Singapore Style

LG here, reporting from Sydney airport en route to Auckland. Time to check in about my first real travel destination... Singapore.

Before getting into major detail I’ll assume that you're all as ignorant as I am and will point out that Singapore is a country/republic not just a city, English is the official language and spoken everywhere (dodgy dialects not withstanding) and yes you can get Kosher food there. One other thing you should know is that the weather there is the same all the year round --humid, humid, humid with occasional breaks of rain and then more humid. In fact its a bit like Manchester in the reverse (except Manchester is never humid).

Being able to get straight back into sandalim and summer mentality - the humidity is really quite bearable as there's air-con everywhere and you just don’t seem to sweat SO much, Singapore had to be as good as it gets to start a trip away from the travails of life in Israel. I had 5 v relaxing and enjoyable days there and those of you who have seen me pop up on MSN quite a bit should not mistake that for boredom, rather delight in 24 hour cable internet access at my hosts and strange time zones.

Apropro to Israel my thoughts are with all of you back home during this latest bout of horrific events. I hope that the tone of my letters will not seem too blasé but the way I see it this trip is classified as respite care for me so I hope I can share some of that spirit with you too.

Anyway enough of the rambling... I arrived early Friday morning after an ok flight (despite all paranoia’s about thrombosis and other long flight ailments). The true traveler experience began with Sanghita from Singapore (family originally from India) who I sat next to on the plane telling me exactly what was good and what was not. There’s nothing like a local for proper advice.

First stop was Tammy and Yishai Klein’s place who were kind enough to put me up for the duration. They’re friends from Israel who are in Singapore on business for a couple of years. They live in a beautiful apt complex complete with swimming pool so as you can imagine I’ve hardly done much to prepare myself for the youth hostel experience. Tammy and Yishai were wonderful from the minute I entered the complex shouting out their names 'cos I got confused by the numbering to the minute I left when it decided to rain just as I had planned to walk to the station.

Anyway I spent the first day trying not to fall asleep while exploring orchard road. this is a v famous shopping road which is basically lots of Brent Crosses but much smarter (non-Brits please replace with the name of your favourite mall). Highlights of this particular visit was a huge borders book shop where I could have read for hours if I didn’t keep falling asleep, seeing a sushi bar where food came round on mini conveyor belt (no - no cuddly toys just food) and discovering that all these years Marks and Spencer's have been storing all my size underwear in their Singapore branch. I am evidently an Asian women at heart (if not in hip)! Orchard road also houses some very ostentatious hotels but do not fear it is not ALL tasteful! Orchard road also has (i kid you not) a 3 floor department store dedicated to Manchester United complete with the red cafe next door totally kitted out with Fergie's boys' emblem everywhere. Rumour has it Singapore has the largest MUFC fan club outside the UK chaired by a Jew, I think - so, what's new?

Anyway, decided after a couple of hours to return home soon as I was afraid I might get arrested for dribbling on the sidewalk from jetlag ($1000 fine I do believe). slept the afternoon, swam and then got ready for Shabbat.

Like the best provincial communities the Singapore Jewish community is small, the Shuls (2) are big and the Shul politics know no end. in the same vein the rabbi is Chabad (low key on Chabad, high on all things Jewish), all are welcome, whatever level of observance and the Israelis often do their own thing.

This week there was a Bar mitzvah so there was open lunch for all in the Shul (and supper as well I believe as per normal). Located in town walking to and fro also gave me a nice chance to get oriented to where things were. Just walking around Singapore is beautiful -- the foliage is very lush and they have these great wide trees that I forgot to find the name for that look beautiful as you see their branches spread out from below and from above they cover the city in a sea of green.

I wont go hour by hour on everything I did but suffice to say I covered quite a bit of the regular tourist stuff including the botanical gardens (lots of bright coloured flowers), the Jurong bird park (lots of bright coloured animals), the night safari of Singapore zoo (lots of black and white coloured animals). Also went on cable car from the WTC there, cycling in the east coast park - a national park overlooking the sea and drank an obligatory "Singapore sling*"at the famous Raffles hotel.(*coloured pink as it was aimed for women who didn’t want to drink beer out of a big nasty glass. that and the fact that it has enough alcohol in it to make any lady anyone's - cointreau, cherry brandy, gin, benedictine, D.O.M, angostura , grenadine, lime and pineapple 57% alc total - !!!). about raffles -- yes that was the hotel in Tenko and Paradise Road -- there's no doubt that the British empire paved the way for some of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th and 21st century but they did build some jolly nice buildings while they were at it!

As is often the case on vacations ordinary mundane tasks become a treat too. went shopping to the fish, fruit and veg markets of little India. the market was an amazing experience (mega will never be the same again) - I’ve never seen so much produce I didn’t actually recognize. the stall holders were all very friendly and didn’t mind explaining stuff to the western tourist and allowing sampling. food purchases were then followed by a meander around the rest of little India. Like any immigrant area it is populated by shops and restaurants of the culture and while we tried to be as respectful as possible Yishai and I were a tad amused (watch out for the British understatement) by the huge sign we saw for "Gokolam - the household name in alter-making". Evidently this area could supply everything a modern Buddha could desire! I actually ended up buying a v tasteful not-quite sari thingy (the big smock, trousers and scarf set). my appreciation for Singapore as a shopping destination was increased when I realised how easy it was to fit into anything in the shop (apparently sizes have to be flexible due to the bowing down at temple bit.... oh...)

Rumour has it that Singapore has the same defence issues as Israel and so they collaborate on a lot (its all hush hush - they see themselves in a similar situation as they're surrounded by Moslem countries and are reliant on imports for everything). I believe the defence thing but not convinced that we're collaborating to get the right stuff out of them. We could definitely learn a bit about a setting up a multi racial society from them and how looking after your environment does a lot to put you in a good mood for life. that said I wont deny that a lot of the policy is administrated somewhat Guliiani-like but we can save that debate for another time.

I think that’s probably enough to give you an idea of it all. Next stop is New Zealand -- I’m only in Sydney for 3 hours although it already scores highly ‘cos the view is beautiful and the internet is free.

One last thing before I go... as you will know I am a big fan of the "who-do-you-know-game" so I will be giving points to all of you who help me get further with this on my travels...

This week's prizes go to Pearl and Leonard Roselaar whose friends the Applebaums from Shimoni Street were at Shul having just got off a cruise around Australia and to Dina Seigal -- Laura (?) who you went to school with in Teaneck says hi! I actually give myself a pat on the back as I recognized someone on my flight who I hadn’t seen since primary school days. Marc Zeidman formerly of Kenton now of Pinner -- so that’s an honourable mention to Ash and Barny as well.

Thanks to all of you who wrote following my last epistle... btw if you *don’t* want to see my travel diary before its published and still free then don’t be a passive aggressive and tut and delete. please e-mail me and I’ll take you off the distribution list.

Miss you all but having a great time

Lots of love