going away

This past weekend there were two separate parties for two San Diego co-workers who are going back to SD since it's the end of their assignment.. then I have a third co-worker who's going back in a few weeks. It seems like everyone is going back to San Diego now! Maybe I'm here in the waning days of Singapore.

Singapore did win the bid for Formula One for next year and should have the race early next year. I’ll have to start following the tour. The track is planned to pass about 6 blocks from my house.

Speaking of going away… this Thursday is a holiday, Vesak day, here and I’m taking Friday off and heading back to Batam Island. Last time I went I didn’t do much exploring. There are supposed to be original 1st growth forests right there to walk or mtn bike though. I’ll have to plan my time better to get out and see more of the whole island. I really need a vacation.

Marks & Spencer sells food ... and so much more(besides Marks&Spencer)

I'm very excited because today I found out that Marks & Spencer sells food. Very, very good looking food which is very exciting. I also like their packaging so I can't wait to try the food.
It's been a while since I posted an update but other than this discovery there have been some things going on. Last Sunday was Mother's Day and there was a concert in the Botanical Garden which I went to (Happy Mother's Day, mom!).

Last Friday I saw my first movie in a theater here. Singaporeans watch a lot of movies... maybe it's the 3rd national pastime after shopping and eating. At the box office you get assigned seats before you go in to the theater so you know exactly where to go. How convenient indeed... you avoid the hassle of actually trying to find a seat once you get into the theater; like you don’t have to think about it at all. Will Ferrell and Jon Heder provided command performances in Blades of Glory

This past Friday I saw A Midsummer's Night Dream. It was shown outside on the lawn at Ft. Canning Park which is just around the corner from my place. I was a little weary about how Shakespearian English would come across in Singapore but it was actually very good.

I've also been spending a lot of time at the Mitre Hotel lately. I'll have to write a seperate posting about this place but it's one of the biggest dive bars, likely in whole world. It's technically not a bar since I don't think there is actually a licence and technically not a hotel anymore since there is not longer a license for that either. So it's just called the Mitre. It really looks like a haunted house and it's not marked from the street where you have to walk down a long dark driveway to get there. Probably one of the oldest black and whites in Singapore... definitily the oldest that hasn't been renovated. Rumored to share a border with Lee Kwan Yew's house. It's in a prime location right off Orchard Road and a short walk from my place and the property has been rumored to be worth over $100M and has been more of an urban legond to most Singaporeans I've talked with who didn't think it really existed. Well it does exist and it actually just sold after decades of legal dispute and the price was reported at $100M. It's now a matter of time before it's torn down to build luxury condos (which the land is zoned for). It's never clear how much the beers will cost since I think I've paid $4, $5 or $6 depending on the night...

After the long walk up the drive way, it appears.

Oh! That might be a ghost. ... no, actually, it's just me!

One of the rooms. I don't think this one has been rented recently.... hopefully

And... last week the mosquito control forces came to the hood and sprayed...something. This smoke was everywhere. They come around about once a month and spray everywhere that has dirt basically. Actually Dengue Fever is up about 30% this year from what I've read so mosquito control is serious. Yeah, Asia's Full On! As the signs around the island say "if they breed, you will bleed"

taxi drivers

Walking home tonight I was surprised to be stopped by someone addressing me as ‘sir’ immediately after he said ‘excuse me’. I was first taken back by such courtesy which is so rarely exhibited here in Singapore especially to a stranger. There are the rare instances of it though. A few weeks back I was on the east west line of the MRT and it wasn’t a packed train but it was pretty full. I was standing since I normally stand on the train but all of the seats in the area were taken anyway. An old man came aboard and almost immediately a young spore stood up and offered the seat. I was really impressed that the boy gave up the seat since so many times you see kids sitting there texting on their phones or playing video games oblivious to anything else going on around them... much less give up their seat. I would think the man would even have given a slight smile or something like say 'thanks' to the boy but instead he just took the seat (It is possible I missed the subtlety of the gesture of thanks since I may not be trained to see it and was only expecting some type of Western thanks). It even made ME feel good just to be standing there which sounds strange! It seems like there is so little expression of thanks here and people don’t seem happy. This event demonstrated the kind of courtesy I’ve usually only observed on government posters posted in the cars and on the walls of the MRTs defining what ‘graciousness is’: offering up your seat to those who need it more than you, or maybe directing the elderly or those with too many shopping bags away from the escalator and into the elevator since it’s much more safe (I seriously learned this tip from one of the videos the play in the MRT about ‘MRT platform safety’…can you imagine: carrying too many shopping bags to ride an escalator safely!?). If these kinds of common courtesies were only put into action a fraction of the time this really would be a more wonderful and safe world! Back to the point: so, this guy said, ‘Excuse me, Sir. Do you know where Hooters is?’
I smiled inside as I simultaneously realized the group was both American and itching to go to Hooters… I figured they were on shore leave from a Navy boat in dock ( I later found out this was true and there is a big U.S. boat in dock here right now). “Oh, you want to go to Hooters?... ” “Yeah, it’s by the water, right?” I noticed we were next to some kind of water canal just off Orchard Road I had never noticed before. “Yeah, but not by this water….” It really was close enough to walk but I figured they would get lost and you want to walk into Hooters cool and collected with your game on, not all sweaty from a long walk … so I’ve heard. Instead I gave him directions to take the MRT since we were standing right by a station and it’s only one station away. He seemed convinced but the other acted like it would be too much trouble and he asked if it’s easier to take a cab… which it obviously is, it just didn’t occur to me to tell them to take a cab for some reason. Then he asked if they take a cab should he tell the driver to run the meter or get a fixed rate. I was literally stunned for a second from the question and I told him I had never even heard of negotiating a fixed rate in a cab here. It should be like a $6 cab ride to get them there I told him. Then he told me the cab drivers had picked them up at the U.S. base and told them he’d take them into town for $10 each! The only fixed rate cabs I know of here are the $35 fixed rate for the Mercedes limo cabs and that’s a rate to take you anywhere on the whole island. So these guys had put 4 guys in a normal cab and gave the driver $40 for what should have been like a $15 cab ride and since they didn’t know the difference they thought the driver was doing them a favor (actually this is common in Bangkok for cab drivers to do and I’ve done it before and you can negotiate a better rate sometimes but that’s Thailand and they’re Buddhists and here in Singapore you’re dealing with some penny mongering cab driver who only believes in making money and could care less about Karma or whatever else it is that makes Thai’s so nice…and it’s Singapore that’s supposedly the 1st would country and so civilized (in defense to the cab drivers, they do have to work like 6 hour shifts just to break even for the day, they keep working for another 6 to 8 hours so they can make some money)). It kills me that apparently all the other guys on their boat where doing it too because they thought they were getting a deal. Too bad the taxi drivers are conniving bastards. They must love it when the ships come into town. Even normally when you’re on the meter they will always test you to see if you know where you’re going or if you’re just some guy in town for a few days on a business trip in which case he’ll chose his own route which is always longer. And they know when you know they’re going the wrong way because they’ll all of a sudden look in disgust or dismay at their meter and tell you it should be less and give you a lower price… this has happened to both me and my other coworker from San Diego several times. My point of this entry is that I cannot believe how cheating some people can be. And cheating grunts in the armed services seems really low. They must do it all the time and they must love it when ships come in so they can make easy money.

Message in a Bottle

A friend of mine, Dave, once told me 'beer is the answer', though I think he stole it from Homer Simpson ( he only told me that beer was the answer because he wanted me to make him a neon sign that said "BEER IS THE ANSWER", actually that's what he stole from the Simpsons episode anyways. I told him "no" since he has 2 daughters and he needs to set a better example though now I'm sure he knew what he was doing and it would have been fine for the kids to see. We had words but we're still friends today). Anyway, it is a good message if taken in moderation and yesterday I finally saw Archipelago Beer being sold in bottles at my local grocery store (which is probably one of the worst stocked stores in Singapore) (the camera phone is very handy...and you might as well use it if you have it) (In case you don't know what an archipelago is: here's a link to wikipedia for archipelago(not the brewery))(that's a lot of parentheses which means I've probably used them incorrectly).

The reason I bring this topic up is nothing more than to say that it's probably the best beer being made in Singapore and I happen to know the brewer so I've been hearing that it'll be coming out in bottles soon, and now I'm happy that it finally is. However, $3.95SGD per bottle is steep but not unreasonable. That's only like ~$15USD per six pack! Arghh, that's just Singapore though. A single can of Sapporo beer is ~$3.20SGD in the same store or a single can of Budweiser is somewhere above $3SGD as well (I recently found Budweiser being sold in stores here). It is very good beer. I didn't buy any though since all I needed from the store was bananas to make a sandwich and they say impulse buying is the easist way to blow all your money.

Uncle

Well, I'm an uncle as of May 6th! Congratulations, Nathan and Michelle!
I don't technically have all the details yet and I don't want to intrude too much into their private lives, but in tribute I'm posting a few pictues so they can remember their peaceful days w/o B.

Easter 2006 ... trendy in black...

The night before Nathan's 30th birthday party. Ouch!...Look at those sparks fly. That's some heat! Ah, Youth!

Thanksgiving 2006. This is when the big announcement was made; however, even before Nathan broke the news to everyone I had a strong feeling I knew what was coming. If you look closely at Michelle's glass you'll notice that's soda instead of wine like in Nathan's. When someone's not drinking at a family gathering you know they must be expecting.

Seriously though, congratulations, Nathan and Michelle! I wish I could be there to see you both and my niece in person but I'm sure your hands will be full enough for a while without having to host me at your house any more than you have over the past few years. Thanks!

Oh, Mom... we don't really drink that much at family gatherings. I was just kind of joking.

Thunder and Lightning

...it isn't so frightening when you know every building in Singapore has lightning rods since it's so common. It is scary when your walking outside though since there are a few deaths every year from lightning strikes. The National Environment Agency of Singapore says it has one of the highest lightning activity rates in the world. It also says there are an average of 171 days per year where thunder is heard. Last week there was a big lightning storm and I tried to capture some of if from my apartment. Here are the better pictures I captured
A small bolt back in the distance.
This strike was much closer
No lightning bolts but the sky's lit up
This is the view of the constuction site across the stree from my place. I really wanted to see one of the giant cranes struck but instead I only got pictues like this one where you can see the sky lit up but no lightning bolts.


On a seperate topic I saw a gecko in my apartment today for the first time. I was shocked just because I've never seen one this high up in a building before (on the 7th floor). The other week when I was walking to the elevator from the street at my place one fell off the ceilking onto my head. I've been told it's good luck.

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Aiaiaiaiiiiiiiii

Not too much celebration here in Singapore for Cinco de Mayo. There is some kind of celebration at a place off Orchard Road called No.5 They're going to "celebrate the liberty to Mexico with samba percussionists" according to their website. I guess you have to celebrate something even if it's not exactly right. It's not really a Mexican bar but there are a lot of Tequilas on the shelf and it's as good as any, if not better, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.