Let’s go back to Saturday morning. It was the first emotional part of my whistlestop tour as we travelled to Eastern Singapore to see the Changi museum. We had a quick breakfast of hard boiled eggs and toast with soy sauce- apparently another Singaporean breakfast choice. Can’t get used to the sweet condensed milk coffee though. The Changi prison was where the Japanese held their prisoners of war after their successful takeover of Singapore during WWII. I didn’t know this but this was considered Great Britain’s biggest catastrophe during the war.
The Japanese launched a surprise attack (favourite MO it seems) and the Brits were forced to unconditionally surrender…The museum was really sad in places, when women talked about being forced to be ‘comfort women’ to the Japanese soldiers at very young ages. They told their stories in voices that were cracked with age, but nevertheless still ripe with pain. There was a story of a 60-year-old woman who actually fought and a woman who risked her life every day to feed the prisoners through the walls. There were also Christian murals painted in secret and stories of how the POWs kept their spirits up by quilting, performing plays and keeping a sense of humour- in the face of dysentery, cholera and malaria, as well as torture. Puts it all in perspective really.
After whiling away a few hours there, we went for lunch at an upmarket Mandarin restaurant in a colonial house, Min Jiang. But I have to say it wasn’t all that great- very bland. The cold mango cream pudding was the only winner. On the way to the Jurong bird park we passed through Katong- where you can still see the beautifully ornate houses of the Peranakan people (the people who came about from the union between male Chinese immigrants and Malay women). There were some pretty interesting things on offer- including spirit capturing.
The bird park was average-but I liked seeing the lithe little penguins shoot about underwater, and the man-made waterfall built inside an aviary was spectacularly lifelike. But I didn’t get to see many exotic birds. The best bit was the hawk show where they got a mini Joseph Gordon-Levitt to hold a bird of prey on his matchstick arms. They managed to create a terrific sense of dramatic occasion by playing every television music department’s favourite, Clubbed to Death. I tried to stifle the laughter, honest.
The evening brought the highlight of the day. A fresh mango cocktail with ricotta cheese and vodka. Sounds gross but it was so creamy and perfectly blended. The view was the show stopper though- all neon like skyscrapers from the city's best vantage point. For tea we headed down to the East Coast to eat another Singaporean classic- fresh chillied crab with sweet dough balls (and of course Tiger Beer). Cracking the huge red claw to reveal grey/pink flesh, smothered in a thick, hot sweet chilli sauce, and mopping up the excess with a delicious fried dough ball. Is there anything more immediately satisfying than eating with your hands? Unself-conscious, get-stuck-in, pure unadulterated enjoyment of your food, the best instant gratification has to offer. Bloody marvellous. My mouth was like a beacon to the ships in the port afterwards though. Aaaaooogah!
MF...
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