Sunday, September 19, 2010

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.

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