The Dalager Experiment: Kickin' around Singapore

Our time in Singapore is already starting to run short - hard to believe I fly out 5 weeks from Monday! However, amid the planning, packing and usual work, we're trying to keep exploring Singapore. These last two weekends we've managed to squeeze in a museum, dinner at a couple locally famous hawkers, and, this morning, a trip to the bewildering Haw Par Villa.

City Gallery

Downtown

An neat - free - museum about the planning and building of Singapore as a city. An important concept it points out is that Singapore, rather unique as both a city and a country, must contain everything within the city. Unlike cities surrounded by suburbs or rural areas, who can have landfills, reservoirs, and waste treatment plants outside the city, Singapore has to deal with everything IN Singapore.

I can see our house from here!

This is the hospital - I work in the
two little gray blocks.

The museum pointed out a lot of interesting urban planning issues I had never considered, and it was impressive to see how Singapore is dealing with them. Also, it detailed the ongoing land reclamation projects - Singapore is, in fact, growing larger year by year as land is taken back from the sea. I also learned that there are large ammunition storage facilities buried dozens of stories underground. Fascinating. This museum has no shortage of architectural models, interactive screens, and movies - well worth taking a look if you have a few hours on your hands!

You could try your hand at Sing City

Large model of the whole main downtown area. So cool!

It looks deceptively bland, but it was so good!

Maxwell Centre Chicken Rice

We finally ate the 'official' chicken rice from the hawker stall made internationally famous by Anthony Bourdain. In general I like chicken rice just fine - it never seems that special, but it is a safe bet when you go to a hawker centre. This, however, was pretty exceptional. We were surprised that we could really notice a difference - in this case, do believe the hype!

Sin Heng Claypot Bak Koot Teh

We forgot to snap a picture,
but this is what ours looked like!

Just the other night some friends picked us up and drove us out to the East side of Singapore for a late dinner at Sin Heng Claypot, known for its Bak Koot Teh. I'm told by Wikipedia that this translates literally to 'meat bone tea,' but it is really porks ribs stewed in a rich, dark, herbed broth. Our friend David explained that this dish was originally made by Chinese workers who had immigrated to Malaysia and Singapore. Often poor, the workers used to make giant batches of the soup that would serve dozens or even a hundred people. They'd boil pretty much all parts of the animal - meat, bones, etc - to extract all the nutrients they could. Jacob and I opted for the dish without organ meat, but the authentic dish contains intestines, livers, etc. Delicious and filling!

Haw Par Villa

This morning we went to Haw Par Villa, which was originally constructed by the business moguls who created Tiger Balm - an incredibly popular product somewhat similar to IcyHot. The 'theme park' was constructed to be a place to educate children and adults about Chinese mythology, folklore, and religion. Though ones popular, it is somewhat defunct now - meaning that entry is free! It is still well-maintained, though - and full of the most bizarre statues and dioramas I have ever seen. (For the record, I believe most people who come here also view it as a bit of an oddity, and are equally baffled.)

DO YOU WANT SOME TIGER BALM JACOB?

NO THANKS!

While lots of statues had explanations, many were as inscrutable as they were hilarious and/or disturbing. This is probably the last place you'd want to end up while on drugs.

Animals in clothing, including an elephant hugging a hippo, a monkey taking pictures,
and a mouse and an elephant pointing guns at two over-sized crickets who appeared to be kissing.

I think this one has to do with filial piety - hrm.

There were of course some normal things - giant owls, Statue of Liberty, turtle man, sumo wrestlers, and some sort of interpretation of the Redwall Books gone wrong (mice & rabbits fighting, and doctor mice tending to the graphically wounded...)

Caution - some pictures below are disturbing/graphic.

This was just on the way to the Courts of Hell. WHAT?

The best/weirdest/scariest part was probably the cave like building which housed the 10 Courts of Hell according to Chinese mythology Buddhism. Similar to Dante's Inferno, some believe that when you die, you will be judged and then, if your evil-deeds outweigh the good, you will face punishment according to what you've done wrong. Vivid depictions show what happens for all sorts of very specific crimes (misuse of books, for instance, or rumor-mongering). As you'll see, some of the punishments are SO creative! I think my favorite is 'Hill of Knives,' down which you are thrown if you have committed the crimes of plotting another's death for his property/money or lending money at exorbitant rates.

No question this place would have traumatized me deeply as a child.

Enjoy!!

2nd Court - Robbers get thrown into a volcano

Prostitutes get thrown into a 'Filthy Blood Pool'
(That is what that caption says...)

Helpful signs to let you know the exact penalty for your crimes!

"Urging people to social unrest - tied to red hot copper pillar and grilled."

HILL OF KNIVES
(There was also a viewing tower overlooking the hill of knives,
so that the wronged parties could watch the punishment)

Of course, if you have cheated, cursed or abducted others,
you will instead be thrown into a TREE OF KNIVES.

Sixth court, where you are sawn in half for the crimes of:
Misuse of books, possession of porn, breaking written rules and regulations, and wasting food.
(Needless to say, we heeded all the 'keep off the grass' signs - written rules, after all!)

In addition to the Courts of Hell, there were lots of other depictions of sagas, myths and morality stories. Really, the pictures speak for themselves...

No clue.

This one is about being a loyal friend - two boys were having a picnic in the woods when a bear came, and one kid ran away, but the other pretended to be dead, and the bear got the kid that ran away because he was a bad friend.