Well, I’m sitting at Mike and Wendy’s apartment after a day of flight and wandering, zero problems on the flight here. I had a nice aisle seat on that row in the front with extra legroom, and of course the ANA flight staff was courteous as always. I was in a bit of a rush packing Monday evening; I had expected to leave on Wednesday morning but due to some poor planning on my part I couldn’t leave Wednesday morning and still make the flight. I had to spend the night at Ian’s place (thanks Ian!) and pack my bags in a hurry. Notable events: Narita security made me discard my tiny 3 oz tube of toothpaste because it “wasn’t in a plastic ziploc bag” but didn’t seem to notice the large cologne bottle in my carryon. Their loss.
I took my time at the airport. The flight arrived around 5pm, and I meandered about buying duty free gifts for friends (erm I mean for private consumption of course). I made it to the train station and bought a ticket (special RFID cards which require a small deposit) and upon my initial failure to get it working, a kind gentleman showed me how to hold it a bit further from the reader to get it to read properly. Mike and Wendy were at a wedding rehearsal so I had to wander about and kill time. It was a bit difficult with a bag in tow but I found a calzone restaurant in the basement of Raffles Plaza and had a quick dinner. I made my phone call and it turned out they finished the rehearsal early, so I waited in the Starbucks with a latte.
At that moment I noticed that the weather here is a constant summer. It’s a pleasant feeling after months of freezing cold in my apartment.
The clerk at the Starbucks was extremely friendly. You know how most people take your order and then that’s it? This guy actually started chatting, which was actually pretty cool. You know, like, “Where are you from?” and things like that. I also noticed that people on the subways aren’t afraid to smile when I look and smile at them. It was quite refreshing after being in a country where nobody looks each other in the eye for fear of offending each other.
My first impressions: Singapore is a very modern and metropolitan city. The mix of Malay and Chinese and Indian means that everybody has to figure out a way to get along, and amazingly they all manage to do so. The food courts serve every type of food, despite the fact that the Muslims from Malaysia don’t eat pork, and the Indians from India don’t eat beef, and the Chinese will eat pretty much anything… and yet it all works out, and they manage to not kill each other. It’s fantastic. The people I’ve met have been largely friendly, people talk on subways (and I listen in… Wendy says I behave like a native Singaporean). I haven’t tried all the foods yet but I’m lined up to be fully impressed.
I brought my little camera that I had on the first Japan trip, no fancy SLR for me this time, but I’ll have some photos for your watering eyes as soon as I take some.
I’m looking forward to REGULAR updates and photos of your trip!