I have no idea what i am doing here. But the decision to come here came about two weeks before my departure, when somebody Malaysian said to me: "Pleeeeaaase come tooo visittt mee!!..." So i did.
And this is what i am doing in Malaysia:
+ Go to Su-Hwei's house (27th - 28th Jan) - sightseeing and dinner with SH's family, and shopping with SH's siblings + Go to Singapore (29th - 2nd Feb) + Go to Darryl's house (2nd Feb) - to see the dogs + Go to Penang (3rd-6th Feb) - food and sightseeing + Go to Darryl's house (6th-8th Feb) - mahjong, CNY party, Church, more dinners, dogs + Go to Su-Hwei's house - for more girls and shopping (9th Feb) + Go to Genting (10th Feb)+ Go to Darryl's house - because i will miss his mum so much (11th Feb) + Airport (12th Feb)
...i'm in the place to be on a Sunday morning- where the cow switches the positions of the sky and the earth, where fishes are left over every year, where dragons and horses have abundant energy, and finally whereten thousand elephants are renewed.
Chinatown. Lovely imagery.
Inside a complex, i was happy to hear a group of middle-aged people talking and laughing with a young girl, who had stopped to express extreme amusement at a product offering notice for a local salon.
Many shops close for Chinese New Year period.
The small girl, who seemed to be quite intelligent, could not stop laughing at this:
Some of these services just don't sound very right! Especially "bust exchange" (!...)
Hence, Chinatown is the place to be for ultra-fobby English translations.
Lion dancers can be heard from all over chinatown. I found these dancers to be very interesting, because they danced at any particular shop for a long time. So long, that most of the people initially drawn by the loud banging, get tired of the racket and walk away.
Chinese boss mesmerized by dancing lion.
Chinese boss mesmerized by the mandarin numbers brought by the lion and he is proud of it. He later asks shoppers at his store for their opinion on the meaning of the number.
A successful Singaporean dessert store chain, was my resting place after walking a long time around Chinatown.
Dessert Hut a hot spot for many Singaporeans.
I ordered a hot red bean soup. The taste was of a verying degree of authenticity, so i ordered an ice dessert for a good finishing effect. But how wrong i was, for every spoonful i ate, the taste became heavier and heavier. And i left it at this.
Wasted food for a less wasted body.
Darkness has no light. The one in darkness cannot see the light. Thanks to my mum, who is the light. I can no longer eat these types, nor bubble tea type desserts and feel right.
I couldn't find the word to describe the horrible taste of the desserts, though in the end, the precise word came to mind: unrighteous.
Singaporean structures are very high-tech. To me, they aim to portray the Singaporean way of thinking: innovation and precision.
Kids put on water show for lunch time adults.
The four pillars meet - zoom and check the precision of this water spout.
The show lasted about half an hour, and at one stage, had four kids sitting on one spout each. "Ooo"s and "Aaa"s and much attention were attracted from shoppers of the surrounding shops.
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And finally, what are these uncles doing?
Special attention for the uncle picking chin hairs.
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No one is inside the store.
HAHAHAHAHA~ Can you imagine what these uncles will do when the DVD is turned off?
So here i am, in the place to be on a Saturday night - ORCHARD ROAD.
Tourist central junction of Orchard Road: opposite the MRT station. Modern tower contrasts with forbidden city.
Orchard Road night life.
Orchard Road is a road on which many luxurious hotels, shopping complexes, restaurants set their foundation. I actually didn't see anything interesting on this road on the night, so i have not much to write about (!)...
Apart from this:
Rated: state-of-the-art visitor centre.
The features inside this building are mighty impressive. Apart from the free service, brochures, aircon, and comfortable seating, there is also a water dispenser, free internet and a dual foot and leg massager, which can also do your arms as well. Amoz said that this is a good "save point" for visitors (hahaha).
The title of the following song performed by a Chinese instrumental music group, is called "Firecrackers in the Sky". Sounds like an ordinary title for a song? I hope you will change your mind during the performance. I found it hilarious.
Context: Chinese musicians played a few traditional songs on the cymbals and drums, which was quite a bit of loud banging that didn't make sense to non-Chinese instrumental appreciators. Then comes this "Firecrackers in the Sky" ~
Improper ending version - acknowledged by members.
I will and appreciate and enjoy very much - innovation over skill, any day and everyday.
There is a sense of urgency in the Singaporean atmosphere. Pedestrians walk moderately fast, nobody wants to talk to you (or me), and people in general just seem to want to do the opposite of "relaxation". Now this is exciting! (1) Never in my life, have i seen such strong imagery of students in tuition class.
Adam Khoo unleashes kids into mathematics.
And it is normal for children to study on the move. My mum told me to gain 20 minutes on the train by reading.
School girl gains 30 seconds per traffic light waited upon.
So, not surprisingly, the first conversation i overheard in Singapore, was a squawk of mums in the MRT station talking about strategies to make their children learn faster. And i remembered them to be strategies taken upon by the mum, not the child.
(2)Singaporean promoters really know how to sell. I mean, Singaporean promoters really know how to sell in the most exerted way they are physically capable. There is a difference.
For a standard shop, the response from the shopkeeper, upon entrance of a customer, is to ask what they are after. If the customer tells them that he is just looking, the shopkeeper will most likely follow him around the shop while adding audio captions to the items. Example, a DVD shop: "Zhe ge 'Hong Jin Bao' dao yan zui xin de hen bu cuo. Zhe ge 'Tie Zui Yin Ya' hen bu cuo... Zhe ge... uh... ye hen bu cuo" ("This is good, this is good, these are all very good"). To which the customer responds: "Uh, oh. Oh. Oh. Oh." out of politeness.
The shopkeeper stops following the customer around when he notices that the customer is only pretending to genuinely browse the items, usually out of politeness. Having been pushed a few metres into the store by the salesmen and women, leaving immediately may hurt some peoples' feelings, and of course, look a bit weird.
Apart from that, bosses like to send stalled salespeople into the streets to promote products. The competition is high, and space is limited; every boss wants his product to be maximally advertised on the main streets.
Man with microphone demonstrates a nifty gadget that allows girls with long hair to chopsticks tie hair any ol' how and still look very nice.
Man with microphone demonstrates "super fix glue" that fixes just about anything. For broken pieces - it can stick, for missing pieces - it can be moulded to replace, for cracks - it can fill.
Old man with microphone gives testimony of a medicinal paste for skin. Can you guess why there were only really old people gathering around? (a) old people attract old people, (b) only old people need skin pastes, OR (c) there was an aircon vent behind the stall. answer: possibly some of the above, but the logical answer is that the man promoted in hokkien.
My favourite promoter stall has to be the one in the following video:
The product this lady promoted was an all in one slicer/dicer/peeler/ridder/squeezer for any fruits and vegetables.
Kids mesmerized and possibly inspired to cook by vast functionality of "fruit/vego all-in-one".
The tool looks like a normal peeler, but it seemed like it can be used on any vegetable or fruit, like cabbage, pineapple, ginger, potato, apple, oranges, cucumber, carrot, melon etc.
I was impressed not just because the tool can be used on absolutely anything, but also because the lady was able to say the same things over and over again, each time absolutely the same. The video was taken after i told her privately that she is "hen li hai" (very good at advertising) and can go on TV, to which she humbly said: "xie xie... xie xie... bu gan... ni ye mai yi zhi ba?" ("Why don't you buy one also.")
I stood to listen for at least four rounds of her explaining use of various vegetables, and i found her most repeated phrase to be: "Ru guo ni men yao de hua, yi ding yao gen wo jiang, bu ran wo zhen de hen luo suo." ("If you want it, you must tell me, otherwise i am very naggy.") She says it as though everybody needs one of these all-in-ones! Brilliant marketing.
(3) The pamphlet marketers of Singapore work shamelessly, and relentlessly. I really admire their thick-skinned face, plus their positive attitude towards rejection.
Here is a picture summary of a typical day for pamphlet marketers:
The lady says 'no' even before she even walked past, and look how fast her hands and legs are moving. Hows that for rapid rejection?
Man gets a fright by a marketer straight after putting down the phone.
Persistent marketer receives the "who-is-that-talking-to-me?" treatment. Totally, rejected.
I have noticed something rather interesting. That these marketers will never talk to anyone standing still next to their promotion area. And the reason i figured was because if they get rejected by the still-standing bystander, they will have to live with the rejection for as long as he stands there! The moving ones are okay because the marketers will probably never see them again.
As i stood and watched, my mind drifted. I thought it would have been effective if suddenly rhythmic dance music came on, and three of these marketers started breaking out in breakdance on the floor. After a minute of short-burst styles, a crowd would gather to see what these salespeople in suits were up to. Then, the DJ would switch off the music, and the marketers would start to approach those in the crowd with: "Hi sir how are you, would you like to apply for Citibank credit card, special promotion?"
One thing i cannot imagine is the crowd scattering and hurrying away in four directions saying "no, no, no thank you."
Cutting-edge air blowing technology parts the centre of the water fountain.
So here i am in Singapore. On the bus ride here from Kuala Lumpur, a Nepalese monk who sat next to me offered me a can of fizzy drink. I rapidly rejected him "bu yao" [不要]. He swiftly refused my rejection. So i kindly accepted the drink and put it into my seat pouch. I didn't touch the drink all journey, because i remembered my dad saying that certain Malaysians are very shifty when it comes to customs, passports, and sums of monies. I thought that his plan was to put me to sleep with the spiked fizzy can, then steal my passport, so that he can use it at the border customs.
When we hopped off the bus at Novena Square, which was the final destination, the monk and i said goodbye. I gave him a thumbs up, and he winked rapidly at me, twice.
Here are a few of my first impressions of Singaporeans, trait-wise:
(1)Singaporean streets have no rubbish.
Enlarge picture to look for litters.
(2) On a few occasions, i asked for street directions a few times for train stations and streets. The responses from the street direction givers were the type where, two people are walking towards each other, one of them being myself who raises my hand as a friendly conversation starting gesture, while the other one begins to walk diagonally off the path, rapidly. How confusing.
I have a theory that the more people there are in an enclosed space, the more anti-social the people inside that enclosed space are. The simple reason is that there are so many people to talk to, that a person does not know who to begin with, and in the end talks to nobody. Especially now with the increasing added pressure from peers, academically, the priority is not to be sociable.
Equal spacings for least likelihood of conversation.
At the MRT, for too many people, there were too many people to talk to, to talk to any people.
(3) The people in Singapore are very skinny. At first it was only the girls who were skinny, but after some time, the guys also became a little skinny, with a bit of muscle.
Comfortable dog strapped to front of lean girl.
Here are my hypotheses for skinny people in Singapore:
i) Food portions are about half the size of Australia's. Duck on rice has no bones. Only after food sits in stomach for a while, the oil from the food seeps into the stomach linings and the eater will begin to feel full. Therefore, eating a small portion and eating a small portion gives similar outcomes to fullness. Therefore, Singaporeans don't eat as much.
ii) Heat decreases appetite.
iii) The hot sun sucks water out of peoples' bodies, and in the process, their fats too.
iv) Many shops specialize in good tasting breakfast, therefore people eat it. My mum tells me: "Morning eat till full, midday eat well, night eat little."
v) Crowded city gives limited space for cars to travel. Therefore people prefer to walk to places after using the MRT. Actually, some people such as school kids have no choice. And walking in the sun is a bonus!
(4)There are too many shops for too little people. Shopping complexes are everywhere, such that sometimes there are more shopkeepers, cleaners, securities, promoters inside a complex than shoppers.
A watcher of TV, a browser of newspaper and a reader of book.
(5) A boss is called boss. A waiter is called boss. A shopper is also called boss. What surprised me the most was that they translate 'boss' to Chinese and call customers 'lao ban' (老闆). Does get confusing in a situation with many of the three types of people.
(6) No fear of thieves in Singapore.
Old uncle balances body on plastic bottle.
On the first night in Singapore, Amoz took me to a Seafood Steamboat BBQ Buffet.
Cheek muscles definable.
I asked Amoz to carry me to my hostel if anything happened to me. He said okay. So i took out and drank the fizzy drink from the bus ride, and oh was it thirst quenching! Now, i owe monk an apology.
In the lands of Malaysia and Singapore and in fact all of Asia, i am interested in a few things.
1) What do the people like and do? What are their daily routines? What are their feelings when they run their daily routines? 2) What are the challenges that these people face? And how do they overcome these challenges? 3) How has the environment shaped the people into who they are today? In their preferences, personality and character.
I want to capture the answers to these questions to digital image. That is what i want to do all day long.
While using a camera without a big zoom, and without lens rotation, the biggest hindrance to fulfilling my one desire comes in the form of: self-consciousness.
I must learn that: 1. i am not as important as i think i am, and i do not attract more attention than everybody else. 2. no one is paying more attention to me than me paying attention to myself. 3. everybody else is mostly paying attention to themselves 99% of the time. 4. just in case, for that 1%, the person i embarrass myself in front of, i will never see again 99% of the time. 5. just in case, for that 1 out of 100, the person probably won't remember my face because he will be too busy feeling important.
To capture true feeling and real juice, i must learn to have thick facial skin, have no shame, and constantly live to take no-regret photography.
