This past weekend, which marked the end of Week 2 in Singapore, was also the highly anticipated homestay weekend in which the 25 of us are paired off and matched with a Singaporean who was responsible for showing us around for two days. Ananda and I were paired with Ming Yang, and his friend Noelle. They arrived at PGP (our dorm) Saturday morning to pick us up in high style. The privilege of getting to ride in a car is pretty coveted in Singapore, considering only a small percentage of the population owns a car due to their astronomical prices and fees. After introductions, Ming Yang proudly announced that he had just gotten his license, resulting in an exchanged nervous glance between Ananda and I. During the car ride to our first destination, Chinatown, we learned that Ming Yang was currently serving a compulsory two year term in the military as a photographer. His friend from junior college, Noelle is a government scholar (highest academic honor), and is currently attending college in London. They took us around to various restaurants and shops in Chinatown and Little India...here's a list of some of the different things we tried- almond paste, black sesame paste, egg tart, mango roll, burfi, Chinese samosas, Cantonese dumplings. My favorite was probably the Chinese samosas. So delicious. We then explored the a huge shopping center in Little India called Mustafa- it encompasses three entire city blocks and is at least four stories high. To continue the food trend of the day, we went to a hawker center to try bone marrow soup. This was quite the.....interesting....dining experience. Bone marrow soup is a huge plate of bones with meat on the end of them (not even sure what kind of meat is was...mutton maybe?) and a red sauce all over them. You are then given straws in which you insert into the bone to suck the marrow out of. Quite frankly, this was one of the most revolting dining experiences I've ever had. Noelle, however, seemed to immensely enjoy it...so much that she ended up getting the red sauce allll over her face and clothing. It was pretty entertaining. The day ended with a visit to the Botanic Gardens with Ming Yang. We strolled along the side of the lake and took pictures of black swans, turtles, and water birds.
The next day, Ming Yang took us to several different parks, which was a nice change of pace from the urbanized parts of Singapore that we have been mostly visiting. First, we went to a beautiful old Chinese graveyard. There was a small dirt road that wound through the forest, with beautiful ornate gravestones all throughout. It was such a nice and peaceful change from the hustle and bustle of Singapore city life. Then, we went to MacRitchie Reservoir, which is a part of several interconnected forested parks in the middle of Singapore. Once again, being in a very quiet and wild environment was very nice. I saw monkeys in the wild for the first time! At one point as we hiked along the path in the rainforest, at least 6 or 7 different monkeys came out and hung around the pathway. One of the baby monkeys started inched down the tree curiously toward me. I got about two feet from it until it's mother started getting a little fiesty, so I decided that a mother monkey confrontation was not what I needed at the moment. After MacRitchie, we went to Henderson Waves where we climbed to the top of the highest point of Singapore (granted, this was pretty much only a big hill) and walked out on a bridge where we could see water on both sides of the island. To wrap up the homestay weekend, Ming Yang took us to watch Noelle's Capoeira practice. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art form that mixes martial arts, dance, and music. It was beautiful to watch, and her instructor invited Ananda and I for a free lesson sometime!
After posting, I just realized I completely left out one of the best parts....on Sunday, Ming Yang took us to a hawker center to have the best Nasi Lemak in the country (according to a certain prime minister). It's a traditional Malay dish, and was absolutely delicious.
The next day, Ming Yang took us to several different parks, which was a nice change of pace from the urbanized parts of Singapore that we have been mostly visiting. First, we went to a beautiful old Chinese graveyard. There was a small dirt road that wound through the forest, with beautiful ornate gravestones all throughout. It was such a nice and peaceful change from the hustle and bustle of Singapore city life. Then, we went to MacRitchie Reservoir, which is a part of several interconnected forested parks in the middle of Singapore. Once again, being in a very quiet and wild environment was very nice. I saw monkeys in the wild for the first time! At one point as we hiked along the path in the rainforest, at least 6 or 7 different monkeys came out and hung around the pathway. One of the baby monkeys started inched down the tree curiously toward me. I got about two feet from it until it's mother started getting a little fiesty, so I decided that a mother monkey confrontation was not what I needed at the moment. After MacRitchie, we went to Henderson Waves where we climbed to the top of the highest point of Singapore (granted, this was pretty much only a big hill) and walked out on a bridge where we could see water on both sides of the island. To wrap up the homestay weekend, Ming Yang took us to watch Noelle's Capoeira practice. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art form that mixes martial arts, dance, and music. It was beautiful to watch, and her instructor invited Ananda and I for a free lesson sometime!
After posting, I just realized I completely left out one of the best parts....on Sunday, Ming Yang took us to a hawker center to have the best Nasi Lemak in the country (according to a certain prime minister). It's a traditional Malay dish, and was absolutely delicious.