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2018 in Reflection (Part 2) - Civ6 mod & Singapore
7 years ago
General
Not much happened between May and July, but I did receive my Civ6 leader model and animation this summer from the amazing 
Kemonokun!
Click here for the image on FurAffinity
Click here for the animation on Youtube
Unfortunately I have, yet again, given up on trying to code the mod and get anything to work (the mod doesn't even seem to show in the leader screen for me to test...)
So, again, the mod is on hold now, especially with the expansion; Gathering Storm, is coming out in February and introduces lots of climate change mechanics, world congress and future era which may work well with my leader. (bonuses to Seasteads, Sea Walls and the World Congress) But that can wait until I've played around with the expansion and it's mechanics before looking back at my hopeless mod...
In other news...
For my second holiday of the year, I visited the wonderful and prosperous island city state of Singapore with my family. Just like Vancouver, Singapore is a big city that has a lot of greenery and diverse cultures; however instead of being cool and North American, it's very tropical and East Asian.
Here are my recommendations:
- The Gardens by the Bay is defiantly one of the two most iconic attractions in Singapore. The huge $1,035,000,000 garden is both beautiful and impressive. The garden features a lake, ponds, groves, sculptures, flowers and specific cultural gardens (such as the Colonial, Chinese and Indian Gardens to name a few). But the highlights are the Supertrees and the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest conservatories. The two conservatories may seem expensive to enter but are well worth the cost as the plants, trees, artwork and other displays are awe-inspiring. The cloud forest also boasts the tallest indoor waterfall; of which it seems small on the ground but if you go all the way up to the top of the mountain, you won't believe how high up it is. The Supertrees are tall colourful chimney stacks covered in flowers and solar panels on their top that help exhaust the fumes from the conservatories' cooling systems. At night the trees light up in bright lights accompanied by music for a fabulous performance (although be warned; until they finish the Gardens by the Bay MRT station in 2021 there is mad rush to the Bayfront station bottle necking up a tight set of stairs before going through the Marina Bay Sands - you might want to find an alternative route to the north or the south; but don't go direct or you might be stuck under some's foot.)
- The Marina Bay Sands was world's most expensive standalone casino property at $8 billion (SGD) when it opened up in 2010 and has been one of the most iconic buildings in the world and probably the most famous infinity pool which a lot of people do not know the name of. I was brave enough to pay for a 3 course lunch for 4 at Cé La Vi restaurant on top, it did cost me about £300 including drinks... but I think it was worth it; it was certainly a one off experience I enjoyed. The building it's self is remarkably beautiful and the endless floors of shops and the gondolas floating on the bottom in doors.
- As a big current/modern F1 one of my highlights was visiting the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The streets of Singapore still had the flood light rigs up on the streets used for the race I followed and recalled each corner of the circuit and overtakes from each of the previous years, especially the year before (2017) which was the most amazing race in the rain. Walking along Raffles Avenue past "The Float @ Marina Bay" seeing the last 4 corners, the coloured Singapore concrete and fences, the Singapore Airways logos on the ground, the cockpit entrance, the pitlane and the grid... I felt like a child on Christmas morning. I could not stop smiling for the whole day. ...and remembering how I felt back then; I can't stop smiling again. (Who knew you could feel so happy about sport?)
- Clarke Quay is definitely the tourist trap for food - a trap that my family kept finding ourselves in. The food is very expensive, really bad quality and is not traditional to Singapore, but it is a wonderful place to wonder through at night where the river, boats and bridges are lit up, but covered walkway above Clarke and Read Streets are also incredibly pretty.
- Quite the the opposite of Clarke Quay, Food Republic is a chain of indoor Hawker Markets which act as indoor food courts with incredibly cheap but incredibly tasty food from Singapore and other areas in East Asia. Here I recommend absolutely everything, but the chicken rice (The national dish), Satay, Bandung (essentially rose milkshake) and Lime and sour plum juice (SOOO NICE!!!).
- Fort Canning is a small park ontop of a hill surrounding one of the city's reservoirs. Although not spectacular the park appears to be one of the only places you can get a feel for settlements during the colonial era, years under Malacca and the peoples before.
- Sentosa Island is to Singapore what Southend-On-Sea is to London or Disney World is to Miami. Home to Universal Studios Singapore it is incredibly fun but, like all theme parks, incredibly busy and queues can last from 1-4hrs for such short rides. However I can vouch that the Cyclone Battlestar Galactica ride is one of the best roller-coasters I had been on; going on it 3 times and would happily go on it many more. However the most fun I've had in Singapore; and possible on any holiday that I can recall was on Sentosa's Skyline Luge. I booked this in advance but then looked up YouTube videos of it, and felt quite disappointed at what I saw; but when you are there riding that Luge at speed... I defiantly got my money's worth! Essentially the Luge is a long winding banked concrete path down a hill which you ride down on little more then a plastic sled with wheels and a handlebar. Pulling the handlebars towards you releases the brake so you can pick up speed and turning it allows you to steer. It's pretty simple; but when you are racing other people down the hill with great speed in the corners battling for position... I want to go again! It wasn't too much; I defiantly got my money's worth and it's not really that expensive at all! Like all things on Sentosa; you'll be waiting in the queue for a very long time, but unlike the majority of rides at Universal, it is defiantly worth it!
- Pulau Ubin is a small island to the north east of Singapore which you can only get to by a small boat from Changi Village. The island is almost entirely nature with the acceptation of the countless bike-rental shops by the jetty and a couple of small buildings spread far apart. The main attraction of this island lies in the fact that it is one great big nature bike trail; you can get to the island first thing in the morning; rent a bike for the whole day for very little money and spend all day going around all of the roads, dirt tracks, mud trails through forests, quarries, marsh and by lakes, coast and hills. Make sure to bring plenty of water and rent a mountain bike. Make sure the bike is comfortable before you set off too or you might find the experience unpleasantness like my mother, so we had to cut the ride short.
- Whatever city you go to, in whatever country, in whatever continent, there will always be a Chinatown. Sometimes they are a bit lacklustre like Vancouver's, but Singapore's is very vibrant, full of colour and shops and stools creeping out onto the street selling you cheap, 100% real fake goods for each and every purpose.
...oh. One last thing that I forgot... it's not a recommendation to try, but a recommendation to stay away from... Absolutely, at all costs, what ever you do, stay away from durians. THEY ARE EVIL!!! I have never ever tasted something so disgusting and revolting and vile in my life! WHY DO PEOPLE EAT IT!? If I could get rid of one thing forever it would be durians. Why are vanilla and bergamot going extinct? We should burn down and destroy all of the durian crop from the face of the earth and use that space to farm more vanilla and bergamot. And for those weird people for love durians; I invite you to my dustbin. You can take my dustbin, add a bunch of mouldy maggots to it, crack a few rotten eggs into it; leave it to ferment for a month in the hot summer's heat then pour it all into a blender to blend until it's nice a smooth; and then eat that instead.
...no, really. I'm being serious.
Kemonokun!Click here for the image on FurAffinity
Click here for the animation on Youtube
Unfortunately I have, yet again, given up on trying to code the mod and get anything to work (the mod doesn't even seem to show in the leader screen for me to test...)
So, again, the mod is on hold now, especially with the expansion; Gathering Storm, is coming out in February and introduces lots of climate change mechanics, world congress and future era which may work well with my leader. (bonuses to Seasteads, Sea Walls and the World Congress) But that can wait until I've played around with the expansion and it's mechanics before looking back at my hopeless mod...
In other news...
For my second holiday of the year, I visited the wonderful and prosperous island city state of Singapore with my family. Just like Vancouver, Singapore is a big city that has a lot of greenery and diverse cultures; however instead of being cool and North American, it's very tropical and East Asian.
Here are my recommendations:
- The Gardens by the Bay is defiantly one of the two most iconic attractions in Singapore. The huge $1,035,000,000 garden is both beautiful and impressive. The garden features a lake, ponds, groves, sculptures, flowers and specific cultural gardens (such as the Colonial, Chinese and Indian Gardens to name a few). But the highlights are the Supertrees and the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest conservatories. The two conservatories may seem expensive to enter but are well worth the cost as the plants, trees, artwork and other displays are awe-inspiring. The cloud forest also boasts the tallest indoor waterfall; of which it seems small on the ground but if you go all the way up to the top of the mountain, you won't believe how high up it is. The Supertrees are tall colourful chimney stacks covered in flowers and solar panels on their top that help exhaust the fumes from the conservatories' cooling systems. At night the trees light up in bright lights accompanied by music for a fabulous performance (although be warned; until they finish the Gardens by the Bay MRT station in 2021 there is mad rush to the Bayfront station bottle necking up a tight set of stairs before going through the Marina Bay Sands - you might want to find an alternative route to the north or the south; but don't go direct or you might be stuck under some's foot.)
- The Marina Bay Sands was world's most expensive standalone casino property at $8 billion (SGD) when it opened up in 2010 and has been one of the most iconic buildings in the world and probably the most famous infinity pool which a lot of people do not know the name of. I was brave enough to pay for a 3 course lunch for 4 at Cé La Vi restaurant on top, it did cost me about £300 including drinks... but I think it was worth it; it was certainly a one off experience I enjoyed. The building it's self is remarkably beautiful and the endless floors of shops and the gondolas floating on the bottom in doors.
- As a big current/modern F1 one of my highlights was visiting the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The streets of Singapore still had the flood light rigs up on the streets used for the race I followed and recalled each corner of the circuit and overtakes from each of the previous years, especially the year before (2017) which was the most amazing race in the rain. Walking along Raffles Avenue past "The Float @ Marina Bay" seeing the last 4 corners, the coloured Singapore concrete and fences, the Singapore Airways logos on the ground, the cockpit entrance, the pitlane and the grid... I felt like a child on Christmas morning. I could not stop smiling for the whole day. ...and remembering how I felt back then; I can't stop smiling again. (Who knew you could feel so happy about sport?)
- Clarke Quay is definitely the tourist trap for food - a trap that my family kept finding ourselves in. The food is very expensive, really bad quality and is not traditional to Singapore, but it is a wonderful place to wonder through at night where the river, boats and bridges are lit up, but covered walkway above Clarke and Read Streets are also incredibly pretty.
- Quite the the opposite of Clarke Quay, Food Republic is a chain of indoor Hawker Markets which act as indoor food courts with incredibly cheap but incredibly tasty food from Singapore and other areas in East Asia. Here I recommend absolutely everything, but the chicken rice (The national dish), Satay, Bandung (essentially rose milkshake) and Lime and sour plum juice (SOOO NICE!!!).
- Fort Canning is a small park ontop of a hill surrounding one of the city's reservoirs. Although not spectacular the park appears to be one of the only places you can get a feel for settlements during the colonial era, years under Malacca and the peoples before.
- Sentosa Island is to Singapore what Southend-On-Sea is to London or Disney World is to Miami. Home to Universal Studios Singapore it is incredibly fun but, like all theme parks, incredibly busy and queues can last from 1-4hrs for such short rides. However I can vouch that the Cyclone Battlestar Galactica ride is one of the best roller-coasters I had been on; going on it 3 times and would happily go on it many more. However the most fun I've had in Singapore; and possible on any holiday that I can recall was on Sentosa's Skyline Luge. I booked this in advance but then looked up YouTube videos of it, and felt quite disappointed at what I saw; but when you are there riding that Luge at speed... I defiantly got my money's worth! Essentially the Luge is a long winding banked concrete path down a hill which you ride down on little more then a plastic sled with wheels and a handlebar. Pulling the handlebars towards you releases the brake so you can pick up speed and turning it allows you to steer. It's pretty simple; but when you are racing other people down the hill with great speed in the corners battling for position... I want to go again! It wasn't too much; I defiantly got my money's worth and it's not really that expensive at all! Like all things on Sentosa; you'll be waiting in the queue for a very long time, but unlike the majority of rides at Universal, it is defiantly worth it!
- Pulau Ubin is a small island to the north east of Singapore which you can only get to by a small boat from Changi Village. The island is almost entirely nature with the acceptation of the countless bike-rental shops by the jetty and a couple of small buildings spread far apart. The main attraction of this island lies in the fact that it is one great big nature bike trail; you can get to the island first thing in the morning; rent a bike for the whole day for very little money and spend all day going around all of the roads, dirt tracks, mud trails through forests, quarries, marsh and by lakes, coast and hills. Make sure to bring plenty of water and rent a mountain bike. Make sure the bike is comfortable before you set off too or you might find the experience unpleasantness like my mother, so we had to cut the ride short.
- Whatever city you go to, in whatever country, in whatever continent, there will always be a Chinatown. Sometimes they are a bit lacklustre like Vancouver's, but Singapore's is very vibrant, full of colour and shops and stools creeping out onto the street selling you cheap, 100% real fake goods for each and every purpose.
...oh. One last thing that I forgot... it's not a recommendation to try, but a recommendation to stay away from... Absolutely, at all costs, what ever you do, stay away from durians. THEY ARE EVIL!!! I have never ever tasted something so disgusting and revolting and vile in my life! WHY DO PEOPLE EAT IT!? If I could get rid of one thing forever it would be durians. Why are vanilla and bergamot going extinct? We should burn down and destroy all of the durian crop from the face of the earth and use that space to farm more vanilla and bergamot. And for those weird people for love durians; I invite you to my dustbin. You can take my dustbin, add a bunch of mouldy maggots to it, crack a few rotten eggs into it; leave it to ferment for a month in the hot summer's heat then pour it all into a blender to blend until it's nice a smooth; and then eat that instead.
...no, really. I'm being serious.
