A Buddha Temple, Cocoon Space and a Weird Dessert
Ryan Breuer | 3D Animation Student at the University of Colorado Denver May 29, 2019
Singapore Fact of the Day: Between the hours of 6:30 and 8:30 pm, hundreds of birds flock to Orchard road and cause a lot of noise. Singapore is located right in the middle of the Eat Asian-Australasian Flyway, which is the migrating path of thousands of birds. Singapore is the essential stop for the birds to "refuel" and munch on leftover food. However, their presence ushers in a rainstorm of poop from above. Executive Director or the Orchard Road Business Association, Steven Goh, has spent a lot of resources to try and maintain the streets cleanliness. For example, up to 800 gallons of water every night is used to pressure wash the street and rid it of the bird poop. The more you know!
Today we got to visit Cocoon Space for our studio visit. Cocoon Space is a coworking space that aims to bring different minds from different fields together to collaborate on new technology and innovations in the fashion and design industries. Their space was full of beautiful meeting rooms, lounges, and sewing and working spaces with cool and updated technology. While this wasn't my field of expertise, it was neat to see that there are people and groups that aim to look at the bigger picture of technology and collaboration for a greater common interest for the betterment of their industry.
Cocoon space was located in the heart of Orchard Street, which is the biggest and most popular retail district in the country. We got to explore the area a bit after our trip to Cocoon Space. Their studio had a beautiful garden balcony which overlooked some of the buildings, too!
After our look around Orchard Road, we went to the Buddha Tooth Temple. While I didn't get to see the famous "Buddha tooth" the place was named after, it was incredibly beautiful. The first floor interior had gorgeous designs, and many Buddha statues for worshippers to pray at. I didn't take many photos inside to respect the praying, but I got to outside. There was also a very beautiful garden on the top floor.
I also caught this really beautiful view of the city on my way over to the temple. China Town was very neat, and I really hope I get to come back before I leave!
After that our day was pretty uneventful. I did laundry at the local laundromat, which has always been an excuse to go to the hawker centre nearby with some amazing burgers. The place is called Bergs, and it is completely Halal friendly, meaning Muslims are able to eat the food per required of their dietary restrictions. Just like the Jewish culture (Kosher food), Muslims follow a strict way of eating (Halal), and hawker centres across the country are very mindful of which kinds of food are Halal or non-Halal. There's usually a Muslim "section" of each centre dedicated to Halal food, and they even ask everyone eating there to separate their trays based on Halal or non-Halal foods they ate. It's just more proof how much everyone in Singapore cares and respects everyone's beliefs and religions here.
For dessert we had the weirdest thing ever...fried bananas with Nutella....and cheese. Somehow this is super popular here. And surprisingly, it wasn't that bad.
Read more about Ryan's time in Singapore, here.