=========
I flew into Tokyo on May 4 and was here about a day, then flew to Singapore to meet J. for 5 days while she was there. We had a blast. If you ever get the opportunity, I'd recommend a visit to that city/state/country/island(?)... I'm sure "island fever" may get the best of you after awhile though - its a small place.
But its quite interesting. The first thing you notice when you arrive is the diversity of people. Its a former British colony (until 1959, so I read on a sign there), so its interesting to see the European influence mixed with the Asian, Indian and Polynesian/Indonesian cultures of that part of the world. You could be walking down the street and there would be an old British colonial-style office building (now luxury condos or artists flats or a Starbucks or an Indian Curry House) next to an Asian-style Buddhist temple next to a storefront Mosque and a block away is the 84 story Bank of China skyscraper. Talk about cosmopolitan... Of course, that meant one thing - GREAT food choices. J. and I ate our way thru Chinatown, Indiatown, Bugis Street (big open air market area) and the Financial District it seemed. Only negative was it was freakin' hot and humid! I felt like I was in Mississippi in August...
One night, we met some of J.'s work friends and spouses for drinks and dinner. We started at The Long Bar in the historic Raffles Hotel (most expensive/oldest hotel in the city - again, just what I was told...). The Long Bar is the birthplace of the famous Singapore Sling, so, when in Rome... I must say they weren't the greatest thing (very sweet) but good to say I've been there, tried one - okay, two! The Long Bar, while I'm sure its now nothing but tourists, is still a very cool looking bar. It looks like you've been whisked onto the set of some 1950's classic movie and, any minute, Humphrey Bogart is going to waltz through the door in his white dinner jacket taking a long pull off a cigarette.
After drinks, Steve, one of J.'s work and college friends, had made us dinner reservations at the Shang-ri-la Hotel's restaurant. Some day I can tell you the whole story about the cab ride from The Long Bar to the Shang-ri-la Hotel. Probably the funniest 20 minutes of my life. Our cab driver was silent for the first 15 minutes or so. Did. Not. Say. A. Word.
One night, we met some of J.'s work friends and spouses for drinks and dinner. We started at The Long Bar in the historic Raffles Hotel (most expensive/oldest hotel in the city - again, just what I was told...). The Long Bar is the birthplace of the famous Singapore Sling, so, when in Rome... I must say they weren't the greatest thing (very sweet) but good to say I've been there, tried one - okay, two! The Long Bar, while I'm sure its now nothing but tourists, is still a very cool looking bar. It looks like you've been whisked onto the set of some 1950's classic movie and, any minute, Humphrey Bogart is going to waltz through the door in his white dinner jacket taking a long pull off a cigarette.
After drinks, Steve, one of J.'s work and college friends, had made us dinner reservations at the Shang-ri-la Hotel's restaurant. Some day I can tell you the whole story about the cab ride from The Long Bar to the Shang-ri-la Hotel. Probably the funniest 20 minutes of my life. Our cab driver was silent for the first 15 minutes or so. Did. Not. Say. A. Word.
I didn't think he spoke English he was so quiet. Meanwhile Steve, J. and I are in this cab together (the other 3 in our group are in another cab) and we're just talking about what we've done and what we plan to do the next day. J. tells Steve (who is on the front seat with the cab driver) that we may go to the Zoo's Night Safari the next night. It had been highly recommended by a friend in DC - you ride thru this open range next to the zoo and the animals are just out there or something - like in a safari setting... (We ended up not doing it, unfortunately, due to lack of time). Well, our cabbie suddenly pipes up during this topic and yells, "YES!" We all jump. He says, "YES!" again...we all look at each other. Again, he says, "Yes! Go to night safari!... You see animals make love! Very impressive! Elephant...has one hanging on ground and then mounts woman elephant... Very impressive!" and proceeds to go into graphic detail about the size of the elephants "man unit"... We are all rolling! Then, he jumps to the topic of his own virility and how "...I take-a the Vi...Veee... Veeee-ah-gra now... My wife VERY happy! We make love 4..5..times a day... Very impressive!" Steve asks, "Four or five times a week?" and he says, "NO! No..no...no... four...five times A DAY! Yes, very impressive!" Needless to say, Steve and I start to egg him on at this point and by the time we pull up to this posh hotel, we're falling out of the cab delirious with laughter and getting stares from the hotel staff because we look like we're high or drunk... Anyway. Where was I???
The restaurant was quite a place - I quickly learned Steve is quite the food and wine connieseur. We go in and its one of those Japanese style places with the cooking surface in front of you and they prepare everything right there. Well, we don't really pay attention as Steve is ordering for all of us and talking with the cook - because we're all talking, ordering cocktails and such. Anyway, I do hear him order lobster and steak and a few other things. Meal is splendid - the food was excellent and a really fun dinner. But the bill comes... it was around $600 per couple!!!! J. and I almost shat! ha! I think I've now had the most expensive dinner of my life on that small island. Of course, J. and I just laughed about it afterwards (what else could we do?) and said we'd know to be prepared next time we went out with Steve. And I believe we hit the Indian bargain buffet the following night to try and get back on budget.
The last day we were there, looking to do something outside the downtown area (where it was so hot), we went to the zoo and, you know, it was a lot of fun. I'll say I'm not the biggest zoo fan normally, but I can sit in front of the TV and watch a Discovery documentary on baboons for HOURS!!! And I always enjoyed, back in the day living in Woodley Park in DC, visiting with the silver back gorillas at National Zoo pretty often - they are completely fascinating to me! So, maybe I do like zoos more than I realize. Sorry, I digress.
The restaurant was quite a place - I quickly learned Steve is quite the food and wine connieseur. We go in and its one of those Japanese style places with the cooking surface in front of you and they prepare everything right there. Well, we don't really pay attention as Steve is ordering for all of us and talking with the cook - because we're all talking, ordering cocktails and such. Anyway, I do hear him order lobster and steak and a few other things. Meal is splendid - the food was excellent and a really fun dinner. But the bill comes... it was around $600 per couple!!!! J. and I almost shat! ha! I think I've now had the most expensive dinner of my life on that small island. Of course, J. and I just laughed about it afterwards (what else could we do?) and said we'd know to be prepared next time we went out with Steve. And I believe we hit the Indian bargain buffet the following night to try and get back on budget.
The last day we were there, looking to do something outside the downtown area (where it was so hot), we went to the zoo and, you know, it was a lot of fun. I'll say I'm not the biggest zoo fan normally, but I can sit in front of the TV and watch a Discovery documentary on baboons for HOURS!!! And I always enjoyed, back in the day living in Woodley Park in DC, visiting with the silver back gorillas at National Zoo pretty often - they are completely fascinating to me! So, maybe I do like zoos more than I realize. Sorry, I digress.
This was probably the nicest, best designed zoo I've ever been to. Due to great design, there were no cages anywhere. It seemed like the animals were right THERE! Very interesting because they have a lot of animals from that part of the world that we normally don't get to see - like white tigers and monkeys galore and orang utans that literally swing on vines all over the park. After our afternoon of education, we returned to the city and went walking through some of the old colonial neighborhoods before finding the great - and cheap - Indian food to devour before J. headed out and I packed for the return to Japan.
Anyway, I returned to Japan to a torrential downpour and high winds. Apparently there was a typhoon somewhere off the coast about 250 miles and its had things nutty with our weather. Quite a difference to the heat of Singapore. Very impressive!
Anyway, I returned to Japan to a torrential downpour and high winds. Apparently there was a typhoon somewhere off the coast about 250 miles and its had things nutty with our weather. Quite a difference to the heat of Singapore. Very impressive!
