A Final Singapore Update

Yesterday, or whatever day it was, because I’m all jacked up with my time zones—Friday, is what I’m trying to say—I wandered around Singapore. Here are some observations.

1) If I have to smell raw, rotting or cured pork again anytime soon, I'll puke.

2) I'm pretty good with the chopsticks, I can even eat soup with them, sort of.

3) Little India is something else--the smells are what got me. Incense, curry and pork (!). I bought a shawl and two sarongs at a sari shop. They’re gorgeous, but they smell like incense, curry and pork. I will be airing them out when I get home.

4) Chinatown was amazing. I bought Christmas gifts there, but the experience of walking through there was really cool and so different from Little India.

5) I have the Singapore subway system nailed.

6) I went to a Catholic church, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple, all in the same day.

7) The Buddhist temple was amazing. The monks were chanting and the colors inside were remarkable and vibrant and it smelled like incense. I loved it. I placed an orchid in front of one of the altars. Doing so is supposed to help me in my interpersonal relationships. :)

8) The Black Knights, which are the stunt fliers in the Singaporean air force, put on a show out of nowhere yesterday afternoon. I've never seen an airshow like that, it was cool. Everyone stopped what they were doing and took out their cameras (it was while I was in Chinatown).

9) Asian babies have to be the cutest babies in the world.

10) I went to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, because you're supposed to. I sat there and had my obligatory Singapore Sling (they were invented there) and ate (very tiny) peanuts and threw the shells on the floor, again, because you're supposed to. SGD30.00 later (USD20.00?!!), I can tell you that it was probably the least enjoyable part of my day, though the drink itself was very refreshing.

11) I went "shopping" on Orchard Road. It's the annual Singapore Sale, where everything in Singapore at nearly every store goes on sale for 2 full months, as much as 70% off. I figured I'd hit Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Tod's to see what kind of deal I could score on a bag. Yeah, so, I still have my little Coach purse. The biggest “bargain” I found was an ugly-ass Burberry bag for $800. Whatever. I also found shoe nirvana, but I can get as good a deal back home when Nordstrom has a sale. Oh well.

12) I am amazed at how alike we all are as people. During my two days of meetings at the office, I literally forgot that two of the people there were from Australia. We all knew about the same things, we all used more or less the same expressions, we'd all had pretty similar experiences, we're all in a gas crunch and an economic crunch and a housing crunch. We all run and/or do triathlons, come to find out. And from a business perspective--without having spoken to one another at all prior to this week about it--we all use exactly the same approach with clients with respect to working with them on policies and process. And that was just the EY people. Even when you speak a different language, a baby waving bye-bye and blowing kisses means the same thing and is just as cute. People all have moms and dads. They're all looking for happiness, they're all generally nice, or want to be, and they appreciate a smile or a thank you. Everyone seems to want to help everyone else. Everyone laughs. People come together over food. And there were a host of other things I observed, too. The one big difference between Asians and me is that Asians don't sweat, I swear to God! The office was 5 mins. walking from the hotel, and both mornings I was literally dripping with sweat. Asians? Nope. I don't get it.

13) I wore a cotton skirt and a camisole and flip flops, with my hair in a ponytail as I wandered around town on Friday. It wasn't as hot as it's been (or maybe it was and I'm just getting used to it), but even so, I was "glowing" everywhere I walked--and I walked everywhere! But by the end of the day, I didn't really mind. I just sort of came to accept that it's constantly damp, and in a way, it kind of felt nice. It was an odd sensation, hard to describe. It might have been because so much of my skin was exposed to the air, it kind of felt like a bath in a way, the air was very soft and warm, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I think I'd go nuts if I had to deal with it every day, but on Friday I just took it in stride as part of the experience.

14) I'm dying for a 'rita and some Tex-Mex!!!!!