Singapore, Singapore

I debated calling this post "The International Language of Shopping," since shopping is what most people come to Singapore to do ... and since the person who greeted us at our hotel asked that we return our key to reception while we are "out shopping." But then I decided that was far too cynical ... and we've had lots of fun during our 2 1/2 days in Singapore to be that cynical.

Most of what I've like about this country/city is how it manages to be a melting pot of so many cultures without diluting any of them too much. When you first get the tourist information they say, "if you want to impress the locals, here are a couple phrases to use" (how are you and thank you) ... and there are the same two phrases in 3 languages, plus they say English is the "lingua franca." I thought, "my gosh! how am I ever going to figure out which one to use?" It turned out, even though there are significant Chinese (76%), Malay (15%), and Arab (don't remember) populations, the British colonial heritage is still strong. They see you have a white face and everyone addresses you in English. It makes traveling easier, at least. ;) But there are still stong Asian and Indian influences. The British colonial thing is kind of funny ... it's like the country is really proud of having been a colony. I'm pretty sure that's what put it on the map and why it's shipping traffic is so developed so it makes sense. But when you hear stories about how some English solider was brought in to shoot a tiger that was hiding out under the billiards room at a swanky hotel, it makes your head spin a little bit.

The most fun part to me has been the public art and the food. You can see photos of some of the sculptures on Andrew's photo page. The food ... it's from all over, is cheap, and you eat it, in large part in "food courts" kind of like at our malls, only the food is better and they're less air conditioned.

We're off to Africa tonight (2:30AM flight from Chiangi International Airport - hoping we can sleep). If there's nothing new for a while, it's because wifi isn't so frequent on safari... ;)