nearly a year after my last entry, there are tiny ants on my laptop
some 21 hours or so after leaving SFO, the first thing i do at my hotel in singapore is settle in for some good internet access. i'm staying in changi village, which is at the north-eastern tip of the island and quite a ways from orchard road and all that, but quite close to the changi sailing club, who happens to be hosting a j/24 regatta in three days. go figure.
my "trick" for the flight (actually two legs, with a stopover in hong kong) was to sleep for more than half of it, then ignore the 'travel information' portion of the in-flight entertainment in favor of watching slumdog millionaire (nice movie, etc etc) and twilight (completely hilarious and made exactly for me to mock). also, singapore airlines' food seems to have a touch of culinary engrish, so to speak; their western meal offerings are things like 'wine-braised beef with sliced black olives and orange juice.' half, or more, of the airport staff in hong kong were wearing surgical masks. in singapore, however, half the people in the nearby market are eating food directly with their right hand; the temptation i had to mock-sneeze throughout the quick stop in hong kong quickly passed.
i have rather a long stay in singapore by "layover" standards - 30 hours or so - and for the bulk of it i seem to be on my own. changi village is pretty low-key during the day - nothing but cats and hidden but undoubtedly very large and very noisy bugs - but the market opens up a bit after dark when temps drop and more people (and more cats) come out to visit the food and market stalls. i had chicken biryani for lunch at the market, and dinner at the hotel (some unremarkable lamb curry thing that i ordered before i realized there was a remarkable-looking buffet...drat) and now i'm re-packing and waiting for the ants to stop investigating my laptop.
speaking of cats, the cats around here long-faced and vocal and usually missing some percentage of their tail. given how much camera gear i've brought with me on this trip, the fact that i don't have a picture of the cats yet is nothing short of astonishing.
my "trick" for the flight (actually two legs, with a stopover in hong kong) was to sleep for more than half of it, then ignore the 'travel information' portion of the in-flight entertainment in favor of watching slumdog millionaire (nice movie, etc etc) and twilight (completely hilarious and made exactly for me to mock). also, singapore airlines' food seems to have a touch of culinary engrish, so to speak; their western meal offerings are things like 'wine-braised beef with sliced black olives and orange juice.' half, or more, of the airport staff in hong kong were wearing surgical masks. in singapore, however, half the people in the nearby market are eating food directly with their right hand; the temptation i had to mock-sneeze throughout the quick stop in hong kong quickly passed.
i have rather a long stay in singapore by "layover" standards - 30 hours or so - and for the bulk of it i seem to be on my own. changi village is pretty low-key during the day - nothing but cats and hidden but undoubtedly very large and very noisy bugs - but the market opens up a bit after dark when temps drop and more people (and more cats) come out to visit the food and market stalls. i had chicken biryani for lunch at the market, and dinner at the hotel (some unremarkable lamb curry thing that i ordered before i realized there was a remarkable-looking buffet...drat) and now i'm re-packing and waiting for the ants to stop investigating my laptop.
speaking of cats, the cats around here long-faced and vocal and usually missing some percentage of their tail. given how much camera gear i've brought with me on this trip, the fact that i don't have a picture of the cats yet is nothing short of astonishing.