Singapore Day 1: My Intro to Asia

First View of Japan from Plane

After a little over a one hour delay, I arrived in Singapore and was greeted at the airport by my beautiful lady. I was exhausted but had some trouble getting to sleep – lingering discomfort from 20+ hours of travel or a little bit of excitement? I’d like to think the latter. After breakfast, Kim left for work, and I decided to explore a bit of Singapore by foot.  My non-audacious goal: get to Chinatown.  I love seeing a new city by foot just to get a real feel for local life.

This is my first trip to any Asian country (I guess I won’t count Orange County or any American Chinatown), and, truthfully, I’m a bit giddy. I’ve watched and read so much about this area of the world, and I’m thrilled to have such a great excuse to come and see it! Kim is staying in the Intercontinental Hotel on Middle Road. I left the hotel and walked through the connected mall towards the nearby Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Station. They love their shopping in SG! I walked through the mall and through the enormous food court towards the MRT. (Quick aside: I love the variety of food available here…even in a freaking mall food court!!! )

Armeniam Street

The Crazy Leaf

When I arrived at the station, I decided I’d rather get out and enjoy some fresh air. I found Queen Street and walked towards Fort Channing Park and the nearby Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. The rain was nice to walk through (with umbrella), and the park was nice. Total stoner thought: I saw this crazy leaf during my stroll that literally no water stuck to. You know how it usually beads up on leaves? The water just appeared to disintegrate when it hit the leaf’s surface. I’ve never seen anything like that!!  I hopped on the MRT and exited at the Chinatown Stop.

My Lunch

Chinatown is full of small shops and food stands like I expected from my No Reservations education. I roamed the People’s Park food court in search of a meal. Out of the hundreds of stands, I finally found a dish to my liking (well, actually there were about 50 dishes to my liking, but I’m only one man…) – Pork Rib Noodle Soup. The hot soup was a strangely perfect accoutrement to the humid, rainy weather. I enjoyed the food and the sights at my perch in the food court. Although my friends would make some smarmy retort, it was great being the only semi-white person in a sea of many different Asian cultures.  And thanks to Kim for handing me some tissues as napkins were not available at the food stand.

I continued my trip through Chinatown, window shopping through the various stalls. I came to another market and wandered through the fruit, vegetable and meat stand area. Being a foodie, I was so excited to walk through this market full of exotic items – it was even great (and extremely apropos) seeing the meat vendors selling their products with no shirts on.

Chinatown

I enjoyed a dragon fruit juice and stumbled upon the nearby Buddah Tooth Relic Temple. It was a very pretty. I listened to the chanting for a bit and then took the elevator up to the roof-top garden. The garden was calming and idyllic – I was actually a bit upset I didn’t know more about the customs and traditions of the worshipping Buddhists. I’ll have to read up on it for my next visit.  

Interactive MRT Map - Suck it BART!

My trek through Chinatown led to a MRT station to head back to the hotel.  The MRT is pretty amazing. It’s prompt and clean. The stops are well-marked, and there were even little maps inside each car telling you what stop you were at. Genius! The stations are cavernous! They remind me of European subway stations (which I love); they are one of my favorite childhood memories. BART: you’re on notice. This is how you run mass transit.

That was my day so far. I’m sure Kim has a few more surprises in store.  Happy Travels!

KM

Has anyone seen my emotional stability?

I’m not much of a crier. Historically, it’s been really hard to talk my tear ducts into operation. I never cried at weddings or movies or season finales of “The Biggest Loser”. I was the proverbial Rock of Gibraltar. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried in the last 15 years and most involve the death of a family member. For instance, I bawled like a two year old when my childhood dog Boomer died a few years back when flying home from Christmas. But who doesn’t love a 27 year old guy crying rivers on a bus?

Emotional indifference is inherent with being a guy from the age of 15 to…well…it’s just an inherent part of being a guy. Or at least I thought it was. As I’ve gotten older, my glass case of emotion has gained a few cracks. Two very recent events have caused me to question my earlier hypothesis of my emotional stability.

Story #1

My best friend from college was married last weekend in Austin. My biggest worries were delivering my best man speech without crapping my pants and not sweating through all eight layers of my tux (Aside: Chris, why did you punish us with wearing tuxedos in the Austin summer. You’re an a$$hole.). Up until the wedding ceremony, the weekend had gone well. I hung out with my buds from college, drank some beer, ate some Texas barbeque, etc. Good times.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was seeing Chris’ parents who I haven’t seen in forever. His dad is a bit older than most people’s parents at our age, and I was a bit tripped out as he had aged so much since I last saw him. So, as the bride and groom were walking out after the ceremony, Chris’ dad stuck his hand out for a handshake. They shake hands, and I just about lose my shit. I’m thinking of kicking puppies, hand guns, grilling steaks – basically anything manly I could think of to restrain the tears in my eyes. Thankfully, I kept it together. Why did that hit me so hard? Did it make me think of my dad? Did it make me think of him missing some “important” milestone in my life? Who knows?

Story #2

Last week, my girlfriend moved to Singapore for a year. Now, I have never been one to cry during airport goodbyes. I can appreciate them in a “Love Actually” sort of way…did I just write that? Anyway, there we are saying our goodbyes when all of a sudden the freaking waterworks start. So, now I’m trying to comfort my gf while also wiping the waterfall from my eyes to avoid total emasculation. Problem not averted because this kept up as I was walking back to my car. I was “that guy” walking through the airport crying like a 3 year old.

What the hell has happened to me lately? Let’s explore some hypotheses:

Possibility #1: I’m getting old. Maybe we lose control over our emotions as we get older, kind of like we lose control of our bowels. This is too depressing to imagine as truth

Possibility #2: I’ve been in denial about my emotions –I’ve been bottling it up for so long, it was bound to burst. This seems too logical…

Possibility #3: I’m in love…oh, god, is this where my life is headed?

Possibility #4: I actually have a soul. Possible, but not likely.

Possibility #5: The gf has softened me. If it’s her fault, I’m getting rid of her.

Possibility #6: I think it’s my niece’s fault. Yes, I’m blaming a two year-old. Hear me out. I know she’s not my kid, but somehow she made my Grinch-like heart grow to five times its original size.  Every time I see her, I just have to make googly baby sounds as she makes me so happy!! What the hell is up with that?! It’s all her fault!!

Well, whatever the problem is, I’m not happy about the change. I’m gonna go kick a puppy and steal some candy from a baby to try to regain some manhood. Hopefully, I can keep my whimpering to a minimum.

KM

A New Start

Alright, here I go again on my own!! This will be my second attempt to blog my life. The first one started very strong, but petered out over time. The strange think about it was I was in grad school, so I should have had plenty of time to post! Apparently, I am lazy and have a bit of ADD…

Which leads us into the title of the blog - Eclectic Goodness. I have a pretty broad list of interests, and I figured this would be a good place to document them all. From sports to cooking to politics to pop culture - you name it, I’ll probably write about it. I think my dad said it best a few years back. He was specifically talking about my inability to be a stellar athlete, but he said “You’re a jack of all sports and a master of none”. I’m pretty sure he was telling me I was a horrible athlete, but I like to think he was saying I am pretty competent in a lot of stuff. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

So, why a blog? There are a million other people out there doing the same thing - why is my shit more interesting than theirs? Well, it’s probably not…but may it is to someone. I have friends and family who live all along the west coast, and I think this is a good way for them to at least feign interest in the goings on of my life. Also, my girlfriend just moved half way across the world for a year. This will be my attempt to keep annoying her from 1000’s of miles away!
So, stay tuned. Hopefully it will be a bit entertaining
KM