The City Centre of Singapore

---

Today was my day to explore the city/country/island on foot. Singapore is an interesting place. A few words to describe it...

Clean: Very little litter (heavy fines contribute to that I'm sure) and no graffiti at all. Even the public restrooms fit this description (granted you have to pay money to enter some to pay for the workers that are always cleaning up).

Modern: Skyscrapers, video cameras at intersections, top of the line electronics, fashionable, efficient public transportation (above and below ground).

Crime free (generally): Heavy fines and penalties is the deterrent for crime. If you break the law, you pay dearly. I really haven't seen much police activity but the threat of punishment is definitely there.

Green: There are gardens and parks everywhere. Seeing that Singapore is close to the equator and gets a lot of rain, I'm sure that helps.

Hot: It's hot all the time...day and night.

Ok, enough of that.

Where am I situated? My hotel (The Strand on Bencoolen) sits in the intersection of three areas: City Centre, Little India and Orchard Road. Today I walked all over the City Centre, below and above ground. It was an interesting walk but I'm ready for some R&R now.

Food is another big thing in Singapore. There are hawker centers that have a bunch of fast food vendors that offer all types of ethnic food (no, we're not talking McDonalds or Burger King - although they do exist here). Even the food courts in the malls are interesting places.

For lunch today I went to a hawker center where there were no white people at all. I did what any reasonable person would do...I stood in line at the most crowded place (I hoped that the locals knew what they were doing). That gave me the opportunity to see what others were ordering and how the process worked. It was a bit confusing, truly. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a different world. English was definitely not the primary language here. Chinese was. Ni hao! (Hello). Singapore has a huge Chinese population by the way.

I get to the front of the line and the chef's first question is "where you from?". "Ummm, you mean you can tell I'm not from around these parts?" :) I can't pronounce what I'm ordering, but I'm pretty good at pointing. I want...that! (pointing at the dish on the tray of the Chinese guy in front of me). Sure, it's hot outside, and I'm ordering a soup dish that's hot. But...I'm game. I still don't know exactly what I ordered but it ended up costing me S$3.00 (about $2 in the U.S.) and it was pretty good. It included a bowl of dumplings in a hot broth and then another bowl with noodles, mushrooms and unknown ingredients.

I made it to the famous Raffles Hotel today and had the Singapore Sling. They are making a fortune on this drink. It does taste good for the 10 seconds that it takes to drink it, but still, it's not worth it. S$20? They're making a killing.

Ok, I better back up to Chiang Mai now...

Where did I leave off? Hmmmm...

I believe it was Thursday, February 2. I met up with Justin at the Libernard Cafe in the morning for my banana pancake and Cafe Latte (addicted? Yes!). I didn't really do too much in the afternoon other than walk around quite a bit. In the evening I picked up Saai at her hotel and we went to dinner at a really nice place east of the city called Le Grand Lanna. This place was nice, even for Western standards. The food was good but the real draw was the atmosphere and setting. I really liked this place. It included a Western bill too though ($50).

You may be thinking, what's up with this girl Saai? Well, she's great. :) There's some mutual attraction but we're just friends for now. We'll see.

Quickly moving on...ok, so the next day, I met up with Justin again at Libernard Cafe (of course). Justin and I had a good long talk with Lloyd, the English guy who manages the place. He's been in Thailand for about 4-5 years. The owners of the place are Thai but they asked Lloyd and his Thai girlfriend to manage the place when they moved into their new location 4 months ago. Lloyd knows pretty good Thai but he says the hardest thing is understanding the differences in cultures. As an example, Lloyd said that the Thai people are discreet, rarely confrontational, and always try to "save face". That's not western. Many Thai owners that cater to tourists want western help to be able to meet western expectations. However, they can't usually pay enough to retain their services. I'm not sure what Lloyd makes but it's not much. He's of retirement age and works mostly to keep busy. He said he owns property in England that is managed by his kids and he pays only 4000 baht per month in Chiang Mai for rent (about $100). The life of an expat (foreigner) can be interesting stuff.

Justin and I went to the airport together that morning (February 3). He was heading to Laos and I was heading to Singapore (via Bangkok).

How did I feel about leaving Chiang Mai? Kind of sad, but ready. I liked the city but my friends were departing also. Apple had left the day before for Europe, Saai was leaving the next day, and Justin left with me. It was time to go...maybe to return someday????? Maybe to manage the Libernard Cafe? Just kidding.

Look! There goes Dave!

---