Singapore Suitcases: Week 35 - Of GymBOREe classes, my new shades of tan & our dear ol' Tita!

1. I signed Zoe up for a few Music and 'Play & Learn' sessions at the local Gymboree. Honestly these Gymboree type of 'babies and toddlers play classes' don't really impress me much. What do I find wrong with them? Well, for starters, a lot of these classes are really boring. Not just to me - an adult, but also to most babies. Besides, Zoe clearly has graduated on to doing other more advanced/ different activities that she particularly enjoys, than what is in store for her "age group" as such in these classes.
Considering the attention span of a toddler, the instructors have everything NOT working for them, when they try to confine a group of 18 to 28 month old toddlers to a room to enjoy a music class!! The so-called 'dancing' that goes along with it, is literally a warm-up as far as I can see. No wonder then, more than half the number of kids are busy trying to scratch open the door and elope or in Zoe's case, give me a look like "Seriously Mama, this? Don't we jig better than this at home?"
I find these Gymboree kind of baby/ toddler classes too restrictive and even regressive at times. There really isn't much to pick from other than the typical - Arts, Music, Play & Learn or Mandarin. Whatever happened to free-style dance-like-no-one's-watching kinda classes? Why doesn't someone just hit the start button and let kids groove, shimmy, shake a leg, fall, get up again and groove their booty to endless happy beats? Why is it always about props and music and pretend play and poems and blah!!!
Inspite of my take on this, the only reason I signed her up is so she has something to do when school breaks for summer, over the next two weeks. It perhaps is OK since it is only for two weeks. Any longer and we'd probably need to draw up yet another travel itinerary for this little one, to keep her busy!

2. Hubster left mid-week for Hyderabad, for a week long annual business bootcamp that he's organizing for his company. The man is wearing a lot of hats (professionally and personally) for someone with just one head and I am frankly amazed at his capacity to juggle all of them simultaneously! I thought I was a good juggler, but he sure, does take the cake! What works for him over me though, is his independence of sleep. While I still need my 7 - 8 hours of shut eye, an average 4 - 5 hours at night, is enough for him.
Working across multiple time zones is not an easy task, and among other comforts, it deprives one of sleep the most, what with late-night calls and early am meetings. Add to that the extensive business (and pleasure) travel and there really isn't much time left for anything else. Yet, he seems to juggle it all and balance it, pretty well. Granted he's always trying to steal a wink or two (I have a 'sleep series' of photographs of him and the baby shutting eye together) when he can, but overall I'd rate him as possibly one of the hardest working people I've ever known! Coming from me, that's got to be a compliment as being an Architect, I've known a lot of those midnight-oil burner types and been one too for most of my adult life so far!
Good job Hubster!

3. It's a good thing my Mother doesn't plan to visit me or the other way around in the near future. For she would be *shocked* at seeing how tanned I've gotten offlate. It all started with the swimming and the 'shades of tan' now gradually ascend with the dragon boating. Singapore sure intends to leave behind it's colour on me, quite literally, making me perhaps the darkest shade of brown that I've ever been, in my life up until now. Definitely something Mommy never appreciated!
I, on the other hand am too busy having fun in the sun to really care!

4. Dragon Boating sessions this week got more intense and interesting as team members are slowly getting to know each other. My team must think I am partially deaf, as I keep saying "Sorry?" each time someone says something to me, on account of not understanding fully what they mean. No it's not the language, as much as it is the accent and the 'brokenness' of it. While I have zero tolerance for broken English, I now have no choice but to spend my Tues/Thurs/Sundays among people who speak exactly that, since all my team mates at SAFRA Dragons are locals. So I am getting hit by local lingo, left right and centre, whether I like it or not (It does ground me though). A lot of my teammates communicate in Mandarin and Singlish among themselves, hence somewhere between their hand gestures, their Singlish and their Mandarin, I understand what's going on. Not only is this experience becoming a 'window' to their everyday lives and stories but also their sense of humour, their issues and how they let their hair down. One of these days, I know I am going to have to adapt some Singlish myself to put across my point effectively, although for the sake of the language nazi in me, I do hope that the day never comes!

5. The daughter seems to have developed a great internal mechanism for 'Out of sight = out of mind'. Initially she took us aback by showing no signs of missing either of us (Yours' truly or Hubster) whenever we are not around her. Be it the two times that I left her with her grand-parents alone in Mumbai and took off to travel or when Hubster takes off on long business trips himself - she goes about happily living her life as though nothing happened and doesn't bother to ask for the 'missing parent' at all!
Frankly, I am delighted at this aspect of her personality, as it takes off any pressure from either of us (her parents) when we are away from her. This week was the first time EVER  that she 'skyped' in her life, and it was with Hubster (in Hyderabad), that too only because Hubster wanted to see her. She didn't really care honestly, nodding indifferently - somewhere between 'Yes' and 'No' when asked if she wanted to see 'Papa'?
I like to believe that this is her way of coping with her feelings of missing her parents, when they are away. It is when small attributes such as these, of her resilient personality gradually surface, that I am reminded of the words a friend in NYC once used to describe her - "This one is a true old soul." Old soul or not, she sure is an extremely accommodating one!

6. Monday was 'Tita's' birthday (Tita is Tagalog for Aunt - The term Zoe and now the two of us as well, use to call her Nanny by). Zoe also turned 23 months old this week. This is going to be the last 'monthly birthday' celebration in our home for her. The celebrations for both birthdays have been moved to next week, since Hubster is out of town all week long.
Tita has the day off on Sundays. This Sunday was going to be a special one for her, since she had plans to celebrate her birthday with her church friends. This Sunday was also a unique situation for us, since Hubster wasn't around and I had a Dragon Boating session early morning. So essentially the question that arose was "Who would watch Zoe this Sunday morning?" Asking Tita to stay back would not be fair and I didn't want to miss my Dragon Boating session, if possible.
That's when Tita came up with a brilliant idea - She offered to take Zoe with her to the Sunday morning mass in church and drop her back home, on my return.
We were thrilled and immediately accepted her offer and thus, this is how, Zoe got to attend her first ever 'church service' this week at a local Presbyterian church, with her Nanny's Chinese, Malay, Singaporean, Tamil and Filipina friends.
When Hubster and I talked of the situation, we were fleetingly reminded of the relationship between the 'ayah' and the young Parsi girl (whom she took care of, like her own daughter/ younger sister), in Deepa Mehta's movie '1947 Earth' (based on the book 'The Ice Candy Man') For us, in a very small way, this was Zoe's opportunity to assimilate in her keeper's life, by being part of her Sunday service followed by attending her small birthday celebration with her other friends.
For the first year of her life. more or less, Zoe was known to people as our daughter and all her friends were formed through us. That situation completely flipped in her second year. Very often on Sundays when we spend the most time with her outside - we see random caregivers in play areas come over to "Hi-five" her. She plays 'Align' with some of them - a simple game that I learnt through her, played by joining the tip of one's index finger to the other persons - sort of a 'private handshake'. At times while we're strolling around, she'll go running up to some stranger giving warm hugs - and only later do we learn, she knows them from one of her play areas/ activities/ garden visits. All these are friends Zoe has made exclusively, without us, thus bringing in new people into our lives now.
Obviously this is how it is going to be here on, as she grows up. But as my Mom puts it - it is small details such as these which set the pace for the rest of our lives, that need to be noted and appreciated when they occur! While, to me, it is one of the many recent changes that have taken place in our lives with her, it is also a subtle reminder of that bitter-sweet feeling every parent experiences when the realization sinks in - that their child really is growing up!
On that rather mushy note, it's a wrap on this week's update. The weekend saw me taking off window-shopping and art-gallery hopping my way across town, as I went solo since Hubster wasn't around. It's been only 4 days since he's gone but already feels like forever. As used to this as I should have gotten by now due to the nature of his work, I don't think I'll ever get used to not having him around! Maybe I need to take a lesson or two in this department from the nonchalant daughter!
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Shweyta

Singapore Suitcases: Week 34 - Of Dragon-boating & all the fun I get to have doing it!

1. This week has got to be dedicated to Dragon Boating! As most of you know, from my previous suitcase entries, I have been waiting to assimilate myself into this sport for a while now, ever since we've moved to Singapore! On account of sporadic travel plans it has been impossible to dedicate time from my schedule to this sport this far, but with our more or less static phase for the next month, I thought it was about time to start training.
It all started, one fine evening at a friend's house party here in Singapore, when I first heard of this sport - Dragon Boating - supposedly a big craze here in Singapore. The person I met, had been part of her local dragon-boating team for a while now and could not stop telling me about how much she enjoyed the activity. Me being my usual 'When-in-Rome-BE-a-Roman' self, immediately jumped at the idea of adopting this sport into my daily life, while I live here. On two counts it highly appealed to me -
- The first one being that it was a "Sport" - which has been a very important aspect of my life for the longest time ever. Ever since I took up long-distance running in 2006, I've had atleast one sport seriously stick in my daily routine. It keeps me honest, lets me be the voracious eater that I am and keeps me fit. What's not to love?
- Secondly, there is no better way than to mingle with locals than to participate in what they love doing. Since I do not have a professional communal 'office set up' in this country to make my 'local' friends in, I decided this would be my chance to meet some sons & daughters of the land! Besides I've always believed in contextual assimilation when in a new place and usually dive right in at the smallest opportunity!

2. A sport that originated in China, Dragon Boating (DB) is hard-core! Being a long-distance runner or a devoted fast-paced spinner in the past, has not only made me a 'lonely' sportswoman but also trained my mind to believe that I can set and control my own pace, as I like. Rule No.1 of Dragon Boating is - Synchronization - since this one is a team sport. Hence Teamwork and co-ordination with fellow paddlers is everything! To be able to keep the first paddler on the right or the left (opposite side of where you are rowing on the boat) within your cone of vision every time, as you paddle to his/ her set rhythm, is key!

3. I went all out in my choice of team to train with and picked the SAFRA location in Toa Payoh (a few stops from our place on the train) which stands for Singapore Armed Forces Recreation Association. Yes, it is what you think it is - Singapore's recreational facility for it's military men (known as NS Men, i.e National Service Men) and their families. Naturally this means, every workout session I have with my DB team leaves me half-dead at the end of it, going by pure endurance and tolerance levels of these Army men and women. Think one continuous set of 30 crunches + 30 push-ups + 30 burpees and then multiply it by five! That was us on the first day that I joined the group! Thankfully my marathon training of the past years hasn't completely waned away, but to endure five sets of the above, sure did take the air out of me.

4. Our DB team is called the SAFRA Dragons and we meet thrice a week to train together as a group!
a) On Tuesdays' we meet at SAFRA Toa Payoh where we do weight training and pool paddling from 7 pm to 9 pm each week. Pool Paddling is a rowing exercise, conducted at one of the gym's swimming pools, which is completely reserved for our team's training exercises. Here, we remove the side grates from the edge of the pool and sit between the pool and the grate, with one leg in the 'water gutter' and the other in the swimming pool. This position is decided based on which is your stronger rowing side, i.e whether you are a left or a right hand rower. The instructor stands in the pool, conducting 3 to 5 minute drills at intervals of 1 minute each time, of continuous rowing practice. If you're thinking this 'rowing' is anything like "Row Row Row your boat, gently down the stream..." then think again! There is tremendous amount of energy and rhythm involved in the rowing process and one needs to learn to use one's body weight, posture and the correct 'A' position at the start of the exercise. If done correctly, one can keep rowing continuously for long stretches of time - say 3 to 5 minutes! Interestingly I've learnt that it takes just 3 to 5 minutes of continuous rowing in a 500m long race! Those 3 - 5 minutes though are the slowest yet highly-spirited minutes ever, as one learns in the process!
b) On Thursdays' we meet at the Toa Payoh Stadium across the street from the Toa Payoh SAFRA where we train on Tuesdays. In the stadium, we begin the training session with a run around the football field. Right up my alley this one, so score!!! The running distances can vary anywhere from 6 to 12 loops of the football field - totally 2.4 km to 5 km tops (Yes, it is taking some getting used to, to go back to running in kilometres, here in Asia). I would rank the runs an 'Easy' on my chart in terms of distance, but 'Challenging' in terms of outdoor weather endurance. Having trained for all my long runs in relatively pleasant climates before, running in 34 deg C or 93 deg F, is not what I am used to (The last time I ran in 92 deg weather, the race was called off and one runner died of a heat stroke in the race! That was the Chicago Marathon of 2009). So yeah, outdoor training runs in Singapore, on hot summer evenings are going to take some more endurance, practice and a gallons of hydration, for sure! 
c) On Sunday mornings we meet at the Singapore Dragon Boating Club at the Kallang Water Sports Centre at 7:30 am. This is the day we take our boats out to the sea for two hours of hard-core paddle practice and then return to the shore, for a quick exercise regimen followed by some much needed stretching. Dragon boating in the river/ sea water is actually not as challenging as paddle-practicing in the swimming pool is. This is because the water in the pool is static, hence rowing takes more effort. Boating in the river/ sea is comparatively easier, yet strenuous on account of exposure to the heat and the elements. Still, Sunday remains the most exciting of the three-days that we meet to train together.
I am having so much fun Dragon-boating that on so many levels I wish I'd joined earlier on, so I could pursue it longer. Anyhow, my learning process has just started and with a lot of guidance and training, I seem to be doing pretty well. I am hoping to do a few races before we leave Singapore as part of the SAFRA Dragons Ladies Team, coming up in August/ September.

5. In a revelation of sorts, the women in our team, are all (Gulp) literally half my age! No wonder then, on our walk to the MRT stop one day after practice, when I posed the question "Do you live alone?" to my new friend in the team, she looked at me like I had grown horns on my head, mid-sentence! It was only a little later that I understood her reaction to my query - She was only 17 years old and naturally lived with her parents! Living alone was still an unexplored option in her life! Besides, she was Asian so culturally speaking - the chances that she would end up living with parents for a very long time, at least until she got married, were high. Some more 'asking around' later revealed that while I was perhaps the oldest girl/ woman & the only Mom in the team, I wasn't necessarily the oldest member - Whew, some relief there!

6. The week ended with a fun drink's evening at our friend's place, who has recently had a beautiful baby girl. For our little one Zoe, this is the first baby she gets to closely interact with, so Tara is the epitome of all things "baby" and "cute" as far as Zoe is concerned. Although these two have just met twice yet, plans are underway for more play dates, mainly on Zoe's demands to go see her fave little friend and sample the yummy snacks that get laid out on these playdates.

Next week Hubster leaves for Hyderabad yet again, this time for a little longer than a week, including the weekend, so it's back to being the Single Mommy-in-charge for me! To top that, Zoe's school break starts next week too, so time to scout around finding fun activities to keep her busy with for the rest of the month!
See you on the other side!
Love,
Shweyta

Singapore Suitcases: Week 33 - Of 'The Art of the Brick', British visa ordeals & Friday Bollywood blockbusters!

1. Not ones' to call it quits on a long weekend just yet, Hubster and I set out an hour after we got home from Malacca, on Sunday evening, to catch 'The Art of the Brick' exhibit, on it's last day here at the Art & Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
This was our first time here and we were a bit surprised at how empty the museum was on a Sunday evening. Granted this was the Sunday of a long weekend, but our minds took us back to NYC, where most museums are usually packed on weekends and substantially trafficked even on weekdays/ evenings usually. Clearly, there is no point comparing the cultural capital of the US to Singapore, but it still did seem awkward that we were perhaps two out of the 30-40 odd people visiting the museum this Sunday.

2. The 'Art of the Brick' show, is essentially a Lego lover's dream come true.
Nathan Sawaya, an ex-lawyer from NYC, is the artist who builds three-dimensional sculptures and large-scale mosaics using minisule Lego bricks. His work is the ultimate apotheosis of the building unit - clearly illustrative of how far one can take a small module and build anything out of it, irrespective of size, scale, dimension or complexity. The show is not only inspiring but also engages the viewer to relate to it more effectively than other conventional art shows, simply because it uses at it's core, the most basic of all building units - a Lego brick, that is easily available and relatable to everyone, from having toyed around with, at least once in their growing years.
The long weekend capped off beautifully with this evening spent admiring Sawaya's works and documenting them pictorially for personal records.

3. The Visa-of-the-Week (to be sought after) was the UK Tourist Visa. Having been to the UK twice in the past, both at different points in our lives (when we were single), Hubster and I thought this would be a cake-walk. Little did we know the ordeal that lay ahead for us. I am not exaggerating when I say that in the number of visas that we've seeked in the past, the paperwork for this one certainly seemed more daunting somehow. Upon completion of the online paperwork, when we got ourselves a bio-metric appointment date at the UK VFS Centre in Singapore, we were promptly sent back home by the VFS, on grounds of not having enough 'Original' documentation. While we could have still taken the risk and gone ahead with our application, the nice lady at the VFS Counter advised that it would be better if we brought in our Original Marriage Certificate as well - even though we wanted our applications to be considered as two individual ones! There go all the hopes I had for getting me back, a nice British bloke from the trip!
Hubster, who's reached a point of questioning (Do we really need to make this detour to a country so ridiculous when it comes to Visa issuances, on our way to NYC this summer?) almost lost it when the VFS lady even suggested bringing our daughter's Birth Certificate (original) just in case!! And she was not even part of the Visa Application being an American citizen herself.
Surely other expats who live in Singapore, have at some point applied for Visas and have made do with whatever available paperwork their local companies could issue? In light of that, we thought it was outrageous that we were being told to bring original bank statements etc. We left the VFS office with a new appointment date in hand.
The humour that resulted out of this ordeal was when on a phone call with our American Bank, on requesting them to mail us 'Original Bank Statements' from NYC to Singapore, the Manager promptly told me "Ma'm, All I'd be doing is printing in colour, your online bank statements and mailing them to you. Wouldn't it be quicker for you to do that yourself then?"
Now if only these Brit's at the UK VFS here, realised life was all about convenience!

4. Friday evening was spent catching the latest Bollywood flick - Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani! Hubster and I both are Bollywood fans and love Hindi movies. The movie had it's foolish moments as is always the case with Dharma Production films, so we left our heads at home and watched the movie with our sappy hearts! Full of fun, music, fashion, glamour, dancing and some gorgeous cinematography and good looking actors, the movie was a perfect Friday evening flick. Add to that the audience and a packed-movie hall, we had "ceetee moments" and loud jokes all the time, which added more delight to the Hindi movie watching experience, just as it would be in a theatre in Mumbai. Sadly, this one being a popular show and since we got there just in time, we lost out on the must-have movie snack - the samosas, which had been sold-out by then as well!

5. Hubster and I spent Saturday night dining at yet another new find - Kazbar, a Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean restaurant/ lounge that had a warm ambience and cave-like romantic hideouts for couples. The drinks and food here measured up to everything we hoped it would, making this another return-to point, perhaps this time with friends. Considering we do not have much time left here in Singapore, I wonder how many of our 'return-to' places we'll be able to manage to go to, again!

The week ahead promises yet another maiden venture - What with me finally starting my Dragon Boating adventures, so there's much to look forward to!
Stay tuned and Thanks for reading!
Love,
Shweyta

Singapore Suitcases: Week 32 - Of yet another 'bestie' reunion, our first inter-country bus trip & the many faces of Malacca!

1. The other bestie - Snehi, arrived from Mumbai this week. Having recently started work with Facebook, she was in Singapore all week long for training. Her husband and daughter joined in a couple of days later as well, making this into the perfect summer vacation for themselves and a very lucky streak for me - who got to see all the three of them in our neck of the woods for the first time ever!

2. We took a very drowsy Snehi for happy hour drinks to Kinki (a fun rooftop Japanese bar in the Customs House area). While Snehi wasn't really sure what we were up to going to a place named like that, she seemed happy it was nothing more than just drinks, going by her jet-lag from the previous two weeks, spent in California. Our other local-expat friend who we've recently met through our other house-guest, joined in too and the evening was spent hashing out (No prizes for guessing this...) another series of start-up ideas and business plans. Hubster had a very participative and attentive audience to his 'new ideas' talk and the happy hour - which was a welcome "2-for-1 drinks" special, helped keep us animated in our discussions for the rest of the evening.
Post-drinks we walked over to Sabai Thai, a few steps away from Kinki, for a fine-dining Thai experience. (After having had splendid and reasonably priced Thai restaurants in NYC all these years, at our beck and call, finding similar set-ups in Singapore has been a challenge of sorts. You would think one would easily be able to find good Thai places here, it being Asia. Perhaps one can, it's just that we haven't come across any "incredible" Thai restaurants here yet - other than the usual Thai food stalls at the various food courts which do a great job with the cuisine, nonetheless. Besides as is always the case - once you've tasted 'real' Thai food off of the streets of Thailand, it gets difficult to accept anything else that does not match-up!) 
The food at Sabai Thai was delicious and came close to being pretty authentic, so we were happy with our choice of place, for the evening.

3. Snehi, Atit & Ira came over for dinner at our place on Thursday night. Ironically, in all these decades of being good friends, this was the first time they were coming over to our place. Until now, we had always been their guests, considering our frequent trips to Mumbai.
Zoe had been prepped in advance - for Part Deux of her 22m birthday celebrations with her yet another beloved Maasi & Little Ira. One day, I know she's going to look back at these pictures from her monthly birthday celebrations of the first two years of her life and love the fact that so many different people were part of her 'candle-blowing cheer' every month. In my own way, this is how I'd like to include all our family and friends in being part of her big day celebrations. With so many of them spread all over the world, it is going to be difficult to get everyone to be part of her annual birthday celebrations. Hence these monthly madness sessions at our place, which ensure that everyone gets to see a very excited Zoe blow out candles repeatedly on her birthday desserts and help make tiny memories in the big picture, of the first two years of her life!
The evening passed by too quickly, for friend's who've known each other for life. We indulged in a humble spread of Cous Cous Salad, the omnipresent guac & chips at our place, a smoking, spicy and hot Thai Red Curry Stir Fry & the Sticky rice with Mango dessert - all cooked by yours' truly for her special guests. Snehi said she has more work trips to Singapore coming up in the near future, so for now we are keeping our fingers crossed that she visits us often, while we are still based out of here.

4. The Weekend was a long one, as Friday was the 'Vesak Day' Holiday. This annual holiday observed by Buddhists all over the world, especially in Asia (also known as "Buddha Purnima" in India) commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautam Buddha. We packed our selves in an Inter-State bus to go to Malacca, Malaysia for the three day weekend. This was our first 'road-trip' after ages, considering most trips in this city-state are really 'air trips'.
Going to Malacca from Singapore takes about 3-4 hours by bus, depending on the time taken at the two immigration posts that one needs to alight at, for visa clearances. Still, this trip is best made by a bus as against a private car/ taxi or even train, since the lines for buses are shorter and quicker when it comes to paperwork processing.
On leaving the Singapore border, one senses the beginnings of another country, with the uncontrolled, dense foliage that suddenly sprouts up along the highway. Even though Singapore is more than 50% green, there is a marked difference in the wild, unmanicured foliage that greets one, as you exit the city-state to enter into Malaysia. The drive is beautiful, as it winds through many plantations and tea-gardens, all of which provide a scenic backdrop enroute. The bus seats are extremely comfortable (flat-bed in some buses and almost flat in most others) and even have more leg-room and unlimited baggage requirements, when compared to low-cost airlines. Besides for most budget travellers it is a win-win on account of cheap fares. No wonder then the bus is a more preferred option when visiting Malacca from Singapore.

5. Malacca State is the southernmost state of Malaysia, next to the Straits of Malacca (as you might recall from your history/ geography lessons in school). The Malacca city centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since July 2008.
Malacca is a mixed pot of religious and cultural assimilations - It used to be part of a Malay Sultanate, was founded originally by the last 'Raja' of Singapore who was Hindu, colonised by the Portuguese in the 1500's, later seceded to the British in the 1800's and also served as an important port for Chinese trade. This city has thus historically been a confluence of multiple cultures, making for some interesting influences that can be seen in it's food, art, architecture and people.

6. We spent our two days in the city, visiting various points of interest that I had researched to draw up a customised itinerary for ourselves. These included small bits and pieces of the various cultural influences that can be found here - such as St. Paul's Hill & Fort A Famosa (Portuguese forts), Melaka Chinatown (a blend of Moslem-Chinese surroundings), Villa Sentosa (A living museum owned, run and inhabited by a grand old lady, who grew up in the house and has frozen it in time to convert it into a cultural walk-through experience of sorts), Red Square (A Dutch-style city square with a clock tower to sit and relax in, in the middle of the city) and the infamous Jonker Street (the quintessential must-do on a visit here, especially for antique shopping, late-night weekend markets like those that can be found only in Asia and some quirky modern-day curio picks). We also took the Melaka river cruise, that navigates through the Melaka river, winding it's way through it's various inner hubs. The high point of this cruise is how it provides for an art-gallery like experience, as one makes their way through multiple homes, shops and eateries all happily displaying huge, large-scale murals on their facades. Melaka being a small city, the cruise is a great way to cover the maximum length and breadth of the city, if constrained for time.

7. Random observations made on this trip were -

a) Almost everyone seemed to have a 'Note' or an 'Ipad' on them, clearly thrust in our faces each time people held up these massive devices to take pictures. (I find it hilarious when people take pictures using their Ipad's BTW). These gadgets were so omnipresent I began questioning their originality. But then again this was Malaysia - a booming economy may possibly have led into newer indulgences, perhaps? Having said that what with Asia's buzzing marketplace that thrives on fakes and 'Made in China' goods, there was a big chance that not all of these were the 'real thing', too.

b) Among the regular demographic that one can expect to find in Malaysia, the one that stood out over all others was that of our very own Sardars! At first we thought, we probably just happened to be in an area which had a 'gurudwara' in it. (Gluttonous images of 'langar' popped up in our heads, in no time). 
Our taxi driver told us that this weekend was also a celebratory one for the Sikhs, who from all over Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, other parts of Malaysia, Singapore etc) had flocked here to one of Asia's largest gurudwara's to offer prayers. And sure enough, on both the days that we spent in Melaka, we saw large and small groups of 'Sikhs' all over the city. While we were aware that this is a demographic found frequently in every part of the world, it was still a little surprising to see Sikhs abound in Malaysia of all the places, where the only kind of 'desi' one expects to encounter are really Tamils.

c) Speaking of which, the Tamils living in Malaysia have their own little unique identities as well. Most Malaysian Tamils are successors of Indian or Sri Lankan Tamils, who migrated here during the British colonial period. The Tamil Muslims and Malacca Tamilians (called as the Chittys) abound in Malacca.
Tamil is the educational language of Malaysia, meaning there are a lot of schools that have their premier medium of instruction as Tamil. That explains the number of Tamil school children we encountered over the weekend, that were out on educational day trips with their school teachers. Also, a South Indian 'dhaba' equivalent across the street from our hotel, was reflective of a hard-core rural eatery straight out of a Tamil Nadu village (on the outskirts of Auroville or Pondi, as I recollect from my time living there).

d) The Chinatown in Malacca is probably one of the most unique Chinatown's that I've been to this far. It was as non-Chinatown-ish as it could get, if you know what I mean. The lack of vendors thrusting fake goods in your face, as one encounters in the American Chinatowns' was evident. On an Asian level too, this was a quaint Chinatown that seemed to take pride in it's age-old dwellings and shop-houses that abound on it's inner streets. As we wound in and out of these, the everyday life of old Chinese-Malay men and women was on display for us, right outside their front doors. As we walked past them, peering in and trying not to intrude, they sat right peering out and happily waving out at us. Traditional Chinese temples abounded in these streets and now and then a quirky little contemporary store would pop up, conveying the dynamism of this quaint little neighbourhood.

e) Malay food is delicious as hell, but as is known to most, extremely fatty. The ingredients used in most of their dishes are loaded with butter, lard, coconut milk, thereby making for sumptuous fare, but the kinds that ranks high on the calorie-consumption chart. A lot of Malay food is also a beautiful blend of various styles of cuisines - as experienced by us when we ate the Mutton Biryani (Indian/ Mughlai influence), the Chicken Rendang in Coconut gravy (Thai/ Bangla/ Malay blend) or the mouth-wateringly delicious Laksa with Assam fish that Hubster ordered, which was really the most soulful bowl of non-vegetarian 'rassam' - with a snapper in it. And of course the classic Malay coffee shops abounded everywhere we went - the 'Kopitiams' that are probably Malaysia's single most famous cultural exports to their neighbour - Singapore!

f) It amazes me to see how English has lent itself as a 'starter' language for so many other languages in the world. Malaysia is one classic example, where one sees signage in Malay which liberally draws upon the English alphabet and even vocabulary largely, to craft their own words.
Examples of these are as follows - Bus is 'Bas' in Malay, Lorry is 'Lori, Immigration is 'Imigresan', Taxi is 'Teksi' and so on and so forth. There are other languages that take off from English too - Spanish and French are classic examples as well, but atleast they add their own 'accents' (as in the 'acute', 'circumflex' etc)
Being an English language Nazi, it sends shivers down my spine to imagine Malay children learn in school, what can easily be construed as 'Broken English' in the other parts of the world.

g) The pleasure of travelling in Asia is how light everything on the pocket is, when you compare it to the Western world or the Western currency for sure. The Malaysian Ringitt is another one of those currencies, that does not hold it's own in front of the US or Singaporean Dollars, thus making this another country where one's dollars go far.

h) The Trishaws - a.k.a one of the oldest forms of transport in Malaysia, captured our intrigue, what with their overtly gaudy and crowded decorative embellishments and loud music that blared from speakers kept under them, in specially designed racks. These are tiny 'rickshaws' with bicycles attached to their lateral sides (as against in front of them as seen in some Indian towns). Trishaw rides are fun, but cannot be sustained for long distances especially as they can get a bit too tight (a family of two and a half barely fits in one). Racially discriminated yet again, this time too our Trishaw driver automatically played his 'Bollywood' CD the moment we sat in - hoping to make us feel at home. Having had this 'treatment' meted out to ourselves several times before on our travels, we are now used to it and actually do not mind it anymore! Besides nothing makes the daughter groove more than a pukka desi number, so why not? is our logic! Sure enough, half way through the trishaw ride, we had her shimmying to 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', much to the entertainment of everyone around us. Traveling with a public entertainer, we always are!

Two very hot and fun-filled days later, we got back into Singapore, via road. It being a long weekend, our return journey took longer than expected and was different - in that, we rode a SBS Transit bus (Local Singaporean transport bus) all the way from Johor Bahru (just across the Singapore border, on the Malaysian side) to Woodlands MRT station. There on, it was the ever-dependable Singaporean Comfort cab that brought us back home, by 6 pm on a Sunday evening.
The weekend was still not done though...to be continued in the next week's update....so stay tuned!!
Love,
Shweyta

Singapore Suitcases: Week 31 - Of Breather Weeks, Hubster's (so-called) lucky mouche & pretentious Singaporean speakeasys!

1. Hubster left for Hyderabad on Monday for the entire week, which means I am on 'Single Mom' duty all week long. This is when staff at home comes handy the most. I still get to have a life and keep my plans, whether or not Hubster is in town, if I choose to - something that would need prior planning in The States. Going by just the number of times I bring up this aspect of life here in Asia, you probably already know by now, how much I appreciate it, right?
It is indeed an issue of great importance for many young parents, as I've realized through the many discussions I've had with various friends/ acquaintances here. Among them are some couples who choose to continue living here only for these lifestyle conveniences; something they know for sure they won't find, in most other parts of the world, where they have been offered other job opportunities. It's amazing how one's thought process changes in a matter of a few months - I, for example, was highly skeptical of hiring someone to live with us full-time and take her up, as our complete responsibility. It is probably just a wee bit short of adopting someone to make them family, except of course in this case, they are already grown-up adults with established characters and personalities. If you're lucky enough to find someone super, this is the ideal set-up, as we've found out over the course of the past 6 months of having Janet live with us, as Zoe's nanny!
We consider ourselves lucky to have found someone like her who is well-educated, sincere, smart and simple - who has easily assimilated with us to become an integral part of our family. In fact, we like her so much, we are hoping to take her with us wherever we go, here on! While that sounds ideal on paper, it might not work out easily when it comes to immigration laws etc. Yet, the thought has crossed our minds and we are willing to go the distance we possibly can, to make it happen! Let's see how that goes...

2. 'Breather Weeks' like this one - are meant to take care of basic formalities that involve our present day globally-mobile lifestyles - bills that need to be paid here and in the previous/ future homes, swapping of currencies, filing expenses, bank formalities and most importantly newer visas that need to be sought. A life lived simultaneously across countries, does not come without it's own paperwork and maintenance, that needs to be looked after on a regular basis. Perhaps in that sense, it is much tougher than a life lived in one country when you don't have many permanent ties with another country. When you can easily say I've moved out of there and now live here! In our case, it's more like we live 'there' really, are temporarily based 'here' and on to moving to another country for the next few months or so! A lot of flux exists which is exciting nonetheless but is accompanied by a lot of planning and paperwork, to say the very least!
Traveling to different countries almost always requires Visas out of Hubster and I (Thanks to our Indian passports) and a lot of research on hotels, things-to-do, modes of transport to and fro and in between, airplane/ train/ bus tickets etc. Breather weeks hence, are full of tremendous amount of research and time-planning for the short-term, in addition to the usual long-term rigmarole of moving house/ schools for the little one in the near future! A transient phenomenon this one, of our current state of affairs - hence to be treasured and appreciated while it lasts! I know I'll miss having these 'Breather Weeks' when we return to our previous lives - what we now consider 'conventional living' - i.e living in only one country at a time - a phase that happily seems to be lurking far away from now!

3. Hubster got back a day earlier from India, (too early on a Thursday morning) - to surprise us. And surprise us he did - not on account of his early timing as much as, on account of the faint trace of a moustache growing on his face!!! What the ....?
He defended it saying, he was trying on a new look! I suggested he get rid of it almost immediately! His colleagues from work on the other hand, encouraged him to keep it, while their negotiations were ongoing, with a certain company, for the next few days! Now, with a successful round 1 of negotiations behind them, the team has come to believe that Hubster's mouche brought them all the luck they needed! Really???
While Hubster obliged my requests and shaved off the mouche the next morning, he made it clear that he intends to grow it right back the next month, for Negotiation Round 2 at work! It's a lost cause, so I've given up for now! Will probably just disown him for those few days!

4. The weekend came and saw us dining and wining at some more new places in the city. With the same entourage as last weekend, we decided to check out a Tapas Bar that we had been eyeing in Singapore's swanky Duxton Hill neighbourhood for quite some time now. The restaurant called Sabio has some mean Tapas and Sangria's to offer along with a live music band on weekends. With a long weekend in sight in a few days, conversation ranged from more travel planning to start-up ventures talk.
(It's a given in Singapore - that when you meet people socially, there will almost always be talk of new start-up ventures and travel itineraries! A marked difference from the social conversations one has in NYC for example - where everyone always talked of their jobs and/ or hobbies or activities that they indulged in outside of work. Most travel plans were to the usual destinations - Europe/Mexico/Canada/ India/ South America at the most, that too usually on 'long weekends' or in summer or over Xmas/ New Years. And of course there was a lot of 'culture-centric' talk - like the latest exhibits at The MOMA or other art events, Off-Broadway shows, movies and film festivals.....none of which are topics of social discussion here in Singapore, simply because not a lot of that 'culture stuff' happens here! 
In NYC, with most people working 'jobs in companies' the work-related discussions were at a different level. In Singapore, with everyone interested in setting up their own shop, the social talk scene is full of heads brimming with ideas and animated exchanges of 'business plans'. Singapore welcomes small-businesses, simplifying it to start-up something here relatively easily, so naturally many people decide to try their hand at their own venture while being based here. Besides, with it's proximity to India, this is yet another opportunity for Indians to start new operations that can be based in both countries.)
Since we were already in the area, we thought we'd take the party from Sabio to another Modern Mexican Taqueria and Garden bar (straight out of NYC, this one) called Lucha Loco! The fish tacos here is like none other we've ever had before, as recommended by our friends who took us here. Another must-revisit kinda place that has a great mix of good drinks, good food and excellent ambience with the right mix of people (Read: eye candy for men and women alike)!
Post-dinner drinks were at a Singaporean speakeasy (Yes, that prohibition phenomena is now a trend in Asia as well) called The Library! One needs to walk into the store next door and ask for the password, which gets one into the bar! Since we got there post 11 pm, the store was closed. But other guests leaving the speakeasy happily blurted the password out when we asked them for it. A somewhat pretentious phenomena this one - which in NYC probably still makes sense as it sticks to the relevant historical context. In Asia, it is a ridiculous plug-in - this 'make-believe' aura of suspense and mystique for a bar, which could really have just been there by itself, welcome for whoever to walk into. When you go to a speakeasy in NYC, such as PDT or The Back Room for instance, there is that discreet aura that surrounds you, making you feel like you've traversed a secret and are now in a space with others who've done the same, adding a 'clique-ish' charm to the whole act. In Singapore, all it makes you think is - "What really? I did all that 'password-digging-rubbish' for this?".
I don't know, I am not against plugging-in Western concepts if they work well, in the non-Western world, but when you 'faux-contextualize' things and then don't even offer an 'authentic experience' out of it in the end, is when I start having a problem! The plan for the next few weekends is to go exploring some more speakeasy's in town. Let's hope at least some of them know what they are talking about!

On that note, Breather Week was done! The next one is action-packed with more house-guests and travel!
Until then, take care and Thanks for reading!
Love,
Shweyta

Singapore Suitcases: Week 30 - Of global re-unions, contextual cooking at home & more weekend gluttony!

1. We got back from HongKong late Tuesday night and welcomed our dear friend Nicky, who was coming all the way from Phoenix, Arizona via Bangkok and Jakarta to Singapore! Such is life these days. We have the pleasure of having house guests who had never visited us in NYC, for the past decade that we lived there, inspite of being only a short flight away (Nicky is a classic case for this one. Having lived on the West coast of the country for all the years that I lived on the East, she hasn't once visited me in NYC, while I've visited her twice in her Californian & Arizonian homes). So clearly this was going to be a first for us - hosting her at our place and making her a part of our daily lives, even though it was only for two days.

2. Nicky is one of my oldest friends, part of a school girl group that celebrated it's 21st anniversary this year (We call ourselves 'The Nuts'.....Shhhh..Don't judge!) and is still going strong. You know the kinds who've not lived in the same city for over a decade, but have stayed in touch forever and still pick up exactly where they left things off, the last time they met, somewhere in the world! That's 'The Nuts' in a nutshell for you!
Although we had barely two nights in our hands during her visit here, we decided to make the most of that time, catching-up over non-stop chatter. This month was 'Global Re-union Month' for our girl gang - Nicky and I were meeting in Singapore this week, she and two others were meeting up in San Diego, CA next week and then Snehi (another one from the group) was going to visit me the week after! In this entire global criss-cross, the only two who were not going to meet this month were the best friend (Raga, who lives in San Diego) and myself. But otherwise, it was to be an extraordinary rest of the month for all of us, considering there were a lot of 'first times' involved here! Hopefully soon enough, we'll be able to organise a meetup when all of us can physically be at the same place at the same time - as conventional re-unions go!
With Nicky Maasi (What Zoe calls her) in town this week, naturally Zoe's 22nd month birthday was to be celebrated with her. The other half of this month's birthday will be with Snehi Maasi, Ira & Atit when they visit in a few days as well. Lucky Zoe gets to have multiple celebrations as she counts down to her 2nd year birthday! This Birthday Girl, couldn't be more overjoyed, from what I can tell!

3. I have started indulging in a lot of Asian cooking offlate. Having collected various sauces and teas from our recent travels across the continent, the pantry in our kitchen looks more exotic and oriental now, with it's assemblage of different types of fish/oyster/chilli sauces etc. We might need a mammoth larder in our next kitchen - the rate at which these sauces are springing up in this one! It's like a whole new world of cuisine just opened itself up and has now become a part of our daily diets at home. While some of it is obviously healthy (soups, sauteed green Asian herbs, steamed fish and the likes..), there is also an unhealthy yet delicious Asian 'twang' to some others (coconut milk or cream, condensed milk etc). But overall, it's been nice to incorporate our present context in our home-kitchen and serve up these Asian delicacies to ourselves and our guests as well!

4. We took Zoe to the Jurong Bird Park this week. Clearly she loved the bird park more than she did the Zoo. It makes me wonder if this was the case because birds are closer to her scale than animals are? Seeing animals in books, she has always "Awww"..ed away at rabbits, mice, hamsters and other little creatures. Perhaps that is why she appreciated the bird park more as she went "Parrot....Crow....Macau....Penguin..." etc rattling away bird names one after the other, as she saw them. The Jurong Bird Park, like the Singapore Zoo, is easily seen and experienced thoroughly in an afternoon, thus making for an ideal Sunday post-brunch trip. Having checked both off our list, we (Hubster and I) believe we are now done with wildlife fauna in Singapore, at least for the near future!

5. Having Global Health Insurance makes life pretty smooth if you travel as much as we do these days. It gets easier to see a Dentist in one country, go to a pediatrician in another and get a Health Check-up done in the third, without having to work around our schedules. This week Hubster and I went for our annual Health screenings - for the very first time in Singapore. Having had them previously in the US and in India, we were amazed at the technologically forward medical testing machines that our nurses employed for our various tests, here at the Mt. Elizabeth Medical Centre in Singapore. Trust Singapore to have state-of-the-art machines in their hospitals, what with even their governmental offices (post offices etc) being so hi-tech!

6. Weekend nights have been spent wisely, checking out of various restaurants and clubs that the city has to offer. With our days here being numbered hence forth, we figured we'd put our weekend nights to good use and help the Singapore F&B industry prosper even more than it already does. So a few of us went to dinner to Relish by Wild Rocket - a place that prides itself on it's modern Singaporean style cuisine (called Mod-Sing cuisine). Hubster had taken his team to their sister restaurant Wild Rocket, a few weeks ago and proposed that we try out this place. The five of us who went, loved the place. Situated in a quaint shop-house style of a building, close to where we live, this was another culinary treat. The loft-like ambience of the space lent itself well to the modern menu. With an extensive brunch menu that sounded irresistible, we've now decided to return here for a weekend brunch sometime.
The night continued at Nektar - a bar that prides itself on it's mixology, also located close to our place. We had been meaning to check this one off our list for a while now, having received rave reviews from friends. For a Friday evening, it was surprisingly not-too-packed. It's outdoor back garden, where we sat, gives the place not just an 'open air' feel literally speaking, but also brings in a casual lounge-y atmosphere, as if one is seated in one's own backyard with a good bartender serving up the drinks. The bartender did live up to his repute and served up some spectacular concoctions to those of us who decided to customize our own drinks. Another recommendation I would make for anyone looking for experimental cocktails in this city!

7. Lunch with Khyati - my lunch buddy of the past few months, was special this week as she announced her new gig - She is taking up a full-time job at NUS - The National University of Singapore. That also means, that since her workplace will be further away, our weekday lunch rituals might cease to exist in the near future, making way for some Friday evening post-work happy hours instead. We decided to give yet another Mexican restaurant a try - Casa Latina. Inspite of being run by two Indian owners (something we learnt of only when we got there. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it does lift up the radar somehow!) this place had delicious Mexican fare, a rarity in Singapore, so with our cravings satisfied we were two happy lunchers that afternoon.
Here's wishing Khyati good luck on her new gig and hoping to keep our weekday lunch conversations going over weekend drinks here on!

That's all for this week! See you on the other side of the next!
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Shweyta