Relevant History

Giant babies

This is the kind of thing lifeblogging and Flickr make possible: comparative studies of giant babies!

changi airport, singapore, 2008, via flickr

times square, new york, 2009, via flickr

Greetings from Changi Airport

I'm in the magnificent Terminal 3 at Changi, waiting for my flight to San Francisco. I've got two hours before we start boarding, and I plan to do some work before I get on the plane. I doubt I'll have a power adapter at my seat, the way I did on the way over.

via flickr

The flight home leaves around dinnertime, lands in Hong Kong around 9:30 local time, then gets into San Francisco around 8:15. So while I was in perpetual early evening on the way to Asia, I'll be in about 20 hours of darkness on the way back. Actually, I expect it'll help me get more done.

I was supposed to go to Malaysia today for a meeting, but fortunately we were able to do it over the phone instead. I think I would have collapsed if I'd had to get on two more planes today.

After that, I went to Raffles City, grabbed some sushi at Jason's Market (my favorite easy lunch), then grabbed the MRT out here.

cool fountain at raffles, via flickr

I've got a ton of writing and about 5000 e-mails I need to take care of. Workshops generate a lot of follow-up.

airport, Changi, Singapore, SQ002, Travel

Japanese Dining Sun

Last night I had dinner with a few people from NUS and Oxford at Japanese Dining Sun (or Sun Japanese Dining, or even possibly Japanese Sun Dining), in Chijmes, a former Catholic convent turned entertainment destination (I hope it's all deconsecrated).

The restaurant itself is high minimalist, with some really nice touches. It's a chain, with other branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but still I quite enjoyed it.

via flickr

I had the seafood kamameshi, a kind of hot pot with seasoned rice and vegetables cooked together, then topped with roasted eel, squid, and other things. It was outstanding.

via flickr

The raw salmon and roe appetizer was also really, really good.

It was also really good to get these different people from various parts of my professional life together: a couple Oxford students interested in technology transfer, and NUS people in the new media program.

One of my good friends has the admirable ability to put together terrific dinner parties, and it's a skill be able to mix up people from different backgrounds or places who'll get something from each other's company. Another on my long list of things to learn to do!

dinner, Singapore, Travel, chijmes

Workshop

I'm back in my hotel, after the workshop at NUS. The workshop went quite well: it was an excellent group, and we got some very good ideas and scenario work out of them.

For me, these things are exhausting. Not only does each one require several days of prep but they demand a full day of being ON, which is pretty draining. In the room you have to be hyperactively engaging, listen carefully to everyone, draw people out, convince the skeptics, synthesize the conversations, etc., etc.. Plus beforehand you've got to think like an events planner (should these tables be moved? do we have enough water? will the air conditioner make too much noise?) and roadie (how do I move these tables?).

And before that, you've got to plan out every step of the day-- not so much with the expectation that you can operate the day with military precision, but to give you a clear enough sense of what you're doing to make it possible for you to successfully improvise when something unexpected happens (like when you're scheduled to restart at 1:30, but the waiters only bring out the main lunch course at 1:20).

Even for me, who was described by a college housemate as having two emotions, on and off (she later added a third, strobe), it requires a lot of energy.

But I really like doing these workshops-- not because they're easy, but precisely because they're hard work, and several different kinds of work. The technology for supporting them is changing rapidly, and there are some huge opportunities to do interesting new things. And a good workshop has some of the best of teaching, which I think I'll always regard as the noblest of activities.

I'm going to rest up for a bit, then go have dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Chjimes.

Singapore, Travel

View from my hotel room this morning

I woke up around 5, and couldn't get back to sleep. I often wake up early the day I'm running a workshop.

via flickr

I know it looks the same as last night. I expected it to be raining, but it hasn't rained since I bought an umbrella yesterday morning.

night, Singapore, Travel

One last picture

And off to bed.

via flickr

night, Singapore, Travel

Funny sign

via flickr

I hear it's delicious with Angelina Jelly.

Thanks folks, I'll be here all week.

Now off to soak in the tub.

signage, Singapore, Travel

Back in the hotel

It's late in the evening, and I'm back in the hotel for the night.

I had dinner with my father and stepmother, at a Japanese restaurant near their apartment off Orchard Road. (They know how to live.)

At one point, we realized that the last time we'd eaten dinner together outside the United States was about 35 years ago, when we were living in Brazil. Pretty incredible, though only just a bit more incredible than the fact that we happened to be in Singapore at the same time.

I had several meetings today, and the big future of science workshop is tomorrow. So I'm going to do a little work to get ready for that, then go collapse into bed. I had a bunch of coffee late this evening-- more than I really should have-- but I think I'll still be ready to sleep when I put the last touches on the map I'm working on.

family, restaurant, Singapore, Travel

Singapore in the early hours

I made it to Singapore safely My flight arrived just before 1, and half an hour later I'm in the cab mon my way to the hotel. (The subway stops operating around midnight.)

The cabbie is talking on his cell phone, like cab drivers pretty much everywhere. If you had to come up with a list of the professions that have been most radically transformed by the cell phone, I think you'd have to count cab drivers in the top three: mobile phones have turned what was a pretty isolated kind of work-- or one where the only person you were in regular contact with was your dispatcher-- into one where you can stay connected to other people continuously. From what I can tell, some of my drivers don't make lots of calls: they just have the line open, and talk on it episodically. It's the way most of us treat IM windows-- it's open, but that doesn't mean you have to constantly fill the channel.

We're listening to Gold 90.5, classic hits all day. It's playing Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The morning hosts are named Maggie and Hamish. And yes, I'm in Asia.

Singapore, Travel

On my way to Singapore

I'm in the waiting area, about to get onto my flight. I'm flying through Seoul this time, so my transit time is going to be several hours longer than usual (and getting from here to Singapore is already enough of a trip, thanks very much); however, it's the flight I was able to get.

I'll be on my usual return flight, through Hong Kong. And I spend almost 50% more time in Singapore than I'll spend getting to and returning from Singapore.

I couldn't find my SD card reader and Singapore SIM card, but I can replace those very easily. Little electronics things are one of those things that it's trivially easy to take care of there, and I wasn't really happy with how complex it is to make international calls from my Singapore phone number. So maybe I'll try someone else. If there is a someone else.

I've got some e-mail to send, and incredibly, more reservations to make, before I get on the plane. And my bag is full of article drafts, workshop agendas, and the like. The work never ceases.

SFO, Singapore, Travel, SQ01

POWER!

The seats on this 777 have power outlets. Man, this is a much better flight than I imagined.I can get some serious work done.

Of course, it's not as essential to have access to my movies, since I've got all these channels-- and possibly a better screen than the one on my computer-- but still it's nice.

I switched rows, and now have an empty seat beside me. Maybe I can get some stock feeds or flight information going on the middle seat monitor, and it'll feel like a Bloomberg terminal.

Singapore, SQ015, Travel, Travel

Countdown

I'm starting to do all the things you need to do before a trip-- or that I need to do these days, at least. They alternate between work things (e-mailing participants in next week's future of science workshop, setting up meetings with prospective clients or project partners in Singapore and Malaysia), travel-specific things (looking for good restaurants, checking train times between KLIA and Putrajaya), and personal stuff (taking my best shoes to the cobbler's, figuring out where my Singapore SIM card is).

Having studied the history of Victorian travel, I know that part of what I'm doing is imitating my subjects; but on a short trip like this, I can't afford to NOT have everything all set up before I leave. Ideally, my days should be as full as my bags are light. With only three nights there, the former at least shouldn't be any problem!

Singapore, Travel

Nice restaurants in Singapore

Anyone have a recommendation for a nice restaurant in Singapore? I'm organizing a little dinner with various friends next Thursday night, and while I'm really familiar with the hawkers and street places, I don't have a clue about good places to eat that have things like tablecloths, and waiters.

Well, I have one or two clues, but I'm trying to expand my horizons past Orchard Road and Clark Quay.

restaurant, Singapore, Travel

Moving images in airport

books, heathrow terminal 5, via flickr

baby, changi airport, singapore, via flickr

airport, Changi, displays, England, Heathrow, Singapore, Travel

The new style in vast airport terminals

I hadn't realized how much giant, open-span main terminals now dominate airport design. Some examples I've been in recently:

Kuala Lumpur, via flickr


Singapore, via flickr

Heathrow Terminal 5, via flickr

Hong Kong, via flickr

airport, Changi, England, Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, Travel

I'm back

Made it home safely. I left Changi Airport at 6 pm Singapore time on Sunday, and arrived in SFO at 8 pm PST. So that's about 17 hours' travel time, I think.

Since everyone put their windowshade down right after takeoff, I was in darkness the whole flight. So in a sense I missed a day. Kind of strange, but probably not as dislocating as having seven hours of daylight.

Technorati Tags: Malaysia, SQ002, Singapore

Giant baby at Changi Airport

For some reason, this giant screen with an photo advertisement featuring a baby really captivated me.

The baby sees all!

Okay, they're calling my row. Gotta go!

Technorati Tags: airport, Changi, Singapore

The "free wireless" at Changi Airport

I finally got onto the free wireless here at the airport, though it's what you might think of as a typically Singaporean process. You have to create an account first, which involves (among other things) giving them your name, address, and passport number. Once you've done that, they send a text message to your cell phone-- forget giving you your account information on the computer, much less just letting you start using the network.

After you've got your username and password, you log in. What the instructions don't tell you is that your username isn't just whatever name you've got-- joebob123-- but it's joebob123@qmax.com.sg. If you don't include the @qmax.com.sg, it doesn't work. Obviously.

Also, they send you an e-mail with information about how to change your password to something you can remember-- but so far as I can tell, there's nothing on the Web site it self that tells you how to do that. No "My Account" button, no "Change password" link, nothing. You have to refer to the e-mail... if you've gotten online and been able to read it, that is.

So I figured this out just in time to pack up and go catch my flight. More from Hong Kong, perhaps.

[To the tune of The Blue Nile, "Let's Go Out Tonight," from the album "Hats".]

Technorati Tags: airport, Changi, Singapore, wireless

Quick note from Changi

I'm at Changi Airport, wandering around Terminal 3. My flight leaves in a couple hours, so I've got lots of time to do stuff-- mainly take pictures and draft e-mails to people.

This has been a very good trip, quite eye-opening.

Spent the morning at the Asian Civilizations Museum, which is a remarkable, jewel-like place. Really fantasic. And only $5 SG on Sundays.

Sunrise this morning

I woke up this morning just before 7, read a few pages of Accelerando (which is quite a good book), and soon will start getting organized to pack. I need to send a few more messages first, though: I find if I don't send out thank-you notes as soon as possible, they drift down to the bottom of my queue, and it's weeks-- or never-- before I get to them. And when this means when it looks like you're ignoring people who've put time and effort into helping you, it's a Bad Thing.

via flickr

My flight leaves this afternoon around 5:30 or 6, so I've got a full day to do things. I doubt I'm going to be very ambitious, though I do feel like I should get out somewhere new. I feel a bit like I've been spending all my time in malls and other air-conditioned spaces, like I was in a tropical version of New Jersey. Which might not be the worst comparison for Singapore, come to think of it.

[To the tune of The Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why," from the album "Greatest Hits Volume 2".]

Technorati Tags: Singapore

This evening's walk

At about 7 I stopped working, and went out for my usual on-the-road evening walk.

via flickr

via flickr

Technorati Tags: Singapore, travel, Orchard Road, night

At Kinokuniya Bookstore this evening

Taken during my walk down Orchard Road, where I was joined by every other person in Singapore.

via flickr

[To the tune of Mono, "Lost Snow," from the album "Ex Plex, Los Angeles, September 24, 2005".]

Technorati Tags: books, Singapore

Living Karl Mannheim's dream, and waiting for the cleaning lady to leave

I'm at the Raffles City Starbucks, doing some work. The cleaning ladies basically threw me out of the room-- it was obviously very suspicious that I was still in there in the mid-afternoon, and I needed to get out and get a life. I was starting to run a caffeine deficit anyway, so I trooped down here.

via flickr

The scene is pretty crazy: there are tons of people here, and I had to wait a few minutes for a table.

I'm at that strange and not very pleasant part of the trip where I've met a LOT of interesting people, but am feeling the absence of that casually intimate contact that you have with friends and family, and which go a long way to reminding you of the fact that you're a human being. I think this is one of the toughest parts of traveling extensively: there's a huge gap between how much contact you have with people, and how much you can connect with them. It's probably the closest I ever come to being one of Karl Mannheim's "free-floating intellectuals," those minds whom Mannheim believed would, through their rootlessness lack of attachment to nation or social class, be able to see the world more clearly than others.

Given enough time, of course, you can close that gap; but on a short trip like this, where I'm spending a few hours at most with people under pretty structured circumstances, there's no way to do that. At the same time, I think that dislocation or psychological distance has a certain utilitarian value: it can heighten your capacity for observation, and for me, at least, force me to think more about things.

I'm impressed at how many Europeans there are here: not just tourists, but people who move with the knowing casualness-- or hurried single-mindedness-- that I associate with people who live in a place. It makes Singapore sort of a mirror-image San Francisco: on the other side of the world, repressed rather than radical, and mainly Asian with a substantial European minority.

All Starbucks really are the same. It's really astounding how much they've managed to create a unified corporate image, a set of spaces that, whether one is in the cafe in Dupont Circle or Raffles City or Harvard Square, are always identical in the essentials. There's actually an interesting, Freakonomics-like study to be done of the standardization of cultural spaces, but I think my room should be clean by now, so I'm going to leave that for later.

[To the tune of Gladys Knight & The Pips, "Midnight Train to Georgia," from the album "'The Motown Years".]

Technorati Tags: cafe, Singapore

After sleeping like a rock

I slept a solid nine hours or so, and am almost in danger of actually adjusting to the time zone-- just in time, as I go home tomorrow!

Last night there was an extraordinary thunderstorm. I don't know if the hotel was actually struck by lightning, but give that it's one of the tallest buildings in Singapore, and it was all REALLY LOUD, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

I've got a few hours' work I need to do, and a couple informal meetings today, but I'm going to head up to the Singapore Botanic Garden, then walk back down to the hotel via Orchard Road and Fort Canning Park.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, travel

One quick picture from Singapore

Okay, two of them. The first is the Suntec Convention Center.

The second is some kind of cultural center, I think.

And now I'm going out to get some food.

Technorati Tags: night, Singapore, travel

Photo set on Flickr

Trip photoset now up!

Why are there great bakeries in Singapore?

Just wondering. There seem to be terrific baked goods everywhere, and it doesn't seem self-evident that this would be a legacy of British colonialism (though technically the Straits Settlement wasn't a colony, but some kind of protectorate, though the East India Company more or less owned Panang). I'll have to keep an eye on the bakery scene in Malaysia....

[To the tune of Amy Winehouse, "Do Me Good," from the album "Back to Black".]

Technorati Tags: food, Malaysia, Singapore, travel

In Changi airport

I'm at Changi airport, waiting for my flight to Penang. I love Changi: it's got to be the cleanest, most efficient gigantic airport I know. It's Frankfurt but friendly, Heathrow but better-run (my luggage wasn't lost).

I've been on the road just over 24 hours, though I did manage to get some awkward, not very deep sleep on the plane. And after several drinks and stops at water fountains to rehydrate (Singapore Airlines seems to think that its passengers will get too heavy if they get entire cans of soda), and a double espresso, I feel pretty good. I should crash later on this evening, and expect to sleep very well tonight; but otherwise I'm good.

I'm going to Malaysia to do a set of workshops on the future of science, technology and innovation as part of the X2 project. I'll first be at USM in Penang, then at UiTM in Shah Alah; I'll also swing by Cyberjaya and Biopolis, to continue my love affairs with science cities, and also visit informally with some people at National University of Singapore.

As I was at the Amex currency exchange getting some Malaysian money, I took up an offer to buy a Singaporean SIM card. I popped it in, fiddled with it for a bit, then called home. I don't know I'll really need to call the States very much from here, but it's nice to know that I'm reachable. And the calls seems to be pretty cheap.

After walking from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, I realized I didn't have any Singaporean money, so I stopped by an ATM and got some. Having grown up in a travel world in which you had to stand in long lines to change money and international calls were scare and expensive, I'll never cease to be amazed when things like this are actually easy. This isn't the way it's supposed to be, I keep thinking.

The one thing I haven't been able to do is get online: they still charge for wifi here, and I haven't felt like paying for it. The existence of many free terminals also provides something of a disincentive-- I'd have already paid if I couldn't get online for 15 minutes for free.

[To the tune of Amy Winehouse, "You Know I'm No Good," from the album "Back to Black".]

Technorati Tags: Malaysia, Changi, airport, travel, Singapore, scienceX2

Greetings from Changi Airport

In Singapore, on my way to Penang. Will have been on the road 24 hours by the time I finally get to my hotel room.

So far things have been pretty uneventful, in the way you want travel to be. Let's hope when they get interesting, they're in the good way!

It's pretty tiring, but man, I love to travel. I'll never get tired of this stuff.

I love the Singapore Airlines' entertainment system

What Singapore Airlines lacks in public, stand up and work space it almost makes up for in the in-flight entertainment system. So far, I've watched There Will Be Blood (which is totally crazy and brilliant-- that Daniel-Day Lewis could really go places), I Am Legend, slept through National Treasure, and am now watching Chariots of Fire, one of my all-time favorite inspirational movies. Maybe it'll inspire me to work even harder.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, SQ001, travel

On SQ 001

We're about an hour or so outside Hong Kong, and have been flying for just over 13 hours.

I got a seat near the back of the plane, where the fuselage starts to taper and there's some room between the window seats and the window. It turns out to be like having your own personal aisle. This is an especially useful discovery, as Singapore Airlines lacks something that I really like in United and SAS (the main other airlines I've flown in the last couple years): they lay out the galleys and lavatories in a way that pretty much completely eliminates public space where you can stand and work.

Technorati Tags: Singapore, SQ001, travel

The traditional "Greetings from SFO" post

I'm in SFO's international terminal, waiting for my flight to Singapore, and thence to Penang, Malaysia. We board in about 20 minutes-- just enough time for me to try a few times to get onto the T-Mobile Wifi network here, fail, get frustrated, then possibly rush to the vending machine to get a Diet Coke before they call my row. However, it looks like whatever account I used to have with them is now dead, as the site doesn't recognize any of the various usernames I think I've used in the past.

So far things are going pretty well. I got to long-term parking without incident, caught a shuttle quickly. Just as quickly, I realized I'd left something in the car. Fortunately, the shuttle buses are quite prompt, so I was able to get back to my car pretty quickly, retrieve the object, and still get in line to check my bag within the recommended two hours.

Singapore Airlines' check-in is pretty efficient, so even though it's a full flight, I was able to get through it reasonably quickly, and have a little time to wander around the international terminal.

Technorati Tags: airport, San Francisco, SFO, Singapore, travel

Tacit knowledge and raincoats: A last note on Singapore

I took a raincoat with me to Singapore, as I'd heard that there are two seasons there, wet and wetter.

Turned out to be a mistake.

I didn't see a single raincoat the whole time I was there: not on a person, not in a store, none at all. Turns out they're too hot and stifling.

Instead, everyone carries an umbrella. Actually, everyone who wants to avoid getting wet, which is not the entire population: some large fraction seem to manage to get where they need to go by a combination of public transportation, underground mall and tunnel, or cutting through shopping malls or building lobbies.

In most of the world, the rules for safe jaywalking are a great example of local, tacit knowledge: I never try to cross against a light in London unless there are locals doing it. Why? Natives understand how drivers behave, how fast the cars go, how quickly they can stop, how likely it is that there will be cops around, and all the little variables that visitors don't; furthermore, they understand them well enough to be able to make correct judgments in fractions of seconds.

Since jaywalking is illegal, getting from Point A to Point B without having to get wet is the equivalent tacit knowledge for Singaporeans.

[To the tune of Eric Clapton, "Let it Rain," from the album "Crossroads (Disc 2)".]

Technorati Tags: Singapore, travel

Phase Z.Ro

As I was walking down the hill from Biopolis, I saw a little development between the Ministry of Education and the subway stop: several yellow buildings that announced themselves as the Phase Z.Ro, a "technopreneur park."

via flickr

If Biopolis seemed familiar, an attempt to outdo Western scientific facilities on their own terms, Z.Ro (get it?) struck me as something potentially quite different.

For one thing, the place makes your average Silicon Valley tilt-up look like Versailles. Each three two-story building is made of prefabricated panels, making them look like cargo containers that have been painted yellow, had windows and doors punched in them, and wired with AC and Cat-6 cable.

cargo container chic, via flickr

It's easy to dismiss such a modest place, but maybe this is the social equivalent of a disruptive innovation. Maybe the real future of innovation isn't in glittering science cities like Biopolis, but in grittier places like this?

in the shadow of biopolis (that's helios in the background), via flickr

Singapore posts on Future Now

Over on Future Now, I've posted about two of the science parks I visited in Singapore:

Biopolis

and

via Phase Z.Ro Technopreneur Park

I feel like I've been neglecting my work blogging. Which in fact I have.

Technorati Tags: science cities, Singapore, travel

Biopolis and the new urban science

I spent last week in Singapore, speaking at a conference on RFID in Asia, and visiting with various futures groups in the Singaporean government. But the thing I was really looking forward to doing in my free time was not shopping (though the shopping is very good), nor the food (which was excellent): rather, it was the chance to see Biopolis.

biopolis sky bridge, via flickr

Biopolis is one of the cornerstones in the Singaporean government's effort to turn the city-state into a regional (indeed, global) center for biotech research. Novartis and SKB already occupy parts of two buildings; five others are mainly occupied by labs run by A*Star; and two more are under construction. Over the long run, they want to build more local talent in the basic sciences underlying biotech, and support the development of a native biotech companies.

map of biopolis, via flickr

Not only is it architecturally very exciting-- the best contemporary Singaporean architecture is all post-Rem Koolhaus and Zaha Hadid swooping lines and glass, Biopolis also beautifully exemplifies a couple trends in the design of spaces for science that Anthony Townsend and I wrote about in the 2006 Ten Year Forecast (warning: it's a huge PDF-- 24MB).

Chinatown

From Little India, I went on to Chinatown.

via flickr

At first, having a Chinatown in Singapore struck me as a bit odd, given how much of the city is Chinese. Isn't it like having a Little New Jersey in New York City?

via flickr

But of course, Singapore is actually some distance from China: Hong Kong is about 1600 miles, or about 3 hours as the 747 flies, considerably farther than, say, Seattle is from the Mexican border.

Technorati Tags: Chinatown, Singapore, travel

Secret futurists' diet, redux

No matter where I go, I need my in-room supplies: the secret futurists' diet.

Diet Coke and McVities' Digestives, Singapore version, via flickr

Diet Coke and McVities' Digestives, London version, October 2005

Technorati Tags: food, Singapore, travel

Little India

On my last morning in Singapore, I took the MRT up to Little India.

I didn't go very far, just through an open-air market and restaurant area called Tekka Centre, then a few blocks around the train station.

via flickr

Another memory purchase

My camera has had trouble talking to my iPhoto on this trip, so at the airport I bought an SD card reader. There was one with a 2GB card, so I now have a lot more memory than I know what to do with. And I'm taking pictures as fast as I can! (In fact, I was going to burn a DVD of my Singapore pictures-- all 3.8 GB of them-- before I got on the plane, but it looks like I've got too little free memory left to do that. So I've got to transfer some of them BACK to one of the new cards, to free up enough memory to burn the others. What a pain.)

When I buy the kids digital cameras, they're going to have to use SD cards.

[To the tune of Oleta Adams, "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," from the album "Two Rooms - Celebrating The Songs Of Elton John & Bernie Taupin".]

Technorati Tags: Singapore, travel, camera

Security in Changi Airport

After checking in and getting my seat-- I've got an aisle seat this time-- I walked around the terminal for a while, then headed through security and customs. My habit is to take off all metal and electronics, and put them in my bag before I go through the metal detectors; but this time they didn't do that. The guard looked at my boarding pass and passport, and the customs people stamped something, but that was it.

From customs, you go to the World's Biggest Mall and Duty Free Shop. They cleverly hide the food and drinks in back, in a long arcade that has a view of the planes. Still, despite the view, one can get thirsty looking for it. But still no additional security.

Turns out the serious security check is at the gate: that's where they have the X-ray machines, laptop inspection, etc.. Interesting how different places do things differently. In Frankfurt, I had to remove everything: wallet, Chap-Stik, Moleskine pocket-sized notebook (well, those are French). Here, it's almost like they want to give as many opportunities to spend all your money first, then search you.

[To the tune of B.B. King, "The Thrill Is Gone," from the album "Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: B.B. King".]

Technorati Tags: airport, travel, Singapore, Changi

The subway to Changi Airport

Getting from downtown to Changi Airport via MRT turns out to be extremely easy, and amazingly cheap. It was $1.50 from City Hall, and took less than 40 minutes from station to station. You have to change at one point, but that just means walking from one side of the platform to the other.

The taxis are pretty cheap-- my ride from the airport to my hotel was less than $15, if memory serves-- but the subway is definitely better. Even easier than taking the Underground to London, or the El out to O'Hare, to say nothing of the Caltrain-BART two-step to SFO, or the Metro-Washington Flyer combo to Dulles.

Why every major airport isn't directly accessible by whatever the dominant form of public transportation serves the nearby city-- why this isn't an IATA mandate or such-- is beyond me.

More generally, I love the MRT, the Singaporean subway. It's relatively cheap, very fast, air-conditioned, and the stations are really nice. Plus just about every square inch is chrome or a flat-panel monitor, so it's great for those of us who have short attention spans. I bought a lot of one-way tickets, but next time I'm here I'll have to figure out the passes.

[To the tune of Gladys Knight & The Pips, "Midnight Train to Georgia," from the album "'70s AM Radio Classics".]

Technorati Tags: airport, Changi, Singapore, travel

Heading for the airport

I walked around Little India and Chinatown this morning, then stopped for a quick lunch at Jason's Market Place again. Now it's a quick shower, and checking out of my room.

Since it's 11:30 and my flight doesn't leave until 5, I think I'm going to try the subway to the airport. The concierge says it'll take about an hour, which should be just fine.

More from Hong Kong, possibly, or more likely, California!

Singapore is officially the coolest place in the world

My dinner last night: sushi from Jason's Market Place, in Citylink Mall.

But not just any sushi. Individually-wrapped pieces of sushi.

via flickr

Environmentally unfriendly, I know, but very interesting nonetheless. And very, very good.

via flickr

One of the pleasures of this trip is that my dad comes to Singapore several times a year, and before I left, he suggested a bunch of places I should go-- including the sushi counter at Jason's. It's been interesting following in his footsteps.

And the sushi was better (and much cheaper!) than the sushi I had in Paddington Station, even if it wasn't served up in little UFOs. I may have lunch there.

[To the tune of Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," from the album "The Very Best Of 60's Gold, vol. 3".]

Technorati Tags: food, Singapore, sushi, travel

Seating

A bar along Circular Road, via flickr

A glass-enclosed seating area on Clarke Quay, via flickr

Fort Canning Centre, via flickr

[To the tune of Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes," from the album "Secret World Live (Disc 2)".]

Technorati Tags: Boat Quay, Clarke Quay, Fort Canning Park, park, Singapore, travel

The wall

Below Canning House, and near the spice garden, is a wall with memorial plaques. Some of them date back to the 1820s or 1830s.

via flickr

The thing that really strikes you is how young most of the people memorialized were. Lots of women in the 20s or 30s, and a depressing number of young children.

via flickr

We have some friends who are relocating to Europe this summer for a couple years for work, and one of my daughter's classmates spent two years in Shanghai. I occasionally daydream about spending a year in Europe or Asia, and I think of it as an opportunity for the kids to be exposed to a new culture, and an adventure. Like most professionals these days, the logistical and schooling challenges loom large, but I never imagine I'd be putting us all at risk of being struck down by typhoid or malaria.

That was a calculation you once had to make.

via flickr

Of course, child mortality rates were considerably higher 200 years ago than they are now, but still....

[To the tune of Peter Gabriel, "A Different Drum," from the album "Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ".]

Technorati Tags: health, memory, Singapore, travel

Fort Canning Park

After walking through Clarke Quay, I crossed River Valley Road and went into Fort Canning Park.

The Park is part of a steep hill, at the top of which is a reservoir; there used to be a fort, and there are still some cool gates and other antique signifiers of its former military importance.

via flickr

Mainly, though, it's a beautiful park. I've always loved these tropical parks-slash-botanical gardens, even though I once got lost in one as a kid. The flora is so amazingly different from what you see in North America or Europe: seeing bromeliads or palms or lotus plants in a hothouse in a botanical gardens in Oxford is definitely not the same thing as seeing them in the wild.

It must have been a mind-blowing experience for Victorian naturalists to step off the boat into what, for them, would have been an alternate botanical universe.

via flickr

At the top of the hill is Fort Canning Centre, which is now a visitor's center, and, interestingly, houses a cooking school.

via flickr

People were setting up for an event-- a concert or fashion show, I never found out-- and several people were busy inflating giant balls.

via flickr

Not something you see every day.

via flickr

[To the tune of Peter Gabriel, "Games Without Frontiers," from the album "Shaking The Tree".]

Technorati Tags: Fort Canning Park, park, Singapore, travel

I for one welcome our new giant umbrella overlords

Clarke Quay, yesterday:


via flickr

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own...

via flickr

...that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. (H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds)

via flickr

(This may seem familiar.)

[To the tune of Peter Gabriel, "Shaking The Tree," from the album "Secret World Live (Disc 1)".]

Technorati Tags: Clarke Quay, quay, Singapore, travel

Three views of Boat Quay

The side facing the river, with lots of restaurants:

via flickr

The side facing away from the river, along Circular Road, with lots of bars and clubs (closed in the afternoon when I walked through):

via flickr

And the street in between:

via flickr

[To the tune of Peter Gabriel, "Red Rain," from the album "Secret World Live (Disc 1)".]

Technorati Tags: Boat Quay, quay, Singapore, travel

Raining

It's just after 5, and it's raining like crazy. Someone I met yesterday said that Singapore has two seasons, wet and wetter. Normally this is the wet seasons, rather than wetter; but like just about everywhere, this year isn't normal.

I was planning to go out last night, but I fell asleep before 8, and woke up about an hour later. Having already walked around a lot, I took the cue, and decided to just stay in. And I've got this morning to wander.

[To the tune of Peter Gabriel, "Come Talk to Me," from the album "Secret World Live (Disc 1)".]

Technorati Tags: Singapore, travel