Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Day 04 & 04.5: Subway, Anthems, Weekend Crowds, Borders, Karaoke

This was written on Sunday, while I was waiting for my flight back to Malaysia. For some unknown reason the wifi died while I was updating halfway and half of my post was eaten up by the cyber monster. Here are most of it anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the airport bar right now using their wifi and er, having a pint of kilkenny. WHAT? It's 12.45pm already lah.
Didn't expect myself to go home so soon, but had to go back to settle some matters. Day counter will stop when I'm back home and resume when I go back to Singapore.

Couldn't believe my eyes when I found out that the Subway here was non-halal. Much to the chagrin of my Singaporean mates, I just had to have a Subway sandwhich with some PIG in it. It's not as if we don't get pork at home. It's just that we don't get pork in most of our fastfood franchises and when I do chance upon one that do I just HAVE to find out what I'm missing!! Most fastfood restaurants here are halal by the way, which I find kind of odd since Islam isn't the state religion. I heard that Carl's Juniors is non-halal thought, which whill obviously have to be checked out soon. Anyway, I had myself a Italian BMT or something, and the only difference between this and the halal version is that this one is much saltier. Guess I'm not missing too much.

It is confirmed. Most Singaporeans don't understand what their national anthems mean. For those unaware, their national anthem is in Malay and the only 2 words that they know is "majulah singapura". I have heard from a couple of friends from Singapore about this weird phenomenon but I just had to hear it from the horses' mouth. Nobody can explain to my why their national anthem is in malay though, other than because it's a legacy thing. Guys at NS barely understand what their commands mean either, because the commands are given out in malay. Hehe, this is both strange and funny at the same time.

Yesterday, I decided I'd take a walk along Orchard Road. Oh my god. The sea of people on the streets is enough to scare anybody off and have them hurrying backs to their homes. I swear if I sat in a helicopter which overs over Orchard Road it'll look like a sea of ants bustling around in some sort of an activity. I walked into Borders and it was PACKED like nobody's business, as if there's a warehouse sell going on.

I guess one thing both our nations have in common is that we all flock to shopping complexes on the weekends. Difference is that while we idly only congest the shopping aisles, and target shops on discount, the women AND men in Singapore pack into luxury high-end label shops, like it's on sale, when it isn't. There's a freaking queue outside the LV store and you know that LV never goes on sale. Kesimpulannya, either the 1)the average working Singaporean earns more than the average working Malaysian 2)things are so much cheaper for a Singaporean in Singapore than a Malaysian in Malaysia. Either way, it's bad for us. :(

There was a kiddy corner in Borders. A guy on his guitar and this girl singing and waving her hands about. The kids were happily imitating her, while their proud parents watched. It's sooo cute. Do we have this in Borders back home?

I had a quick karaoke session with my colleagues on Friday. Most of them (men included) did NOT touch a drop of alcohol. I couldn't for the life of me understand how one can be at a karaoke joint and not have alcohol. It's the only way you can tolerate other people's wonderful singing with a smile on your face, hahaha. And just in case any of them reads my stupid blog - no, you guys don't sing too badly. I guess that's why alcohol wasn't really necessary. :P

K lah. Time to go.

10 comments:

  1. I was wondering what happened to Day 04. There it is! I bumped into one of my Singaporean friends the other day, but I forgot to ask her where you can get good food on the cheap, she was in a bit of a rush. I always thought Singaporeans at least understood their anthem... It does seem silly that most of them don't.

    ReplyDelete
  2. still trying to figure out whether it happens in day 04 or day 4.5.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your colleagues don't drink in each other's presence because they want to get the next promotion and/or pay raise.

    From experience, drinking with your colleagues is a CLM.

    ReplyDelete
  4. welcome to singapore hope u enjoy ur work here....

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is a legacy thing. Remember that Singapore was part of British Malaya and as such the official language spoken throughout Malaya was Malay.

    Like most Commonwealth countries they probably need a referendum to change the anthem. Then, do they change it into English or write a new one? (Or steal one like some other nations). :-)

    When I get to KL I will sing to you. It'll get your rampant alcoholism back in shape around Karaoke! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. About three months ago, my nephew in his late twenties was temporarily seconded to Singapore until end of the year. He was not happy about the posting, but now, he is having second thoughts.He loves Singapore with its clean environment, comparatively cheaper prices of goods (his salary paid in Singapore currency}, more chinese people around, etc. He now wants his secondment to be permanent.

    Hope you dont get the bugs, too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The official language of Singapore is still Bahasa Melayu. It's written in the constitution, I think. If you so free, look at the signboards at construction sites, especially for government buildings: they will describe the plot of land as part of Mukim something something, same as Malaysia. Not sure if Islam is still the official religion there, but there is a Minister in charge of Muslim affairs and none for Buddhist, Christian or Hindu affairs.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Got that wrong: there are four official languages, but the National Language is Malay. I'll assume not many Singaporeans know that.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Singapore does not have an official religion. It is secular. But because Singapore was part of Malaysia, Singapore's national language remains as Malay.
    And isn't Malaysia's city area as crowded as Singapore's town area?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Most Singaporeans do know that Malay is the national language and English is the official language. But they dun really bother since it is the official language that matters.

    And yes, most of them dun understand what the national anthem means; they do know their national pledge though; becoz it is in English. Hahaha.

    The older generation of Singaporean would know what the national anthem means; simply becoz when Singapore is part of Malaysia, they are required to learn Malay in school.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete

I disclaim all comments.