Singapore National Day Sunday August 9th 2020 - Be Prepared To See, Sing, Eat and Drink Singapore Style

The Official National Day Celebrations period lasts from July 1st to September 30th. Three months! That covers most of the UK summer holiday period for families, schools and universities.

When I first came to Singapore I was impressed by all the flags and wondered where they came from. Now that I am a Permanent Resident I know. This year the government gave every household a pack in a handy fabric tote bag, containing a large flag with two tapes so you can tie the flag onto the railings of your balcony.

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Inside the bag was another smaller flag you could hold in your hand and wave.

Red represents universal brotherhood and equality of man.

White represents purity and virtue.

The crescent moon represents a young nation in the ascendant.

The five white stars represent, democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. The stars are arranged in a circle in the red upper half of the flag.

This year, 2020, for the first time, we were given masks and a thermometer. So, if we go out to watch, we will not be spreading germs.

The day's events start at 10.20 am.

You can expect:

A speech by the VIP.

A fly-past.

A parade of the national organizations, the armed forces, the emergency forces, all ages.

In the afternoon there's more.

Fireworks.

Nowadays no need to leave home. Watch it all on your screen.

If you want to join in or understand what they are singing. Here's the national anthem.

The Story Of The Anthem

"Majulah Singapura" is the national anthem of Singapore. It was written and composed by Singaporean musician Zubir Said in 1958. Seven years later, the anthem was adopted. This song must be sung in Malay, although there are translations provided in the country's three other official languages—English, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil.

Singaporeans are encouraged to sing the national anthem during times of national celebration or at important national events such as at the National Day Parade, at National Day observance ceremonies held by government departments and educational institutions such as schools and universities, and at sports events that Singapore teams take part in.

Since everybody else will be singing in Malay, you might as well practise at least the opening and ending, better still all of it.

Rumi	IPA transcription
Mari kita rakyat Singapura Sama-sama menuju bahagia Cita-cita kita yang mulia Berjaya Singapura. Marilah kita bersatu Dengan semangat yang baru Semua kita berseru 𝄆 Majulah Singapura! 𝄇[1]	[ma.ri ki.ta raʔ.jat̚ si.ŋa.pu.ra] [sa.ma sa.ma mə.nu.dʒu ba.ha.gi.a] [tʃi.ta tʃi.ta ki.ta jaŋ mu.li.a] [bə(r).dʒa.ja si.ŋa.pu.ra] [ma.ri.la(h) ki.ta bə(r).sa.tu] [də.ŋan sə.ma.ŋat̚ jaŋ ba.ru] [sə.mu.a ki.ta bə(r).se.ru] 𝄆 [ma.dʒu.la(h) si.ŋa.pu.ra] 𝄇

 Here is the Chinese (Mandarin)

Singaporean Mandarin	Hanyu Pinyin
来吧，新加坡人民， 让我们共同向幸福迈进； 我们崇高的理想， 要使新加坡成功。 来吧，让我们以新的精神， 团结在一起； 我们齐声欢呼： 𝄆 前进吧，新加坡！ 𝄇	Lái ba, Xīnjiāpō rénmín, Ràng wǒmen gòngtóng xiàng xìngfú màijìn; Wǒmen chónggāo de lǐxiǎng, Yào shǐ Xīnjiāpō chénggōng. Lái ba, ràng wǒmen yǐ xīn de jīngshén, Tuánjié zài yīqǐ; Wǒmen qí shēng huānhū: 𝄆 Qiánjìn ba, Xīnjiāpō! 𝄇

Singable English version (unofficial)

Come, fellow Singaporean people,

With joy aglow we shall as one progress;

May our yearning so noble

Bring Singapore great success.

 Come, let us unite together,

All of us with a new vigour;

Let our voices soar:

Onward! Oh, Singapore! 

I would like a more universal theme, with everyday language, whilst retaining the same syllable count and beat or intonation.

Here's my fist effort:

Come, friends, join Singaporean peoples

Bring smiles and plans, in teams we'll progress

May dreams build towns tall as steeples

Spread Singapore's great success.

Join us, we'll work and plan together

Young, old, rich, poor, in all weather

Bring health, wealth, calm, love, laughs, more

Garden home, Singapore.

You may also have seen versions of a popular song.

What food could you eat? 

Singaporean favourite foods include:

Fish and Chips

Scones (Make your own or buy from Four Leaves in shopping malls such as Bukit Panjang)

Chinese

Chicken rice

Duck rice

Indian

Fish head curry (From restaurants in Little India in Singapore)

Roti Prata (Flat bread made by rolled out in fat fingers of dough like making spaghetti, roughly spiralled and jumbled and pressed together and cooked like a pancake.)

To drink Singaporean Style

Tiger Beer

Some factory tours may be available. Check current situation from their website.

Check the quality of your nearest branch as they are franchises.

Malay

Kaya toast for breakfast (Buy kaya jam in jars)

Kaya is coconut jam, yellow colour, made from coconut cream, eggs sugar, and sometimes added pandan leaf (pale green faintly flavoured)

Add coconut cream or coconut to savoury dishes or desserts

Durian (strong smelling sulphorous fresh fruit or fruit puree on other dishes or more delicate flavour on cake or ice cream like a cross between banana and chestnut)

Useful Websites

National Anthem in Malay, Chinese, English and other languages

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majulah_Singapura

Road Closures

https://www.ndp.gov.sg/traffic-advisories/

Tiger Beer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Beer

Kaya toast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_toast

CHICKEN RICE RECIPE

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainanese_chicken_rice

https://www.facebook.com/NDPeeps

Author

Angela Lansbury

Please share your favourite posts. Join me on Facebook, LinkedIn.

I am the immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Advanced, Toastmasters International speakers' training club. We are a President's Distinguished Club. 

Kaya Toast at Harbourfront, Singapore

I love kaya toast. It looks like lime green lemon curd. It brightens up toast and butter.

I had coffee and kaya toast with two friends in the Harbourfront shopping complex next to the entrance to the MRT station (and adjoining the swanky Vivo Shopping Mall.) 

Harbourfront has the two shopping malls, office blocks and the old harbour. It's the end of the line, MRT, so easy to find. 

When we were invited for coffee after a lunchtime meeting, we accepted. Imagine my delight in finding we were hesitantly asked if we minded having coffee at a Kaya toast shop? 

Kaya? Yes, please! Kaya is one of my favourites. After durian, and fish head curry - just one of the Singapore specialities. It's also inexpensive if you want a quick stop, and you won't have to worry about spending too much on your guests, or asking too much of your hosts.

The coffee shop looked completely full just after lunch at about 2.30 on a Thursday afternoon.

However, when we walked to the back wall, we saw small square stools waiting without a customer -for a customer without a stool. We would be three, all perched on cube shape backless stools around a tiny round table.

Fortunately, I was too busy talking and being polite and making use of the time in conversation to worry about my surroundings. Just as well that I didn't waste time worrying, because by the time the host of our group returned from the kiosk queue with our coffees (the kaya toast is cooked to order and delivered to the table) we were kings of the coffee tables. As somebody vacated their table beside us, we moved to a table with a bench seat and backs to the wall (easier to watch your belongings and keep them off the dirty floor). We pushed two square tables together to make a bigger table for three.

As you can see from the picture, proper seats with backs are against the outside corridor.

I had wondered about the calorie count. However, the toast is in very thin slices, a thin sandwich, more flavour and less bread. I was happy with that.

I didn't have time to read the history of the company which is on the wall outside, so I took a picture of it to read later.

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

Strange Foods In Singapore and At Changi Airport: durian, kaya and pandan

SINGAPORE
If you are travelling to Singapore, or on a stopover to Australia or anywhere else, look around Singapore or the airport.

Singapore is like one long food festival, with multi-national stalls on the cheap hawker centres and department store food courts.

Pandan Cookies and Cakes
My unfavourite food is the so subtle green pandan cake popular in Singapore which rarely tastes of anything and has no much or crunch. However, try anything once.

Pandan Chiffon cookie at Singapore's Changi Airport. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Pandan cake, Wikipedia.

You will find pandan cake in many bakery counters in kiosks in hawker centres (food courts in the basement of upper floors of shopping malls and department stores).

Durian
Durian comes in many forms. The evil-smelling fruit, like a green football. Cut up into oozing greeny yellow pieces. Horrid, in my opion.

Durian cakes in shopping mall, Singapore. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Yet durian gives a wonderful flavour in ice creams and cakes, like banana, or chestnut.

You can also get chewy durian gums.

Durian gum. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

And look for a durian topping, a paste squeezed like toothpaste over ice creams from hawker centres.

And this week Durian at the Goodwood Park hotel. On through June and until July.

Kaya Toast
Kaya is coconut jam, yellow and tasty, spread on toast for breakfast or a snack. I've also seen this at the airport.

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)
https://www.ishopchangi.com
http://www.changiairport.com/en/shop-and-dine.html
http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/durian-fiesta-2018-,promotions_viewItem_1341-en.html

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

X i n Wang Hong Kong Cafe, Yishun, Singapore - late night eating

Y i n  Y a n (g) or X i n  W a n g - you probably already recognise the F u n g  Sh w ai for dark and light or good and evil. That's the origin of this restaurant's name, pronounced the Cantonese way.
A group of Singaporeans went for supper after a meeting which finished at around 10 pm, when many restaurants are closing down. Several branches of this chain are open until 2 am, and more until 10 or 11.

The other main advantage of these outlets is the huge menu. The varied choice suits a large group of people with different food requirements. I don't know about the other branches, but this one is a vast hall, with long tables like the big canteen-style restaurants in Beijing and major Chinese cities.

I went to the branch in North Point, Yishun. The also have a branch in Changi airport.

The staff we spoke to were mainly Cantonese speaking but the manageress spoke Mandarin and Singlish. She was quick to step forward, translate and take our orders.

Kaya Toast
One of the diners ordered kaya toast, which looked like toast with butter and jam, and tasted like toast with butter and jam. However, I was assured that the 'butter' was coconut 'jam'.

Soup
Like Japanese restaurants, the dishes were shown in colour photos which made selecting easier. I picked out a reddish-purple soup labelled bors. I mistakenly thought it was a mis-spelling of borsht and would be beetroot soup.

The liquid tasted of tomatoes and contained vegetables. The closest similar soup would be Minestrone.

I thought it was expensive for what it was. The drinks came to more than the food. I opted for a fresh watermelon juice. I could have had just the soup and saved money. Or halved my bill

by sticking to the juice. The soup was S$4.90. Add on your GST (government sales tax) and service of 10%.

Angela Lansbury Travel writer and photographer.