Slangictionary (First Installment)

Sheila: (n.) girl

Wombat: (n.) idiot, silly (affectionate)

Redhot: (adj.) From what I can tell it is similar to Awesome or On fire

Mo: (n.) Mustache (a lot of people do Movember for charities and grow ridiculous mos)

Pavo: (adj.) poor

Full on: (adj.) really intense, played hard  [ex. In yesterday’s footy match he was full on]

Doona: (n.) comforter (apparently this is a European word, but Aussie’s use it)

Sport: (n.) sports [ex. He plays sport]

Coriander: (n.) cilantro

Maths: (n.) math (makes sense when you think about the fact that mathematics is a plural word)

Trolley Dollies: (n.) flight attendants

Note: (n.) dollar bill

Heaps: (adv.) a lot

Capciscum: (n.) pepper

Togs: (n.) bathing suits [origin Queensland]

Joggers, Runners, Sandshoes: (n.) sneakers

Check out chick: (n.) cashier

Full as a fat girl’s sock: (common phrase) drunk

As funny as a dose of Anthrax: (common phrase) not very funny

Boring as batshit: (common phrase) someone who is very dull 

Singapore Continued

Day 2 

My second morning in Singapore I went to the famous National Orchid Garden in the Botanical Garden, which has more than two thousand varieties of orchids and hybrids. This whole section of the gardens is absolutely spectacular and a really nice break from the busy city streets. I do have photo evidence of my presence there, but it is just so hot and humid in Singapore in the middle of the day that it is difficult to look anything other than sweaty and frizzy in pictures. The weather is about the same every day all year as Singapore is one of the Asian countries closest to the equator. It is tropical weather, which means it usually pours for an hour or so daily, so everyone walks around with umbrellas. Every day I marveled at how native Singaporeans manage to look so effortlessly put together and relatively sweat-free in the humid weather. Even people in DC don’t handle humidity quite as well as Singaporeans.

Later in the afternoon I went to the National Museum.  The museum is in a gorgeous old building, which has been updated with modern touches.  The Singapore history exhibit is very informative and innovative with interactive sections that give you an idea of what Singapore was like in other centuries and decades.

The highlight of my day was going to high tea at the Raffles Hotel with Vesna. The Raffles Hotel is also famous for inventing the Singapore Sling, a very popular and very alcoholic drink. When my Grandmother Katie came to Singapore some twenty odd years ago it was the first thing on her list, so I made sure that it was high on my list.  The tea is held at 3:30 in the Tiffin Room, which has beautiful high ceilings and gleaming white marble floors.  Each table has a classic high tea tier that is piled with fruitcake, little sandwiches and little cakes.  There is also a buffet with dumplings, scones, fresh fruit, little tarts and different cakes.  Vesna and I nearly died when we ate the bread and butter pudding with the warm vanilla bean sauce. It was one of the most scrumptious desserts I have ever tasted.

At night we went to Clarke Quay, which is one of the big tourist attractions. It is full of bars and restaurants of every variety and theme.  One bar is called The Clinic and has gold wheelchairs as chairs and other medical decorations.  We got lychee martinis at Bar CoCoon, which has a Forbidden City theme with replicas of terracotta soldiers and interesting chandeliers.  

Day 3 

In the morning I took a Singapore River cruise from One Fullerton, which is across the way from the Fullerton Hotel, one of Singapore’s famous hotels, which is a combination of traditional and modern, like many things in Singapore.  From One Fullerton you can see the city’s famous Merlion statue framed in the background by the Durian building which houses the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. The Merlion was inspired by the city’s name Singapura meaning “Lion City”.  Across the marina you can see the Singapore Sands Casino with a boat on top, which opened recently.  The boat has a bar and a pool and is a pretty unique sight to see. I The riverboat tour was fun and relaxing and gave a different view of the city.  I made friends with some friendly Western Australians who arrived in the morning from Perth who chatted with me throughout the tour and told me a little bit about their part of the country .

Clarke Quay in the daytime

Bumboats

Singapore

My first day in Singapore I met Vesna on Orchard Street, the big shopping street, which is only a few blocks from the Thomas' condo. Orchard Street has every imaginable designer label but most items cost at least three times what they do in the United States, so all I did was window shop. 

After checking out Orchard Street we caught a taxi to Chinatown. The taxis in Singapore are quite cheap.  In off-peak hours they cost no more that $7 and only a little more expensive during peak hours. Chinatown is in an old neighborhood in the city.  The shops are in renovated shophouses that are remnants of British colonial rule in Singapore.  The shophouses well maintained are characterized by intricate molding painted in an array of striking colors.  They offer an interesting contrast to the modern skyscrapers that loom above them only a few blocks away. 

While in Chinatown we visited the oldest Hindu and Buddhist temples in the city.  Sri Mariammam Temple, the Hindu temple, is white and clean, but filled with statues that are bursting with color.  The most common statues are those of brightly painted sacred cows that line the temple complex walls, but my favorites were the statues inside the walls.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, the Buddhist temple designed in the Tang Dynasty style, is only a few blocks down the street. To enter the temple you are required put on a pashmina to cover exposed shoulders and a wrap to cover bare legs.  I did not realize that you had to cover your shoulders when I first walked in, but I learned quickly after being scolded. The inside is richly decorated with bright reds and warm gold and yellows.  While we were there a special ceremony was in progress that consisted of monks in traditional garments chanting so loudly that the sounds of the bustling city streets were drowned out by their songs.

From the temple we went to the wet market around the corner.  Most native Singaporeans go to markets like this daily for fresh fish and vegetables.  Tanks full of live eels, huge frogs and other exotic delicacies skirm around in cages and tanks in many of the stands.  One section of the market has piles heaped high with dried baby shrimp, mini fish and other things. 

From Chinatown we went to Arab Street, a neighborhood that is architecturally similar to Chinatown, but it is full of stores with oriental rugs, Indian silks, lace and cotton batik. Cotton batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. The most well-known batik pattern in Singapore is the one worn by Singapore Airlines flight attendants. The Sultan Mosque in the Bussorah Mall, which was once a stop on the Haj, dominates the center of the neighborhood.  Unfortunately at the time we went prayers were going on so we could not go inside, but is definitely worth seeing.

G'day Mates

I am officially in Sydney and will be posting about Australia very soon.  However, before I describe my experience in the land down under,  I have a few posts about my time in Singapore. I will normally try to keep my post on the shorter side, but I managed to see a good amount in the few days I was there so my first few will be long. Anyways, I hope you are all well. Cheers