used to writing again the posts became easier and I began to understand what I'm supposed to actually write about, and tried to keep it related to Singapore as much as I could.

The first time I realised that my blog is actually out there in the open for others to see was my World Wide Rave submission and David Meerman Scott left a lovely comment and linked my entry on his site. The second realisation was when I had friends both in Singapore and England telling me they read my blog and wanted to post comments but couldn't do so due to the comment moderation settings (I've changed it since but I think it still doesn't work? No idea why). Then the 3rd was when Ang Mo Girl became a follower of my blog (but I'm not sure whether it was because I followed her blog after she found me on Twitter?) I was thinking "someone outside of class and is not my friend is actually reading my blog?!"

I've had over 20 views since I posted the Cambodia video but I'm not sure whether they were direct from my blog or random searches via Youtube. To me, that number seems quite a lot so I consider that as a small indication that people actually read my blog and take a slight interest in it... But from what I've learnt in class that number is probably minuscule when considering what uploading a video on the web can actually do.

Ways in which it wasn't a success was probably my post topics. Ideally this should have been a platform for exchange students or other people coming into Singapore to read and find out more about the country and it's culture and be used as a source for advice for exchange or living in a different country. I don't think I've really provided that type of information, but I've explained why I think that already. However, maybe it can be seen as a source for something else?

Twitter
It took me a while to figure out Twitter and it's purpose, but over time I began to see the fascination with it. I figured I could try and incorporate it into my blog somehow (after all it is a microblogging tool) and put it at the top of my blog to be used as 'micro posts'. I think I've built a better network on Twitter than I have with my blog. I was surprised when bloggers around Singpore such as Angry Ang Mo, IZ Reloaded and a few others started 'following me' on there (I'm still trying to figure out why I was 'followed' in the first place), and I think there's the possibility Mr Brown might have read a post or two? Maybe that's just wishful thinking?

The Future
I've had a great time exploring the blogosphere and it's helped me realise a new area of interest I could go further into and how much it can actually help with people's daily lives. I'm still in Singapore for a while yet and I will continue posting about my time here until I leave. Whether I'll continue after I return to England, then for the purpose of this being an exchange blog, probably not, but maybe I'll start something new or turn it into something else?

Note to Prof: Thank you for introducing me to something new and interesting.
Sorry! I know you said to keep it short and sweet but I just couldn't help myself =)

Goodbye SMU?!

So I'm nearing the end of semester 2 at SMU and it's hard to believe that my time here is almost up =( Last Thursday it was the exchange students farewell party at Timbre, and Friday was Starry Night (above) marking the end of classes for the semester with live music and cheap drinks just before students start mugging for exams.

This second semester has gone by a lot quicker than last semester, it definitely doesn't seem like it's been 13 weeks since classes started again and all of a sudden they've finished! I didn't want to think about the end of my exchange in Singapore and it's almost impossible not to now. I've met a lot of nice people here, both locals and other exchange students from all over the world and each of them have made my experience here very enjoyable and given me a lot of memories to take back. Along the way I've also experienced a few problems (mainly to do with my estate agent and my accommodation. Advice for future exchange students: DO NOT USE ERA AGENTS!!!) and I've learnt a few lessons the hard way, being so far from home puts the real world into a completely different perspective. When you're pretty much left on your own you learn a few things about yourself. I never realised how naive I can be, I found out that I'm not as culturally aware as I thought I was, and, as the Singaporeans put it, I can be really "blur" at times.

I've experienced the SMU culture and have been taught in a completely different type of education system. The way SMU operates makes complete sense when you think about how it shapes its' students. It's no wonder that the University has such a high graduate employment rate, their students do stand out from the crowd a little, with compulsory 80 hours of volunteering and the requirement to do internships before you can graduate really put the graduates in a good starting position for the working world.

Before I came here I remember reading that when SMU first started back in 2000 it used to be a University where the "not so brilliant" or "NUS rejects" would go and the University would aim to make them become "better people" (or something along those lines). But now, I really don't think that is the case anymore. Students always talk about the competitive environment here and it's no wonder, along with their "Kiasuism" almost everyone is fighting for that grade A (but the profs constantly remind them that grades aren't everything, which I think is entirely true, but if I was a full time student here, it's incredibly hard to believe when everyone else has the "must get an A" mentality). But that's not to say that SMU is all work and no play, there have been no reports of suicide just yet and I haven't met a student who has regretted coming here.

With regards to experiencing a different culture... it's definitely interesting yet confusing at times to understand the culture of Singapore. In my module Intercultural Communications, my professor was explaining that Singapore doesn't have a unique culture because there isn't anything that's distinct to Singapore (ironic when the tourism board promotes the country as "Uniquely Singapore") , but there are things that people will say is very Singaporean like the use of Singlish and their love for food (they will travel to the other side of the country for good food). I guess the ethnic diversity in Singapore means that all the cultures are fused together, so could it not be said that Singapore's culture is a hybrid culture?

A local friend said to me "Singapore is the most non-Asian country in Asia" and to a certain extent I agree. It's very westernized so apart from the fact that it's mostly Asian populated and there's a variety of languages spoken here, there aren't that many differences to England... But then again, if you go to the heartlands (i.e. Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Katong and a few others) it becomes less westernized and you can find the true Singaporeans there.

Anyways, I still have time to figure it out because I might be sticking around a little longer.
=)

Food Diversity Weekend

For the past week I should have been eating anything that I can easily and quickly get my hands on (like hawker food) because week 12 is at an end and that means deadlines this week! So people are rushing to finish off projects, reports, papers, and 'mugging' for final tests and quizzes (I have one of each due this week). For me however, it feels as though it's been like that every week since I got back from recess, so it's been a while since I ate anything other than Koufu or Kopitiam. So the past 2 days have been such a refreshing change in terms of cuisine!

It's so easy for me to just eat what I'm comfortable with in Singapore as I'm surrounded by Chinese food. But that's not to say that Singaporean food is just Chinese food. Singapore is the only place I know that can safely say it's very diverse, and it's reflected in the food. Just over the weekend I had 3 different types of cuisine (if not more) over 2 to 3 days. I went from Indian Muslim food, to Chinese dessert to really good Western food!

To find out where I went and see pictures and videos click on the post title.

Friday - Indian Muslim Food at Beach Road hawker centre (army market) + Chinese dessert around Bugis

So on Friday a classmate wanted to show me something a little different about Singapore and took me and a few friends to have Indian Muslim food. We had mutton steak (bottom right of the picture)- finely chopped mutton cooked dry with diced vegetables, Mee Kuah (far left) - which has noodles in a red spicy sauce with diced mutton, potatoes and peas and some other veg and Sup Tulang (square dish at the top) which is primarily eaten for the bone marrow. The thing about the Sup Tulang is that you have to get to the bone marrow yourself and the video below shows how we attempted the muslim way of eating Sup Tulang. I know the food might not look very appetizing but I've learnt that when it comes to food, you can't let the appearance fool you.

After dinner we went to Bugis for Ah Chew Desserts. It's the perfect place to satisfy your sweet cravings and even for night time supper. This was only my second visit and ever since I was taken there for the first time a month ago, I still wonder why none of my local friends brought me there before or even suggested it last semester?! It's more of a local favourite and they serve a range of Chinese desserts such as glutinous rice balls, grass jelly, sweet soup based desserts and I was so happy when I found out they had my favourite dessert - mango, sago and pomelo (pictured left) and even the option to add Durian to it!

Saturday - Brewerkz and Churros

Saturday we decided to splurge out a little and headed to Clarke Quay for dinner and a few drinks with friends. We already planned this at the start of the week when I saw Angry AngMo's suggested top 5 places for burgers in Singapore and Brewerkz was one of them. As they're known to have good beer (as they brew it themselves) we decided to throw all our cravings into one (because we haven't really been out drinking/clubbing much this semester either).

Earth Hour
<---- Clarke Quay during Earth Hour... Difference?

While we were there I was expecting to have witnessed an hour of "darkness" for Earth Hour, but it didn't seem as though Clarke Quay switched off that many lights? Perhaps I was expecting a bit too much, I guess when I read that Clarke Quay was taking part in the initiative they only switched off the 'Clarke Quay' sign? The surrounding hotels took part too by switching off their main lights but there wasn't much of a difference? I think they could have switched off a few more lights if they really wanted to show their support.


Fashion Bar
The logo on the window of this bar is what caught my attention when I first saw it last semester because I only associated it with Fashion TV, but what lured us there at the weekend was $5 Martini's for girls (yes even on a Saturday night, a promotional offer only throughout March). Even though the alcohol was rather weak (what do you expect for $5 really?) we stayed there until we felt like having a little more food.

Across from Fashion Bar is Allegro, a rather well known place for Spanish street food. So for dessert we had Churros and chocolate sauce, and they even have 2 for 1 cocktails! Who would have known there would be good drink deals around Clarke Quay on a saturday night?!

Typical Student balancing act

Mr Brown at SMU

If you've been in Singapore for a fairly long period of time I think you would have heard Mr Brown (AKA Lee Kin Mun) mentioned at some point (a friend described him as Singapore's equivalent to Jay Lenno?). He points out the weird and dysfunctional things about Singapore in his satirical blog and as that grew in popularity, he created the Mr Brown Show, which hosts his podcasts and parodies. In addition to that, as a self proclaimed social media junkie and "geek" he also created the WTF! show (That's "Wah! That's Fierce!" by the way), which focuses on gadgets and technology, and the "See What Show".

So, yesterday Mr Brown came to SMU and shared with us his life, passions and love of poking fun at the government Singapore. I've only seen his photos and profile pictures, and the one that I remembered more clearly was his twitter profile (because I've become slightly addicted to that lately), then when he arrived he looked a lot slimmer and trimmer. Later I found out that he used to be pretty big in size and if you look for him on Wikipedia and compare his photo there to what he looks like now (see below), he's done really well for himself! Well done on all your hard efforts Mr Brown =) (I hope you get better sleep now).

He shared with us some of his spoofs such as 'send ah kong' (means send Grandfather) and "Mee Siam mai hum" (Click here for the explanation if you don't understand) and other government blunders topics that he's been following. His presentation was refreshing and funny, it really showed me the stupid a different side to Singapore and he's proof that Singaporeans do have a good sense of humour.

Even though I had only heard of Mr Brown 2 months ago, I could tell more about his personality in that one hour presentation than I could reading his online materials. He's a really humble and down to earth guy living in a HDB flat, has a love for cycling (which is now his main mode of transport), a great sense of humour, young at heart, a loving husband and father, proud Singaporean (despite what you may gather from his writings) and probably has the best job in the world. You can tell he enjoys what he does through his creativity in his podcasts and the other sites that he hosts.

It was a great end to a stressful week and I wish him all the best in his future projects! =)
*Hmm...According to him I do sound like a Singaporean, so perhaps I should continue to follow his stuff when I return to the UK to keep in touch with my inner Singaporean?*

Me with Mr Brown

My accent's going meh? It's still British what?!

Walau!

I've realised that my British accent is becoming less obvious to Singaporeans... no, to other people. Maybe it's the fact that I've been surrounded with American or similar accents at home (as in my home in Singapore) and at SMU. I know that I often have a tendency to slowly pick up accents or my accent begins to change ever so slightly when I'm in a different country/place for a period of time.

Yesterday I was walking with a local friend of mine and we were just talking normally, until he paused and said "Either I'm getting used to your accent, or what you said just now sounded really Singaporean." Then I frantically tried to replay what I said. I couldn't figure out what might have sounded so Singaporean? Did I unknowingly say 'lah', 'neh', 'meh', 'what', or did I miss out a connecting word somewhere in my sentence?

Then my friend pointed out that it was the tone I said a particular word was flatter and the way I said the word was dragged out longer than I normally would have said it.

Then yesterday during a group meeting, a group mate of mine asked me where I'm actually from because she thought I was from the UK but she didn't think I sounded English, but she couldn't tell from my accent where I was actually from.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the Singaporean accent, I remember the first time I went away for a few days and when I came back, the first time I heard a distinct Singaporean accent put a smile on my face.

But for me, my accent helps define who I am over here and I kind of like the fact that people always think I'm local until I open my mouth.

Hmmm... perhaps I have potential to be moulded into a Singaporean? =)

Udderly Good Ice-cream

In Udders with fellow Gourmet-ers

Last week I attended an ice-cream buffet at Udders, which was an event offered by SMU's Gourmet Club and no regrets about the amount of ice cream I consumed or the pounds I might have piled on in that one visit to the cool, cute, little ice cream store located next to United Square Shopping Mall.

Udders is known to create their own flavours and are always experimenting with new tastes. You walk in and there's a long chalk board filled with different ideas for new ice cream flavours suggested by customers and others can add their own ideas on there too and vote for the ones they like. A simple, yet very cool way of consumer participation and feedback... I'll probably use the word 'cool' more than a few times because it's the only word that I think describes it's atmosphere, it's look and concept, and ironically also relates to ice-cream. In my mind, anything that allows your customers to express their creativity is a cool idea, so not only can you put up ur ideas for ice cream flavours, but there's a black plastic board on the opposite wall for you to scribble on, with neon pens provided for you. This board was completely filled with messages, birthday shout outs,'xyz was here 08' and other random ramblings. It all adds to the rather young, hip and cool decor and atmosphere. They're ice-cream flavours also reflect this with best sellers such as Lychee Martini, Rum and Raisan and Baileys and Bourbon (one of my favourites), Orange Choc Bitter (with Triple Sec Vodka) and Amaretto Black (all of which were stronger than expected). Of course they have classic flavours such as vanilla and strawberry (although I don't recall chocolate as a flavour being offered), and they also offer distincly Singaporean flavours, like Durian (two types of durian flavours available! Who would have guessed?).

Not only is the ice cream popular there but they're drinks are a hit too, with ice cream floats (in what looks to me like a vase for fake flowers - pictured left) and their hot chocolate are favourites among their customers.

One of the best ice-cream places I've been to in Singapore.If I had to give a rating, I would give 8 out of 10 =)

It's a Rave Dave!

Not just any Rave, the World Wide Rave. This is also the title of viral marketing strategist David Meerman Scott and he invites people to take part in his "rave". He states that:

"A World Wide Rave is when people around the world are talking about you, your company, and your products. Whether you’re located in San Francisco, Dubai, or Reykjavík, it’s when global communities eagerly link to your stuff on the Web."

All you have to do to take part is take a picture of the World Wide Rave poster in a unique place. Many people all over the world have taken part as you can see on the website. This has opened my eyes to how internet and viral marketing can be effective, because if you think about it, it's also a tool to promote his new book. Here's my breakdown:

One book.
One computer.
One poster....
hundreds maybe thousands of submissions...
all over the world!
Very cost effective!

Here are my submissions to the rave taken at the Esplanade:

The first photo is the Esplanade Rooftop. In the background is Singapore's central business district (CBD) skyline with the Fullerton Hotel facing the harbour and sitting proudly opposite and into the harbour is the Merlion (although you probably can't see it properly on here). The lights at night just create an array of colours that adds life to the atmosphere of the CBD. This just shows how fast Singapore has grown and how quickly it can build itself to success. To me, Singapore is a prime representation of a world wide rave in itself because there are so many different ethnicities from all over the globe in one place. Singapore is raving!

The second picture is taken at the Huayi Chinese Arts Festival, also held at the Esplanade and lasted over the course of Chinese New Year celebrations. Just an example of one of many events that are held in Singapore to celebrate one of their many cultures.

My friends who helped me take these photos and also took part of the rave themselves:


(From left to right: Me, Xiao Le, Youqian, Xi Xi )

Coincidentally, on the surface we're Chinese, but we're from different places around the globe. Xiao Le is from China studying full time at SMU, Xi Xi is from Germany, Youqian and myself are from England but she was born in China, and I have a Hong Kong background. What I'm getting at is that we're all of Chinese ethnicity but we all have different stories and live in completely different countries. We've been brought together from different parts of the world to Singapore. I believe that this itself is a World Wide Rave.


Thanks to my professor in Digital Media Across Asia Michael Netzley for introducing this to the class and opening my eyes up to the power of viral marketing. Also congratulations to my class mates (Ephraim Loy, Dorothy Poon, Jonathan Huang, Raj, Apurva, Tina, Michelle, Anirban Datta Gupta and Terri and Cheryl) having made such unique contributions and grabbing the attention of David Meerman Scott himself
*Applause*

Singapore in a nutshell

Apologies for not updating sooner, you would have thought that I would have so much to say about the past five or six months! Which is true, I do, but to condense it all is difficult. I guess the best way to do this is to write about the important elements of my exchange in Singapore; that is the country itself (obviously), the culture, the people and the university. When I was back home in England, Singapore seemed like one of those countries that people just nodded and smiled at when you mentioned it. To me that meant that they didn’t really know what it's about but it sounds like a cool place to be (because it's not in England), and they wouldn't ask that many questions in the fear of sounding stupid or ignorant or both. And to be honest, I was like that a few years back, even though I visited Singapore 2 years ago for a holiday, I never did see what Singapore was really about, but now, I think I’m beginning to understand.

The Country

Anyway, Singapore is a country in it's own right (independency since 1965), it's a small island beneath Malaysia (to put things in perspective, London is double the size of Singapore). All year round temperatures are around 25-30°C which means no seasons, it's constantly summer. Despite having a Chinese population of around 75%, it's still very multicultural, next in line are Malays (13%) and then Indians (8%), and the rest of the population is made up of people from all over the world! You can find more about the history and stats on the country here. There are many languages spoken here; English, Chinese (mostly Mandarin, but I've heard Cantonese too and other dialects are spoken such as Hakka and Hokkien), Malay, Tamil, Punjabi and then you get other Indian dialects which I'm not too familiar with the names, and of course, Singlish... O.k. so it's not a "real" language as such, it's just the way to describe how Singaporeans speak. Due to their history and diversity, they throw different words from different languages together, it's not unusual to hear them speak English and then all of a sudden there's "makan" or "shiok" or "walau".

Singapore is actually a really modern and cosmopolitan place to be, for me, there was very little culture shock when I arrived, and there was nothing distinctly out of the ordinary. To be honest, at times it felt as though I was back in England, but the only difference was that I’m part of the ethnic majority rather than the minority.

The University

The university I’m attending is Singapore Management University (SMU). It’s in the city so quite convenient to get around to all the main spots of Singapore, it’s pretty hard to get lost, as long as you can find your way to an MRT station, you’re fine! SMU is quite new and the buildings reflect the modernity that Singapore has built itself up to be. The method of teaching is different to Manchester University though. They use the American learning system, so instead of sitting in a lecture hall for an hour or two filled with around 200 or so students and one lecturer, we have a small class size of around 45 and a professor teaching and encouraging discussion from the students. This took me a while to get used to, not the small class sizes, but rather the participation part (we’re graded on how well we participate), the weekly meetings with your project group for 3 hours non-stop, mid terms, make up classes and the constant assignments. They say that SMU has a very competitive culture, with all the work they do, it’s no wonder they find it stressful, I’m normally a very laid back person with what I consider lower than average stress levels and even I’m starting to feel it here haha.

The Culture

The culture here is interesting (I’m saying that in a good way). You could say it’s typically Chinese because it’s predominately dominated by Chinese Singaporeans but that doesn’t mean that they take over the other cultures and traditions that exist here. They celebrate a lot of festivals and significant calendar events for different cultures such as Chinese New Year which has just passed, Hari Raya, Divali (Deepavali as it’s known here), Christmas, and one that I’ve only just heard of as it happened yesterday, Thaipusam, and many others.

I remember in one of my classes the professor said that Singapore could be seen as lacking culture because there isn’t one specific ‘culture’ that it follows but adopts all the practices from the major ethnic groups. I understand why that could be the case, but why can’t the diversity factor be a ‘culture’ for Singapore. It’s not easy to find a country that has so many different cultures in one place, the multicultural aspect is what makes Singapore unique in a sense. One thing that I have noticed here and has probably brought all the different groups together is the love for food. Food is a pass time for Singaporeans (hurray! Something I can relate to). Majority of Singaporeans, if not all, love their food. They will be more than happy to travel to the other side of the island for some good Chinese/Indian/Malay/Peranakan/Indonesian/Japanese/Thai/Western food, you get the idea. Where are the best foods? I find that it’s in the hawker centres. Good, cheap, local dishes. You’re spoilt for choice in Singapore when it comes to food! That's one of the main reasons why I love it here!