‘Are you even Chinese?’ It’s a question I get asked – sometimes sneeringly – almost on a daily basis. Blame my mixed parentage or the fact that I can’t actually write my Chinese name without consulting my NRIC (oh, the shame!), but that has always struck me as a weird thing to ask someone, let alone on the first meeting. My preferred answer, in any case, is: ‘Nope. I’m Singaporean.’
I know, it sounds like a pithy excuse. Yet unlike my parents’ ethnicities, whose cultures and customs I only possess a fleeting knowledge of, being ‘Singaporean’ feels far more natural. You don’t have to teach me how to speak Singlish. You don’t have to explain to me how the word ‘revert’ is misused by locals (languages evolve – get over it, can?) And you certainly don’t have to tell me that there’s always a pot of great food at the end of a long queue. Always.
Besides Singlish, there’s much more about this city/island/ country/state/nation/what-have-you that I – and the rest of my team – are proud of. We’ve collected the best of Singapore, from chefs and hawkers to artists and photographers. We’ll stand up for all of them.
We may have been raving about hipster cafés all of last month, but we've moved on to traditional Chinese grub – with a hipster twist, that is. The next time you're planning on eating out, hit up these Chinese restaurants around town that are just as aesthetically pleasing as their menus. Cocktails with your dim sum, anyone?
And we hear you, plus-size shoppers. We know how frustrating and difficult it can get to find clothing that'll fit properly. So here's a list of boutiques that stock casual wear, lingerie and swimwear for the curvier among us.
Also, amid the hustle and bustle of city living, we slow things down to appreciate Singapore at its best by roaming the streets to photograph the city at its finest hour: dusk.
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