Number Three Singapore Flyer

2 September 2012

Our third week here (mid-August) saw us move into our apartment near campus. We are in a complex called Kent Vale, in one of three tall (24-story) towers that are just being completed. Our tower has occupants on some of the lower floors, but there is still finishing work going on further up and outside, and on the other two towers. Different messages on when everything will be wrapped up -- maybe the end of this month, maybe the end of the year. We are especially anxious for the community center to open right next to us, as it has a pool in it. We overlook a busy road, but the noise is pretty muted, and it hasn't been a big issue for us.

Our unit has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining-living room area, a small study and a storage room. When we moved in, we got about a dozen keys apiece. It turns out all the windows have locks (maybe a safety precaution with kids?) as well as all the bedrooms and the store room. I asked some colleagues at work if keyed locks on interior doors were common, and they seemed to think it was. On the other hand, they weren't quite sure of the reason -- none of them used them, and weren't actually sure if they knew where the keys were. One speculation was that there was just one kind of door-latch set, and they put it in everywhere. Another possibility that occurred to me later is that live-in help is pretty common here, and perhaps you want to keep some rooms off limits while you are out.

We are figuring out our neighborhood. There are two main commercial centers nearby, West Coast (walkable) and Clementi (short bus ride). They are quite similar with want they have: indoor shopping mall (West Coast Plaza and Clementi Mall), inside restaurants and a food court in each mall, outside food centre with hawker stalls plus "coffee shops" (kopitiam) that usually consist of a drinks stand plus several food counters. They both have wet markets with fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, tofu, plus other stores in strips in other blocks.

One very nice thing about our location is that the University Cultural Centre is in the corner of campus just across the street from us. The UCC has a museum and a couple performance halls. On the first Wednesday of classes there was a free event, the CFA House Party. CFA is the NUS Centre For the Arts, which I think is the umbrella group for campus performance groups. We mostly watched the dance groups, though we did see a percussion ensemble with musicians from several groups. They played a fun arrangement of The Sabre Dance by Khachaturian. One of the great things about so many cultures is here is the variety that results. Among the different dance groups: Chinese, Indian (classical and Bollywood), Indonesian and Lion Dance. There were also a couple modern dance groups and a hip-hop group, which we really enjoyed. We have since bought tickets for full dance concerts at the UCC by three of these groups.

There was a second event on Friday at the UCC that was focused on music. This one seemed to be local acts not necessarily connected with the university. Didn't find a lot we liked, though there was an interesting demonstration of beatboxing. There was free beer, though they stamped your wrist to enforce a one-per-hour limit. My department chair had pointed out a nice little cafe around the corner from the UCC, so we went there for an inexpensive supper.

On Saturday, Kaye went to a class for newcomers to Singapore, taught by a woman from New Zealand. There was a lot of useful information provided. She found out about community centers, which offer a lot of classes (we might take beginning Mandarin) and where you can apply for a Passion Card, which gets you discounts on performance tickets and other things. There was a discussion of mosquito control -- they can transmit Dengue fever. One of the key elements is avoiding standing water, even things like a flower vase or a flower pot that doesn't drain. (The storm drainage system here is impressive. Ten minutes after a thunderstorm stops, pretty much all the rain has been carried away. You do need to watch where you are walking, because drainage trenches sometimes run next to sidewalks.) Kaye was able to give some of the other students tips about things she'd figured out, such as the $6 transit-map book that has been indispensable for figuring out bus routes.

Sunday saw us at a small museum and memorial nearby, called Reflections at Bukit Chandu. It talked about the defense of a hill by mostly Malaysian troops during the Japanese invasion of Singapore. The Japanese armed forces landed on the upper Malay Peninsula on the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor, and had worked there way down to Singapore at the tip by February 1942. By using bicycles, they were often able to outflank retreating British infantry units. The British had set up most of their fixed defenses anticipating a sea attack, rather than one across the causeway to the north. Some of the gun mounts couldn't swing around to fire in that direction. At the time most of the world's rubber came from plantations in Malaysia and Singapore, which was one motivation for the Japanese attack, but they also deprived the British of a strategic base in southeast asia.

The museum itself is in a building termed a "bungalow" here. Unlike back home, bungalows here were always two stories. (You need to get above the snakes and tigers.) The upper floor would be the main living area, usually with an open floor plan, which would help cross-ventilation. The museum had several different multi-media shows about the invasion, the defense of Bukit Chandu itself, and the life of a villager who lived at the base of the hill. The museum is at one end of Kent Ridge Park, which we will have to explore more sometime.

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