Last week Carl and I spent a few days in and around Yogyakarta (a city in Indonesia, on the island of Java), inspired by S$25 tickets on TigerAir. The big draw was Borobudur, a massive and impressively ornate nine-tiered Buddhist temple that was built around the ninth century (and restored in the twentieth). It was quite a sight to see, and we were lucky to stay at a hotel that could arrange for pre-dawn entry. After catching the sunrise from the top, we walked around each of the levels to take in the reliefs — amazing scenes of heavenly and earthly realms.
Also near Yogya is the Prambanan Hindu temple complex, which in its way is quite as impressive as Borobudur. After our visit we stayed to see the Ramayana Ballet that plays in a nearby outdoor theatre. That Rama was a real piece of work, let me tell you — the epitome of manly virtue, and of masculinist purity obsession.
Some of my favorite photos from our trip are below; the entire Flickr set is here. Perhaps Carl will favor us soon with musings on his first encounter with kopi luwak?
— sarah.
A friend of a friend is coming in July for two days and is looking for things to do. Here is what I told them:
(you can follow along at this Google Map.)
Singapore is the world leader into two things:
1) public infrastructure
2) eating
Let’s talk about infrastructure: your first exposure to this will be Changi airport. Make sure you don’t have gum or cigarettes. Make sure you see a bathroom there and have six months of passport validity left.
Your second exposure is likely to be the ridiculously cheap taxis. Don’t tip and don’t look too surprised when your cab fare to downtown costs about as much as a good beer.
Your third will be the mass transit system. It is the best subway system in the word bar none. I’d pay the ~$5 Sing deposit + $10 in value for a contactless payment card for navigating the transit system. This will get you on any bus and subway. If you’re only here for two days it might not be the most economical way to travel, but it will be the most fun.
But, these are only the beginnings of the incredible infrastructure available here. To really get a taste, spend an evening walking the southern ridges. This is an linked network of walking trails connecting the National University of Singapore (NUS) to the Vivo-City mall (harborfront MRT). Most people can do the walk in about 2-3 hrs and I suggest starting at about 5pm at S. Buona Vista Rd (take a bus south from the Buona Vista MRT station) and walking East towards downtown. http://gothere.sg/ will help you work out bus/transit.
This puts you at Vivo city at dusk/just dark and there are many delicious restaurants there. (when I do this walk, I like to finish at Brotzeit a german brew-pub/restaruant.)
The walk highlights some amazing public infrastructure, tree top paths, views of the harbor (and concominant infrastructure pr0n), amazing pedestrian bridges, beautiful public gardens, spooky over-secure ‘grain storage’ buildings and shows what can be down when you run a very profitable corporate state that doesn’t need to get public approval to get stuff done.
Another amazing piece of singapore infrastructure is the public housing built by HDB. I haven’t been but would like to go to the HDB gallery which which traces the development of singapore public housing (they built something like 90% of the housing here).
http://sparklette.net/archives/singapore-housing-past-present-future-at-the-hdb-gallery/
The nearby Singapore Gallery has a giant model of the entire country which looks like fun: http://www.ura.gov.sg/gallery/
So that is infrastructure.
Singaporeans don’t particularly notice their infrastruture, they care about food and shopping. I’m not particularly interested in shopping, but Orchard Road is quite a spectacle. To get a taste, a pilgramage to Takashimaya (huge japanese dept store in the middle of orchard road) and you’ll get a taste of what a rich country focused on shopping can build.
But, let’s not talk about shopping. Let’s talk about food. Singapore has the best food in the world. First world infrastructure and hygene + melting pot of every major eastern culture + highly competitive and free market environment == eating nirvana. The best way to experience it is at the hawker centers. These are typically huge buildings dedicated to housing one hundred or more ~3m wide stalls. Each stall is provided with water, gas, electricity and they all compete on quality.
Skip Newton Circus (tourist oriented) and find the ones frequented by locals; there are many good ones. I had a fantastic lunch recently at the hawker center near the Tanjong Pagar MRT station (Amoy Street). I love our neighborhood hawker center at bukit timah plaza, but I wouldn’t make the bus trip just for that one. I might make a trip out to the East Coast Park to eat at the sea food center out there.
My usual lunch at a hawker center costs $4 US or less. A crazy dinner at an open air restaurant might cost $12/person. (remember to order the small size of dishes, the larges are huge). I usually walk around and see what looks good or has the longest lines. Self Service stalls want you to hang around and take the food to your table yourself, the rest will deliver the food to your table and expect payment in cash right then. You’ll get your drinks from a seperate stall, I usually get a lime juice or a cane juice. (The cane juice will be squeezed in front of your eyes).
For breakfast, walk out of your hotel, find an open air restaurant and try not to be to boggled at the breakfast options. Toast is usually pretty elaborate and tasty. The local coffee is sweet and creamy. If you order carrot cake, be advised that it is not cake and contains no carrots. I like it dark and it is a delicious and usually vegetarian main.
There are wonderful ethnic restaurants in china town, little india and little arab, but you’ll have to defer to a better local expert than me or just wander into the neighborhood and see where your nose leads you.
you can reach me at +65 8315-6095, +1 206 855-6702 and carl@coryellmartin.org.
Our address in Singapore is 3 Jalan Anak Bukit, Singapore 588998.
—Carl
At the bottom of my Notice of Tax Assessment from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore:
“Thank you for your contribution towards nation building.”
![On our last evening, we went to the famous Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan. The show is perforned in the evening, in an outdoor theatre with the Prambanan temples rising behind the stage. The night we were there, it was packed with Indonesian schoolkids. … ramayana ballet 3 [rama] (via sarah1rene)](http://2.media.tumblr.com/P6BlrHlO3ociuqutJU9myOIjo1_400.jpg)
