The top things in Singapore people are talking about in January 2018 – served up in bite-sized format.
1. Winter is here (and sadly, it's over)
The cool weather is all everyone has been talking about the past week or so. After all, it's not every day Singapore gets blessed with cool temperatures averaging 22 degree Celcius across the island – it's basically the closest we'll ever get to winter. Although it does come with lots of rain, which brings us to point 2...
2. Wet and wild
We’ve barely shaken off the recent memories of the epic flash floods in parts of Singapore – stalled cars were abandoned by the side of the road and people had to seek higher ground, literally, as the water level rose to knee level. The inclement weather was caused by the Northeast monsoon surge but typically tends to abate in February. Fingers crossed.
3. Mambo No 5
Let’s be honest, Singaporeans love a good drama. And the latest one to get us all riled up is a love triangle hexagon that exploded onto the internet sphere overnight after an ‘exposé’ by one outraged Chloe Teo. Long story short, multi-tasking extraordinaire Ashry Owyong Min has allegedly been five-timing Teo, she claims, with three other girls and one guy – the twists in this scandal put some reality TV shows to shame.
4. It’s lit
Slowly but surely, immersive digital installations – you’ll probably recognise them by their vivid colours and mesmerising shifting light patterns – are taking over our museums and our Instagram feed. Over the past month or so, Japanese design collective Teamlab has set up two new light installations at National Gallery Singapore (photo above; it's part of the Light to Night Festival) and Marina Bay Sands, on top of the existing ones at National Museum of Singapore and ArtScience Museum.
5. Eye candy
Bobii Frutii, the newest Taiwanese bubble tea import to land in Singapore, is all about the ‘gram. Spilt into five categories of original milk tea, fruit tea, ice blended, matcha and cheese tea, these brightly coloured concoctions (complete with healthy tapioca pearls) are as dreamy as they come.
6. Step up
Unless you live under a rock, you must’ve heard about the term ‘4G’ being thrown around quite frequently. No, it’s not referring to your mobile phone signal. Rather, it’s referring to the search for Singapore’s fourth-generation leadership team – a pressing issue that has been constantly dominating the headlines.
7. Hot off the press
The humble grilled cheese toast is somewhat of a comfort food to many. So it’s not a stretch to say that Say Chiizu is pulling in all the cheese lovers with its stretchy Hokkaido-style cheese toast. It’s made with a blend of fresh cheeses for the optimum ‘cheese-pull’, sandwiched between crisp slices of milk toast and wrapped in a cutesy sunny yellow bear sleeve for the ultimate cheesy experience.
8. Otters invasion
The otterly adorable animals – there are reportedly at least 60 otters living in Singapore – are well-loved and documented by otter fan groups. But when over-excited humans get too close to these wild animals, accidents are bound to happen – the most recent case being a five-year-old girl who was bitten on the foot by an otter pup.
9. Gong Xi Gong Xi
We're just putting it out there – Chinese New Year is around the corner. This means you’ll be bombarded with the same ol’ loud festive music no matter where you go so you might as well just learn to live with them. One of the staple you can expect to see floating around the internet is the annual CNY music video featuring local Channel 8 artistes – this year’s edition reminds us of our childhood’s Aces Day (which, for the uninitiated, is an acronym for ‘All Children Exercise Simultaneously’ Day. Bet you didn't know that.)