Category: Singapore

To kill the best part of an hour at Changi Airport, I went for a foot massage. That, incidentally, is another thing I’ll miss about […] Read More

For the past few days, I’ve taken every opportunity to tell people here that I’ve been in their country for close to a year, and […] Read More

Soon after I arrived in Singapore last October, the Straits Times ran a series on customer service in Singapore. The paper’s assessment was pretty grim. […] Read More

I had to check out of Fraser Suites this morning, even though I’m not leaving Singapore until tomorrow. After staying there for nine months (minus […] Read More

She was walking a few steps ahead of me, on the the way back to the hotel from the market on the ground floor. I’d […] Read More

I recently went to see a fortune teller named Marwan. Three of my colleagues visited him the week before me, on a referral from our […] Read More

You know your work has gone to a bad place when you feel guilty for working only a half day… on a Sunday. Which is […] Read More

Raymond Seet, our dive instructor, is the Singapore embodiment of a “dude” – dark-skinned and constantly grinning, with the kind of impressively wild hairstyle that […] Read More

Last Friday, eleven of us packed ourselves and our dive equipment into Raymond’s small van and headed off to Malaysia for the weekend. Our mission […] Read More

A while back, I met a woman named Sharon at a bar. I have to say, I have no memory of what she looks like. […] Read More

For this weekend’s trip to Malaysia, I’ll be joined by a few of my colleagues and a couple of their girlfriends. That’s a story in […] Read More

At the Mexican dinner on Saturday night, I spent some time playing catch with James, the five-year-old son of my colleague Judy. He asked me […] Read More

My first meal in California after six months in Singapore was Mexican food. So was my next meal, and my next. So, when I was […] Read More

It’s amazing how often I get comments here about my chopsticks technique, or the fact I don’t mind chili sauce. Even my Singaporean colleagues who’ve […] Read More

A few months ago, my colleague Crystal declared that one of the first things she will do after she returns to the US is go […] Read More

I’m back in Singapore. It’s good to see my incredibly hardworking colleagues, and it’s been nice to begin to reconnect with my Singapore friends. I […] Read More

I’ve been back in San Francisco for more than a week now. I’ve mainly been reconnecting with friends, eating a lot of Mexican food and […] Read More

I’m leaving today. I’ve packed up my humble home of six months, and I’m ready to board my flight back to San Francisco. I have […] Read More

I woke up feeling a little under the weather today. I think it’s mainly a result of working too hard, sleeping too little and exercising […] Read More

Every place has its rhythm. The rhythm of a place is expressed in the pace and density of foot traffic. It’s expressed by the number […] Read More

As my Sunday was getting started, I received a text message from a friend asking, “is it u in the papers 2day?” I thought, oh […] Read More

Work has thankfully slowed down a bit… Well, that’s not quite true. There’s just as much work as ever, but I’ve decided to return to […] Read More

I was supposed to go for my Bachelors Finale “fitting” tonight, to try on the “sporty” wardrobe and learn how to walk the catwalk. I […] Read More

I met D for lunch and a movie today. We’ve been exchanging phone calls, but I hadn’t actually seen her in about two months. I […] Read More

I had to report to CLEO’s offices today for an “image consultation” and briefing about the “bachelors finale”. I came straight from a meeting in […] Read More

I saw a dance performance tonight at the Esplanade by Shen Wei, a Chinese choreographer now based in New York. The first piece was called […] Read More

I’m back in the little lion city state after a week in San Francisco. In the end, I was able to get one night of […] Read More

A funny spam from my boss. Probably nothing new to Singaporeans, but as Homer Simpson might say, “It’s funny cuz it’s true!” The following signs […] Read More

WARNING: I’ve hardly posted anything these last two weeks. I’ve been working long long days for a difficult client. So, there hasn’t been a whole […] Read More

So there’s a bit of news I’ve been too embarassed to share until now, but I might as well get it out… I’ve been named […] Read More

I spent yesterday cycling around (the island of) Pulau Ubin with Tracy, Crystal and Jimmy. It’s an easy day trip from the center of Singapore, […] Read More

Well, I’ve returned “home” to Singapore, and it’s going to take a bit of time for me to readjust – especially to Singapore prices. I […] Read More

I just received word that I have been shortlisted for the 50 most eligible bachelors of Singapore issue of cleo! I’ll have to cut this […] Read More

I called Thavy tonight to see if she was up for having dinner before I depart. She was game, and we met at one of […] Read More

I have a few butterflies about my trip. It’s been a while since I was a solo tourist with complete control over my itinerary. I’ve […] Read More

Despite the fact that it’s the rainy season here, Christmas seems to be very popular in Singapore. It makes sense. Singapore revolves around shopping. Christmas […] Read More

Friday night I went with D and some of her cabin crew friends to a club called Thumper. There were seven of us in all, […] Read More

Last month, Singapore Idol was the talk of the town. In the week leading up to the final episode, I couldn’t get into a lift […] Read More

I visited the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Embassy today to apply for my visa. Last week I bought my plane ticket to Bangkok, and yesterday […] Read More

Doh! Today I went to buy extra memory sticks for my camera, so I can take lots of pictures when I head north to Thailand, […] Read More

I left Thavy a voicemail on Thursday night, not knowing she’s in Japan until next week. By coincidence, her friend Shelly called me Friday to […] Read More

I set an alarm clock here every day. My morning hasn’t been dictated by an alarm clock since I was a schoolboy. Someone – I’m […] Read More

In the Straits Times today, there was an unusual amount of attention paid to the US, and an unusual amount of it was unusually unflattering. […] Read More

You hear people talk about the concept of an identity crisis. Every once in a while I have what you might call a geography crisis. […] Read More

Nearly everyone in Singapore speaks more than one language. Many speak three or four. The “official national” language is Malay, but there are three other […] Read More

From the CIA World Factbook Land Area: Slightly more than 3.5 times the size of Washington D.C. Arable Land: 1.64% Permanent Crops: 0 Population: 4.3 […] Read More

I’ve missed a couple days of posts because I came down with my first cold since I’ve been here. Thavy and Shelly called Wednesday night […] Read More

You may have noticed I’ve been using UK English lately. I’m not trying to affect a sophisticated, globe-trotter persona. It’s just that on the Singapore […] Read More

In Singapore, food courts and hawker centers are where the locals eat. They’re where you go to get good food cheap. A food court is […] Read More

Yesterday, for the Hari Raya holiday, the Istana (“palace” in Malay), the official residence of the President of the Republic of Singapore, was open to […] Read More

So, shopping and more shopping. The Hari Raya celebration, too, was all about shopping. Geylang Serai last night was basically a big clearance sale. It […] Read More

On the subject of incredible customer service… This is a potentially delicate topic, but it makes a difference that I’m caucasian. It seemed to make […] Read More

It’s time to revisit my earlier first impressions of Singapore. I mentioned its reputation as a “boringly sterile” land of laws. I left that quote […] Read More

Here’s one last look at my view from the 30th floor of the Conrad: Yesterday, I moved ino the serviced apartments at Fraser Suites. The […] Read More

Last week, the team pitched in to get me a tailor-made shirt for my birthday. Skip and Darrell took me to Dave the tailor for […] Read More

One advantage of being on this side of the dateline is that my birthday went on for 42 hours. I got lots of in-person birthday […] Read More

Singapore, of course, is notorious for being being a boringly sterile land of laws. I’ll have to get back to you on that, but in […] Read More

So, everything they say about Singapore Airlines is true. The level of in-flight service was far beyond anything I’ve experienced. The food was excellent, the […] Read More