So every year Singapore holds 'Singapore Day' an event for Singaporeans and their families in different cities in the world which hold a significant Singaporean community. This year it happened to be in London! The event is free and exclusively for Singaporean residents or citizens. Some might argue that it's racist/not inclusive and maybe there is some truth to that depending on how you look at things. It's an event not designed to showcase Singapore's culture but rather more as a reminder of what people are missing back home, with many food stalls, information on property, work and education opportunities. My friends told me they saw it as an event to encourage them to come back to Singapore so that the city-state wouldn't lose its skilled workers overseas. Nationalist or innocent free fun-filled event? Up to you to decide...
Anyway, so how did non-Singaporean me get to go?
Well, the person I'm currently seeing as well as a close friend of mine are both from Singapore! And each Singaporean is allowed to bring a friend (or family as well). Since my parents live in London, I offered my house as a place to stay for the weekend and off we went, on a sunny day, from Sheffield to London by train.
I'm going to be honest, I wasn't that interested in the Singaporean entertainers and didn't really have a clue (or care) when the Prime Minister supposedly appeared. Neither did I care much for the stalls which gave information about schools, work, national service or housing. What I did care about however was.. the food!
See, one of the highlights (in my opinion) of Singapore Day is the fact that there is free food. How can one say no to free food? Yes, the queues were mighty long but did I mention that it was free? (All this freeness might explain the hefty price tag for the day which has garnered criticism back in Singapore..)
I was able to try laksa and hokkien mee which were both so so delicious. I've never really had the opportunity to try Singaporean food before so I was really pleased. It's a happy fusion of Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisine :) I'm currently planning a trip to Singapore and Malaysia in the Summer so this only helped fuel my excitement for it even more...
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