Speaking of hotel recycling (such as turning prisons into accommodations), consider the humble post office. Perhaps not quite a trend, but if it prove so, Singapore birthed one of the first: the 400-room Fullerton Hotel, which honors its origins with a "Post Master" suite. [via]

The international race for the biggest super-ferris-wheel -- a conflict that has already claimed so many lives -- escalates further with the projected March 1 opening of the Singapore Flyer. The 165-meter, $240 million discus dwarfs the London Eye (135 meters high) boasts 28 capsules, each of which can hold 28 people.

Hard to decide which creates more pathos: Anime fans using figures to hold a protest, or real police arriving to break up the "disruption." In late August, Singaporean enthusiasts used their action figures to declaim a clampdown on Internet anime downloads; police responded with four riot vans and some lightweight on-the-scene interrogation. Ultraman had to leave via a back exit, as considering his prior record, he could not easily afford another arrest.

ODEX倒す！！ [via Boing Boing]
Singapore anime figurine protesters meet real police [Reuters]

We just saw (via MoleskineCity) that a new study on walking speeds around the world was released last Thursday by psychology researcher and professor Dr. Richard Wiseman. His team calculated how many seconds it took walkers in 32 metropolitan areas to cover 60 feet, and the results are slightly surprising. For one, New Yorkers only clocked in as the eighth fastest walkers, at 3.4 mph or 12 seconds per 60 feet. Another slightly surprising find: across all cities, we are walking 10 percent faster than we were in 1984. And along with upping their production and strengthening their economies in the last two decades, residents in Asian "tiger" areas like Singapore and Guangzhou have increased walking speeds by as much as 30 percent. Though the negative nelly scientists say faster walking speeds increase the risk of coronary disease and decrease our likelihood of helping others, I'd like to think it means we are just more productive and in much better shape in general. So follow the example of Singapore and Copenhagen you sluggish walkers in Blantyre, Manama, and Bern. You may have a heart attack but at least you'll get an extra few minutes of work done.

Richard Wiseman's Official Site
Modern Life: It's One Step at a Time, Only Much Quicker [Times]

-- Amanda Kludt

[Photo: flickr/Losgofres]

Researchers who secretly studied pedestrians in 32 cities around the globe found that people in Singapore walk the most swiftly, covering 60 feet in 10.55 seconds. Copenhagen came next at 10.82 seconds, followed by Madrid, Guangzhou and Dublin. New Yorkers ranked 8th at 12 seconds flat. (Come on, New York, we know you can do better than that. Hurry up!) Not surprisingly, technology is blamed at least in part on the increasingly frenetic pace of life. The radio show Marketplace notes a correlation between cities where people are walking faster than they did a decade ago and economic growth. The two cities where walking speeds have increased the most in the last decade: Singapore and Guangzhou, China.

Photo by badjonni via Flickr, (Creative Commons). 

Buzzfeed notes a new trend among Asian nightlife establishments: the medical theme. First is Taipei's inscrutably named DS Music Restaurant, where staff are dressed as doctors and nurses, and beer is available via an "IV drip" that hangs on a pole next to your table. Singapore ups the ante considerably with the enormous entertainment and eat-o-plex called the Clinic, a 13-room, 15,000-square-foot monstrosity divided into two bars, two clubs, and a restaurant. Several of the Clinic's spaces are given over to "concept rooms" featuring art and furnishings geared to particular themes ("couples" or "caffeine" among others); the restaurant, which sports golden wheelchairs as seating, specializes in madfood science (or "molecular gastronomy") like the kind popular in Spain and Chicago's Moto.

Then there's a bar in China's Shenzen -- for some reason, unnamed by the state newspaper that originally reported it -- that has also begun dressing its barmaids as nurses, with the added bonus of having them dispense drinks from test tubes and giant hypodermics. Furthermore, the same proprietor is "planning another theme of female pirates." Really now, hasn't this cosplay thing gone far enough, between the maids and the pinafores and butlers, not to mention the toilet-restaurant fad that seems to have begun in Taipei as well? In fact, Taipei has also seen the prison-themed restaurant come and go. And perhaps best/worst of all, they were allegedly the first to come up with the idea of a Holocaust-themed restaurant -- a Hitleriffic theme later picked up by establishments in Mumbai and some unnamed Korean metropolis. All of which makes the latest enthusiasm for medical venues seem innocuous by comparison.

DS Music Restaurant [via Buzzfeed]
The Clinic [via Buzzfeed]
Bartender girls in nurse outfits [China Daily]
Hitler-Themed Restaurant [Nerve Endings Firing Away]
Freaky Weird Hitler-Themed Saloon [VolumeOne]

-- Chris Mohney

In an effort to brand itself as a culinary capital of the world, Singapore is hosting their annual World Gourmet Summit until the end of April. The extravaganza features celebrity chefs, special Escoffier dinners, luncheons with famous food personalities, and seminars galore. The city has a ways to go cuisine-wise, but "A" for effort. In honor of the endeavor, we've compiled a foodie's guide to the city that can be of use even when the summit has shipped off the celebs and packed up the knives. And instead of focusing on the abundance of international cuisine, we have a guide to the local specialties. Fish head curry, chili crab, and kopitam, after the jump.

Buffet: The Fullerton. Singapore's big on buffets. All of the hotels have enormous spreads; one restaurant, the Fullerton, even has a chocolate buffet. Though you can find incredible deals on buffets featuring everything from dim sum to BBQ, we think the chocolate theme wins. The hotel also has Indian and Japanese buffets if choco isn't your thing.

Chili Crab: Jumbo Seafood. A Singapore favorite is messy sticky chili crab. For this specialty, a whole Sri Lankan crab is cooked with gooey, tangy chili sauce with hints of lemongrass. Jumbo Seafood in the East Coast neighborhood has one of the best chili crabs around, and it's fun for large groups.

Curried Lobster: Long Beach Restaurant. Curry lobster is a fave local dish found at most seafood joints. Long Beach is no exception, and they also serve other excellent regional specialties -- abalone conch and live tiger sea mantis, for example.

Fish Head Curry: Muthu's. Considered by many the national dish, fish head curry is just what it sounds like. Fish heads are steamed until cooked through, a spicy curry is made separately, and the fish head is stewed in the curry before serving. Many places serve excellent fish head curry, but Muthu's is known for having a stand-out version rich and thick with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Food Court: Takishimaya. Singapore is the land of malls, and every mall has a food court. Unlike American food courts filled with greasy national chain outposts, the food courts in Singapore are culinary destinations in their own right. The one in the Takashimaya shopping complex has some several worthwhile stops, including an excellent noodler selling fried mee goreng and hokkien mee.

Hainanese Chicken Rice: Wee Nam Kee. Singaporean chicken rice originates from China, but the local incarnation has evolved into its own species. In this version, the dipping sauces are hotter, and they consist of a chili sauce, a dark and thick soy, and a concoction made with local limes and chicken drippings. Many food courts and hawkers have chicken rice, but we like the sit-down restaurant Wee Nam Kee.

Hawker Center: Maxwell Food Center. Singapore is known for its hawker centers -- streets lined with makeshift shacks selling all of the city's favorites, from ah bo leng (peanut soup with gelatin balls) to law ah (soya braised duck) to oyster omelettes. One of our top picks is the Maxwell Food Center for its diversity and excellent porridge.

Kaya: Killiney Kopitiam. A favorite Singapore breakfast staple is kaya, a toast spread made of coconut milk, sugar, and eggs. The Killney Kopitam serves delicious kaya on thick toast grilled over an open flame in a casual diner-like setting.

Upscale: My Humble House. Nothing less than authentic Chinese food served beautifully. The gorgeous dining room and elaborate flatware are exquisite. Highlights from the menu include baked five spice pork loin and braised shark fin.

-- Amanda Kludt

The first time a Singaporean friend insisted I try durian, that notoriously stinky Southeast Asian fruit, I feared the worst. I’d heard fellow travelers’ horror stories and read all about how the fruit had been banned in hotels and on Singaporean trains. My friend shrugged all that off and carefully selected one of the spiky fruits at a giant outdoor stall near his home, eliminating the need to smuggle it onto a train. Yes, it smelled like sweaty feet. But when we sliced it open and dug in, I enjoyed my first bites, savoring its sweet flavor and buttercream consistency. Then, after a few more bites, I started to feel a little ill, overwhelmed by the rich, nutty flavor and odor. So I’m not a big fan of durian. Still, when I read the New York Times story about a Thai scientist developing an odorless durian, I didn’t feel like celebrating. 

Launched in 2003, this Singapore-local chain of cafes has Starbuckian expansion plans. However, in addition to serving generally approved brew, the TCC ("The Coffee Connoisseur") Cafes gain salvation points by seriously investing in a unique interior design for each store. This isn't modular plug-and-play either. Just examine the project page for Spunk! Studio, which designed a few of the cafes. Spacey!

TCC Cafes [via Designspotter]

-- Chris Mohney

Not sure which is cuter -- a Labrador trained to sniff out counterfeit DVDs, or such a dog wearing a yellow MPAA vest. Labs Lucky and Flo took part in a raid on a movie-pirating warehouse in Johor Baru, a Malaysian city often conflated with nearby Singapore. According to officials, if Lucky or Flo cruised around a suspicious location and "smelt polycarbonate, they would sit down." About a million pirated DVDs were confiscated, worth a highly dubious street value of "roughly $3 million" in Singapore and internationally. Lucky and/or Flo know you ain't packing mackerel in tomato sauce, bub. So much for scamming that copy of Norbit on the subway. And just to reiterate: doggie!