First Exploration of Singapore

After spending most of Saturday buying things to get my room set up and organized, I had some free time on Sunday to do a little exploring around Singapore. I have to say that my first impression of Singapore— Pure AWESOMEness! First of all the food here is amazingly cheap. You can get a decent sized meal at a hawker stand, which you can find basically anywhere in the city, for less than $5 SGD. The food at the Hawker stands is usually considered the most authentic chinese, malay, indian etc food in the city too. I am so excited about the good food you have no idea.

During my exploration of the city, I found the location of the Centros building in Biopolis where I’ll be working this summer. I have to say Biopolis looks really cool and futureistic—I’m really excited to have my first day of work at Bioprocess Technology Institute in Biopolis on Wednesday.

Sunday night, Patrick, Susan, Alex (all fellow EAPSI participants) and I went to Chinatown for dinner and siteseeing. We ate at supposedly the #1 Hawker stand in Singapore: Maxwell Food center. Here I tried for the first time, Singaporean Carrot Cake. It’s not anything like it sounds. I think it’s made of eggs and potatoes and basically tastes like the Spanish tapa Tortilla Espanola. Very good-but not quite what I was thinking it would be. After dinner, we walked down South Bridge Street in Chinatown to see some of the major tourist sites. We got to the façade of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, which is right outside Maxwell Food Center. Then a little further down the street is the Sri Mariamman Temple— the oldest hindu temple in Singapore which was built in 1823. The Sri Mariamman Temple has a really ornate façade (See picture below). We had to take off our shoes, but were able to go in and actually see some Hindu ceremonies taking place. Very neat experience. After walking through the temple we walked through a Chinese night market where you could find everything from chopsticks to novelty t-shirts. I wanted to buy everything. I will definitely have to come back here after I get my EAPSI stipend to buy some souvenirs.

Entrance to Biopolis

Centros Building in Biopolis where I'll be working this Summer

View of Biopolis Way

Maxwell Food Center in Chinatown--supposedly the best Hawker stand in Singapore

Singaporian Carrot Cake

View of Maxwell Hawker stand

Buddha Tooth Relic

Facade of Sri Mariamman Temple

Chinatown night market

Novelty t-shirts at the night market

Some of the pretty dresses at the night market

Another view of the Chinatown night market

East Lodge Hostel

My travel to Singapore went smoothly after I finally left the US. I even had my baggage waiting for me in Singapore when I arrived at the Changi International airport in Singapore despite multiple delays and last minute changes to flights. After going through customs and taking a taxi across Singapore, I finally arrived at East Lodge Hostel at about 2:30am local time after traveling for about 36 hours.

Now how to describe East Lodge hostel… I think I would say it has the feel of a slightly more homie work camp- complete with metal gates and chain link surrounding the compound and a sketchy worker bus in the front parking lot. I had to check in with the security guard since I arrived after hours and as he brought me to my room—there were all these asian students staring at me like prisonmates look at new inmates as I drag my luggage through the complex. It got even better when the security guard arrives at this chain linked caged section that has a sign with a male stick figure X’d out saying no entry will persecute. Of course my room was inside this. I have a basic no frills room-cot, desk, wardrobe with attached toilet in the shower all in about 100 square feet. Now mind you none of this really bothered me at all until I realized I couldn’t get internet in my room…. Singapore is probably the most technolically advanced city in the world and I seriously have to be a digital refugee walking around with my iphone outstretched hoping and praying I will find free wifi in public areas of the city?? We talked to the EAPSI coordinator, Candace, and she is going to try to talk with the East Lodge manager to see if she can switch our rooms to an area of the compound that gets wifi signal in the room. Fingers Crossed.

Other than not having internet and the appearance—East Lodge really isn’t that bad. It’s actually in a really great location with restaurants/shops and a hawker stand right across the street and a canal with a running path right behind the complex. There’s also a bus stop across the street that will take me to Biopolis (where I’ll be working this summer) and to the National University of Singapore (NUS). The Clementi mall and MRT station is also only a 15 minute walk away—so really it’s a great place to be and better location-wise than the dorms at NUS where many of the other EAPSI fellows are staying.

Entrance to East Lodge Hostel

Kitchen/Laundry/Work out/ common area--all outside in the open

View of hostel rooms from outside

Sign on Female "caged" section

View of my spacious 100sq ft room from the door

View of room from inside room-the toilet you see is in the shower

Restaurants and shops across street from hostel

Running path behind the hostel compound

Foot bridge over canal to get to MRT station

I can't believe everything fit!!

Tomorrow I embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Starting at the crack of dawn, I will travel nearly 10,000 miles from Newark, Delaware to the small island country of Singapore to participate in an 8 week research abroad experience as an NSF EAPSI Fellow. This summer, I will experience amazing cultural diveristy, enjoy some of the best food the world has to offer, oh, and learn some new lab techniques in the process. As a country girl from rural Massachusetts, who is now working towards a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware, this opportunity is really a dream come true. And after many long months of preparation (and a few stressful hours today trying to figure out how in the world I would fit everything in my suitecase), its hard to believe that by this time tomorrow I will be halfway across the world in Singapore. Wish me luck on the incredibly long flight!

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