Singapore - Day 4

A Different Kind of Spa
The next morning, prior to leaving Sentosa island, we went for a spa treatment. Not exactly what you are used to, I doubt. How is it different? Well, we opted for the foot rub special, which starts out with you putting your feet into a pool that is filled with fish that nibble away your dead skin. Read their sign for yourself.


There were two pools to pick from, one with the Turkish fish, which are really tiny and the other with larger African Spa fish. I picked the latter, since Puffin looked fearful of the larger fish. What is eerie is how the fish swim towards you hungrily as you step near the pool's edge. I was afraid it was going to be ticklish and sure enough it was. There was nobody else in that particular pool so I got their full attention. If you close your eyes, it feels like your feet are in a bubbly sauna. It requires mind over matter.


Puffin is way more ticklish than I and kept lifting her feet from the pool. At one point she would only give them her heels. After 20 minutes of this we washed our feet and got 20 minutes of traditional chinese foot reflexology. It was painful at times and ticklish at others but an hour later my feet felt really good.


Now for Some Mental Exercise
Mahjong is a big time game here - a money game. Of course, I had to learn to play and jump in the family game. It is pretty complicated, but in essence it is like gin rummy on steroids. What makes it so complicated is depending upon whether you have certain "special" tiles (flower, wind) you can or cannot play certain combinations of suits. So, for example, with a flower tile you can combine three of a kind with three in a row in your hand. There are quite a lot of other rules that I won't go into. The goal is to go out and make as many points as possible. I cannot even begin to explain how you maximize your points - I am still learning that.


What makes it even more challenging is that I don't know Chinese, so I had to learn not only the symbols, but also their pronunciation since you have to announce your discards. This is an example of one of the suits - the symbols are one to nine, in order. You will be happy to know that I won money my first game (ok, I had my coach on my shoulder - thanks Puffin.)


Dinner at the Local "Food Court"
As you may have guessed by now, Singaporeans take their food very seriously. They have the benefit of a mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Indonesian food cultures, which seemingly multiplies the variety exponentially. Almost all food is eaten at what they call "Hawker Centers" which are open-aired food courts. You find a table and then go order various things.

First dish of the night is strangely called carrot cake - it is neither a cake nor does it contain carrots. Instead, it is a sauteed mix of turnips, egg, garlic and other vegetables. It is a nice, light dish.

This dish is called oyster egg and it exactly that: sauteed oysters and eggs held together with a sweet potato flour paste. I did not care for this too much - not much of an oyster fan.

The barbecued stingray was not what I expected. It was meatier than I expected for a fish, I quite liked it.

Barbecued chicken wings with curry sauce for dipping.

Singapore - Day 3

So Much for the "Rainy Season"
They tell me this is the rainy season but every day I wake up, look out the window and see this. This is the view from the bedroom. Lows at night go down to about 75 degrees, highs around 90. All the windows are always open to allow a breeze through. Man, it is gonna be really tough to leave here and go back to winter.

Breakfast in the Old Neighborhood

Puff used to live in Queenstown, which is a neighborhood near the south of the island. You can see it on the map that follows if you look closely. We took the metro and then the bus and walked around a bit. Here are some streetscapes:

As always, the roads are plenty shaded by large trees.

We went to her favorite breakfast spot, a Malay open air coffee shop. There were no walls on the front of it and none necessary - it is always warm here.

I had Mee Rebus, a Malaysian dish of noodles in a potato-peanut sauce with dried prawn, bean paste, egg, bean sprouts and spring onion. It was very tasty though I find it strange to eat something like this for breakfast.

A Day in Sentosa

Sentosa is a small island off the southern tip of Singapore. We spent the day and one night there at a hotel. It is a beach resort, essentially. There are a lot of beaches, hotels, restaurants and other tourist attractions. The government is building a gigantic casino there, which is due to open in 2010. Interestingly, it will be free to enter the casino as a foreigner but will cost $200 for a Singaporean. Apparently, this is to dissuade locals from becoming addicted to gambling.

There are a variety of ways to get to Sentosa, we picked the most scenic, a glass-bottomed cable car. It goes right through the top of a skyscraper on its way.

Here is an shot to the east of downtown and the port. As you can see, we were pretty high up.

One of the things I appreciate is the respect they have here for trees. This is a restaurant on top of Mount Faber, which was part of our cable car ride. It was built within a copse of trees.

This is a look from Sentosa at downtown. The cranes in the foreground are part of the casino building site, then you see the port, which is one of the busiest in Asia.

For lunch we had lobster Laksa, which is noodles, lobster, egg, bean curd and chili in coconut milk. Nice and flavorful. As for Sentosa, no, not my cup of tea - way too touristy and fake for my tastes.

Singapore - Day 2

A Trip to Downtown
I took a taxi with Puff downtown, about a 20 minute ride on the expressway. She had to go to work, which is in a high-rise shown below. I walked around a bit and had coffee.

Across the street from her office is a temple.


A Polyglot Society
Singapore is a real mix of different peoples and cultures. It is about 75% Chinese, 15% Malay, 9% Indian and the rest of mix of Indonesian, European and Bangladeshi. As a result, almost all sings are posted in four languages: English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay. Apparently, the majority of the Indian population is from southern India and speak Tamil rather than Hindi. Now, if that ain't interesting enough: when you eat at a cafe you order in Hokkian, which is a different Chinese language from southern China.

What You Get from Your Taxes Here

Income taxes here range from 16-20% and instead of useless, costly wars you get nice infrastructure. We took the metro from Puff's neighborhood, Serangoon to downtown to eat. The station is beautiful and clean.

There are 4 different lines that cover the whole island. You purchase a card, put money on it and use it to enter and exit the subway.

The stations are modern, air-conditioned and state of the art. As in Hong Kong, the tracks are completely covered by walls that open up to allow entry to the train when it arrives. This is done both for safety and to keep the stations cool.

Singapore - Day 1

First Impressions
Imagine Miami within a tropical rainforest. Greenery everywhere, hot, humid, thunderstorms looming nearby. Colorful high-rise apartment buildings punching up through the forest ceiling. Highways completely covered with tree canopy - the taxi ride from the airport felt like a slide down a long, green tunnel. Here is a shot from Puff's apartment.

Here is a street near Puff's house.

First meal in Singapore: black pepper crab. I am not much for crab but this was pretty tasty. The preferred method of eating it is to grab a chunk with your hands and get to work. After this meal my jetlag really kicked in. I managed to stay awake until about 10pm and then crashed.

Polar Route and Hong Kong Night

Over the Top of the World
We took a route I've never been on before - not even the last time I went to Hong Kong. We went due North from NY, over Albany and right over the North Pole, over Russia, China into Hong Kong. We were late departing NY so I missed my connecting flight to Singapore. I had to spend the night and catch a morning flight to Singapore.

Thank Goodness for Business Class

Rather be Lucky than Good
As I said earlier, I got bumped up to business class by luck. Cathay Pacific's business class is really nice. Each person gets their own little coffin-like seat to cozy into. You can stretch out, flatten the seat out completely to sleep or swing that TV on the left out into view and choose from hundreds of movies/tv shows to watch.

Here is a shot looking up the aisle. The seats are angled 45 degrees towards the front of the plane. I watched some movies, ate dinner and then knocked out for 8 hrs.

Round the World Trip Begins....

Starting Out with a Bit of Luck

Arrived at the airport today for my flight to Singapore very early. My thinking was it may help me to get an aisle seat, which, when flying in coach for 16 hrs is a must-have. I asked politely for an aisle seat, smile on my face and the lady looked at me and said "this is your lucky day, we are overbooked in the back, I am bumping you to business." WOO-HOO!!!! I also got an invitation to the lounge, where I am now, typing this out.

Merry Christmas

I Got Two Cool Things for X-Mas
Some homemade Treats Truck styled peanut butter sandwiches "a la Sal." I actually stole one and ate it on the sly yesterday - they are crumbly, peanut-buttery deliciousness. Puffin, I cannot promise you there will be any left after the 20-hr flight, but I will do my best.

Oh, and I also got this moocher. I know he is gonna try to snag a cookie, gotta keep an eye on him.

Oh Yeah, Take This Paris!!

Simple, Delicate, Delicious

The Parisians have us beat dessert-wise, but every now and then we invent something like this: the headlight. Puffin, you remember this don't you?

We Do Christmas Right

No Fake Tree and Everyone is Included
I didn't ask but I am guessing the middle stocking is for the cats.

A nice tree that just about touches the ceiling.

Close up of a homemade pine cone ornament. This one has to be 35 years old.

It wouldn't be Sal's house without a kitty ornament.

Close up of a homemade heart ornament. I remember doing this one about 10-15 years ago, I think.

This one is funny. Can you tell this one isn't store bought?

Who's Dreaming of a White Christmas?

I Was Hoping for Some Snow...

And I wasn't the only one. The Inkster seemed pleased.

There was tons of it everywhere.

This should give you a better idea as to how much...

Back on the Road Again....

Around the World in 20-Something Days....

Today: Brooklyn to Syracuse

Thursday: Syracuse to Brooklyn

Friday: Brooklyn to Hong Kong

Saturday: Hong Kong to Singapore

A while later: Singapore to Paris

A week after that: Paris to Brooklyn

Then, if that ain't enough for you, after that is all over and done with, I go back to Paris a week later. I am going to be practicing mind control on the long flights.

Paris Redux - Epilogue

Back in the BK, Safe and Sound
Had a hyperactive kid sitting behind me on my flight, hitting the back of my seat the entire 8 hrs. Here's a reenactment.

It's kinda snowy here in the BK but it had no effect on the flight. Here's a shot from the living room window. First snow is always so pretty.

However, when you have to slog through it for breakfast and the paper, it ain't so pretty anymore.