School's in Singapore start their holiday period next week, and yesterday we had double the amount of schools on that we usually do, because today (Friday) is also Teacher's Day! Unlike in Korea where Teacher's Day meant that school children would bring their favourite teacher a present, the reward for the hard working educational staff was half a day off instead.
A little anecdote I forgot to mention yesterday that you may be interested to hear.....
James and I went to Sembawang School yesterday where he does coaching on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. We usually visit for dinner, but in the morning James wanted to go and ask one of the teachers about being able to use the gym facilities that are contained within the premises.
We found the teacher we needed at the front area of the school, but he seemed a little pre-occupied by informing some students that it was their duty to "give him five laps of the playground". I presumed this must have been some kind of PE lesson until I noticed that there were a pile of school bags sitting in front of him, and that all the kids were attired in their school uniform.
It turns out that 'doing laps' is actually a form of punishment for children who are late for school here. Depending on how late their are dictates the number of laps they are required to do. Even at 9am, I wouldn't fancy running at least 800m with the temperatures here, let alone in my school uniform, but then again, perhaps you're not late again after being forced to sit and sweat for the rest of the day.
Anyway, due to Teacher's Day, we had no work this morning which gave James and opportunity to fill a request I had asked about for a while which was going over into Johor Baru. Avid followers of my blog will recognize the name of the Malaysia town I mentioned yesterday when I took a trip to Sembawang Park.
We actually had some errands to run Malaysia, but it gave me a great chance to get across the border and see how different (if at all) these two countries are.
Setting off from a stop just across the road, we boarded a bus bound for Malaysia.
Sembawang is about North-North-East of Singapore and the causeway, as it is known, between the two countries runs from the North, so we had a short journey to get there.
Although there are still some tensions between the two countries, going from Singapore into Malaysia is very easy.
Returning the other way is a little tougher, due to you having to fill in an immigration form if you are not a permanent resident.
Despite the close proximity of the two countries, there are many differences between the two. On the causeway there is a point in the middle where you officially cross the border. At one time you used to be able to make the journey between the two islands on foot, but they moved the immigration department from the middle of the causeway to the start at the Singapore end, meaning an end to photographic opportunities in the no-man's land between both states.
Almost immediately you can see the change between the two places. Having experienced it myself, there are no changes when you cross the border from England to Scotland, but going between these two Asian countries is a touch different. After crossing between and getting my passport stamped (something I'm very much in favour of), you walk up through a shopping area and out into Johor Baru.
As far as I could tell you might as well have stepped from Earth onto Mars, because there were noticeable changes in terms of the people and the surroundings. Malaysia has a strong influx of Indian culture, stronger than in Singapore, and that was evident straight away from the number of restaurants and vendors that were around.
Unlike the clean streets that meet you in Singapore, there was a more 'working class feel' to Malaysia. Roads were being repaired, traders were trying to sell to passers by, and traffic was fighting its way through the crowded streets. It was a bit of a culture shock having spent so much time in Singapore (which ironically is a culture shock from the UK) but it didn't intimidate me despite quite clearly being a foreigner.
James had some jobs to do so I went for a little walk to take in my surroundings. If I'm not mistaken, overhead cables are illegal in Singapore, and they must have been making up for it in Malaysia as there were so many around the place it was almost unbelievable.
This is the 'real' Asia though - busy, bustling, gritty. The surroundings were unfamiliar and the language was different, but all around is people were going about their business. It was actually a public holiday today, Malaysian independence day, but from the number of people, and traffic milling about you wouldn't know.
We went for dinner in a 'traditional' Indian restaurant, which started the path up to a temple at the summit. Johor Baru isn't a big place, but it still has it's fair share of experiences to be shared with visitors. The restaurant we dined at was rather large, and with plenty of chat going on around us, I didn't pick up on the unique experience I was doing to have.
It was a strange sensation to be chowing down without cutlery, and I don't think it will catch on in this country, but it works! The trick is to pick up the food with your finger tips and then pass the food into your mouth with your thumbs. Theoretically you aren't supposed to get food on the palms of your hands, but perhaps I failed that test!
I spent most of the rest of the afternoon carrying on with work, but for dinner I finally decided to have a change from rice and ordered some chips at the Japanese restaurant I went to.
I also had something from my time in Korea called Takoyaki. It is basically like a dough ball with a choice of fillings. The choice was a no-brainier between cheese and ham or octopus.....
Tomorrow it will be back to coaching in the morning, and then hopefully a spare Saturday afternoon to explore some more of the Lion Country.
Why must I be surrounded by frickin' idiots?
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