This morning I had to go to the National University of Singapore as I had to attend a couple of pre-conference meetings. The University is one of the magnificent achievements of this island republic and comprises a well-appointed modern campus with numerous faculties, schools, and departments. It is run on the British model and its graduates are well-regarded internationally. The Faculty of Medicine, where I am attending the conference and symposia is well-equipped and staffed and is associated with the nearby National University Hospital, a teaching hospital to which not only the locals, but people from many parts of Asia are attracted for quality health care and surgery.
The campus is quite pretty, the lush vegetation alternating with modern, comfortable buildings that are well-maintained and resourced. I think of the boons of being an academic is the contacts one makes world-wide and the feeling of collegiality and cordiality one enjoys when visiting other academic institutions in other parts of the world. My meetings progressed well and I was able to return to the hotel by early afternoon. Many of the tourist-associated activities, shops and facilities that are geared towards to the visitor have hours that reflect a holiday lifestyle (i.e. most shops open somewhere around 10:30 a.m. and close late).
In the afternoon we visited Chinatown. Tonight is the full moon and this marks the occasion of the Buddhist New Year. As we are approaching the new moon on February 7th, which is the Chinese New Year, the preparations for the festivities in Singapore will reach a climax. The Chinese calendar is basically lunar, its year consisting of 12 months of alternately 29 and 30 days, equal to 354 days, or approximately 12 full lunar cycles. Intercalary months have been inserted to keep the calendar year in step with the solar year of about 365 days. Months are referred to by number within a year and sometimes also by a series of 12 animal names that from ancient times have been attached to years and to hours of the day. These names in order are rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, fowl, dog, and pig. The Chinese year 4698 (which arrived on Feb. 5, 2000, by the Gregorian calendar) was the Year of the Dragon. 2007 was the year of the pig and 2008 begins the cycle once again with the year of the rat.
The streets and shops throughout Singapore are decorated with red festoons, lanterns, rows of red firecrackers, rows of artificial gold nuggets, peaches and mandarins, as well as other symbols of long life and prosperity. Traditional sweetmeats and other foods especially made for this time of the year are for sale everywhere and people are preparing for this springtime holiday (rather pointless in this land of eternal summer). We were rather shocked by the gift packs available for purchase in some of the shops. It is not a cheap undertaking! A so-called “platinum” gift pack containing special cakes, cookies, canned abalone, brandy, mandarins and other comestibles all packed in a leatherette box costs nearly $1,000 Singapore dollars (about $790 Australian dollars or $700 US dollars)!
In Chinatown there is the Temple of Budhha’s Tooth, a magnificent pagoda of many stories housing many a statue of the Buddha in a multitude of sizes and poses. On this occasion of the Buddhist New Year, the temple was full of people worshipping and praying, schoolchildren visiting and tourists thronging. Hundreds of red lanterns adorned the temple perimeter under its eaves and numerous floats with many a scene full of chubby children brought to mind the Buddha’s childhood. The market around the temple was full and noisy, a flurry of colours and a cacophony of sounds, jostling crowds and touting stall holders. Red, red, red everywhere red lanterns, red badges, red bunting and festoons, red decorations and streamers.
Traditional foods filled the market with great piles of pomelos (shaddocks, Citrus maxima), the largest of the citrus fruits, green and large as a volleyball. Mandarins, pumpkins and gourds, sweets of all kinds, cakes, biscuits and candies. Great bags of pumpkin seeds of varied colours, flavours and appearance, smoked ducks, pickled and cured meats, sausages and cans of abalone. The festive table need be full of fancy and expensive foods!
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