Sunday afternoon Feb 28 to Monday May 1 (Singapore)

Sunday afternoon (cont’d)

Every afternoon at the Oriental they bring you a meriendita to the room. One day it was a fresh squeezed juice, with orchids on the side and the other day it was a little raspberry mouse with mango on top, and orchids on the side.

From our floor to ceiling window in the room, the colors from the sunset, hitting the river and the other buildings was spectacular from our room. Sunday night went to the Sala Rim Nam Restaurant of the Oriental, across the river, and had a seventeen course Thai dinner with dancing. I wish I would have been dancing because I was so stuffed I almost couldn’t dig myself out of the pit under the table (it only looked like we were sitting on the floor). Had a hard time putting in my contacts the next morning after spending the night trying to bend back my fingers like the dancers did.

Bangkok is beautiful at night on the river, and there seems to be just as much activity, but with lights everywhere. And under that full moon you forget how dirty the water really is. Saw a huge party boat which I’m sure was full of Americans and Germans dancing bad disco, making a lot of noise, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun.



MONDAY MARCH 1, 2010

Today at midday we leave to Singapore, and I will miss Thailand, still so much to see, such wonderful people.

Did yoga again, with a Chinese instructor, and she was wonderful. Then went shopping/fighting with Steve. I hate shopping as much as he does but somebody has to do it. I HAD to find a Thai princess doll for my goddaughter because I bring her back a doll from every country. We found a great huge shop right around the corner from the hotel that had authentic Thai products. They even wrapped the Thai princess in a bamboo box.

Going back to the airport we took photos of the billboards, which are, I swear, as long as a football field. The airport continues to amaze me, the long steel and glass caterpillar terminals extending from the center—it’s fantastic. The airport terminals have more stores and shopping areas than gates. It’s amazing the high end stuff they have, the variety of items and the QUANTITIES.

Finally ate sticky rice and mango, from a store in the airport, and it was DELICIOUS. Noi, I need a good sticky rice recipe because apparently you have to buy a special kind of rice. Now I get what Pan, our guide on our trekking adventure, meant by having a “Buddha-belly” cos eating a lot of this sweet sticky rice and mango will definitely give you a gut. An enlightened gut.

The other day we even ate sushi at the airport; the quality of food is superb.

This is not your mother’s Asia. The only thing I miss is not missing America. Everything here is so modern, so efficient, so properly marked, so cutting-edge. I have yet to say: oh, well, back home we have this and that, or do it this way or that. It is so easy. I’ve been to European airports and airports in Greece and the Caribbean. They are no where NEAR as efficient, beautiful, or modern as in Asia. Everyone speaks English (that may change when we get to Shanghai) and it’s so easy to get around. It’s as if nothing is foreign even though everything is. Everything is convenient.

From the air before landing in Singapore you could see hundreds and hundreds of container ships in the harbor. I also noticed that the tops of buildings were clean. I thought the cleanliness thing was an exaggeration, but it’s not. We landed at 5pm and before 6pm we were already in our hotel room. We just flew through passport control, baggage pick up, taxi service, drive to the hotel, and check-in. No prayer-hand bows, though, and of course, the people look different: Indian, Malaysian, Chinese, a mixture of these, and others.

Girls, the taxi smelled exactly like popcorn rice.

Leaving the airport reminded me of the entrance to Key Biscayne, but with water only on one side: rimmed with lush palm trees and other tropical trees.

The Fairmont Hotel is very nice, very ultra-modern, and no flowers on arrival. We’re on the 23rd floor where there’s our own little fitness club (which we use to go steal water bottles from) and a lounge area where they serve amazing breakfast and have another spread in the late afternoon for happy hour (free drinks!). Our room has a small terrace and we have a great view of the city. We’re right across from The Raffles Hotel and we can see the overweight tourists swimming in the poor at The Raffles. It’s very hot here, in the 90s, but the air is cleaner and it’s less noisy so it doesn’t bother us as much.

The irons on this side of the world are the best. Big and heavy and you don’t have to press down on clothes, like the ones back home where Tanya has to press down on my clothes. I would take one home but then I’d have to rewire my house to 220 or 230 or whatever it is here.

After having drinks on our floor lounge we took a taxi to Indochine Restaurant on the water. Had the best steamed sea bass and asparagus. Then we had a lemongrass crème brullee (sp), and too much wine. We staggered back to the hotel,rounding the quay, crossing bridges, walking in front of the Parliament building, the Padang, the Cricket Club, etc., but not really remembering.