{"id":3297,"date":"2017-06-12T12:30:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T17:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/updates.xephalon.net\/?p=3297"},"modified":"2017-06-12T12:30:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T17:30:34","slug":"macula-society-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2017\/06\/12\/macula-society-in-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Macula Society in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>I was fortunate to be accepted into the Macula Society<\/A> this year which held its annual meeting in Singapore for its 40th anniversary. Although Melody could not join me, I was excited to experience the city’s unique blend of cultures and cuisines, with many similarities to Hong Kong from British colonial influence. I departed Monday afternoon and slept through 12 of the 15-hour flight from SFO thanks to my recent sleep deprivation. Since my room was not yet ready, I found an ATM and some laksa at a nearby food court<\/A> for breakfast, then made my way to the Jurong Bird Park<\/A>. After a morning of avian photography and high-flying bird shows, I checked into the hotel<\/A>, then lunched at Chatterbox<\/A> for their famed chicken rice before attending the meeting’s first session. Our lavish welcome dinner took place at the hotel’s Line buffet<\/A>, which left me uncomfortably stuffed before bedtime. Next day, I felt like a kid in a candy store at Food Republic<\/A>, but only had room for chicken rice<\/A> and tea rice<\/A>. I walked off my lunch with a visit to the Raffles Hotel<\/A> and Merlion Park<\/A>, navigating the vast underground malls and sipping milk tea until I reached Chinatown. Here, I checked out the Thian Hock Keng<\/A> and Buddha Tooth Relic<\/A> temples, took an audioguide tour at the Chinatown Heritage Center<\/A>, and shopped for Chinese imports at Yue Hwa<\/A>. The long day left me less social at the New Member reception, but I redeemed myself at dinner<\/A> with my mentors by breaking out the Cantonese and ordering a spread of seafood ranging from giant prawns to chili crab. On Friday, I awoke in time to receive my travel grant, then went to sample the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred meal at Liao Fan Hawker Chan<\/A>. From there, I hopped on the clean, efficient subway to the Gardens by the Bay<\/A>, where I endured the summer heat to peruse the impressive horticultural display before joining the evening gala in the Flower Dome<\/A>. My basic science talk was relegated to the last morning of the conference, but I was happy with the positive feedback. With the meeting’s conclusion, we celebrated our fellow’s award over dim sum<\/A>, then headed to the Singapore Zoo<\/A>. Despite the intermittent rain, we appreciated the unique fauna like giant fruit bats and pygmy hippos. Having purchased tickets in advance, I stayed to visit the Night Safari<\/A> also, completing my comprehensive yet exhausting wildlife tour. I spent my last day back in the city to round out my culinary adventures, starting with kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs with milk tea for breakfast<\/A> in Kampong Glam<\/A>. From the Sultan Mosque<\/A>, I made my way to Tai Hwa Pork Noodle<\/A> for my second Michelin-starred hawker meal. The two-hour wait got me behind schedule, so I skipped my laksa<\/A> stop for delicious, aromatic bak kut teh<\/A>. I returned to the hotel to pack my stash of Prima Taste<\/A> packets from the Mustafa Center<\/A>, then joined my friend Yvette for a light dinner<\/A> followed by drinks at Ce La Vi<\/A> atop the Marina Bay Sands<\/A>. Our view of the city from above on this last night was breathtaking, and I was left with fond memories of this jewel of a city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was fortunate to be accepted into the Macula Society this year which held its annual meeting in Singapore for its 40th anniversary. Although Melody could not join me, I was excited to experience the city’s unique blend of cultures … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}