It’s a pleasure to visit Singapore, especially these days.  The extremely rich cosmopolitan culture here means that there are always new things to see, products of the intense creativity of the artists who live here.  There are also a dizzying array of influences from around the world, and it’s long status as a major trading port has made it very open to new ideas and traditions.  It’s a great place to see new works of art, to enjoy excellent museums and fun attractions, and a great place to hear some great ghost stories.  While you’re here, getting a taste of the local culture, a Singapore food guide can certainly help you find the very best in local cooking.

The culinary traditions here are a mix of cultures, from Malay, to Chinese, to Indian, and beyond.  Singapore has a way of taking the very best of everything and creating something altogether new, and the results are absolutely delightful.  It’s very difficult to eat the same thing twice, because there is so much to choose from, and there’s always something new and tempting.  The combinations in the food are also reflected in other ways.  The local folktales and legends also come from a variety of places, and take on peculiar local features.  One of the spookiest figures in Singapore myth, surely, is the Pontianak.

This is a kind of local vampire, that has origins in stories from Malaysia, and the legends can be very chilling, or terrific fun, depending on your tastes.  The Poniatanak is the spirit of a woman who died during childbirth, and she returns in vampire form, with long black hair, and a white robe that goes below her feet, and she seeks revenge.  The are many different variations of the story, and some have the spirit of the child as her companion.  Either way, it’s good for some scary bedtime stories, and better not to meet one in person.  If you do, however, one good way to cure the spirit is to trim her hair and nails and insert them into the hole in the back of her neck.

Singapore Pontianak Stories is a post from: Five DC

Related posts:

1. An Indian Goddess in Singapore
2. Singapore Media Fiesta
3. The Singapore School System

Singapore is an amazing place to visit, and this island city state has some stunning things to offer world culture in general.  There are always new developments in art and technology wherever they’re practiced, due to the tenacity and ingenuity of artists and scientists from every culture, but Singapore seems to have been developing more rapidly than the rest of the world lately.  The new works in art and science are either a step ahead or at the cutting edges, making it an enormously exciting place to visit.  The fascinating history of the place is reflected in the blend of cultures, who do not always melt together, but often are effectively maintaining separate identities, and it’s an interesting thing to see.

It’s certainly reflected in the food as well as the art.  Some of the most fantastic recipes and tastes from around the world find their expression in the cultures that make up present-day Singapore.  In many of the culinary traditions of India, China, and Malay cultures, there are various kinds of vegetarianism, so it would make sense to see so many fantastic vegetarian restaurants here.  It’s perhaps a vegetarian paradise, where there’s never any lack for meatless options, and in some place, all the options are meatless.  Singapore’s interest in Chinese culture doesn’t end with the cuisine, of course, and there’s a splendid dialogue taking place between China and Singapore in the art world.

Beijing artist Lu Hao got his first solo museum exhibition in Southeast Asia recently, at the Singapore Art Museum.  This is a fantastic achievement for the artist, whose career has been rather spectacular already, with participation in the Sao Paulo Bienal, the Venice Bienalle, and Documenta.  Lu Hao has a fascinating body of work, with geometric structures that make comments on contemporary Beijing, as well as ink idioms and photorealism that make comments on social memory in an interesting time.  His work is playful, ironic, and enormously and joyfully complex, and it’s a pleasure to learn that he’s young enough to have many more artistic revolutions coming from his growing body of work.

Lu Hao in Singapore is a post from: Five DC

Related posts:

1. Singapore Pontianak Stories
2. Singapore Media Fiesta
3. An Indian Goddess in Singapore