From Singapore
I'm at the airport now on my way home to HK from my 4 day trip to Singapore. I have to say i'm not super impressed with Changi Airport (side note, just saw the crew board my plane YUMMY!!! i seriously thing the HR manager at Cathay must be gay!). It's not particularly well organized, the immigration stuff is a nightmare, and it's generally confusing. That said, the restaurants are plentiful and no more of a ripoff than they are in town.
Singapore is a fun city; it’s warm and damp, and tropical. Not much different from Kuala Lumpur last December, except less chaotic and dirty. On the plane I was talking to a local businessman and he described the difference between HK and SG as “In Hong Kong, until the government bans it, something is legal, in Singapore, until the government gives you permission, it’s illegal.” That does seem to be the case here. It’s funny you really do get a sense of control in this city. Funny but you can really feel freedom sometimes. In my head I have a picture of oppression taken from novels about the cold war. People in grey clothing line up at shops for nearly non-existent food rationed by dour functionaries of a totalitarian regime. But Singapore is bright, clean, well-stocked (in fact I’m told that Orchard St is a shopping orgy – I’ll avoid it for a number of reasons). Gays are illegal but relatively un-molested, prostitution is illegal and yet easily, obviously, wonderfully available (there are a dozen side streets in Guylain that host the hookers, and # 16 is the one for ladyboys), and yet people are not really free here. They’ve had one party in power for their entire 50 year existence, with 3 Prime Ministers, (1 and 3 are father and son). Oh, and they kill drug dealers here, and cane vandals. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid when I say I can feel it, but I think I can.
I am sure that you make accommodations when you live here, but I guess that’s the definition of freedom: when you don’t have to make any. But that makes me wonder if we make such accommodations at home in Canada, but we’re just so used to them that we don’t notice anymore. I’m not sure, it’ll be easy to see how we react when we return to Canada permanently.
So since arriving I’ve seen a number of hipon (Filipino for shrimp) with lovely bodies and not so lovely faces. I love the distinction (shrimp are served in asia with the head still on, and you tear it off and eat the body, so a guy with a hot body but a so-so face is a shrimp or hipon). I’ve also seen some just plain lovely boys here. WAH! As Steve would say.
I bought a new pair of flip flops. From what I’ve seen and read that’s the national footwear here in SG. I will post some pics when I get home and can upload them.
OH and on another note, Eric and I are in cell phone hell. It started when I bought an LG phone in December. Turns out it was a piece of shit. After turning it in for repair - twice - it is still no better. It's in again and they called to tell me its fine. As I tried to explain to them either it's working as it should, in which case it's a crap design. Or it's not working as it should in which case it's a piece of crap phone. However, sarcasm does not work. In the meantime Eric bought a blackberry recently and gave me his old iphohe. I was the one who originally opened that one up and got it to work in Canada and here. So i decided to re-open it and upgrade and fiddle with it. And in so doing I think i've fucked it. *sigh* so tonight when I'm back in HK I will spend a few hours working to fix it. In the meantime I have been using a Motorola that has been my backup, but on Friday night I went to plug it in and recharge it and discovered that it won't take a charge at all! So I've been phoneless for 2 days.
Fucking technology!!! THEN Eric discovered that the Blackberry he bought is still locked to the old network for email. So unless he can get a hold of the person he bought it from, it's only ever going to be a nice phone and not the email device it was kinda of designed to be.
Technology (and our reliance on it) sucks.
Boarding soon, see you all back in HK (and TO in a few short weeks)
