Shelter and Flooded Street During Manila Typhoon from Magee Clegg on Vimeo.

Back in Singapore.

I just got back from recess week last night about 3am. Im starting to realize that you come to Singapore not only to be in Singapore but also to use it as a jumping off point to the rest of SE Asia. I took well over three thousand photos over the last eleven days. The best 7oo are going up on Flickr as soon as I can get my internet to get any kind of decent sustained speed.

Only in Singapore

So, if you haven't heard it by reputation, Singapore has some of the friendliest people I've ever met. Random strangers seem to be legitimately concerned for their fellow man. Coming from Los Angeles this can be a bit disconcerting. Case in point: Im walking back from classes today ascending the steps of the overpass over the Ayer Expressway. For some reason my calf is sore from lifting/stretching/whatever so I stop for a second and stand on the ball of one foot and stretch my calf on a step. Out of nowhere the Singaporean who had been descending towards me says "ohh stiff muscles, you need this" whips out a small red bottle labeled in Chinese from his fanny pack and proceeded to instruct me to dab this ointment on my calf and rub it in "Like this, with gentle downward motion, not too hard". He tells me that it will improve blood flow and within 5 minutes I should feel some kind of cooling effect. I rub it in as instructed, kinda put off by this interest and hurriedly reassure him I'm ok so I can continue on.Sure enough as I'm reaching the other side of the overpass, my calf starts to relax and I get a nice cooling feeling. Strange country, really nice people.

A slightly different lifestyle.

Things seem to be settling for me in Singapore. Life here is much more low key than Shanghai. Seems to follow a progression of gym, class, cooking, and bed in varying arrangements. Ive got my classes mostly figured out, I still need to lay prostrate at the feet of a few econ professors and beg them for classes but other than that I think ive got it worked out that ill go to class Tuesday through Thursday which should leave a nice buffer for traveling over weekends. So far classes seem pretty straightforward and interesting. I have a fascinating history class about the history of Singapore which seems to be my most interesting by far. My flickr is updated far more often than my blog so check that if you want to see what ive been up to.

Singapore!

Landed in Singapore this morning. So far so good. Still pretty lagged from the redeye in addition to the recovery from Chris's birthday party. Still need to register at NUS and tour my potential apartment. Its great to have unfettered internet access again. I can blog, twitter, and facebook to my hearts content.

1 USD -> 6.88 RMB

Im still getting used to the pricing around here. Its real strange, some thins are so cheap and some are exactly US parity. A few examples:

Cab rides: $2 for just about everywhere you want to go.

Beer at a bar: $3

Levi 501 Jeans: $110

Lunch at an upscale restaurant with drinks: $4.50

Fake Raybans: $2.50

All you can eat + drink sushi: $13

Still working on only thinking in RMB.

Great Firewall of China

So blogger is blocked in China so I'm learning new and fun ways to get around the great firewall. So far so good. My hosts have been absurdly generous. Work doesn't start for a week so I have a little bit of time to get a few things done. I need to go to the police station to register myself and get a new SIM for my phone as well. New photos up on flickr.