Lifestyle
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4) Have a Singaporean Food Festival
Gather up some friends and task each person to go find the best Singaporean food that they know. After all, not only is eating a national past time, nothing quite gets a conversation going as an argument about where the best chicken rice can be found. You can then go on a gastronomic food trip around the island, or da pao everything to someone’s house for a good National Day Lunch. Remember though, Singaporean food only – none of that fancy foreign stuff (p.s. Singapore noodles, whatever that is, does not count as Singapore food). For bonus points, you can do the Great Singapore Workout after Great Singapore eating.
5) Go back in time
For history buffs, a particularly rewarding activity can be to check up on how Singapore got here. Skip the more common things that we all know, such as the merger and separation etc, and instead go check out the really obscure aspects of Singapore history. Things such as – how was Singapore run in the early days as a British Colony? How did various roads get their names? Why on earth is our $1 coin in such an odd shape? Why is there a Shinto shrine in the middle of Mac Ritchie Reservoir?
6) Have a Singapore themed cosplay party
Cosplay is essentially fancy dress. Write down prominent Singaporean figures and have people draw them at random – everyone will then have to show up at the party dressed as the figure assigned to them. Don’t stick with safe choices like Sir Stamford Raffles – go crazy and add in the Merlion, Phua Chu Kang, and Sharity the Charity Elephant. As an even bigger bonus – you can merge this idea with the Singaporean Food Festival, and thereafter, do the Great Singapore Workout dressed as the Haze and/or the Singapore Youth Olympic Games mascot.
7) Be a tourist in your own country
Many a time, we meet tourists who are just in love with Singapore. Usually we think that these people have to be crazy – after all who can be so smitten with an overcrowded island?! Well, why not find out? Grab your cameras, backpacks and other tourist necessities and do all that silly stuff that tourist do. Ride on Ducktours, visit the Singapore Zoo or the Night Safari, or walk around Chinatown in the blazing hot afternoon and snap a picture of 1 Upper Pickering (yes, we have become a bizarre attraction)! Bonus points if you wear sandals with socks.
8) Go to Zouk
When friends visit from overseas, a visit to Zouk on a Wednesday night is almost mandatory. Mambo Jambo has been practically a rite of passage for anyone who has gone clubbing. Views are generally mixed, ranging from bewilderment that synchronized line-dancing is such a big deal, to religious fervour and memorisation of all the dance moves. If you once were a Mambo regular, and have been distraught over its discontinuation, you will definitely be pleased to know that there is going to be a Mambo Jambo countdown to National Day on 8 August 2013, in the main Zouk hall. In fact, why not bring the cosplay Singapore party to Zouk? Everyone wants to see the Courtesy Lion busting out those moves to Rick Astley. Just don’t hog the podium.
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