Singapore Redux

On our way back to the States, Jim and Barbara Kautz and I spent a few hours in Singapore. We took the Metro into town (can you believe it, the Airport Metro stop ticket office doesn't open until 11, so we couldn't buy our tourist pass there), and started readjusting to the first world. Within moments of our arrival at the City Hall stop, we were eating crepes at a creperie Hing and I had discovered three weeks ago. We had so few concerns about the cleanliness of the food and water that we drank the tap water set on our table without even thinking about it, and later at a different cafe ordered iced coffees and italian sodas without making them pour the water out of a mineral water bottle at the table.

Exploring Singapore with an architect is a lot of fun. Singapore has a lot of modern buildings, and some preserved older ones too, and Jim was able to tell us the trials and challenges of each building, from materials to maintenance. We discussed the different things you can find on buildings in Singapore, including paint, ivy, eyebrows, and glass, but not mold, graffiti, or chewing gum.

None of us wanted to visit Little India, but we did walk through the district around Arab Street then out to a metro stop in the suburbs. We also saw a series of motorcades from the bigwigs attending the APEC meeting in Singapore, and we know one of those limos could have held our president. We cruised back to Changhi and without any single line or unnecessary security check, got on our plane to come home.