The Noisy American

Happy New Year

More Warnings

Not to be outdone, Singapore has their own pictures on all packs of cigarettes.

More prohibitive than the pictures, though, is the price.  At over 6 USD a pack, they're even more expensive than in the States.  Sure wish I'd bought a few extra packs in Malaysia.

Plagued by Good Weather

When I told my friends that I was going to Singapore, everyone told me that, "Are you sure you want to go there?  It's been raining everyday for two months."   Didn't cause the least bit of trepidation for me.  Living in Al Ain, I've really come to miss those magnificent SE Asian thunderstorms.  In Bangkok, there were nights when I'd turn off the lights in my flat and watch the lightshow out the window.  I love a good thunderstorm and haven't seen one since staying in Myanmar over the summer.  In fact I've only seen rain once since then, on Xmas day it rained for about twenty minutes.  So, I was actually very excited to see a bit of action in Singapore.  'Unusually good weather', that's what I got.  It sprinkled on my friend and I a couple of times, but not a bit of rumbling, nor a single crack of light in the sky.  So, off to Malacca where I was told again and again about all the rain that's been falling for the last few months.  Did I see any?  Well, it did rain one night, actually quite hard for about an hour, but alas no thunder, no lightening.  So, now I'm in Kuala Lumpur.  My taxi driver from the bus terminal went on and on about the rain - it's definitely raining tomorrow, so you'd better have a look at things tonight or you'll get wet.  My friend here also predicted rain because it rains everyday during this time of year.  YEA!, I'm thinking.  But two nights with not a drop.  If I go home without seeing a thunderstorm, I'm going to be a bit upset.  I know what you're thinking - he even complains about good weather, no wonder he's called the Noisy American. 

Happy New Year, again, and again

I feel very lucky this year.  I got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice, once with the Canadians and once with the Americans.  And now, I get to celebrate the New Year over and over.  I was in the UAE for the Western New Year, I'm in Malaysia/Singapore for the lead up to the Chinese New Year and then back in UAE for the Muslim New Year and should get a 3 - 4 day weekend.  Now, if I can just make the Thai New Year in April.  Is there one I'm missing?

Singapore

Singapore is an unexpected delight.  I imagined that it was another Hong Kong with endless high rises, crowded shopping markets, and noisy traffic.  (Not that I don't like Hong Kong, but if you've seen the original...)  I assumed that the only thing to do here would be shop as that's what I've heard from so many people.  I'd also heard that there were laws against smoking on the street or in any public place, which would be a bit stressful for me.  For the above reasons, I've avoided visiting Singapore while trouncing around the rest of Asia and only came this time because I have a friend living here.  I happy to report that it's none of the above.   It's a very clean, well ordered city with a lot to offer.  One of the things that I find interesting is the mix of people - Chinese, Malays, Indians, Arabs and Westerners all, seemingly, working together to create a peaceful community.  In addition, the people seem quite friendly, or at least polite, towards each other, certainly more polite than in some Asian populations - they say excuse me, let pedestrians cross streets and queue patiently (of course, could be my tourist colored glasses.)  It gives me a bit of hope, actually.  What surprised me the most is the amount of green.  The city's really been built around the jungle instead of fighting it.  Everywhere you go, you are surrounded by the jungle, even in the downtown area.  In the middle of the island, there is quite a large park where my friend and I went walking a couple of times.  You can seriously forget that you're in a city, though once outside the park, you're ten minutes away from the city center.  Fantastic.  The parks are filled with monkeys and birds and we even saw a couple of monitor lizards, though not the big one I was looking for.    The only thing that really drove me to distraction is the lack of taxis.  Not that there aren't a lot of them on the streets, but it seemed, at least for us, quite difficult to actually flag one down.  We must have spent two hours on Sunday waiting for taxis. 

I think it really helped that I had a friend here to lead me away from the touristed areas and especially into the parks.  If you're going to visit Singapore, I recommend you make a friend here.  I'd also recommend getting off Orchard Street and into one of the huge parks.  I'll post some pics and perhaps a bit more information later.  For now, I've got a bus to Malaysia to catch.   

Random Thoughts from Bangkok

The Mullet is back!  Seems the trendiest hairstyle for the hip young Bangkok boys is the spikey mullet.  Seems every other fashion plate is sporting 3 - 4 inch spikes on top with a long shaggy fringe on the back, sometimes with an additional tail (circa 1983).  I only hope they don't start sporting gun racks as well.

Mall Mania. I may have been wrong about Dubai having the most malls per capita in the world.  Bangkok is certainly equal to, if not exceeding Dubai in this regard.  With the completion of the new Paragon Mall in Siam Center, Bangkok has a stretch of malls that goes on for miles along Ploenchit Road.  MBK, Discovery Center, Siam Center, and the Paragon border each other and right down the road is the World Trade Center, Gaysorn Plaza and Erawon among others.  My favorite is MBK which is a mall, but has a market feel inside and vendors you can bargain with.  While the residents of Dubai are generally well off and can afford to shop at malls, I don't know that Bangkok residents can actually support such ventures and they must be relying, for the most part, on tourist dollars.  Prices in most of the malls match those found in any Western country.

The Paragon - "pride of Bangkok" has the largest aquarium in Asia and Australia, though I didn't make it inside.  It's a bit pricey at 450 baht - 12 dollars - but if it's really larger than the Sydney Aquarium, it may well be worth it.  The mall's theme (every mall has to have a theme now, right?) is water and inside you can find the Lagoon, the Canal, etc, etc.  As far as malls go, this one is quite lovely, though my friend Jennifer thinks that given a few months, after the newness wears off, Thai families are going to start setting up picnics on the canal sites, catching and barbecuing the fish.   

The Paragon has a large bookstore on the second floor with loads of English books and a gourmet market that i wished were there when I was living in Bangkok.

Hold on to your drink.  I dare you to find a single safe surface to put down your drink in Bangkok (outside of the malls and 5 star hotels).  Tables are either unbalanced rocking back and forth every time you set something down or have an uneven wooden surface, which seems to be popular in some of the pubs.  But, despite the rocking uneven tables, heaven forbid you don't put your drink on some kind of coaster.  Thai servers may be some of the worst ever until it comes to policing those coasters.  Waving around an empty bottle/glass in the air for ten minutes trying to get the attention of a waiter is not uncommon, but place that bottle on the table off the coaster and within seconds someone will move it back to it's proper place.

Yes, I did spill a drink, or two.  Most notably in the cinema where my friend's medium Sprite didn't fit properly into the cup holder.  On the way out, I knocked it over spilling it all over the floor.  Oops, quite embarrassing.

A rainbow of taxis.  In the six months since i last visited Bangkok, the number of different taxi companies has exploded.  I don't know the reasons why.  Perhaps there has been some kind of deregulation ruling.  Whatever the reason, when I lived there and visited last, there were basically two taxis - the older green and yellow ones and the newer, cleaner red and blue ones.  Now there is a virtual rainbow of taxis, with bright orange, green, solid red and blue, and my favorite - shocking pink.  The good thing is that all of them have the same rates and all of them are metered.  One thing I hate to do is bargain with taxi drivers.

Speaking of transportation.  The new underground is up (down?) and running.  It's clean, reliable and very convenient.  It's a great addition to the skytrain and doesn't cut up the skyline.  I just wish it went to the southern part of the city.  If you want to go to Khaosan Road, Pinklao or the Southern Bus Station, you still have to rely on buses (haha), taxis, boats or a combination of the three.  It can take hours to get from downtown to the station on a busy day. 

The Segmenting of Downtown.  Bangkok city center can never be viewed in total, but always through the massive pillars of the sky train.  It's been cut up into parts almost like movie frames.  The architecture might be stunning, but you'll never be able to take it in all at once.  While I love using the skytrain, it certainly doesn't do much for the view. 

New Movie House.  There's a new cinema in town and it actually plays quality movies.  It's called the House and it's located in the RCA Plaza.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Bangkok is a great place to see a movie.  There are hundreds of cinemas and the prices are extremely reasonable - about 2.50 USD.  unfortunately, choices are rather limited.  There are generally about 6 - 8 Hollywood blockbusters and 3 -4 goofy Thai movies playing at every theatre.  The Lido and Scala, across from Siam Center, play the odd art house movie and run some festivals, but for the most part, it's Hollywood or bust.  Now, I don't mind paying 2 bucks to see Fantastic Four but I'd rather see something a bit more thought provoking.  The House has some very interesting selections and it's fairly easy to get there.  Take the underground to Thailand Cultural Center and ask for RCA Plaza. 

RCA Bar Street.  After seeing a flick, head down to bar street.  It's right outside exit 2 of the Thailand Cultural Center MRT Station (though when I went, I didn't realize that and it took me forever to find it, much to the chagrin of the people I was meeting there.)  I don't know how I missed this place when i was living in Bangkok - it's an entire street packed with bars - Hollywood, Zeed2 and G-Star among others.  Seems to be frequented mostly by locals and is extremely loud, but fun. 

Speaking of noise.  Bangkok's got to be one of the loudest cities in the world.  The traffic, the people screaming in their mobiles, the constant sound of TVs and radios, all of it can get to you after a while.  For anyone who just can't take the noise in Bangkok anymore, check out Quiet Bangkok for some suggestions on how to escape.  It's written by a Bangkokian and is half English/half Thai. 

Smoker's Warning

The Thai government is taking all the fun out of smoking with a tough and often ugly new anti-smoking campaign.  Cigarettes can no longer be displayed in stores and must be hidden away, no one under 18 is allowed to purchase them (though I wonder how seriously this is adhered to) and now for the ugly part - gruesome pictures on all cigarette packs.  These are not the worst of them, I generally refused to take the others. I'll try and pick up a couple of the worst ones and post them next week sometime. 

Holiday

My holiday has finally arrived and not a day too soon.  I'm off to the Dubai Airport in about an hour.  I'll be in Bangkok for a week to get some dental work done (fun!) and then heading to Singapore, Kuala Lumpor and Malacca.  Postings might be somewhat infrequent, but I'm not going anywhere really remote, so shouldn't completely dry up.   

Good Engrish

Three Lessons for Living in Asia

1. The pedestrian does not have the right of way.
2. The customer is not always right. (In fact customers are generally just misinformed.)
   
3. The man driving the Mercedes is better than you (but he doesn't necessarily have more money.)