Smells of Cities and Countries - Bali, England, India, Singapore - and anti-Mosquito Perfumes

Singapore and the Smell of Jasmine 

When I am in department stores worldwide, and passing perfume counters at airports, I see Jasmine perfume and cosmetics featuring the aroma of the flowers.  I recall the colours and vivid smells of Singapore, especially the Jasmine. 

The national flower of Singapore is an orchid. The Botanical gardens has an orchid garden. You can also visit orchid farms. Restaurants often have an orchid flower in a small vase on the table. 

Singapore And Durian

Another distinctive seasonal smell of Singapore is durian. You will see signsbanning durian on the MRT (underground and overground railway). Taxis also ban durian. You can get it delivered. If you wrap it sufficintly well that nobody can smell it, then you could travel with it. That's the whole idea. You should not be carrying durian which others can smell, or which leaves a smell which lingers after you have left.

Bali and Tuberose

Is all the Far East the same? No. For me, Bali's distinctive smell is Tuberose. I encountered this in the lobby of a hotel. A huge central flower display in the hall. 

I afterwards ordered tuberose which I planted in my front garden in London. It did not thrive. So for me, the smell of tuberose is still the smell of Bali.

England, London and Lavender

The smells of London are roses. But also lavender. You can visit lavender farms. Lavender soaps and perfumes and hand creams are in supermarket, department stores and chemist shops (which Americans would call drug stores). 

Perfumes from flowers attract people, but also insects. When I realised that my perfumes from the UK were making me a magnet for mosquitos, I started stocking up on different perfumes.

Lavender is also said to repel mosquitos. I used to yo-yo between Signapore and London, before and after Covid. In London I would stock up on lavender cosmetics to take back to Singapore. Marks & Spencer stocked pefumed products in the UK and later in Singapore. But UK products were cheaper in the UK than in Singapore. A British lavender brand is Norfolk Lavender. 

France and French Lavender

France also has French lavender. I recall visiting a perfume factory in Grasse, in Southern France. I went there on holiday when I was single. After I married, I went there again with my husband.

Indian Spices in India, England and Worldwide

India has different spices in different areas. Meats are in muslim areas and markets and restaurants. Vegetarian dishes are in Hindu areas. In England you will find tandoori foods in almost every high street (Americans would say main street). Tandoori is from northern India and Pakistan. Many vegetarian restaurants are well known in India, Singapore and in London, such as in Rayners Lane near the Rayners Lane tube station.

Italy, Lemons and Citronella

In Italy I discovered that lemon aromas repel insects. The lemon scent is in citronella. 

Singapore's Little India

Singapore is tropical, high temperatures. Eternal summer, bright flowers, strong smells of flowers. My previous post was about jasmine in Singapore, which I smelled daily in my walk to Cashew station.. 

I previously lived in Singapore's Little India. Strong smells of spices waft from the flower sellers selling garlands in the markets of Little India. You also get aromas from treading on petals fallen onto the five foot ways, covered paths along the shops. Also strong smells of curry and spices from the restants and stalls in Little India.

I travel with lavender and lemon scented cosmetics and perfumes. (As well as mosquito and insect repellent, anti-insect spray for hotel bedrooms, and sting relief.

Strange Tastes To Tackle: tricks when trying unfamiliar Fresh Fruit, Yogurt, Indian Food, Chinese Salted Duck Egg

 

I have found foods which I love. Even though I didn't like all of them at first bite. Such as yogurt.

Yogurt

I didn't like yogurt the first time I tried it, as a student in London. My boyfriend, Bob, told me, "Try yogurt sweetened with fruit." Yes, that was the secret to starting yogurt. 

Eventually I came back to natural yogurt. Progress. Now I love natural yogurt and prefer it to yogurt with bits and unnatural colours. Admittedly, plain yogurt is sour. I like the creamy, Greek style yogurt. Not the set yogurt. 

What about fresh fruit? Sweet tastes.

Peaches

I had the same setbacks with unfamiliar fresh peaches. Peaches came later. First we had bananas.

Bananas - the perfect food?

As a child, post World War 2 (I am a baby boomer), there was rationing until 1952. My mother talked for years about it: "I had to join a queue to buy bananas. In the queue I got talking to another mother." They became lifelong friends. 

Bananas. Perfect. Except for that skin left behind.

But the food which disappointed me was peaches.

Peaches - Perfect Peaches?

I recall was being told about how delicious a fresh peach would be. I was used to tinned peaches. 

My first peach was a great disappointment. It was not sweet like the tinned peach. It was white instead of bright orange. It was not cut into neat slices. It was not soft - you had to gnaw at it, though the skin. It was big and heavy for my little hands. Worse still, the juice got all over my nose and mouth and down my clothes and over my hands.

Then when I was a teenager we went to Italy on holiday. For dessert, we had fresh peaches. No effort by the chef to make something interesting to look at, or a filling pudding. It was summer. 

But everybody in my family said they loved the fresh peaches. So I tried peaches. Okay. So far so good. Then disaster struck. A worm - in my peach. Aagh! A year must have passed before I forgot and tried again.

Naturally, now I feel the opposite. Tinned peaches? Artificial colour. Too much sugar added. Not fresh. I do inspect them carefully and wash them for myself and others.. I am now back to fresh peaches. 

Another challenge I recall was durian.

They say that the Chinese eat anything. They chop their food up so it is easy to pick up with a pair of chopsticks. 

No fighting through steaks with knives, holding  up the conversation, distracting you from eye contact with others at the table. No knives which could be used to threaten others. Like handshakes, designed to prove you have no knife in your hand, the chopsticks prove you are not about to attack. You could probably have a fight with chopsticks, but they don't look as threatening as a steak knife, not the same threat as a knife. 

Durian - Dreadful Smell But Delicious Taste

What other foods have I grown to like? Durian, a flavour like chestnut and banana and eggs combined. I first tried it as durian ice cream. Mm! I love durian in ice cream or dessert or cakes. I don't go for smelly, yucky fresh durian. But I like it as a flavouring.

Therefore, I would not be upset by the smell of a fresh durian. Durian is known as the king of fruit. But it is banned on the MRT (railway) in Singapore.

What about sour flavours? Pickled cucumber. Olives.

Olives

Olives - as a child, I would not eat them. Now I like them. You pay more for the ones without stones, and for those which have contrasting colour stuffing such as red pepper in green olives.

Tomato

Cooked tomato. I can now tolerate them.

At university I encountered Indian food for the first time. My two girlfriends took me to an Indian restaurant. They and the restaurant owner suggested, "Try a biriani. It's rice with vegetables or chicken on top. You can have sauces and spices on the side." I loved the biriani. Nowadays I try something more adventurous, unless I am faced with a menu which has red chili signs alongside all the other dishes.

To deal with spicy Indian food you have three solutions: water, rice, yogurt.

Purple Boiled Eggs

Purple eggs, Chinese style, cooked in tea. Highly recommended. I ate three. 

Therefore, I was willing to try salted duck egg.

Salted Boiled Egg In The Shell

But salted duck egg! Like eating solid salt. Much too salty. 

I went onto the internet to ask Chinese friends: How do you eat salted eggs?

They told me with porridge made from rice or other cereals, or in soup. Or just with rice.

Finally, I added it to green beans and broccoli, baked beans, and lentils. I turned the microwave to one to two minutes, three times. Finally, it was edible, in fact I ate to the last morsel, liking it more and more.

The Moral Is ...

Ah, now I know. Now, you know. That is the joy of trying new foods. 

If At First ...

If at first you don't succeed, try again. 

Don't Try The Same ...

Another saying springs to my mind. From Einstein. Don't try the same thing again and expect different results. You have to vary the experience of a food just slightly, add fruit, or cake, sugar, or salt, or cereal, or soup, or water, or freeze it, or heat it, or put it in a sandwich, or try another colour. 

I still have three more salted eggs in my fridge. Hm. Another chance to expand my repertoire. 

Question: 'When Did You try something new?'

I recall a popular question asked during Toastmasters International meetings, during the impromptu speaking sessions called table topics. (Impromptu speeches - long ago taking topics from papers face down on the table top.)  The question is: When was the last time you tried something new? 

My latest answer would be: Salted duck egg. 

What was the last new food or experience you tried? You either have a joy, or a dramatic story.

About the Author

The next meeting is a Language Workshop by Angela Lansbury, native English speaker from London, England. Wednesday March 2nd at 6.45 pm login for 7 pm start. The workshop with include some British English and vocabulary from America, Australia, New Zealand, and India. Also a look at common errors and easy ways to remember spelling and sentence structure.

Also enjoy the usual features of a Toastmasters' International Speakers' Training meeting, a chance to introduce yourself, speak on the theme of the day, hear speeches, and evaluations of speeches. Contact us for the Zoom ID and passcode. Note the date in your dairy and set your alarm. And tell all your friends and family. Be sure to be there!

What's the difference between living in London and living in Singapore? A friend asked me.

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SINGAPORE?

 My friend wrote: 'Where would you rather be?

' I thought you would have been speeding back to the sunshine of Singapore. I’ve never been there and unlikely to now, but it looks very different from here and I am just wondering what you feel about the differences in the two places, and your two homes..... what do you miss about Singapore when you are over here, and what do you miss about London when you are over there? Which place are you happiest in?

'Nosey? Well, that’s a writer’s prerogative. '

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT LONDON?

 I love London. My family and many long term friends are in London. I like the semi-detached houses in the suburbs, the art deco, and grand Victorian buildings, the cultures.

British Food 

Yes, and the food.  

1 I miss British food. Potatoes. 

2 Proper porridge. The cheapest private label will do.

In Singapore porridge oats comes from Australia and most is precooked. The raw stuff is not milled as fine so we give it a few seconds whizz in the liquidizer. It took us a while to work that out. 

In London, Waitrose supermarket provides all the British favourites, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Other supermarket have Scottish shortbread, porridge oats, and all kinds of potato. Thick cut marmalade. You can also buy Thai soups and Indian food.  

4 Fish and Chip shops

5 B & K Salt beef bar and restaurant. Salt Beef - eat in or take away. Fried fish balls. Lokshen pudding. (Noodle pudding, like a cake, cold or hot, with lemon and sultanas.) 

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SINGAPORE?

Singapore Food and Drink

1 Chicken Rice/ Duck Rice

2 Indian food served on a green banana leaf.

# Durian Ice Cream and Durian Cakes and Durian Paste (like green toothpaste) on Desserts. 

Mandarin oranges and lanterns for Chinese New Year. Mooncakes in autumn for the harvest festival.

Singapore

Toastmasters Friends

 I have even more friends from Toastmasters in Singapore, 

The trains run on time. Above all, weather wise, in winter I would rather be in Singapore. Summer sun all year. Longer days, daylight. 7 pm all year. 

Christmas Lights

As for Christmas, yes Christmas in London means pantomime and outdoor ice skating. The must see lights are in Oxford Street, Regent Street, and the stores such as Selfridges, Harrods, and Hamleys toy store. Many suburban streets also have lights. The big Xmas tree in Trafalgar Square is the focus of many photos and activities. Hot chestnuts are sold from kiosks in the streets. 

America has the biggest and best decorations. Individual houses with scenes on the front lawn, rooftop displays. Blocks of flats and offices with a cross and bow of neon to make an oblong building look like a giant parcel.

Christmas is good in Singapore. Because the streets are full of shops and filled with seasonal lights, all along Orchard Road. With multi-cultural areas in addition, you have lights for Indian/Hindu festivals, as well and the Chinese and Malay communities - and Christmas. But the lights for Christmas come down on what in England is Boxing day, Dec 26, changing to a Chinese or other festival, whereas in the UK light often stay up until January 6th.

Religions in Singapore

Singapore is geared to shopping, like New York run by the Chinese (who are the majority, from nearby China. China has whole cities geared to providing goods. At least one city is like a huge industrial estate, supplying the UK Poundland type shops). Singapore shops employ multi-national and multi-racial shop assistants. Anything which can promote the buying of goods and services is promoted. As a result, every festival is a chance to attract shoppers with lights. 

Halloween in Singapore

Halloween is also big in Singapore. In shops and Toastmasters clubs.

However, in Singapore, the devout Christians may refuse to partake in Halloween. 

All Saints Day is a Catholic celebration, in France. (I learned from my Catholic French au pair girls who stayed with us in the UK when our now adult son was small). 

The Protestant countries and Church of England and Anglican groups do not have saints days or name children after saints. 

 Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a big event in decorations and meals at hotels and restaurants and shop windows and shops and online in Singapore.

But Muslims, especially those from neighbouring country Malaysia, are told that it is not a Muslim event and encourages promiscuity and fornication and they should not celebrate it or partake in it so they do not participate in table topics (impromptu speeches) on what did you do for Valentine's Day at toastmasters meetings. 

UK & Irish Names

So in the UK, you would find a Catholic Irish maid called Teresa, but from Northern Ireland an Irish, Northern Irish, girl called Elizabeth. (So I was told by an Irish friend at the Writers Circle in Harrow, NW London, when we were discussing choosing appropriate and popular names of heroines and major and minor characters in novels set in England and Ireland and worldwide. 

Jews and Hanukah in London

Jews and Jewish festivals are a feature of shops and restaurants in NW London (and New York and US cities). The best Jewish food, in my opinion, is from B & K in Edgware and Hatch End. Salt beef and , or Kosher Chinese Kuo Yan in Edgware. (In Edgware where Anne Franks father lived postwar, unknown even to local liberal and Reform Jews).

You see the orthodox Jews in the big black hats in Edgware and Golders Green, and on Saturday everybody in their fine clothes with ladies wearing smart hats going to synagogues.

At Hanukah a giant menorah has been lit outside Edgware station, in NW London.

Jews and Hanukah in Singapore

The synagogue in Singapore in heavily guarded and it is no longer easy to get in like it once was to admire the architecture, take a tour, pay in advance for a meal and look at the shop.

In Singapore in 2019, a giant menorah was lit in Orchard Road.

Valentines Day in England

Heart shaped everything in London. 

Valentine's Day in Singapore

Heart shaped everything in Singapore.

The government policy is for everybody to join in everything.

The devout Muslims may refuse to attend or decline to speak about Valentine's Day. I was once asked by a Chinese Singaporean (Christian?) why a Jewish man attending a meeting declined to join in Singing Christmas carols. I was unable to explain why. (Now I can see why. In Singapore the Muslims I know see Jesus as just another excellent prophet, who pre-dates their religion, but was not The Messiah. The orthodox Jews recognize carols as hymns, many of which refer to Jesus in the manger or the messiah being born,'the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head and so on) and in Europe, I think at the time of the Inquisition, maybe as late as WW2, Jews were forced to convert to Christianity and in some cases then promptly killed to ensure they went straight to heaven to prevent them recanting later.)

Shopping

Orchard Road has some expensive department stores. However, head to little India and the giant Mustapha's on two block has parts open 24 hours, and is a bargain store, crammed with foods and goods.  

SHOPPING IN LONDON

What's different to buy?

Cheese

In London, UK in late 2020, the bigger UK supermarkets have more of Marmalade and Cheddar cheese and English cheese and French cheese. Some Asians are milk intolerant and Singapore has a couple of expensive cheese shops and you can get Brie. But England has more English cheeses.

Toothpicks

I also look for the triangular toothpicks by Wisdom.

Pills

Chewable Vitamin D

Chewable vitamin D tablets.

Thyroxine

Only available from a doctor. In Singapore I had an online consultation, first time for me and her. I got a pack of 50 pills, twice the 25 a month quantity.

In the UK you get a pack of 28, and if travelling can ask for two packs.

Cheap Clothes

In the UK you can buy second hand clothes in charity shops. In Northwood the cancer research shop had a washing machine so all their clothes, although second hand, did not carry the germs of the sick and elderly who had died and whose widows or children had done house clearance by giving the clothes to charity.

SINGAPORE SHOPPING

In Singapore you would look for market stalls around the suburban railway stations, especially at any festival or national holiday.

In the UK you can buy clothes at large supermarkets, not just Marks, also Siansburys and so on.

In Singapore there is often a Tesco rack inside a convenience store, like the kosher section in some supermarkets in the UK, a tiny rack with wines and sweet biscuits and savoury crackers (in London the kosher section might have matzos) and chocolates.

SINGAPORE HOMES

Homes - in Singapore most people live in high rise government built blocks which are rented out, though they can be bought with a loan from your own CPF, government administered tax into your personal savings scheme of bought on you must stay here for five years before re-selling at a profit.

Flats in Singapore often have a scullery, tiny box room just big enough for a small single bod, like the third bedroom in some small semis in the UK, for the maid or nanny or to store your suitcases, or for a baby or small child, and a toilet. The flat we rented did not have the third toilet connected. It would be a good idea to connect it during Covid-19 for any visitors. However, there are proposals to charge a water rate depending on the number of wash basins, showers, and toilets. So, whether as owners or renter, we (and you) would be paying more for water.

In the UK more homes have baths, which are warming in winter. In Singapore our landlady had converted the bath into a shower. I have got used to this. Can't waste time filling a bath, waiting for it to fill and empty, taking a bath, cleaning a big bath.

In the UK I can buy in my Tesco express. Dr Beckmans carpet stain remover with attached brush. Very handy. Works a treat.

Insects

Singapore flats have cockroaches and termites. The are outside the building and get in.

In the UK, more spiders.

The UK has adders. Singapore has many kinds of snake. Call the authorities or the local workmen who will catch it and eat it. 

Covid-19

Going back to Singapore you pay a large amount of money covering your enforced quarantine in a hotel with meals delivered to the door.

If you are on homestay they can phone you and ask for a picture of your surroundings. No messing about. 

heat sensors at airports to take your temperature.

Most people are law abiding. They live in government run blocks of flats and won't risk upsetting the government. 

Singapore has a history of dengue fever, and according to a Singapore based Indian friend from Toastmasters, Singapore takes this more seriously than in India. We have huge banners near bus stops telling us the figues for the dengue cases in the area, with the five step mossie wipe out.

Every week you hear the noise and see the white smoke, and sometimes hear a siren, warning you to close your windows because at ground floor level workers with machines are spraying a mist of foul-smelling, choking mosquito killer spray and mist.

On my Singapore phone, in both the UK and Singapore I have opted to receive the mid-day and mid-night update on the cases of Covid-19 in Singapore.

UK Gardens

In the UK we enjoy seeing the birds, squirrels, foxes and cats.

Singapore

I enjoy the coconut palm trees.

Horrid Haze

I hate the haze, choking you with winds from fires in Indonesia when the cut down the jungle to plant palm forests, every other summer it seems to me. Our affluent friends, the really relatively rich, fly off to their second homes in Australia. You listen anxiously to the radio or TV or news online and read the reports. When it is at its worst all outdoor places close, and all those partly outdoors, the schools, the playgroups, universities. Even if the pupils could travel, without waiting at outdoor bus stops, the gardeners and gatekeepers and cleaners and car park operators and maintenance workers are not allowed to work and the buildings and outdoor food courts shut down. 

Although a small number of allotments exit, most people in Singapore would grow plants on balconies.  The government sent out seeds. Two packets per household, on request. One of mine was for pak choy which is a Chinese vegetable I don't like. I think it is stringy with no flavour. 

British cucumber is better.

Singapore has more mango, papaya, tropical fruits, durian. I like durian only when mixed into ice cream or cake. Then I love it. A cross between banana and chestnut. Fresh it smells of sulphur. 

Singapore is and and humid all year. Sometimes I look forward to returning. Not just family. Escaping the cockroaches. Singapore is hot and humid all year.

What Do I Like about London?

1 London is better in the summer, not so sticky.

In London I have a garden. In London you can grow apple trees, grapes on a vine, rosemary on a bush. 

The trains during Covid-19 are relatively empty, never a problem getting a seat. I am happy in London in summer. Transport is free in London for my age group. At the moment.

In England I have a dishwasher. Most homes in London have dishwashers. Most homes in Singapore don't.

There you have it. 

About the Author

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

. Please see my other blogs and share links with your friends

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Changi's Jewel Shopping Mall With A Giant Waterfall Puts Changi Airport Firmly On the Map

Changi Jewel's giant majestic Waterfall. Photo by Bennv3771 in Wikipedia.

Changi's Jewel Shopping Mall looks like a giant donut or bun, with trains running horizontally through its middle linking to the adjacent terminals. The centrepiece of the complex is the huge 40 meter high waterfall, the world's largest indoor waterfall.

The complex was due to open Wednesday April 17 2019 but the week before it was open for previews. I opted for a two hour slot on the earliest available day, not the first couple of days, as other days had been taken.

The Journey
Emails warned that traffic would be heavy and advised taking the MRT train. I had planned to do that anyway. I would take a taxi to the airport when burdened with luggage which I want to watch. But just for fun, the metro is good enough.

From the Downtown blue line I had to change onto the green line for the lst stop. A ten minute wait. I was surprised it took so long, when the trains at my usual boarding station run every 3 to five minutes in peak hours.

From Changi Airport MRT station your route to the Jewel is signposted at every turn. You should allow 20 minutes to walk there, more if you dawdle in shops, the toilet or for photos or drinks.

Between the MRT exit and the walkway to the Jewel, you pass several interesting shops such as one featuring the local fruit, Durian.

Photo Opportunities
The Waterfall
1 When I arrived at the MRT, the approach to jewel was through glass sided elevated walkways passing fine views of the palm trees and the control tower.

2 On arrival in Jewel, you could immediately see the waterfall in the middle, through one of the spoke walkways. Singapore is hot and walking around makes you perspire, even if most of the way is air conditioned. However, the spray from the waterfall was pleasantly cooling.

Arriving half way up the waterfall viewpoints and the building levels at level 1, you can look down at the people below on basements 1 and 2, and up at those on walkways above on levels 2,3,4 and 5.

The main activity is photographing yourself and your friends against the waterfall. It looked like a giant camera club outing.

I found the waits for the lifts took too long and instead opted to use the escalators. I spent from 11 to 5.30 there. I went down to Basement 1. I found a great jewellery shop with good prices. They were offering opening discounts, like many of the shops. As I paid, the assistant asked, "Are you a member of Changi Rewards?"

I went along to Customer Service and got help signing up. Further around the mall was an even cheaper jewellery shop, items prices at $12, with $30 for three. All very bling, glittering, as if determined to outdo diamonds, with unusual shaped designs.

Marks & Spencer had a free taste of biscuits. I found lines marked down for a quick sale because the food such as potato salad had to be eaten the same day. I opted for potato.

Marks was selling bananas in bunches and I wanted only one.

Downstairs, lowest level, was the food court. Lots of unusual stuff. Coconut. I found two juice bars, The cheaper one had a slice of watermelon for one Singapore dollar.

Toilets
I was disappointed that my toilet in the Ladies had no washing device in the brand new toilets. Later I discovered that the bidet in the toilet is in the handicapped wide-door cubicle.

All in all, a most enjoyable day.

Useful Websites
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/jewel-changi-update-driving-to-changi.html
https://flights.staralliance.com/en/
changiairport.com
https://www.jewelchangiairport.com/
Singaporeair.com
visitsingapore.com
http://www.changiairport.com/en/airport-guide/facilities-and-services/airport-parking.html

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

Durian cake in Singapore and durian comparison

I love durian cakes and ice cream although I don't like the fruit. This cake had very little flavour nor aroma. Could not offend. But not sufficiently exciting to make me want to buy it. I did not eat a second piece. Interesting. 

I am glad somebody bought it and I am glad I tried it. Saved me from wasting my money. Oops - I think the green was pandan and the yellow was durian. I also find pandan cakes have almost non-existent flavour which does not match up to the enticing colour.

The Japanese would say, "very subtle flavour". 

I thought the durian season was over, because McDonald's had changed their formely durian flavour McFlurry (flavoured melting ice cream in a drink carton) 'drink' flavours to strawberry and chocolate. Flavour of the month.

 I asked an assistant and she thought her branch changed every two months. I presume although they have some autonomy that the bulk buying of McDonalds meant the same flavours were available to all branches. You either stock it or you don't.

I have to say nobody else has supplied a durian flavour to match the one from McDonatds which I tried and wrote about previously.

Eat Out At National University Hospital

Problem
After a day in A and E, I went back to the ENT department for some checkups, as well as an X-ray. You are in the hospital during lunch hour. Where do you eat?

Hospital Location
National University Hospital is very convenient. It is right next to Kent Ridge MRT station.
The skyscraper building has a food court where the staff and the patients can eat, just like any other shopping mall.

Food Break
Your choice of food is varied. When I was there stalls were offering all kinds of chicken and meat and egg dishes, seafood, Chinese and Asian food, Japanese food, Indian and Malay food, Halal food, vegetarian food, a fruit and fruit juice stall, plus tea and coffee.

Choice Of Food
As usual, my husband and I differed completely on our views of the food. He had shellfish. I'm allergic to it. I had a durian dessert. He won't go near anything durian. (I kept the contents secret until I had finished.

My first thought was to go for my favourite, chicken rice, but I eat that a lot at home, so I opted for a novelty. I wanted masala dosai. However the dosai was unavailable.  Instead I had another Indian bread pancake, with two side dishes, one of which was chickpeas.

I could not try my husband's shellfish.

However, he was happy to try the Indian bread and chickpeas. he said it was good. I thought the bread was dry and so-so.

Durian Dessert
The durian was in generous amounts, but bland. It may not be the right time of year, because the McDonalds McFlurry durian promotion has just ended (October). I must say the McDonald durian was better.

This is all I got in A and E. A bread and jam sandwich and water.

What was good about the place?

Seats and Tables
Seats with backs. Very big and busy yet still no trouble getting a table.

Menus And Healthy Options
The menus showing dishes were marked with coloured ticks showing the healthiest and least healthy options.

Toilets
What was best of all? The toilets have built-in bidets. Turn a knob on the side, and you get a wash. That is much better than the old fashioned hose which sends water all over the floor and seat.

All in all, very good because it kept my escort happy.

Useful Addresses and Websites
National University Hospital
5 Lower Kent Ridge Road
Singapore 1199074
tel:(65) 5555

Hospital website
www.nuh.com.sg

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

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.

See the Giant Puppets At The Sultan Hotel in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia

Indonesia map from Wikipedia.


Photos by Trevor Sharot.
 http://trevorsharotphotography.com
..............

Photos from Wikipedia

Jakarta's nickname is The Big Durian.

Durian is called the king of fruits. The name durian comes from the Indonesian and Malay word for thorn because of the skin.

Durians are for sale in Indonesia. (Also sold in Thailand and Malaysia.) Whilst I cannot eat the strong smelling and slimy durian fruit, I love tasty durian ice cream and durian cake, and white or yellow durian sauce, which reminds me of thick egg custard or egg yolk with the flavour of chestnut.

Author of photo, ProjectManhattan in Wikipedia under Durian.

Durian is available in season in Singapore. but banned in the Singapore MRT (train system) and buses and taxis.

Jakarta's motto is Jaya Raya which is Sanskrit for victorious and great. ( I know several people called Jaya.)

Museum in Jakarta.

Photo from Wikipedia: Gunawan Kartapranata - Own work

The parade of Ondel-ondel on main street of Jakarta during car-free day.  The Ondel-ondel (a repeated hyphenated word is a plural) was originally a symbol of an ancestor protecting a village from calamity and danced in the street. In modern times the Ondel-ondel is the symbol of Jakarta and dances to entertain in streets on festive occasions, and at weddings and openings of buildings and events.

Watch a pair of them performing in pairs in a street on Youtube. Notice the musicians in the background.

Ondel-ondel puppets in Wayang Museum, Jakarta. Photo author Taman Renyah, in Wikipedia. These puppets appear in pairs, the red face being male and the female with a white face. The head-dress is made from strips of coconut leaves wrapped in coloured paper. The light bamboo body is lifted by a person standing inside who dances, twirling on the spot, or dancing and hopping around the partner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT0Vtacah7k The puppets dancing.



Transport in Jakarta. Blue three-wheeler is a taxi.
 Picture from Wikipedia.

Useful Websites:
https://www.indonesia.travel/uk/en/home
Wonderfully engaging website pages with great pictures and helpful captions

http://trevorsharotphotography.com
Some serious photography here. Great subjects, great composition and great colours.

Author

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

Artbox free riverside stalls

Art Box is very popular amd very crowded although it is largely food and drink specialities from all over Asia but as far away as so called mead in three flavours from London England.
I tried curry biscuits, Japanese seaweed, durian cake, wine from France and the USA from Cellaraid
. Several stalls sold silver jewellery as wee as wooden novelties and birthday cards.
When it gets too hot and crowded you can it by the river and watch the parade of people, cyclists and pretty dogs.

Artbox is on over Easter and next weekend. My favourite stall and the best price was caricatures from 6 Singapore dollars for the smallest size.
MRT Bayfront nearby. Just cross the road and a car park and you are there. If it's too crowded, take a few steps out to the riverside.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share my posts. Thank you.

Delicious Durian Cakes in Singapore - a tiny treat or a bigger birthday cake

Problem
Where can I get durian - not the huge strong-smelling fruit which you buy at the market and are forbidden to carry onto a taxi or on the MRT, but ready to eat ice cream or cake?

Answer
At Changi airport, Jurong Point shopping Centre, or the shop on the ground floor passage way of the Bukit Panjang Plaza.

Stories
I discovered durian years ago when I knew nothing of its reputation nor the fierce favouritism contacting with the fanatical hatred of this aromatic fruit. I was in a Thai restaurant wanting a dessert and the only non vanilla and exotic new flavoured dessert they could offer me was durian.

They hesitated to serve it to me, no doubt because previously customers had been outraged, disappointed, or refused to pay. I was sure I wanted to try it, just for the experience.

I loved it. The flavour was a cross between eggs, bananas and chestnuts. It reminded me of the Spanish dessert dish yemas de Cartagena (a Catalan sugared egg dessert dish, one of my favourites, which I ate at A parador (national landmark converted into a hotel to attract tourism). The yemas I tried was a dessert. I have found several recipes for yeas (egg yolks) cooked with sugar, from Avila, called y e m a s de Avila or y e m a s de Saint Teresa. I would describe the Spanish dessert as tasting rather like the French marron glacé).

Irresistible Free Taste
Last September I passed the durian stall in the Singapore mall on a day when they were offering a free taste. Maybe that was to celebrate their opening or the autumn moon festival. This year I went back and there were no free tastes, not for passers-by who were potential customers nor for keen customers. But the displays were attractive, especially the cakes - I have a birthday coming up and all year I look at cake designs.

It was my treat. I was lured to the mall by the promise of a durian cake. I wanted to look at and buy a little cake.

Durian Birthday Cake Designs
When we arrived I was even more excited by the display of colourful cakes for birthdays and celebrations. Some of them are covered in conical peaks or 3D designs, not suitable for adding words such as happy birthday and a name. However, when I asked, the stall assistant explained that if you give them a couple of days notice they make a cake to order and add the words you require, such as Happy Birthday, on a small slab of white chocolate. I asked if that cost extra and she said that the words were included in the price.

Carrying Cake
The cake was given to us in a small domed plastic container to protect it from damage in transit. We were travelling only a short distance (by bus) and on arriving at our destination placed it in the fridge.

Dividing Durian Cake
A few hours later out came my tea-time treat. The cake, although small, cost about £5 in English money, and was double my calorie allowance (maybe more than double). Although we had planned to share it between two, the aroma which I find so attractive did not have general appeal. Since I was the only person who wanted it, I received a slice from the centre of the circular cake and the remainder was pushed together to create an oval.

Let Us Eat Cake
To eke out my cake, I added yogurt and water, which turned it into a mush, rather like a milkshake or lassi. We then added fruit, strawberries, oranges. I was afraid that the contrasting flavours would detract from the durian, but durian is strangely flavoured.

You don't want to talk whilst eating such a delicacy. You don't want to be distracted by conversation and then find your plate or bowl is empty. Savour every sniff and sip.

They have only two outlets apart from the ones at airports, and one is at the smaller airport. So I was lucky to be her the place which served durian.

You will, however, be able to buy large durians, in season, from markets.
D u r i a n desserts with a spoon of durian on a larger portion of a filler such as ice cream, are at some fruit dessert bars in hawker centres, the food courts found in shopping malls. Many of them are in basements and top floors. I had some once at the upper level indoor food court above Farrer Park MRT station near Little India.

Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian
http://www.changiairport.com/en/shop-and-dine/shopping/durian-mpire.html
Durian Mpire, Changi Airport Terminal 2
Durian Mpire, Changi Airport Terminal 3
(details in next post)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker. More on languages, food and fun on blogger.com. I also have posts and profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other places including YouTube. My books are on Amazon.com and Lulu.com Please like, follow and share my posts.

Dishes I Probably Won't Try - Dancing Squid and Oysters in July

Dishes I probably won't try for the first time or again:

1 Oysters - eaten live. England and the USA and elsewhere.
2 Dancing squid (from Japan) just like what they sound like. Found in Japan. See YouTube.
3 Suckling pig.
4 Snails. (Escargot in France, also from some speciality restaurants in London, England.
5 Horsemeat (France).
6 Bird's Nest. Soup or otherwise.
7 Locusts. (All sorts of insects are available bottled for Christmas as novelties or gourmet gifts in speciality food stores such as Jackson's of Piccadilly in London.
8 Dog (China).
9 Wichita grub - actually I've had this in Australia. Ground up and white like potato soup or puree.
10 Snake steak. (I've had this in Shanghai. Looks like sliced up salmon, a circle with a bone or hold in the middle, but salmon has better flavour.)
11 Puffer fish. Poisonous if not prepared right with the poison removed. Why would you risk it? Admittedly whenever a restaurant prepares your food, you have to trust your chef to take every care.
12 Crocodile. I have a certificate framed on the wall which assures me that I ate this in Florida some years ago. As they say, the past is another country.
13 Durian. The fresh fruit tastes and smells dreadful. However, the ice cream or cake made with a tiny amount tastes delicious, like chestnut.

No thanks. No comment.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer 

East meets west in Singapore, Sheraton Towers hotel's waterfalls, bagels and durians

I recently attended a couple of Toastmasters International meetings at the Sheraton Towers hotel in Singapore, conveniently near Newton MRT. The cost is $20, a lot for a Toastmasters meeting, most of which offer free entertainment and food to guests who are potential members. But for $20 you can get an evening of networking, up to eight entertaining prepared speeches, a buffet of noodles, rice, often sandwiches and/or local food and fruit, coffee, ice water and lemon slices. $20 is about £10 in English money.

If you want to join this Singapore Toastmasters club, get a mentor, and attend regularly (they have three meetings a month on the first three Monday evenings, from 6.15 onwards, the cost is higher than most other clubs. Did I hear $500 - about £250, for 6 months or a year? If you are in business, this would come off your tax or be paid for by your employer as a business expense and it trains you to give presentations, preparing slides, managing slide or video presentations, timing a presentation, and writing speeches and delivering them in an entertaining and audible manner with correct presentation.

Meanwhile, if you do not have the time or money to join for a whole year, you can attend a meeting as a guest for the guest fee of $20. You learn from the feedback given after the speeches, analysing the good aspects of each speech, and recommending improvements.

Sheraton Tower Hotel, Singapore, dining by the waterfall

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright Angela Lansbury. More photos available.

Sheraton Hotel Decor and Delights
And while you are there, you get to enjoy the glamorous surroundings of the Sheraton hotel. Notice the rope pattern on the banisters going up the grand staircase from level one (in England called the ground floor) to level two.

From the balcony you can look down on the fountains below and the waterfall behind glass at the far end of the ground floor restaurant.

Fancy The Food?
I looked at the downstairs display of foods in a cabinet. A whole cake for a party for $65. A piece of cake for about $8. A bagel for about $3.50. Fresh fruit.

Toastmasters Buffet
Upstairs with Toastmasters, the $20 for the buffet at Singapore's premier Toastmasters club and an evening of entertainment (roughly 6.15 to 9.50 pm), seems good value. I liked the filling fried rice, passed on the popular glass noodles with red pepper, and liked the little salmon pastries, and filled up on easy to handle tomato sandwiches.

The apple crumble pastries were great. I passed on the fruit with the black seeds but enjoyed the red water melon, orange melon and black grapes.

PS The rest rooms (toilet to my UK readers) have flower displays (orchids) and background music.

TOASTMASTERS MORE INFORMATION
www.toastmasters.org.sg
enquiry@toastmasters.org.sg
facebook.com/ToastmastersSingapore

SHERATON HOTEL MORE INFORMATION
Sheraton Towers Hotel, 39 Scotts Road, Singapore 228230
sheraton.com/singapore
sheratonsingapore.com
Tel: (+65) 6737 6888



Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Christmas treats: Oyster and crab photos; where to eat crocodile, grubs, durian, and exotic foods

In London all many restaurants are serving turkey and Christmas pudding and every office and club wants a group party, ideally a Friday lunch, finishing so late there's no point going back to work, might as well do some Christmas shopping. What exotic food can you buy? Maybe a hamper for the hosts? Or an exotic food for your friends who invited you for a Christmas meal or New Year's eve. Should you buy them a treat or taken them for a meal out? 

For some of the people you know chocolate covered insects these would be a gourmet treat. For other people they would just be a joke gift. It might be an idea to ask - and check prices.

What can you take? What would be a treat? Or maybe treat yourself? Or just enjoy window shopping.  Caviar? Real caviar from Russia is expensive. Caviar is the egg cells from a fish. I've tried real caviar and, don't tell anybody, but I prefer the cheaper imitation from supermarkets from different fish. Yummy. Many people will be happy with imitation so called caviar in little pots from the UK supermarkets. You can buy it coloured orange or black. 

Shellfish? Many restaurants such as Club Gasgon also sell bottled French foods.

Restaurant oysters.

Oyster photo. Courtesy of Trevor Sharot.

Crab shell. Supermarket crab.

I am afraid the crab has gone. Somebody ate all of it. Not me.

Crab shell. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

You can see from the fork in the lower left of the crab shell picture that the crab shell is about the size of a fist, much larger than an oyster. This is not news to people who eat shellfish. 

But my pictures will solve a mystery for people like me who never eat shellfish. Like me and some of my friends and acquaintances. 

When I was a child we never had frogs nor horsemeat (horse meat not horse men which spell check prefers), eaten by the French, along with snails and oysters. In England we regarded eating horse meat with the same sort of horror and suspicion that most people in the UK still regard these exotic fruits:

 1 DURIAN

I ate durians for the first time in a Thai restaurant in Singapore in the 1990s. D u r i a n s (spell checker, horror of horrors, corrected this word to drains), are eaten in season in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and now available from some restaurants in London. 

Durian? It smells strongly of sulphur. It is banned on the Singapore MRT underground trains and buses and taxis. You will see signs.

The durian fresh fruit I can't eat. But the flavour in ice cream and cakes is wonderful, like mashed banana and chestnut puree. Green. Like pistachio.

2 ANTS 

Chocolate covered ANTS and other insects.

3 LOCUSTS 

(All kinds of insects available at Xmas time from the major food department of big speciality department stores such as Fortnum and Mason, until stocks run out,.

4 CROCODILE 

(I have eaten this in Florida, in the USA.  I have a souvenir certificate which I was given on a travel press trip in the USA, somewhere stored hidden behind something more important in one of the 100+ picture frames in my home.) 

5 WICHITY GRUB SOUP, Australia.

Soup eaten in a restaurant in Perth, Australia. The grubs are not wiggling around and leaping like tiny dolphins, nor china depictions of the Loch Ness Monster, as I had feared. Just a thick white soup rather like potato soup. Neither disgusting nor delightful.  As they say, try anything once. (If I appear to have written nonsense, it's because Spell check thinks W i c h i t a  is more likely than w i c h i t y.)

6 BUFFALO meat. USA.

Buffalo or bison were a mystery to me, a visitor from London to the USA in the 1980s. Not to be confused with Buffalo wings, which are chicken wings in sauce, first served in a brain Buffalo in bad weather when chicken and sauce was available and not much else so the cook created a new dish from what was to hand.

7 SNAKE from China. Mescal from Mexico.

Eaten in Shanghai and many parts of China and Asia. Also seasonal. A snake steak is slides so a portion looks like a piece of salmon, circular thick white or pale pink meat, texture of cod, with a circular white bone in the middle.You also see snake inside large glass bottles of wine and flagons of wine. 

Mescal from Mexico is a drink with a larva inside. It is sometimes called a worm. Not a worm. Not live.

9 EXOTIC NUTS such as macadamia

Thinking back, when I was a child, most nuts were peanuts, which aren't nuts at all. W, almonds and hazel nuts were an expensive treat. Chestnuts only appeared at Xmas. Pistachio nuts appeared much later in the first Asian restaurants probably in the 1960s. Cashews were a treat. 

I had pecan nuts for the first time in the USA in the 1980s, and pecan pie. Now you can get pecan pie in American restaurants in London, and often in the bakery sections of supermarkets.

Then I tried macadamia nuts, for the first time, on a side trip from the USA where we were living, to Hawaii.

Chestnuts were a favourite Christmas treat in England, roasted chestnuts sold from stalls on cold days in November and December. In previous years they were sold outside the World Travel Market in London, outside Excel on the passageway to the Station. 

When we went on holiday to Jersey in the Channel Islands  we discovered that tins of chestnut paste imported from nearby France were much cheaper and more readily available than the same tins in London supermarkets.

We bought half a dozen tins and had chestnut puree on vanilla ice cream for a quick self-catering lunch on holiday. We took two leftover tins home and enjoyed our holiday treat for a fortnight (two weeks) back in Britain.

10 EXOTIC FRUITS -  such as mango

Mangoes were also exotic. Now orange mango juice and transparent red or pink cranberry juice are everywhere in supermarkets in the UK. Hotels buffet breakfast in the UK and Europe, as well as the USA and Asia, often serve in addition to the class orange juice, apple or pineapple juice.

Exotic Foods

Back to shellfish. Now shellfish is in every supermarket in the UK. We can even eat durians from Asia, foods from all over the world. When I was a toddler for several years after WWII ended in 1945 you could not even eat a banana. We still had food rationing until 1952. Yay mother told me you had to queue for bananas. 

For more on oysters, see my previous post on oysters.

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

Mooncake in Chinatowns, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, USA

Traditionally the Chinese sun festival was in spring and the moon festival is autumn. Mooncakes are my current favourite foods, served at most Toastmasters Clubs meetings and contests in September 2015 in Singapore.

I tasted mooncakes with fillings of red beancurd, durian and lotus. You can buy them in tins. They are like miniature cakes the size of the palm of your hand and you often buy a tin of four, each one a different flavour. You might have one red, one yellow and one green.

Each cake in a tin is often sold preserved in sealed plastic with a sliver of preservative (like the teeny packets you get inside some shoe boxes).

I thought at first it might be a sauce, like the packets of soy sauce you get with take away meals of rice from Chinese restaurants in the UK,  so I was disappointed to find it was not edible. However, I was quickly mollified by a taste of mooncake.

Moon cakes are often made with a lard pastry. Plus a highly sugared dense filling.

This is what they look like. The message on the top is Chinese characters.

You cut the cake into four. Then again into eight. Your hosts are not being mean. Those small pieces are very filling. Like chocolates, one, or two pieces (of mooncake), is quite enough.

Modern variations include an ice cream moon cake made in the USA.

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/mooncake/a/moonfestival.htm

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, speaker.