Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

My brother Marcin and his wife Dorota visited us for over 2 weeks; they currently live in Nanjing, China. As a part of their holiday we planned to go to KL for a long weekend. I was curious about it, as it was my first time leaving Singapore and visiting a different Asian country. My knowledge about Malaysia was limited to: it’s quite conservative, as it is a Muslim country, they prepare their meat differently, you probably heard of Halal food, and that it’s different to Singapore. Well, from the very first hours in Malaysia, I could feel it was a different world…

When we arrived in KL the queue time to the passport control was longer than the flight… The lady who checked my passport and examined in detail every single page of it and asked if I entered Singapore at all, as there was no chop (Asian word for a stamp!) stating I ever crossed a boarder to Singapore. I was shocked, as I didn’t even know if I was supposed to have a stamp, I travelled a lot in Europe and actually they do not these any more… She started questioning me, as she knew I came from a Singapore flight, and her voice sounded as if she was interrogating me, like I was some illegal immigrant or something… I didn’t feel very comfortable; after all I had been in a holiday mood just starting my long weekend. To prove her I live and work in Singapore I showed her my Singaporean Employment Pass card, which she examined suspiciously, showed it to her nearby colleague speaking Malay, put a Malaysian chop on the first page of my passport and returned my both documents. When I opened my passport I realized that on the same first page where she put her stamp, there was a Singapore chop! Well, maybe she missed the first time she looked at it… I wasn’t really sure… Nice welcome in KL…

After passport control we went for a taxi to get to our B&B. But, as we approached the taxi stand, we only learned that to get a taxi ride we need… a ticket! So, we went back to the main airport building and purchased a ticket from a special taxi ticket counter. We went back then to a taxi stand, with all our bags, and finally took off to KL. When we entered the city we noticed that it’s pretty busy, noisy and dirty… After Singapore our standards became very high, as it’s very very clean, so KL stroke us as poorer than our ‘new hometown’. We found our B&B, refreshed a little and went out for lunch to a nearby restaurant and coffee and cake in Starbucks just across the road from our B&B. The rest of the day we spent in Chinatown, wandering in the local markets and discovering this part of the city. The first and lasting impression was very similar to the one we had in the morning, Chinatown was also dirty and poor… The hygiene standards were bad, the buildings looked old and you could feel the city didn’t get any financial support from the government for a long long time. Even the shops and stand around Chinatown didn’t project high standard of their products… In one of the jewelry stores we saw a security guy, who didn’t wear any uniform, but he had a machine gun! Was this just a culture shock or it’s just me?

The next day we got up early, as we wanted to go up the famous Petronas Towers. I heard from my colleagues that people start queuing for tickets since very early morning, so we were there after 7am. The ticket shop opened at 9am, and we were lucky enough to get tickets for 11am the same day! We had a Malay breakfast, famous Nasi Lemak, and came back for the tour. The view from the 86th floor of the Petronas Towers was fantastic, although the weather that day wasn’t the best. Then we went to the bridge connecting both towers. I must say that it was worth waiting all morning for those views!

In the afternoon we went to a National Mosque of Kuala Lumpur. We all got purple gowns covering us from head to toes, the Muslim way, and we went in, bare foot. When we got to the main point of the mosque we started chatting with a very nice gentleman who was there to give information to tourists like us. He sat down with us for about 30 min and spoke about Islam and some of its rules. Well, I have always perceived myself as a tolerant person, especially when it comes to nationalities, customs and religion, but I couldn’t agree with the traditions and boundaries of Muslim life he told us about. Well, it’s totally different to my Western understanding of life and society, but it was nice to learn more about the Malay lifestyle! We went for dinner to our next-door Moroccan restaurant, in the spirit of discovery, and I must say we all really enjoyed the food…

On Sunday we went to the Batu Caves with one of the most famous Hindu shrine outside of India, up in the mountain cave. But before we got there, we had another ‘culture-shock-experience’ in KL, riding a bus! We took a bus from our street to get to the bus interchange station first. There was a bus driver, and a ticket man. They waited till there was a good bunch of people on the bus and started selling tickets when the bus was full. When the bus took off he sat down on the bus stairs, yes, the ones we used to enter the bus, and stayed there with the bus door was open throughout the whole ride! We were shocked to see this, as he could have easily fallen off the bus at any time and hurt himself! The ticket man was encouraging people in the street to get on the bus, so several times we took more passengers just in the middle of the street! The bus also hit a man who was just crossing the street! That was just unbelievable! We switched the busses on the bus interchange station and we waited again till the bus got full before it could take off. The ticket man was shouting around: ‘Batu Caves! Batu Caves!’, trying to get more customers on the bus. When we finally took off we could see more of the city’s parts, not too different from the city centre… When we arrived at the Batu Caves we saw the world’s tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity, outside of the caves. Batu Caves serves as a pilgrimage site for not only Malaysian Hindus, but Hindus worldwide from countries such as India, Australia and Singapore.

One other thing that stroke us was a sense of fashion in KL. For men, it’s pretty much similar to the Western standards, but most women wear black gowns showing only their eyes. Some other show also their faces, but tourist women are somehow a subject of interest for local men and women alike, as they do look different. Although both, myself and Dorota, we wore more conservative clothes there, we still felt we were looked at constantly…



In the afternoon we went back to the airport, as our KL weekend was coming to an end. There were no major surprises on the KL side this time, but when we arrived in Singapore, we learned we couldn’t purchase alcohol in duty free, as all Malaysia flight passengers are not allowed to buy liquors, according to the local law! I wondered, although Singapore and Malaysia are neighbors and close trade partners, there are still things like this where you can feel there is tension between those two countries! Singapore was formerly part of Malaysia but was separated in 1965 due to political differences and racial tension, so even as a foreigner who might not be aware of the historical background, one can experience some of this tension while travelling!

The weekend in KL was a great learning experience for all of us. It is incredible how different 2 neighboring countries could be. I saw differences between certain European countries before, but never to such a big extent as between Singapore and Malaysia... I am glad I experienced KL, but I was definitely happy to be back in Singapore where I can drink water from the tap, wear what I like and enjoy clean city with safe public transport…

Hungry Ghost Festival

Hungry Ghost Festival is held in 7th month of the lunar year, this year it was celebrated between 10th Aug and 7th Sep 2010 in Singapore. The Taoist Chinese believe that during this time, the gates of hell open for spirits to visit their living relatives. Hence, the seventh month is a time for the Chinese to reminisce and pay respects to their deceased friends and relatives. The Chinese feel that they have to satisfy the imprisoned and hungry ghosts in order to get good fortune and luck in their lives. During this time, they prepare sumptuous meals as offerings to the spirits. Hell money, candles and joss sticks (which are often deemed as food for the spirits) are also burnt as offerings. The communities also organize prayer ceremonies at their temples.

Hungry Ghost Festival or Zhong Yuan Jie is also celebrated with ceremonies at homes, associations, and guilds. Prayers are offered to the dead and offerings of food such as chicken, vegetables, fruits, bean curd and white rice are placed at street corners and roadsides to appease the spirits. This is believed to prevent the wandering spirits from entering their homes and causing disturbances in their households. Offerings are also made at Hungry Ghost Festival or Zhong Yuan Jie by burning replica money notes, which are also known as ‘hell money’. Some families also burn paper houses, cars and even paper television or radio sets to give to their dead relatives. The Chinese feel that these offerings reach the ghosts and help them live comfortably in their world.

Very often during the Ghost Festival, there are Getai performances held throughout Singapore. Getai are “road shows” held on make-shift stages where performers, often dressed in elaborated costumes, sing and entertain the spirits. These performances sometimes comprise Chinese opera performances, as well as popular hits in Chinese dialects such as Hokkien and Cantonese. Everyone is welcome to watch the show as long as you don’t sit at the front row, which is reserved for the “special guests”.

This festival is like a Chinese Halloween, only it lasts all month and it is much more spiritual. In my street there was food and stakes of burned fake money (‘hell money’) almost all month. First time I found food in the street was on 9th August, I thought someone was just messing around after the Singapore National Day but now I know it was for the hungry ghosts! At first I didn’t know about that festival and I was very surprised that there is food in the street and no one cleaned it. Singapore is such a clean place that you notice such things… Well, they cleaned the food and ashes now and my street is all back to normal… Singapore-clean!

‘Excuse me’ the Singapore Style!

When I first came to Singapore I was impressed by how people behave in the streets and public transport. Singaporeans seemed to be very calm, polite and friendly. All bus stations and taxi stands have queue barriers that make people queue in an orderly fashion and everyone seems to follow the rules so I thought: what disciplined and polite people those Singaporeans are! They seem to apologize a lot as well, in the street, in the bus, in MRT (metro/train), in the shopping malls, elevators, etc. The phrase I hear most often during a day is in fact: ‘Excuse me’, or ‘Excus’, ‘Escus’, ‘Skus ah’, ‘Skus ah’, ‘Eskus lah’, in any Singlish version there is! But, there is something that ‘doesn’t belong’ here…

Well, it took me some time to figure this out, but what sounds as a polite and kind Singaporean ‘Excuse me’ has nothing to do with being or feeling ‘sorry’ for anything. I was trying to observe when exactly do they use this phrase and I came to a very surprising conclusion, Singaporeans use it when they need something from you or they want you to do something!

Most common meaning of ‘Excuse me’ is ‘move off my way’. Yes, they disguise this phrase with polite and international ‘Excuse me’ but what they really mean is ‘I am passing and you are on my way’, ‘get off my way’, and sometimes, with the specific tone of voice and volume you could even get, ‘get out of my way!’ type of ‘Excuse me’… It is very common that the stations, shopping malls and trains are really crowded, so you hear many ‘Excuse me’s’ and see many people elbowing their way through the crowds… Funnily enough, if you are not Singaporean and you use ‘Excuse me’ the Singapore style, they look at you as you were the rudest person on earth!

‘Excuse me’ has also been used to stop you and engage in any form of sale of a product or service. Restaurants here always have a person outside to bring customers in, so that’s also quite difficult to refuse about 50 persuasive restaurant staff while walking along the street or quay especially after you have just eaten your dinner elsewhere…Even when you walk with your headset on, they manage to stop you, it is impossible to ignore some of the pushiest and most experienced ones! Of course, they smile and they are nice, but the whole concept of ‘Excuse me’ is lost again as it is very far away from being polite or apologizing for stopping you and taking some of your time, especially if you don’t buy their product. Usually those street or shopping stands’ people are young, sweet and innocent Asian girls or handsome nice-looking men, so if you ‘don’t know’ and stop and listen, most likely you will end up buying their product or service regardless of your current needs…

Sometimes Singaporeans do use ‘Excuse me’ in a proper context, but again, it doesn’t sound apologetic, more of an irritation of you ‘being on the way’... If someone steps on you, hits you with the shopping bag, pokes you with a wet umbrella or bumps into you, you would hear the famous phrase but if you didn’t speak English and interpret the tone of voice only here, you might think that this person not only invaded your personal space but also yelled at you for no reason! Well, sometimes you can learn politeness from impolite…

Air conditioning in Singapore, a friend or a foe?

Before moving to Singapore I had to make a series of difficult and painful decisions, one of them was selecting my wardrobe items. My luggage size and weight were limited, so I had to compromise… My female need of bringing all my clothes and shoes with me, even the ones I didn’t wear for the last 2 years, lost with my husband’s convincing arguments: you won’t need this, you won’t need that, this is not nice, you won’t wear this there, it’s definitely too hot for all those sweaters, jumpers and jackets. Well, the all-knowing-Google advised me the same, so with a heavy heart I donated majority of the clothes I took years to hand-pick. For all those who always trust men and Google, DON’T! Let me elaborate…

Singapore is the first and only country I have ever been to where you put your jacket on when you enter any building and you take it off while going outdoors! It is not a joke, I am dead serious… The average temperatures are usually 32/33°C during the day and 25/26°C at night. The climate is very consistent here; it is very hot and humid all the time, so as a result air conditioning is used everywhere! Or should I say overused…? Offices, shopping malls, public buildings, trains and busses, taxis even, in other words – all living spaces! Your first reaction is probably the same as mine – it’s too hot outside, get me some AC!!! Yeah, it is nice maybe for the first several minutes... As my body took over a month to get used to the thirties’ temperatures, it was not easy to manage the change from the air-conditioned about-twenty degrees office to thirty-something outside… My colleagues told me they have jackets at work so I brought a sweater, but little did I know that my thin cardigan was not enough… Now I have a cardigan, a sweater and a pashmina and on top of those, very often my colleagues see me at my desk sipping hot green tea with my hands stuck to the teacup to warm myself up! I am not the only one though; my colleagues wear their jackets every day as the office feels like a one big fridge!

Many people around me have a constant cold, no wonder I’m thinking, with such drastic temperature changes I say everyone is destined to have several of those a year… I did not have one just yet, because, as surprising as it is to my colleagues and probably some strangers in busses and trains I take every day, I put tights and stockings while wearing skirts or dresses to work. And I always wear closed-toed shoes to work, no sandals. Yes, I am hot on my way to and from work, but I am not that cold at work! Let me just narrow it down, I am hot while moving between the means of transport, which is from my apartment to the bus – about 3 min plus waiting for the bus; the longest waiting was maybe 5 min, then from the bus to the train (MRT, Massive Rapid Transport, a metro if you will; most stations are underground) - 2 min, and then not even a minute from the train to my office building. The bus and train are air-conditioned, so not only am I not hot there, most of the time I am actually chilly... Then, there is 9hrs at work every day, where I am cold most of the time, even wearing shoes and tights, so as you can see wearing layers is not such a stupid idea in Singapore!

Man, don’t I miss some of those clothes I donated…? What can I say… next time I will compromise better and consider my feminine side more seriously, right honey....?!? So a word of advice, if you are planning to visit Singapore, remember to bring some warm clothing! Not a joke…

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Last week I vitnessed my first Singapore National Day and I must say I was impressed! Singaporeans are very patriotic as a nation; I haven’t seen this pride in any country, OK, maybe America... Singapore celebrated its first National Day in 1966, one year after Singapore's independence from Malaysia on 9 August 1965. Every year all island gathers in the main areas of Singapore with all the country officials, the army, performers and thousands of volunteers who help out with the celebrations. Usually there are civil-military parade presentations and ceremonies in the afternoon in Padang area of Singapore that finish with amazing fireworks in the evening. I watched the whole parade on TV, as advised by my colleagues, so I had a very good and close view of the whole event! I also saw some of the fireworks from my balcony, after all I live on the 29th floor and Singapore is not that big.

What amazed me the most was the pride and joy of being a Singaporean! It is really unusual that the people are so affectionate about their country! Every year there are new National Day Songs written for this occasion and all Singaporeans know them as they promote the event and the theme song weeks before the National Day! This year it was ‘Song for Singapore’, and some of the previous years’ ones were ‘Shine for Singapore’, ‘There’s no Place I’d Rather Be’, ‘One United People’, and one written in 1984 and still performed this year – ‘Stand Up for Singapore’. All Singaporeans knew the lyrics of all the songs! All island was decorated with various Singapore symbols and emblems, every window in every building had a flag even 2 months before the event! Everyone was wearing red and white on Singapore’s 45th Birthday, as they call it, the colors of the Singapore flag. Also, every year the National Day has a theme, this year it was ‘Live Our Dreams, Fly Our Flag’, and some of the past years’ themes were ‘Our Global City, Our Home’, ‘A Progressive Society’, ‘City of Possibilities’, ‘Come Together - Reaching Out. Reaching Up’. So I suppose you can see what I mean saying that Singaporeans are outstandingly patriotic! It is very diverse here and it is perceived as strength, as it brings growth and prosperity to the country.

I admire the patriotism of Singaporeans, but for me it was another public holiday Monday that I could spend home at swimming pool, Jacuzzi and with the cable TV that I had installed 2 days before the National Day! Happy birthday Singapore!

Salsa, baby!

Last week I went to my first salsa course in Singapore! The instructor checked my level and assigned to Salsa 3. The group was quite big, more than 10 couples and several extra ladies… as usual. The class was 1’5 hours, so we could really benefit from the dancing! Bernard, the instructor, did some good footwork warm-up including some advances shines! The salsa routines’ terminology differs here to what I have been used to so I was improvising a lot and relying on my dancing intuition… I wasn’t the only one though, so I wasn’t too worried. Bernard went through the more sophisticated footwork and after about 30 mins he moved to partner work. The routine he taught was very nice, most of the dancers managed to follow it. Unfortunately there was no fiesta after the class; usually there is social dancing afterwards, but next week definitely!

People in class were very open and friendly! I must admit it was very nice as after 2 months here I have an impression that a lot of people here ‘become friendly’ after you get to know them first, so it was lovely to meet some new people who are more forward and chatty at the first contact. Maybe it’s just how the dancers are, socializing comes easier to people who dance as they usually go out regularly… The instructor was really easy-going and funny as well; he created a nice atmosphere in class. Reminded me of Fintan actually… Here I go again, I must be missing my Cork salsa people…

Singapore Food Festival

Last month Singapore hosted one of the most popular festivals that brought crowds to one of the city’s busiest spots, the Clarke Quay. It has become one of the key cultural events on the island as it profiles Singapore’s culinary offerings of the local and international food, and as some of you may know by now, food is one of the first and most common subjects in Asia! Every year the festival highlights different gastronomic flavor, this year’s Singapore Food Festival celebrated versatile Chinese cuisine!

The Clarke Quay food stalls offered so many different types of dishes that I wasn’t sure what to try first… We went around first to get a better idea what a ‘Chinese cuisine’ is. I am here for about 2 months now and I still cannot tell difference between many Asian dishes… Chinese, Malay, Indian, Indonesian, Philippine...there's too many of them here... We bought a festival card that allowed us to purchase smaller portions from many food stalls; after all we were there to sample different things!

While going around I realized how diverse Chinese cuisine really is! After all China is an enormous country with many provinces, climate types, various regional products, seasoning, culinary traditions and cooking techniques. The most traditional Chinese dishes you might know are chicken-rice, Kung Pao chicken, various stir fry’s, steamed/fried/boiled dumplings, hot soup pots, fish ball noodles, steamed egg (this is very interesting! You add egg to broth/soup in a small pot and steam it until it gets solid; very particular in taste, but yummy), roast goose, shark fin soup (this is really different too, but tasty), popiah (like a spring roll, thin paper-like crepe with filling – different combinations of vegetables, meat, seafood, but not fried like the spring roll, it is served fresh). Most popularized Chinese cuisine types in Europe are Cantonese and Sichuan, that’s the only two I heard of before moving to Asia anyway, so it was real feast for us to try new dishes during the Food Festival!

We tried popiah, chicken pau (steamed Chinese buns, like Polish ‘papmuchy’), vegetable and meat filled dumplings, Chinese rolls with meat and seafood filling, and for dessert Durian pancake (Indonesian/Malay origin fruit with a very particular odor; you probably saw FB pictures when I eat the Durian pancake and make funny faces… It is really very special taste, apparently it is a local favorite… I’m not a big fan, Herve, on the other hand, ate the whole thing without making faces, that’s progress! Becoming Singaporean already...) and a variety of rice cakes, very popular here. I noticed that rice is a base ingredient for many foods and drinks in Asia, even pastries or alcohol!

Apart from the Chinese cuisine you could get any local Singaporean food, such as Indian, Malay, Indonesian, Western, including the signature Singaporean Chili Crab! I tried the sauce served with the crab, it’s hoooooot!!!! Another thing I learned about food here, hot dishes are really really hot! So if you think you know 'hot' you should try original Asian food... I still cannot eat hot dishes here, whenever I have lunch that is a little hot, I end up lobster red... But I'm getting used to spicy Asian buds.

Overall, the event was really great, it gave the Island of Singapore another occasion to showcase their gastronomic diversity and share it with all hungry tourists and locals. I cannot wait for the next year’s one… Hmmm, feeling a little hungry writing about all the food… What do I have in the fridge? Talk to you later!

Durian fruit



The durian is the fruit widely known in Southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odor, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimeters (12 in) long and 15 centimeters (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). The edible portion of the fruit, known as the aril and usually referred to as the "flesh" or "pulp", only accounts for about 15-30% of the mass of the entire fruit.

The edible flesh emits a distinctive odor, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine and gym socks. The odor has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.

My first week at work

My first workweek is behind me. I met all my new colleagues and got installed at my new workstation. I must say I love the environment and facilities here! Our office is on the 21st floor of a Suntec Tower 4 in the Suntec City, so I have a view on the famous Fountain of Wealth! Yes, that means I have a window view, for those who work in the natural light every day it is probably normal, but in almost all my jobs in the past few years I was always stuck in air-conditioned offices with no windows, so I can surely appreciate my own window now! Unfortunately I still have to deal with AC, but look, I have a window right? That’s definitely an improvement.

Another thing I love is the pantry area… OMG, we have cold/hot water machine, a fridge full of canned drinks at all times (Coke, green tea, juices, café frappe), milk, great coffee machine that makes milos, the local name for a hot chocolate, and lattes, at least 7 types of tea available, minimum 8 full pastry/cookie boxes, ice cream even! I am really impressed I must say! There is no canteen here, but downstairs there is a food court serving dinners with a world-wide variety for about 3-6 Singapore dollars, which is about €1,5-3! After lunch my colleagues have a habit of taking a stroll around the shopping mall, as both the food court and the shopping centre are within the Suntec City architectural structure. There are also restaurants around the Fountain of Wealth, but these are a little more expensive than the food court…

My colleagues are mainly Singaporeans, but there is a good diverse mix too. I struggle with the English accent used in here, but it will just take some time to get used to I suppose. When I came to Cork first time, I wasn’t sure I was in an English speaking country… It was really hard to understand people speak, and I studied English as my major for 5 years so I had thought I was all set! That was a real shock for me! After almost 4 years in Cork I was told that I had a Cork accent, so give me several months and/or years, and I will be speaking Singlish!

Well anyway, first week down!