Singapore Day, Melbourne 08

Imagine this conversation between 2 Ah Bengs in Singapore:

Beng A: Wah! Read this headlines: "Thousands of Singaporeans get an enviable treat today - free food, free goodies and free entertainment."
Beng B: Where got such good things in Singapore.
Beng A: Got!
Beng B: Really meh? Where? Let's go leh.
Beng A: Melbourne.
Beng B: Kanasai.*

Singapore Day - held annually in different major cities with significant Overseas Singaporean communities and organised by the Overseas Singaporeans Unit (OSU) for Overseas Singaporeans. Last year, it was held in New York. This year it is held in Melbourne, at Sidney Myer Music Bowl today.

We had registered ourselves on the website but only made a last minute decision at breakfast today to go for it. The whole family, including my in-laws who were visiting from Singapore, drove to the Sunshine train station where we parked and took a train ride to the Flinders Street Station. This is an opportunity for them and KK to experience taking the train for the first time here.

It was a cloudless and sunny day as we took a stroll from the Flinders Street Station, through Alexandre Gardens to our destination. We were initially unsure where exactly Sidney Myer Music Bowl was but guess what, I suddenly smelt the familiar fragrance of chicken rice. I knew we were not far!

The venue is on top of a hill and from the bottom, we can see a lot of people thronging around but we had no idea the extent of the crowd till we reached the main entrance. Are there that many Singaporeans living in Melbourne? There was a bloody long queue just to get in! Queuing seems to be a characteristic of Singaporean events....sigh.

Luckily, a volunteer was ushering a family with kids to a hidden 'side' entrance then and I managed to realise that they have an 'express' entrance for families with kids. How nice and considerate of the organisers to think about us parents with impatient kids..... but so discreet.

Inside, it was another massive jam...this time, queuing for the goodie bags. There was someone to give you a chop on your hand and you show this to get the goodie. "Only one per family," stressed every volunteer along that line. Down the line, you pick up a cap and some drinks. The person who gave out the cap actually asked if you're gonna wear it now. You can only get it if you're gonna wear it. Ok, so I asked for one more, since we forgot our caps, Hubby's gonna need one too. No, one per family. But we're gonna wear it! Sorry, that's the rule. So many rules and pretty strange rules, if you ask me. A small voice inside my head replied: What do you expect from Singapore organisers?

The food stalls and its queues

Well, I didn't expect all the food there to be free, to be honest. I'm skeptical, like 'Ah Beng B' - 'Singapore where got so good one?' But I was wrong and there was quite a wide selection too. All the local favourites were there - Satay, Ice Kachang, Chendol, Bak Chor Mee, Bak Kut Teh, Mee Siam, Mee Soto, Roti Prata, Laska, Nasi Briyani, Kaya Toast, Hokkien Mee, Char Kway Teow, Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak and Chilli Crab!! I realised then that Singapore's real identity is in our food culture. All these local favourites which Singaporeans consume everyday are what makes Singapore unique. I kind of miss Singapore when I see all these food.

Admire the Melbourne city skyline while you queue

The queue for food, though also uniquely Singaporean, was the major put-off. All these food stalls were divided into 4 areas and people queued for almost 40-45 mins each just to get one dish of food. If you want another dish, even from the same area, you're supposed to rejoin the queue. But the portion, it was so tiny, it's more like a sampler. One bowl of mee siam could be finished in 3 mouths. KK only eats the Roti Prata and he couldn't be filled even after queuing 3 times. One portion was half a prata and it was made pretty thin too... :(

Thankfully, the cool weather and the volunteers' politeness kept everybody's patience and I didn't see any 'ugly Singaporeans blowing their top' kind of behaviour. I would suggest to the organisers in future, once a person reaches the end of the queue, they be allowed to visit all the stalls and take as much food as they like from that area. This way, they will not be forced to queue again as his stomach couldn't be filled the first time. As a result, the queue also would not be so long. Also, give the poor Mee Siam auntie a bigger ladle for the mee siam sauce. At 3 scoops per bowl X 'I don't know how many' hundred bowls she served, I think she probably got an aching arm that night.

PCK entertaining the audience with his Singlish

Phua Chu Kang was there and so was DPM Wong Kan Seng. Hubby and my Father-in-law actually shook his hand when they were queuing for food. I joked to my FIL that he has to come all the way here in Melbourne to meet our DPM.

Some of the goodies

That's about how we spent our time, queuing here and there for food and goodies, having a nice picnic on the picnic mat they gave us in the goodie bag. There were even goodies to bring home too, like sponsored Yeo's products - Kaya, Nasi Goreng mix, some Myojo instant noodles, 2 Singapore story books. Earlier there were some heavy Singaporean themed t-shirts but they were all given out by the time we went there. I thought they were very well-designed except for the Singapore flag on the back... ;-p We left at about 3 o'clock. XX fell asleep in his stroller as we pushed him to take a tram back to Flinders Street.

Overall, I enjoyed my day and can appreciate the organisers' efforts and attempt to bring overseas Singaporeans closer to home. Tonight, there's daylight savings at 2.00am. When we wake up tomorrow, Melbourne will be 1 more hour further away from Singapore.

*kanasai - NOT a Japanese word, it's a Hokkien phrase, very difficult for me to explain, except that it's a crude word you use to express disgust or unhappiness.