Letter from 2005

Found another old letter from our travels, this one from

February 2005:

We're off tonight to Singapore. YES!!! Not exactly the 

adventure holiday we planned but Irene, our nice travel 

agent, couldn't get us what we wanted but she's got us 

a great deal on this instead so we're planning to have 

just as much fun doing this as doing the other, although 

for a lot shorter time.
 

Longest I've ever spent in Singapore in the past is 17 

hours, so this will be terrific. I definitely want to 

go to Bugis Street, even though I know that these days 

it's a fake. It's the area the government built after 

it got on that big morals campaign and bulldozed the 

real Bugis Street and there was a world-wide public 

outcry, so they faked this new one and rounded up all 

the ladyboys and herded them in there just so we 

tourists can all go see them like they're exotic zoo 

animals. 

Actually, the real reason I want to go is so I can 

get all outraged at the injustice and that will make 

me feel like I'm a bigtime International Citizen and 

Sophisticated World Traveller ... but, knowing me, 

I'll probably enjoy the new place.
 

Also want to walk down Orchard Street and do some 

serious bargain-hunting. AND I want to see all the 

restored colonial mansions on Emerald Hill to get 

ideas for when I get my own old colonial mansion 

in Vietianne in Laos. 

AND, naturally, I want to take afternoon tea at 

Raffles ... which is really silly considering 

afternoon tea at HK's Peninsula Hotel is MUCH more 

prestigious and I've never ever done that; at least

not since I was a child. Inexcusable considering 

I've been here over a year. Keith is SUCH a Scrooge! 

AND there's a temple in downtown Little India that's 

meant to be a carbon copy of our much loved "Sri Rama 

Temple and Motorbike Repair Shop" in Saigon ... only 

this one doesn't have the motorbike repair shop. 

Oh, and I'll also take lots of photos of Singapore 

Botanical Gardens since it's meant to be a carbon-copy 

of Victoria Park in HK AND Thurston Gardens in Suva ... 

although the Fiji one is much smaller since it was where 

Thurston worked out his planting schemes for the other 

two parks.  I just LOVE it when Fiji indeed turns out to 

be the epicenter of the world, and this is one of those 

cases!
 

Oh, and there's meant to be a stunning Armenian Church in 

downtown Singapore that was built in 1835.  Isn't that just 

ODD. Seems there were masses of Armenians there even before 

Raffles claimed the island in the name of England, which is

strange because it was supposed to be a simple fishing 

village built among the ruins of the great Bugis pirates 

principle city Singapura. So that's something I'd like to 

check that out properly.  Don't like historical anomalies.
 

Anyway, those are our plans for Singapore.  I'll write to 

you all about it when I get back.

2010 UPDATE!

1) Bugis Street, 2005, was a sad little "white elephant"

wasteland without a single ladyboy anywhere and no one 

else either.  All closed and empty shops and "to-let" 

signs and a sad air of "good idea at the time" desolation 

 ... except for this terrific little icecream parlor

with fabulous icecream and actual customers.

2) Orchard Street is a tourist trap and not a lot worth

buying.

3) Raffles was lovely.

4) Singapore Botanical Gardens were lovely, but I've 

already posted about them.

5) Never found that particular Hindu temple, but

we did discover other ones.

6)  Never got to any museums, except for the one 

dedicated to the Straits-Chinese, and that one because 

one look at the Straits Chinese and they instantly

fascinated me; they called themselves Chinese but

don't quite fit the mould so that was the mystery I

solved to my own satisfaction on that particular trip.