Issue # 13

 05 November 2011

I must apologize for the long wait for this issue of the AFB. I am finishing Memoirs of a Cat Named Dog and was busy preparing a book proposal for the Bukowski Agency in Toronto. For those readers just joining us, AFB stands for Asia For Beginners because Singapore is the easiest place to manage in all of Asia.

My neighbourhood is, by day, a colourful place with plenty of local eateries and shops housed in historical buildings. When the sun goes down it becomes the famous Geylang redlight district. Three evenings a week I walk home the length of historic Joo Chiat Road from the gym where I work out. The girls who work this street wear six inch heels and six inch skirts. I, by contrast, wear comfortable shoes and office appropriate attire. I have my gym bag and purse slung over one shoulder and my lunch bag and shopping in the other hand. This doesn't stop some men in cars from slowing down to take a closer look. I have even been honked at a few times. My friend Lydia used to say "There is a hammer for every head" and this proves it. Maybe they think it would be a bit kinky to have sex with a woman who doesn't look like a prostitute!

Issue #12

My Favourite Things about Singapore
10 August 2011

Yesterday was Singapore's 46th National Day. It occurred to me that Singapore might be the youngest country and largest city in which I have ever lived. With the help of Google and Wikipedia I learned that, in fact, Botswana is one year younger than Singapore having been granted independence in 1966 and that Toronto has the same population as Singapore (five million). Even though it isn't the youngest or largest it has many things that make it special. Following is a list of my top ten favourite things in Singapore. They are in no particular order.

1) Changi Airport - It has won over 360 awards for customer service and security and has free internet and free massage chairs.
2) VISA debit cards - The convenience of a credit card without the debt and interest charges.
3) MRT goes directly to Changi Airport - It is so convenient, some people go to the airport just to go shopping!
4) Many styles of clothes are acceptable - From Dior to burqas; from Manolo Blahniks to flip-flops.
5) Multicultural with lots of mixed races - There are 4 official languages; English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil
6) Religious tolerance and respect - Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques and churches neighbour one another.
7) Every kind of food and drink including a few things I am hesitant to try (see The AFB -Issue #1)
8) Trees, flowers & fountains everywhere
9) Security and safety - My bank account came with a device that produces a code that adds an additional layer of security to on-line banking.
10) Chilli Sauce - yummy :-)

Issue #11‏

Andrea in Indonesia

25 May 2011

 

 

Earlier this month I had an 'overseas' trip to the Indonesian island of Batam. I had purchased a "1 Day Batam City/Shopping Tour with Live Seafood Lunch" for 1/2 price ($35) from Tip-it, an on-line discounter. I had never used Tip-it before but as this was the only package I had ever seen on these deal websites (Groupon, Deals etc.) that didn't state that you had to buy 2, I thought I'd get it. I am a "glass is half-full" person; in fact, I'm more like a "glass is brimming" kind of person and the silver-lining in the using Tip-it cloud is that I was introduced to Winston Kwek of Asiapoint Travel Brokers. I suspect he doesn't think of me as the silver-lining in this mess. The voucher I received indicated that bookings with Asiapoint were required. There was an address and a string of numbers that turned out to be a phone number. There was no email address nor website indicated. On my first attempt, I was not able to get up to the 6th floor because I arrived after 7 p.m. so the next time I got there about 6:35 p.m. and went up but the door was locked. I dialed the 8 digits and heard a phone ringing on the inside. I let it ring until my phone automatically hung up. No message offering office hours or taking a message came on. I returned home, Googled Asiapoint, found an enquiries email address and wrote a scathing email asking if this was some kind of scam. I then forwarded the email to customer service at Tip-it. The Tip-it people wrote back telling me to contact Winston and they then provided his email address. I called him to see if we couldn't get this sorted. It was Friday the 3rd. The non-refundable voucher stated "bookings to be made by 4 Jun 2011" and I wanted to go to Batam on Sunday the 5th. He knew immediately who I was I when I said "May I please speak to Winston?" He said "Is this Andrea?" Anyway, to make a very long story marginally shorter, he ended up having to send his daughter along because there was a minimum two pax per booking rule for this package, a fact Tip-it had omitted to mention.

Jennifer is the coolest person I have met in Singapore. She sports a funky hairstyle and has already done many things in her life worth writing about. She was crew on an oil tanker for a year! Thanks entirely to her, a rainy Sunday that would have been less than a footnote in my Singapore story became a truly enjoyable day. I hope to go back to Batam when the sun is shining.

Issue #9

6 April 2011

This issue of the AFB is coming to you from Lisbon, Portugal and is about Barcelona, Spain.

An entry in Lonely Planet: Spain 8th Edition led me to Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu in the El Raval area of Barcelona. The Lonely Planet lures its readers to the "architectural masterpiece from another age". What the guidebook omitted to tell me, but what I will tell you, is that nestled within the gardens of the central courtyard is an alfresco restaurant. Go to the El Jardi even if history and architecture are not your passion. Order un litro of sangria and watch the entertaining array of people who frequent the interior courtyard of what is now the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Catalonia's National Library).

Not a fan of sangria (theirs comes with large chunks of fruit in it)? Then eat! The menu has 'typical' Catalan tapas such as tomato bread or black pudding with onion and classics like Gazpacho Andaluz or Patatas Bravas. If you want more than one tapa, El Jordi offers combination plates called degustation on the menu, as well as salads and desserts.

The menu advises that on nights when there is live music prices increase by 1€. They are open from midday to midnight.

Issue #6‏

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
02 February 2011

Today is the first of 15 days of Chinese New Year. Last night was the eve of CYN and was celebrated with 'reunion' dinners. Thought by many to be the most important part of Chinese New Year, the reunion dinner is a time for families to gather. Special food is eaten and some is offered to the gods to ensure prosperity in the coming year.

I have never before lived in a country where Chinese New Year is a national holiday. According to the 2010 census, 74.1% of the 5.08 million people who live on the island of Singapore have Chinese ethnicity. According to Yen Feng in The Strait Times,"The two traditional religions of the Chinese still have the largest following in Singapore..." with 33.3% Buddhists and 10.9% Taoists. Jeremy Au Yong reports in the same newspaper, "Mandarin remains the most widely spoken language in Singapore homes, contrary to the notion that the language is losing ground to English." So it is not surprising that Chinese New Year is such a big deal here.

Tonight I am going to Chinatown and to see a display called River Hong Bao. Stay tuned for more about Chinese New Year in Singapore.

Issue #5

Happy New Year!
Twenty-six years ago I bought my first piece of real estate. It was a timeshare condominium at a place called Cranberry Village in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. With the purchase of the condo came a membership in Resort Condominiums International. RCI functioned as the pool of timeshare weeks where members could 'bank' their week and swap it for a week somewhere else. To facilitate choosing where one would like to swap to, a catalouge, complete with coloured photos and amenities checklists, was provided. Remember there was no internet in those days!

I would pour over the descriptions of the multitude of places for which I could trade my week in Ontario. At that time, I had never travelled outside of Canada and the USA; I hadn't even been to Hawaii! The place that excited me most was Penang, Malaysia. It struck me as the most exotic of all the spots in the RCI catalouge.

All these years later, I went to Penang to celebrate New Year's Eve. I am no longer the naive, inexperienced , young woman that I was twenty-six years ago. I have lived in Botswana, Japan, Spain and,currently, Singapore. I have travelled to Australia, South and Central America; I have even been to Hawaii! Penang did not disappoint. :-)

Issue #4

Season's Greetings
17 December 2010

2010 has sped by and the Yuletide is upon us once again. It seems only a short time ago that I was writing to you about Christmas in Spain. This year I am spending Christmas in Singapore and I will be having Christmas dinner at Santa's house. I can imagine a few of you non-believers are saying "Santa lives at the North Pole" or worse, "There is no Santa Claus" so I am attaching photographic evidence that the jolly old soul himself is here in Singapore. His workshop and the elves are at the North Pole but Santa, like me, prefers a tropical climate. Another little known fact is that St. Nick is clean shaven most of the year and begins growing his famous beard in September.

I took some photos of the Christmas lights on Orchard Road with my new camera. As I stood waiting to cross the street I found myself singing along to "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart" which was booming from loudspeakers along the street. The sensory overload of this shopper's paradise contrasts completely with the serenity of Antequera, Spain. BTW, if you are wondering where I learned the words to the above mentioned pop song by George Michael, it was at a Christmas karaoke party in Yamagata, Japan.

Wishing each and everyone of you happy holidays and all the best in 2011!

Issue #3

Happy Deepavali
05 November 2010

Julia Roberts, the American actress, was quoted as saying that she thinks the whole world should celebrate the Hindu Festival of Light.
She said: "Diwali should be celebrated unanimously throughout the world as a gesture of goodwill. It not only belongs to Hinduism but is universal in nature and in its essence too. Diwali ignites the values of self-confidence, love for humanity, peace, prosperity and above all eternity which goes beyond all mortal factors."

It made me feel lucky to live in Singapore. Deepavali is one of the eleven major public holidays celebrated here. These holidays reflect the cultural and religious diversity of this country and include Chinese New Year, the Buddhist holiday Vesak Day, the Muslim holidays Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji, as well as the Christian holidays of Christmas Day and Good Friday.

As I mentioned in my first issue, many people think of Singapore as not truly Asian, "Asia-lite", as some put it. Trying to buy a semi-permanent hair colour in a lighter shade (golden brown) has assured me that I am truly in Asia. Not since living in Japan have I had difficulty with this fairly mundane task.

Thank you to Madan Rao for the photo of Deepavali in Bangalore.

 

Ms Laly is a hero!

Ms Laly, a volunteer with the Singapore SPCA, took Mama, Black & White, Small, Medium and Large home from The Animal Doctors. She saved their lives, she saved the SPCA from the burden of having to care for or euthanize them, and she saved me from the anguish of having to bring them in to the SPCA shelter knowing that I had failed to rescue them.

She is a hero!

I will ask her for photos and post them :-)

Getting Stronger & Healthier

It has been a week since I found four very little, very sick, stray kittens.  On Tuesday the 28th, I brought them and their mother in to the Animal Doctors http://www.theanimaldoctors.com.sg/ where they were examined by Dr. Leslie Hill.  She told me Mama is quite young (she could tell by how clean her teeth are) and she also told me that she thought the problem with the kittens eyes was Feline herpes (to learn more see http://www.peteyedoctor.com/620635.html ) Dr. Hill warned me that if the lesions ruptured then the eye could be permanently damaged.  She also told me that in cats a damaged eye often becomes cancerous so it is better in such a case to remove the damaged eye. 

Yesterday, I went to visit Mama, Black & White, Small, Medium and Large.  They were separated because someone has diarrhoea and the medical team at the Animal Doctors wants to find out who.  They are all in the same space and can hear each other.  Mama is in the cage on top.  The cage on the bottom has a divider with Small and Medium on the left, Black & White and Large on the right.  Everyone seemed very happy to see me and full of energy.  Denna, one of the veterinary nurses, commented to me on how much more energetic the kittens were already.

Small's eyes look so much better I have attached before and after photos (Small is on the right) so everyone can see what great work the team at The Animal Doctors is doing.  

Family visit to the vet

I couldn't go to bed without letting everyone know that we have an appointment at http://www.theanimaldoctors.com.sg/page001.html tomorrow morning.  The Pet Clinic and the SPCA would not let me bring the kittens and Mama cat in because they feared the infection would spread.  The Animal Doctors website says they have "Dedicated isolation rooms and cages for animals with infectious diseases and are in need of quarantine. They are separated from other in hospital patients."  It was also on this site that a description of Cat Flu made me realize that Dr. Jo-Ann Chan had guessed it.  "Signs of cat flu can include: conjunctivitis - ranging from mild (eyes slightly red with watery discharge) to severe (very red eyes with large amount of pus production), nasal discharge and sneezing as well as oral ulcers." The extra good news is that someone has already responded to the posting on The Cat Welfare Society website http://catwelfare.org/node/6071?post=6&age=0  So as soon as Mama, Black & White, Small, Medium and Large are well and vaccinated, they will have a home :-) 

And Mama makes five

I cannot put the ointment in the kittens eyes so I headed out to walk the kilometre to the nearest animal clinic at lunch.  It was closed but reopens at 5 p.m.  On the way back I heard a cat calling.  I followed her voice and found the mother of Small, Medium, Large and Black & White.  She was so relieved to have found her babies that I couldn't even interest her in a little food.  Now all five cats are in the hall outside of the office.  I have sent two emails and left one voice message with the SPCA but have had no response. Sigh!

Kitten Update

Good morning Animal Lovers,

All four kittens survived the night and I have fed them and given them their dose of deworming medicine.  When the vet gave it to them last night, they acted like she was putting poo in their mouths.  I said to her, "why can't they (the veterinarian pharmaceutical company) make it taste like tuna?"  She told me that I could add it to the food and so that is what I did this morning.  I was really, really hoping that I would have heard from Monica or her vet because I don't think I can put the ointment in their eyes. 

Everyone was alert and anxious for their breakfast.  I consider this a very good sign.  If there are any vet wannabe's out there who would like to 'treat' Small, Medium, Large and Black & White, please let me know :-)

Thank you to David and Spencer for following this blog and to everyone who has read it.

Animal Lovers I Need Your Help!!

This is not a back issue of The AFB.  This is a plea for assistance.  This afternoon (Sunday, 26 Feb 2012) I was heading back from the office where I had been to feed, water and change litter for the three office cats  when I saw the unthinkable.  A car swerved to avoid a tiny kitten in the street.  I am not suggesting that it is unthinkable to avoid running over a cat. I am saying that it is unthinkable that a tiny kitten should be in the middle of the street!  I do not remember the exact words I used but they were something like, "NO, NO, NO, kittens aren't allowed on the street!"  As I shooed the kitten from the middle of the street, I saw two others who were obviously siblings. I carry dry cat food with me because Monica, my cousin, carries cat food with her and in her absence, I am the assistant cat feeder. So, I fed the three kittens and the two adult cats with them who did not appear to be related but I was really hoping they were guardians.  As I was feeding them I heard the plaintive cry of a fourth kitten.  This one looked a bit different from the others with black patches and the worst eye infection I have ever seen. That is when I realized that all of the kittens had eye infections.

I stood there for the longest time trying to decide what to do.  I eventually walked away saying to myself that nature looks after its own blah, blah, blah.  I got two blocks away and knew I could never leave the fate of those kittens up to nature.  They had been put in my path and now were my responsiblility.  So I went to the supermarket, bought packets of soft kitten food and returned in time to see someone else removing one of the kittens from the middle of the street.  I thanked them and gave the cats some of the kitten food and went to the office to get the cat carrier. I still did not have a plan but I had texted Monica while I was standing in line at the supermarket to ask for contact information for her veterinarian and I was praying for a response.  One thing was abundantly clear to me, those kittens could not stay where they were and survive.

I put some of the kitten food in the carrier and the adult cats happily went in.  I was able to pick the kittens up and put them in the carrier. The fact that I was able to handle the kittens suggested one of two things- these kittens were already accustomed to human beings and had been abandoned at this location because of their illness (this would also explain why I had never seen them before) or they were so young and/or sick that they didn't know any better (which would explain the wandering into the middle of the street).  The adult cats were happy to leave the carrier once I started carrying it and I  headed to put the kittens in the hall outside of the office.  I passed a man who was 'grooming' his taxi and he asked about the cats.  I still did not have a plan.

I added a bowl of water and left the kittens in the hall thinking I would change the newspaper on the bottom of the carrier and feed them some more tomorrow when I went in to work.  It wasn't ideal but it was better than 'nature looks after its own'.  In the carrier, in the hall, they wouldn't be run over by cars, eaten by stray dogs, starve or die of thirst. As I passed the taxi driver he asked if I needed a taxi.  I answered no and kept walking for a few meters when it dawned on me that if the kittens were placed in my path then why not the taxi driver too?  I went back and asked if he knew of an emergency veterinarian clinic. He did and was willing to wait while I went back up to retrieve the kittens.

Now I had something like a plan.  It would involve me spending lots of money but someone else saving the kittens.  The taxi driver took me to the Mount Pleasant Referral and After Hours Clinic.  Rodel, the veterinarian technician, contacted the vet on call and proceeded to start cleaning up the kittens.  He was so gentle and sweet using olive oil to remove the crusted on gunk from their swollen, red eyes.  He was just starting kitten number 3 when Jo-Ann Chan, the vet, arrived.  She was a little horrified but what she saw and I cannot blame her.  I have known many cats and quite a few of them were strays but I have never seen kittens in this condition before. While Rodel continued to clean the eyes of the remaining kittens, Jo-Ann checked the heart rate and temperature of 'black and white'. She decided that in addition to an eye ointment they required deworming. The dose for this medicine is determined by the weight of the 'patient' and so the kittens had to be weighed and identified.  Because three of the four are almost identical except for size, we decided to call them small, medium and large. It wasn't until weighing 'medium' that we noticed he has a black nose.  Vets are really very special people.  I was given a discount without having to ask for it because the kittens were strays.

'Small' who I have nicknamed 'scrawny butt' weighs only 430 grams and how that kitten is still alive is a mystery.  'Medium' a.k.a. 'Black Nose' weighs 610 grams and the hefty sibling 'Large' weighs 800 grams, almost double the weight of 'Small'.  'Black and White' weighs 685 grams.  Aside from bulk and markings, the kittens have different personalities.  Large likes sleeping, and Black Nose likes eating. Black and White is the bravest and Small likes being cuddled.  As I write this, all four are in the cat carrier, in the hall outside of our apartment.  I cannot bring them in because there are four other cats who live here.  Jo-Ann said I should wash my hands and change my clothes between handling the kittens and,then,the other cats. Tomorrow, if I haven't found someone to take them, I will bring the kittens to work where they will stay in the carrier outside of our office.

This is where the plea for assistance comes in.  If you do not have cats and you have an enormous heart, these four babies need you.  I don't know how long they will live but I am hopeful that they will grow into wonderful pets.

Issue #2

04 September 2010

This past month, my first in Singapore, has been very eventful because Hungry Ghost Month and Ramadan coincided this year.


The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated during the seventh Lunar month and during this month, the gates of hell are opened up and ghosts are free to roam the earth seeking food and entertainment. These ghosts are believed to be the ancestors of those who forgot to pay tribute to them after they died, or those who were never given a proper ritual send-off. Family members pray to their deceased relatives, offer food and drink, and burn hell money and other forms of joss paper. Joss paper items are believed to have value in the afterlife.   People burn paper houses, cars, servants and televisions to please the ghosts. Families also pay tribute to other unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls do not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune. The Ghost Festival in Singapore is modernized by 'concert-like' live performances.  The live shows are performed by groups of singers, dancers and entertainers on temporary stages setup within residential districts. The festivals are funded by the residents of each individual residential district.  My cousin's friend Sam invited us to watch one in his neighbourhood of Upper Serangoon.  Singapore is unique in that the rituals which the immigrants to Singapore brought to this small island nation are still practiced, and unlike some other countries, the hungry-ghost month still thrives. The film, A Month of Hungry Ghosts, captures these rituals and performances throughout an entire seventh lunar month in Singapore.

Hari Raya Puasa, literally “Celebration Day of Fasting”, is the Malay term for the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr.  It is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of “Puasa” (fasting). The holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. Muslims in Singapore celebrate Eid like other Muslims throughout the world. A few days before Ramadan, lights are strung from the trees and stalls are erected in Geylang Serai, a part of our neighbourhood. The Hari Raya Market here is known for its impressive decorations and street bazaar selling famous Hari Raya Malay food such as ketupat (rice cakes wrapped in coconut or palm leaves), lemang (glutinous rice in bamboo stem), lontong (rice wrapped in banana stem) and rendang (traditional spicy meat cuisine prepared with beef, mutton, lamb or chicken, that is usually served with rice) and Malay cakes and cookies which include kek kukus (steamed fruit cakes), kuih lapis (layered cake) and kuih tat (pineapple tarts).  You can also buy clothing, furniture, rugs and much, much more.

Issue #1

15 August 2010

Hello from Singapore,

The name of my current newsletter makes reference to a comment I heard the first time I was in Singapore 9 years ago.  The Yamagata Monthly (the newsletter I wrote when I lived in Japan) for October 2001 said:

Dear Readers
I apologize for not having written since August but
as you know, a terrible thing happened in September
which shook the foundations of my faith.  It has taken
me this long to recover an 'even keel' so to speak.
This YM is coming to you from SINGAPORE!  I have been
here as the guest of my cousin Monica since Wednesday
of last week.  One of the expatriates I met here told
me that Singapore is often referred to as AFB - Asia
For Beginners, due to the ease with which one can
manage here. I have certainly been enjoying myself
and can recommend it as a relaxing and safe vacation
destination.  Singapore gets top points for being an
example of how all people can live together regardless
of colour or religion.  This amazing city-state gets
thumbs down from me for NOT having a recycling program!

Things have changed which is not surprising in a modern, dynamic country like this.  There is a recycling program in place now and I noticed that there are a lot more people riding bicycles than when I was here before.  Chris, who is Malaysian, has lived here for more than twenty years and she told me that bicycles went out of fashion for a while but are coming back now.  She said the biggest changes in her mind are the cleanliness of the city and the improved transit.

The question I get asked most so far is "How do you like the food?" and I must admit that the abundance of tropical fruit is wonderful.  There are some menu items, like frog porridge and fish head curry, that I am not quite ready to try even though I do pride myself on being an adventurous eater.