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Holidays on deployment

My National Geographic atlas lists just two facts about Singapore: it’s an expensive city and it is “renowned” for its internet connectivity. I can confirm that it’s an expensive city, but the internet connectivity was oversold. Over the Christmas week, we had a six-day port visit in Singapore, and I am a little poorer for it. Still, it was great to walk on land after a month at sea. It was great to eat real food after a month of Navy fare. And it was great to drink beer after a month of abstinence.

Singapore was my introduction to traveling in Southeast Asia. It was easy for me to get around because all the signs are in English and almost everyone speaks English (Singapore only gained independence from the British in the mid-twentieth century). It’s a small, urban country that thrives on shipping, finance, and tourism. It’s very clean and very safe. Almost too safe.

Imagine, if you will, a country covered by malls. I mean just covered. Everywhere you go, it’s malls – big, western-style malls with stores like Brooks Brothers and The Gap alongside Asian-style malls where you can haggle over pewter knickknacks and candy from the Philippines. On Christmas Day, the malls were open. Even late at night. There are a lot of wealthy people and tourists in Singapore who keep the culture of shopping alive. I don’t like malls enough to ever live in Singapore, but it was an amazing sight to see. Also, I was able to get a jade pendant, two scarves, and a cute journal for Angelina.

Posing in my hotel room with Duffy and a hippo from Night Safari.

The bread, buns, cakes, and pastries in Singapore were great. There was one bakery chain called “Dough Culture,” which was a good summation of my whole experience in the country. Everything I had from a bakery was great. I also tried plenty of exotic foods. But the weirdest meal I had was at a place called Toast Box. I ordered their Set #1 (it’s a set, not a combo meal), which consists of a cup of highly sweetened coffee, a piece of white toast – covered in peanut butter, cut into squares, and served with toothpicks – and two hot-boiled eggs. Yes, hot-boiled eggs, not hard-boiled – the contents of the eggs are warm and soupy. You crack the eggs into a bowl, mix with soy sauce and drink. I don’t know why that’s supposed to go with peanut-butter toast and sweet coffee, but as the saying goes, “When in Singapore, drink your eggs from a bowl.”

In addition to eating, drinking, and shopping, I also supported the local tourism industry by going to the Singapore Night Safari and Universal Studios Singapore. The Night Safari has 150 nocturnal animals in a lush rainforest setting – it was the most amazing zoo I’ve ever been to. The animals are very active and it’s amazing how close you can get. Universal Studios Singapore was also fun, and it’s currently the only place in the world where you can go on Transformers: The Ride. Transformers reminds me of the new Star Tours ride at Disneyland: it’s a fun 3D flight simulator that uses audio-animatronics to add another layer to the experience. Of everything I did in Singapore, being at a theme park was the thing that made me miss Angelina and Gabby the most. I know they both would have loved it.

It's 50% elephant, 50% Angry Bird, and 100% awesome!

Another thing about Singapore, it was fun to be in a country that is as obsessed with Angry Birds as I am. They were on T-shirts, purses, posters, cakes, dolls, stickers, and more. I remember getting into a cab and seeing Angry Birds plush toys lined up on the dash. The driver and I talked about Angry Birds for most of the ride. It made me wish I still had my iPhone. My favorite Angry Birds sighting, though, was the Angry Birds elephant. You know how a lot of cities have a single type of statue that different artists will paint different ways? In Eugene it’s a duck, in Norfolk it’s a mermaid, in Chicago it’s a cow. And in Singapore, it’s an elephant. Well one artist made his elephant into the red Angry Bird, which is my favorite! Even though it was raining, I had to leave cover and get my picture taken with it.

Final Singapore observation: on the highway, I saw a toddler sitting in the front seat of a car, strapped in with the lap and shoulder belt. Is that just something they do there? It seems weird to see that in a country that has so many strict nanny-state laws on personal conduct. It’s the only example I saw of someone doing something that wouldn’t be allowed in the States.

After Singapore, the ship’s Christmas decorations were put away and it was back to the Groundhog Day experience of being underway, every day the same as the one before. But New Year’s Eve broke up the monotony a little. Some of my shipmates whipped up a cute impromptu party, complete with funny hats, refreshments, sparkling cider, and a silver ball to drop. On New Year’s Day, we had a holiday feast, which I’m still trying to digest. It’s not quite Disneyland with Angelina’s family (which I did last New Year’s), but it’s as close as I’m going to get to fun for awhile, so I’ll take it.

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Merry Christmas

From Singapore, here’s wishing a Merry Christmas to all my friends and family back in the States.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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