And you know how, when that happens, you get these little ideas for said post, and you tell yourself you've got to write that down and get busy blogging soon, before the idea is gone, and you've got nothing to say anymore? And you know how, when you're finally sitting down to blog, and you're kicking yourself for not writing down that idea?
Man, I hate it when that happens.
Anyway...
The Haircut:
I made the appointment to get something done to my hair almost two months in advance. Partly because I had no idea what I wanted to do, partly because that's how long the waiting list is for this particular salon. And when the time came, I decided this was no time to be half-arsed about it. So they made a nice long braid and then chopped it off to donate to an organization that makes wigs for kids with cancer.
And now I look like this:
And then there was the surprise trip to Singapore:
I boarded the 20:00 flight out of Dubai on Monday, 11 June, and arrived and Changi airport around 7:30 on Tuesday morning. It took less than an hour to get through customs and claim my baggage, by which time a skinny Asian man was standing outside holing up a cardboard sign with "Mee Aparkson" written on it, waiting to take me to the Four Seasons, where I would spend two extremely comfortable nights, before checking myself into Hotel 81 in the far less luxurious, but much more colourful Chinatown area.
My room at the Four Seasons:
The shower:
The bathrooms in this place are huge. And it took me half an hour to figure out how to operate the tap in the shower...
View from my room:
Hotel 81:
My room at Hotel 81:
The bathroom:
Being a business trip, the majority of my stay in Singapore was unfortunately spent working, and at times feeling like a bit of a spare wheel in an office where everybody but me knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing. The rest of my time was spent sitting in on meetings that didn't have much at all to do with me or my job, and feeling terribly proud of myself for knowing that, in Singapore, when one is presented with a business card at a meeting, one is supposed to accept it with both hands, and to present one's own in the same manner. And in between these meetings, I was treated to long, delicious lunches, a typically Singaporean dinner, a movie and, on Wednesday night, a bit of clubbing and all the vodka & cranberry I could drink... Needless to say, I just barely checked out of the Four Seasons at the proper time.
I spent my last night in Singapore walking. And man, did I walk. Like, a lot. And then, after my six-hour walk, I hailed a cab back to my hotel and settled down for the morning. Good thing I set my alarm to wake me at 11:00, because the wake-up call I had requested at the front desk before going to sleep never happened. I had a few hours to kill before checking in at the airport on Friday, and my gracious hosts treated me to a Duck Tour and drove me around the city for a spot of shopping.
On the Duck Tour, with the Esplanade in the background:
And that was that.
