A day in a life

Your brain registers so much information everyday. As much as we are all so dependent on computers, the Internet and other electronic devices for news and entertainment, it has been the little observations I remember that help me reflect better on the changing of the quotidian life. When the train of information comes and goes too fast, it takes away your time to think deep about everything that comes across our mind. That is why I enjoy jotting down my loose thoughts or pieces of memory I have during the day.

How about www.catchcheatingspouse.org above the driving plate of a cab?

How about old people picking up trays and cleaning up the tables in restaurants and food courts?

How about a construction worker ordering a drink in a canteen, hands holding on to his little pouch? (How about when your family depends on you as an immigrant worker overseas and how about your life depending on as little as your bare hands?)

How about: Singaporean women don’t cook anymore?

How about that twenty-something who has trouble talking because her jaw seems out of place, and how about that friend of hers who still lends her both ears and listens very understandably?

How about a pedi-manicure treat from your friend?

How about the million-dollar flats and pent houses in the Sentosa islands and private yachts parking nearby?

How about a new friend sharing her thoughts with you about your future? And how about you being so comfortable sharing yours? How about you immediately thinking of her as a mentor figure?

How about BreadTalk, right now? (if you read my last post on food)

How about your future?

How about: tomorrow is Vesak Day when everyone does something good and moral? How about you?

How about…

Huong Nguyen

Fresh midnight summer breeze: reflections on food

Living on the 17^th floor is nothing short of a delight for the cool waves we enjoy every night, something that is more luxurious than the conditioned air. Hot sunshine during the day soon turns into murky sky and dusk, leaving the rays dragging on the roofs of all buildings. Stretch your view towards the horizon and feel the heat evaporating. I heard it was raining by Changi Airport tonight, not yet our turn. But soon, the weather forecast promises.

Initial culinary experience

As I look back on a first week experimenting with new dishes prepared by the different ethnic minorities in Singapore, I think I would give myself a stellar record. Having a sea opens up for Singapore the opportunity to have not only a busy commercial port, a beautiful coastline for golf courses and expensive resorts, but most importantly, an abundant source of fresh seafood for the common people. If you merely think of Geylang Street as a place for “frog porridge” or “call girls,” then you have gravely overlooked everything else in between, including the No Sign Board seafood restaurant. Six of us tried the white pepper crabs, the chili crabs (supposed to the best) and cereal prawns. What gives chili crab its unique flavor is a slightly sweet and spicy seasoning prepared in a gravy sauce made of egg yolk. After the crab, you could also dip your han-bao into the sauce or pour the sauce gingerly over the white rice for best taste. Cereal prawns are fried with cereal flakes, which make it crispy- crunchy. My favourite for sure. The dishes fill you up with happiness and guilty pleasure. Though so much calories, they all tasted wonderfully.

Cereal prawns (image from google)

The famous Chili crab (image from google)

Another day, we treated ourselves right with Steamboat by Sunset Way. Steamboat is the Singaporean version of the Japanese habachi, the Korean hotpot or the Vietnamese lẩu. The restaurant serves you a boiling, already-seasoned stew, while you can pick up the “ingredients” like fish, clams, mussels, along with tofu, seaweed, mushrooms, vegetable to complete your meal. The most interesting thing about the Singaporean steamboat is the division of spicy and non-spicy seasoning broths, to accommodate non-spicy eaters. I have to say that Singaporeans have a very high tolerance for spiciness, which I failed to take up.

Seafood Steamboat by Sunset Way

A lunch in the city took my girlfriends and me to Hock Lam Beef on China Road. The restaurant is nested in the central commercial district of Singapore about a 10-minute walk from the Raffles Place MRT station. On the opposite side is a building with French architecture, which I found quite curious- in a former British colony. We each had a noodle bowl with a variety of different preparations of beef, which made up its peculiar taste.

The girls with the pleasant and joyful owner of the Hock Lam Beef Noodles

I have a slight obsession with BreadTalk, which so far has been the paragon of delicious bakery. More delightfully, these breads are fresh and affordable. So no guilty, only pure pleasure with these breads. What's more, the creativity and arts of making such scrumptious desserts make me adore the brand, as well as the Singaporean entrepreneurship. They have a very diverse population of different ethnic backgrounds, but they know how to draw the best out of each culture. It feels like a little New York in many ways. After the trips, you know I’ll be hunting for this brand in the US of A. I miss this mouth-watering bread already when I don’t have it. It is something truly to remember.

Huong Nguyen

Good infrastructure is a basis for the living

I had come to Singapore one week before my internship started to give myself enough time to adjust to the new environment and lifestyle. Living with a couple of good friends from high school, who are working here, is the best accommodation you could find as a newcomer in a foreign country. Singapore has rules and laws for everything and a distinctive way of life. In order to survive, you’d need to know where the markets, the library, recreation center or the shopping mall is. Albeit an Asian at heart, I still encounter culture shock once in a while. Having somebody explaining to you points of cultural differences helps you sympathize with the culture of the locals and adapt more easily. As an old saying goes, when in Rome…

Strolling leisurely across the Singapore River

Urban infrastructure

What distinguishes Singapore from its Southeast Asian neighbors is its outstanding urban planning. While one would argue that it has the advantage of small geography, which might make it easier to govern, the space constraint has actually been an obstacle to accommodate the large population of its size. The objective of its urban development has been to arrange housing blocks for maximum density without compromising the transport efficiency. With urban planning being a highly centralized government function, the two bodies responsible for drawing up and overseeing this “masterpiece” is the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing Development Board (HDB). With distinctive roles, these two agencies have mutually reinforcing power to assure prudent national land use.

View of downtown Singapore with abundant trees and a railway above the ground

Even though it is similar to Vietnam in having state control over public land use, judicious practices and sound policies of Singaporean government have contributed to its social cohesion and ensured smooth transfer of goods and other commercial activities. The effective use of the public transportation, namely the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT), allows far-apart districts to be linked to one another without having to rely on road extensively. The MRT is constructed up above the ground, which reduces strains on traffic and economizes on space. The extraordinary aspect of their MRT system is that they can afford to supply air-condition on all the trains and inside each underground station. Yes, think about all the government subsidies or imports of electricity that they need yearly. Meanwhile, public amenities are also strategically placed in order to benefit the most number of people while minimizing wastage. Housing blocks are connected to one another by walkways with overheads and sunshields, which are supposed to keep you from the rain and the brutal sun. That’s right, they have a year of summer and sunshine. It’s always a good time to have a summer vacation in Singapore, no matter what month you go.

A typical residential block with parking lot and playground

Urban planners in Singapore always look for ways to improve on their master plan to satisfy its diverse population’s needs and seemingly competing uses: residential, commercial, industrial, transport, recreational and so on. Among many drawbacks is its lack of pavements for pedestrians, enhancing the heavy reliance of public transportation. Walking on the streets of Singapore with one step off the margin and you will be on the same lane as the cars. I have seen foreigners, myself included, struggling with finding a way to cross the street without having to walk an extra mile.

Driving on the left side, a British legacy

Among the Asian countries that I have visited, the level of sophistication in urban planning in Singapore most resembles that of South Korea and Japan. And these are all developed and newly industrializing countries (NICs), go figure eh? The ability to “manage the nature” is a feature of advanced nations. If it seems impossible in developing countries to flattens a little “hill” to make roads, it is likely in the case of the developed states to make a road on that hill and put in signs of safety instructions for different types of car. The point is, the architects of these incredible urban infrastructures make the living seem so feasible and sensible.

Eastern coastline, approaching Changi Airport

All of these stella projects would succeed on the condition that corruption is minimized. True story.

Huong Nguyen

Singapore! ♫♫♫

Downtown city over the Singapore River

Dear Readers,

My name is Huong Nguyen and I am here at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore for my internship. I will be assisting Professor Amitav Acharya on his book project on Nationalist leaders of Asia. I enjoy writing on this blog because it allows me to share with you some reflection on my experience abroad and hopefully it will ignite your own interests and lead you to new adventures.

Why Singapore?

A graduate student from the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC, I am originally from Vietnam. This trip actually brings me closer to home, as Singapore is only a 3-and-a-half-hour flight from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Try to get this straight- while Singapore is a truly Asian country for its history, culture and social composition, the business working style is very Western and the structure of society, in terms of legal system and urban planning, has been a result of visionary and conscious leadership. As a hub-and-spoke of ASEAN dialogue (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Singapore plays a major role in coordinating cooperation efforts among the diversities of Asian cultures, languages, religions, systems of governance and economies.

ISEAS is a leading think-tank in research and publication of writings on the interaction among ASEAN members as well as the organization’s relations to nation states in South Asia, Northeast Asia and the Pacific. It has hosted renowned scholars and research fellows from all over the world on a year-round basis to come, research and write. Most understandably, Professor Amitav Acharya worked with this prestigious institution in his early scholar and professorial career.

Singapore also carries personal memories. I first visited the city-state in 2003 and 2005 for summer vacations with my friends. Going on typical tourist prowl, we only surfed on the very surface of its society, although brief talks with university friends and the trying of new delicacy did leave insightful thoughts. That was when I got the first dip of Singapore. Not until 5 years later when Hanoi has become so heavily polluted with its significant imports of cars and the overall industrial changes, did I come back to a green and fresh Singaporean air to appreciate it profoundly. The 3.5-hour flight did take you to a different world, so to speak.

I really believe this is a good place to be this summer, for my continued study about Southeast Asia, its leaders and its people, its economies and its environment, urban infrastructure- what worked and what failed, ethnic minorities and culinary, youth and lifestyle, and probably everything in between.

Huong Nguyen

Welcome!

Welcome to the SIS Graduate Research Abroad Blog!