Singapore is a land famous for its culinary excellence, seemingly infinite cuisine options and relatively budget-friendly pricing. So far, I have been more than impressed by both the availability of food, on and off the NUS campus, and the quality of the cooking and ingredients used, not to mention the 3 dollar lunches which rival any 10 dollar meal in NYC.

Other than eating, I've done some preliminary sight-seeing and exploring - I've been to Clarke Quay (the nightlife area of Singapore), Chinatown, Little India, and some shopping malls too, to buy the necessities of life here too.

Anyway, here are some shaky snapshots of what I've been eating, doing, and seeing thus far! I'm still getting my 'real' camera ready-for-action, so these were all unfortunately taken via iPhone. But I promise, the photo quality (and writing quality!) will soon improve!







Char siu fan - A lunchtime favorite I fell in love with back in Hong Kong. The Singaporeans do it just as well, for about the same price too (about 2 USD!)

An unfortunate name, spied on an advertisement in the MRT (train).

I bought some instant coffee at the Cheapest Store in Singapore. It was, in fact, quite cheap - 1 Singapore dollar for 8 sachets of premixed Kopi Kosong (Coffee Zero - sugary black coffee).

A beautiful mosque in Little India, which I entered, and was subsequently given a lesson on Islamic history and why Islam is the One True Religion. I was also told how "The Jewish System" is controlling the world and destroying everything... anti-semitism is a live and well, my friends!


The financial buildings at night are pretty sexy.

The Quayside is a popular place to sit, drink beer, and admire the view, all the while sweating puddles.

Another fantastic lunch - pork, peanuts, an egg, chili peppers, and some other unidentifiable delights over a healthy bed of white rice.

On the National University's free shuttle system, some buses have this wonderful feature. A door cock. I have no idea what it does, but the 13 year old boy inside of me had to take a picture of it...

Lastly, something called "Pataya Fried Rice", which was basically chicken and vegetable fried rice, covered in a thinly stretched fried egg, topped with a generous amount of chili sauce. Deelish.

All is well in the land of the Merlion.

Ben


Since I last posted on this blog, much has changed. I am now a junior at Columbia University, majoring in Linguistics. I am also currently spending an exchange semester in Singapore, studying at the National University of Singapore! Accordingly, I have been convinced to get this blog going again, this time with my thoughts and experiences from Singapore! Also, there will be a special focus on food, since I love eating and Singapore is a Mecca for culinary delights ;)

I have only been here for 3 days, so it is still too early to summarize my first impressions of this city-state. I can only say that I am boiling hot all the time (27+ C day and night, no A/C), but really enjoying the change of pace from the cold wet New York winter I left behind in December, and the cool dry Italian winter I left behind last week (I spent my winter holidays in Italy, an awesome trip with my awesome lady!).

To anybody who follows this blog, I hope you'll enjoy the updates as they come! My goal is to post at least once per week, so check back in a few days for the first real update, complete with photos, and hopefully not too much moronic rambling.

Cheers,

Ben