Today my dear friend Philosopher arrived from a looong trip over, from across the pond, as they would say. I encountered far more traffic than I anticipated going down and then spent 40 minutes driving in circles trying to see if he was out yet. I had neglected to tell him to wait outside for me and the poor fellow had to wait for me for an hour while I was stuck in traffic and driving around outside wondering if he had gotten his luggage! Thankfully, I finally figured it out and parked my car to go get him and that little round trip was expedient enough to render no parking fee! Brilliant.
I made a pit stop to Boston Market on the way back because I love their cornbread and chicken pot pie, but alas, they no longer have pot pies! Philo had wanted a salad that they were out of, so I got some cornbread and we headed back closer to Panda’s and ended up getting some CPK salads. I learned (too late) that the half size was not quite big enough for my appetite, so I had some of the wooonderful cornbread to supplement my meal. I think Boston Market’s cornbread is amazing – it’s soft with crunchy little bits of meal (or whatever grainy thing that is) and has a bit of sweetness to it.
When we got back, I was surprised with a box of Quality Street candies (between that and Celebrations, I could be dancing in heaven) and a bar of luscious chocolate, straight from England! Philo then went off to shower off the grime from the trip and refresh a bit before eating. We then had a lovely chat, with me sharing a lot of the things that have been interesting me in my life lately – like Google Wave, which I finally received my invitation for! After a few hours, it was getting late and he was getting tired, so we set up his little bed for the night.
I played around with Google Wave for a bit and now it’s time for me to retire as well – I’ve still got a busy day at Opportunity Green tomorrow!
My first unique experience was the monorail, which sit atop these concrete tracks suspended above the roads of the city. It’s nice to be able to look out and see things when you’re traveling, which is my one complaint against subways. Being underground and in the dark is just not very exciting. Floating over the cityscape is. Granted, they do move far more slowly and these little monorails don’t take many passengers (not that they need to). I got in pretty late that night, so I just went to my hostel to rest. I only left to go next door to get something to eat back at the hostel.
The next day I went to check out Batu Caves. I walked through Chinatown to get to the bus stop and was driven out to the surrounding countryside. A huge golden figurine guarded the stairway leading up to the cave, no doubt some sort of religious being meant to protect the place. There is a plaza area before you approach the stairs and on the string of lights in that area perched dozens of pigeons. Many more were cooing on the ground and the entire place was speckled with their droppings. I climbed up 272 steps to arrive at the foot of a big open-air cave in the middle of the mountain. The cave was mostly empty except for some roosters and, well, cavernous. I went to the other end where another set of stairs led up to an area that opened up directly to the sky and held a shrine or worshipping temple. On that side were a cluster of monkeys, climbing up and down the walls of the cave and running up and down the stairs.
On my way down the mountain, a man brought out bananas and began to throw them up the stairs towards monkeys that were streaming towards him. They grabbed whatever they could and horded what they caught, then each found their own place to enjoy their food. Being hungry myself, I decided to get some lunch after I explored the rest of the grounds and took a spin around a much larger temple structure at the base of the mountain. My lunch was pretty simple, just pickled vegetables and rice with a salty, crispy wafer of bread, but it was filling and good for my exhausted body.
When I got back to the city, I walked around Central Market, where they had a lot of goodies for sale. There was a Fish Spa place where a lot of people were getting their feet nibbled at by the “doctor fish” that eat away your dead skin and leave your feet softer. I was tempted to give it a try, but decided that I would get around to it at another place. It’s pretty popular in some countries in Asia and at the least I knew there was a place back in Singapore that I could visit if I didn’t get around to it before then. Instead, I bought a little keepsake cloth art to remind me of the place and summer dress to wear when things got hot. I then wandered through Chinatown, too lazy to bargain and not really in a spending mood. I nearly stopped for a massage service but then decided against spending money and went back to the hostel.
At night, I went out to eat dinner and found myself in front of a huge shopping center called Pavilion. A beautiful fountain (Liuli Crystal Fountain) stands at the entrance of the massive collection of shops. I went inside for a stroll and found a lot of classy shops in a mall that’s probably twice the size of the largest mall I’ve ever been to before. There are something like six stories and the food court at basement level is four times as big as my own mall’s.
My final day there, I met with some people from the company distributing the Livescribe Pulse smartpen in Malaysia. I was treated to dim sum before we sat down to share our experiences and ideas. I was then taken to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), where the iconic Petronas Twin Towers are. Yet another shopping center is situated at ground level there and I was shown the shops where the smartpen is being distributed. After a break for lunch (and sitting out a quick rainstorm), I was shown how the cloth art I purchased the day before is made. It’s called batik and they melt wax in these special “pens” and draw out designs on cloth. When the wax hardens, colors are painted on to the design and then the color of the cloth is “fixed” (not sure what that means or how it works). Cloths are then dewaxed and dried and the result is a pretty design with the white lines as areas where the wax was. Sometimes the wax is left on so the lines appear to be golden in color. A final pit stop at a chocolate-making factory was a bit less exciting since they wouldn’t actually let you view the process and only offered a huge shop with every flavor of chocolate imaginable (including durian and chili, for example).
It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for five months and even harder to believe I’m about to leave on Friday. Thankfully, there’s lots to do so I don’t have much time to mull over it all. On the one hand I’ve missed Panda for nearly 150 days and I can’t wait to see him, touch him again. It’s been too long of pretending I could touch him and feel him hug me through the webcam. On the other hand, the people here are amazing and have taken great care of me. Plus, I’m just getting around to exploring Singapore! It’s a pity it’s ending already, but I can’t help but look forward to who and what I have waiting for me back home.
Each one has its significance to me (and may not be the most practical, but I was going for more meaningful…): for Zen, a pair of silver dragons because that just seems fitting for an influential man; for Mizu, a pair of gold electric guitars because he truly is a rock star (in so many ways); for Typea, a pair of blue and sea green golf clubs in their bags (or whatever it’s called) for his enjoyment of the game and the lifestyle it represents; for Marylin, a pink cover with a pretty peacock for her growing involvement in the beauty industry; and for Starfish, a cool blue cover with an elegant flower for her cool head and classiness as well as the spray I mentioned above because she loves VS. As for the elephants, I figured that Mac would want the purple one (actually why I bought that particular pack, though I liked it because I like purple too) and Lorry would appreciate the green one (a bit of an inside joke on that one, for all his Greenness). Skim was the only wild card, who could go for the pretty light blue one or the more royal blue one, or maybe even the bright white one.
Sadly, when I got to City Hall to locate the restaurant, I found it is under renovation, so I was redirected to a place called Jasmine in the La Jardine building nearby. It turned out to be one of those fancy places that I hardly frequent, offering bird’s nest and albacore or something like that. I don’t really care for high class food, but I was desperately hungry and wanted dim sum, so I went anyway. The food itself was tasty and they still served them in the bamboo containers, but it was so unceremonious it made me sad. No lady pushing a cart, touting her choices. No cutting the food in front of me or adding soy sauce and other last-minute touches. No sheet filling up with stamps to indicate the dishes I’d eaten. Just a waitress placing my orders on the table.
That’s what I thought, anyway. Then I saw pictures and it was undeniable; these things are PINK. Like little girl playing hopscotch and blowing Bubble Yum gum pink. Like pink rose pink. Like how flamingos are neon pink, they are baby pink. Nothing like the “pink” tint of human skin or other such wannabes. So, I was really excited to go out to see some of these creatures for myself. I almost couldn’t get on a tour, but we managed to book me for a tour before I was due to leave (though I had to delay my intended departure time by a few hours).
When we were first heading out, we were right around the area where the planes were coming in for landing at the airport. Distracted, I took pictures and videos of them as they roared overhead and came down for a smooth landing. By the time one plane landed, another was appearing from the clouds, making its descent. One by one the planes took turns coming in, like clockwork, as others left going in the other direction. I marveled at how many people and how much cargo I had just seen arriving in Hong Kong. It was the first time I’d ever spent some time watching the operations of an airport and it was pretty cool.
At one point when we were further out, I was sitting in front, staring down at the water when a little fish jumped out and quickly got overrun by the boat. I continued staring down and soon more came, jumping just ahead of the boat, then falling off to the sides to avoid being hit. Excited, I started to film and snap away, trying to get a good shot of these little flying fish. Maybe it was just my imagination, but they looked a lot like mini dolphins. I spent a long time observing them and noticed that when they are in groups, they all jump at more or less the same time in some sort of coordinated effort. They also really seemed to like jumping in front of the boat in the rushing water, but once they went off to the side, they seemed to resume swimming more. I guess they’re looking for the adrenaline rush!
I so wanted to hop in the water, toxins and all, and go join them. I wondered if they’d come closer to explore if I had some body parts dangling in the water. Still, it was so rewarding to finally find them, after so many hours of searching. I had even begun to entertain the idea of how I could go on another trip (they offer a free retry if you don’t see any on your trip) – perhaps I could get an IOU that wouldn’t expire, so I could use it years down the line, or whenever I return. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about that in the end and we ended the trip on a happy note.
