World Wide Rave, Newton Singapore

Cheryl and I took part in a World Wide Rave, a viral marketing tool that's being used by David Meerman Scott to generate global online buzz for his new book, also entitled World Wide Rave. Read more about it here!

In keeping with Singapore's famous tastebuds, we decided to bring the WWR poster to Singapore's most popular food haunt, Newton Food Centre, famed far and wide for its smorgasmic food and notorious for its tourist-poaching stall owners.

As this week marks the 15 days of Chinese New Year, our visit to Newton FC didn't just assault us with the overwhelming fragrance of local fare but also pretty much destroyed our eardrums with the loud clanging and banging of a Lion Dance troupe that gallivanted among bemused locals and enraptured tourists. Although the lion was much too frisky for us to photograph, we were able to pounce on the stately god who presided over the glorious event.

As we shoved our way through the crowds searching furtively for an empty table that wasn't 'choped' (reserved) by a pack of tissue paper, we ran into flaxen-haired Prof Menkhoff, resident professor at our beloved SMU, with a table laden heavy with local hawker fare and Tiger beer. This is testament to the nature of Singapore, where you're bound to meet familiar faces wherever you go, especially where food can be found.

After a long and tiring sojourn amidst squabbling children, pesky stall owners and vicious, shoving table-hunters, we fell upon a vacated table that sat squarely in front of one of our favourite stalls, where we posed gleefully with the 'aunty' who runs her seafood stall with an iron fist and magnificent beehive, where both known and unknown creatures reside.

We set out with the intention of grabbing a single all-encompassing photo, and returned with an entire storyboard of events! We hope this project-turned-food-adventure illustrates the hotpot of culture Singapore's so proud of.






Credits to Trina for the photos!