Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

This past Saturday we went to Beerfest Asia. Friends of mine told me about it and I had a hunch it was something Paul might be interested in. I knew about 5-10 others going so I figured it would be fun - beer from around the world under tents at one of the marinas. The tickets stated the time as 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., but that was a bit too ambitious for us. We got there just after 7 p.m. and left by 1 a.m., before some and after others. There was music, big screens showing the World Cup, some no-fuss food, a few games... and beer. Not to mention stuffed monkeys, Hell's Belles and Bono.

You see, live music was performed by cover bands, one called Achtung Baby doing all U2 songs and one called Hell's Belles, an all female group covering AC/DC. My friend from Washington state was quite familiar with Hell's Belles who hail from Seattle. Her husband is a fan. I was looking forward to the U2 songs. Our group congregated in one tent while the music was in another. Paul and I wandered over to hear some "U2" songs. For a band that only plays U2, they could use a little improvement on their U2. The freaky thing was that Australian "Bono" spoke with an Irish accent and introduced the members of the band as the members of the actual band. They dressed like them too (circa 1992). A little weird. Hell's Belles, however, were spot on for AC/DC, and the wild schoolboy outfits worked pretty well on women. The crowd loved them. Quickly after hearing how truly AC/DC they sounded, I remembered how much I dislike AC/DC.

Somewhere in between all the rockin' Paul and I played a good old-fashioned boardwalk game of toss-a-ring-on-a-bottle. As a team, we earned a monkey. If only there was skee ball or frozen custard and funnel cakes. It was one of the less boring nights we've had in Singapore anyway. But try keeping a beer cold while outdoors in this country... the bottles sweat almost as much as I do.

It's sort of fun to be in a country where people care A LOT about the World Cup. I mean, I still couldn't care less, but it's fun to be around people who do. I guess our neighbors are Japanese because there were excited screams coming from across the hall the night Japan won a game. I know people rooting for USA, Mexico, Australia. I might join in to watch the next USA game with some USA fans. Why not? Everybody loves an underdog. Here's hoping they... tie... again. Woohoo. And now I know what a vuvuzela is, whether I want to or not.

Related to the World Cup, there's a curious display that you might catch round a random corner while traveling the streets of Singapore. Cows. I don't know for sure, but I was told that a marketing company is behind this quirky project. Marketing what, I'm not sure. In different parts of town there are standing metal cut-outs of whole "teams" of cows wearing various World Cup team jerseys. My friend told me about two teams she saw in different spots and I though it sounded bizarre. Sure enough, I spotted a team the next day in a grassy field on my way to a train. The jerseys were light blue and white striped. I'm told that's Argentina. There's a sign among the cows that says These cows are under surveillance. If you must take one, call... and gives a phone number. That may actually be the kookiest part. I didn't have a camera on me but if I pass them again, or maybe Mexico's or Italy's cows, I'll try to snap a picture.

Happy Father's Day.
Happy Father's Day.
Happy Birthday.
Happy Graduation.

Australian U2

One of those fine fellows in the back came home with us

One More Time

My last post about banking problems was so boring, Paul finally stepped in for relief. He'll be glad to know that our minds have grown so alike that he wrote what I would write and I don't need to add much more.

It was strange leaving from the Singapore airport for the first time. I kept looking around for the familiar sights of the Hong Kong airport after so many trips from there. We can reach this one by cab in about 20 minutes. I realize when talking to people who live in places like Alabama just how much I take for granted always having lived near major international airports. We knew we wanted to return to Bali from the minute we left it in 2008, but the longer we live here and the more places we check off the list, the more we seem to add. It's good fortune that we ended up even nearer to Bali, making a return practically required.

Well, we just might have to go back one more time for continued furniture shopping. The hotel wasn't so helpful in this matter; they gave us a list of shops and got us a driver, but out of the few shops on the list, one was closed; one was, according to our driver, still under construction; others were a bit far away. We spotted the table in one of the last shops along a road with several others. The shipping is costly - not to get out of Bali but to get into Singapore. The expenses seem to accumulate at the receiving port. My HK friend with the furniture that inspired us said it would have been cheaper for her to ship it to the UK than to HK! Guess we'll have to look into other options if we want the table. Or go back to Bali - just to double check. Seriously, before we head home, we should go there and load up on teak lawn furniture.

As Paul said, the hotel's lost some subtle touches that had contributed to our love of the whole experience the first time, but it is still quite lovely. We did get to try something new, the meal at Bumbu Bali. I had a dish that sounded so simple: shredded chicken with lemongrass and shallots. Oh man, I can still taste it and it would be a pity to never taste such exquisite flavors again. (2 hour, 15 min. flight+about $120 airfare=Possibility)


The weather wasn't quite as perfect this time. It was more humid and some hours of the day were sunny, some overcast, and on the day we left it actually rained for a few hours. I would just like to make one correction to Paul's account. The photo he labeled, Lisa went for the hollowed out watermelon, is not an entirely accurate representation of my poolside beverage consumption. In reality, he said he would order us drinks and surprise me with his choice. Then a watermelon arrived. We shared.

Here are links to the posts from our first Bali trip, in case you'd like to reminisce:


July 9, 2008  July 4, 2008

And more photos from this trip (click on a picture if you want to go to the album):

Going Back to Cali

Nah, I don't think so.

Actually we went back to Bali.

I know it's been awhile since I've jumped in here because I couldn't remember my password and had to have them email me a new one.

My primary excuse is work which has had me in the office some crazy hours. It was also the primary reason for our trip.

One good thing about Singapore is it is a hop, skip and jump from so many great locations you can see so much of the world on just a long weekend.

So where to go, where to go.... Philippines? Thailand? Kuala Lumpur? All close by and places we want to get to and explore, but Bali is now only just over 2 hours away! Faced with a Mendy's like decision (for you non-Seinfeld fans it means either going to a place you know is great or taking a chance on something that is new and exciting) it was actually quite easy even for two very indecisive people. In desperate need of some relaxation and not exploration and with little need to revisit the tourist sites we've already seen, Bali, one of the most beautiful places on earth, was our obvious answer. To make things even simpler we decided to stay at the Ritz again, except that it's now Ayana Resort and we weren't sure what changes that might bring. But a quick scan of their website showed everything pretty much the same, with only the addition of a bar built on the cliffs over the Indian Ocean, so we were booked pretty much right after that.

Relaxation wasn't too hard to find...

We left late Thursday night and after the usual inconveniences of traveling got to the resort around 11:00 pm. Not ideal but the schedule left us with 3 full days and we ended up with a much nicer room than last time with an upgrade to an ocean view (our only complaint last time was our room, which we paid additional for a "technical" ocean view and had to settle for double beds).

Upon entrance we were greeted with fragrant leis (but no giant gong), refreshing tropical drinks (but we weren't seated while the staff ran around, just typical counter check in) and no live Indonesian music pulling you into another world. However it was an 11 pm check in so we assumed that may have played a part, but as you could see we would be comparing everything to our last visit (in detail).

We got some sleep and started our Friday with their buffet breakfast (not included this time which was disappointing). From there we suited up and headed straight for the cliff side, infinity pool which took us some time to discover last time.

No glossy memories here - this is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet to be! We kind of always wondered since we last left that pool two years ago if we would ever make it back knowing how much we want to do while we're in Asia and how limited our time really is, so we were very happy and very appreciative that afternoon.

Infinity beer... A man can dream

Lisa went for the hollowed out watermelon

Dinner plans that evening were very easy as well. Back to the Lia on the beach for some grilled seafood. A 2+ pound lobster, delicious local fish, cold beer and serenaded with live music all for about 60 bucks. Very happy & very appreciative.

Feisty and delicious

Saturday was the only day we decided we would "do" something. And that something was take a half day to look for furniture. We went to a party back in HK and saw this really beautiful wood furniture which the couple that lived there told us they got in Bali very cheap. As we're still under the assumption we have a big empty house back in Jersey somewhere, this was maybe something we could use.

Somewhat under prepared we got a driver for a few hours and headed out. We randomly stopped in several shops where they had nice things but nothing that jumped out at us. As we weren't looking for anything specific we were moving pretty quickly. In the second to last shop they had this nice carved coffee table. It was huge (4.5' x 4.5') and nothing we needed, but was very pretty and out of curiosity I asked what it cost. The answer was low enough without haggling that I then asked what shipping cost, and to get to Singapore was not too much. Then I asked what it would cost to get it to our apartment after import taxes, etc. and she told me she would email me. Well those costs were literally 3x the price of the table. Singapore is just ridiculously expensive but that is a topic for another post.

Worth a second look?

Either way we're still in deciding mode and (quite easily) thinking maybe a trip back would help our decision.

So if that gives it away, yes the rest of the trip lived up to our expectations. Without going into all the details we enjoyed some time on the beach (however it does not look like it will be private much longer as they are building another resort next to in with a path leading to the same spot). Tried the "fancy" restaurant and martini bar we didn't get to last time at the resort which was quite good. Spent a good amount of time in our favorite pool and our last dinner was at a local restaurant that was "redonculously" good and amazingly cheap.

That's right I said redonculously good!

Pint size martini testers - sure we'll give it a shot

We also tried the new Rock Bar addition over the Indian Ocean. Not for us. Standard club / bar like atmosphere with a DJ. Completely takes away from the charm and tranquility that brought us back there. We really missed the little band of locals that walked around playing requests - our favorite bar from last time was modernized a little and we were the only two people there. What a shame. But at least we got to see these guys on the beach.

Technical difficulties uploading the video - will have to try again later.

I wouldn't say they don't know what they are doing because the rock bar was pulling in tons of Japanese tourists and someone at work asked me about the place because they read it was the "place to be" in Bali now.

Would we still recommend the place? I would say yes, because it is still beautiful, people are super friendly and no one else would know what they were missing. But like a "Royal with cheese" it's the little things. And while we are already talking about making it back for just one more trip before we say good bye to this part of the world (I mean you want to be sure when choosing a coffee table) we probably would give another resort a shot and hope we're not thinking about the Mendy's soup (or our pool) when we're there.

Anyway that's all for now and I'll blog ya' later. (hopefully not too much later)

Borrowed Tune

After such a dreadfully boring post, I've decided to offer you all something more interesting. It's borrowed, but you might enjoy reading this blog. Our friends Christine and Jerry adopted a baby boy from China earlier this year. Christine detailed the trip to China here:

http://nihaohon.blogspot.com/

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

Maybe we weren't quite as wide-eyed and willing to be challenged once we moved to Singapore as we were when we first moved to Hong Kong. I'm not sure. I just know that there seemed to be an endless path of obstacles to settling in here. In fact, I still don't have a PIN for my ATM card, as one example. Everything we attempted was like one step forward, two steps back because each thing hinged on something else: opening a bank account, paying bills, opening other accounts. I know I shouldn't complain, really. I do have all day to solve problems, but I felt so frustrated at the end of every day when none of the attempts got us anywhere. I was at a point where I was hoping for not even a good week but simply a week where everything wasn't so difficult. I'm filled with excuses for not writing, but this is probably why I hid from it for so long.

Now that the dust is starting to settle (really, I gotta dust), I can recap less grimly because I'm mostly over it. I know Hong Kong wasn't without transition difficulties and it may be too rosy a memory, but I swear it was easier to move from the US to HK than from HK to Singapore in some aspects. Some things were easier this time, like deciding what to bring (everything), filing familiar paperwork, not having to sell cars, not wondering what it's like to live in Asia.

I have not forgotten how desperate I was for weeks in Hong Kong when we moved into J Residence and couldn't get an internet service provider. One major difference this time is that just before we left HK we bought a laptop (Macbook of course). What a difference. While in hotel and temporary residence, no problem. But again, once we moved into this apartment the trouble started and I was consumed for hours a day by trying to correct it. Worse yet, much of the trouble needn't have happened.

The Icon provides free wireless internet access throughout the building. Great, we thought, we might not have to pay for service, as long as we found the speed acceptable. We got a connection on the laptop but not on the desktop computer. After a couple of days of trying countless fixes, I went to the management office and inquired. I should have done so earlier. I was told I should use a router to connect and I would find a network name listed that would include my location like T2L22, as in tower 2, unit 22. I thought, aha, I don't have a strong enough signal because I'm not using a router. So I bought one but the signal was still so weak it was often non-functional. I visited the office again and they sent up 3 "IT" guys to help. I knew it was a bad sign when one said he'd never seen a Mac before. I asked why I didn't see the network name I was told to look for, T2-blahblah, and after some dancing around they told me that was incorrect information. Basically, they were making up answers. They knew less than I did and their answer was essentially that I should pay for a service. I just didn't want to surrender before I knew I had done everything right. Hours and hours more investigating. I'm up on a lot of tech-speak again.

I concluded there was no malfunction but the connection was just not fast or reliable enough so we planned to sign up for a service subscription. Paul had to leave work early to meet me at the shop (because he had to open the account because he has an employment pass and I don't... see what I mean here...) About an hour before, I found a box in a cabinet above the refrigerator containing a router labeled T2L22. Plugged it in; it worked; I cursed. We went ahead and paid for service anyway because it's still unreliable sharing a public connection, especially during after-work hours when everyone's home web surfing. But I didn't necessarily need to buy my own router, though it is more technologically current. The worst part was wasting about two weeks struggling.

Then there was banking. We opened a Citibank account. The woman who helped us typed so poorly that she had us write all our information in the standard application forms and didn't finish entering it until about nine hours after we left her. We had asked if we could open a multi-currency account and she said we'd have to open separate accounts for each currency, so we opened a Singapore Dollar account. Of course, some days later I saw a brochure detailing Citibank's multi-currency account option. Should have known how things would progress from there.

In Hong Kong, we still had money at HSBC. The way to wire the money from HSBC to Citibank is to go into HSBC and request it. Not an HSBC in Singapore but the HSBC in Hong Kong. Yep. So we had to fill out a request form and mail it to HSBC in Hong Kong and wait and see if the money appeared at Citibank. Thankfully, it did.

...But we couldn't access it. We used Paul's work address when we opened the account here so everything addressed to me got lost because I don't work there, including the checks with both our names on them. And yes, even though it's a joint account, they send everything separately. Paul received his ATM card and PIN so he could withdraw cash, but a situation arose when time came to pay rent. The real estate agent/relocation gang forgot to give us the landlord's payment details so when I realized this as the rent was due, they asked us to make an online bank transfer so it would be on time. This is when we learned that we couldn't access anything online because they send a one-time text message to your mobile phone with an additional PIN. But we didn't have local numbers when we opened the account so they took Paul's HK number and added a Singapore area code to it. Needless to say, he never received the message at this non-existent number. They wouldn't update the contact number to the local number I then had unless we went into the bank, filled out a change form and waited to receive the online banking PIN in the mail.

The landlord's agent threw a minor hissy fit that the rent might be a day late, so Paul ended up going to Citibank, withdrawing cash from the ATM and walking over to the landlord's bank and depositing cash into his account. We've since gone into Citibank to set up automatic bill payments, including rent. In the meantime, after having gone into the bank a month ago and spending 30 minutes filling out update forms, my address still has not been updated, therefore no PINS for me. Paul, on the other hand, has received a good three notices saying they've updated his address.

Back in Hong Kong accounts, I believe we need to have a child (a son probably preferred) so that we can offer the customer service reps this child and perhaps persuade them in finally letting us go. For internet service, Paul got the runaround before leaving Hong Kong and we had to leave the modems with my friend Maggie to return for us because they wouldn't just end the service. We only had a month left on the subscription so we let it run out and then he called from here and it was a bit simpler. However we are still receiving phone bills. When Paul tried twice to cancel, they said they had to call him back each time - on a Hong Kong number. We're just not paying the bills. I don't have a phone contract here so I can eventually leave the country without bills trailing. I read about a plan from a particular phone company that would work well for me, though I did have to go to three of their shops to find someone who knew how to set it up.

I gotta admit, I've gone to bed grumpy many a day here in sunny Singapore. Sorry, this was really boring. Some people pay therapists. This is what do. I owe my readers some sort of payment after this post. Oh, sorry. I still can't get to the money.

Movin' On Up

I'll start with the Ladies with L's. The relocation assistant we first met on our February visit to Singapore was named Liz. The real estate agent we first had then was named Lilian. When we moved here, we wanted to start looking for an apartment right away and Lilian - luckily - was not available those first days. I say luckily since she was a key player in the mishandling of the first offer we made and lost. So we were assigned a second agent, Leanne. Our relocation coordinator overseeing the whole process was named Lauren. And the person who surveyed the apartment when we finally moved in was named Liz. At first I couldn't understand why Paul confused the names of everyone we were dealing with, and eventually I realized that we were dealing with five women whose names started with L, two named Liz. (He managed to keep my name straight through most of it.)

Fortunately, Leanne turned out to be a more effective agent than Lilian and I requested that we stick with her. We determined some facts from our first visit: we wanted to be centrally located, near transportation; we wanted to see more units in the building we originally chose and missed out on, River Place; we also wanted to see one other particular building that Lilian had mentioned but didn't show us, The Icon. It was in an area we were interested in, but she had said it was more than our budget (when does that stop real estate agents from showing people places?) When I inquired about it while she was driving us around, she said it was a "yuppie" building with many young couples without children, as if this was a description that we'd find unappealing. I remember looking between Paul and me in the car to see if there were some kids we had that I didn't know about and wondering how this Lilian could be successful in real estate.

Anyhow, once Leanne was assigned as our agent, we made the above requests, so on the first day, I saw exactly what was requested and nothing more. As it turned out, there were no units available in River Place so all I saw were three units in The Icon. It wasn't Leann's fault; that's what Lauren told her I wanted. Of course there was a confused conversation when I asked what else I could see the next day but it was eventually clarified that I wanted those places included in the viewing list, not that I wanted to see those places exclusively. Exasperating.

One of the three units I saw in The Icon stood out as a strong contender. I saw several more places the next day, but we also scheduled a revisit of The Icon with Paul. He agreed it was a winner and we moved quickly this time, letting go the hope of River Place. The owner lives abroad so we dealt with his agent. It seemed that in the negotiations, if you can call them such, the landlord demanded more than we did and unless we wanted to search for a third time, we had to give in to the ridiculous little demands. The stand-out one was that we would not put any nails into the walls because he didn't want to have to repaint when we move out. Just use 3M picture hangers, we were told. I mention this detail because it leads to minor disaster and heartbreak which will be shared in a separate post.

One demand we did submit was honored, probably because it's a worthwhile investment on the owner's part. When I first saw the place I liked everything about it except one glaring, clear fact: the glaring, clear glass walls enclosing the master bathroom. I can't imagine why anyone would think this is an architectural option. The bathroom is connected to the master bedroom and shares a wall with the wardrobe. All the walls of the wardrobe and the main wall of the bathroom are all clear glass. I told Leanne that Paul and I are close, but not that close. Amused, she said the glass could easily be covered with an opaque film. It was done before we moved in. -We occasionally get mail addressed to the former occupants, a Norwegian couple. Apparently the Norwegians live in a more open society.

Our new home... we moved in on Monday, April 5, three weeks after arriving. It's a fairly new building, about 2-3 years old. We're on the 38th floor out of something like 45. We have a water view, which translates to looking out onto thousands of shipping containers. There is a sprawling pool on the 7th floor and it's completely usable, unlike the pool in J Residence with its odd layout with room for only eight people to sit and the shower you had to walk through on your way in and out. It's also free unlike the pool at J Residence. When we started apartment hunting and asked if there were charges to use the pool, I think the agent thought the question a little crazy. (The majority of places I viewed had big, inviting pools. It seems more like a priority here than an impractical addition like the one we had in Hong Kong, probably because it's hot all year.)  There is also a whole floor, the 31st, with gardens and terraces and seating areas. We don't have our own balcony this time, so this is an attractive feature.

Our unit is two bedrooms, still considered small by many standards, but compared to our place in Hong Kong, it's huge. There is a closet in each bedroom. There's also a big storage room they call a bomb shelter here. I can't figure out if it's actually a bomb shelter, and if it is, what does the Singapore government know that I don't? Or it could be maid's quarters which are typically disturbingly small. Or it's just a storage room with a creative name; it does have a steel door though. Two bathrooms (one with real walls). A real kitchen! It has a full size refrigerator, an oven, a washer AND a drier! It's a full size Bosch drier that works better than my old drier back in Fords. Did I mention there's an oven? And a gas stove burner? The kitchen is separate yet still very open to the living room. I really like it. Oh, the best part - there's a trash chute! I honestly grinned and giggled the first time I threw a bag down and listened to it fall 38 stories, the sound fading with each passing floor as if a cartoon coyote fell off a cliff.

The Icon is located at the edge of Chinatown, steps away from an MRT (train) station. It's two stops/about 20 minutes to work for Paul. I have a basic supermarket in walking distance, though as in Hong Kong, I need to go to 2-3 stores to get all the things I want. There are shops and restaurants on the ground floor of our building including 3 sushi restaurants, 2 coffee shops, key maker, shoe repair, dry-cleaner, cake shop, wine ship, 7-11, and most recently and most appreciated, Quizno's. There are signs for an Argentinean restaurant coming soon but I'm not sure I believe it. Nearby there are mostly office buildings so the streets are busy during lunch and rush hours.

There are lots of Singapore style food stalls around, but try as I might, I can't get excited about fatty meats or mystery fish covered in sauce served with rice. There's little variation on this theme, stall after stall. There is a well-known food center a few minutes away that Anthony Bourdain supposedly visited. Maybe I'll try the popular chicken/rice dish one day, but Quizno's is right downstairs and I don't have to spit bones out of the sandwich. There is also a surprising number of Italian restaurants in the area. And a couple we've tried were actually pretty good, though we haven't found a pizza more than acceptable within walking distance yet.

There are lots of other bars and restaurants nearby, but the bars closest to us are a bit of a letdown. They're either cheesy local Karaoke bars or ones with darkened glass fronts that prevent you from seeing in, which in Asia, means you can probably pay for more than a beer inside. Soooo, we skip those. There's a really nice Irish bar that we tried once and we were the only ones in it on a Saturday night. I think because The Icon is the only high rise apartment, besides three nearby towers of more typical government housing, and it's in what is essentially a business district, Saturday nights are disappointingly quiet in the neighborhood. When I first walked around, it appeared that there was more on offer because it was hard to tell what opened when. Some places are closed on weekends; some open only for lunch; others only open for dinner. You have to walk around at different hours of the day on different days of the week to figure out what's available. Note: Quizno's is closed on Sunday.

It's more of a local area with a sizable Chinese population and businesses that cater to local tastes. It's no Wan Chai, but we like it, and part of the fun is searching for hidden gems.

Liz #1 (leaning against the bomb shelter door) and part of the kitchen seen from the living room

Appliances! Oh, there's a fold out ironing board inside that top drawer - very cool

Clearly, the master bath and wardrobe - before the opaque addition

Some of the view

Part of the pool

Here I Go Again

Guess I'll have to get around to changing the Life in Hong Kong subtitle and picture. I'll add that to the list. First things first.

So, where have you been?

It's not as if Singapore is a giant black hole that sucked me into it, almost never to be heard from again - or is it? Some days, I wonder. We've been here almost two months and I'm forgetting all the details I would have written if I had written but they're starting to come back to me, and I probably haven't written because I've been distracted by the hassles of settling in and I would just be detailing my frustrations, which would be no fun to read. With a little time (or a lot) I can laugh about those frustrations. Really, I can. Haha. Ha.

I'll stick with chronology and start from the beginning - the end of Hong Kong. After all our things were packed we stayed for three nights at the Island Shangri-La Hotel which was quite lovely. It was about a 10-minute walk from our apartment and it made me feel better not to stay too far from "home" so I could kid myself that life in HK would go on as usual. But on Sunday morning there was in fact a plane waiting.

We arrived in Singapore late in the afternoon and checked into our serviced apartment, The Ascott. We had three choices of residence and I chose this place because it was closest to Paul's office, one train stop, and also because it was very close to an apartment building we had previously seen and were still considering. Soon after arrival we walked outside to find a bite to eat and the neighborhood was desolate. Picture tumbleweeds blowing by, but it's so humid here they would be palm fronds. We ate terrible food at Harry's, a chain pub that you can't walk two blocks without running into here, simply because it was open. The area around Raffles Place and The Ascott is part of the business district so I suppose it would be like trying to find life on a Sunday evening in NYC's Financial District. I'm happy that one decision was made so early and so easily. We were no longer interested in living there.

The Ascott was a comfortable and attractive residence with a few more amenities than we had back in our temporary housing days in HK. Though one thing that seriously irked me is that we had a studio apartment. It hadn't troubled me until I became aware that one of Paul's coworkers, a single guy, had a one bedroom. Another had a two bedroom. The efforts of our team of relocation specialists shine once again. There was also a rooftop pool but there was no chance I would use it. It was a long, narrow lap pool, too deep to stand in, and the walls were clear glass. It was essentially a human aquarium. No thanks. I did sit by it on several afternoons if I had nothing else to do while waiting for housekeeping to do their thing.

There was a washer/dryer which I most certainly did use since the laundry service cost about $10 per shirt. Ha. There was also room service at exorbitant prices. Made me miss the old Peach Blossom serviced apartment days back in Hong Kong with its ridiculously cheap dinners (and laundry service). I burnt myself twice while ironing Paul's shirts. One burn on my thumb is till visible from weeks ago. Call me a housewife, but I could use help on the house part.

Within two weeks my stomach realized it was being moved around Asia again and it staged a revolt. I awoke feeling unwell on a day I was supposed to meet up with some expat gals for the first time. I hoped the nausea, dizziness and chills would ease if I lay down but the pain only intensified. I held out for a couple of hours since I'm developing a complex about how many times I've needed emergency medical care while living out here, but I finally gave in and had Paul call a doctor for me. This made me feel weak, but after the alien that lived in my gut for nearly two months last summer upon return from Borneo and the digestive misery (and hospital visits) it caused me, I decided to counter-attack quickly this time.

I took a taxi to a nearby hospital and I saw a doctor fairly quickly, although it felt like an eternity. I was not impressed by his diagnostic questions. He only asked of some symptoms and how long I'd been in Singapore, not if I ate anything suspect, or where else I've traveled or if this has ever happened before. He said it was likely food-related. His words of comfort, "Oh, this will probably happen a few times while you're here," as he wrote the prescription for antibiotics. Doctors can be disappointingly predictable. I had to ask for something for the pain, as if he couldn't see I was in any. He had me wait around for over an hour to see if it lessened. It hardly did, but my choice was to go home and deal with it or stay overnight, so I went home and continued to vomit up the bile in my empty stomach. The cramps became sharper at times but less constant and I managed a few spoonfuls of a $15 bowl of chicken broth. It took about three days and little by little I felt better. I wish I could say I ate something I knew I shouldn't have, but I'm still left guessing at what got me this time. Asia. My tour of its hospitals continues.

Fortunately, I was better by Easter so Paul and I were able to continue our tradition of the last three years: Champagne brunch buffet. It was a fine treat.

Next on General Hospital... house hunting, blind friending, Citibank-hating and some observations on Singapore. Preview: it's hot. I threw a rock at the equator today.