Wholesale Center, Pasir Panjang, Singapore

The double decker bus I rode on a few days ago took me along the beautiful West Coast area of Singapore. There is a long, narrow park that meanders along the road on one side and Jurong Channel on the other. I jumped off in front of a collection of huge warehouses.

 As I walked towards the buildings I realized these warehouses were not just places to store old dirty stuff. The warehouses collectively are known as the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Center. As I approached the closest building I was met by a nervous Jack Russell terrier named Tan.

Tan was very hyper but offered to give me a quick tour through the buildings. There are four buildings and each are temporary storage for food stuffs. The first one stores refrigerated products. The second one holds fruits. The next one has vegetables and the last one maintains dry goods like rice, nuts, grains, dried fruit and dried fish.

 

As we walked around the buildings I found out why Tan was so nervous. We turned around a corner near a stack of crates of oranges and there stood the ugliest, meanest looking dog I had ever seen. Tan told me his name was Adolf, who thinks he owns the place. I am pretty feisty, but I did not want to deal with Adolf. Tan and I wisely scooted down an isle full of pineapples to avoid the "Demon Dog from Hell."

The other reason Tan was so hyper was all the forklift traffic. The drivers have a lot of work to do loading and unloading trucks. They start work at midnight, emptying trucks that are filled with product that is locally grown, as well as product flown into Singapore from all over the world. It is neatly stacked and then loaded back onto trucks bound for grocery stores and restaurants all over the island. The forklift operators don't have time to worry about looking out for silly dogs that might be in the way.



After the trucks all leave, non business people can purchase any goods not required by the retailers. What a great way to obtain really fresh produce right off the loading dock!          

It was time to run. I thanked Tan for the tour and as I left the Wholesale Center, I made sure to avoid crossing Adolph's path.

Little India II

A few adventures ago I had described my visit to Little India and mentioned I needed to return to see some more of this colorful area of Singapore. Well, I got my chance again and headed directly to the Tekka Center to see my fish monger friend.

 
 

 I was so pleased he remembered me. I was starving when I got there but the wonderful fish smell made me even hungrier. My buddy cut me a choice piece of fish and tossed it over. I love sushi! (I don't call it that though...I just call it raw fish.) I gobbled the meal down, purred at my friend in appreciation for his generosity, then bounded down the street to do some exploring.

It must have been shopping day because all the streets were packed with people. I had to be very careful to ensure I didn't get stepped on. I saw lots of henna shops and even thought of having a lovely design painted on my legs. I was upset when I realized the ink would not go on very well over my furry legs.


I noticed some of the shops had lovely little shrines dedicated to the shop keepers favorite god's. There were also lots of flower shops where the vendors were selling beautiful bouquets and weaved
flower strands.
.

Many of the buildings were painted bright colors and had ornate attachments. In front of one of the shops was a little fountain that some pigeons turned into a bird bath to cool off in.



Little India is also known for wonderful cuisine.  There are  lots of little restaurants but since I had just eaten I just stopped to breathe  in the great aromas.

 

It was time to get home so off I went on my bus ride. I made it home and took a long, well deserved nap.

Singapore's Little India

India is far from Singapore and the local busses (my favorite form of transportation) don't go there. Imagine my surprise when the double decker bus I jumped on took me to Little India. What an interesting place!

The area was very crowded and all the shops were doing a bustling business. The sky was overcast and a dull gray but the swirl of the full palette of colors surrounding me, brightened up the day. As I walked around I didn't see any animal friends to show me around so I wandered on my own.
In my exploration I came across the Tekka Centre, a two story shopping center that had stalls selling everything from food to clothes. The second story was where most of the stores selling clothing were. There was an abundance of beautiful hand made saris and other Indian tunics and blouses as well as children's clothes, men's brightly colored shirts, and shoes.

 

The bottom floor was where all the meat and seafood as well as fruits and vegetables were sold. There were also a few stalls selling lovely fresh flowers .

I was getting hungry smelling all the fresh food so I rubbed up against a guy cleaning fish. I watched him closely as he had a huge machete looking knife in his hand but he laid it down and tossed me a choice filet off of a huge sea bass. It was sumptuous!

It was time for me to go home to take a long nap. Before I sneaked back on the same numbered bus I arrived on, I noticed a mounted map indicating directions to Little India historical and cultural sites. I will definitely need to come back to investigate the rest of this area. I will be sure to come hungry so I can visit my new buddy, the fish monger.

                                       
   
   

                               
 

2013 Singapore Transplant Games

Yesterday was another day to explore. Mom and Dad left the house early so I made my escape and jumped on a bus knowing it was going to be a great day. I had no idea where the bus was going or where I was going to jump off but I felt excited about my prospects.
I ended up at the Toa Payoh Stadium. There were a lot of people congregating around the property which consists of a huge stadium with a beautiful track as well as an  attached indoor sports arena and administration offices.

As I approached I was met by Jock, a gray cat with a stubby tail. He lives on the grounds and the administrative secretaries take care of grooming and feeding him. He told me he has a great life because he gets to watch all sorts of sporting events. He was very excited about this day because the stadium was the site of the 2013 Singapore Transplant Games!
The Transplant Games are held every 2 years as a way to celebrate the enriched lives of people who received organs from generous donors. The recipients take part in friendly competition in various activities including track and field, badminton, bowling, and table tennis.

One of the most inspiring participants I was able to watch was a gentleman who received a donated kidney in 1994 and was a fierce competitor in table tennis and badminton. He actually had taken part in the world transplant games held in Sweden in 2011!

 

At mid day there was a break in the activities and lunch was served to all. The organ recipients had green shirts, the transplant recipient families wore blue shirts and the volunteers were identified by their red shirts.

Jock told me to follow him if I wanted some of the food. I said, "We don't have colored shirts on. How will we get a meal?" He just responded, "Watch me and follow my cue.."
He sauntered up to one of the volunteers handing out boxed lunches, rubbed up against her and started to purr. I did the same and voila... we were both presented with opened up boxes of warm and delicious people food!

I hated to leave but it was getting late so I said my good byes to Jock and bounded back to the bus stop to head home.
A phrase I learned while at the games was, "Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here." I wish I could donate my organs when I don't need them anymore but I don't think they take kitty parts.




   

18,000 Eurasians in Singapore

I left my home on a very hot Saturday to do a little more exploring. There are really a lot of cultural things to do here in Singapore!
The Eurasian Club is a very informative place to learn about a little known but very influential Singapore ethnic group. There have been many Eurasians in such fields as sports, music, politics and the military.  However, there now remains only about 18,000 of this cultural group  in Singapore.
I slipped, undetected, into a tour group and learned a lot from Quentin Pereira, the operator of Quentin's restaurant which is in the clubs building.
Eurasians are people of mixed marriages between Asians and Europeans and most are Christians. They are also very well educated.
The building has a very interesting museum which has sections dedicated to famous Eurasians, the history of explorers who traveled to South Asia from Portugal and from China, and the difficult times experienced by Singaporeans during the Japanese occupation in WWII. There is also a beautiful tile map of Lisbon donated to the club by the ambassador of Portugal.

The tourists got a great meal in a neat partitioned off tray at the end of the tour. I sneaked into the kitchen where someone left one of the trays so I got to try everything too. There was Chicken Devil Curry, Prawn Bostador, a great mango and onion salad, and rice. Desert was Sugee Cake which has no flour but lots of crushed almonds.


After the meal a very nice girl came out to show the Jinkli Nona (Fair Maiden) dance. She needed a partner so the youngest guy in the group was pulled in to help out. He was a very good sport and caught on to the dance steps very quickly.

Speaking of quickly...I had to run out fast to catch my bus. I beat Robbie and Bill home.
I wonder where they went today?