Would the Real Singapore Please Stand Up?

We stay on a college campus, the National University of Singapore. We dine and shop along Orchard Boulevard, the glamorous touristy district. We taxi to the nighttime zoo, the Singapore flyer Ferris wheel, and to famous buildings.


So where is the "real" Singapore, the place where everyday folks do everyday things?

Thankfully, my longtime pal W. lives here and decided to introduce us to more Singapore than the average tourist finds. He picked us up and drove us through a lightning storm, past the embassies, past the police station, past the ritzy high-rise casinos. Oops, they use the euphemism "integrated resorts" here! Quite a bit fancier than even the Beau Rivage in Ocean Springs, MS, that we visited, David! (Without gambling a dime, I might add for other readers!)

Finally, we arrived at his neighborhood of Ang Mo Kio to eat at an outdoor set of stalls called Chomp Chomp. Very fitting title, because boy did we chomp down on some delicious "real" Singaporean food! The stalls each had a specialty, and W. went to at least five or six, ordering the best dish from each. Our eyes widened with amazement as the dishes were delivered to our table, steaming and aromatic. We ate spicy green beans, a seafood noodles dish, chicken/beef/mutton satay, packed rice, cream dumpings, and more which elude my description and memory.

C. and I enjoyed sipping on fresh sugarcane juice through neon straws from tall, deep steins. The condensation on the outside of the glasses complemented our sweating foreheads from the spicy food!

For dessert, we headed over to a place just around the corner. Most desserts featured ice, close to the American version of ice cream, and fruit. I had a strawberry and mango ice, which consisted of a plump scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting on slices of mango and strawberry all swimming in a caramel sea of shaved ice. Absolutely refreshing!

We enjoyed ourselves so much that random other people joined in!

W. patiently corrected, informed and inspired us regarding the "real" Singapore. Just with any nation, the insider's perspective can often be more valuable than even a critical, objective reporter's perspective.

As for me, I believe that one cannot help but to view the touristy, ritzy parts of Singapore as also mini-cultures within Singapore itself. These parts say something about Singaporean culture as much as the small neighborhoods do.

We continued our cultural exploration by touring Chinatown. Now honestly, it is difficult for me to distinguish between the Chinese of Chinatown and the ethnic Chinese Singaporeans who visit Chinatown. We, of course, did not blend in in the slightest, swinging plastic bags of our purchased treasures through the narrow alleyways among stalls. It wasn't an issue though, because everyone was focused on ferreting out the very best deals!

The swinging red Chinese lanterns above our heads mirrored our buoyant mood, as we realized the incredible value deals before us. Tiny intricate Chinese knots made of thread were a mere dollar, hand-painted images of flowering trees on long fabric rolls were always under twenty, silk purses and wallets and beaded hair clips were each three for ten dollars. Jade carvings and faux-pearl necklaces were set off by sparkling jewelry cases and mirrors as long pashminas of all colors swayed in the breeze. We gorged ourselves on sights and barely kept our money from flying away into the hands of the kindly, smiling merchants.

While on our way, we caught a few unguarded moments of "real" Singaporeans. Here a group of elderly men watch a game of checkers, coaching without solicitation!

















We visited many stalls and malls, seeing advertisements and shirts which looked familiar, too, like this Avatar poster and Internet- joke shirt.













These shocking food options and offensively-named wallets for sale gave us a start!


















We'll continue on our quest for the "real" Singapore -- till then, stay tuned.