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Published: September 12th 2006
So as you may have noticed, I was writing my last entry at about 2:30am local time this morning. I had arrived at the airport in Singapore at midnight, and didn't leave until about 7:15 this morning. Actually, it's one of the greatest airports I've ever been in. There are flights coming and going 24 hours a day, so a lot of the airport is open 24 hours. I spent the night at the first cafe until about 5am working on my blog, responding to various emails that have been waiting for responses over the last few weeks, and taking care of othr business, then thinking about what I would do in Cambodia when I go there next. I'm thinking I'll spend about 2 weeks there, but as there is no cash access there, I have to bring it all on me, which is a scary thought. And if I continue to Laos from there, the same applies. So I'll have to see if the Bank Of America here in Singapore is actually a branch or just a financial center for businesses. Hopefully they'll let me take out some large chunks of cash in USD, since that it the currency that
Kitchen
Hooray for gas stove and dishwasher!will be the most useful to me in those countries. Otherwise, I have to ATM Singapore dollars and then convert them again to USD or Thai Baht. blah. But I am a bit concerned about carrying around 3 or 4 weeks worth of cash. That's close to $1000 when all my traveling is included. Perhaps I will invest in travelers' checks. Even if the exchange rate on them is usually crappy, I'd rather have a little bit of security.
UPDATE, NEW, EXCITING! I've got a new apartment! In Manhattan Beach, 4 blocks from the ocean with a great view. I've posted pictures here so that you can see. The photos are from Pam's camera, so don't get too anxious - I'll post my own soon from Asia.
I should be meeting up with Ashley soon, I'm just waiting to get my bed here at the hostel until people have checked out.
I forgot to mention in the last update that I saw the most beautiful, perfect rainbow I've ever seen while I was at Suan Mokkh. No kidding, it made me cry. It was dry for the first five days, then rained days 6-10 (except day 7).
Living Room
Angle 1; Or is this the Bedroom? Pam? Day 9 was the only one with a rainbow. I happened to be doing walking meditation around the square reflecting pond in the rain, and when I saw it I just stopped dead in my tracks. It was a perfect 180-degree arc, and I could see the difference between indigo and violet, which I always thought was just a myth about rainbows. In fact, it was so perfect that I broke my silence to talk to the girl who I had come to refer to as the NY-Jew (Actually, I was right about her - I guessed that she grew up in Arizona, but had some New Jersey accent. I guess I've learned to read speech pretty well. I didn't figure out that she spent her earlier years in the midwest but that's cuz she never called soda "pop"). Anyhow, I was so emotionally overcome I had to share it with someone, but as I walked over to her she spoke first and said "It's perfect!"
What she couldn't see from where she was was the reflection of the rainbow in the square pool that made it look like a 360 bow that went right into the Earth.
So my response, naturally, was "it's even more perfect from over there." That was it, but it was enough. Amazing how powerful words are when you use them sparingly.
It's interesting that all the religions I know much about prohibit purposeless speech, and yet trivial small talk is so common. Perhaps our words would be more meaningful if we only used them when necessary. Simple things can be communicated silently - it's only the abstract that must be communicated by speech.
Finally, and this is really for Terri - I've been passing out the flyers for AMP, hopefully you'll come up with a few new interesting subscribers. Some seemed only half-interested, but others much more so. Time will tell.
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