Learn another Chinese Sign, for East in Chinese - using the railway station map

Singapore flag.

Singapore is a great place for learning Chinese (Mandarin). As I walked from the Yio Chu Kang bus station towards the Grassroots Community Club Building, I passed a sign which said in English, For Alighting Only. So you could get off the bus, but not onto it.



The last of the four signs looks like a letter 4 with other lines around it. It means car or carriage, in this context bus.

Afterwards I went back and checked another sign which looks like the number 4.

Check Your MRT Map
On the MRT map showing the railway lines you will see the English on the map.
Legend
East West Line (green)
North South Line  (red)
North East (purple)

Then look at the Chinese on the next concertina fold.
You can check the signs for East and West against some of the station names such as Jurong East - which is in the west! (Station 24 on the East West line, marked EW24, but also NS1, North South 1 or first station.)

Then look back at the names for the lines.
The Chinese sign for the East-West line is in the same order as the English, East first on the left.

Nearby on the page on the left is the Tuas West Road MRT station, EW 32.

However, two other signs for the train lines are in a different order. East North. South North. Instead of the English which is North East and North South.

East Symbol in Mandarin
Let us go back to East West. The sign for East has only one horizontal line above the four. The downward line of the four curves like a J. Two samll lines diagonally and separate at lower sides of the J point in different directions like a boat rowing to the East thought the many islands of Indonesia and to the island of Singapore.

The one which looks like it incorporates the number 4 means East.
What's the difference between the two signs containing what looks like 4?.

The 4 above meaning car or carriage has two parallel lines the same as the bar on the four, one above and one below. Like the roof and floor of the railway carriage or car or bus.

The sign for East



Useful Websites

You can learn Chinese (Mandarin) on Duolingo.
Duolingo
duolingo.com

Travel
singaporeair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. The previous post tell you what the other three signs mean.

More toilet cubicles wanted

I can't believe what happened at the 2019 annual conference for the Singapore branch of Toastmasters International, an all day affair with many guests in an auditorium.

At the morning breaktime, lunchtime and teatime everybody rushed to the toilets. One cubicle in the Ladies. Only one cubicle, a male friend confirmed, in the Gents.

This was in the Grassroots Community Club building beside the bus station beside the train station at Yio Chu Kang on the red line.

Station Toilets
Luckily I went to the public toilets between the train station and the bus station on my way.  They had three cubicles.

Upon taking possession of a cubicle, I discovered that the toilet paper was outside. (A big roll by the doorway.)

This was the area I had previously praised for the amusing cartoons of musicians on the tiles. Male musicians. I wonder whether the Gents also had male musicians, or female musicians.


Both the station toilet and the Grassroots club had the luxury of a shower head for washing your nether regions. But after you have washed down with water and feel clean it would be good to dry off again. Toilet paper please.

And more toilet cubicles.

One thing I am grateful for, that you find toilets outside very railway station in Singapore.

UK
In the UK the good news is that charges have been scrapped at toilets at stations in the UK.

When I was a child you could spend a penny to use a toilet cubicle. Of the six or twelve cubicles, one would be free. Usually not as clean as the other toilets. And if occupied, you had to wait. But at least everybody could use a toilet whether or not they had the right change.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Durian delight at McDonalds

Durian McFlurry in Singapore.

Problems
1 What can I try that's new but cheap overseas?
2 Where can I get reasonably priced durian?
3 What's durian and when and where can you get it?

Answers
First, what is durian? A large fruit which smells and tastes like a cross between chestnut and banana in ice cream smoothies and cakes, but like strong sulphur or rotten eggs when the whole fruit is fresh. That's why you will see, in high season, signs on the Singapore underground NO DURIANS.

If you wanted a whole durian, which is big and heavy, you would either have to get it delivered by a specialist company, or double or triple wrap it to conceal the smell.

According to the durian delivery firm
low season for durian is January and June
mid-season is other months
high season is September!

Thai Restaurant Ice Cream
I was offered durian ice cream on my first visit to Singapore at a Thai restaurant. It was the only dessert available. They tried to persuade me not to order it, probably because they were afraid i would not like it and would say bad things about their restaurant or waste their food and demand my money back.
However, I like to try new things, so I insisted on trying it. I loved it.

Durian At Juice Bars In Hawker Centres
Afterwards I tried several times to order desserts with durian topping at fruit stalls in hawker centres (food courts). Often I was disappointed. Either the durian was not available - they served dessert without it hoping I wouldn't notice! Or they gave such a tiny spoonful or squeeze that it was gone after the second mouthful.

MacDonald Durian Delight
No such disappointment at McDonalds.

I took the number 76 bus from Yio Chu Kang Interchange (bus station) beside Yio Chu Kang MRT (railway station) on the train line. I got off at building works, probably connected to the new MRT station opening next year (2019).

Here I am in the middle of nowhere, a suburb of Singapore, on my way to  Toastmasters International meeting at a newly opened Community Club. The bus station was heaving with people. But as far as I am concerned I am in a culinary cultural desert, miles from any Michelin restaurant, with nothing but cheap food in hawker centre.

I saw the Durian sign in the street outside. My eyes lit up. I stopped. I took a quick photo.

That's new. That's different. That's local. That's unique. That sounds delicious. Delicious, delicious!

Would I stop to buy and try on my way to a meeting? Yes, even if that made me five minutes late.

Why not leave it until later? Less anti-social than arriving carrying durian ice cream or breathing it.

But the shop might be closed later. I might forget and walk back on the other side of the road. I might get a lift in somebody's car or van to the MRT by-passing the McDonalds - which is what happened.

I am so glad I chose to try the durian McFlurry. So much of it. Delicious.

The concoction came in a beaker like a drink, but was more like a cross between yogurt and squeezy ice cream. It was supplied with a plastic spoon to scoop it out. You would not want to try drinking it and getting it dripping and dropping down your clothes. The creamy part was white, the contrasting durian a yellowy pale green.

My fears were unfounded. The cup was cunningly designed with a protective top which held in the small. The food was not so aromatic that it would disturb anybody else. Nobody commented, 'What's that?'

The price was three dollars, reduced from 4 dollars said the sign. Affordable.

It was so good that on the way home I wanted another. I looked at the station for McDonalds at Ang Mo Kio. No luck.

I am now on the lookout for McDonalds. I shall go onto the website and find my nearest and see if they have a durian promotion. While stocks last. While it's the season.

If you are in Singapore, must try!

This branch of McDonalds is near the new Kebun Baru Community Club. I took bus 76 from the MRT.

USEFUL WEBSITES
www.mcdelivery.com.sg/sg

Author Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.