Wassagoinon, Singapore?
Singapore, who knew?
Singapore, why has no one told me about this???
These were all the sentences running through my head during my recent jaunt to Singapore with my friend. Just two days to see something new and pull my brain out of the negative rut into which it had stalled.
Singapore was very calm and lovely and green. Nice people, excellent food, orderly traffic.
There may have also been an attractive man convention going on. It was seriously ridiculous how many attractive men we saw there. Like a little parade. And everyone was well-dressed and had hair that wasn’t overly styled yet had style. The other striking aspect to the handsome man parade was that, where I live, I’m invisible. I’ve been here a short amount of time but I kind of forget I exist as anything other than background to the women who are from here. But there, I received glances and complimentary looks! It was a bit … frankly weird after my months of invisibility, to the point where I’d forgotten how one behaves. Case in point: there was an attractive man waiting for the subway when we were. Obviously had just gotten off work, suit jacket off, nice shoes (polished even). Kept exchanging glances but I kept looking at the wrong times apparently because his face looked rather intense and not smiley. My friend later told me he’d been smiling (quite handsomely. because we were in singapore and that may be the only way people are allowed to smile there) but I never seemed to catch it. Unfortunately we got to the next stop which was our transfer far too quickly. And being an idiot, I got off the train.
We had nowhere to be, really. Could have easily gone one or two stops past the transfer, walked over, had a little conversation, etc etc etc. Instead, I got off the train looking over my shoulder feeling all, aw he’s so cute. Of course by that time, he wasn’t looking anymore because I wasn’t being as encouraging as I should have been.
From this, several decisions were made. One, social cards (like business cards but with personal number and personal email on them) should be crafted. Two, my friend and I came to an understanding that if one of us is being dumb, the other is to subtly smack her and point her toward the cute man giving her the eye. We both live in countries where we are invisible. Some people are able to keep their heads on, others are not. Three, missing stops is okay.
Unfortunately, these rules/decisions came too late for me. However, they will be kept in mind for the future.
Singapore was also the land of fabulous food. We had dim sum, high tea, sandwiches, good breakfasts. Though the timing was always a bit off. We both live in countries where you can eat pretty much all the time. There is ALWAYS food to be had and relatively easy to find. Now, it could be because we were in an unfamiliar place, but we always seemed to be hungry earlier or later than was acceptable to eat by Singapore standards.
The shopkeepers were universally nice. Small boutiques, overly pricey designer stores, all of them gave impeccable service. It was the kind of shopping where you feel the person working there is on your side and while they want you to buy, they also want you to look good. So it was more like shopping with new friends at each store. I was also super impressed because they would just look at me and go grab the size from the back. No one asked my size, no one told me I was too big for things (except for the shoe store. But there the shopkeeper was so sad about it and quickly reassured me that they cut their shoes small and they’ve had many comments from customers), they just brought out my size of the garment and it always fit perfectly. Then they’d be all, let’s try these shorts, let’s try these shoes, oh you should wear your hair up with this.
And yes, I know, commission, they want to make the sale, yada yada yada. However. Not everywhere has service like that. I’m just saying.
We went to the Night Safari on our last evening. It was amazing. A mazing. You got so close to the animals on the little tram. Then on the walks, you could walk into enclosures with bats, flying squirrels, and maybe something else. The flying squirrels were the meanest, largest squirrels I have ever seen. I was actively afraid of these squirrels, especially the one that looked poised to fly into my head at any minute. In the bat enclosure they also had flying foxes. Big. Cute and ugly and demonic all at the same time. There were a fair number of them having a snooze on the tree and every once in a while they’d spread their arms so you could see their wing span to full effect. I wouldn’t want one of them to nest in my hair.
Such a big fan of Singapore right now. I haven’t felt so relaxed in a while.
