I have landed!

October 28, 2016 • 8:00 am

I have landed in Singapore! It was a long haul here from Chicago, but not too grueling. The worst part was the 4.5 hour flight from Chicago to San Francisco, when I had to sit next to two Valley Girls, each of which said the word “like” about five times in each sentence. I wanted to keep count, but there were simply too many “likes” to keep track of without writing them down, which would have been obvious. That word has clearly become part of the parlance of the younger folk, but they need to get off my lawn!

The 17 hour flight from SFO to Singapore’s lovely Changi Airport wasn’t too grueling given that I drugged myself to sleep with melatonin and relaxation meds, so I got 7-8 hours of sleep, arriving in Singapore refreshed. I am in the hands of a lovely and hospitable family, and we already had a traditional Singapore breakfast in a traditional Singapore “hawker centre” (photos to come, read the link to see what I’m about to encounter); very soon we’ll go out for a traditional Singapore lunch.

I have a feeling that I’m going to need some stringent exercise on this trip to keep myself trim.

It’s hot and humid in Singapore, but it always is, and I’m told the monsoons will start soon. It’s a pleasant change from Chicago.

36 thoughts on “I have landed!”

  1. I wanted to, like, tell you, to, like, enjoy your stay in Singapore. Ha. How annoying was that? No, sorry. I hope you enjoy your stay!

  5. Oh,to be the fly on the wall and hear the 2 valley girls describe their ancient seatmate :o)

  6. Jerry mentioned the “hawker centre.” BBC travel program recently highlighted one of the stalls at a hawker mall in Singapore as having received a Michelin star. Enticing, but they also reported up to 3 hour waits for a dish of noodles and chicken . . .

  7. What you will need to do concerning the lawn is mow it. It’s probably like being stuck on a plane with a lot of snakes. Wait a minute, snakes are good.

  8. Char Kwai Teow – turnip cakes – Chicken claypot, Holland Village hawker. Also very good fruit juice stall here, too.

    murtabak (wet), Rhoti prata – Geylang,

    Fishhead curry – Forture Steamboat near 6th Ave on Bukit Timah (my personal favourite and a must for every visit. This place is known amongst my friends as the ‘carpark Chinese’.

    Nasi Lama/Goreng – Adam Hawker

    New Ubin Seafood Restaurant. Anything. People like the steak and heart attack rice. I prefer everything else. Ask for Elsie and say Alex from London sent you.

    Also try a curry in Little India. There are many great places. Even touristy ones are good.

    I’m jealous.

  9. Now there’s something I hadn’t thought of – drugs for flight. Next time I’m on a long overseas flight, I’m droppin’ something real mellow.

    1. If possible, swim >3km and sleep <4 hours before any flight and you will find that any flight becomes a dream. This method is so potent I have missed two flights asleep at the gate.

  10. I’m finding that I want to keep more and more things off my lawn these days. I must be, like, getting old.

  11. Dear PCC,
    Any news of Hong Kong events?
    I’s sitting here, like, waitin’….
    (No comment on the photos. We Hong Kong folk look down on Singapore…)

  12. I listened to two university students talk in vocal fry once on the shuttle bus. It saddened me a little. What’s worse is passing a classroom to hear a TA talking to a class in uptalk. Women, you’re educated, you’re smart, stop doing that to yourselves.

    2. I had to look up both “vocal fry” and “uptalk”. Damn, I must be getting old!

      I once met someone who used the F-word several times in every sentence. It seemed to be both his only adjective and his only adverb. I really didn’t see the point: he was not conveying any extra information, and it simply added to the time he took to say anything.

        1. Well, I have (as no doubt we all have) met many people who were prone to overuse of expletives, but this one was exceptional in his apparent inability to speak without uttering “f***g” every few words.

          2. In Canada = yeah it is a Canadian show set in New Brunswick but I think filmed in Nova Scotia. It was a huge hit and all the swearing was intact. Canadian TV doesn’t beep as much language, etc or cut scenes as much for nudity etc as US TV. It’s how I used to know I was on a Canadian TV channel in the 70s and 80s. I’m always surprised that Networks showing shows like Mr Robot beep the swears.

          3. I find excessive beeping (by the TV channel) quite offensive. It distracts from what the person is saying, it actually draws attention to what may well have been a very mild and innocuous word, and I suspect networks often do it maliciously to cast the speaker in a bad light.

            I also find subtitles can be offensive – not when the speaker is using a foreign language, but when they’re speaking English with an accent. The implication is that their English is so bad (or the average viewer so dumb) that they couldn’t be understood without.

            Both those tactics lead me to hurl four-letter words at the TV.

            cr

          4. Sometimes the beeping is so bad that I can’t actually hear what the person was saying.

          5. Ummm, I can take that two ways – one facetiously, one not – but either way I agree.

            cr

  13. like the trick is to count the overheard word out loud. I do that over here with ‘you know’ and its cousin ‘innit?’ that pepper every sentence.

  14. Don’t forget to try the durion. Note, too, the “No durion” signs at hotel and store entrances.

    Also try the breakfast at the Singapore Zoo. Food is nothing special, but some years ago when we visited, they brought a female orangutan in to the dining area, and one could sit next to her on a small stage for pictures. She was very sweet, but tried to pick my pen and comb from my shirt pocket.

  16. Like, just put a little tick on your pad, like, for each time they say ‘like’, like. A bit like Buzzword Bingo, like. Then you can, like, see if they notice you doing it, like, and if they ask you, like, just say like nuffin’. It might even, like, shut them up while they, like, try to figure out what you’re doin’ like.

    Besides it’s, like, blatant cultural appropriation, like. Our Britsh yoof invented it, like, centuries ago in, like, cultural years.

    cr

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