Today was all about learning how to interpret Singlish and driving on the wrong side of the car/road. Singlish is basically an English dialect, with words borrowed from Malay and Chinese, as well as unusual uses of english words. For instance, to add additional funds to a parking card is to "top on" the card. An overpass on an expressway is a "fly over," and a roundabout is called a "circus." Many of the words make sense, some of the novelties are British holdovers from what I understand.
Another fascinating oddity was the way I observed several conversations. One person would be speaking in Chinese, while the other person would respond in English. Sometimes the person speaking in English would switch to Chinese, and so on. Clearly most are very fluent in both languages and seem to be able to easily hold a conversation in two different languages, impressive!
The Singaporean's are very disciplined, as they will quickly point out. I received some teasing from several locals for parking my car "head in," instead of backing in to the parking spot. When I commented that either way, you have to drive backwards once, they said that no one desires to be different from the norm. I tried to explain the concept of a fish going upstream but they just smiled and shook their heads.
For lunch I ate at a "coffee shop." A coffee shop is a food court with out air conditioning. If it has air conditioning it is called a: food court. I had my local colleagues order for me and enjoyed a South Indian chicken curry rice dish, followed by a cold ice drink with milo heavily sprinkled over the top (anyone remember milo from when they were kids?).
Driving was an adventure. I have driven on the left before, but the steering wheel was still on the left. In this case the steering wheel is on the right, so my brain was all screwed up! Needles to say, I made it the 30 KM or so to work from my hotel without major incident. Traffic was surprisingly reasonable, probably due to the cost prohibitive nature of owning a car in Singapore. I was excited to find out that my rental car can cross the border into Malaysia for only a small fee, so that will definitely be part of my weekends!
Well, it is 9:00 PM here and I think I will turn in. For those of you reading this please leave me comments if you are so inclined, I always appreciate them!
Ken
*Hopefully I will have some cool pics up tomorrow, so stay tuned!
8 comments:
Ken! If you can cross into Malaysia... be sure to try MANGOSTINES! And Durian! And Visit KL and see the worlds tallest buildings. And visit the Portugueses colony called Malacca http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacca_Town
And the Petronas Towers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Towers
and here's a wiki 4 u: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur
I lived in Malaysia and Borneo for 5 months. Also be sure to try the amazing soup called "Laksa" and an amazing pastry vegitable roll called "popia"
Here is what Popiah and Laksa look like: (try the Assam Laksa for sure!)
POPIAH:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popiah
LAKSA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laksa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Penanglaksa.jpg
MANGOSTINES:
http://thethailand.ifrance.com/agriculture/pic/mangostine%20mankud.jpg
DURIAN:
http://www.timwu.org/durian.JPG
Ken, thanks for the descriptions of your first impressions. I am a bit curious how one learns to drive in a different country, with different rules and everything. It seems like it would be hard! I'm glad you made it to work. I'm curious to try out the public transportation, too. I've heard it's quite excellent. Let me know what you think when you try it. (Oh, so jealous of the food as well.)
I found it really interesting to hear of your adventure thus far. I'm sure it will be challenging and fun in many wats. Thanks for sharing Dan /Dad
Actually, head in parking is better (in my humble opinions). Since you always have to back up once, the question is whether it's better to back up when going into a parking space or when coming out. I think everyone would agree that backing is slightly more difficult and more dangerous than going forward. When you back up going into a space, you have to back up into a narrow, confined area and be perfectly lined up since steering is controlled by the front wheels. It is more risky to back in than to go in head first since backing is more diffcult and you're more likely to hit the next car accidentally. But if you back when going out, you're backing into a big open space with lots of manoevuring room, and you can more easily line up and quickly go into a narrow parking space at the beginning. It's less risky. I suppose that's why in other countries they are taught to park head first. Why is Singapore different?
We use "top up", not "top on", and no one I know uses "circus" for "roundabout".
Welcome to Singapore. From the looks of it, you haven't heard real Singlish yet. Have you visited www.talkingcock.com?
And once you learn about our history, you will understand why it is not the norm to entertain the thought of a fish swimming upstream.
As for the durian, you might wish to try one here first before heading all the way up North for the really good ones. Once you've smelled it, you'll either love it or hate it.
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