My brother, who is visiting me in Singapore while I am here for work, said that exploring Singapore feels like a video game. I think he is right.
In video games, as you progress through quests more and more sections of maps become available to your character in the game. In each area of the map there are characters to interact with, sites to see, treasure to be found, and evil to be vanquished. With the exception of the evil, Singapore is the same way.
One of the first quests, call it the tutorial, in Singapore, is to buy an MRT card for the subway and bus system. Once you do that you “unlock” the public transportation system and can travel to nearby neighborhoods of the city.
Congratulations! You just bought a one-way trip on the MRT to Marina Bay. Go to the City Hall MRT Station and take the East-West Line to Marina Bay.
Marina Bay is the main sight to see in Singapore. It’s a small bay in the heart of the city, surrounded by opulent buildings, fancy hotels, and skyscrapers. At night it is bedazzled with the lights from all of the buildings, and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel has a light show at 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM that to me represents an ancient Chinese battle between the Emperor’s army and a dragon!
Many video games, especially role playing games (RPG’s) have a game within the game that players can try their luck at and master. I remember some sort of card game in Final Fantasy VIII, and a sports game in Final Fantasy X. Singapore is no different. The Marina Bay Sands has a casino, and a number of my friends and acquaintances tried their luck their, some to a positive outcome.
Lunchtime! You’ve heard that some of the best chicken biryani is served up in Little India. Head over there on the MRT to see if you can find some for yourself.
Singapore is known for food, and some of the most popular venues are hawker markets. Each food hall has dozens of small shops that sell all sorts of Chinese, Southeast Asian, Indonesian, Indian, Japanese, and more cuisines. The Tekka Centre in Little India is famous for Allauddin biryani. Aaron and I had the biryani and he thought it was great, but it was sub-par compared to some of the biryani I had in Nigeria. A good biryani should be laden with fragrant spices and chilies. Allaudin’s had only a hint of spice and just a whole lot of rice with a hunk of mutton.
There was still plenty of treasure in Little India. Above the Tekka Centre is an Indian garments market with every style and color of beautiful sari you could ever think of or imagine. Down on the streets there are trinkets stores, intricate wood-carved furniture, and produce shops with fruits and vegetables I had never seen before. I also bought my first mangosteen, which I expect to open up and devour tonight. Mangosteen are supposedly delicious and known as the Queen of Fruits. Durian, a notoriously stinky but sought after tree fruit, is the King of Fruit, and explicitly banned on the MRT.
No food, and especially no durians!
The longer you “Singapore” and the more you explore, the more the city opens up to you and you discover more places to see and neighborhoods to walk around in.
Quick, head underground. The police spotted you spitting on the sidewalk and now they are after you. If they catch you they will cane you!
Everyone knows that a good video game has more than just the world above ground. There should also be a subterranean level filled with novelties and maybe some danger. Singapore takes this to an extreme. In an equatorial city with long lights at crosswalks, the city has been nearly completely excavated from end to end and.It is possible to cover long distances completely underground in air conditioned tunnels connecting MRT stations and shopping malls filled with clothing stores, accessory shops, food stalls, jewelry shops, and perfume and cosmetics stores.
I’ve spent hours wandering this labyrinth. There are stores that specialize in Chinese food imports. Japanese design shops. Charcoal scrubs for the vulva. Tea stalls that offer cheese foam on top of your tea. Feng shui prop shops. A store specializing in TinTin. Among my greatest discoveries was a Tys’R’Us. They are not defunct in Asia! Whenever you think you have to cross the street it’s worth looking around for a staircase or pair of escalators. Descend into the below-ground level and you’ll likely be able to cross under the road unscathed, except for the $3.50 you spend on a sugar milk tea with boba tapioca pearls at one of the multitude of beverage kiosks.
If Singapore were a real video game you’d be finding treasure chests and collecting some fictitious currency to buy potions and weapons and upgrade your vehicle to zip around the city. In reality, you collect Instagram photos, Snapchats, and little gastronomic oddities.
Some Japanese wize guys are in town and are ruining your whole racket! Find them in the bar they are hanging out at in Chinatown and send a message that the Yakuza is not welcome on your territory.
A new stop opens up on your handy map of the MRT – Chinatown. You head to the nearest underground stations and head to the new level. At first there are tourist filled food and souvenir streets, before you get to some smaller streets that wind up a small hill. There are bars and hip eateries in the old shop houses (shop on the ground floor, Chinese family living upstairs). You slip into an alley and then start walking down some wooden stairs, sometimes under a covered canopy, which snake down the backside of the hill. 100 years ago the hill was farmed for cloves and nutmeg. Today, it’s home to some large bullfrogs and some pretty big snails as well. At the bottom of the long staircase you find the narrow staircase leading down into a basement bar, and there you find your prey. Your prey, in reality, is a bar that only serves cocktails made from Asian ingredients, including a grasshopper made with actual fermented grasshoppers!
Final level! Find your way to the soul of the city in Geylang and vanquish all evil from the land by eating to your heart’s content and reuniting the King and Queen of fruits.
Every good video game has a final level, or a final “boss” that has to be defeated. For us, it was our excursion to the Geylang neighborhood (full of ornate shop houses and Buddhist education centers). I have a friend from college who lives there, and she recommended a local joint for chili crab, a Singapore specialty. I had to wear a bib! Our table was piled high with kilos of crabs, crawfish, red snapper, shrimp, and more. Aaron was exclaiming that it was one of the best meals he ever had. The restaurant also sells produce, including mangosteen and durian. We passed on the durian, but we did get to go to her house, which has a fairly unassuming exterior, but the inside is exposed brick on both sides, an indoor lap pool, and wide open spaces which she throws DJ parties in. It reminded me of the row houses of DC. It was a fitting end to Singapore.
The new Terminal 4 at the airport in Singapore is actually an ode to the shop houses and the Peranakan people (Chinese immigrants who have intermarried with Malays and other inhabitants of Singapore) who built the old shop houses. There is a full row of shop house facades, showcasing the evolution of the architecture, and a beautiful visual play that is projected on to the facade of the houses every 15 minutes or so.
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