Singapore 2002
(Photos from 2005 - no digital camera in 2002!)
Hello from Singapore!
While here, I was reading Dave Barry Turns Fifty, in which the humor columnist stated one of the proudest moments of his life was when he got his draft card at age 18. Because it entitled him to drink. He promptly went to a hot spot with the guys that evening, bought a Singapore Sling, and twenty minutes later threw it up in the parking lot. As pretty as that picture is, I bring it up because the hotel bar, Raffles, in which the Singapore Sling was invented when one waiter carrying tropical fruit collided with another waiter carrying hard liquor and pink wall paint when – oh wait - that is how the commercials say Reece’s Peanut Butter cups were discovered. I had a Pepsi in the bar famous for inventing the Singapore Sling. The reason I would have a Pepsi in such an unusual and notorious arena is obvious: they don’t serve Coke. (“No Coke, just Pepsi” - now where have I heard that??) This is a very nice destination for business or vacation. Everything is clean. The major religion here is World Cup Soccer. They hold services in sports bars. At the present time there is a revival in town and they are having two and three-a-day services. I’ve learned to compliment any nationality I meet on his countries performance in the world cup. Until you have experience the World Cup in a foreign country, you have no idea of the fanaticism. I have determined that the team with the most ponytails usually wins.
On Saturday night, we wanted a break. Fortunately, we are in a country for once that offers some choices of things to do other than watch a coup attempt. Several people had told us not to miss the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. The Night Safari is a special part of the zoo that opens only after dark for both walking trails and trolley rides to see nocturnal creatures at night. Some of these animals are not displayed in many zoos in the world because they are so nocturnal, they are difficult to display for day-time viewing. I have to admit I was surprised by the large number of pale, ghastly creatures with hideous teeth making sounds that had a familiar ring, but yet completely different from what I was used to. But enough about all the Brits on the Safari. The lighting was such that it was still dark enough for me to trip over obstacles, such as teenagers, and yet light enough for me to be able to make out a tree stump, which I stared at for 10 minutes trying to determine if it was the particular animal in the section. We walked into an estuary that housed bats. Being used to the bats I grew up watching at dusk by the stock tanks, I kept straining my eyes at each dead leaf expecting to see some movement indicting a mouse-looking bat. About that time, a shadow soared over my head with a three foot wingspan, scanning the walkway for any stray children. This sucker landed upside down on a limb about two feet from my face and grinned at me. He had the face of a small fox and the body of a two foot high Bela Lagosi. I then realized the attendant had stuck some raw meat on some of the tree trunks next to the walk and I had chosen to stop by one. It was pretty amazing to watch him reach out with caped hands while he hung from his feet and tear up the meat. My friend had a digital camera and kept trying to get an angle in which there was enough light to take a picture. He backed into an unseen bat who reached out and swatted him on the back of the head. Any Olympic gymnast would have been envious of the moves he executed to get away from the bat behind while avoiding the bat in front and any potential unseen bats. I found out later that I could get the same response by simply taking a twig and moving it across his neck.
In the offices and many of the vendors I have visited here, I notice small little black trays of “treats” on the floors in the corners. Like the kind you get in the insecticides in Home Depot. What really bothers me is that I have seen no signs of any critters. But I have noticed these trays in nearly every office I visit. If they’re trying to keep auditors out, maybe they should wrap these treats in cellophane and put them on the receptionist’s desk in a bowl. It is almost completely safe to walk here. It would be completely safe except for the hawkers. Hawkers stand outside the restaurant pushing their menu in front of you, walking with you and trying to ask, beg, challenge, and insult you into eating in their restaurant. Then you walk 20 feet to the next restaurant where the next hawker takes over. During meal times, this can be very annoying. Yesterday, I finally had enough of this while walking around. I dug an empty McDonalds sack out of a public trash can, wiped off a small ketchup stain, refolded it to look full, and managed to walk several blocks back to the hotel in front of several restaurants with minimal solicited. There are 3.5 million citizens here and I would guess at least that many temporary workers from Indonesia and Malaysia. I’m not usually paranoid, but when I arrived, I went walking to fight jet lag and I ran into someone from the office here that I knew from Dallas. Later, I ran into the Manager from Kuala Lumpur, who was on holiday here. I was beginning to think I was being watched.
My coworker and I decided to do something the first evening to stay awake. Across the street, the new Star Wars movie was playing, so we went to see it. We each got a huge bucket of popcorn, a large Pepsi and Chinese subtitles for about $7. When we bought our tickets, we had to select our seats by looking at a chart on a computer screen with a lot boxes indicating seats. This sounds easy now, but never having to do that before, and having an elderly Chinese clerk explain it to me in louder Mandarin (Like, oh, now that you’re yelling gibberish at me, I completely understand! When you were only speaking the exact same gibberish in normal talking volumes, I couldn’t grasp it!?) it took a while to figure out I needed to point to a white box on the screen display, then when she issued the ticket, the box turned blue. On Wednesday, we got an excellent tour of the Island that makes up most of the country of Singapore. Unfortunately, we were only trying to get to work. When we would give the driver a location, he’d shoot off just as if he knew where he was going. After a while, we ended up at the coast overlooking a lovely sunrise. While under other circumstances we might have appreciated this, it looses it appeal when you know the office is in a shipyard on the west end of the island and you’re late. We would ask the driver if he knew a larger landmark like, say, Malaysia, and off he’d go again with no clear direction. Finally I told him to answer all questions with a clear “yes” or “no” and not an acceleration. After an hour, we arrived quite by accident at our intended location. Up until that time, I never believed that theory about an infinite number of monkeys pounding an infinite number of typewriters would eventually produce every piece of literature ever written. Now I realize it may have some merit.
I hope this finds everything well in your home.
Take care,
Keith