Beer of the Tiger (sorry…bad pun)
(Clutching a tiger beer between New Bridge and Mosque Street: Singapore)
We arrived in Singapore by air early yesterday morning, around 5.30am – mercifully we will suffer no jet lag, although China and Singapore have several countries between them, they occupy the same time zone. I’ve never been so close to the equator before, so the climate is far from the sub zero wind chills of Suzhou at present. This best illustrates Singapore’s proximity to the equator – it sits directly south of Thailand, one degree above the red line. (http://www.easypedia.gr/el/images/shared/f/f8/World_map_with_equator.jpg)
We squeezed a lot into one morning with a saunter through the botanical gardens with Ying’s father as tour guide, three breakfasts and a final trip to the supermarket before lunch (just like a last minute Christmas eve dash for double cream or brandy).
In the late evening, Ying’s parents drove us to Chinatown so we could experience an authentically Chinese New Year street celebration and the setting off of firecrackers. It was an event of similar ilk to a British New Year in that crowds develop from early evening around the site and grow more dense and chaotic the closer time draws to the firecrackers and lion dances. As I mentioned before, fireworks and firecrackers are banned in Singapore so I was promised only a few firecrackers (presumably under a special government licence. The anticipation developing over two hours was quite difficult to handle, especially as we’d found such a good front row spot, we didn’t move. I noted that we had a prime view of the enormous hanging firecrackers so I was satisfied, but it transpired I was the only one of us to notice. Ying and his parents speculated on the likelihood of us being able to see them at all and were aghast when I pointed them out directly in front of us. During the wait it occurred to me that a bottle of Singapore’s trademark Tiger beer to welcome in the Chinese New year of the Tiger in Singapore would be quite poetic. I rushed to a nearby restaurant to procure my celebratory beverage and we shared it amongst our party of four.
When finally midnight crept up on us, I was so tense with excitement that I thought I might explode, we were now held against the barrier and there were squares of light visible from everyone’s cameras. The talk, the hush, the countdown… then the firecrackers. They were so loud, I thought my ears would tear. We had a perfect view of them and bore the brunt of the immense din which carried on for what felt like a full few minutes. Then, the biggest surprise – fireworks! Admittedly, in retrospect they we the poorest display I have ever seen, but because of my unbearable anticipation, I was whooping for absolute joy at the light and noise, its intensity rendered all actual thought completely impossible.
Afterwards, but also during the wait, I felt a wave of immense gratitude and pity for Ying and especially his parents; we had been standing in the same spot for two hours to ready ourselves for the countdown to New Year, I imagine entirely for my benefit. Ying’s mother has never seen the street party or the firecrackers, so at least it was not a wasted trip.
