First trip -- Day 2 continued

Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 7:50 PM

Subject: FW: Asia - Day 2 (or maybe 3 - whole international date line thing has me messed up) part 2

I went to dinner with Yusoff and Desmond.  Desmond dropped his car off at Yusoff’s house and we continued together.  The house actually belongs to Yusoff’s  in-laws.  He lives there with his wife and 3-year-old son. The neighborhood was very interesting; narrow streets, palms and tropical looking plants everywhere, every house has a wall and a gate in front.  Yusoff explained that most Singaporeans live in government subsidized high-rise condos.  They are not rental property for the most part.  Land is very expensive here and private single family houses are very expensive – one must be fairly well off to afford one.  Desmond is also a native to Singapore, but of Chinese descent.  Everyone has ancestors from somewhere else.

 They took me to a restaurant in a hotel near Orchard St (the main shopping and entertainment street) and had some traditional Malay food; some rice with coconut milk, some pressed rice which is steamed inside a rolled up leaf, satay chicken and beef, a fish which was also wrapped in a leaf and then marinated and cooked (the best one), and some other wings and fish.  I also had a sesame prawn with noodles appetizer that was good.  Had some local beer also which was Ok

We took off walking from the restaurant.  Orchard street is all touristy shopping, restaurants and the like.  Very pretty and lush though, and full of mostly young Asians and a few westerners..  We rode the subway to the city center and stood on the waterfront looking back at the city – Nice skyline.  Had I known we were coming here I would have brought my camera.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.  Also rode a bus and walked a bit more on the way back to the restaurant.  After I got back to the hotel I felt restless and went for a walk back down Orchard street.  I got propositioned by a woman who offered me a massage.  I kept walking.  Also saw six policemen in bullet proof vests carrying automatic rifles patrolling in front of the Hilton hotel. I decided it was best not to walk near the Hilton anymore. There have not been any terrorist attacks in Singapore to date, but according to Yusoff, people here are worried that they will eventually be targeted.  With their close proximity to Indonesia and the abundance of westerners here, I can understand their concern.

Tomorrow I have a meeting in the morning and then I am on my own until my flight to Hong Kong around 7:00 PM.  I plan on wandering some of the neighborhoods and taking some pictures weather permitting.