Singapore: Day Six

Posted by Kanga.

Day Six began with a stroll through Little India looking for a place to eat. We ended up having the most overpriced meal, yet, not worth posting here. It was a pleasant walk, although hot and humid.

Then we took a metro ride. A few interesting things happened during this transit. While I was standing in the ticket booth area waiting for DaddyBird, an older man got into a confrontation with security personnel. I’m not sure how it began, but I think that he entered through a door he was not supposed to enter through. He began to raise his voice and argue with them. Everyone else in the room stood stock still and stared as if mesmerized by the exchange. It was like a scene from a science fiction movie where time stands still. Anyone entering the room and seeing that there was a ruckus, immediately stood still and stared, too. Very strange.

Later, while we were on the train, a young woman near us got a look at DaddyBird’s beard and grinned big. Her eyes then darted to me and her smile immediately disappeared as soon as she realized he was with me. That’s right, girl. He’s taken! And, before we reached our destination, a family with two children came on. The little girl, who was about 4 years old, pointed at DaddyBird and made a wordless exclamation. She continued to stare at him until we reached our stop.

Our destination was the Singapore Flyer, a large ferris wheel, like the London Eye. It cost $30 each to ride.

Kallang River

Straights of Singapore

Singapore

And the day ended with green beer. Useful information: if you are in a taxi and asking to go to “boat quay” it is pronounced “boh key.”

Another high pressure, stressful day in Dubai ;-)

It began with a Shuffle-gazine business lunch at a Mexican restaurant (Americanized Mexican food – rare here). Yummy!
The restaurant was located along the beach.
The red arrow above points to the Atlantis Hotel which opened a few months ago with the enormous fireworks display and was apparently all over the US news considering how many of you asked about it.
Here is the view looking away from the beach.

There is an inlet that serves as a marina.
Here is Paul working — slaving away — at, yes, Starbucks. [a contrite hanging down of the head] They have a free wireless hot spot, so what can we say?

Then it was off to the Madinat Jumeirah. [See previous post from September 9, 2008 for first mention of this place] We had dinner amidst all the tourists.
Here’s Paul in his new black shirt enjoying a nice meal outside. We try to sit outside whenever possible now to appreciate it while we can. Some places actually have heat on inside which is really unpleasant and doesn’t make sense because they air condition to a much lower temperature in the summer.

Beard question

Question:
“Is Paul’s beard an eye catcher here?” Yes, but not in the way you might have thought.

Before we came and we were pondering what it might be like here, Paul wondered what might happen if he dressed in native apparel. I told him they would think he was an albino with his fair skin and blue eyes. Little did we know that he wouldn’t even have to change his dress to be noticed.

He began to notice that construction workers would look surprised/confused and then say “Salaam aleykum” to him. He also noticed that taxi drivers often asked if he was muslim or where he was from. At one point, he began to get more “ogles” than I. He asked our friend, Amed, about this and Amed was nodding his head “yes” before Paul even finished describing the situation. It seems that there is a wealthy Pakistani family that are known for their red beards. They dress in western clothes and are of fair complexion. So, these construction workers see Paul walking down the street looking like a wealthy Pakistani and they are confused to see him “out of context.”

As for beards, some Arabs have beards, although they are usually neatly trimmed. The Sikhs have bushy beards, so Paul’s is not that unusual here.