Public Transport Entrails: Part I

So, Tuesday.  I set off at eleven in the morning.  A friend in Canberra told me that at the shops in Tampines and Pasir Ris one can buy shoes for $2.  When I got to the bus stop, oh no, no bus going out there.  So I got on a bus anyway, and after some time, it stopped on Farrer Road where there was an MRT station and I got on the Circle Line, which was a stupid loop to take, then changed again at Paya Lebar Interchange, then the MRT turned into a train on an above-ground track.  Now, this was a very long journey, I was peeved off and freeing to death because of the air-conditioning.  And super thirsty, but too afraid to drink my water because there was a sign saying $500 fine for eating or drinking on trains or in stations.

View from bridge crossing from bus stop to Farrer Road MRT station

But anyway, I got to Tampines.  And there were three shopping malls next to each other.  Ayiah, all worse than Woden Plaza.  No bargains!  Unless you are searching for a padded jacket!

Jumped back on train to try my luck at next and final stop on the line, Pasir Ris.  No luck.  And no lunch because I was not in the mood for eating in the mall because that would be too trendy.  But I did eat an egg-tart.

Back on the train.  Because it was above ground, I've had two bird's eye views of the East Coast!

My plan was to spend the remainder of my day at Ann Siang Hill.  I would have to change at City Hall Interchange.  But when I got there, I thought "Why not go to the Peranakan Museum while I'm here?"  But I didn't see any locality maps and all I knew was that the museum was on Armenian Street.  Hmmm, good planning Billie.  But then I spotted Funan Centre DigitaLife Mall.  And got my keyboard cover there.  Here is a photo of the packet:

So now that I know I'm attractive, I might actually be super attractive, because I can only be more attractive than I know.

Then I saw a building which looked like a museum.  So I crossed a big road.  Turned out it was the museum for the history of the postal service in Singapore.  I didn't want to go there but thought I might be able to get a guide paper to another museum.  But then I saw another building which looked like a museum.  So I headed off down the road.  It wasn't a museum, I don't think, but there was a bus map outside with attractions on it.  I realised I had walked the wrong direction down the road, so I headed off back again.

I passed the Armenian Church, but didn't go inside and so I don't know what is the significance of it.

I turned onto a small street which happened to be Armenian Street, leading to the museum.  Actually, I had walked on this street last year!  I spent some time in this camera shop, where they didn't offer me a cup of tea, and a cup of tea was offered on this sheet I picked up from them.  Some cameras were only thirty-odd dollars, but then, of course, one must buy film and also pay to have the pictures developed!  The downside to analogue photography, which they kept promoting, it that one cannot easily upload pictures to their blog!  I got this piece of paper from them which has this written on it "Reminisce the days where film was the gold standard in photography and everyone had a Polaroid camera of two!"

I got to the museum at last, but then saw some hip people.  In fact, they were filming some bloke breakdancing in the alley.  Should have taken a photo!

There were some old fashioned shops, so I went in this bookshop which had all these intellectual books about Asia!  I bought a book called 'Narratives in Malaysian Art Volume 1: Imagining Identities', edited by Nur Hanim Khairauddin and Beverly Yong, with T.K. Sabapathy.  It "brings together a collection of essays which highlights the way in which art has provided artists with the means of imagining themselves, and imagining our nations...discuss art developments in relation to changing expressions and experiences in Malaysian social and cultural life from after the Second World War to contemporary time, while 140 illustrations create a parallel visual narrative."

I've decided it's time I got a bit more a) intellectual about things, and b) into art because it's Indie and cool and intellectual and I am possibly maybe going to be interested if I try.  Also, if I don't get into stuff, I'm going to get bored of myself on another level, like when I'm giving an oral presentation and I get bored of my own speech because I'm really not interested in hearing what I have to say.

At the Peranankan museum (yes, I eventually got there), I acquired a new passion.  It is for beaded things.   

Tablecloth made entirely from beads!

Those pouches look so much better than these trendy silicon ones I saw the other day which were ripping and were still in the shop.

As you can see from the caption, this is a striped kebaya with antelopes.  I really dig the antelopes on the stripes.  It's an eclectic mix of moods.  If I owned that top, I would wear it everyday!

There was a large section about the play Emily of Emerald Hill which they make out to be the Singapore's sole highlight of arts culture.  Visitors were invited to dress in the clothes above and film themselves speaking lines from the play.  Then, you can judge the best one.

This piece of artwork below is a bit blurry, so is the information tag.  Oh well.  I think it was about religion in Peranakan culture...anyway, it's a bit Christian and a bit psychedelic, so I think that's more than a bit Indie.

Too bad I got told off earlier about flash photography, which seems to be the default setting on my camera.  Otherwise, you would be able to see the Virgin Mary in the Victorian bell jars properly.  You know what I'm going to say...so RookieMag but not ironic!  Then again, is there anything very ironic about RookieMag?

I would have liked to have made this next picture the final and crowning picture for this post, but alas, I have more to say.

 Peranankans who converted to Christianity may have also converted the "traditional" cabinet or whatever it is called for worshipping ancestors and gods to one for worshipping Joseph, Mary and Jesus Christ.  Note: I did not make Christ the surname of that family.  I don't know why there's that guy in the red top on the side.  Maybe it was a reflection of another painting.  Or maybe it's an Asian Jesus who appeared in my camera.  Must be a message.

 I was looking forward to some Nonya food since I had not had lunch.  But there was only a tiny cafe without room to swing a cat, let alone carry my bag in.  Yeah, there wasn't much.  So I stayed hungry.

Then, I was rushing rushing rushing home.  I found a bus stop, decided which bus to take, then was sitting for a while but no bus was turning up.  Damn, I looked at the routes board again and the number for the bus I wanted was in grey rather than red, so I thought "maybe the bus doesn't come here", though actually it probably does go there.  So I rushed over to the MRT station, which was Bras Basah, got on a train.  Then I heard the announcement for the next station had a sudden feeling I'd gotten on the wrong direction of the line, so I got off at the next station and switched platform.  All good, right?

But the thing was, I didn't know where I should get off! I thought it would be best to try to get somewhere I knew.  But then it stopped at a place called Buona Vista Interchange and I thought I had seen it written on the bus sheet near my place.  So I hiked in the rain out of the station, across the road and down the road to a bus stop to find that none of the buses I wanted were going where I wanted to go.  So I hopped back on the MRT and got to Holland Village.  The MRT station had three exits for different bus stops.  Some how, I picked the correct one and hiked a bit up a hill in the rain to catch a bus and it was all good.  But I was a few minutes late for dinner.

The moral of the story is that if you run out of water and are thirsty, you will be a bad decision maker when in a rush and not be very orientated.

Also, at the end of that day, I was feeling no desire to go out ever again or explore ever again.  Also, I felt that it might be an idea to study a map before going out, but also that I should not need to do that since I had learned the whole of Singapore.