Back to singapore
Trip Start
Oct 11, 2007
1
100
218
Trip End
Nov 11, 2009
Where I stayed
Singapore, Singapore
Friday, February 15, 2008
but when i came back to sg, i did feel serendipity on my shoulders. my rat from hk fell off my bag when i was exchanging some money. some guy ended up picking it up and playing with it when we were waiting in line for cabs. it was a pretty long line, so he was complaning quite loudly. standing in front of him, i could tell he and his companion had american accents.
he went back into the terminal to find out where to pick up the subway. i told them that i was going to follow them along. ended up talking to them and telling about the rat. he offered to give it back to me but i figured that my time with him was done. it'll have a new home back in the states. we parted ways when we arrived at the subway station since we were going in opposite directions. but judging from this trip, i'll probably run into them again.
his name was mike and his girlfriend was sarah. from madison, wi. going to laos to see their friend that had opened up a bar over there. seemed like a really laid-back couple. kept on commenting on how well-dressed singaporeans were.
went to the fragrance hostel to check up on my stuff. my bag with my dirty clothes was definitely opened so i'll never know if i ever had money in there. did find a couple of receipts though.
spent the rest of the day going to the embassies to finish my business from mon. got my indian visa. (it's so beautiful- even though it'll be completely worthless when i get my new passport.) then spent the rest of the afternoon looking around for where to go this weekend. i ruled out india (sigh) so i wanted to find something cool and cheap. talked to student travel agency (sta.) they were a big help when i went to europe for school. but in asia, they're a joke. they went online and looked at airfare. i could do that on my own. they suggested a part of town known for coaches (or buses if you're from the states.)
went to a good dozen agencies before i narrowed it down to two places: dusuran, a beach resort or cameron highlands, a jungle place with lots of fruit plantations. both places are supposed to be beautiful. and half the price of the air ticket to india.
so i called up geraldine to see what was going on with tonight. i had a place to stay! and she was going to meet me at the american embassy. so i went back to the hostel to take a shower (24 hours of being in the tropical heat=a very stinky and sweaty may). went to the embassy but they had already stopped doing business. so i'm going to have to go on tues since mon. was pres. day. (seriously, why are they even open in the month of feb? they worked a total of 2 days?!)
sat outside the embassy and waited for a little bit. since i had all my luggage with me, one of the air force guys came out and was not-very-nonchalantly checking on me every 10 mins. i ignored him and put on my makeup and just watched traffic. i figured taking out my camera was too much.
geraldine finally came and we checked out holland st. it's an area where there's a windmill and lots of foreigners. ate some very delicious ice cream. and talked politics the whole time. i was in heaven.
then we went to dinner with damian, her boyfriend. went to this part of sg that reminded me so much of america, i didn't even feel like i was in asia anymore. lots of white ppl around and it was in a strip mall. all the restaurants were either california style or tapas or mexican or just sandwiches. and in the middle was a big parking lot. how american can you get?
we went home afterward. met her parents. very sweet. somehow me and her mom started speaking in tc. apparently i was surrounded by all tcs but only me and her mom could speak it. i told them about not being understood in the diosan area. they said of course not, they're not overseas chinese.
it's funny the anonymosity between overseas chinese and mainland chinese. we spent the next hour trashing the mainlanders. but seriously, they bring it on themselves. told them the story of the kids constantly sneezing and coughing on me. the sings were equally disgusted. also told them about the competiveness of the 18-mth-olds. it's hard to believe anywhere outside of china.
and being out of china for two weeks, china feels like a bad dream, a distant memory. a part of me doesn't want to go back. but another part knows my work there isn't done. i still have wuxi. where i'm not the only native speaker. yay!
