Guest Column: First Impressions of S'pore

When Jordan confirmed her semester in Singapore, I started looking up plane tickets for spring break. I did a great job of fleeing my commitments and my thesis - who knows when I'll have another shot at a cheap place to stay and a free guide in Southeast Asia?

Without further ado:

* Even though vehicular traffic is always on the left, it's hit or miss with pedestrian traffic and escalators. I swear, it's a 50-50 shot as to whether the automatic escalator on the left or the automatic escalator on the right will start moving when you walk up!

* I could have straight blue hair and fluorescent pink eyes, and people would still think that Jordan and I are twins.

* The honourable Queen's English will throw you off-centre, but it's fun to try and blend in conversationally with some of the vocabulary. Among my favorites: "lift" for elevator, "toilet" for bathroom, and "sorry?" when you don't understand what someone said.

* I have yet to visit a bathroom that doesn't have sturdy double-ply toilet paper (I mean, even the porcelain squat toilets stock the stuff). NC State stands to learn a thing or two about bathroom comfort.

* Forget canned tuna - stingray is the real chicken of the sea!

* Most fascinating moment of the week: At least one mapmaker in Southeast Asia recognizes the Republic of Molossia, a micronation contained within the state of Nevada. It boggles my mind that four people made up their own nation and somehow got someone to think it's legitimate!

I'll spare you the rest of my learnings :) Since my observation period was so brief, I can't claim that any of these impressions are substantial - I mean, I've only eaten a minuscule fraction of the dishes in the world's food capital! But, it's been a fun week of sightseeing; I've even been shopping (!) a couple of times in a few of Singapore's bazillion malls. On Friday morning (that's Thursday night for you EST folks), I'll be heading back home and Brooke will be well on her way.

Cheers,
Jessica