the old well is
an old woman,
dispirited, hunched,
aggrieved of all
its drawers
a dark realm
reigns over here
ever ready
to throw its vengeance
on unsuspectful
strangers
only heaven has
the generosity
to give it grace -
the rain fills it up
and when the
weather is fine
the sky plays with it
a gentle childful game
of master sun, queen moon
and angel stars
nobody greets
the old well
a good morning
or evening
all they do
is ungratefully
bend over,
scaring its peace
and tranquility
with an coquettish bucket
that goes splash
before going down
into a private sanctum
to whittle away its vitality
yesterday, today,
tomorrow, everyday;
always in a hurried
and callous manner
the water slushes
sloshes, splashes,
slashes to echo
the well's discontents
the old well is
an aggrieved woman
beaten to hatred
a restless soul filled
to the brim with
vengeance and chagrin
to pass by one at night
one would be lucky
if one's heart does
not stumble and
race faster
than one's legs
because the well's
ominous mouth
in all the solemness
of its sobers and age
is ever ready
to draw your spirit in
with its damp,
dark and cold tales
and selfishly holds it there
with the tenuous grip
of a viper for a thousand years
john tiong chunghoo
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Travel Writing - Pewter of Tin Rich Malaysia
JUST over a century ago, a young pewtersmith named Yong Koon took the tools of his craft and sailed across the South China Sea to join a new settlement of Chinese tin miners at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
There, Yong Koon used the tin in fashioning traditional pewter items such as teapots, wine cups and incense burners, which he peddled from door to door.
Business flourished and Mr. Yong's modest workshop became the foundation for what is now the Selangor Pewter Company, one of the largest pewter companies in the world; it is run by Mr. Yong's four grandchildren and employs 15 artists and 400 workers.
The company, which takes its name from the Malaysian state of Selangor, has an annual output of roughly one million pieces. Two-thirds of Selangor pewter is sold overseas, with Australia the largest market.
Selangor Pewter's work is solid and durable. The line includes some 1,000 items, such as silvery coffee and tea sets, satiny goblets, antique-finished tankards and sculpted figures from Chinese astrology.
There are elongated, shiny vases that seem poised to shoot into space. Trinket boxes have a soft matte finish and have carved Malay motifs, such as the orchid or acanthus leaf.
Desk accessories - ink stands, memo holders, table clocks, and the like - are a handsome combination of brilliant pewter and tropical wood.
The 100th anniversary of Selangor Pewter was marked in 1985 by the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur with an exhibition of fine pieces as well as samples of the founder's early work.
The company has received a number of awards, including the Malaysian Product Excellence Award for 1987 and a gold medal at the Leipzig International Fair in 1984.
And it has made the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' by producing the world's largest tankard, weighing 3,432 pounds, shown at Expo '86 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Most tours of Kuala Lumpur's environs include a visit either to Selangor's factory in the Setapak industrial zone, or to the Selangor showroom on the outskirts of the capital.
At both places, after a brief introduction, visitors see a demonstration of pewter being cast, hammered and polished. Then they are free to browse, see the latest Selangor creations and make purchases.
Malaysia is the world's leading producer of tin, the major ingredient in pewter. Selangor pewter is composed of 97 percent tin, the rest copper and antimony, a proportion said to the the highest quality pewter.
Known since Roman times, pewter was often used for goblets because it was said to improve the taste of wine.
Because its insulating quality kept wine at the proper temperature, pewter was the preferred material for the taster's cup.
Roman pewter, however, contained as much as 20 to 30 percent lead, now known to be a toxic metal. Since the 1970's, most manufacturers have stopped using lead.
The process for making pewterware is essentially the same today as it was in Yong Koon's day. Pure tin is mixed with its additional components in a large cauldron and slowly melted.
The molten metal is poured into steel casting molds, one for each of a piece's components - base, handle or lid.
Each part is filed to remove the rough edges and cleaned with a steel blade. Then the parts are soldered together and the final product is polished with fine steel wool or a tropical leaf known as stone leaf, or both.
Over the years, pewter fashions have changed. Selangor Pewter was long known for products with either a satiny or dull antique finish.
In 1979, the company brought out a new line of products with a brilliant finish, looking much like silver but tarnish-resistant and more moderately priced.
Observers could mistake some pieces for silver but for the Selangor Pewter's distinctive mark: ''Pewterer, Hammer and Anvil.'' A table set for two, with brilliant pewter candelabra, goblets, plates and napkin rings looks like a setting of the finest silver.
A visit to the Selangor showrooms reveals the many facets of pewter. The Royal Collection received its title when the Sultan of Selangor conferred Royal Pewterer status on the company in 1979, in recognition of its new brilliant line.
For example, the four-piece Queen Anne Coffee/Tea Set with a mirrorlike sheen and traditional English design, includes a one-and-three-quarter-pint pot holding, a sugar bowl, creamer and tray, selling for about $238 (prices are based on a rate of 2.5 Malaysian dollars to $1). A comparable set in silver would cost about three times as much.
The Royal Collection is an unusual combination of pewter and crystal. A wine goblet of Bohemian crystal mounted on a pewter stem costs $18 and a champagne flute about the same.
For those who prefer more contemporary lines, Selangor recently initiated a series of designer-label pewter.
The first designer was Gerald Benney, former professor of jewelery and silversmithing at the Royal College of Art in London.
A graceful silvery set for liqueur or sherry from the Gerald Benney collection, with six goblets and a round tray, sells for around $135.
Selangor has introduced in Europe its second designer collection by the Danish artist Erik Magnussen, but it will not be available in Malaysia until the middle of next year.
Other table pieces in the Satin collection have sleek, modern lines. A tall two-and-a-quarter-pint pitcher is about $52, a squat one-and-three-quarter-pint water jug is $39, a slender 10-inch vase is under $20 and an 8-inch single-bloom vase is $14.
Plain goblets vary slightly in size and price with a four-ounce Sherry goblet priced about $13 each, a five-and-three-quarter-ounce wine goblet for under $15 and an eight-ounce water goblet for about $16.50.
For chess enthusiasts, the Camelot set comes with pieces representing King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table.
The two sets of pieces are identical but one side is of silvery pewter and the other with a dull, darker finish. The set is $198.
The Antique Collection features tankards of all kinds, all with a dull finish.
There is the large, rounded one-pint vessel inspired by 17- and 18th-century Dutch drinking flagons with domed lid, at $40.
Another three-quarter-pint tankard, reminiscent of the sturdy, uncovered vessels of 18th-century Georgian England, is priced at $24.
Selangor has long produced pewter pendants from the Chinese zodiac. A one-inch pendant with the Chinese character for dog, dragon or other sign sells for about $5.
The company's products are also sold in some hotel arcades, gift shops, department stores and handicraft centers around Malaysia.
Selangor pewterware is considerably more expensive abroad, and one and one-half to two times higher in the United States. BUYING SELANGOR PEWTER
There are no United States Customs regulations limiting bringing in pewter to the country. Direct From Selangor.
The Selangor Pewter Showroom is at 101 Jalan Genting Kelang, Setapak; telephone 4232803.
Open Monday through Saturday 8:30 A.M. to 4:55 P.M.; Sundays and holidays 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.
The Selangor Pewter Company factory and head office is at 4 Jalan Usahawan Enam, Kasawan Perindustrian Setapak; 4231633. Open Monday through Friday 8 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Other Outlets
Selangor displays can be found at the Central Market, a handicraft center that is open each day from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M. There are also Selangor showrooms in s the Pan Pacific Hotel Shopping Arcade, Jalan Putra (03-4421784) and the Hilton, Jalan Sultan Ismail (03-2485104). - M. H.
There, Yong Koon used the tin in fashioning traditional pewter items such as teapots, wine cups and incense burners, which he peddled from door to door.
Business flourished and Mr. Yong's modest workshop became the foundation for what is now the Selangor Pewter Company, one of the largest pewter companies in the world; it is run by Mr. Yong's four grandchildren and employs 15 artists and 400 workers.
The company, which takes its name from the Malaysian state of Selangor, has an annual output of roughly one million pieces. Two-thirds of Selangor pewter is sold overseas, with Australia the largest market.
Selangor Pewter's work is solid and durable. The line includes some 1,000 items, such as silvery coffee and tea sets, satiny goblets, antique-finished tankards and sculpted figures from Chinese astrology.
There are elongated, shiny vases that seem poised to shoot into space. Trinket boxes have a soft matte finish and have carved Malay motifs, such as the orchid or acanthus leaf.
Desk accessories - ink stands, memo holders, table clocks, and the like - are a handsome combination of brilliant pewter and tropical wood.
The 100th anniversary of Selangor Pewter was marked in 1985 by the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur with an exhibition of fine pieces as well as samples of the founder's early work.
The company has received a number of awards, including the Malaysian Product Excellence Award for 1987 and a gold medal at the Leipzig International Fair in 1984.
And it has made the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' by producing the world's largest tankard, weighing 3,432 pounds, shown at Expo '86 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Most tours of Kuala Lumpur's environs include a visit either to Selangor's factory in the Setapak industrial zone, or to the Selangor showroom on the outskirts of the capital.
At both places, after a brief introduction, visitors see a demonstration of pewter being cast, hammered and polished. Then they are free to browse, see the latest Selangor creations and make purchases.
Malaysia is the world's leading producer of tin, the major ingredient in pewter. Selangor pewter is composed of 97 percent tin, the rest copper and antimony, a proportion said to the the highest quality pewter.
Known since Roman times, pewter was often used for goblets because it was said to improve the taste of wine.
Because its insulating quality kept wine at the proper temperature, pewter was the preferred material for the taster's cup.
Roman pewter, however, contained as much as 20 to 30 percent lead, now known to be a toxic metal. Since the 1970's, most manufacturers have stopped using lead.
The process for making pewterware is essentially the same today as it was in Yong Koon's day. Pure tin is mixed with its additional components in a large cauldron and slowly melted.
The molten metal is poured into steel casting molds, one for each of a piece's components - base, handle or lid.
Each part is filed to remove the rough edges and cleaned with a steel blade. Then the parts are soldered together and the final product is polished with fine steel wool or a tropical leaf known as stone leaf, or both.
Over the years, pewter fashions have changed. Selangor Pewter was long known for products with either a satiny or dull antique finish.
In 1979, the company brought out a new line of products with a brilliant finish, looking much like silver but tarnish-resistant and more moderately priced.
Observers could mistake some pieces for silver but for the Selangor Pewter's distinctive mark: ''Pewterer, Hammer and Anvil.'' A table set for two, with brilliant pewter candelabra, goblets, plates and napkin rings looks like a setting of the finest silver.
A visit to the Selangor showrooms reveals the many facets of pewter. The Royal Collection received its title when the Sultan of Selangor conferred Royal Pewterer status on the company in 1979, in recognition of its new brilliant line.
For example, the four-piece Queen Anne Coffee/Tea Set with a mirrorlike sheen and traditional English design, includes a one-and-three-quarter-pint pot holding, a sugar bowl, creamer and tray, selling for about $238 (prices are based on a rate of 2.5 Malaysian dollars to $1). A comparable set in silver would cost about three times as much.
The Royal Collection is an unusual combination of pewter and crystal. A wine goblet of Bohemian crystal mounted on a pewter stem costs $18 and a champagne flute about the same.
For those who prefer more contemporary lines, Selangor recently initiated a series of designer-label pewter.
The first designer was Gerald Benney, former professor of jewelery and silversmithing at the Royal College of Art in London.
A graceful silvery set for liqueur or sherry from the Gerald Benney collection, with six goblets and a round tray, sells for around $135.
Selangor has introduced in Europe its second designer collection by the Danish artist Erik Magnussen, but it will not be available in Malaysia until the middle of next year.
Other table pieces in the Satin collection have sleek, modern lines. A tall two-and-a-quarter-pint pitcher is about $52, a squat one-and-three-quarter-pint water jug is $39, a slender 10-inch vase is under $20 and an 8-inch single-bloom vase is $14.
Plain goblets vary slightly in size and price with a four-ounce Sherry goblet priced about $13 each, a five-and-three-quarter-ounce wine goblet for under $15 and an eight-ounce water goblet for about $16.50.
For chess enthusiasts, the Camelot set comes with pieces representing King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table.
The two sets of pieces are identical but one side is of silvery pewter and the other with a dull, darker finish. The set is $198.
The Antique Collection features tankards of all kinds, all with a dull finish.
There is the large, rounded one-pint vessel inspired by 17- and 18th-century Dutch drinking flagons with domed lid, at $40.
Another three-quarter-pint tankard, reminiscent of the sturdy, uncovered vessels of 18th-century Georgian England, is priced at $24.
Selangor has long produced pewter pendants from the Chinese zodiac. A one-inch pendant with the Chinese character for dog, dragon or other sign sells for about $5.
The company's products are also sold in some hotel arcades, gift shops, department stores and handicraft centers around Malaysia.
Selangor pewterware is considerably more expensive abroad, and one and one-half to two times higher in the United States. BUYING SELANGOR PEWTER
There are no United States Customs regulations limiting bringing in pewter to the country. Direct From Selangor.
The Selangor Pewter Showroom is at 101 Jalan Genting Kelang, Setapak; telephone 4232803.
Open Monday through Saturday 8:30 A.M. to 4:55 P.M.; Sundays and holidays 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.
The Selangor Pewter Company factory and head office is at 4 Jalan Usahawan Enam, Kasawan Perindustrian Setapak; 4231633. Open Monday through Friday 8 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Other Outlets
Selangor displays can be found at the Central Market, a handicraft center that is open each day from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M. There are also Selangor showrooms in s the Pan Pacific Hotel Shopping Arcade, Jalan Putra (03-4421784) and the Hilton, Jalan Sultan Ismail (03-2485104). - M. H.
Travel Writing - Singapore
Courtesy of the New York Times
SINGAPORE may be clean, efficient and manicured, but the prosperous island-state knows how to get down and dirty, too.
At a string of open-air bars near the main shopping drag, young Singaporeans with stylishly tousled hair toss back martinis until the early morning.
A sex therapist who styles himself “Dr. Love” has become one of the biggest celebs in town.
And the Ministry of Sound, the famous British house music nightclub, has opened a branch in Singapore that pounds with local D.J.’s.
That’s not to say Singapore has gone off the rails. Just stroll along its bougainvillea-draped streets, where order is still enforced by Big Nanny signs, like the one that recently read, “Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime — Be Vigilant.”
Singapore Botanic Gardens
------------------------------
Get a taste of Singapore’s cultivated side at the Singapore Botanic Gardens (1 Cluny Road; 65-6471-7361; www.sbg.org.sg), an ambling 157-acre park where you’ll see a medley of Chinese, Indians and Malays practicing martial arts, doing yoga and flirting.
Founded in 1859, the landscaped gardens are dotted with intricate Victorian gazebos, a micro rain forest and a dazzling collection of orchids — from the flamingo-pink hybrid Vanda Miss Joaquim (Singapore’s national flower) to varieties named after visiting V.I.P.’s like Margaret Thatcher.
Beer Therapy
---------------
Southeast Asia isn’t known for beer, but that’s starting to change. Brew connoisseurs recently opened Archipelago Brewery (79 Circular Road; 65-6861-6200; www.archipelagobrewery.com), a microbrewery that revived a Singaporean beer works originally founded in 1931.
Archipelago mixes standard pilsners and ales with local flavors like lemongrass, tamarind, star anise and wolfberries, a traditional ingredient in Chinese medicine.
Sidewalk chefs
---------------
Singapore has its share of white-linen restaurants, but food-mad locals salivate for hawker centers, open-air food courts where each stall serves one dish and the cooks yell out their specialties like ballpark vendors. One of the most popular, East Coast Lagoon Food Village (1220 East Coast Parkway), sits in a tropical park on the beach.
With more than 50 stalls, the Village offers everything from barbecued tiger prawns to Indonesian satay to drinks made from grass jelly and aloe vera.
Dinner for one, about 10 Singapore dollars, or $6.80 at 1.47 Singapore dollars to the U.S. dollar.
For a quieter, cleaner atmosphere, try the appropriately named Makansutra Gluttons Bay (Esplanade Mall; 65-6336-7025; www.makansutra.com), by the Esplanade arts complex.
10 p.m.4) THE HILLS
Cap off the evening in style. Skip the Boat Quay night-life area, unless you hanker to meet hundreds of sodden, sunburned European tourists. Instead, head to Emerald Hill, an upscale area with a cluster of hip pubs, and sip martinis at Alley Bar (2 Emerald Hill Road; 65-6738-8818), a long and sleek lounge frequented by aspiring fashion models.
Saturday
Wild Side
---------
Singapore’s skyscraping downtown makes it easy to forget that parks cover much of this island. But in recent years, Singaporeans have gone wild for adventure sports. Get up before the mercury rises and head to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (177 Hindhede Drive; 65-6468-5736; www.nparks.gov.sg/nature_bukit.asp), a 400-acre rain forest that is home to garrulous macaques and some 500 other animal species. Hiking and biking trails wind through the jungle, creeping with vines and giant ferns. Watch out for the flying lemurs: the possum-sized critters glide overhead between huge jelutong trees.
Arresting Art
--------------
In the past decade, wealthy Singapore has become a regional hub for contemporary art, attracting painters and sculptors from China, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand.
For a glimpse of the expanding art scene, visit the MICA Building (140 Hill Street; www.mica.gov.sg), a colorful gallery warehouse in a former police station, now run by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
In the building, the Soobin Art International gallery (65-6837-2777; www.soobinart.com.sg) features groundbreaking Chinese artists like Luo Jie, known for his sharp political cartoons.
Cooking, Lah?
--------------
Long before Jean-Georges, Singapore’s chefs created the ultimate fusion food, a mishmash of Chinese, Indian and Malay influences that resulted in unique, if not always pretty, dishes like chili crab and fish-head curry.
Many of these dishes are created in a single wok, and are much easier to master than, say, classic French cooking.
Shermay’s Cooking School (Block 43 Jalan Merah Saga, 03-64 Holland Village; 65-6479-8442; www.shermay.com) was created by Shermay Lee, who wrote the definitive cookbook on Nyonya cuisine, which marries Chinese and Malay cuisine. Courses, which last roughly three hours, start at 109 Singapore dollars.
Extreme shopping
-------------------
Shopping is a national sport, and the main drag, Orchard Road, resembles a tourist mosh pit on weekends; one tour group knocked me down as they scrambled, like escaped convicts, into a sporting goods store. (You can avoid the crowds by arriving early, but then you’ll miss the action.)
Or skip Orchard altogether for the high-end boutiques in Holland Village, a suburb of villas and leafy streets that draws local fashionistas and expatriates.
Galerie Cho Lon (01-76 43 Jalan Merah, Saga; 65-6473-7922), an exquisitely cluttered boutique, has classic Chinese chairs and screens, antique wood furniture and books on Asian history and art.
Dining with Art
----------------
Singapore’s National Museum (93 Stamford Road; 65-6332-2659; www.nationalmuseum.sg) is housed in a neo-Classical-style building from 1887, but it’s not just for art lovers.
At night, the soaring marble rotunda becomes the funky restaurant Novus (65-6336-8770; www.novus.sg).
It serves modern European cuisine with Asian touches like five-spiced duck with poached quince (32 Singapore dollars) and crispy-skinned snow cod with garlic pain perdu (34 dollars).
If you arrive before your reservation (highly recommended), sidle over to the nearby bar, Muse, and rub elbows with the high-society crowd, who were spotted comparing their silver-plated cellphones on a recent visit.
Ethnic Canteen
---------------
Though many ethnic neighborhoods have lost their authenticity (Little India resembles a movie set), the Arab Quarter remains dingy, crowded and real.
Wander along Bussorah Street, the main drag, where you’ll find halal cafes open until the early morning. Most draw a mixed crowd of Singaporeans, Lebanese, Moroccans and Indonesians, who come to smoke shisha pipes, snack on olives, flatbreads and other tidbits and occasionally watch local belly dancers shake it up.
Coffee and Kabbalah
-----------------------
Take a cab to Chinatown, where young entrepreneurs have gutted classic old Chinese shop houses painted purple and pink, and turned them into a warren of new and New Agey cafes.
The Whatever (20 Keong Saik Road; 65-6224-0300; www.whatever.com.sg) is a cafe that serves organic salads, soups and nutty coffee (10 Singapore dollars for breakfast), along with yoga, reiki and enough kabbalah books to satisfy Madonna.
Spa Island
-----------
For a quick getaway, Sentosa is an island resort over a causeway bridge, or eight minutes on the new Sentosa Express monorail (www.sentosa.com.sg).
The resort is being developed with two new casinos, but for now you can stroll through lush green scenery and small, Disney-esque theme parks.
If you tire, stop at quiet Tanjong Beach. Or head for a rubdown at Sentosa’s Spa Botanica (65-6371-1318; www.spabotanica.com), a pleasure palace set inside tropical gardens and complete with an open-air volcanic mud bath. A 90-minute steam bath and massage costs 170 Singapore dollars.
The Basics
-----------
Singapore Airlines flies nonstop from Newark to Singapore. A recent Internet search found fares starting at $1,575 for January. Cheaper fares can sometimes be found with non-direct service, with changes in places like Bangkok or Tokyo.
Old Time Feel
----------------
For colonial-era décor and exhaustive pampering, check into the Raffles (1 Beach Road; 65-6337-1886; www.singapore-raffles.raffles.com). Dating back to 1887, the hotel has been painstakingly restored and is staffed by Indian attendants in white coats with gold tassels.
Rooms start at around 1,000 Singapore dollars, about $680 at 1.47 Singapore dollars to the U.S. dollar.
Singapore has also blossomed with boutique hotels.
The New Majestic Hotel (31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road; 65-6511-4700; www.newmajestichotel.com) enlisted local contemporary artists to design each room, including one covered wall to floor in mirrors. Rooms from 300 Singapore dollars.
The Royal Peacock (55 Keong Saik Road; 65-6223-3522; www.royalpeacockhotel.com), in a converted Chinese shop house, offers nicely designed rooms starting at 135 Singapore dollars.
For deep hotel discounts, try www.asiarooms.com, though you may have to pay for the room in advance.
For event listings, check out Time Out Singapore (www.timeout.com/sg/en/), I-S (www.is-weekend.com), a free local magazine, or The Straits Times (www.straitstimes.com), the leading English-language newspaper.
SINGAPORE may be clean, efficient and manicured, but the prosperous island-state knows how to get down and dirty, too.
At a string of open-air bars near the main shopping drag, young Singaporeans with stylishly tousled hair toss back martinis until the early morning.
A sex therapist who styles himself “Dr. Love” has become one of the biggest celebs in town.
And the Ministry of Sound, the famous British house music nightclub, has opened a branch in Singapore that pounds with local D.J.’s.
That’s not to say Singapore has gone off the rails. Just stroll along its bougainvillea-draped streets, where order is still enforced by Big Nanny signs, like the one that recently read, “Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime — Be Vigilant.”
Singapore Botanic Gardens
------------------------------
Get a taste of Singapore’s cultivated side at the Singapore Botanic Gardens (1 Cluny Road; 65-6471-7361; www.sbg.org.sg), an ambling 157-acre park where you’ll see a medley of Chinese, Indians and Malays practicing martial arts, doing yoga and flirting.
Founded in 1859, the landscaped gardens are dotted with intricate Victorian gazebos, a micro rain forest and a dazzling collection of orchids — from the flamingo-pink hybrid Vanda Miss Joaquim (Singapore’s national flower) to varieties named after visiting V.I.P.’s like Margaret Thatcher.
Beer Therapy
---------------
Southeast Asia isn’t known for beer, but that’s starting to change. Brew connoisseurs recently opened Archipelago Brewery (79 Circular Road; 65-6861-6200; www.archipelagobrewery.com), a microbrewery that revived a Singaporean beer works originally founded in 1931.
Archipelago mixes standard pilsners and ales with local flavors like lemongrass, tamarind, star anise and wolfberries, a traditional ingredient in Chinese medicine.
Sidewalk chefs
---------------
Singapore has its share of white-linen restaurants, but food-mad locals salivate for hawker centers, open-air food courts where each stall serves one dish and the cooks yell out their specialties like ballpark vendors. One of the most popular, East Coast Lagoon Food Village (1220 East Coast Parkway), sits in a tropical park on the beach.
With more than 50 stalls, the Village offers everything from barbecued tiger prawns to Indonesian satay to drinks made from grass jelly and aloe vera.
Dinner for one, about 10 Singapore dollars, or $6.80 at 1.47 Singapore dollars to the U.S. dollar.
For a quieter, cleaner atmosphere, try the appropriately named Makansutra Gluttons Bay (Esplanade Mall; 65-6336-7025; www.makansutra.com), by the Esplanade arts complex.
10 p.m.4) THE HILLS
Cap off the evening in style. Skip the Boat Quay night-life area, unless you hanker to meet hundreds of sodden, sunburned European tourists. Instead, head to Emerald Hill, an upscale area with a cluster of hip pubs, and sip martinis at Alley Bar (2 Emerald Hill Road; 65-6738-8818), a long and sleek lounge frequented by aspiring fashion models.
Saturday
Wild Side
---------
Singapore’s skyscraping downtown makes it easy to forget that parks cover much of this island. But in recent years, Singaporeans have gone wild for adventure sports. Get up before the mercury rises and head to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (177 Hindhede Drive; 65-6468-5736; www.nparks.gov.sg/nature_bukit.asp), a 400-acre rain forest that is home to garrulous macaques and some 500 other animal species. Hiking and biking trails wind through the jungle, creeping with vines and giant ferns. Watch out for the flying lemurs: the possum-sized critters glide overhead between huge jelutong trees.
Arresting Art
--------------
In the past decade, wealthy Singapore has become a regional hub for contemporary art, attracting painters and sculptors from China, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand.
For a glimpse of the expanding art scene, visit the MICA Building (140 Hill Street; www.mica.gov.sg), a colorful gallery warehouse in a former police station, now run by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
In the building, the Soobin Art International gallery (65-6837-2777; www.soobinart.com.sg) features groundbreaking Chinese artists like Luo Jie, known for his sharp political cartoons.
Cooking, Lah?
--------------
Long before Jean-Georges, Singapore’s chefs created the ultimate fusion food, a mishmash of Chinese, Indian and Malay influences that resulted in unique, if not always pretty, dishes like chili crab and fish-head curry.
Many of these dishes are created in a single wok, and are much easier to master than, say, classic French cooking.
Shermay’s Cooking School (Block 43 Jalan Merah Saga, 03-64 Holland Village; 65-6479-8442; www.shermay.com) was created by Shermay Lee, who wrote the definitive cookbook on Nyonya cuisine, which marries Chinese and Malay cuisine. Courses, which last roughly three hours, start at 109 Singapore dollars.
Extreme shopping
-------------------
Shopping is a national sport, and the main drag, Orchard Road, resembles a tourist mosh pit on weekends; one tour group knocked me down as they scrambled, like escaped convicts, into a sporting goods store. (You can avoid the crowds by arriving early, but then you’ll miss the action.)
Or skip Orchard altogether for the high-end boutiques in Holland Village, a suburb of villas and leafy streets that draws local fashionistas and expatriates.
Galerie Cho Lon (01-76 43 Jalan Merah, Saga; 65-6473-7922), an exquisitely cluttered boutique, has classic Chinese chairs and screens, antique wood furniture and books on Asian history and art.
Dining with Art
----------------
Singapore’s National Museum (93 Stamford Road; 65-6332-2659; www.nationalmuseum.sg) is housed in a neo-Classical-style building from 1887, but it’s not just for art lovers.
At night, the soaring marble rotunda becomes the funky restaurant Novus (65-6336-8770; www.novus.sg).
It serves modern European cuisine with Asian touches like five-spiced duck with poached quince (32 Singapore dollars) and crispy-skinned snow cod with garlic pain perdu (34 dollars).
If you arrive before your reservation (highly recommended), sidle over to the nearby bar, Muse, and rub elbows with the high-society crowd, who were spotted comparing their silver-plated cellphones on a recent visit.
Ethnic Canteen
---------------
Though many ethnic neighborhoods have lost their authenticity (Little India resembles a movie set), the Arab Quarter remains dingy, crowded and real.
Wander along Bussorah Street, the main drag, where you’ll find halal cafes open until the early morning. Most draw a mixed crowd of Singaporeans, Lebanese, Moroccans and Indonesians, who come to smoke shisha pipes, snack on olives, flatbreads and other tidbits and occasionally watch local belly dancers shake it up.
Coffee and Kabbalah
-----------------------
Take a cab to Chinatown, where young entrepreneurs have gutted classic old Chinese shop houses painted purple and pink, and turned them into a warren of new and New Agey cafes.
The Whatever (20 Keong Saik Road; 65-6224-0300; www.whatever.com.sg) is a cafe that serves organic salads, soups and nutty coffee (10 Singapore dollars for breakfast), along with yoga, reiki and enough kabbalah books to satisfy Madonna.
Spa Island
-----------
For a quick getaway, Sentosa is an island resort over a causeway bridge, or eight minutes on the new Sentosa Express monorail (www.sentosa.com.sg).
The resort is being developed with two new casinos, but for now you can stroll through lush green scenery and small, Disney-esque theme parks.
If you tire, stop at quiet Tanjong Beach. Or head for a rubdown at Sentosa’s Spa Botanica (65-6371-1318; www.spabotanica.com), a pleasure palace set inside tropical gardens and complete with an open-air volcanic mud bath. A 90-minute steam bath and massage costs 170 Singapore dollars.
The Basics
-----------
Singapore Airlines flies nonstop from Newark to Singapore. A recent Internet search found fares starting at $1,575 for January. Cheaper fares can sometimes be found with non-direct service, with changes in places like Bangkok or Tokyo.
Old Time Feel
----------------
For colonial-era décor and exhaustive pampering, check into the Raffles (1 Beach Road; 65-6337-1886; www.singapore-raffles.raffles.com). Dating back to 1887, the hotel has been painstakingly restored and is staffed by Indian attendants in white coats with gold tassels.
Rooms start at around 1,000 Singapore dollars, about $680 at 1.47 Singapore dollars to the U.S. dollar.
Singapore has also blossomed with boutique hotels.
The New Majestic Hotel (31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road; 65-6511-4700; www.newmajestichotel.com) enlisted local contemporary artists to design each room, including one covered wall to floor in mirrors. Rooms from 300 Singapore dollars.
The Royal Peacock (55 Keong Saik Road; 65-6223-3522; www.royalpeacockhotel.com), in a converted Chinese shop house, offers nicely designed rooms starting at 135 Singapore dollars.
For deep hotel discounts, try www.asiarooms.com, though you may have to pay for the room in advance.
For event listings, check out Time Out Singapore (www.timeout.com/sg/en/), I-S (www.is-weekend.com), a free local magazine, or The Straits Times (www.straitstimes.com), the leading English-language newspaper.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Six ways to fall asleep without the aid of medicine
You've probably been there: Tossing and turning at night, you pop a few Tylenol PMs. Sure, you nod off quickly, but the next day you can barely make it to the office in your semi-zombified state.
Next time you're having trouble getting to sleep, try out one of these herbals remedies -- way gentler than the chemical alternatives, but for many people, still effective.
Valerian root: It stinks, but it’s the most effective sleep-inducer of all herbal cures. You can find it in capsule, tea, tablet or liquid extract forms. Valerian root can also ease anxiety and muscle stiffness -- find out how.
Chamomile Tea: Drink a cup before hitting the sheets. Learn how chamomile tea can also help out with digestive problems, menstrual cramps and more.
Celery: Munch on some; it’s loaded with sedatives. We've got hundreds of recipes that use celery -- try one!
Lemon balm: It can be soothing and emit a pleasant scent.
Lavender: Take a whiff of lavender while taking a warm evening bath. It relaxes the nervous system, reducing stress hormones that often keep you awake. Lavender’s scent also ups the production of relaxing alpha waves in the brain for deeper sleep. If you get migraines, lavender can help with that too.
Hops: If your sleeping problems are connected to your period, hops can be useful because it balances out fluctuating hormone levels. Stuff a sleep sachet containing the herb under your pillow.More stuff you'll like on QuickandSimple.com:Natural Solutions for 50+ Ailments:
From digestive problems to yeast infections, how to skip the chemicals and still get relief6 Surprising -- and Simple! -- Stress Fighters: “Who’d-have-thought” tactics to help you unwind fastOne Week to a Happier You:
Find time to pamper yourself each day with these seven easy indulgencesThe Holiday Social Pitfalls You Must Avoid: How to steer clear of office-party and gift-giving snafusBeat 4 Big-Time Holiday Stress-Makers: Pressed for time? Juggling in-laws? Solutions to the troubles of the seasonReprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.
Related: valerian root, sleep, lavender, insomnia, hops, chamomile tea, celery
Next time you're having trouble getting to sleep, try out one of these herbals remedies -- way gentler than the chemical alternatives, but for many people, still effective.
Valerian root: It stinks, but it’s the most effective sleep-inducer of all herbal cures. You can find it in capsule, tea, tablet or liquid extract forms. Valerian root can also ease anxiety and muscle stiffness -- find out how.
Chamomile Tea: Drink a cup before hitting the sheets. Learn how chamomile tea can also help out with digestive problems, menstrual cramps and more.
Celery: Munch on some; it’s loaded with sedatives. We've got hundreds of recipes that use celery -- try one!
Lemon balm: It can be soothing and emit a pleasant scent.
Lavender: Take a whiff of lavender while taking a warm evening bath. It relaxes the nervous system, reducing stress hormones that often keep you awake. Lavender’s scent also ups the production of relaxing alpha waves in the brain for deeper sleep. If you get migraines, lavender can help with that too.
Hops: If your sleeping problems are connected to your period, hops can be useful because it balances out fluctuating hormone levels. Stuff a sleep sachet containing the herb under your pillow.More stuff you'll like on QuickandSimple.com:Natural Solutions for 50+ Ailments:
From digestive problems to yeast infections, how to skip the chemicals and still get relief6 Surprising -- and Simple! -- Stress Fighters: “Who’d-have-thought” tactics to help you unwind fastOne Week to a Happier You:
Find time to pamper yourself each day with these seven easy indulgencesThe Holiday Social Pitfalls You Must Avoid: How to steer clear of office-party and gift-giving snafusBeat 4 Big-Time Holiday Stress-Makers: Pressed for time? Juggling in-laws? Solutions to the troubles of the seasonReprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.
Related: valerian root, sleep, lavender, insomnia, hops, chamomile tea, celery
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Prayers a poem from the New Yorker
Prayers
by Rae Armantrout
November 10, 2008
1.
We pray
and the resurrection happens.
Here are the young
again,
sniping and giggling,
tingly
as ringing phones.
2.
All we ask
is that our thinking
sustain momentum,
identify targets.
The pressure
in my lower back
rising to be recognized
as pain.
The blue triangles
on the rug
repeating.
Coming up,
a discussion
on the uses
of torture.
The fear
that all this
will end.
The fear
that it won’t.
by Rae Armantrout
November 10, 2008
1.
We pray
and the resurrection happens.
Here are the young
again,
sniping and giggling,
tingly
as ringing phones.
2.
All we ask
is that our thinking
sustain momentum,
identify targets.
The pressure
in my lower back
rising to be recognized
as pain.
The blue triangles
on the rug
repeating.
Coming up,
a discussion
on the uses
of torture.
The fear
that all this
will end.
The fear
that it won’t.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Reunion a New Yorker Poem
I love this poem courtesy of The New Yorker
Reunion
by Jeffrey Skinner
September 1, 2008
Why do you keep returning,
alive, able to walk and gesture
as you could not at the end,
your movements sketchy, more holographic
than warm? Thanksgiving dinner
with all the relatives and I alone
with the suspicion I cannot speak:
You should be elsewhere.
Heavy drinking, as always. The newest baby
passed around like a contagious glow.
Same teasing of the strong,
same muffled terror of the uncertain.
All the while you, at the head of
the table like a signal carried by
a frayed wire—there, gone, there—
raising a glass to toast,
the rim never touching your lips.
Reunion
by Jeffrey Skinner
September 1, 2008
Why do you keep returning,
alive, able to walk and gesture
as you could not at the end,
your movements sketchy, more holographic
than warm? Thanksgiving dinner
with all the relatives and I alone
with the suspicion I cannot speak:
You should be elsewhere.
Heavy drinking, as always. The newest baby
passed around like a contagious glow.
Same teasing of the strong,
same muffled terror of the uncertain.
All the while you, at the head of
the table like a signal carried by
a frayed wire—there, gone, there—
raising a glass to toast,
the rim never touching your lips.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Lifted from the Harper's Weekly
I like the humour in the news, so I include it here:
HARPER'S WEEKLY
Doctors in Berlin announced that they had cured a man of AIDS by giving him transplanted blood stem cells from adonor naturally resistant to the virus; other researchers cautioned that the treatment was of little immediate use,and justified in this case only because the patient hadleukemia.
"Frankly," said Dr. Robert C. Gallo of theUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine, "I'd rather take the medicine."
A German shoplifter with no arms stolea 24-inch television. "It's hard to believe," said a police officer, "that the sight of an armless man walking along with a giant TV clamped to his body did not get anyone's attention."
A man in a motorized wheelchair robbed a Space Coast Credit Union branch in MerrittIsland, Florida, telling employees that he was rigged with explosives; police caught him ten minutes later and recovered the stolen money from his prosthetic leg.
Huseyin Kalkan, the mayor of Batman, Turkey, said that the town would sue Warner Bros. for a portion of the royalties from the movie "The Dark Knight." "There is,"said Kalkan, "only one Batman."
A sixth severed footwashed ashore in Canada, and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin,who is expected to sign a $7 million book deal, was asked if she planned to run for president in 2012. "I'm like,okay, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, Don't let me miss theopen door," she said. "I'll plow through that door."
The Secret Service assigned official code names toPresident-elect Barack Obama ("Renegade"), First LadyMichelle Obama ("Renaissance"), and their daughters Malia("Radiance") and Sasha ("Rosebud").
In Chicago, are laxed-looking Obama, who gained 700,000 Facebook friends since his election, met with Senator John McCain, who has lost 1,000 Facebook friends, and astronomers in Canada and the United States, observing the constellations Piscis Austrinus and Pegasus, captured the first images of distant, dusty planets orbiting young, bright stars.
The price of oil fell below $60 per barrel, a 20-monthlow, and it was announced that a portion of the government's $700 billion bailout package may be used to pay year-end bonuses on Wall Street.
Computer giant Sun Microsystems shed 6,000 jobs, and sales rose for HormelFoods Corporation, which produces SPAM.
"We are scheduled to work every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas," saidDarwin Sellers, a SPAM "formulator" who adds salt, sugar,and nitrates to rectangles of pork at a plant inMinnesota.
"The man upstairs [would like] to get us towork eight days a week." Barack Obama's chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel, apologized to the Arab community for remarks made by his father, Benjamin Emanuel, who told an Israeli newspaper that his son would "obviously influence the president to be pro-Israel.
Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the WhiteHouse." Assailants sprayed acid in the faces of 15 schoolgirls in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and an Indian highcourt dismissed arguments that homosexual intercourse should be banned for causing bodily injuries. India's space program landed a probe painted with the national flag on the surface of the moon.
Nigerian police discovered a massive baby farm in the cityof Enugu, and a grandmother in Ohio gave birth to herdaughter's triplets. Officials in Nebraska were scrambling to change a "safe haven" law, whereby children can be legally abandoned at hospitals, because it failed tospecify an age limit for the children.
"Please don't bring your teenager to Nebraska," said Governor Dave Heineman, responding to a spate of abandoned out-of-stateteens. "Think of what you are saying. You are saying you no longer support them. You no longer love them." DonDollar, a City Hall employee in Vernon, Mississippi, said that anyone who was happy with Obama's victory should seek religious forgiveness.
"This is a community that's supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks. If they're not disappointed, they need to be at the altar."
Holocaust survivors demanded that the Mormon church stop posthumously baptizing Jews killed in concentration camps,and judges in Pleasant Grove City, Utah, were weighing a free-speech suit filed by adherents to the Summum church.
Members of the church claim that the city is discriminating against them by displaying a red granite plaque of the Ten Commandments in a public park but refusing to display a monument inscribed with their own faith's Seven Aphorisms, which were communicated via telepathy from divine beings to a man named Corky Ra. RonTemu and Su Menu, two Summum worshippers, argued that the Commandments were compatible with the Aphorisms, as both were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai.
"If you look at them side by side," said Su Menu of the two monuments while sitting in a metal pyramid and drinking an alcoholic sacramental nectar beside a mummified Doberman pinscher,"they really are saying similar things."-- Gemma Sieff
HARPER'S WEEKLY
Doctors in Berlin announced that they had cured a man of AIDS by giving him transplanted blood stem cells from adonor naturally resistant to the virus; other researchers cautioned that the treatment was of little immediate use,and justified in this case only because the patient hadleukemia.
"Frankly," said Dr. Robert C. Gallo of theUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine, "I'd rather take the medicine."
A German shoplifter with no arms stolea 24-inch television. "It's hard to believe," said a police officer, "that the sight of an armless man walking along with a giant TV clamped to his body did not get anyone's attention."
A man in a motorized wheelchair robbed a Space Coast Credit Union branch in MerrittIsland, Florida, telling employees that he was rigged with explosives; police caught him ten minutes later and recovered the stolen money from his prosthetic leg.
Huseyin Kalkan, the mayor of Batman, Turkey, said that the town would sue Warner Bros. for a portion of the royalties from the movie "The Dark Knight." "There is,"said Kalkan, "only one Batman."
A sixth severed footwashed ashore in Canada, and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin,who is expected to sign a $7 million book deal, was asked if she planned to run for president in 2012. "I'm like,okay, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, Don't let me miss theopen door," she said. "I'll plow through that door."
The Secret Service assigned official code names toPresident-elect Barack Obama ("Renegade"), First LadyMichelle Obama ("Renaissance"), and their daughters Malia("Radiance") and Sasha ("Rosebud").
In Chicago, are laxed-looking Obama, who gained 700,000 Facebook friends since his election, met with Senator John McCain, who has lost 1,000 Facebook friends, and astronomers in Canada and the United States, observing the constellations Piscis Austrinus and Pegasus, captured the first images of distant, dusty planets orbiting young, bright stars.
The price of oil fell below $60 per barrel, a 20-monthlow, and it was announced that a portion of the government's $700 billion bailout package may be used to pay year-end bonuses on Wall Street.
Computer giant Sun Microsystems shed 6,000 jobs, and sales rose for HormelFoods Corporation, which produces SPAM.
"We are scheduled to work every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas," saidDarwin Sellers, a SPAM "formulator" who adds salt, sugar,and nitrates to rectangles of pork at a plant inMinnesota.
"The man upstairs [would like] to get us towork eight days a week." Barack Obama's chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel, apologized to the Arab community for remarks made by his father, Benjamin Emanuel, who told an Israeli newspaper that his son would "obviously influence the president to be pro-Israel.
Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the WhiteHouse." Assailants sprayed acid in the faces of 15 schoolgirls in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and an Indian highcourt dismissed arguments that homosexual intercourse should be banned for causing bodily injuries. India's space program landed a probe painted with the national flag on the surface of the moon.
Nigerian police discovered a massive baby farm in the cityof Enugu, and a grandmother in Ohio gave birth to herdaughter's triplets. Officials in Nebraska were scrambling to change a "safe haven" law, whereby children can be legally abandoned at hospitals, because it failed tospecify an age limit for the children.
"Please don't bring your teenager to Nebraska," said Governor Dave Heineman, responding to a spate of abandoned out-of-stateteens. "Think of what you are saying. You are saying you no longer support them. You no longer love them." DonDollar, a City Hall employee in Vernon, Mississippi, said that anyone who was happy with Obama's victory should seek religious forgiveness.
"This is a community that's supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks. If they're not disappointed, they need to be at the altar."
Holocaust survivors demanded that the Mormon church stop posthumously baptizing Jews killed in concentration camps,and judges in Pleasant Grove City, Utah, were weighing a free-speech suit filed by adherents to the Summum church.
Members of the church claim that the city is discriminating against them by displaying a red granite plaque of the Ten Commandments in a public park but refusing to display a monument inscribed with their own faith's Seven Aphorisms, which were communicated via telepathy from divine beings to a man named Corky Ra. RonTemu and Su Menu, two Summum worshippers, argued that the Commandments were compatible with the Aphorisms, as both were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai.
"If you look at them side by side," said Su Menu of the two monuments while sitting in a metal pyramid and drinking an alcoholic sacramental nectar beside a mummified Doberman pinscher,"they really are saying similar things."-- Gemma Sieff
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