The Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown

The Mid Autumn Festival happens on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, coinciding with a full moon.    In 2013, that happened on September 19th.  Because that was a Thursday, the lantern parade was held the previous Sunday.  I had bought 3 lanterns, and was all ready to go, but a persistent downfall and a devastating Badger loss had taken all the fun out of the event.  Instead, I decided to venture to Chinatown on the day of the full moon.

According to my research, the 3 universal aspects of the Mid Autumn Festival are gathering, as in getting together with family, thanking for a bountiful harvest, and praying for good things for the coming year.  Some families treat it much like American Thanksgiving, and some just have the kids walk around with their lanterns, imitating the light of the full moon.

Mooncakes are a traditional part of this celebration.  A hard boiled egg yolk, symbolizing the full moon, is surrounded by a rich lotus paste cake, bearing Chinese symbols or pictures of the moon or other creatures.  I read one article that likened mooncakes to American fruitcakes.  They're a traditional part of the holiday, that must be exchanged, and some people love them, and some people hate them.  Regifting them is a strong tendency!  Speaking to many Singaporeans, most preferred them with no moon, or egg yolk, in the center.  Some are made with double yolks, and cost more.  There was one type that Rich was given, that had to be refrigerated.  It was made with the traditional lotus paste, but the center, which looked like an egg yolk, was made from candy, and had fillings such as Baileys, champagne truffle, chocolate grenache, rum raisin, and mango.  Rich ate one of those, but found the lotus paste too rich, so I was forced to eat the rest of them.  They were minis, and I didn't think eating one a day was too bad, until Michelle's pilates teacher, Nadya, told me that 1/10th of one of those was a 90 calorie portion, and was all you should eat.  Wow!!!

I headed to Chinatown at 6:30 on Thursday.  After my experience at the Gardens by the Bay the previous evening, I knew it didn't pay to be early.  As I walked past the food court, I noticed many more people gathering with friends to partake of a meal together.  Unfortunately, I didn't know if this was unusual, because I'm usually home making our dinner at that time.  I thought of accosting people and doing a reporter on the spot, to find out what they would do to celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival that evening.  Two things prevented me from doing that.  First, many Singaporeans are not sure what to make of me already, and, second, many people in Chinatown don't speak English as a first language.  But, as I wandered around Chinatown, taking pictures of the thousands of lanterns, I noticed many people from many cultures doing the same thing.

The Park Royal Hotel on Pickering.  I love it's terraced layers.

Chinatown, as seen from the bridge. 

You can see many people are taking pictures of the lanterns...

...and the beautiful sunset.The lanterns

The lanterns, between traffic lights.

The entrance to Chinatown.

More lanterns...

...and more lanterns,

A selfie with the lanterns.

A close-up of the entrance to Chinatown.

Lanterns on the other side of the street...

...and more lanterns

Other people taking pictures of the lanterns.

And one more selfie with the lanterns.

The refrigerated mooncakes...

...and a close-up view.

 

  

The box for the more traditional type of mooncake...

...and a close-up.

Eating at the Ghim Moh Food Centre

On, Monday, Michelle wanted to take me out for a Singaporean breakfast, since we had told her of our upcoming departure.  Tiong Bahru Food Centre is closed on Monday, so she took me to her second favorite; Ghim Moh Food Centre.  Even there, our choices were limited, because there are fewer vendors on Monday.

A Food Centre in Singapore is a place where they bring all of the vendors that used to have little sidewalk stands, food trucks, and stalls together in one location.  Each vendor has a stall with running water, and the Health Department can keep a closer eye on their food preparation methods.  Despite the fact that there are many vendors in one place, you can pick out the best because they have the longest lines!

Michelle queued up to get us some fish ball soup, because the porridge stall wasn't open that day.  It had about 6 people in line, so I knew it would be good.  I got us a table, and took in the surroundings.  We ate our soup, which was very good.  I haven't perfected my use of chopsticks, yet, so I did make quite a mess!  When we finished eating, the vendor selling juice was finally ready for business, and Michelle had an orange juice, and I had mango.  There is nothing quite like fresh squeezed juice.  Before leaving, Michelle bought some boneless chicken rice to take home for her boys.  I decided to get some, too, because the only thing I don't like about chicken rice is struggling to get the chicken off the bones using chopsticks.   Michelle told me that this was a family favorite, so I got some.

We headed to Ollie's school to pick him up from kindergarten.  It appears that every student in Singapore wears a uniform.  The uniforms have the name of the school on them, and include a backpack.  Every child has their name sewn onto the chest of their shirt.  Some people in the U.S. don't like uniforms, but I've always been a big fan.  It really saves time getting your child dressed in the morning.  Even with a uniform, there are ways to express your individuality.  Plus, it gets you ready for later life, as you can always tell what line of work a person is in by the way they dress.

Just as we were picking up Ollie, I heard my phone ring.  My landlady was calling to say that people were there to fix my air conditioning.  I wasn't aware that anybody was scheduled to come that day, but I was only 10 minutes from home, so we headed in that direction.  Michelle said that if we missed this opportunity, there was no telling when they would be back!

Michelle told me that we had to find a way to stay in Singapore, now that we had our hot tub repaired, our washing machine replaced, and were getting our air conditioning fixed.  She said that I should get a job, and Rich could stay home and take care of me.  All of a sudden, Ollie piped up from the back seat, and said, "Yes, Auntie Deb should go to work, and Uncle Rich can come out and play with us!"  Thanks, Ollie!

I got home at 11:45, and the three men started replacing the three older air conditioning inverter  units inside, along with the 2 bigger compressors outside.  They left for about 45 minutes for lunch, but were there until 5:30.  Good thing I had gotten that chicken rice!

Here's the queue for our fish ball soup.

A view of the Food Centre.

That's a hardware, or DIY, store in the right hand corner. 

This is where we got our chicken rice.

This is the juice stall.

This stall sells roasted chicken rice...

...and this one sells curried fish heads, a local favorite.

This is Ollie coming out of school.

This scene felt pretty universal to me.

Thank goodness I got this chicken rice.  It comes with two types of sauce; black and spicy ginger.

Getting my air conditioners replaced.

 

Shopping at Mustafa's

During all of the time that we had been in Singapore, people had told us stories of shopping at Mustafa's.  Some people said they would only go with a male escort.  Others said to bring a loaf of bread, so you would be able to drop crumbs to find your way out.  We decided that we had to go there at least once, and see if it lived up to the hype.

Looking at it on a map, it is quite a huge place.  It is also quite near the Farrer Park MRT station.  It should be easy to find.  Unfortunately, we were going on the weekend, which would make it exponentially more crowded.  Nothing could be done about that.  We headed off, exiting the Farrer Park station according to the signs.  Like Chinatown, the streets were all decorated there, but they had a  more Indian feel to them.  Also, the fruit stalls were loaded with green coconuts.

This is where it got a little weird.  All of a sudden, we were going through buildings, and going down alleyways to get there.  I felt as if we were spies, and we had to find our way to the entrance, in order to win admission.  That might have been just because Rich was leading the way, and he was taking me through backroads!

Once you got to the entrance, you had to have a bag check for larger bags, and there were security guards stationed at every entrance/exit.  We walked through narrow aisles that were stacked high with goods.  There were signs telling you which way to go to get to certain departments.  I really wanted the costume jewelry, because I wanted to find the bracelets that I had found for my friends and family in May.  Unfortunately, there were no wooden beaded bracelets, but there were rows and rows of other types of jewelry.   I had never seen so many bangle sets, but they had number sizes, which I also had never encountered, so I was afraid to buy them.  I stayed in the jewelry area, while Rich went through the store.

He said that he found some great prices, but some were just average.  I did notice that they had a huge selection of hair colorings, and their prices were much closer to the prices in the States than I had seen anywhere else.  Also, they had a very large CD and DVD selection.  I would say that it was definitely worth the trip.  When I have some to kill on a rainy weekday, I would go back.  I think I would avoid the weekend, though.

The street decorations...

...near Mustafa's.

Rich, at the gate to the mall and Farrer Park MRT station.

This reminded me of gates at the Royal Parks in London.

 

Seeing the Play, "The Penis Society"

On Saturday night, we saw "The Penis Society"at the Aquanova Bar.  It was uproariously funny!  From the moment the show began, and the 3 characters came out and led the crowd in the spelling of "P-E-N-I-S", you knew it wasn't going to be a normal night at the theatre.

The basic premise of the play is examining some of Singapore's high ranking officials, who got caught with their pants down - literally!  One of the funny things is that they can't name the officials, because they'll be sued for libel, but they have no problems "exposing" the Western leaders who got caught.  Also, for all of the titillation and innuendo, the message of the play is to pay attention to the head on top of your shoulders, or you may risk everything!  I highly recommend the play, with the caveat that you must bring a cover up, because the Aquanova was quite cold - and I rarely get cold!  Also, if you can go on a weeknight, do so.  The play costs a little more on Saturday, and is more crowded.  Finally, be sure to arrive early.  I can't count how many people came just before the play was about to start, and were very unhappy with their seat locations.  It's a small "theatre".  Only so many people can be in the front row around the stage!

The Playbill for "The Penis Society"

Our view of the stage.

 

Eating at "Mulligan's" at Clarke Quay

Although Clarke Quay is quite close to our apartment complex, I had never eaten there before.  Clarke Quay was what I traveled through to get to the MRT, and Robertson Quay was where I usually ate meals.  However, on this day, we were going to see a play on Clarke Quay, so we decided to eat dinner in the vicinity.

As we were traveling from our complex to Clarke Quay, we noticed a white shirt with what looked like a lot of blood on the steps of the bridge.  There also looked to be quite a bit of blood on the bridge.  Since this was a Saturday evening, we assumed that the bloody shirt was a remnant from Friday night.  We had never before seen signs of violence, and it was a bit disconcerting!

Although Clarke Quay and Robertson Quay are geographically quite close, they are aesthetically quite far apart!  I would say that Robertson Quay was more family friendly.  And even though I saw many children running through the fountain at Clarke Quay, I would say that it was more geared to the club hoppers.  Basically, if I wanted a romantic dinner, I would go to Robertson Quay.  If I wanted to party, I would head to Clarke Quay.

We decided to eat at "Mulligan's" because they had Guinness on tap, and we have good friends at home by that name.  We ate outside, and even though it was a very warm evening, it was covered by the Clarke Quay covering, and fans were rotating from many locations on the roof.  Rich had a Guinness on tap, and I had a glass of red wine.  If you are a wine drinker, this should not be your destination, as they have glasses of "House Red" and "House White".  Beer drinkers will much more at home.

For dinner, Rich chose their signature burger, and I had the fish and chips.  In this instance, I would say that I won dinner.  Despite the fact that Rich's burger had many of the things that I normally like on a burger, it was just kind of bland.  On the other hand, I got 2 big strips of fish, that were cooked to perfection, and lots of chips.  I recently had fish and chips in London, and these fish and chips were just as good.

I would probably head back there if I was in a beer drinking mood.  They have lots of tv's all around the bar area, showing sports from around the world.  I wonder if they ever show American football.

Rich, enjoying a Guinness at Mulligan's.

Children running through the fountain.

The Clarke Quay canopy and support.

The Peranakan Museum

Ever since Michelle Tan and Ben Lim took me to the Katong area, I have been very interested in the Straits Chinese.  Until I visited the Peranakan Museum, I believed that Straits Chinese was synonomous with Peranakans, but I learned otherwise.  At the museum, I learned that Peranakans was the term used to identify traders who traveled from other countries to trade with Singapore, and ended up marrying local Singapore women.  Many of the traders were from China, but many were also from India, and many other Asian countries.  That is why Singapore and the Singaporeans are so multicultural.  The United States isn't the only melting pot culture!

In Singapore's early days, when it was discovered as a trade destination, sailors would travel with the trade winds.  That meant that once they reached Singapore, they had to remain for 6 months, waiting for the trade winds to take them in the opposite direction.  6 months would give them plenty of time to meet and fall in love with the local women.  Many of the sailors stayed in Singapore to start their families, bringing their cultures and traditions with them.

A docent gave us a tour of the museum.  She spent much time explaining the wedding customs.  A Peranakan wedding would last for 12 days.  There were many traditional gifts that were given to the family of the bride, and the family of the groom.  The headpiece of the bride was actually made of a large number of hairpins, (I believe it was 144!), that had auspicious decorations on them.  The bridal robes were made of silk, and heavily embroidered.  It is so hot in Singapore that I can't imagine wearing anything made of silk, much less a long sleeved, heavily embroidered robe that falls to the floor!  In deference to that, the bridal party wore undergarments made of bamboo.  That helped to cool the wearer, keep the garments from clinging, and protect the delicate fabric from perspiration marks.  Wedding garb was meant to be passed from generation to generation.

I was especially tickled by one wedding custom.  Males were always highly regarded in the Singaporean culture.  The wedding couple would choose a boy who came from a family of many boys to roll on their nuptial bed before they consummated their marriage, in the hope that the couple would produce many male offspring.  When I related this fact to Michelle and Ben, the parents of 3 boys, they said that it is still that way today.  At an upcoming wedding of some friends, their 3 boys will be asked to roll on the bed and put like one little drop of pee in the corners of the bed in the hopes that the couple will have lots of boys!

One exhibit was dedicated to the "Nonya Porcelain".  This is beautiful china that belonged to the woman of the house.  Much

A beautiful kebiyah with embroidered dragons.

A beaded scarf.

Beaded slippers.

Gold Peacock belt.

Peacock belt with beaded footstools.

Nonya Porcelain.

Close-up of Nonya Porcelain.

A different color Nonya Porcelain.

Kebayas and sarongs..

...from different cultures...

...and eras.

The pottery smashing chute.

of the china was primarily pink in color.  This surprised me; that such a male oriented society would eat from pink "Nonya Porcelain".  The docent said that even though they were the wife's dishes, she had to make sure that all males ate first, and women could only eat after the men and children had eaten.  I wouldn't last long in that society!

There was one modern exhibit that was featured at the time of my visit.  Potters had made clay vessels, and patrons could buy the pots, and throw them down a large chute to smash them.   The members of my tour were cringing as we heard the breaking pots.  It was so hard to come to terms with art being smashed!  I don't know that I could pay for a pot and break it.