Fri - December 5, 2003
The Last 24 Hours...
You just knew the jet lag would be
hell!
The flight out of Calcutta was great! It's quite
incredible how re-circulated airplane air can seem as sweet as that in the
Rockies - when one is comparing it to the foul brew we'd been breathing for the
past week. Also, the flight was quite empty....so we got to stretch out and try
to sleep. I think I managed a couple of hours...but Amber...still not quite
satisfied with her heaping doses of Bollywood, helped herself to yet another
sing-and-dance fest.
We landed in Singapore at 6am local time and were pleased to find that the hotel we'd stayed in on the outward leg was quite reasonable (Singapore Airlines had paid the previous time). We piled into the shuttle and marveled at the unbelievable cleanliness of the place. We couldn't actually check into the hotel until noon but they let us store our pile of luggage with the bell captain while we went off in search of our $1 breakfast. I think the ladies at the booth were quite happy to see us again - at least I think so as we had no idea what they were saying. However, there was a lot of smiling going on....
After breakfast and a not nearly strong enough tea, we hailed a cab and went in search of a much-missed Starbucks Frapuccino. These things really are all over the place so we found one without much difficulty. However, even one of those didn't prevent me from doing the "head bob" as opposed to the "wobble" while sitting outside one of the shopping areas. We, somehow, managed to survive until noon...checked in....and crashed for a couple of hours...YAAAAWWWWN!
We awoke groggy yet famished and wandered over to Little India (like we hadn't had enough) to find our gem of a restaurant, the Blue Diamond. It was like we'd never left!
and the food....every bit as good and cheap....mmmmm.....
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Little India...and I think Amber bought even more of those head-sticking Tikka things...while I had a look around at the architecture of this old area of Singapore....
If any of you can remember that far back, the first time through Singapore we (well...mainly Amber) spent a lot of time at the "Pretty in Tokyo" taking all sorts of photos on bizarre backgrounds. Rather like Bollywood films, this is something Amber simply cannot get enough of...so back we went for some more fun-filled snaps. We had a fairly early (& long!) flight the next morning so we grabbed dinner at an outdoor restaurant near the hotel. We were thrilled to see they had Tibetan Momos on the menu...but I can't say they measured up to the Darjeeling version. Then again, we may have been too tired to appreciate them at any level other than that they constituted food!
If you're going to spend a few hours at an airport, you could do much worse than to spend it in Singapore. Everywhere you look, there are plasma screen tvs, wireless internet connections, Gordon Campbells, la-z-boy chairs with speakers in them....whoa...did I say Gordon Campbells??? Yes, it's true....my concentration on that particular weblog entry was thrown asunder by the apparition of the BC Premier wandering dazedly through the terminal pursued by his harried assistant. The only reason I even noticed was the because the assistant was carrying a bag with the Vancouver 2010 logo on the side. It seemed we were home even before we'd left....except for the 17 hour flight to come....OUCH!
Hooray for empty flights!!! We could face the tortuous ride home while able to lounge...ok that's a bit of a stretch (or squash in this case)...across all three seats. This allowed your diligent scribe to put the finishing touches on whatever episode of this sitcom he happened to be working on at the time (I'm beginning to like this 3rd person stuff...it's probably a very good thing this is the last entry!!!).
As most of you know...we arrived home safely...but the jet lag was totally brutal. I kept waking up at anywhere between 3am and 4am for a week....even though I'd stay awake until 10pm the previous night...AARGH!
Amber called this trip the most amazing experience of her life....and I'm glad I helped make it happen for her. She was also a great travel companion - I can't imagine putting up with me 24/7 for almost a month! The trip was also very rewarding for me - especially visiting old haunts in Darjeeling and helping the old school plan and build for an exciting future. Finally, I hope I've managed to convey, in some small way, the great fun we've had on this trip....and that whoever joined us through cyberspace enjoyed the ride.
Until the next one....Namaste and....uhh....Adios!
We landed in Singapore at 6am local time and were pleased to find that the hotel we'd stayed in on the outward leg was quite reasonable (Singapore Airlines had paid the previous time). We piled into the shuttle and marveled at the unbelievable cleanliness of the place. We couldn't actually check into the hotel until noon but they let us store our pile of luggage with the bell captain while we went off in search of our $1 breakfast. I think the ladies at the booth were quite happy to see us again - at least I think so as we had no idea what they were saying. However, there was a lot of smiling going on....
After breakfast and a not nearly strong enough tea, we hailed a cab and went in search of a much-missed Starbucks Frapuccino. These things really are all over the place so we found one without much difficulty. However, even one of those didn't prevent me from doing the "head bob" as opposed to the "wobble" while sitting outside one of the shopping areas. We, somehow, managed to survive until noon...checked in....and crashed for a couple of hours...YAAAAWWWWN!
We awoke groggy yet famished and wandered over to Little India (like we hadn't had enough) to find our gem of a restaurant, the Blue Diamond. It was like we'd never left!
and the food....every bit as good and cheap....mmmmm.....
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Little India...and I think Amber bought even more of those head-sticking Tikka things...while I had a look around at the architecture of this old area of Singapore....
If any of you can remember that far back, the first time through Singapore we (well...mainly Amber) spent a lot of time at the "Pretty in Tokyo" taking all sorts of photos on bizarre backgrounds. Rather like Bollywood films, this is something Amber simply cannot get enough of...so back we went for some more fun-filled snaps. We had a fairly early (& long!) flight the next morning so we grabbed dinner at an outdoor restaurant near the hotel. We were thrilled to see they had Tibetan Momos on the menu...but I can't say they measured up to the Darjeeling version. Then again, we may have been too tired to appreciate them at any level other than that they constituted food!
If you're going to spend a few hours at an airport, you could do much worse than to spend it in Singapore. Everywhere you look, there are plasma screen tvs, wireless internet connections, Gordon Campbells, la-z-boy chairs with speakers in them....whoa...did I say Gordon Campbells??? Yes, it's true....my concentration on that particular weblog entry was thrown asunder by the apparition of the BC Premier wandering dazedly through the terminal pursued by his harried assistant. The only reason I even noticed was the because the assistant was carrying a bag with the Vancouver 2010 logo on the side. It seemed we were home even before we'd left....except for the 17 hour flight to come....OUCH!
Hooray for empty flights!!! We could face the tortuous ride home while able to lounge...ok that's a bit of a stretch (or squash in this case)...across all three seats. This allowed your diligent scribe to put the finishing touches on whatever episode of this sitcom he happened to be working on at the time (I'm beginning to like this 3rd person stuff...it's probably a very good thing this is the last entry!!!).
As most of you know...we arrived home safely...but the jet lag was totally brutal. I kept waking up at anywhere between 3am and 4am for a week....even though I'd stay awake until 10pm the previous night...AARGH!
Amber called this trip the most amazing experience of her life....and I'm glad I helped make it happen for her. She was also a great travel companion - I can't imagine putting up with me 24/7 for almost a month! The trip was also very rewarding for me - especially visiting old haunts in Darjeeling and helping the old school plan and build for an exciting future. Finally, I hope I've managed to convey, in some small way, the great fun we've had on this trip....and that whoever joined us through cyberspace enjoyed the ride.
Until the next one....Namaste and....uhh....Adios!
Posted at 09:22 PM Read More
Tue - October 21, 2003
Breakfast for a buck....Singapore in a Junk
Day 2 in Singapore - Kenny G and Milo in the same
day!
5:15am....loud laughter commenced at the lack of
sleeping competence! Once the horrible truth had sunk in, the only sane response
was to accept and move on. There appeared to be a couple of hours to go before
we had any hope of breakfast so we decided that a '70's revival was called
for....out came the iPod and speakers with Carole King and, yes...the Bay City
Rollers.
Being diligent touristy types, we decided take a touristy tour. The only one that fit into our need to arrive back at the hotel in time to be picked up by the airport shuttle was a tour on the Imperial Cheng-Ho Junk around the Singapore harbour. But first...we'd noticed a "hypermart" around the corner from the hotel - and lo and behold...breakfast for $1 (toast, eggs & tea). The only minor hiccup was that we didn't realize the tea had been pre-sugared - so we decided to add some. Sadly, we didn't know that Singaporean salt likes to masquerade as sugar so it was quite the sweet and savory experience. Undeterred, we finished up the tea and made for counter once again because we'd discovered that they had canned versions of Milo and Horlicks (yeah, yeah...we know) - not to mention packaged versions of Ribena! By now the Chinese women behind the counter were thinking we were completely bonkers (between us taking pictures of the $1 breakfast sign and ogling the multitude of canned drinks). We decided on a couple of steaming cups of Horlicks - and for those who have never experienced that, let me tell you....all suddenly becomes right with the world.
Back at the hotel, we grabbed a cab to Clifford Pier where we booked our "Junk"et. After a bit of a drive in a shuttle bus, we arrived at the Singapore Cruise Centre where Amber was fascinated by a Mr. Soybean place (especially the soy crumpets). The Junk arrived in all its resplendent glory, intricate carvings all over the place. We were loaded on and started off on our stately way....and much to our collective horror....were "entertained" by the plaintive wailings of KennyG massacring tried and true elevator favourites. Note the pained expression...
Suffice to say, it was a pleasant two hours cruising about (Kenny excepted) but, aside from the fact I'm actually doing just that, nothing to write home about.
Post Junk, we made for the shopping heaven of the previous day to pick up my suit and shirts. This resulted in a tearful goodbye from Boss George - and, of course, a suggestion that it was not too late to order three more suits! Our airport pickup was only a couple of hours away and we had yet to find an internet cafe to let all those people that really, really care about us know that we were still alive and shopping. The internet cafe search was absurdly unsuccessful but...we did manage to pick up knock-off Jean-Paul Gaultier wallets - so all was not lost. We couldn't leave Singapore without one more ABSURDLY cheap but INCREDIBLE meal at the Blue Diamond. So, in we trudged (much to the delight of the manager) and shoveled in mouthfuls of biriyani and chai. If only the restaurants in Vancouver's Little India could make chai like this (I think they must use condensed milk)...and a chai latte is not even on the same planet. Note that these Blue Diamond types are not pushovers - they completely ignored our demand that they live up to their promise to "deliver anywhere" - so Vancouver loses out.
Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage.....
...we were whisked off to the airport and piled onto the Singapore Airlines flight to Calcutta - me sitting next to a rather annoying and chubby Bengali dude. Oh well...good training for the next few days. Calcutta craziness to follow shortly.....
Being diligent touristy types, we decided take a touristy tour. The only one that fit into our need to arrive back at the hotel in time to be picked up by the airport shuttle was a tour on the Imperial Cheng-Ho Junk around the Singapore harbour. But first...we'd noticed a "hypermart" around the corner from the hotel - and lo and behold...breakfast for $1 (toast, eggs & tea). The only minor hiccup was that we didn't realize the tea had been pre-sugared - so we decided to add some. Sadly, we didn't know that Singaporean salt likes to masquerade as sugar so it was quite the sweet and savory experience. Undeterred, we finished up the tea and made for counter once again because we'd discovered that they had canned versions of Milo and Horlicks (yeah, yeah...we know) - not to mention packaged versions of Ribena! By now the Chinese women behind the counter were thinking we were completely bonkers (between us taking pictures of the $1 breakfast sign and ogling the multitude of canned drinks). We decided on a couple of steaming cups of Horlicks - and for those who have never experienced that, let me tell you....all suddenly becomes right with the world.
Back at the hotel, we grabbed a cab to Clifford Pier where we booked our "Junk"et. After a bit of a drive in a shuttle bus, we arrived at the Singapore Cruise Centre where Amber was fascinated by a Mr. Soybean place (especially the soy crumpets). The Junk arrived in all its resplendent glory, intricate carvings all over the place. We were loaded on and started off on our stately way....and much to our collective horror....were "entertained" by the plaintive wailings of KennyG massacring tried and true elevator favourites. Note the pained expression...
Suffice to say, it was a pleasant two hours cruising about (Kenny excepted) but, aside from the fact I'm actually doing just that, nothing to write home about.
Post Junk, we made for the shopping heaven of the previous day to pick up my suit and shirts. This resulted in a tearful goodbye from Boss George - and, of course, a suggestion that it was not too late to order three more suits! Our airport pickup was only a couple of hours away and we had yet to find an internet cafe to let all those people that really, really care about us know that we were still alive and shopping. The internet cafe search was absurdly unsuccessful but...we did manage to pick up knock-off Jean-Paul Gaultier wallets - so all was not lost. We couldn't leave Singapore without one more ABSURDLY cheap but INCREDIBLE meal at the Blue Diamond. So, in we trudged (much to the delight of the manager) and shoveled in mouthfuls of biriyani and chai. If only the restaurants in Vancouver's Little India could make chai like this (I think they must use condensed milk)...and a chai latte is not even on the same planet. Note that these Blue Diamond types are not pushovers - they completely ignored our demand that they live up to their promise to "deliver anywhere" - so Vancouver loses out.
Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage.....
...we were whisked off to the airport and piled onto the Singapore Airlines flight to Calcutta - me sitting next to a rather annoying and chubby Bengali dude. Oh well...good training for the next few days. Calcutta craziness to follow shortly.....
Posted at 08:59 AM Read More
Mon - October 20, 2003
Oh the lag!
Day 1 in Singapore...Summertime...and the shopping
is easy...
We finally rolled up to the hotel at about 2:30 am
MONDAY morning (note that we left Vancouver on Saturday at 3pm). For those not
wanting to fire up the computer and embark on complicated logarithmic
calculations, this means it was around mid-morning on Sunday, Vancouver time.
Being mere beginners on this Asian sojourn, Amber and I regularly got shuffled
to the backs of lines (waiting for luggage, boarding the shuttle bus...and
especially trying to check into the hotel with 30 other people). We'd probably
have been in bed 1/2 an hour earlier if we weren't so gol-darned polite (note:
that problem has now been
eliminated).
We woke from a Gravol-induced slumber around 9 the next morning feeling somewhat discombobulated, but ready to hunt down a likely breakfast spot. We ended up at this great place called Chijmes (yeah, yeah...that's how they spell it). It used to be an old monastery/school until the cassocked ones decided to move on. The City decided to convert the site into a great shopping and eating area - while retaining the feel of the old place.
After doing some wandering around, our sugar levels hit rock bottom - and the first place to present itself was this funky Spanish place with a patio. So...Coronas for breakfast (with mushroomy things and a Spanish Omelette) isn't so bad!
We wolfed down some Spanish grits chased with Coronas (now that's breakfast). Freshly fortified, and squinting into the blazing sunlight, I realized that leaving sunglasses in rainy Vancouver was not very bright! So...heavy negotiations and fashion consulting by Amber...soon resulted in a pair of Fila's decorating my face for the rest of the day. Exhausted & drained by the heavy negotiations, we decided that more food was required immediately. Being diligent tourists, we thought that going from the fancy extreme of Cjimes to the insane chaos of Little India would be good for our gastronomic souls. En route, Amber somehow managed to get a roadside Indian woman from Gujarat to hand over wooden henna stamps (along with a strangely smelling block of henna) for the princely sum of $12. Henna parties in Vancouver will never be so easy! Then...purely by accident...and while leaping over rotting fruit on the sidewalk, we discovered the hidden gem of Singapore....the one, the only...Blue Diamond Indian Restaurant - without question the most fabulous, outrageous, Indian food EVER (can't say the same about the decor)! MMMM....dosas, biriyani...and awesome chai! We'd have taken pictures...but then they'd have had to kill us for potentially exposing the secret recipes!
Not content to spend all the rest of the day eating, we decided that I needed a new suit! I mean, really, who doesn't??? So, being the diligent researchers that we are, we picked a random ad for a tailor out of our Singapore map...and that's how a great relationship with "Boss George" was born! So....out came the catalogue...a swanky Zegna suit was chosen (me hoping that it would look as good on me as that blonde dude in the picture)...a black merino wool was drooled over...and the negotiations began! George suggesting that I would need 4 suits....me suggesting that I really didn't need a suit at all. In the end, 1 suit and two shirts ("of the very finest cottons, boss...") were ordered for the princely sum of Cdn$380....ready by 3pm the next day! Here was the happy fitting by Boss's assistant:
Meanwhile...after providing the appropriate fashion consulting to me....Amber found the Holy Grail! In her own words: After saving all of us from navy suits with pleated pants (Boss's recommendation), I ventured out into the small and quirky mall that Boss resided in. There...near the entrance...lay "Pretty in Tokyo" where, for $5 you could be a supermodel! Filled with clucking teenage girls flitting in and out of plasticized photo booths, I realized if I didn't leave quickly, I'd have spent all my cash in this one crazy place - albeit with hundreds of fabulous pictures of myself. So....I only did three, one of which is below....oh yeah, Mark decided to to get over his fear of swimming by diving in as well.
With our freshly minted supermodel shots stored securely in Amber's purse, we ventured out into blazing, humid, debilitating heat - but, since this was Singapore's famous Orchard Road (Robson would constitute 1% of the space & shopping potential)....we dug deep and bore it! OK...not for long...we zipped into (to Amber's indescribable delight - oh... if Scott & Vannie could see her now!) Valentino...followed by Jean-Paul Gaultier...followed by Versace...followed by Ferragamo....followed by Givenchy...followed by Chanel...followed by Gucci...followed by Prada....followed by Louis Vuitton...followed by Dunhill....followed by Cartier....and so on and so on and so on.... The only saving grace was that Amber does NOT have a credit card!
Having worked up a window-shopping froth (& only buying a guava and mango juice each!), the incredible, outstanding, unbelievable Pepper Crab loomed in our future (along with a very cold tall beer). The one thing I told Amber we had to do in Singapore was go to the Newton Hawkers Market to have this dish - it is amazing! Did it live up to the hype?
uhh....yeah!!!
It was time for a nightcap at the festive Clarke Quay. Singapore has a couple of these strips along the river (the other being Boat Quay) where there are rows of restaurants and hawkers' stands serving everything under the sun. It certainly caters to the touristy crowd (egad...there was even a Hooters - but, in this end of the world, it was catering mainly to Aussie Rugby World Cup fans) and the prices reflect that. In spite of that, it's a really cool place to hang out and watch the world go by.
Amazingly enough, we had stayed up until10pm...but it was now time to head back to the hotel. On that note, Singapore has by far the friendliest and helpful cabbies either of us has ever seen. Bed....zzzzzzzz....
We woke from a Gravol-induced slumber around 9 the next morning feeling somewhat discombobulated, but ready to hunt down a likely breakfast spot. We ended up at this great place called Chijmes (yeah, yeah...that's how they spell it). It used to be an old monastery/school until the cassocked ones decided to move on. The City decided to convert the site into a great shopping and eating area - while retaining the feel of the old place.
After doing some wandering around, our sugar levels hit rock bottom - and the first place to present itself was this funky Spanish place with a patio. So...Coronas for breakfast (with mushroomy things and a Spanish Omelette) isn't so bad!
We wolfed down some Spanish grits chased with Coronas (now that's breakfast). Freshly fortified, and squinting into the blazing sunlight, I realized that leaving sunglasses in rainy Vancouver was not very bright! So...heavy negotiations and fashion consulting by Amber...soon resulted in a pair of Fila's decorating my face for the rest of the day. Exhausted & drained by the heavy negotiations, we decided that more food was required immediately. Being diligent tourists, we thought that going from the fancy extreme of Cjimes to the insane chaos of Little India would be good for our gastronomic souls. En route, Amber somehow managed to get a roadside Indian woman from Gujarat to hand over wooden henna stamps (along with a strangely smelling block of henna) for the princely sum of $12. Henna parties in Vancouver will never be so easy! Then...purely by accident...and while leaping over rotting fruit on the sidewalk, we discovered the hidden gem of Singapore....the one, the only...Blue Diamond Indian Restaurant - without question the most fabulous, outrageous, Indian food EVER (can't say the same about the decor)! MMMM....dosas, biriyani...and awesome chai! We'd have taken pictures...but then they'd have had to kill us for potentially exposing the secret recipes!
Not content to spend all the rest of the day eating, we decided that I needed a new suit! I mean, really, who doesn't??? So, being the diligent researchers that we are, we picked a random ad for a tailor out of our Singapore map...and that's how a great relationship with "Boss George" was born! So....out came the catalogue...a swanky Zegna suit was chosen (me hoping that it would look as good on me as that blonde dude in the picture)...a black merino wool was drooled over...and the negotiations began! George suggesting that I would need 4 suits....me suggesting that I really didn't need a suit at all. In the end, 1 suit and two shirts ("of the very finest cottons, boss...") were ordered for the princely sum of Cdn$380....ready by 3pm the next day! Here was the happy fitting by Boss's assistant:
Meanwhile...after providing the appropriate fashion consulting to me....Amber found the Holy Grail! In her own words: After saving all of us from navy suits with pleated pants (Boss's recommendation), I ventured out into the small and quirky mall that Boss resided in. There...near the entrance...lay "Pretty in Tokyo" where, for $5 you could be a supermodel! Filled with clucking teenage girls flitting in and out of plasticized photo booths, I realized if I didn't leave quickly, I'd have spent all my cash in this one crazy place - albeit with hundreds of fabulous pictures of myself. So....I only did three, one of which is below....oh yeah, Mark decided to to get over his fear of swimming by diving in as well.
With our freshly minted supermodel shots stored securely in Amber's purse, we ventured out into blazing, humid, debilitating heat - but, since this was Singapore's famous Orchard Road (Robson would constitute 1% of the space & shopping potential)....we dug deep and bore it! OK...not for long...we zipped into (to Amber's indescribable delight - oh... if Scott & Vannie could see her now!) Valentino...followed by Jean-Paul Gaultier...followed by Versace...followed by Ferragamo....followed by Givenchy...followed by Chanel...followed by Gucci...followed by Prada....followed by Louis Vuitton...followed by Dunhill....followed by Cartier....and so on and so on and so on.... The only saving grace was that Amber does NOT have a credit card!
Having worked up a window-shopping froth (& only buying a guava and mango juice each!), the incredible, outstanding, unbelievable Pepper Crab loomed in our future (along with a very cold tall beer). The one thing I told Amber we had to do in Singapore was go to the Newton Hawkers Market to have this dish - it is amazing! Did it live up to the hype?
uhh....yeah!!!
It was time for a nightcap at the festive Clarke Quay. Singapore has a couple of these strips along the river (the other being Boat Quay) where there are rows of restaurants and hawkers' stands serving everything under the sun. It certainly caters to the touristy crowd (egad...there was even a Hooters - but, in this end of the world, it was catering mainly to Aussie Rugby World Cup fans) and the prices reflect that. In spite of that, it's a really cool place to hang out and watch the world go by.
Amazingly enough, we had stayed up until10pm...but it was now time to head back to the hotel. On that note, Singapore has by far the friendliest and helpful cabbies either of us has ever seen. Bed....zzzzzzzz....
Posted at 10:15 AM Read More
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Published On: Dec 05, 2003 09:24 PM
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Published On: Dec 05, 2003 09:24 PM