February 19, 2008

(SINGAPORE)

Luxuries of the Four Seasons Hotel, Friends at NTU, and Subway (mmmm!)

One always hears that the the most amazing things happen when you are least expecting them. While this seems true to an extent, likely because people can prepare themselves for expected events and so the transition is more gradual, this morning something memorable happened that was impossible to predict: I sat down to a continental breakfast with the legendary musician, Carlos Santana, sitting at the table to my right. Ok, so it isn't that life-changing, but it was remarkable nonetheless. Apparently, Santana is performing at a concert here in Singapore, and seeing him says something about the kind of hotel I am staying at - certainly a big step up from the kind of Salvation Army sponsored hole-in-the-wall that usually fits my budget. One last thing: Santana looked exactly like one would imagine with a bright yellow outfit and hat, and a pleasantly relaxed demeanor.

After breakfast, I worked out in the modern hotel gym that has been used by such stars as Sting (a hotel worker I befriended filled me in), and afterward I rode the MRT to Boon Lay station on the far western end of Singapore. I was meeting a few friends for lunch at my favorite ban mian (hand-made noodles in soup) stall on NTU campus, but en route I became slightly confused at the altered bus routes. Fortunately, an NIE student named WangYu helped me out, and since we were both boarding the same bus we spent the ride chatting about the normal happenings in Singapore - updates on Edison Chen (the Hong Kong pop-star whose computer was hacked and hundreds of sex photos with other pop-stars were posted all over the internet), the Singapore Airlines pilots who are pushing for higher wages, and (of course) where to find the best 百鸡反 (Hainan chicken white rice) - she claims Maxwell Road.

Before heading to "can A" (canteen, or cafeteria, A) I visited a small shop that sells Asia's largest boxes of Hello Panda, but they were sold out - thereby nullifying 30% of the reason I bother coming to this hot and humid island just above the equator. (The other 70% is because Singapore is one of the nicest cities on the planet, albeit for short stays given the handicapped size of the country.)

At 13:30 I met Wai San, Yulin, and WangYu in the crowded cafeteria, running into a couple of other friends in the process, and spent the next couple of hours sharing a laugh. The ban mian lived up to my expectations, and the auntie at the stall recognized me immediately, even though it has been roughly one year since I was last ordering my lunch here. I probably made her week when I commented, "我来这个反但因为在新加坡我觉得你的版面最好了! (translation: "I came back to this cafe because I think you have the best hand-made noodles in Singapore!") Perhaps it is narcissistic, but I derive extensive satisfaction whenever I can surprise people in Asia by speaking Mandarin to them!

Later in the evening I broke away from the spirit of Singapore by grabbing a take-out foot-long Italian sub from the Subway near Orchard Road. I ate it in the hotel room with a bottle of red wine while my father brought me up to date on his conferences at one of the world's largest air shows (the largest if you ask a Singaporean.) Shown above are a few pictures of the new Airbus 380 Dreamliner, which can probably hold a passenger or two if the turbines are anything to go by.