Gotta Go!

My first few months in Singapore I really did not notice anything different about signs for the toilet. 

OK, this is something I DID notice right away in Asia—the term “restroom” is rarely used here.  People say: “I need to go to the toilet” which just sounds odd to me.  I occasionally use it now, but find myself going halfway and using “washroom”.

It was at September’s Formula 1 that I noticed my first humorous signs.  After that I kept noticing more and more so I began collecting them and will update them as I find more.  Enjoy!

Formula 1 – Singapore Sep 2017

LEGOLAND – Malaysia Nov 2017

Coffee Bar  – Melbourne Nov 2017 Guess it’s time to go

Well, it makes the point pretty clearly.
Great Ocean Road, AUS Nov 2017

This was over a urinal in Beijing Dec 2017

Drove Me Nuts Down Under

I am used to driving in foreign countries.  It started back in 1992 when we took a 2 ½ year old Patrick to Italy.  Most recently was the 2,500 miles we drove all over western Europe after picking up Julie’s (then) new Mercedes at the factory in Stuttgart.  And a lot in between, be it Europe, Mexico, or Canada.  But in all of that “foreign driving”, I had NEVER needed to drive on the left side of the rode (known to all of my US friends as “the wrong side”).

That changed on our trip to Melbourne in November.  I had business there and Julie and Christopher came down mid-week to explore Melbourne, then we needed to pick up a car Friday afternoon and head to Lorne, the beginning of our 3 days on The Great Ocean Road.  But this blog is all about driving on the wrong side of the road.  I will let Julie post the pretty pictures.

I told Julie several days before that she would have to be my co-driver and keep her eyes at all times to make sure I didn’t revert to my 42 years of driving experience.  This was compounded after getting to Melbourne and learning in the CBD they have a unique maneuver called a “hook turn”.  In a nut shell you make a right from the left lane—confused?  This might help.

Anyway, one of my first goals in leaving Melbourne on a Friday afternoon in all the traffic was to never, ever, be in the position that I needed to do that.  Google Maps did its job.

When we showed up at the Hertz office they had upgraded this to a “Kluger” SUV which I heard as “Luger” and assumed it by the gun manufacturer.  But it was a mid-sized SUV by Toyota.  I also made sure I got full collision damage waiver for the peace of mind.

 We started out slowly and carefully talking EVERYTHING through before we did it.  And we succeeded.  Only a few feints to the right now and then.  And I only got in the left side of the car once and had that momentary “Where the hell did my steering wheel go?” thought.  And a couple times we went to the wrong doors, but all in all did pretty well.

(I did like the Australian road signs encouraging “Power Naps” if you get a case of the “drowsy’s”.)

Julie and I have had an agreement since our first time driving in Europe 25 years ago: “Never complain to the other person about a driving mistake because we are BOTH going to make them”.  And that approach continues to work for us.

Here's to your health!

Being wheeled to surgey

While we didn’t post anything on social media about this, I had some surgery here in Singapore a couple of weeks ago (actually on Thanksgiving Day).  I had developed an umbilical hernia, which first popped up (no pun intended), in Vietnam a couple of months ago.  It wasn’t too bothersome, but I knew that it wouldn’t fix itself either—so off I went to a doctor to see what was up.

My GP at Camden International Medical Clinic sent me for an ultrasound.  After the procedure  (in which I felt like a pregnant mother to be) the radiologist agreed that it was a moderate sized hernia located just above my navel.  Then I went to the surgeon, 6’1’” Singaporean who had gone to USC for undergrad.  We hit it off well and he even gave me the name of his tailor (big people have a hard time finding clothes here).

My bill

So surgery was scheduled at Gleneagles Hospital.  Family and friends at home asked, “what is medical care like in Singapore?”.  The short answer is three-fold:

1)     The nurses wear uniforms, not scrubs

Thank You Card

2)     A hospital room is about $225 USD per night, not $2,500 like the US (cheaper than a hotel room in Singapore)

3)     Do US hospitals ever send thank you cards?

Anyway, a good experience and all is well.

(Postscript: Leaving a follow up appointment with my surgeon, I picked up a chewy candy from his lobby dish and promptly broke a tooth—sucks getting old, but the dental care seems good here as well.)

 

On a Clear Day, I can See Forever (or at least Malaysa)!!

Christopher and I have been here almost two months and I'm still trying to catch up on blog posts. High-rise living in Singapore is definitely different than living in Foster City

Here are some views from our condo so far. 

The first picture was taken the we arrived with Christopher on the balcony.

The next two are views from the kitchen and from our dining table, it was a beautiful day and I wanted to capture what I see.  Many times I stop and just look out, it's so cool having a view.




Here is one from the kitchen again with Brian sitting on the balcony. This one shows the one Hi-rise that we look out at. The tower is mostly empty, the units are expensive and they are filling slowly. It works for us, no one is looking at us for now.

We enjoy sitting on the balcony, especially in the evening because it's much cooler then during the day. The first one is Brian on the balcony and the second one is of the harvest moon rising from our bedroom balcony. 

The third one is the view from our master bath, it's a great view from the large picture window about the bathtub.







The view of the pool from the gym, it's a great view from the treadmill, and the pool is very nice too.










The last series of pictures are from one day as I watched a storm come in.

I was mesmerized watching the storm. 

A storm like this will usually be over in an hour or two. 

I have a weather app on my phone for the first time (the SF bay area doesn't get enough weather to monitor). In Singapore the weather app warns about thundery conditions for electrical storms. 

I like the term thundery.

--Julie

The last two pictures are from the bedrooms to see the rain
    

Frogger Blogger

Do you remember the video game Frogger?  It goes back to the golden age of video games.  As you may remember, the object was to direct frogs across a busy highway without getting hit by oncoming cars.  Or as I would say after visiting Ho Chi Minh City (aka HCMC) last weekend, “Welcome to Vietnam”!  Vietnam is a cacophony sounds, an explosion colors, a rainbow of scents and smells, AND SCOOTERS!

I have never seen so many scooters and cycles and they are everywhere doing everything for everyone.  We first noticed scooters everywhere on our drive from the airport of our hotel, the Sonnet Saigon Hotel.  The sky darkened and it looked like rain.  As soon as the first drops fell all of the scooters pulled over and ponchos came out and on.  As the sky opened up, the scooters took off, and the drivers were wearing their ponchos.

Scooters seem to be able to do whatever their owner wants to.  One delivery woman was visiting street food vendors one morning and her scooter was overflowing with plastic cups and plates.  She would stop and plant her feet to steady her load and then somehow reach around and get what her customer wanted without upsetting the load.

If you can't fit everything on your scooter there is always the option of towing a cycle-trailer.

Can't afford a trailer?  Well, if it's a gas bottle you need to move just put it on a handcart and have your friend hold it as you wind through the city.

So with all of those cycles you might think that there would be chaos in the streets--and you'd be right.  Take a look at the video on the left.  This was an intersection right by our hotel.  Drivers mostly respect the lights, but they push it.

You might think you would be safe by just walking down the sidewalk with trees and green space between you and the road.  But you would be wrong.  The cycles take to the sidewalks when traffic gets too bad on the roads.  The bottom line is that you need to keep a watchful eye ahead and behind you.

Parking of all these scooters and cycles is surprisingly organized.  Sometimes businesses will allow cycles to park in front for a small fee.  One location even made sure that you would have a dry seat by putting cardboard over all of the seats to protect them from the inevitable rain that comes in the afternoon. Others string a rope between all of the scooters to, I assume, owners from taking off without paying their total parking charge.

One other thing that I had also seen in Jakarta is the way that Grab rides work.  For those of you that have never heard of Grab it's SE Asia's version of Uber (we have Uber here too).  And here while you can get a car you can also get a Grab Cycle.  You can order them through an app and they show up with a green helmet for you to wear (helmets are mandatory on scooters in Vietnam).  They are easy to spot because the drivers all wear green Grab jackets.  And no we didn't use Grab Cycle.

--Brian

Across the Universe(al)

Christopher and Gru

He was so excited to get his annual pass

One of the things that Christopher is most excited about while in Singapore is unlimited access to Universal Studios. We each have an annual pass including front of the line for Universal and also annual passes for the SEA Aquarium and Adventure Cove Waterpark. It’s a combo ticket and a very good deal. We can easily get to Sentosa Island, where they are all located, on a direct bus so Christopher and I can go to one of the parks for a few hours at a time. 

Oh no!!!

Shrek's Castle

Brian and Christopher on the Jurassic Park ride

Universal is smaller than in the US (which is nice because it’s so hot here). Two of the areas have covered streets so if it’s raining you can stay dry under cover. Many of the rides are the same as in the US: Transformers, The Mummy, Jurassic World, and some roller coasters. One area I enjoy that is unique here in Singapore is Shrek Land with its castle and fun background music from the movie.

The TERRORcotta Empress

Brian at the Halloween Horror nights

We went to the Halloween Horror Nights, as we had never been to one in the US so we wanted to check it out. It was different and kind of cool being at Universal at night.  We went on some of the rides in the dark (which was fun) and went through one of the five haunted houses. We stood in line for about 45 minutes to go through the TERRORcotta Empress house. The costumes were exotic and gory, but right in the middle there wasn’t good air circulation and the stink (stench?) was definitely the worst we have smelled since being in Asia. We also realized while in line that Brian and I were at least 20 years older than everyone else in the park. Singapore is so safe that the kids can go to the park on their own so there weren't many adults. With Brian taller than everyone there we really stood out. It was fun to do, but we don’t think we will do that again.

The aquarium has a huge tank call the Open Ocean habitat.  It’s my favorite large aquarium that I’ve seen mainly because of the large rays that swim past. They are mesmerizing and I like to sit and watch them along with the other large fish.

The Open Ocean Habitat 

White tip reef sharks

The water park is fun and has a very long lazy river to float on.  It takes over 45 min to go all the way around and you go through tunnels, go under a shark tank, and you go by the tank where people are feeding rays. The rays like to suck up to the glass so you float by looking at their white underbellies-- really cool. They have water slides and a wave machine too.  We’ve only been once so far but we will go back. I didn't take any pictures in the water park because all of my stuff including my phone were in a locker while we were there.

--Julie