Dear Family and Friends,
Today marks my seventh day in Singapore. I’m pretty much
moved in (bought a new stereo, clock, and lamp for my room), and I’ve finally
got this #!@$^&* wireless network running so that I can write you an email
(and create web pages).
Click on any picture
to see a larger image.
As I write this, I am sitting on the patio overlooking a
valley filled with homes (the picture shows the view into the valley).
There are a bunch of large white parrots that have landed in a tree nearby and
they make quite a racket. We eat breakfast and dinner on the patio… the
weather in the mornings and the evenings is very comfortable. The second
and third pictures show the patio area, the fourth picture is a view from of my
house from the front, and the fifth picture is a view of the street leading to
the house. Houses are very much more open here, and I use the “air con”
only at night. Besides my partner, John Maloch,
I live with Grace, our maid, and a dog and cat. All in all it is a very
comfortable place to live and I must say it is very easy to get used to a maid
who makes dinner and does the laundry.
I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be LIVING in Singapore… so
different… and yet, quite western. I miss my wife, my daughter, my
granddaughter, and my friends, and yet, there is so much to see, so much to
do. There is literally a restaurant on every corner, and every shopping
mall has three or four restaurants, at least. The shopping malls and
stores are amazing. There is Funan IT mall
which is six stories of nothing but computer and electronics stores.
There are so many of them that it is hard to choose which store to walk
into. Then, there is Mustafa’s in the Indian quarter… a department store
like you have never seen… absolutely jammed with merchandise and people.
I’m not joking… there are at least ten thousand wrist watches in the display
cases.
We traveled to the Indian quarter on Saturday to buy some
incense and a burner. The Indian quarter is a very old part of Singapore with
streets barely wide enough for a car to go down. It is jam packed… mostly
with Indians, naturally, and it is filled with small shops and cafes. We
purchased our incense and on the way back to the car decided to have a
coffee. We drink our coffee at a small sidewalk café, people milling by,
cats wandering around. When we get home, we realize that we have left our
shopping bag of incense at the café on the sidewalk. On Sunday we go back
to buy more incense and just for the heck of it we decide to see if our package
is still at the café. Sure enough, someone picked up the package and gave
it to the owner who left it on top of the refrigerator for us. I don’t
think this would have happened in Houston.
The major shopping area in Singapore is Orchard Road. It has several
department stores and several multi story buildings that house Cartier, and all the other top name brands that I cannot
remember. There are also dozens and dozens of stores that sell every
thing that you can imagine. Then, there is Lucky Plaza.
Lucky Plaza is a five story building filled to
the brim with shops and “eating houses”. Not a single shop is bigger than
two or three hundred square feet, and there are literally dozens of shops all
selling cameras, or clothing, or jewelry, or leather, or furniture… you name
it. It is truly a low cost place to shop… but you have to bargain… no
prices on the merchandise… and the electronics and camera dealers practically
drag any white people into their stores.
The pace of life in Singapore is leisurely. There
isn’t much of a morning rush hour… takes about ten minutes to get to downtown
and the financial district. People walk at a leisurely pace and most
everyone, no matter the setting, is courteous and polite. It really is a
very nice way to live. I know I will get used to this part of life very
easily… breakfast on the patio, a taxi ride to the financial district, a stroll
down the boat quay… quite different from the rush of Houston. There is
one major exception. If it rains, watch out. At rush hour it takes
forever to get a taxi, and the traffic is bad. It will take a while to
find my way around here… there is not a straight street on the island, most
streets are short and the names change regularly. The main drag to my
house has one name going in one direction and another name going the opposite
way.
I catch a taxi to get wherever I need to go… typically about
$5.00 US to get to most places. It is pretty obvious when I open my mouth
that I am an American and invariably the conversation turns to, “How could you
Americans elect George Bush again?” Actually, most conversations include
this question. Everyone I have met, expat and
local, cannot understand why the US
invaded Iraq
and why it is so arrogant in its dealings with the world. Nobody here
“hates” the US,
they just think that our government is very misguided. Fortunately, their
distaste is directed towards the government and not individuals, and I get
along fine with everyone I have met.
I was walking down Orchard
Road the other day, looking for computer
accessories, and the Christmas decorations are everywhere. It really
seems jarring to me to hear “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” in Singapore on
the equator. Or to see Indians wearing Santa caps as they bag groceries
at the grocery store. There are four major religions here… Islam, Christianity,
Buddhism, and Hindu… and John tells me that each group celebrates the others’
holidays. Each major religion’s holidays are also recognized by the
government and everyone gets the day off. There seems to be racial
harmony, which is not to say that racism and sexism are non existent… quite the
contrary… some cultures still retain the old ways… but everybody gets along.
John and I leased our office space on Monday… 31st
floor of the Standard Charter Bank building. It is a premier building in Singapore and
we have a serviced office with access to boardrooms and conference rooms.
To all you working stiffs… eat your heart out as you check the picture of the
view from our office. On the other side of the office is the Boat Quay
with shops, restaurants, and of course, boats of all sorts in the quay.
It really is a fantastic setting in which to work. I am blessed beyond
belief. The pictures below are the view from our office, the office
itself, and a few pictures of the scenery around the boat quay; a very nice
place to take a break or get a beer after work.
I’ll sign off for now… time to go to dinner. My contact
information is
Wayne Herbert
39 Watten View
Singapore
287166 Singapore
Intl Code 65 9170 8938
Click Here to Email Me
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