Travelogue Singapore

I am back. In one piece. Tired and jet lagged. Yet after having added a couple more countries to my roster of places I have been to. Singapore was the first stop. I am not sure how I would describe this place. It is a city, country, megapolis, metropolis, cosmopolitan melting pot (talk about the humidity and heat) all in one. It is mostly clean - I mean you can drop your egg on the boardwalk and can proceed to eat it type of clean - although I assume you would pay a hefty fine to drop said egg on boardwalk in the first place. Not that I experimented but I did fall asleep on one whilst waiting for a technological marvel in the form of a laser light show on water, outside an expensive hotel.

The trip was part of a quickie two country visit that also incuded the adjacent nation of Malaysia. Hectic in many aspects 10 days is barely the vacation time we could squeeze but it was very enjoyable and I highly recommend a visit for the unvisited. What strikes one from a background in growing up in the chaos of India is that nations with similarly inclined populations and per capita space availability seem to have figured out a process to get their populations moving around in comfort and relatively low cost without feeling vulnerable to elements (both human or non). As an example Singapore has a very efficient metro rail that is cost eff and safe with easy to understand English instructions for the newbie. There is also a staff available to assist the reading challenged as sometimes I was - bleary eyed to boot. As for dealing with the elements all major connectors to and from transit to buildings are Air Con walkways so one does not have to exit the controlled space. Security cameras track your move and you do not feel insecure a bit even with baggage at an odd hour. Earlier we had spent the wee hours at Changi airport after our inbound flight left us there at midnight. We were on another timezone and made the most of it. Watched an oldie English flick at the cinema on site then strolled through very humid orchid gardens and then ate some spicy fish at a Malaysian food court all within the confines of their airport. Very comfortable. At the early hour of six am we took a train to town and rolled our way into our hotel. With certain privileges that come with precious metallic equivalents of status at a hotel we were ushered to breakfast while our room got made for arrival at the early hour. After feasting on poori bhaji and tom yum soup in the same session along with a dashing cup of cafe au lait we headed up to freshen up. Then later that day traveled on a hop on hop off version of visit Singapore to take in the summary version of what the city has to offer.

India town - China town - Japan town its all here in this 200 year old former British colony cum trading post of 5 or so million. We did the eat, see, sleep routine for a couple of days before getting on a very comfortable bus ride over the border into Malaysia - to head to their capital of Kuala Lumpur. That and more in the next travelogue.

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language. Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds. The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic. Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'. This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...

Peru, South America - Week well spent

Growing up in India the only Peru I knew of was a tropical fruit (Guava for those whose lingua is English). Not until high school did I discover that it was also a country in the South American continent. So it was this early April week that we decided to hit up Peru - the land of the once glorious Inca people that lived 500 years ago. Today Peru is the third largest country on that continent with a diverse geography that stretches from the drier Pacific coast plains to the high mountains of the Andes and the Amazon river valley to its east. Our trip was primarily a pilgrimage of sorts to visit the last remaining, lost (now found and documented), large scale, mostly undamaged, city of the Inca nobility, called Machu Picchu (MP). The Inca were great architects and builders. MP is a UNESCO world heritage site affording it high visibility to the tourism trade and therefore crowded year round. Our timing was not quite high season allowing us...

You are important to us

Followed by piano music. Followed by 'we are experiencing heavier than usual call volume'. Sounds macabre like bleeding during menstruation or after a ghastly attack with a weapon on a hemophiliac. Sorry Mrs. Johnson but it appears little Gertrude here has been bleeding heavier than usual what with her night time activities competing with the woodchucks in your neighborhood. Some services even go as far as to pick a random day to say - 'if you were to call us during the Chinese lunar month when the moon is axiomatically hugging the polar star with Jupiter intravenous when call volume is light'. Well I will be damned. I thought I had checked with my astrologer before I placed this well focused call but I guess this is what you get for listening to a quack. Umph! I am not sure which marketing genius came up with this personal touch concept of informing the caller that you are really a jackass for actually calling the customer serv...

Brown Motion

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