Again, I'm sorry

Again, I'm sorry for not being able to keep everyone updated on my Singapore adventures. I don't do personal stuff at work cuz I'm paid hourly and feel that I have a responsibility for being productive while I'm there. This, of course, is considerably different from the old days when I was a slaveried salaried employee working plenty of uncompensated overtime. Back then, doing a bit of personal surfing and e-mailing was easily justified.

But back to now. This is only my second time at an internet cafe here in Singapore. You'd think that, with the lack of pre-pay internet options, that they would have internet cafes everywhere to cater to the transient backpacker type crowd. Well, I'm here to tell ya: no. And it kinda sucks. But here's what's going on.

I'm making much more of an effort to get out and about here in this crazy juxtaposition of a city. It's an eclectic mix of Asia and America, old and new, noodles shops and McDonald's, green tea and Starbucks, all of them begging for a moment of your attention. I've gone to Chinatown a few times now, and have been fascinated with all the stalls full of alternating-between-bored-and-mega-aggressive people trying to make a Singapore buck. I've picked up a few things for the nieces and the nephew -- my goal is to get them each something from each city in Uncle Jeff's circus tour travels -- and have even managed to (gasp!) grab a couple of early Christmas pressies. Yay me! I've never picked up a Christmas pressie earlier than December 20 before, so I'm understandably stoked.

It's still disgustingly hot and humid here. Thank Christ for air con, my friends, because I thought I was stronger than this. In my tent at work, I'm blessed to enjoy a gorgeous climate-controlled environment that keeps me happy and productive. Many of my colleagues have made me even bigger fans of theirs with their ability to withstand the disgusting temperatures while they slave away in un-air-conditioned tents. The other day my air con was acting up and they came in to take a temperature reading. It was a hellish 39C in my tent, but I wasn't complaining (just sitting there dripping in sweat all over my desk as I tried to move as few muscles as possible while typing) in light of the fact that a recent reading in one of the other tents was a mindboggling 48C. My colleagues are stars! Sweaty stars, but stars nonetheless.

Last week, my buddy Lucky and I went to Sentosa to check out all the fuss. Tip: if you ever come to Singapore, feel free to skip Sentosa. The only exciting bit was the cable car ride from the mainland to the island. Now, I'm a big skier. I've lived in a ski resort for 6+ years, I've skied for about 30 years, and I've ridden my fair share of chairlifts, t-bars, gondolas and cable cars. I'm very familiar with the extremely stringent standards that cable car operators have to adhere to in the ski industry.

What I'm not familiar with is the frequency and stringency with which Singaporean cable cars operators are required to undergo regular maintenance and inspection checks. So perhaps you can understand my white knuckled state of fear slightly nervous state at being 70m above the sea in a cable car that seemed a bit too "swingy" for my taste. Again, I'm not a chicken when it comes to heights or being in a confined space well above the ground -- except when I suddenly realize the state of my two three suitcases of belongings should I suddenly and unexpectedly perish in an unfortunately Singaporean cable car accident. I just wouldn't be comfortable with someone going through my stuff and wondering why I'm travelling with something as stupid as insert name of stupid extraneous item here.

Luckily, I escaped cable car hell unharmed and even made it to back to the mainland with my dignity somewhat intact. But I do advise against the trip to Sentosa -- not just cuz of the cable car, but also cuz it was just freakin' deadsville. How come nobody mentioned that the free round-the-island monorail was out of commission?!

The Sentosa misadventure behind me, I decided to rearrange my schedule this week to have two -- count 'em, two! -- days off in a row. Normally I split my days, but this time I decided to take up an offer from Lucky and go to Bintan with him and San Diego Gal. Unfortunately, we missed the ferry by a few minutes and would have had to wait 3 hours for the next one, so we decided that it just wasn't meant to be. Instead, we decided to be spontaneous and see what other options there were, eventually settling on a different teeny, tiny island about a kilometer off the Singers coast. To get there, we had to pay a whole $2 each to ride in a bumboat. Heehee -- a bumboat!!

Once on Pulau Ubin, we rented bikes and rode around the island, grabbed lunch, had some coconut juice right in the coconut, had some fresh pineapple (imported from Thailand), and just enjoyed the day. The next day back on the Singaporean mainland, San Diego Gal had to work, but Lucky and I tried to visit a nature reserve to see some monkeys. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out where to get off the bus and get to the main entrance of the reserve, but at least we saw a bit more of the city by public transport. We'll get more specific instructions on where to go, and try again another time.

So what else is goin' on? As you've been reading, I'm hanging out with Lucky quite often, and that's great. But don't jump to conclusions, dear readers, for Lucky (while a boy, and gay at that) is happily partnered to The Hire Guy. They're both awesome, but The Hire Guy is busy at work and Lucky and I have been exploring the city together. Throw in the time we've been hanging out with San Diego Gal, and it's been much much much brighter for me on the social front. I was just realizing last night that I haven't been feeling nearly as lonely these past few weeks as I had been the previous 5 months. And for that, I'm extremely thankful. And it keeps getting better, too! Next week during our Double Dark (no shows on either Monday or Tuesday), San Diego Gal, Lucky, The Hire Guy and I are probably heading to Malaysia to score another country stamp in the passport to get away from it all. Not sure where just yet, but it may be Tioman Island, a suggestion from Luscious Lorna.

And later, between the end of Singapore and the start of Hong Kong, Lucky and I and another friend, Christmas Carol (and also The Hire Guy, but only for a few days), are going to Thailand for another stamp in the passport to chill in huts purposefully built on top of the ocean. We'll probably head to Koh Tao for a week, spending 4 days in one place and 3 days in a different place. I may also try to spend a day or two in Bangkok before heading to Honkers, just to see what it's all about. I know it's busy, dirty, dank and polluted, but lots of people say it's worth checking out for a brief time. We have to fly in and out of Bangers anyways, so an extra day to look around may be on the cards.

But it gets even better. Yes, folks, the action never stops here in Singers! My sister J is coming to visit next week for 4 days on her way to Central America and, eventually, Ottawa for her two-year journey home. And just after she leaves Singers, I'm heading on holidays to Bali (yet another country stamp in my passport) for 6 days and 5 nights of chilling and beaching and drinking and carrying on. I'll be going solo, so I hope there are plenty of fun folks there, but the travel agent I booked through said the accommodation is very nice and I'll enjoy it. I had hoped to holiday with Suzie, but the dates just didn't work out, unfortunately. We're looking at taking some time off in February, though...

So, to recap...I'm getting out and about in Singapore more than I have past cities; I'm starting to feel like I'm finding a social network; I'm heading to Malaysia on Monday and Tuesday; my sister arrives Tuesday night for a 4-day visit; I'm going to Bali for 6 days immediately after that; after Singapore I head to Koh Tao for more relaxation, and probably Bangkok for a look-see, on the way to Hong Kong. Whew! I'm excited, but I hope I haven't made you jealous : )

And speaking of Honkers, I need to buy a new laptop when I'm there. Question to my readers: what kind of laptop should I buy?

I really don't use my laptop for much -- just blogging, surfing, e-mailing. I want a CD/DVD player and burner but (cuz I'm a travelling circus freak) portability remains a key selling feature. I'd rather have a small, feather light laptop (with CD/DVD player and burner) than one with a honkin' big screen and all sorts of extra bells and whistles.

Any suggestions? Your help is much appreciated!