Welcome to Singapore (6-9 Oct, 2017)

I went to Singapore in October not only because of the Lindy hop event, but I also would like to visit several people that I met in the US. This made me feel that this plane ride was worthwhile. Before leaving Hong Kong, my Singaporean friend, Mun-Thye, told me this in the same tone:

The Airports

This was the first time that I had a Priority Pass, which allowed me to visit some airport lounges around the world. I used to pass in the Hong Kong airport, and found all the food and services they had inside. I also met Phillipe, who is the organizer of Hong Kong Swing, in the lounge. We found that we were on the same flight to the Lindy event in Singapore.

The flight by Singapore Airlines was a typical flight. Once I got off the plane, the butterfly garden was there. I read that Singapore Changi Airport has a lot of nice places to visit. The butterfly garden is one of them. The garden has two floors, and butterflies are flying around. For geocachers, the airport geocache for Singapore is within this garden.

I also located the free movie theater, but I would rather spend my time in the airport for something else. I also went into another lounge to try their food.

Lounge has free wifi inside. A code was given for the access of the lounge wifi. Outside the lounge, the airport has a few spots where one can scan the passport to get the password for one-hour wifi access.

I also found this pedaling phone charger. Nice exercise machine, although my phone was charged slowly with this.

The baggage claim area is pretty.

After going through the customs, I took the MRT (the subway system in Singapore) to the city center, which was very similar to Hong Kong.

Changi Airport MRT station. Singapore is the first city to use platform screen doors, so people cannot jump to the platform for whatever reasons.

Singapore's MRT system is getting more complicated, and more lines are still being built

Singapore has 4 official languages: English, Chinese (written in simplified form), Malay, and Tamil

My hostel was in Chinatown, which had wifi and free breakfast. For 3 nights, it costs a total of ~ 80 SGD, which was not expensive at all.

During my stay every night, many Indians were near a temple with some ceremonies. It was later found out that it might be the preparation for Deepavali (called Diwali in the US, the festival of lights). It seems to a couple of weeks too early, though.

The Indian temple in Chinatown that had ceremonies every night in my duration of stay

The Itinerary

Saturday: NUS -> Harbourfront -> Sentosa -> Singapura -> Chinatown

On Saturday, Mun-Thye, Boon Chong, I, and later Kenneth gathered at a food center in Clementi for food. After that, Boon Chong brought us to the National University of Singapore (NUS) and toured around. Since he worked there, he also brought us into his lab, discovering different chemical and biological instruments. The University looked huge, but MT explained that the size is a deception because the campus is hilly, making viewing of the entire campus impossible.

BC went back to work in his lab, so MT and Kenneth brought me to Harbourfront that has a large shopping mall, VivoCity. We got a bit more food there. Then, MT also left. Kenneth brought me to walk to Sentosa. It was once an island, with some World War II rumors. Now it was a tourist area, and a boardwalk allowed the people to cross the island on foot.

Rain got heavy and thunder was nearby. Kenneth showed me the Universal Studio, and an underground casino that the local cannot enter unless 100 SGD is paid. Because of the rain, we walked back to the Harbourfront. The whole way was sheltered.

We took MRT to Dhoby Ghaut, where the shopping mall Singapura was located. He would like to buy something there, but he also showed me some Singaporean style food. Concerning the MRT station, it has 3 lines connecting to this station, and the network of escalators look complicated.

In the evening, I returned to Chinatown and got some food in a food center nearby.

Sunday: Mount Farber Park ->Pasir Panjang -> Fort Canning Park -> City Hall Area -> The Merlion

MT and I met at Harbourfront MRT station. After breakfast, we did a hike in the morning, walking across several hills. Along the hike, we talked about the apartments in Singapore, the relationship of people of different races in Singapore, the transportation, and so on. Since we met because of geocaching, we geocache in Singapore, too.

Although Singapore does not have tall mountains, some areas are still hilly, and there are some national parks near the city for short hikes.

We walked through the cable car station that can be used to get to Sentosa. It costs something like 20 - 30 SGD. We moved on.

This is the Henderson Bridge, which crosses a road 50 - 60 m above.

A garden on a hill.

There are many elevated passageways.

The short hike passed through several parks.

We went into a building that talked about the history of Japanese invasion in Singapore. It seems that this history is quite similar to what happened in Hong Kong (for 3 years and 8 months, e.g.). After visiting the museum, heavy rain and thunder came. It seemed to me that Singapore rains every day for a couple of hours. We waited until the rain got less heavy. Then, we went to a burger place that MT liked.

He was too tired to walk in the afternoon, so I walked around the city center. I went to the Fort Canning Park and found those historic defense structures:

There was a secret passage for defenders to escape.

... and a very tall tree!

Then, I walked to the Merlion. Along the way, there were many pretty buildings. I think I was in the City Hall area. I wished I had more time to look into these buildings more, but I only took a few photos.

Then, I finally got to the Merlion. It was dark already. Across the water, that landmark hotel in Marine Bay shot strong lights around.

Monday: The two gardens - Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Garden by the Bay

In the morning, after having a nice breakfast and waiting for a disappointing line for gift food, I went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which is a huge park. Admission is free, but the area is so huge that I could spend a whole day here. Inside the tropical rain forest section of the park, there were some trees that will be extinct very soon, since there was no pollinator for this tree. At the medicine section, plants are classified by its use. A long walk in this park is satisfying.

There is also an orchid garden, but one needs to pay to get in.

Then, I went to the Garden by the Bay, which is a garden more targeted to the tourists. Several places require payment to enter, but there are still some areas that do not need payment to access. This garden is also next to this landmark hotel in Marina Bay. I spent some time walking inside. There were more shops.

Marina Bay Sands - the iconic hotel in Singapore

The Food

I was amazed with the price of low-cost food in Singapore. There seems to be many food centers scattering around Singapore. Many hawker food stores are inside these food centers, serving food such as laksa, Hainan chicken rice, bak kut teh (meat bone soup), oyster omlette, mee (a kind of Muslim noodle dish), and biryani rice. Singapore is a multi-cultural city, and food can be in Chinese, Indian, and Muslim style. For a bowl of laksa, it only costs 3 SGD (~2.2 USD, or 17 HKD)! The pictures below were taken in a food center in Clementi.

In another morning, MT and I went to a food center near Vivocity in Harbourfront. The price of food is similarly inexpensive. We had prata, an Indian food in Singapore style, as breakfast, for 2 SGD, and add a drink for ~ 1 SGD. Here, I learned that it is important to not mix the cutlery between Halal and non-Halal foods. Trays have two kinds of colors for these two kind of foods, and the trays are returned at different areas.

One evening, I went to the Maxwell Food Center near Chinatown and ordered the Muslim-style mee and a drink of Sandung (a mixture of syrup and milk). Once again, they cost a total of < 4 SGD.

There are several drinks in Singapore that are common but unique. Besides Bandung, there are many kinds of milk tea (teh-something). Besides, Milo is widespread in Singapore. One can even find Milo in McDonald's.

Chinatown also has a food center. These food centers are always sheltered due to daily thundershowers. However, Chinatown is in tourist area, so the food costs more.

One can also find a food center like this in Sentosa. The price is doubled from the typical food center, as expected in a touristy area.

From what I have heard, prices of food in Singapore depend on whether the place is air-conditioned or not. This can explain why McDonald's food is more expensive in Singapore (7-8 SGD, slightly more expensive than Hong Kong).

After a hiking trip, MT brought me to an air-conditioned burger place. The burger was excellent, and I liked the chocolate shake also, but it cost around 20 SGD total, similar to the price in Hong Kong.

I got another good Singaporean breakfast experience in another day. For ~ 6 - 7 SGD, I got a coffee drink (Kopi), 2 pieces of kaya toasts, and soft-boiled egg that I have not seen before. It has the characteristic of cooked, since the egg white turns from transparent to white. However, both the egg white and the yolk are runny. Eating soft-boiled egg is like eating a soup.

Ya Kun Kaya Toast, the famous place for the kaya toast breakfast

There is a one-star Michellin restaurant in Chinatown that serves inexpensive soy sauce chicken rice/ noodle. I went there in the evening too late, so I went there again in the afternoon before heading back to the airport. For < 5 SGD, I got a chicken noodle that I was satisfied. I remembered that the chicken meat was not dried at all and was very easy to swallow.

All of the above food, with an exception of the burger place, was very affordable. This contrasted with the 2 bags of Irvin's fish skins that cost 30 SGD total, and it is highly likely that one cannot get them due to the high demand.

Irvin's in the airport, Terminal 2, departure side

Final thoughts

If I have to come to Singapore for some reasons, I will be happy to come again. I am amazed with the cheap and good food there. A win against Hong Kong.

I think I can also speak to my sister against coming to Singapore, by telling that there are a lot of lizards on buildings. When I found some geocaches, I almost unintentionally caught a few.

Report on Lindy Hop Event - 2017 Singapore Lindy Revolution

(Negative energy alert: if you want to read about something about dancing is fun, don't continue to read. Part of what I wrote here will probably not making someone happy.)

I could finally take 2 days of leave to go to Singapore, for the reasons of experiencing a Lindy Hop dance event, as well as meeting a list of people that I have not seen for a while. I was struggling whether I should go or not for a while. Adding the flight, the event with evening dance only, lodging, and other living expenses, I expected I would use ~5000 HKD (~ 620 USD) for the 4-day trip. With the two reasons above, I decided to go.

I only got a pass for only evening dances but not the workshops because: 1) the workshops cost extra, 2) the workshops focus more on solo dancing, which is the area that I do not have strong interest in (I may write about why I like the partner part of the lindy more than the solo part of the lindy later), and 3) I would like to leave more time to meet with the people that I have not seen for a while.

On Friday night, I could catch up a one-hour solo class before the evening dance. After doing it, my view of a solo dancing class was still the same:

"why should I follow this routine?"
"I will probably forget the routine after going home, making what I learned in this hour useless"
"I do lindy hop because there is something unique about this partner dancing. If I do solo, what not just learn other line dances instead? After all, all those other solo dances are more popular in HK."

So, I longed for more on the social dance part. After being in several lindy hop events in the US, I have an item checklist in my mind that I would try to accomplish:

1) Dance with people that I do not know, and try not to dance with people that I know.
2) Dance with at least one instructor.
3) If not too expensive, try the competition that was once called the "Jack and Jill" competition (competition with unknown partner, reasons that the lindy community would like to change the name of the competition can be found in this link). Someone probably knows that I am not interested in "Strictly" competition (competition with known partner) at all.

For Item 1), it was the easiest thing to do. Dancers came from places like Malaysia, Thailand, China, S Korea, and several others. The evening dances were well done. A band from Stockholm, Sweden was invited to play for all three nights. Barring from that music was repeated each night in different order, I think the band gave excellent music for people to dance with (I bet finding several bands overseas would be cost-prohibitive for me, so I would be generous on the issue of having the same band for 3 nights). The MC, Sinclair Ang from the local, was excellent! He even sang with the band for a few songs! With respect to the abilities of the follows, most of them are pretty good. The proportion was to a point that I was wondering whether there were any beginner-level people participating this event. There were still a couple of dancers that I found them to be beginners, but there were also a couple of dancers that I enjoyed the dance very much, and I thought their levels were beyond my reach (hey, didn't I write about this feeling before?).

Stockholm Swing All Star -- Excellent

For Item 2), it was a bit more difficult. There was not formally a queue to dance with the instructor, but it seemed to me that the instructors spent half of the time dancing with other instructors, and other time with more advanced dancers. Perhaps it was just an illusion when I was under some dance blues that weekend, and I probably should think that dancing with an instructor is a honored opportunity. In the end, I got a chance to dance with Caleb from New York during the weekend, and that was it. He actually came to Hong Kong for the social dance the week before, before going to Singapore, so I vaguely remembered his face. Thanks to the organizer, each instructor got to teach a group of us on a dance sequence on Friday night as a fun group competition. My group was with Alice Mei, a famous instructor from France. It was great to see the event organizer makes the event friendly.

For Item 3), I was often battling in my mind whether I should even do any competitions. I am not a dancer from the cream of the top, and I should not just compete for the others to tease at. However, the competition format that was called "Jack and Jill", and is now called in various ways such as "Luck of the Draw", "Mix and Match", etc., is fun. The dancers are judged by dancing with 3 different and random partners for the heat round. Years ago in swing classes, I was often encouraged to take part in competition. When I felt that my lindy hop improved in the last few years, I thought I should try participating novice competition, for fun for the most part and much less for the hope to win.

After participating the competition, however, I was concerned whether my own scene can support dancers that are not as advanced. It seemed to me that after the competition, these more advanced dancers stayed away from me.

Then, my thought went downward spiral: it seems to me that the more advanced dancers seemed to form their own circles, and danced with only these people. I thought about whether the more advanced dancers in my own scene can really support the newcomers.

With such negative but not fully substantiated thoughts, I was mentally burned out on the first night, as well as the subsequent nights, with respect to dancing. On Saturday morning, I really hoped that meeting old friends could balance out the negative feelings.

9/17/2017 Y2Y公園定向巡迴賽2017 – 第二站 暨 香港定向排名聯賽(短距離) - 禾輋、瀝源邨

(此文將會不斷更新，因為相片和影片整理需時)

9月17日，是2017定向排名聯賽(短距離)的最後一場。幾天前見到比賽地點在瀝源邨，我竟會上港台翻看70年代的「小時候」，原因是拍攝地點正是瀝源邨。而且，從上次看「小時候」知道，瀝源邨是沙田第一個公共屋邨。在70年代，城門河可能才剛剛填海填成一直線。「小時候」有很多沙田的歷史片段，所以我發少許夢，看看可否在賽區找到「小時候」的拍攝地點。

其實是有經過的，MO組5去6會經過，以下是例子一︰

所以，我懷著懷舊的心情跑這場排名賽。即使交通對我三頭不是岸(搭港鐡去沙田或火炭，或搭182巴士，都要走一大段路才到賽事中心)，我都對本賽事滿懷希望。而且還是Y2Y搞，心想Y2Y的主要人物許先生，經常被讚「必屬佳品」，所以應該好玩。

未走到賽事中心前，已收到遲15分鐘出發的消息。好，可以施施然地走。在賽事中心吹幾句水，再喝多一些水，就要走很遠的1.5 km到起點。不過，今天真的太熱。到了起點就想喝水，不過，周圍都無水，而且出發時間又遲多5分鐘。我走入最近的商場和球場，都沒有水機。只好回起點等。

今天又用SI-AIR指卡，心想「好了，打point不用停下」。這次指卡又沒有壞，好好享受SI-AIR的樂趣吧。

這是MO組的地圖︰

出發開頭還不錯，頭4個point都沒有多大問題，只是第三個point好似要指卡很近個point才算打point成功。

不過一到第5個point過橋後就出事了。那麼多路不准橫過，還有一條很重要的橋不准過。那只有轉左，然後過兩條橋。可是，過了一條橋就會進入商場。定向是不能進入深灰色的建築物的。所以，我要先下樓梯到地下，跑到另一條樓梯再上橋。在橋上想跑的時候，又有大批假日的人群。心想︰何必設計一條這樣的路線去誘人犯規呢？要捉，就要用很多人手去捉，因為有太多對犯規者有利的route choice了。

去6繼續用天橋。如果不是趕時間，就會經過多個「小時候」的拍攝地點。由6和7開始，不知為什麼打point不能用隔空形式，只能用插孔形式。預了自己不用減速，結果要停下打point。

到8，頂！又要跑過兩條橋的路線？很悶。接著，發覺越來越多point不能隔空打point。到第10個point時，我開始想橋下是否可以過呢(因為沒有紅色間線)？所以，我嘗試橋下過路，反正有安全過路處。結果，我不是在橋底過，犯規。

到最後幾個point已經沒有什麼心機去跑，經常擔心有沒有犯規，亦擔心指卡感應不到個point。在第14個point，指卡不只隔空打不到，連插孔都感應不到，插了我三次才有「嘟」聲。

結果，在跑了不少因要守規矩而冤枉的路下，用了27分鐘才完成。

以下是我head cam的video，試找出其他犯規之處。我想我起碼有兩處犯了規。

以下是我的路線︰

賽後，我相信一定有很多人討論。為什麼要誘人犯規？要人犯規，你們有人手去捉嗎？在這個賽區，因犯規所賺取的時間，實在太吸引了。

另外，為什麼那麼多point不能隔空打point？對一些plan定接著幾個point怎麼跑的人來說，不用減速來打point可以省時間。

有人又說，起點沒有賽員出發時間，沒有叫某出發時間的人入格。那麼，如果在起點不記得出發時間怎麼辦？賽事中心又離起點那麼遠。

結果，這場排名賽的成績除了最年輕那組外，全部取消。為什麼Y2Y今次賽事會搞成這樣呢？不是「必屬佳品」嗎？

其實，跑完並不是這麼不高興。能夠在這個有歷史的地方跑定向，是一個榮幸。只是，很多人對排名聯賽有一定的要求，所以會有那麼多人有意見。

Out-of-town dance report - Swing Canton Anniversary

On June 9 (Fri), 2017, I was with a group of swing dancers from Hong Kong to take a train to Guangzhou for a swing event - Swing Canton Anniversary. The train ride was about 2 hours. When I was a kid, taking a train for two hours was very long. After travelling in the US often, I feel that such trip is now not a big deal.

Once we got to the Guangzhou East Station, it was already past 9 pm. We lined up for taxi and went to our places to stay first.

I was with 3 other guys - Toby, John Lie, and Angus, living in an interesting service apartment. The place is a typical multi-floor apartment building. However, since there are often rooms in the apartment that are not sold, there is a kind of business of renting these empty rooms for travelers. Our plan were to have 2 people per room. Each room has 2 beds. In reality, there were 3 beds in one room, and the place was large. The rent was inexpensive. It was ~ RMB250 per person per day.

When we got to the dance venue, it was already 11 pm. The distance between the service apartment and the dance venue is quite long. The Jack & Jill competition (some may prefer the term "Mix & Match") was already started. I wish I could be early to participate, since I like this competition format the most. I am not very serious about the competition, but this competition format has some social aspect that I like. I probably do not know the partner, but we can introduce ourselves before we make the dance work. To maximize the worth of going outside to dance, I think it is important to dance with people that I do not know.

I stayed and watched the competition. The three guys that came with me decided to have dinner first, since we all did not have dinner before the train ride. I was hungry, too. However, I found snacks and drinks on the side of the dance floor, so I made use of them to maximize my dance time in Guangzhou. The mission of this trip was to dance, and not anything else.

The following video was taken during the Jack & Jill competition:

During the open dance between the heat and the final of the competition, I chose to dance with people that I did not meet before. It was great to see some HK dancers thought in the same way. At one point, I randomly met Yancy, who was one of the instructors in the HK swing scene. She immediately asked someone else to dance, and told me something that I should dance with other people. I was not only not offended, but I felt that should be the spirit of attending a foreign dance event!

While this event was organized as a weekend workshop format, most of the people from HK (including me) would not participate in the workshop. I was told that the workshop was tailored towards the beginners. Since workshop costs extra, I would just treat this event like a lindy exchange. Still, when there are instructors participating in a workshop, I would be happy to dance with them once.

This time, I met someone who seemed to be a pretty good dancer. We danced a song, and she seemed to like it a lot. Thus, we introduced to each other. When I heard that her name is Ari, I felt that I was honored, for I was dancing with one of the instructors in this workshop. I guess Simon and Ari are on the way to be famous in the world of swing dance professionals. They won the advanced strictly competition in the Camp Swing It 2017 in South Korea, and they seem to have a tour of instruction. They taught in the Swing Canton workshop. The week after, they also give a workshop in Hong Kong. Ari would like to dance one more song, so we danced one more.

Toby, John Lie, and Angus could watch the Jack & Jill final after their dinner. A few more songs later, however, the dance concluded and we needed to go to the late night dance venue, which was within walking distance from our service apartment. The venue is a bar. We danced till 3 am there. The organizer wished the dance could be longer, but bars in Guangzhou closes early.

On the next day, the Hong Kong swing people met at a dim sum place in the afternoon for brunch. As usual, people would be still sleeping in the morning. The food was not only good, but was also decorated well. This is something I seldom see in Hong Kong dim sum.

We four guys were then walking around. This is the Guangzhou Tower. I was just leading them to a geocache nearby.

In the afternoon, people split. Some would like to get massage, while others would like to go shopping. I just went back to sleep, since I wanted to spend as much time for dancing in Guangzhou as possible. Before taking a nap, I took a picture from where I stayed.

In the evening at 6 pm, we four guys went to a Sichuan restaurant for food. It was great that all four of us could eat things that are a bit spicy. Great restaurant choice!

The Saturday dance and late night dance were quite similar on Friday. There were strictly competitions. There were performances. There were a fast lindy competition that I thought about joining, but seeing that no Hong Kong people join, I held back and did not do it. This thought made me feel strange. Having a group to do things together is great, but having a group for everyone to conform to a standard is something that I have a feeling of concern.

This trip, I also met a person that I knew I have seen him before, but he probably did not know me. His name is Yulai.

I heard of his name before I left swing for a while in the US. In 2013, when I was with a group of swing dancers from the UIUC travelling to Purdue, I saw him often got into finals of the competitions, along with my UIUC fellows who became advanced dancers so quickly. I was amazed with what they could do, but I knew that I could not do yet. We did not formally talk. I thought that I was not inside that swing circle.

Now, I met him again in another country, but my thought about swing dancer was a bit different than 4 years ago. I felt that I could say hi to him, and he is actually pretty nice. Although we still did not talk too much (if he wants to know about the recent swing scene in Purdue, I could say a few things), I feel that we may still meet in the future, if I attend more swing events around Asia.

On Sunday, before I left Guangzhou. We four guys had a good lunch for many baos.

Then I went to the Guangzhou East Station alone. While waiting for a train, I found this booth for karaoke. Interesting.

Then, I took a fast train back to Shenzhen, and then back to Hong Kong.

After this trip, I got an experience on how I fit into a swing dance scene in Asia, and what possible issues that I may face.