A whole box of monks...

Just been to see 'Sutra' at the Esplenade theatre. It featured dance and martial arts by Shaolin Monks, who where stunningly athletic and graceful. The choreography by Belgian dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui was incredibly imaginative. What made it for me (and part of the reason I went) was the design by Antony Gormley, who I really like. The stage was completely empty except for 20 plain wooden boxes (about monk size, open on one side). During the show the monks, moved, flipped stacked and stood on these (often with a monk inside). The sheer number of combinations they produced with this was stunning and made it a beautiful show.... I really hope they make a DVD of this....

Working class colonialism...

Finally managed to haul my ass to Colbar this weekend. Its kind of an English bar... kind of. Its stuck completely in the middle of nowhere, off Portsdown Road. The whole road is full of black and white houses and feels very colonial and sleepy. The 'bar' is more of a shed serving English Ales and simple food, mainly English (fish and chips, bangers and mash) but also some chinese and india food. V.cheap food. An impressive array of Fullers beers (I'd never heard of Old Bob until now). Kind of cool to be sitting around rickety tables drinking ale on a tropical evening...

then I fed myself to th fish....

Went on a trip to a Fish Spa in Buggis Junction. Totally surreal experience.
You start of sitting around a small (in this case) pool (1x2m) full of doctor fish. You sit on the side, and even before you put your feet in, the fish start swarming, waiting for food. As soon as you put a toe in, a few fish latch on and start cleaning. It fells like being tickled with a rough brush. The more foot you put in, the more fish you get. Then its just a matter of sitting back for half an hour and let the fish clean your feet and eat off any dead skin. I'm not ticklish, so I quite enjoyed it, although the previous people who went were giggling lots. The fish are pretty thorough, the auntie who ran the place suggested I spread my toes a bit and immediately the fish started weaving between my toes. My feet feel very soft and pampered now, although it would probably take several hours to get rid of all of the hard skin on my heals and the balls of my feet.... Still, pretty good fun for S$15.

Das Experiment

(Pic from here)

Went to see an interesting play on Saturday. The Play is called "Das Experiment: Black Box". It is based on a German Movie. Which was based (loosely) on the Stanford Prison Experiment, a psychology experiment I remember studying in Psychology at school.

In a nut-shell, a group of people sign up for an experiment, in which, half will play the part of prison guards, half as prisoners. The are left in a 'mock prison' with the guards being given instructions on how to behave and how the prisoners days should be structured. This is pretty similar to the original experiment, which was stopped after 6 days because the guards and prisoners got too involved in their roles....

The cast was an interesting mix of western and local actors, with a couple of very impressive performances. (Really should have bought a program). Interestingly the play was performed in something similar to part of a mall, with a large balcony above the main area (the prison) being used as the guards room and scientists' observation rooms. This actually worked pretty well, especially as the prisoners managed to keep in their roles very well and using their body language excellently.

The part I found most interesting wasn't so much the interaction between the prisoners and guards, but the interaction between guards. The guards started with a mix of personalities, and gradually pressured and coerced each other in to conforming or ignoring what was going on. For me, the end was a bit too Hollywood, I would have been happy if they had stretched out the first half, where tensions build and people slip into their assigned roles.

An interesting exploration of the psychology of conformity and power.

Why I love taxi drivers here...

Just got a ride from a crazy, talkative old uncle, who dropped his wife off at the same time as picking me up. Had a fantastic stream of consciousness the whole ride. Here are a couple of memorable exerts.

Driver: You work over christmas or you go back?
Adam: Working a bit.
Driver: Me, I got to work, my wife, she say "No money, no honey", what can you do?
(the uncle was at least 80, and wrinklier than Yoda)

Driver: Where you from?
Adam: England
Driver: Ah, England... you married?
Adam: No...
Driver: Ahhh, International Bachelor, James Bond, Double O seven!
Adam: Hmmm.....

Random wandering, this place is near Buona Vista station. Looks like it would be fun to play here...

there and back again

Am back, tired as hell, eyes burning, but slightly glad of the fact that just having gotten off a plane seems to excuse staring into space while people are talking to you....

Loosing my Durian cherry....

So, having been here for nearly a year (shit). I have finally tried Durian.

I got the shuttle bus home last night and ended up talking to Fred on the way to Holland V, he was showing me a great fruit store, and was shocked to hear that I'd never tried the fruit. So he insisted on buying one and having the auntie open it on the spot. (apparently you should only eat them freshly opened, otherwise they tend to ferment).

I have to admit it wasn't anywhere near as smelly as I was expecting. The part you eat is actually quite small, (the yellow part on the picture), which is a 1cm layer around a big seed. The texture is the first strange thing, which is something like mouse... The taste is impossible to describe. Totally unlike anything I've ever eaten. Not unpleasant, just very unusual. I can't say I'm hooked yet. This durian was fairly sweet (they range from sweet to bitter). Fred also told me (after) that, like asparagus, if you eat enough it will make your urine smell. The smell also sticks to your hands amazingly, resisting all soaps. You also keep tasting it for several hours afterwards....

So I'm not totally put off, I'd be prepared to try it again. But at least I've tried it now....

Eating, eating, eating

Kat's visit, unusually involved quite a bit of eating out... Here are the noteworthy places we found/revisited....

Blue Ginger
A very good Peranakan restaurant, near Tanjong Pagar. This place takes my prize for easily the best service I have ever had in Singapore. To the point where we ordered a bottle of wine, tasted it, thought it was ok, if slightly unusual, drank a bit before the maitre d' insisted on giving us a different bottle simply because it looked a bit darker than usual (in hindsight we both agreed it did taste unusual, not corked, but a bit more like sherry than a white wine usually does). The food was excellent, especially the otak otak and mackerel curry. Slightly more expensive than usual, but worth it for the service alone....

Da Paolo Pizza Bar
Still my favourite place for pizza in Singapore. Really good crispy base, good range of toppings. This is balanced/offset by the service, which has been consistently dreadful every time I've been. Ranging from being very slow (30 minutes just to order) to the waitress forgetting to order our pizzas. Still, your pizza will come eventually, it will be excellent when it comes, but perhaps order a bottle of Prosecco or two beers each (even these are slow) as the waiter is seating you...

Sun Japanese Restaurant

In an attempt to satisfy my woman's need for sushi, we went to Sun at Chijmes (near City Hall MRT). I love the sushi here, as it extends much further than the standard, salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, rolls and wraps of most places. The california rolls with deep fryed oyster were wonderful, as well as the rolls with prawn and smoked eel. My favourite was the plate with three pieces of imported Japanese tuna, each a different cut, each visibly different colour, taste and texture. Ok, so I have never eaten sushi in Japan, but by the western approximations I've grown up with, this was far better...

...and then we got hookers...

Just spent an intrigueing evening out with one of my (nameless) friends. Had a few drinks at various bars by the river, then ended up in the bar of a very reputable hotel. It was an interesting experience, not simply because it was the first passible mojito I'd had all night, but also because of the clientele. Most of the male patrons were somewhat older than me, and generally appeared to be alone. Most of the female customers where considerably younger and seemed to possess more silicon than my laptop....

In the end I felt somewhat like an anthropologist, studying a strange, foreign tribe. I also discovered that I'm not very good at not flirting with people when I look at them, and also that I'm much more easily embarresed that I thought....

As you may be able to deduce by the fact that I'm writing this on a Saturday night, my honour remains intact...

Shopping Taboos...

Went shopping with Mikiko, Ryota and Nao on Saturday, didn't actually get much shopping done, spent most of the time trying to stop the kids from destroying the place, inadvertantly shoplifting or standing in the windows of shops modeling.... (Was lots of fun)



One thing I noticed which was interesting was how people looked at me wandering around with the kids.... Am considering getting a t-shirt printed, can't would have one of the following things on it, I'm happy to take votes..

1. "Relax, she is not my wife, they are not my kids"



2. "Stop staring at me you narrow minded f****r"

Hoez....

I had an interesting insight into another side of Singapore tonight. Went out for dinner with Alan to Chijmes in the centre of town. Its quite a nice little square of eateries and bars. Had some very good Japanese food, then had a couple of beers an a few games of pool. Then I wandered off to find a taxi. I went a different direction from Alan (who has a car) and as I was leaving and waiting to cross the street I got propositioned by two hookers (teamwork is important in all things). Considering I was waiting to cross the road and not paying them any attention, I was apparently giving off the right signals (which seem to consist of being white, male and alone). One of them grabbed my arm and after telling me she liked my muscles (a good sign she was full of shit) asked me where I lived... It took a surprising amount of forcefulness and insistence to convincer her and her friend that I didn't want to take one or both of them home. Fortunately I managed to disentangle myself before the lights changed again. (getting busted for jay-walking would have been too weird)

(and no I didn't take either/both of them home)

Tattoo

I've never seen a tattooed statue before.... (from the Chinese Garden)

Strange ways to spend a weekend....

We felt like doing a bit of exercise this
weekend, so we wandered over to Spring Gear at East Cost Park and hired KangooJump boots for an hour. As you can see from the picture they are ski boots with bloody big springs bolted onto the bottom (apparently a Swiss invention). They are pretty fun. Its a bit like jogging (it is still quite tiring) but much easier on the legs/knees. We had lots of fun bouncing along by the sea, making lots of small children jealous. Might try and go either v.early in the morning or after sunset. We went at 5:30 and it was still pretty hot.

Exploring....

Went to Labrador Nature Reserve today (south of Singapore, between the lab and Vivo City). Its a strange little place, with a small amount of pretty unspoiled beach (apart from the damn long jetty). In the middle is a hill with a small piece of jungle. Dug into the top is a series of tunnels and gun emplacements made by the British in the 1880s, which are quite interesting to wander around. Kat also got a 'lite' version of Singapore WWII history.

Singapore's most wanted

The talk of the fly room for the last few days has been who created this great piece of photoshopping and stuck it on the notice board in our lab (next to the original). So after spending several days grilling people, the original artist has come forward. (I just wanted to get a copy to post here...)
Thanks to Gu Ying in Feng Wei's lab for brighting up my week (and nearly getting me arrested).

If none of this makes any sense, here's some help.

Rain rain go away.....

It looks like the rainy season is catching up with us this week. I miss the age when rain was fun, it meant waterproofs and wellington boots and jumping in puddles...

Super high tech crime fighting....

Just got a multi-media text message from the Singapore Police, asking if I've seen Mas Selamat bin Kastari, who is apparently short (1.58m) and limps on left leg.

So please contact the Singapore Police if you have seen him.

(to make more sense of this read here)

Signs and portents....

From Kent Ridge Park... in order:
Do not threaten the monkeys
Do not kill birds

Simple Addictions....

For anyone who was curious, this is what S$100 worth of coffee looks like (there are actually 7 tins). Or about a two month supply for Adam and Minna....
At least the Rørth lab can continue to function now...