Day 2: Temples, Food and Meeting the Folders

I am writing this at about 10 p.m. Tuesday evening in Little India after perhaps the best Indian meal I have ever had. In my opinion, Indian food in Boston is good, but it generally seems to be one-size-fits-all. Maybe that is because the same company owns half of the Indian restaurants in Boston. But I have also lived in London on two occasions, and I have tasted the best that the Queensway area has to offer. Tonight I had the pleasure of having the fish head curry at The Banana Leaf Apolo, which is a fantastic name, and it is what all of their food is served on. The fish head was gigantic (and a little frightening at first with its giant bulging eyes peering at me) and full of tender meat. It rested in a sea of a red curry that had the perfect complement of spices.

Fish head curry before

The server plopped down a pile of aromatic rice on the banana leaf and a few stacks of stewed vegetables. I used the Peshwari naan to soak up as much of the curry as possible, and I stripped the fish bone of all of its meat. Delicious. There is a well-known homemade ice cream shop nearby, but I have no room.

And after..

The Banana Leaf experience was a fitting end to a long, enjoyable day in sunny Singapore. I went to bed at 10 last night and was nearly able to sleep through the night, waking at 7. Hopefully, I am now fully adjusted to the 12-hour time difference. I started the day not with the run along the river that I had hoped, but with a 5k jog on the treadmill and some lifting in the small rooftop gym. After the workout I had my first breakfast at my hotel, and it did not disappoint. They had a nice mix of Eastern and Western fare, and I settled on an egg, some ham, and a delicious spicy vegetable udon noodle stir fry. It is safe to say I have never had that at 7:45 am.

My only commitment today was a 5 p.m. conference registration at the Singapore Management University, so I had most of the day to explore. I bumped into Dr. Patsy Wang-Iverson, whom is the reason I am here. She is the person leading the week of school visits and she is an organizer of the 5OSME (Origami in Science, Math and Education) conference and folding convention. I was excited to meet her, and she gave me some tips on where to spend the day. Not far from the hotel are two temples, one Indian and one Chinese.

I left my sheet of notes in my room, but I know the Chinese temple is called Kwan Im Hong Hood Cho Temple (thanks pocket guide).

Kwan Im Hong Hood Cho Temple

People praying at Kwan Im Hong Hood Cho Temple

Inside the ornamental structure is a large square red carpet and there were about 50 people kneeling on it and praying to Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy, and. Many of the worshippers were shaking cylindrical containers filled with bamboo sticks with messages revealing their fates. When the sticks popped out onto the carpet, the devotees would pick up their sticks and read their fortunes. At the Indian Buddhist temple I came just in time for a noon ceremony in which two musicians played for 15 minutes straight. One played a woodwind instrument that I did not recognize, and the other tapped a drum with his fingers, which had wooden thimbles on them. It was a beautiful song, and at the end, a shade was drawn from the main part of the temple, and some monks whirled fire around as everyone around me prayed. Quite the experience.

Outside Indian Temple

Door of Indian Temple

After the temples, I continued down Waterloo Street to Bugis market, which proclaims to be the largest market in Singapore. There were many stalls with clothes, shoes and electronics, but I settled for a mango bubble tea. On the way to the market from the temples I passes a peculiar stretch of hawkers. No, they weren’t selling exotic foods, they were glorified Billy Mays wannabes.

Anyone need a sharp knife?

From super glues, to absorbent mops, to knives that sliced through aluminum cans like butter, there was not a random product these people were not selling. I stopped and took many pictures of the sharp knife guy because he was really going for it with his salesmanship, and he had attracted a small crowd of onlookers.

After the market I ventured to the nearby hawker stands that I was more interested in: the ones with food. Like last night in Chinatown, this hawker area did not disappoint. I ordered the prawn noodles with pork ribs. You might ask if that is a good combination, and let me tell you it was. I can’t get over how good and cheap the food is at the outdoor hawker stands, and the variety is amazing. Whatever you are looking for, you are bound to find it at any of these areas.

After the market and lunch, I was heading over to the Battle Box, an underground labyrinth of rooms and tunnels where you can apparently relive the fateful morning of February 15, 1942, when the British commanding officer surrendered to the Japanese. The tour is supposedly interactive with good special effects, whatever that could mean, but I bumped into a nice local person who said that if I’m new to town I should go to the top of the Suisse Hotel to its observation deck. From there, 72 stories up in the air, I got nearly a 360-degree view of the area, and it was amazing.

Great views..

View of casino, ferris wheel and bay

It was a clear day, so I saw nearby Malaysia (a cab ride away) and some Indonesian islands, including Batam and Bintan, which are a two-hour ferry ride from Singapore.

It's hazy, but Indonesian islands are in the background

Since Singapore is relatively small, I am considering a trip out to one or both of these islands in Sunday, which is my next free day.

After the panoramic view of the area, I headed over to SMU where I was early for the conference registration. There I met James Peake of Oberlin, Ohio, who runs a folding festival there and works for a non-profit working with students folding origami.

James Peake demonstrating one of his corrugations

He said he thinks his next step will be going back to school to get a master’s in education, and I hope to learn some applicable origami lessons from him as he has already written and implemented origami-based lesson plans over the past few years. Other than that, Patsy said a few words and I met a few Japanese folders and someone from M.I.T., but their names are escaping me now (good thing we have name tags).

One of many demonstrations at 5OSME registration

I am off now to bed, as tomorrow will be another full day. There are two workshops tomorrow, plus an opening speaker and then an evening reception at a nearby hotel. I will tell you all about it tomorrow..