Singapore w/ Alvaro Quesada

This spectacular Asian city/state by the sea undeniably exudes excellence, from its humble beginnings to its plainly prosperous present. Get ready to roam around its surprising streets and chow down in its charismatic corners. We’ll sink our teeth into Singapore on this week’s episode of FYI!

Thanks to my special guest Alvaro Quesada! 

Transcript

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[Music] this spectacular Asian city slash state by the Sea undeniably exudes excellence from its humble beginnings to its plainly prosperous present get ready to roam around its surprising streets and Chow Down in its charismatic corners foreign we'll sink our teeth into Singapore on this week's episode of f y ah welcome to for your info English you got it[Music] hello hello hello and welcome to another exciting edition of FYI for your English the topic based show where even I learn about a new topic every week yeah well some of them I know more about and as always there are some that really I have no idea what I'm talking about now today's some somewhere in between I've been to this place so I can speak from first-hand experience but I've called on a guest a guest who I think can really give us the scoop so I want a nice round of applause for a great friend of mine Alvaro quesada well thank you Alberto but what was that before was that a lion well I'm I'm not gonna lie to you I'm not lying here oh is that what you did there yeah it was a lion isn't Singapore the lion City doesn't it well technically supposed to be the lion City but it's a mistake oh there's never been lions in Singapore ever at all yeah I didn't see any Lions when I was there either and I'm not lying if any if any you would have seen a Tigers so it should be supposed to be the tiger City but someone confused I mean Aladdin with the tiger they mix them up or they confuse them sure but it's not a lion oh so that is okay so right off the bat we are I'm telling you we're debunking myths well you know what that's a roar call it a lion call it a Tiger It's a roar the city is roaring roaring exactly it's a jungle but also it's part of the sea because it's an island as you know and the national symbol it's the Merlion the myrrh Lion now I I've heard of a lot of things in my life but I've never heard well until I went to Singapore myself of a Merlion please explain to the listeners what a Merlion is so the Merlion is a creation from the stb the sdb stands for the Singapore tourism board it's an acronym and they created this like 20 30 years ago and they wanted to symbolize the union between the Sea and the jungle so they took the lion from The Lion City and also the mermaid so if you mix a mermaid a lion you have a Merlion so the upper half of the body it's a lion but the bottom low it's a mermaid's tail oh so see already we've got some interesting lore I love it I love it I love it and now Alvaro I'm going to introduce you as a great friend of mine is somebody who's even worked at Vaughn radio and I mean we've worked even in Budapest together right um we were never in Singapore together let me ask you this why are you you're a Spaniard you're from Madrid what the heck qualifies you to tell us about Singapore oh well they know let's say that I was living there for a while so I spent seven years of my life living in that City and well you know about those stories but it was a huge Game Changer in my life meaning it opened my eyes I mean to so many different uh cultures and experiences and I mean life lessons that um I guess somehow I became a little bit of an expert you know about the city because I really deep dive into the culture and I try to to bring the the Spanish feeling the Spanish Community along with the Singaporean community and and how long were you there again seven years seven years well it's normal I mean you're a guy who if you go on vacation somewhere for seven days you know your stuff yeah you're barely scratching the surface of the city yeah but in seven years a guy like you Alvaro who knows his stuff you like to be in the know informado[Music] um know how to be in the know you know it's awesome you really really got to know the city you were working out there can you tell us what industry you were working in I was working mostly in advertising so advertising agency for a few years and then I worked also as a consultant I mean for other firms in the in the region so even though I was based on Singapore I mean I was working with the regional projects so I had a lot of friends and also I mean Partners in Thailand Malaysia Indonesia the Philippines well it's a hub which we'll talk about later exactly yeah it's the airport we're going to talk about all the different aspects but it's definitely a hub how would you say a hub in Spanish and okay you worked in advertising and marketing in this this sector uh what other Industries are big because there are some serious skyscrapers out there so obviously there's a lot of business it's flourishing it's it's booming what other Industries are out there absolutely I mean the main industries are maina oil and gas and banking okay a lot of banks and I'm not talking about the branches you know the the physical banks that you see on the street I'm talking about like corporations like being there right their headquarters or at least in Southeast Asia their headquarters most of them they might not have other presence in Asia but at least they have uh um an office in Singapore and that's the Gateway for them the opening entrance I mean to start to try to conquer if it's possible the Asian market well you know for us it was the Gateway as tourists we went out to Cambodia we went out to a lot of other amazing places Thailand as well and Singapore was the Gateway as you said so we're going to talk about how Singapore is a gateway we're going to talk about it how it's a Foodies Paradise as well it's so it's called Uh Singapore but it's called Asia 101 which means it's a very very beginning about Asia if you don't like Singapore just go back but even like Singapore I mean you can go to level two well it's Asia with a western twist it's got all the Comforts of home if you will you know you can go there and have bacon and eggs but that's not what they have for free absolutely it happened to me like so many times that I was traveling the MRT which is the subway oh okay the Metro System there I thought I was in a middle western country and then I look around me and I saw I realized that it was the only western or the only Ang mall I mean in the in the train wait wait I speak English I speak Spanish what is angma it's the Singlish word for white people oh which in the end technically it's not white people this redhead people well wouldn't it be like the giddy in Spanish it doesn't matter where you're from you're not from here absolutely if you're if you're not Asian well guys in the bonus episode and remember every week There's a bonus episode we are going to take a look at so many interesting words in Singlish Yes you heard correctly in Singlish also Alvarez was going to give us some tips some places that you must visit their and some nearby trips because when you live there as well you would maybe go to Vietnam or to Bali so you're going to tell us about some of those connections as well and we're going to talk about one of my favorite things Changi baby and oh yeah no Changi isn't at a dance it's an airport so if you guys want you can join us in the bonus part it's exclusively for patrons but of course if you just want to hear it and get a sample contact me because I'd love to share it with you remember if you want to become a patron you can go over to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and join our curious community in fact I want to take a second to send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students Marta candy Javier Roberto David Jose Maria Mila Alex is God and Aina and don't forget about my Interstellar students Lena Issa Paco Diego and Carmen keep up the great work and if you guys want more information on how you can get bonus episodes PDFs with all the vocabulary and weekly and monthly classes with me just go over to patreon.com Alberto Alonso okay I'm done Alvaro I had to do my little thing you know absolutely but if you want all that inside information about Singapore you'll have to stick around for the bonus episode I'm sorry hey that's the way the cookie crumbles that's the way the ball bounces that's the way the ball bounces let's take a look at our intro because I always like to sprinkle some vocabulary in the intro I said this spectacular spectacular it's spectacular Asian[Music] Asian city slash state and when I say said it's a city it's also a state a nation a country by the Sea undeniably exudes nice word it exudes Excellence from its humble beginnings very humble um there was a fishing Town wasn't it so from its humble beginnings to its plainly claramente prosperous present get ready to roam what Rome I thought we were going to Singapore that's that's like bromine you mean oh like roaming de ambulando ah okay get ready to roam around its surprising streets and Chow Down now I'm not speaking Chinese when I say Chow Down what does that mean Chow Down Alvar you should know this Alvaro you consider yourself a foodie a fatty like me like ciao isn't it like like clams to Chow Down we are gonna oh don't oh we're gonna talk about some foodie fines so to Chow Down so yo they go let's Chow Down is Aquaman we're gonna Chow Down in its charismatic Corners charismaticos then we heard that lion or tiger roar I don't know let's get into semantics here to split hairs right we're not going to split hairs patas We're Not Gonna split hair in English and then I said we'll sink our teeth and I meant that because I'm I'm really let's get right into the food stuff no no no delicious we'll wait we'll hold off but we're gonna sink our teeth into Singapore all right know why you're qualified we know you love Singapore what what can you tell us about the weather or the climate in general out in Singapore well there's there's two seasons mainly in Singapore instead of four like in other countries so we have the the rainy season and the Very rainy season oh so okay so it's always raining I mean months it might not rain as much but when it rains there it just Pours Down and this is a great expression when it rains it pours[Music] it's like pouring I mean cats and dogs no more than cats and dogs it's pissing down it's pissing down so it I see I didn't well I guess that's why it's so green too because yeah I mean that's not that's also why and the good thing about this rain is that it's a very very fast it's like a flash rain gotcha so it might be raining like the end of the world I mean I've never seen such thunderstorms and so much that's beautiful too you know as long as you're not caught out there if it lasts only maybe for an hour 20 minutes an hour it's okay but the funny thing is that in seven years in Singapore I only got caught in the rain four or five times oh wow it's very very little so there's there's chances I mean any given morning I might wake up I look out of the window and it's like sunny perfect right to the shower I got out it's raining like crazy I had my breakfast it's sunny again well it's near the equator so you've got that tropical climate where you've got abundant rainfall and humidity and high well forget about the humidity well New York is very similar New York I know a lot of times in the summer it just gets so hot where the humidity breaks as we say like and then the good thing is everything cools down a couple degrees does that happen in Singapore or not really the lowest it is tropical New York is not tropical you have both Extremes in New York but in Singapore the lowest temperature I've experienced I mean Outdoors it's 21 degrees and people were wearing sweaters because they were cold so imagine I don't think they were cold I think they were just trying to say I got this sweater I might as well wear it they're not used to that I mean in seven years I only slept I mean without the air conditioning with an air con yes a contraction only like three four nights and it was doing those days and let me ask you this so what do you do to keep cool in the hottest months I know there are a lot of rooftop pools guard Gardens what are how do people I mean bars I imagine you go out and have drinks and they keep cool in Durham and you have aircon so you go to the movies and you have to bring a sweater because you get to get a Mana out of frost I think it's so good oh yeah yeah but Outdoors you're gonna sweat right that's right more or less what you're gonna sweat so the beginning when you reach when you get to Singapore I mean you're like very picky like ew I don't like sweat so when you when you want to hug someone a friend it's just like high five after a few months you're like ah what the hell I mean I'm gonna give you a hug even though if you both are sweaty right just get used to it right absolutely absolutely well that's cool though you know but good weather okay it rains but heat is good because you know people are out and about people you know I mean except three months in particular I mean from September to December I mean barbecue season it's all year round oh don't see you want to keep going the food already don't you yeah I mean I mean you know I mean I love barbecues you love food periods like me okay okay I love food and barbecues that's why I'm surprised you didn't know Chow Down we need to know that stuff all right well before we go on we're going to talk a little bit about the geography the people there also you did a lot of stuff in that seven years aside from making friends doing business didn't you start a couple uh initiatives and things out there well I might what'd you say ANSI so when I got there I mean I tried to start uh getting to know the Spanish community so the first thing that I did it was uh or one of the persons uh trying to impulsar to um yeah to um to encourage to promote to raise awareness yeah the the creation of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce because we didn't have the uh the Chamber of Commerce okay yeah but an official one man oh one that is like recognized but the Spanish state and that took many many years because it's a very difficult thing it's a political thing but in the end I mean I managed to to promote that and we have now a Spanish Community a Spanish Chamber of Commerce the spat guys if you ever go to Singapore and stop by the Chamber of Commerce thank you Alvaro I was just one of the promoters there are sure but another one that I was more in the in the front line was when uh my favorite team and I'm sorry about that Alberto I mean because I know you're super Real Madrid but you know I'm Atletico well that's okay that's all right somebody's got to be the losing team everybody loves the underdog so um came to Singapore I mean not Real Madrid they came to play a few we go to the United States for some reason but not Asia well if our friend Edgar what's up Edgar he's one of our patrons if he goes out there well he's got to look them up yeah Metropolitan stadium and if you go to the museum you can see our flag there see so Alvaro you are a go-getter you didn't just go out there and eat food like I would do I would just go out there eat food you know hang out you know and meet people and meet people but you were doing like some some stuff man like a kind of like an ambassador of sorts yeah I mean the last thing that I did just uh right after covet and before I move him back to Spain it was to create the Spanish Association of Singapore because it was that Gap main bridging between the the Spanish Embassy and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce so this was we are not chamber chamber chamber of commerce chamber not chamber chamber of commerce the king is waiting in his chamber yes so it was a Spanish Association and I did that in order to to bring that social component for families living there but I want to meet other Spanish people and it was the vice president of that organization until I left but I know that they're still doing great stuff over there awesome awesome dude so you you went there you sowed some seeds let's talk a little bit about the geography and the makeup of the people because it's a very you'd think okay just no I went to I had some of the greatest Indian food see here we go that wasn't you yeah no no that was that was not my fault well I'm talking about the population and I was thinking about Little India and then I went back to food it happens so Singapore let's talk about the location it's located between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea the very strategic South China Sea and it's obviously in Southeast Asia off the southern tip of the Malay peninsula in the Malacca is straight that's right the Malacca straight it uh is 710 square kilometers that's if you count if you add all the little islands that they have because I think they have around like 70 Islands but the main island plus all those small ones is 710 square kilometers which as a reference it's smaller than the city of Berlin Berlin has 900 square kilometers and this is even smaller than that but I would love to compare the gdps oh that's much the gross domestic Pro I mean no offense to Berlin here no offense Berlin but wow Singapore is a powerhouse it's uh someone say the one so that I love it it's like it's a beautiful city but when you go there you just miss one thing do you miss the country yes City because in Madrid I mean you can't go but they've got great guard they make up for it really well because there's no Countryside so to speak you're on a tropical island in the Tropic you know not an island but a tropical area but but they really make up for it we're going to talk a little bit about the gardens by the bay and and all these wonderful things that have made it a pertinent a relevant place not just you know the companies being there but as a tourist destination I mean they did a hard work in other two positions in Singapore on the map 10 years ago I mean it's like quoting or quotes like nobody knew about Singapore but now it's somehow much popular than 10 years ago when I was in New York I just remember hearing it I think in rap song I don't I don't know but I was like I want to go there it sounds like an amazing you know the name I don't know what it is it attracted me now what do you think the current population is if I had to ask you right now I think right now it should be around six million people exactly oh five million 999 000 one guy just died oh sorry no yeah around six million around six million in 1951 1 million people live there so again talking about that boom and from 1950 to now it's the population has uh has gone up six times it was yeah and still they still have room I mean for growth because they have a lot of protected areas that they're not building uh okay houses but but I mean I would say that it's already because of the size a little bit crowded okay gotcha gotcha well what about the the makeup of the people there uh how would you you know you're sitting on the subway who are you sitting around what kind of people live there so out of those six million people almost six million people you know four are singaporeans as in as Citizens then we have uh 1.5 million that they're like either permanent residents or people that are working with visas like I was living there and then the rest is like people just passing by either tourists or just people doing business temporarily okay out of those people I mean out of the singaporeans out of those four million I think it's like 72 something like that it's a Chinese Chinese that they immigrated from uh from China like right 70 80 years ago they make up three fourths according to the number I have yeah so three fours like 70 something percent yeah so 75 or something like that three-fourths Malay is the next largest ethnic group exactly with 20 something and then a little bit Indians is up next in third spot uh Indians okay so the best of Malay because uh Chinese they they immigrated to Malaysia and then I mean they had their pushing the Chinese Community to the to the island gotcha but also too like when we talk about Chinese when we talk about Malay I mean this is not a homogenous Community they've all mixed exactly so so you know your your father's Chinese your mother's Indian you don't know you're it's really like New York or any major city yeah but here I mean like piercing apparents that say I mean they end up uh they're forced to study two languages so one is of course English I mean mandatory for every single uh Singaporean citizen see that guy Singapore knows what they're talking about that's a very first thing if you don't speak English I mean then you can do anything else and then the second language it's uh optional so normally Chinese people they speak Chinese Malay they speak again Malay and and so but cool because you can maintain your original language your roots but in order for the for the countrymen to avoid ghettos I've seen people living only yeah sure yeah yeah the public housing which is called babies mean they have quotas of races living in those buildings okay so out of the whole building and let's say it has 100 units I mean 72 for example are going to be for Chinese people okay gotcha gotcha well it makes sense you know so you don't get these just areas where there's just one area I mean they want people to mix which I think exactly part of that's what business that's what tourism is all about uh let's talk about the history without turning this into a history class the first settlements were established from nine excuse me 19 no 1298 to 12.99 but it wasn't until the 14th century that it got its name that it has now which is Singapore as we said SEMA lion Pura City the lion city which we know now is Merlion City it's just tiger slash and uh well the city was ruled by five Kings at that point and what happened was Modern Singapore as they say now modern Singapore was founded in in the 19th century and this was thanks to Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles he was a guy who said this is a jewel this is a diamond in the rough this is should be for used for so much more than just fishing we can use this for Commerce for Banking and he had a dream he saw he had a vision this guy and that is what started what I guess would be modern day Singapore right yeah but I mean the the most um uh recent history about Singapore uh it dates from 57 years ago if I'm not wrong uh when he got independent for the second time in history I mean did you know that Singapore is the only country that got its independence twice without wanting it see the U.S you guys had to fight for that Independence these guys go this guy's got it twice I mean without asking for it so they got kicked out of Malaysia so they were part of Malaysia okay and that was a point that Lee Kuan Yew been known as the founder of the the modern Singapore sure he decided that uh he had to introduce a few changes and rules you know that for for the for the country to be prosperous right so under our yeah some changes had to be enacted yeah but under a very tight grip oh okay yeah it was very very tight so the one of the first things with the language it's like you guys who speak Indian I speak Chinese these guys speak Malay we have to speak the same language so we're all gonna speak English and then also public housing Singapore is a country in the world with more people living in their own houses that means 94 homeowners homeowners yeah yeah so they're home owners and how do you do that only in like 15 plus years and that's how we define success I mean in the modern world owning your own home yeah I like to call it like a laboratory laboratory laboratory if you're British in laboratory Library it's a laboratory and in Singlish it's laboratory no I don't know I'm joking but we're going to look at Singlish in the bonus episode that's not gonna be a fun one so it's like a smaller I mean place mean for them to experiment and they created Singapore with the best practices of the world so they chose me the best things that they saw in China the best things that I saw in the UK in the US right so that's why you see a lot of influence that's one of the great things about being a newer State a newer country you can say uh we don't like that we oh this worked really well but not just in government in design you know City urban planning and everything they use a feng shui I mean for the design of the of the building so even though it's a city with a lot of skyscrapers it's gorgeous and you don't feel like I'm sorry that means sense of pressure I mean of all those buildings in New York and sometimes you need those you know I mean yeah yeah sure sure in order to not feel like so many buildings they figured it out you don't have that feeling because like you said people miss the countryside but I didn't while I was there obviously I was just there as a tourist but there were so many green areas in the Bay Area even though it was full of skyscrapers it felt spacious and I think that was absolutely beautiful all right well we're going gonna wrap up the first part here but I want to wrap up with a tough question oh let's go what makes I mean we've talked about a lot of things so far but if you had to sum it up in a couple sentences what makes Singapore such a special place it's a hub you can go anywhere I mean in less than four hours of flying you can go to a lot of beautiful countries and if you don't have time to fly maybe you have a lot of food to eat for less than 5 Heroes it's fantastic place for Foodies and we're gonna find out about that and much more in the bonus episode of today's f y i foreign[Music][Applause]