Saturday, July 09, 2005

Singapore: Some Serious Thigh Chaffing




















If you took Vegas and removed the immorality, quintupled the size of the strip, making it into an entire city, adding a dash of Waikiki, you'd start to get a feel for what Singapore is like. As for the culture, I saw a T-shirt that summed it up nicely. A Bengali tiger and a Chinese dragon were intertwined with one another, with Indian and Chinese pretty much making up the majority of the populous. It seems as if the Malaysian and Pilipino people have a strong presence here as well. Peggy and I guessed that there is about 5-10% of the population who are Anglos living here full time, but use of the English language is the common denominator here, everyone speaks it quite fluently.

The shopping is unlike anything we've ever seen; it is truly a national pastime. The malls blend together, all look exactly alike (with no apparent street numbers for reference) and there is no real definition between where one ends and another begins. It is as if every square inch of space in between buildings is taken up by a maze of retail corridors. If shopping is not your thing you're up for a pretty boring time. Even venturing off to some of the other neighborhoods proved to be more malls, just with different flavors of locals.

Similar to places such as Montreal or Minnesota, they build entire cities underground. Here, entire malls have been built underground from the malls at street level. Unlike Vegas, there does not seem to be the majority of tourists taking over the streets. The locals increase in number and crowd the streets as it gets later in the day. This might just be an untrained eye, but the entire country also seems to look like they are under the age of 25.

We also were questioning the level of debt that the average young S'pore (Singaporean) carries with them, since it appears as if everyone is spending each waking moment immersed in a retail experience. Peggy supposed that it was not as high as the U.S., due to the amount of disposable income created when you remove ownership of an automobile (licenses alone cost over $100K) and reasonable apartment rental rates. This economy must be as strong as an ox, because it is spend, spend, spend for everyone.

Everyone here is either on their cellphone or has one in their hand. This is what I imagined (and could likely still realize) Tokyo to be like. The presence of consumer electronics is pushed everywhere, it is as much of a status symbol as a car is in the states. No devices that I've seen unlike the latest and greatest technology released back home, but certainly the market saturation / public usage is much, much larger. After two days in Singapore, we need about a week in a sensory deprivation tank. If ADD is ever traced back genetically, this town will prove to be its' point of origin.

The weather is hot and humid, around 90F, which is not spontaneous human combustion hot, but certianly hot enough for some serious thigh chaffing. When we leave the hotel in the morning, sunglasses and cameras fog up immediately due to the moisture in the air. No rain as of yet.

Today we visited places like Little India, Arab Street, Raffle's Long Bar (and had the obligatory Singapore Sling), the IOC convention, a suit tailor, and watched a parade for National Day. Now, given the size and scope of this parade (think May Day in Moscow), we thought it was the real deal; a stadium of about 30,000 people dressed in red and white (Singapore's national colors), a full military procession complete with tanks, soldiers in full camo and face paint, several batteries of missiles, large-caliber guns towed by trucks, bridge multiple F-16s and cargo plane flyovers, a 'how great we are' flotilla praising the different areas of achievements that S'pores can - and have excelled in, with an awesome fireworks display to conclude. Nope. Just a dress rehearsal for next month. Who rehearses patriotic rallies? Is there going to be a panel of judges that declares, "No, sorry, this year wasn't patriotic enough, back to communism for you people"? The nationalistic message is really hammered home, in the subways especially with placards promoting good public habits, army enrollment, unity as a whole.

On the flip side, it is very safe and clean. We've never felt threatened in any situation, except almost being stampeded after the National rally let out. This town is spotless, no litter or homeless anywhere, giving it an eerie feeling of sterility. Now, mind you, we’re from San Francisco, where visible human feces and the stench of urine are like Sourdough and Rice-A-Roni.

We're going to try to get out of the city limits a bit further tomorrow and see if we can put things in a better perspective. Being a Sunday, we're not sure if it mandates shops and stores close down or not.

posted by ncawthon at 7:36 PM

Friday, July 08, 2005

Singapore: Passing Round the Indo

















After a relatively easy 13-hour flight that really only seemed like about 9 and a half, Peggy and I arrived in Taipei. Singapore Airlines was really all it was hyped-up to be. Gentle, immaculate flight attendants; high-tech seat entertainment, with 120 channels of on demand movies / TV and video games (with such cool remote controllers, too); decent food that didn't taste like it came from Panda Express.

Peggy and I had a pretty fun time on the flights, yelled 'Yahtzee' aloud on more than one occasion, watched 'Caddyshack' (complete with gratuitous female nudity) and 'Dirty Harry'. I was impressed (not just by the female nudity).

There was, however, the surgical mask effect. Now, I know that I have been known to pass my share of gas, and that they may be practicing physicians coming straight from work, or if they're wearing masks to say, "hip for Summer but ready for the bird flu epidemic in the Fall", but its clearly a fashion that is sweeping Asia. There
were three different women (none ordered the chicken), and each of them had a patterned 'cover' to compliment their filtration system. I think the lady next to me wore a knock-off Fendi.

Taipei to Singapore was uneventful, a quick four-hour jaunt across Indonesia. Never before have I been on a flight and recognized so few of the cities that we passed over. The lady who sat next to us insisted that we go to Kuala Lampur, her hometown. Not sure if she realized the amount of airplane time we've logged recently and that spending one day out of three travelling again was probably not the best thing.

Look out Singapore - we're hitting the streets of today, rules be damned!

posted by ncawthon at 7:29 PM

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Three Cheers for the Red, White & Blue



















What a better way to send off from our home and native land than the anchient Chinese invention of fireworks! Closing night at the fair brought our cousin down from the LBC to watch the show and ride the rides. Aside from a minor gang fight (somewhat of an oxymoron, similar to stating there was a minor groin injury...are not all groin injuries major?), the fair wound down nicely.

Complimenting the oohs and aahs of flying gunpowder was the phosphorous tide crashing on Del Mar shores. Every few years or so, the tide turns an iodine red with dinoflagettes (single celled organisims to you and I). We've gone swimming in it under a full moon and surf in it daily. Although, according to this article, which does a Floridian job of not explaining what a red tide actually is... all us Manatees are screwed. Considering the number of burritos consumed over the past few days, we could be classified as such.

Leaving LAX on Wednesday night. Stay tuned.

posted by ncawthon at 7:26 PM

Sunday, July 03, 2005

A Fair is a Fair




















The livestock auction was today, where various domestic animals were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Pigs went for anywhere from $2.50 to $22.50 per pound, sometimes selling for the around price of a Harley Davidson. A hog or a hog for six grand - ei ei o!. The auctioneer was as animated as Mickey Mouse after a double Latte. Hootin' and hollerin, shouting and yelling, doing any anything possible to drive up the price.

There was a cameo appearance by the Munchkins (that's Lil' People to you and I), who came to introduce the Wizard of Oz - the film they starred in 65 years ago. I think it was Glenda the good witch that actually coined the phrase Lil' People during the opening scene of the movie. Our vertically-challenged friends came appropriately dressed in costume, worked tirelessly throughout the weekend, signing autographs and posing for photos. They were always pleasant, never being 'short' with anyone. Had to be a pretty tall order, given the number of tasteless jokes that ensued.

Tomorrow night, fireworks and festivities for the finale of the San Diego
County fair. Leaving for Singapore on Wednesday evening out of Los Angeles.

posted by ncawthon at 7:16 PM