Siam Niramit

A couple of nights ago we attended a spectacular performance of Thai culture and history called Siam Niramit. This was done through acting, music and dance, using Broadway quality set design, lighting and special effects. Each area of the country was portrayed in separate act. The costuming was beautiful and diverse throughout the different regions. We were not allowed to take any photos, otherwise I would have included some for your viewing pleasure.

Anything Goes

My first impression of Bangkok was from the inside of a car as we were transported from the airport to our hotel in the heart of the city. My best description of the driving situation here is "anything goes". As far as I can tell, those who drive motorcycles can do anything and go anywhere. As we were stuck in standstill traffic, similar to that in Vegas on a Saturday night, motorbike after motorbike weaved through the parking lot of cars making their way to the front. Steve says that a lot of them are bike taxis, hired to take a person across the traffic. Last night we watched as two of them almost collided in front of us. As yet I have not seen one fenderbender, although I have seen a few cars that need to go to a wrecking yard just sitting on the side of the road. One thing I'm confused about is why there are lane dividers painted on the asphalt, because it seems that they are not considered when drivers are moving down the road. Sometimes drivers move to the opposite side of the road, driving towards oncoming traffic before squeezing back into the correct side. Intersections are almost always congested with cars and tuk tuks (pronounced tk tk), which look like an extended golf cart and are hired to move people. Survival of the fittest seems to be the rule of the road.

The King of Fruits

Last night James Chan, the work associate that brought Steve to Singapore, took us to try the "durian challenge". Durian, which is the called the king of fruits, is hard to describe, but I will do my best. First of all, you must know that durian is not allowed in hotels, on airplanes and trains, or any other enclosed space. We had to walk about two or three blocks from the train station to get to the nearest fruit market. We were not quite halfway there when we could smell what seemed like a locker of fruit had been left in the sun for a week, before being opened for our smelling pleasure.As we approached the market there were piles of spiky cantaloupe sized durian for sale. The unfriendly exterior shouts, "Keep your distance!" and, once opened, the smell confirms the warning. I watched as a shopkeeper split open the hard covering by hammering and hacking at it with a small cleaver. By the time our purchase was placed in front of us on our street side table we were completely immersed in the scent of the durian, which could turn your stomach, but then it would start to smell of strawberries and then it seemed okay.
James gave an eating demonstration and then I took the challenge. I have an extremely sensitive shnozz, but in the spirit of the moment I dug right in. As I picked up one of the fruit covered seeds from the spiny husk, my fingers sunk in as if it were soft ice cream. I took a bite and the pudding-like flesh seemed to expand to fill my mouth, and nearly took my breath away. It took me a minute or so to begin to swallow and as I did so I ended up with a fibrous mass in my mouth that I suppose I was to swallow, but could not bring myself to do so. I really cannot describe the taste, although it had a bit of heat, similar to black pepper. The aftertaste was neither as overwhelming as the horrible smell nor as nauseating as the oral sensation, so I finished off my portion with another mouthful to complete the challenge. By the time the others had tried it, I began to feel a fire in my belly, just as if I had eaten very spicy food. James explained that durian is a hot fruit, and we would need to cool down with some cool fruit. We proceeded to eat some delicious jackfruit, watermelon, mango, and pineapple.
We all smelled of durian throughout the evening and awoke to durian morning breath. It's pretty bad when you can smell your own stink. We were allowed on the airplane to Bangkok, so I guess I'm not as bad as as I smell.

A Day at Sentosa

The boys and I took a short train ride to Sentosa Island. Connected by a causeway to Singapore City, Sentosa is the most southeastern tip of Asia. It has been developed into the most popular vacation destination in Singapore, with something for everyone. There are a number of beaches, a casino, multiple rides, performances, animal shows, with Universal Studios as a recent addition.
We rode the luge and skyride. Most of the day we spent at the beach, and in spite of sunscreen, I have the sunburn to prove that. The temperature of the sea was like that of bath water. No, not even in the water can we escape the heat here. The tide was minimal so it was easy to swim and stay afloat. The boys built sand castles and engineered a natural hot tub. We finished our day with a wild west shoot out ride and ice cream. All in all, it was a fun day.

Chinese Immersion

The boys and I went to Chinatown for a few hours where we window-shopped and bought a few souvenirs at reasonable prices. We found an authentic outfit for Nathan, who will be starting Chinese immersion school in a couple of weeks. He has been insisting that he will need to dress Chinese if he is going to speak it. While we were going from stall to stall, clouds gathered and we enjoyed a cool breeze from the hot muggy weather we'd been enduring. Soon shop owners began draping plastic and shutting up their street panels. Before we knew it, sheets of rain were soaking everything in sight, including us. We didn't even mind since it was our first chance to cool off in three days.

There's a Rule for That!

Apple may have an app for everything, but in Singapore...they've got a rule for everything. No spitting, no littering, no J-walking, no spitting, no importing or selling chewing gum, no leaving a toilet without flushing it, no urinating in an elevator (might not be a bad one to adopt for home application when you've got three boys), no bungee jumping...have I mentioned no spitting.

Yes that's right, no spitting. Unless of course you're the city landmark. As you can see, we caught the Merlion (the city's emblem, it's defining statue) on film spitting right into the Quay. So apparently it's a "do as I say, not a do as our defining city statue is doing" kind of place here.

As we considered this, we stumbled upon a huge loop hole in the no spitting rule. We've also tested this out in the presence of military personel, so you should be fine in following our lead if and when you ever come to Singapore.

Here it is. You are not allowed to spit, but there is apparently no law against impersonating a statue that is spitting (at least not as far as we've been fined for as of the time I'm laying these words down). Hopefully we'll be out the country by the time these photos circulate.

Lion City

As we have arrived in Singapore and are learning about this unique city, I thought I'd give a little history as I've learned it. In the 14th century a visitor claimed he saw a lion, which was more likely to be a tiger, and named the island Singa Pura, or Lion City. The British arrived and established it as a sea merchant trading station during the 18th century and by 1825 the population had increased almost one hundred fold. During World War II the Japanese overran the island. The sixty or more islands of Singapore were part of Malaysia for a short time before becoming an independent republic in 1965.
Basically, all of the population resides on the main island of Singapore. English is the official language, although everything is posted in four languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Hindi. There is great diversity in culture and religion. Tourism is the main industry here, so we have received great customer service. There are more shopping centers and restaurants here than you can shake a stick at. There are a lot of fun tourist attractions that we are looking forward to discovering this week.
Miscreant behavior is not tolerated in Singapore. There are no firearms (or even parts of guns), no graffiti, drugs, smoking in public buildings, littering, spitting, failing to flush a public toilet, urinating in a lift (elevator) or selling chewing gum. The penalties for the above range from $500 fine up to death or deportation. All of these rules make Singapore a clean, safe, and beautiful place, as far as cities go.