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Sky Park
Sky Park rests on the tops of three skyscrapers.I have a tendency to over-romanticize things. (Some people reading this are nodding their heads right now.) What can I say? I'm nostalgic for an era that ended before I was born, the era when travel was an adventure. I'm always the guy on the airplane wearing a safari outfit, wedged between the business men and the kids going to visit their grandparents.
The real story
I'm on a grueling business trip to Singapore, then Islamabad. By the illogic of the Fly America Act, I am required to circumnavigate the globe, with significant layovers in Manchester, England and Washington D.C. As if that weren't sufficient punishment, the enemies of logic forbid me to fly over Indian airspace, so I must fly from Singapore to Dubai, wait nine hours, then backtrack to Islamabad.
My story
I am circumnavigating the globe, chasing the sun, echoing the feats of Magellan and Phileas Fogg. When I was a kid I imagined that if I could jump in the air and somehow hover there (sky hook maybe?) all of the world's exotic places would rotate under me in a single day. My mother used to tell me the story of
Orbit City
But where are the flying cars, Singapore? The Jetsons had them in America decades ago. her adventurous cousin who traveled around the world. She remembered the day he walked out the gate and the day he returned. "When he came back was he coming from the opposite direction?" I would ask.
The real story
I am in Singapore attending an IT conference and to talk about my work in Pakistan. IT (Information Technology) studies the flow of information in and between large organizations. At least I think that's what it is. Usually taught in business schools, IT is computer science's wimpy cousin. That's the way computer scientists see it. People in IT see computer scientists as school yard bullies who will one day work for them. In any case, I feel like an impostor. Most of the presentations are about dubious surveys that ask a tiny number of unlikely people how they feel about things like technology, communication, and life. The responses are plugged into an equally dubious model. The conclusion: feelings are mixed. The only bright spot is a panel discussion about psychopaths in IT. Apparently the power and prestige of mastering spreadsheets attracts an inordinate number of serial killers. (I'm already imagining a sequel to Dexter.)
Oh,
people lined up to buy toast
The toast restaurant fad just reached San Francisco, but they are all over Singapore. and a few years ago I learned that my mother's cousin didn't make it around the world. Instead, he got stabbed by some hobos and ended up in a hospital. (Still a pretty cool story, though; I wonder if he tried to fight them off.)
My story
I ditch large portions of the conference to walk the streets searching for the Singapore of Stamford Raffles, Joseph Conrad, and the British colonialists, whom I picture sitting comfortably on their verandas, sipping Singapore Slings moments before their bubble of privilege is burst by the Japanese army. One more alley, I tell myself as I wander through the narrow dusty streets of Chinatown and Little India. I barge through temples, eat in places I probably shouldn't, and smell smells that can't be unsmelt.
The real story
Singapore is a sterile place where a person can be caned for not flushing a toilet. I am Fred Flintstone on a tour of Orbit City. Singapore's skyline is a vision of the future. From a cafe on the waterfront I look across the marina at an enormous, tree-covered park laid across the tops of three skyscrapers. Other buildings are shaped
My new suit
I am pursued down alleys by men with tape measures who want to make suits for me. like domes, flying saucers, and blooming lotuses. There are buildings with giant open spaces separating the top half from the bottom, the left half from the right. There are underground malls that stretch for miles. Where are the flying cars?
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Andre
non-member comment
Greetings from Boise
Dr John, Please give my best to Debbie. Thank you, Andre