Singapore

I am just sitting here in the airport with M quite excited to be going somewhere.  You'd think with all my experience living overseas I'd realize how NB it is to "get outta Dodge" every once in a while!  But the more I learn, the less I know.  Then add to that menopause brain and you've got a complete shell of a woman making life altering decisions!  Sheesh!  I'd compare this to pregnancy brain but at least with PB (no..not peanut butter 'tho that's not a bad comparison) once it's over there is a 99% chance you would regain most of your faculties..not so now.  This is it.  The end...le fin...termina..it's curtains..

Anyway, Singapore was as wonderful and dull as it ever was.  I marveled at the lack of horns being honked..cars stopping when you cross the street..streets!  Ah, I'm in a bad way about Sri Lanka right now so I'm not being fair.

Our room was ..um..very efficient!

Our first meal!

Okay, what I did enjoy?  Well a flood of memories came back as both N and M were little gaffers here.  M was less than impressed when I showed him the hospital where he was born.  He was more impressed by the first MacDonald's I took him to!  We also stopped at our old apartment to say "hi" to Masoud, who is the doorman there.  He remembered us and was surprised that 13 1/2 years have passed!  I also hit up a few of the old second hand stores but my heart wasn't in it.

The day M went to hang with his friend, I went to the museums.  I was curious about the Red Dot Design Museum.  I gather it's a design award and the museum houses the winners.  It was interesting, if a little sparse.  Of course, having taken the museum studies course I look at exhibits a bit differently  Kinda fun to think how I would of staged it. 

No mistaking the Red Dot Design Museum!

My favorite exhibit was the Tupperware exhibit (no, this has nothing to do with my "Clic Clak" obsession).  I thought it was delightfully presented.  Looking through various design books from around the world was fun.  

That's a lot of "burping"going on!

After that I wandered over to Maxwell Food Court for a drink, then down Ann Siang Hill.  When I came out I was delighted to see that I was at our favorite Ipoh Hor Fun (it's not what you think it is!) restaurant.  It's a slow braised beef (maybe!) noodle soup.  It's quite delicious.  

Ipoh Hor Fun!

I hopped the MRT and went over to the National Museum.  It's housed in a very grand building with a modern extension.  I was after the "Living Galleries".  The Food one was good.  There were quite a few beautiful tiffins and kopitiam cups.  I winced when I realized that those old Fraser and Neeve glasses I was so casual with were actual collector pieces..sheesh!  Imagine... using them for drinking!?  

The various Kopitiam (coffeshop) cups.

But the gallery I was after was the fashion gallery.  It was for some inexplicable reason housed in a very dark gallery with lots of dead space.  Now I know that in the tropics it is hard to preserve textiles but I think a lot more could have been done about the politics surrounding the changes, I mean come on, riots, nationhood, Lee Kwan Yew, the whole sixties ethos!  Also, more homage could've been paid to the humble tailor shop.  

Chinese pjs and Cheongsam, one sexy, one not so...

Some western dresses & in the back you can see a paper "soup can" dress.

A nice way to create drama in a hall.

At the fashion exhibit at the Wing Luck Museum in Seattle they had a much more interactive display.  I think giant paper doll cutouts that you could put yourself behind even would have been good.  How about the local (Malay/Chinese) singers at the time and their style?How about the most iconic woman of all, the Singapore girl? I passed by the Movie and Wayang section and in retrospect should have gone.  They had a more modern exhibit in the extension of the building but again how it related to everything..dunno.  It's a hard space to work with, to be sure.  Now if I were the designer...

Like I said, we zoomed around on the MRT and while I was going way underground at Dhoby Ghat I looked up and saw this!  It must be kind of freaky to be the guy cleaning the pond and looking down 'cuz it was kind of freaky looking up!

M and I also enjoyed some of the inhouse entertainment our hotel had to offer.  I enjoyed a documentary called "Menstruation Man".  It's not all what you might think and the guy who is the subject is an amazing man helping the poor women of India.  They don't have access to affordable pads nor in some cases do they even know they exist.  The women are shy and don't hang their laundered rags (!) in the sun to dry so they re-use unsanitary cloths.  This, as you can imagine, can have a devastating effect on their personal health and can even affect their unborn children.  Suffering great derision and through trial and error, he has developed a process and a machine so that impoverished women can manufacture their own pads.  They are improving their health and creating employment for those who otherwise might remain in misery.  It is very inspiring!

Not so erudite was the Tamil movie we enjoyed.  The gods were playing with the lives of 4 men and giving them all sorts of tests in order that they maybe returned to their normal lives.  It was a hoot!  Especially the fact that the gods watched everything on an IMac!  

Finally even though this isn't a food blog I had to show you the amazing tofu fah disappearing act!

Now you see it...

Now you don't!