Day 5

Greetings friends and family, I'm back with more to share about this wonderful adventure.  First, I must vent a bit about some snags I've hit along the way.  Today, as I was trying to book my side trip to Phuket, my Stein Mart (I know, don't ask) Master Card was rejected.  Only a temporary snag until I ran out of minutes on my local pre-paid cell chip while chatting with Cindy and wasn't able to use said credit card to top up my plan.  I know, I didn't call them in advance to explain I was travelling to Singapore, but I didn't get any e-mail and if my T-Mobile service worked here, I doubt I got a phone call either.  Now mind you, I've been able to use my Amex most everyday for cab fare with no problem, and I used the MC last night, but for some reason (yes, I know, fraud prevention) the folks in the Philippines decided they were going to cut me off.  After going through the whole never ending automated menu I finally got someone on the line and they wanted to transfer me.  I can only imagine what the hotel is going to charge me for this "toll free" call, but my cell was out of voice minutes.  So I finally get on the line with fraud protection and the only real validation they asked for was my mother's maiden name.  Then they wanted to "verify" my charges...what?  If I were the bad guy, I would know what charges I was trying to make.  They didn't ask for SSN, DOB, address, or anything truly personal.  I confirmed the charges and they were satisfied.  Doesn't leave me with a warm fuzzy, and if it wasn't more detrimental to my credit score, I probably cancel the freaking thing.
OK, just a little more before I get on with the pleasantries and photographic eye candy.  The hotel I'm staying is fairly decent, but I learned just how nice the "premier" (I'm in a standard) rooms are today.  My complaints are reasonable I think; all the lights are controlled but this weird control panel on the front of the bedside table as I think I previously mentioned, the tub is two feet off the ground and the foot space requires some deft maneuvers to keep from tripping, the carpet is stained, and there is a serious damp mustiness everywhere on the floor.  The "work desk" has only one AC outlet and you have to shake the phone handset to hear the person on the other end (who uses land lines these days anyway?!?).  The linens are nice enough, but the closet has those stupid "don't steal me" hangers that are short supply anyway.  Everyday I'm made to feel less than adequate when I have to tell the servers at breakfast that I don't have a voucher for breakfast that's provided to the "Premier" level guests.  Yes, they charge a bit more, but really?!?  The premier rooms are just updated to current standards with a walk in shower, plenty of wall plugs, and no beam me up Scotty control panel for the lights.  I know all this because I finally insisted the show me what I'm missing and well, now they're going to have to deal with me insisting on a free upgrade.  It's the Buttrill way...Cindy, you'll appreciate this, I promise!  Of course they couldn't do that until their manager comes in tomorrow.  At least I have a PENDING reservation for 4 more weeks to use as leverage, and their sister property next door, the one with the roof top pool, yea, ALL their rooms are outfitted like this.  I do my research, I work the system, and I get what I want.  I can be very persuasive.  Damn Buttrill!!!
I hope I haven't lost you yet as there IS more eye candy and positivity as promised.  Today I was comfortable enough with the cab ride I could pull out the camera and snap some pics enroute.

 Also, I excused myself from lunch so I could walk the campus of the Alexandra Techno Park to share with you.

 As I mentioned, Singapore is a lush tropical paradise.  Palms and bougainvillea are omnipresent.  Everything is clean and green.  I have to pass by the Interlace everyday and it still leaves me agog and awestruck.

  Several tech giants share our "park"; Microsoft, HP, SAP, Sharp, Nokia and...Dyson - not a tech giant, but more about them later.  The walk to lunch is filled with ... well, this..

 
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Lunch is not taken lightly here.  Everyone gets here no later than 11:30 because the room starts to fill at 11:00.  I spoke previously about my "food court" experiences here.  How you can find every and any ethnic flavor and I wasn't kidding.  America may have been called the melting pot at one time, but we're addicted to burgers, pizza, and french fries.  Here, it's all about fresh vegetables, exotic meats, and rice and beans. This is a bit of a simplification of the extent of the variety, but hopefully the pics will help convey.  Oh yea, they serve beer at the employee food court.  NO, I didn't partake.

 As I mentioned, my hosts are Malay, Hindi, Flip (sorry Rey), and Chinese and each one has their own fave.  Today I settled for green curry, but no where near as good as my Step-Mom Joy's.  The broth was good, but there were no veggies, and the shrimp were shrimpy and mealy.  BOO!  Tomorrow I'm trying the Chinese "kitchen sink in a bowl".

Back to Dyson...I've been resisting the urge to speak about this topic, but you should know a Buttrill can't resist commentary on plumbing.  Sadly, they Dyson hand dryer is the only redeeming facet to the men's restroom.  Suffice it to say, I don't understand why you need to install one of those toilet IN the floor things.  The kind you straddle and ... well, I avoid it.  Also, they left out some parts, or didn't properly test the "flushless" urinals.  They just STINK.  And that's all I have to say about that...except the floor below us, where Microsoft resides, has the working models and no stench.  But they don't have the Dyson hand dryers because they're office is on our floor.  I guess it balances out.  That Dyson is one smart guy.
There you have it...and then some.  I'm going to try to sleep past 4:30 today.  Ambien isn't even working.
Peace and love to all!!!

Found it!

The Interlace are the condos I mentioned and are just amazing...

Day 3...I think....

Good Morning!  It's about 3 am and I still can't sleep.  Sunday night was a late night and I was so excited about the Marina area and my first day at work coming, I couldn't barely sleep a wink.  I went to sleep around 1:30 am Sunday night/Monday morning and woke up about 4:30 am Monday morning.  I was dragging ass after lunch yesterday and went to sleep about 9:00 pm last night only to wake up at 2:30 am today.  My mind has not shifted over yet, so I'll give in a bit to see if this doesn't help.  Writing is therapeutic, right?
Breakfast here at the hotel is a major spread.  You've seen an American breakfast buffet before, well, add spring rolls, noodles, sardines, and some other oddities and you've got an idea of what this Asian buffet is all about.  I didn't take any pictures today, so I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination here folks, sorry.  To continue on the food theme, the client took us to lunch today to a "food court".  The concept is fairly standard, 15-20 different vendors all around a central seating area.  Well, this one was smack in the middle of a warehouse district.  We parked next to forklifts and stacked pallets on a dirt road.  Then we were led through the alley to the front of the building where we found scores of plastic patio furniture just off the main road and then found the entrance to the food court.  Nothing too wild like fried bugs or live squid swimming around, but they had choices from simple fried rice, to curry with lamb and soups with fish and shrimp.  I wasn't up for all the excitement and simply pointed to the first mushroom and greens stir fry with chicken (I think) that I found and pointed to order.  That set me back a whole $2.50 plus another buck for a coke.  Not bad and they bring the dish to your table.  Sandra is vegetarian, so she had a fried rice dish with egg and a can of jasmine tea.
Our hosts and client, Cloud Pay, are a mix of Indian, Filipino, and Chinese.  Their client, Siemens, have offices in Singapore, Shanghai, and Batam Indonesia.  Quite the mix. The Singapore facility is using our product, but they've had major turnover and all of the original project owners have left and we are here to "reinvigorate" the users and get them back on track.  Schedule based overtime only works when the schedules are maintained, and as you can guess, they haven't been, so there is a big amount of unexpected OT that's got everyone angry as poked hornets.  We took a taxi to the tech center  where Cloud Pay is located and were treated to our first rush hour experience.  The front desk told us it would take 15 minutes, but it was actually more like 45.  Nevertheless I was entertained by all the lush greenery and modern architecture this tropical island has to offer.  There were some very impressive new condos being built that were stacked across and staggered on top of each other that are just amazing, but the name escapes me now.  More on that later, I promise.  I also promise more pictures, but yesterday was mostly business.  All work and no play makes Beely a dull boy....miss you Cinny.
Peace and love to all!!!  Going to try to sleep again...

Day 2

Good morning friends and family, or should I say good afternoon since you're 12 hours behind me?  I couldn't sleep tonight, so here I am anxious to share...
The hotel I'm staying in is called the The Elizabeth, part of the Far East Group.  I'm in a standard, not "Premier" aka refurbished.  The room is nice enough, but with a few odd quirks.  All the lights in the room are controlled from a panel on the bedside table; none of the lights have switches except for the bathroom, which is down for on and up for off.

 There is no real coffee, just instant, so I persuaded the friendly front desk agent to give me access to the "Executive Pavilion" concierge room with real coffee, apple and orange juice, and  bottled water.  The other oddity is the bathtub.  You have to step way up to get in, then your head is above the shower head, and the floor of the tub is super narrow.  Made for Asian feet I suppose, but the water is hot and the pressure is strong.
Day 2 started with a quest to find Wild Honey, a place the came highly recommended by the guide books and info on the hotel info channel on the TV.  We finally found it thanks to Google maps on my Hackberry.  It was buried in yet another mega mall, on the fourth floor, in the back by the spas where you let some fish nibble the dead skin off your feet before your pedicure.  The guides attracted a good crowd and we were 3 tables deep on the waiting list.  No big deal and we only waited about 15 minutes before we were shown to our seats...and the counter.  For all the hip casual flair with brightly colored chalk board menus, low slung coffee table seating and great smells wafting from the kitchen, you were expected to place your order at the counter before taking your seat.

 Hmmmm, not sure I'm digging this process, but luckily, the manager sensed my displeasure and took our order on her I-pad because there was quite a mob huddled around the one on the counter we were supposed to use.  So far, not so bad...the menu offered mostly variations on eggs benedict and Sandra and I both chose the crab cake version...at $34SNG each.  When in Rome...the deal breaker came when they almost charged me another $5 for a refill on my way too pricey, not Starbucks venti sized coffee.  Ergh...  Food came out perfect and we were quite satisfied.

Bellies full we set out to the SMRT station towards the zoo.  We again were struck by the efficiency and cleanliness of the trains and stations minus freaks, geeks or other miscreants.  (love that word...)  I had to take a picture of the ingress/egress arrows for our guidance just to display how orderly they are here.  As soon as we exited the train and got to ground level we were approached by a "tour guide" offering a van ride and entrance ticket to the zoo.  Normally I would side step these "tour guides", but we tried it and sure enough, we were sped to the zoo by private van and our ticket actually got us access to the park.
This zoo is one of the most highly rated in the world for it's natural enclosures and how close you feel to the animals.  We arrived just in time for the feeding of their pair of white Tigers.  What a sight.  Next were the Orangutans, which they spell as two words.  Lions, Tigers, no bears...sorry.  But I did find the Zebras for my sweetheart, Cindy.  Miss you baby!

No rain today, but it was still overcast, which I'm thankful for because I'm not ready to sweat my balls off!  So, the zoo was amazing and the public bus ride back to the SMRT was fairly pleasant considering it was packed since we left just at closing and everyone was headed out.  Singaporeans are peaceful and mannerly people, it's so amazing.  The other cool thing is they are fairly short people too, so I feel fairly tall around here and it's nice being head above shoulders when in a crowd.  Speaking of crowds, we decided to take a walk on the wild side today, not literally, but the other side of Orchard Road seems to be where the common folks flock.  Here is where we found the touristy 3-for $10 tee shirt shops, 7-11, and yes "adult" stores.  This side of the street was flooded with people like the streets of NYC.  Quite the opposite experience from the other side of the street, but pleasant nonetheless.

Tonight we decided to explore the Bayfront and all it's spectacle.  Here is where you'll find the local icon Merlion, the worlds tallest ferris wheel, the Singapore Flyer, and the biggest, baddest, mega-complex of all, The Marina Bay Sands hotel/casino/shopping plaza.  This complex is bigger, bolder, and bulging with even more high end shopping from designers I've never even heard of.  This is the top of the top, the rich of nouveau riche, the gaudy and gauche.  The architecture is immense and amazing; witness the "toilet" (my moniker) water sculpture.

 We managed to find a sushi cafe with outdoor seating so we could take in the skyline and it's lights.  Food was overpriced, but we're in Singapore, right.  The sushi was good enough.  We're exhausted now and need to beat it back to the hotel so I can upload, update, connect, text, e-mail, Facebook, and blog.  Good thing I don't need much sleep...Peace and love to all...Miss you Cindy, glad you're back on Facebook!  ;)

Day 1

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would ever wind up here, especially for a work assignment.  The small back story to this is a client called Siemens has facilities in Singapore, Shanghai, and Batam (Indonesia).  I stuck my hand up, foot out, neck up, whatever and Workforce took me up on it, but I never expected a 6 week assignment with a good possibility of a second 6 week stint after I get a break back home for a couple weeks.  So, here I am in Singapore...WOW!  First, let me say, it's what everyone says about cleanliness, it's spotless EVERYWHERE; the airport, the subway, the highways, the malls, you name it, it's clean.
Let me back up a bit and talk about my travel experience.  So glad I had some Ambien to help me sleep, because I would have not gotten a wink if not.  The long 14 hour flight from Atlanta to Tokyo started out a bit unnerving.  I had moved at the last minute to a row with the two middle seats empty hoping I'd be able to spread out during the long flight.  Boy was I surprised when I got to my seat to find not only the middle seats occupied by little munchkins, but my seat as well.  There was a large Filipino family (is there any other) headed to the Philippines for a funeral and the parents were doing all they could to keep all three kids together.  OK, no biggie, but I'm keeping my aisle seat at least and I just moved to the other side of the aisle.  Now the baby brother is starting to cry and his sisters and getting antsy and we haven't even taken off yet.  Fortunately a nice flight attendant (oxymoron intended) told me there was an empty row in the back which I promptly snagged.  Ear plugs in, hoodie up, sun glasses on, check, check, check, let this begin.  Watched Silver Linings Playbook which surprisingly was complimentary and popped my Ambien just as the sun was setting.  Woke up as breakfast was being served and only a couple hours left before landing in Tokyo.  Delta did a good job of upgrading the old 747 jumbo jets which wasn't the case back in 2009 when they had just absorbed NWA and I was flying to Honolulu.  The seatback TV sets were new and about the size of a large laptop screen with a USB charger for tablets or smart phones.  OK, I'm beginning to sound like a reviewer for Travel magazine.  One more plug for Delta, their Club room in Tokyo had showers, sushi, and free internet on nice new Macs, all of which I partook heartily.

The flight from Tokyo left at 4:30 PM and we landed at Changi airport at 1:30 AM, but I wasn't the least bit tired because I had not even begun to realize what timezone I was in.  Again, the airport was a model of efficiency, ease and grace.  Everything was clean, modern, and user friendly.  I made my way down to baggage claim easily and my bag was rolling out in about ten minutes.  My travel partner from Workforce, Sandra, landed an hour earlier on American and said we would both be in terminal 2, but I was in terminal 1.  Fortunately, as I was wandering aimlessly thinking about taking the train to terminal 2, she appeared.  We walked outside and promptly hopped into a cab that took all typed of credit cards.  Bonus!
The cabbie hauled ass and the blur of things going by were all clean and green.  We made it directly to our hotel in nothing flat and were checked in and in bed by 2:30 AM.  Now if I only felt like sleeping.  Turned on the nice LG flat screen and found Wild Things with Denise Richards and some other actors not worth mentioning.  OK, Kevin Bacon and Matt Damon, OK girls, happy?  So here's a sample of how non-prurient Singapore is, the scene where DR climbs out of the pool in a one piece Speedo was cut at the thighs to avoid the nipples.  In fact, there were several other gaps, but I faded out...finally.

I awoke to my phone ringing at about 11:30 AM from  Sandra asking if I was ready to go.  Ready to go?  I'm dead, but I know I have to shift gears and get switched over to the opposite AM/PM paradigm.  For any of you that know me, I rarely sleep past 7:00 AM and when I wake, I'm ready to go.  This is not normal, but I'll play along.  The shower was HOT, too hot, and I had to cut it way back to keep from scalding, but the pressure was good so I was happy.  Throw on shorts, t-shirt and tennies, and I'm out the door.  We bolt down the street to Orchard Road, which is Singaporean for FREAKING EXPENSIVE shopping district.  They had Rolex stores like Starbucks here, not to mention every other major name in the industry; Dolce, Ferragamo, Louis V, you name it.  Not a Wal-Mart in site.  Luckily they did have a Starbucks on the corner and we found sustenance in coffee and quiche.  Don't say it!!!  Wake up call satisfied, I need to find some way to get my cell on their network.  Would you ever imagine I needed to show my passport in order to buy a sim chip for my Crackberry?!?  They scanned it like they were security at the airport.  Oh well, at least I'm connected.  Oh, and they gave me a nice full size umbrella which couldn't have been more appropriate since there was a tropical thunderstorm happening as we left the mall.  To avoid the rain we slipped inside another upscale mall called ION Orchard.  You need to check this place out, 8 floors of high end shopping, a food court that is a culinary delight, valet parking, and a Singapore Airlines ticket office that looks like the entrance to a super chic boutique hotel.  Google it...

We found the entrance to the MRT (metro rapid transit) which is a glass bubble that looks akin to Chicago's  Cloud Gate or "Bean" just outside of the mall. We quickly retrieved a rail pass and descended into the cleanest and most feng shui correct subway system I've ever seen.  They did this right; the maps are easy to read (yes, the language is predominantly English here), the trains have no graffiti, the tunnels don't stink of urine, there are water sculptures and they even paint arrows at each car entrance to help with ingress and egress of the passengers.  We had to make a transfer and once again was impressed by the cleanliness of everything.  Missing were the panhandlers, buskers, and other miscreants usually found on most metro subway systems.  The rain had almost stopped by the time we got to the botanical gardens, so the umbrella wasn't necessary at this point and fortunately, the sun didn't come out blazing to steam things up.  We meandered through the park and found the main attraction.  Orchids, orchids everywhere.  All sizes and colors and were absolutely amazing in both their quantity and quality.

Headed back to the hotel and stopped in at ION to grab some groceries.  Too tired to head out for dinner tonight and am still getting used to being on the opposite side of the AM/PM.  Haven't blogged before.  Hope you like it and hope I can add my pics to help tell the story.  Peace and Love to all....