McShame

Wednesday, January 14th

Woo hoo, we're out of the hotel!  David has to work today, so I'm in charge of packing up the rest of our stuff and hauling it to the new house.  I'm still not quite comfortable with driving, but the house is a only short drive from the hotel, so it was fine.  We complain about having to drive the Honday Odyssey, but you can certainly pack a lot of stuff in the back.

Sidenote:  Price of a new Honda Odyssey in Singapore:  S$95,000 (about $65, 000 USD).  And that's not including the price of the Certificate of Entitlement you need in order to drive any car, S$16,000 - S$90,000 ($11,000 - 64,000USD) depending on the car and how many people have COE's at the time.  It's the reason the traffic isn't horrendous.  Imagine what would result if we tried to fit the entire population of the state of Minnesota inside the 494/694 loop and gave them all cars.  It's about the same population/size here, but there are rarely any traffic jams.

As I was waiting for the air shipment to show, I called the cable company and had our selection upgraded.  It took less than 5 minutes and then I had Forensic Files to keep me company.  No MTV or Bravo, though.  I know, it's probably better that way, but I am going to miss Top Chef until David gets the Apple TV hooked up.

The washing machine repairman came and "fixed" the washing machine.  It turns out that all he did was jiggle the door, and it starting working!  Now I really felt like an idiot.  I swore to him that I tried that, I really did, and he just kind of looked at me.  Silly American housewife.

The air shipment finally came with our sheets, towels, pillows, and a few dishes and such, about 10-12 boxes of things.  But by this time it was 1pm and I was hot and starving with absolutely no food in the house.  For those of you who know me, when my bloodsugar gets low, it's not a pretty picture.  So I did what I swore I would never do here in Singapore.  I went to...  McDonald's.  Not only did I go to McDonald's, I drove the six blocks there.  McDonald's delivers here 24/7, and if I thought I could of gotten the food faster that way, I would have.  I had a Big Mac and a Diet Coke.  And it was great.

Afterwards, I went to Cold Storage, which is a local grocery store chain.  I bought milk, cereal, OJ bananas, peanut butter, parmesian cheese, and a bottle of wine.  To my surprise, the total was $72.  The orange juice was $2, so why the high price?  The milk was $16.50, and the cheese was $19, I kid you not.  Looks like I'll be cutting down on dairy.

Cha Cha Cha

[Still in flashback mode]

Monday, January 12th

The cable guy came today!  HBO!  E!  Crime Investigation Network!  Too bad we're still in the hotel because our air shipment isn't here yet, and I have to go back to watching the Time Warp marathon on the Discovery Channel back at the hotel.  

David took a cab to work and I have the week off, so after a solid nap at the hotel, I drove up to see Millie and met David.  She was thrilled to see us as usual, and gave us one of those pathetic whine-barks when we left.

We wandered around Holland Villiage looking for dinner.  Holland Village is sort of like an Uptown for you Minneapolis folks - lots of bars and restraunts, shopping and the like.  David spied a Mexican food restraunt, and though we expected to be pretty disappointed, we gave it a shot.  My cheese enchilada left a bit to be desired, but the chips and salsa were fantastic, and so was the margarita.  

We ate a ton, and as we were on our second basket of chips, David said:  "Okay, we can live here..."

Tuesday, January 13th

I cannot figure out how to use the washing machine.  We'be been at the hotel a lot longer than we thought we would and I really need to do a load of laundry.  Is it plugged in?  Check.  Power button on?  Check.  Dial turned to the right setting?  Check.  Water on?  Check.  There's nothing like not being able to run a basic appliance to make me feel like an idiot.  I called our real estate agent and she tried to talk me through it, but no luck.  The repairman will come tomorrow, when our air shipment is supposed to come.  David's yoga gear will have to fester a day longer.

I sat down on our rented couch to watch some good cable on our rented TV, and found out that Crime Investigation Network had disappeared, along with a few other favorite channels.  Drat, the fact that I could see them yesterday must have been a teaser.  I looked on the order slip and saw that we didn't get the "Upsize" on our package, so that must be it.

I met David at the kennel to visit Millie, and then we headed back to Holland Village and picked pizza this time.  It was a nice place, the cloth-napkin and tealight candle kind, gorgonzola as an option on the pizzas.  It also had a whole wall of wine, so I was pretty excited.  But after sitting down and looking at the wine list, there was one (count it) wine-by-the-glass option, and it was $14.  And it came cold.  I tried to ask about all the wine on the wall, and was this really the only option, but the waitress didn't seem to understand my question, so I gave up.

This day was a bust.  At least we'll be out of the hotel tomorrow...

Sa-nook

I'm starting to dig into the backlog, so some of the next few posts may be confusing.  Think of it as a movie flashback....

[Insert flashback visual and sound effects here]

Sunday, January 11th

After a long walk and lots of picture taking around the Civic Historical area, I went and collected David from yoga.  We wandered around the Raffles City Shopping Centre.  I was curious to see what stores they had, and found out they pretty much had what we do back in the states.  Tommy Hilfinger, Kate Spade, The Body Shop, etc.  But here, there are two big differences.  First of all, the size of these places.  Four floors are the minimum, and we've even been to one with more than eight.  Since it's a small country and space is at a premium, all the malls go up, not out.  There are a lot of escalators.

Second, the floors of shopping tend to have a theme.  No, I don't mean theme like Seasons, Holidays, Color schemes.  I mean, all the stores of a certain type are usually grouped together.  At home, all the similar stores will be spread out - you will not have a Body Shop right next to Bath and Body Works, or an ALDO shoe store right next to Nine West right next to Payless.  Here, you will have all the cell phone stores on one level, all the salons on the next, all the restraunts on the next, and so forth.  It's not a hard and fast rule though, occasionally the Nike store will be up by the Food Court, or the Persian Rug place with be with all the Kid's clothing shops.  It's sort of a good thing if you can't find the map though, you can say, "Oh, we're by all the tailor's shops, we are not going to find the Birkenstock store here...".

And as for the dozens and dozens of restraunts in the malls, they all have their menu's on a stand out front, so you can sort of browse before deciding where to eat.  Most people eat out at least once a day, so there's brisk business around meal times.  Here's our usual pre-meal conversation:

"What do you want to eat?" 

"I don't care, what do you want?"  

"I'm not really hungry, so you pick."  

"No, you pick this time, I picked last time."  

"Fine, how about the Dim Sum place?"  

"No, it's too complicated to order."

 - Insert exasperated sigh here - 

"Well, how about the Korean BBQ place?"

"No, I had that for lunch."

"You said you didn't care!!"

"I don't, you're just picking bad places!"

And we finally end up somewhere that has lots of pictures on the menu so we can tell what we're actually ordering.  Here's another conversation that also often takes place when the food comes:

"What did you order?"

"I'm not really sure."

"What kind of meat is in there?"

"I have no idea."

For the first couple of weeks we had every meal at a different place, but we've started going to this place fairly often:

It's close enough to Noodles or Chin's Asia Fresh that ordering isn't stressful, but far enough away that we still need pictures to tell what we're ordering.  And it's Thai, which mean they have spicy food.  As David said the first time I asked him if he really wanted extra spicy:  "I'm trying to test my limits.  I need to know where my threshold is."  As far as I can tell, he hasn't reached it yet.

P.S.  Sa-nook means "have fun" in Thai....

History Lesson Part III

At the risk of boring everyone, I'm going to do one last History post before I head into the minutae of day to day living here in Singapore. I took the trouble of taking all these pictures, so I have to show somebody! I'll be quick, I promise, and then tomorrow we'll switch gears...

No, that is not a UFO that has landed on the City Hall.  The juxtiposition of modern and classic is a common sight here in Singapore. I have no idea what the building with the round top is, probably something like a bank. I was tired by this time and didn't want to walk all the way over there to figure it out, sorry.

This is the Indian National Army Monument. "In the final months of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, a memorial dedicated to the 'Unknown Warrior' of the Indian National Army (INA) was constructed on this site. The local INA was formed in 1942 with Japanese support. It sought to liberate India from the British and consisted mainly of prisoners-of-war from the British Indian Army. Subhas Chandra Bose, who led the INA from 1943 onwards, laid a foundation stone at the monument in July 1945. The Urdu words inscribed on the monument read: ITTEFAQ (unity), ITMAD (faith) ad KURBANI (sacrifice). When the British returned to Singapore, they demolished the memorial barely two months after it's installment."

That last sentence, to me, seems like it's trying to say somthing without really saying it.  And then so this is a memorial to a demolished memorial?  I took a look at the back of the sculpture, decided it looked like WALL-E's fingers, and moved on.

Next were another two memorials, almost right next to each other. The first is for Major General Lim Bo Seng.

"Major-General Lim Bo Seng was born on the 27th of April, 1909 in Non-An, Fukien, China. He came to Singapore at the age of 16. Since 1937 he became prominent in anti-Japanese activities. When Singapore fell in 1942 he went to Chungking and on instructions from the Chinese Government, he joined the underground resistance under the Supreme Allied Command Southeast Asia. But he was discovered and arrested by the Japanese military police on 27th March 1944. He manfully endured repeated tortures to which he ultimately succomed on 29th June 1944 at the age of 35. He died in the Batu Gajah prison a martyr to the cause of a liberated Malaya and to his loyalty to the comrades..."

And then there's this memorial, right across the path:

It's much bigger, and has a more prominant location. Let's see wht this inscription says:

"Erected by the European Chinese and native inhabitants of Singapore to commemorate the visit in the month of February 1850 of the the most noble The Marquis of Dalhouse. K.T.  Governer General of British India on which occasion he emphatically recognized the wisdom of liberating commerce from all restraints, under which enlightened policy this settlement has rapidly attained it's present rank among British possessions and with which it's future prosperity must ever be identified."

What!?  Unlike that first INA memorial, this one says someting without really saying anything.  Mr. Lim Bo Seng's memorial was much more interesting - 100 years later we're way more interested in the gory details.  Or at least willing to admit it.

And last but not least, we're finally getting to the most important guy here, and that's Mr. Stamford Raffles.

"Raffles declared the foundation of what was to become modern Singapore on 6 February, securing the transfer of control of the island to the East India Company. Much pomp and ceremony was done, and the official treaty was read aloud in languages representing all nations present, as well as the Malay and Chinese inhabitants. Hussien Shah was paid $5000 a year while the local Temenggong received $3000 a year, both massive sums at the time, equivalent to several hundred thousand dollars now. Farquhar was officially named the Resident of Singapore as Raffles was named as "Agent to the Most Noble the Governor-General with the States of Rhio, Lingin and Johor".

In 1823, Raffles drafted the first constitution for Singapore, which followed a fairly moralistic stance, outlawing gaming and slavery. A specific regulation in the constitution called for the multiethnic population of Singapore to remain as is, and there shall be no crimes based on being a race. He then went to work drafting laws, defining on exactly "what" constituted a crime. Finally, on 9 July 1823, feeling that his work on establishing Singapore was finished, he boarded a ship for home. His longest tenure in Singapore was only eight months, but he was considered the founder of Singapore nevertheless.

His plaque says:  "To the memory of Sir Stamford Raffles to whose foresight and genius Singapore owes its existance and prosperity...".  I want to be called genius on my memorial plaque.  Assuming I'll have one, of course.

After a long afternoon of walking around, David and I walked around some more, trying to decide where to eat.  There are so many restraunts here, and until we get some groceries, it's been a nightly argument on who has to pick where to go for dinner.  I suppose I've had worse problems, but I'm looking forward to digging out the cookbooks and cooking my own dinner!

History Lesson, Part II

Let's go back to the Thursday before last, when I was taking a leisurely tour of some of Singapore's historical sites while David was at yoga.  Nothing was quite as impressive as the Civilians memorial I posted earlier, but there were a few things that may be of interest.

First, a shot of nothing that has anything to do with history.  Crossing the street isn't always easy here in Singapore.  Jaywalking is illegal (and has a hefty fine, of course), so in order to cross the busier streets, there are often pedestrian overpasses, or in this case, tunnels.  Here's a shot of what goes on in some of the tunnel...

Free entertainment from Singapore's Best Dance Crew!  This tunnel was right next to a Performing Arts Center, so I guess it wasn't too much of a surprise to see this, but they were pretty fun to watch.  Also, there were several other groups of performers, but most of them were sitting in circles singing, or weirdly - line dancing, which wasn't quite as riveting so I didn't try to take any pictures.

Next on the tour is the Tan Kim Seng Fountain, which "was constructed to commemorate Mr. Tam Kim Seng for his donation made on 18 November 1857 toward the cost of Singapore Water Works...'   Apparently at the time there was a lot of discussion about what to do about reliably getting water to Singapore, but no one was actually doing anything about it until rich Mr. Seng came around.  He threw some money at the problem and Got 'Er Done, as they say.  I did a little research and found a bit on Mr. Seng, but nothing about who actually designed this fountain.  I want one for my yard.

I don't quite get the Zeus Spitting Water part, but it must have had some signficiance back in the day.  As a side note, Singapore still does not have their own water supply - they get all their water piped in from Malaysia.  There is a 3 - 6 month supply on the island in case Singapore and Malaysia start fighting, but after that, they're pretty much SOL.

We finally make it to the Cenotaph, which commemorated soldiers that gave their lives in World War I and World War II.

Let's zoom in and see how much the boarders using the monument a skate ramp care about this piece of history.  Not much, it appears.

Though I do like how they didn't erect a whole new memorial for WWII, they simply added the new dates to the back:

There's enough for one more post, but it's late, so I'm going to take a break.  I'll leave you with this shot from the downtown skyline, which you can also see on the History Tour.

The Family's All Together

I have a feeling I'm going to start each post with an apology.  "Sorry it's been so long, but [insert excuse here], ...." and such and such.  It's been a week since the last update, but don't worry, I've been keeping track of everything interesting that we've done, and all will be posted eventually.  Both Millie and the sea shipment with all the furniture came today, so I'm completely exhausted from unpacking Tupperware, but I still wanted to post a couple of pix.

First, we finally got Millie today!  The Pet Embassy delivered her after 30 long days in quarantine (where she learned that she will live if only allowed to pee twice a day, not 20 like she's used to), and I continue to wonder what she thinks about this whole thing.  She seems to be taking everything in stride - happy just to have dinner and a belly scratch from time to time.  I should take a lesson.  After arriving, she explored the whole house and yard, and then proceeded to fall dead asleep on her bed for the rest of the afternoon.  We took her for a long walk tonight, and the locals are pretty impressed.  It's not exactly common to have a dog here in the first place, much less a huge one like Millie.  The neighbor dog seemed pretty interested, too:

This is Snickers/Tigger, owned by the Austrailian family next door.  He barks on occasion, but mostly only for attention, after you reach through the fence and give his chin a scratch he quiets down.  And even thought "he still has all his pieces" as David puts it, and "maybe they'll kiss..." like the little 4-year-old who owns Tika noted, we think they'll keep it platonic and get on like best of friends.

Another random observation includes smoking.  We forgot what it was like to have to choose "the smoking or non-" sections in restraunts, there are still quite a few smokers here.  Though with cigarette ads like these, who could light one up?

Zoom in if you can't see it, but every pack of cigarettes has  picture of a tumor, growth, or something else gross that can happen if you keep smoking.  I almost bought a pack just for the picture!

It's 10pm on Thursday, and American Idol is finally on!

History Lesson Part I

Can it be Thursday already??? There's so much that we've packed in during the last week and yet, sadly, almost nothing to show for it. On Sunday, I decided to tag along with David when he went to his yoga class, and I wandered around for a couple of hours in the Civic area of Singapore, which was right across the street from the mall where David takes his classes.

First Stop: Civilian War Memorial

"The Japanese invaded Singapore in 1942 (in order to"liberate" Singapore from colonial rule) and occupied Singapore until the end of the World War II in 1945. The Japanese occupation is generally regarded as the darkest period of Singapore history, as they were far harsher rulers than the British ever were. This memorial is to commemorate the civilians who lost their lives during that time.

"Four vertical pillars soar to over 70 meters symbolizing the shared war experiences of the Chinese, Indian, Malay, and other races.

"The remains of unknown victims are interred beneath the monument.

"Among the civilians who lost their lives were numerous Chinese targetted by the Japanese under the Sook Ching (literally "to purge" or "to eliminate") operations. On 18 February 1942, large numbers of Chinese were forcibly assembled at designated mass screening centres. Many were unjustly accused of involvement in anti-Japanese activities, or arbitrarily condemned. No one will ever know how many were taken away and massacred. Unofficial figures put the number of dead at about 50,000."

This place was pretty cool, I love history when there is something tangible to connect it to. Tell me all the facts above without actually being there and I'd think "Oh, um, okay" and wonder what's for lunch. But when you're there, knowing that there are people buried there, and that there was this place that I didn't know was even involved in WWII (I pretty much think Germany and oh yeah, didn't we drop The Bomb on someone?), it brings a clearer light.

Don't get bored already, more to come!

Terror on the Highway

We drove! They just handed us a car and let us drive! No, this is not an optical illusion, the steering wheel really is on the right (opposite) side. It's a bit disconcerting and I'll have to admit I pretty much white-knucked the drive back from seeing Millie, but the maiden voyage is over. We drove. On real roads. In traffic. Without (mostly) any incidents.

P.S. I have to keep taking pictures of these things before they become normal. Note not only the excessive fines for wanting to take your Diet Coke on the subway, but also that hauling along a durian fruit is actually illegal.

Wait, Did We Just Move To Singapore?

Since I'm a bit tired, I thought I'd rely on pictures do the talking. Among other things, we bought cell phones (iPhone for David of course, and a Blackberry for me) and finally saw Millie for the first time in two weeks. No pictures allowed in the Quarantine Station, but she's doing fairly well, other than wanting to get the heck out of Dodge, of course. Now the countdown is 14 days until we can spring her out of there.

Here's a pic from the hotel restraunt, they have a huge buffet and tropical scenery to boot:


We hit one of the malls to buy our phones, and in an effort to find a snack, I saw this. Pizza in a Cone! How are these not at the State Fair????


After a full day of trying to sleep in, shopping for phones and visiting Millie, we hit Newton Circus, which is a hawker center (read: cheap local food) by our hotel. They're already setting up for Chinese New Year with the red lanterns.



But what's this? Carrot Cake! Just like mom makes! At the same vendor as Oyster Omlettes, but it can't be that different, can it?



Or can it? Granted, I really didn't expect cake, per say, but there weren't any carrots at all! Just eggs, prawn, rice flour chunks, and some green onions. It wasn't bad though, I ate the whole thing.

Next time it's the Cereal Prawn, to see if cereal has anything to do with the dish. Ta from the island, I'm off to find the nearest Starbucks and a wireless connection, I'm sick of the hotel room already...

OMG, Now We're In Singapore!

David and I arrived safely at 3:30am Monday morning Singapore time (1:30pm Sunday afternoon Central), completely exhausted but at least with all our luggage and most of our sanity.  We had 5 pieces of luggage to check (limit of 4) - the extra one piece cost $150 and could have been another carry-on, but I figured after dragging that heavy thing around for 24 hours I'd gladly pay NWA to take it off my hands.  There was a two hour delay (after we got on the plane and the runway, of course) at Tokyo for an abnormal reading on a vibration sensor.  I'm hoping it wasn't a Honeywell part.

I'm wearing shorts and a tank top this morning, it was 83F when we got up.  I'll write more later after a decent meal at the hotel breakfast buffet - on the docket today is to acquire cell phones and open a bank account.  Wish us luck, and we get to see Millie later today!