December 20, 1998
We got to the airport in plenty of time and boarded our 767
on schedule. When it took off, I discovered that 767s have the noisiest engines
I've ever heard on a plane. It sounded like someone had put trading cards in
the spokes clicking against the intakes. At least, I hope all 767s sound
like that!
I also learned another new lesson: don't fly on a plane
when you have clogged-up sinuses. I nearly screamed in pain as the pressure
built up and finally glopped out with a massive, rushing, squelchy sucking
noise. I arrived In Singapore on a wave a searing pain in my congested ears, it
was days before I felt my hearing was back up to it's usual substandard
level.
When we arrived at the Singapore airport, we taxied on the
runway for what seemed like half an hour, but once we were inside the terminal
we were through immigrations in minutes. They even conducted a satisfaction
survey with us after we were through the process. The three or four question
survey actually took longer than the immigrations process. They asked us
difficult questions like, "Was the immigration process quick?" and "Did the
Immigration Officer make eye contact with you and smile?" They got a very
satisfactory response from me.
Going through customs was even easier: We didn't have to
since we had nothing to declare.
We caught a airport shuttle to our hotel and got our first
look at Singapore. If ever a city of steel and glass could be called beautiful,
then Singapore is it. My first impression was that the architects of the city
had especially designed the boulevard leading away from the airport to give the
traveler an impression that Singapore was all clean, green and immaculately
manicured. As the drive continued, we quickly realized that Singapore really is
like that all over. The roads were wide and lined with greenery which
tastefully accents the towering high-rises on the skyline. Despite the fact
that the city has countless high-rise apartment complexes, the buildings all
look different from one another, which gives the skyline personality.
The greenery is no doubt aided by the fact that Singapore is
about 80 miles north of the equator - it was hot
and humid.
Another big advantage of Singapore in my mind is that they
all speak English! This is good for me, but not so god for Chu-Wan, who only
speaks American English. From years of watching British TV, I had no difficulty
navigating the "common language that divides us", but Chu-Wan was mostly
bewildered by signs that said "Give Way" (Yield), "Way Out" (Exit), or "Lift"
(Elevator). Wait till I convince Chu-Wan we need to go to the United Kingdom
and Australia someday!
While in theory the people of Singapore speak straight
English, in actuality they speak Singlish, the unique Singaporean dialect of
English. It's spoken very fast, and has an almost Caribbean sound to it. There
seem to be several extra syllables thrown in for good measure. With my hearing
at 50%, it was, at times, as incomprehensible to me as Taiwanese, and
considerably more embarrassing when I couldn't understand it.
 After checking into our
hotel, the Golden Landmark, right next to Arab Street, we took a walk. It soon
became quite clear that Singapore is one giant shopping mall. The streets were
lined with building after building of multi-story shopping centers. It was like
shopping-science had gone horribly out of control. Despite being heavily
populated, it was hard to credit that Singapore could support so many shopping
centers.
Our first excursion was a trip on their MRT (Metropolitan
Rapid Transport) - a subway system (though not all underground) identical to
the one being built in Taipei.
There are two basic lines, the "East West" line across the
southern part of the island and the "North" line, which loops around the rest
of the island. We were centrally located and our first jaunt was to the
charmingly named place "Woodlands". I've since been told that's like going to
Egypt -- it's a long way from anywhere and "no one goes there."
Someone must go there, because there's a huge shopping mall
there. I found a rare old Kamen Rider Black RX figure and decided that it might
be a profitable Tokusatsu-hunting trip afterall.
We looped around the
entire island, and my impression of the design and layout of Singapore remained
mostly unchanged.
 Still tired and somewhat ill we retired to
the hotel, where we watched Indian TV. We saw a fascinating movie about a woman
suffering from PPI (Post Pregnancy Insanity). According to the doctor in the
movie, womens' brains weaken after childbirth. While the concepts in the movie
may have been a bit odd, the directoral style was quite unique. I plan to
incorporate some of them into Fusion Patrol in the future.
Later we headed down to Orchard Road, the main street of
Singapore for some more shopping and then we stopped into a CyberCafe where I
caught up on my e-mail.
December 21, 1998
In Singapore, I started each day with bleeding gums.
Singapore has untainted water -- unlike Taipei. While in Taipei, I am somewhat
reluctant to really, get down and scrub my teeth. If the water isn't safe
enough to drink, surely it isn't safe enough to gind into my gums. So each day,
my teeth got an overzealous workout with the uncontaminated water of
Singapore.
Another slight problem that manifested itself immediately
was the Great Singaporean Underwear and Socks Crisis of 1998. I had planned on
enough clothes for the entire trip based on the assumption that, prior to
leaving Taipei, I would get my clothes cleaned.
My clothes were indeed cleaned, but what I didn't reckon on
was the humidity and lack of dryers. My clothes were clean, but still soggy
when it came time to go to Singapore. This made for some uncomfortable
situations in the hot, sticky climate of the equator.
One thing we did notice about Singapore - no one would talk
to Chu-Wan. They always addressed me. Chu-Wan thought it was because they only
talked to men, but I suspect it was because she only has 3/4 of her eyebrows
and they refused to talk to someone with lopsided brows.
We did some miscellaneous sightseeing, and went to Orchard
Road - The big "center" of the town (I guess that's the way to describe it) -
which is mall after mall after mall, huge malls, packed with shops. No wonder
people go on shopping junkets to Singapore.
December 22, 1998
 Our
excursion for the day was to Sentosa Island, the "recreation" spot of Singapore
- people compare it to Disneyland, but that's really not what it is. Sentosa is
an island with a few rides, beaches, resorts, and tourist attractions.
We took a bus over (there's a bridge) and intended to take
the cable car back across the bay on our way back. Midway through our visit, in
the mid-afternoon, a huge monsoon storm hit and trapped us in the butterfly
exhibit. Of all the places to be stuck this was not the one I would choose as
my first choice. The exhibit funnels people in from one side and out the other.
The monsoon was so strong and the lightening so close that no one would dare
leave the exit, and we all bunched up for about an hour.
 It
took another hour before the monorail began to move again. We hoped to start
the rest of our sightseeing, but it became clear everything that was indoors
was now too crowded. The cable car had been stopped during the lightening, and
so we ended up taking the ferry back to the mainland.
Our confusion at the bus system (despite being in English)
caused us to walk back to the MRT station - about a 2 1/2 mile walk. After
another monsoon rain, we were soaked and exhausted.
There's been a lot said about Singapore's "restrictive"
laws. They do indeed impose stiff penaltie·Ù[Ýr being a litterbug. You can and
will be fined if you don't flush the toilet in a public restroom. It is illegal
to import gum into Singapore. (Heaven help the person who sticks gum on an MRT
seat!) Jukeboxes are forbidden. (Come to think of it, I can't think of anything
wrong with any of those rules.) We did see one person fulfilling his civic duty
required for some unknown transgression of the law: he was sweeping the beach
at Sentosa.
Singapore refers to itself as a "nany state" and the most
common manifestations are signs. There are lots of signs floating around
telling you what can and can not be done. Not all of these signs are official,
but the attitude seems to be that if you want to control someone's behaviour,
put it on a sign.
 My favorite sign was at the Sentosa
aquarium: "Please do not squeeze the marine animals."
December 23, 1998
We went to the Singapore Science Center, it's a nice Science
Center, but frankly, not much different from the Phoenix one. One difference:
the Singapore Science Center isn't an ugly crap building like the eyesore we
have in Phoenix.
After we returned to the hotel, I received a call from my
friend Billy Teo, who lives in Singapore. I had "met" Billy some years earlier
over the Internet due to our shared love of Tokusatsu. It seems the time had
come for us to meet in person. It was a good thing we met on the
23rd because on the 24th, the Singaporean authorities
announced safety warnings cautioning people not to meet with people they'd met
over the Internet.
Billy and his charming wife took Chu-Wan and I out to
dinner at a "authentic" Singaporean restaurant. I must admit, when we pulled up
to a place called "Gayworld" I was a little concerned about what to expect for
the evening. It turns out "gay" still means "happy" in Singlish.
With my rather limited view of eating, I didn't ask what we
were having, and I enjoyed it. Dinner was a little like fondue ( the food kind,
not the cheese kind). We sat at an outdoor restaurant, with a boiling kettle of
broth and we were given platters of foodstuffs to be boiled in the broth. All
of it was served with a rice noodle and red sauce. It was mildly spicy by my
rather jaded, chili laden, fire in the stomach kind of cooking, but very
flavorful.
We talked for several hours, and took a tour of their very
nice home also. It was certainly not the box-like "unit" one might expect from
large housing blocks. Of course, the highlight was Billy's Japanese toy
collection, which easily put mine to shame.
December 24, 1998
We got on the MRT and headed out to the famous Singapore
Zoological Gardens. This would be a worthwhile trip even if it weren't a zoo.
It's a beautiful park to walk though, and the animals are kept in very nice
"open" areas, designed to be without bars.
For me, the highlight was the Komodo dragons, one of the
three exotic animals I've really wanted to see even if it was just in
captivity. (The other two are Koalas and Giant Pandas). The Manatee and
Crocodile exhibits were also very noteworthy.
 The Singapore Zoo also has another claim to fame, it's also a top
contender in Singapore's annual best maintained public restroom contest.
Apparently, teams of judges go out and rate public restrooms in Singapore and
give out awards. I was unclear if the award was based on strict cleanliness, or
if some factor of innovation or design came into play.
The restrooms at the Singapore Zoo were quite interesting,
being half indoors with the outdoor portion being a gardenlike area for washing
your hands.
December 25, 1998
On Christmas, we went out to the Japanese and Chinese
Gardens. As to be expected, these were lovely park areas, but little more to
recommend them.
We went back to the financial center of town, which had
closed down for the half day. We ate in a food staff nears Raffles Place, where
we got stuck in another monsoon for 45 minutes or so.
When it passed, we darted over to Orchard Road in the hopes
that the Internet Cafe might be open. We were very surprised. Nothing was
closed on Orchard road, and it was packed with shoppers. We shopped around and
ate at the California Pizza Kitchen (Their food is just as weird in Singapore
as it is in Phoenix).
 We also
tried a couple "American" stores to see if they'd have anything interesting.
Borders bookstore was a total wash. It was just like a Borders bookstore in the
US and had nothing special to be found. The same was true of Toy's R Us.
Then we went to City Hall MRT station and I found another
Sogo's Department Store. I poked around and found some more Ultraman stuff and
then, quit unsuspectingly, went to the bathroom.
So far my impression of Singapore was that it was a very
asian city, but that it had fixed all the "problems" of other parts of Asia. It
has the authentic food, but also has a fallback of pizza, burgers and chicken.
Everyone speaks their native tongue, but they also all speak English. It's safe
and clean.
…but…
…It…
…has…
…squat…
…toilets!!!
I was overcome by an unreal sense of paradise
lost.
Merry Christmas.
December 26, 1998
First thing in the morning we decided to take the last MRT
train we hadn't gone on to the end of the line. We went to the far east. Here
we found a shopping mall (surprise!) and a park (double surprise!) We decided
to walk though the park, which comprises some of the island's conservation area
of the original magrove swamps and suddenly we found ourselves looking out at
Malaysia. It was a pleasant surprise, but because we left directly from the
breakfast table, I hadn't brought my camera or camcorder.
We left the park in a hurry, returned to the hotel, checked
out and c?±±kt a cab to the airport for our return to Taipei. I was
disappointed that I hadn't had enough time to see the whole island and decided
that we must return someday. |
