More than meets the eye

[austin_dern]

First full day in town for my guest, so this was a chance to enjoy Singapore 101 -- the basics, like finding a hawker center and ordering unidentifiable food (``it seems to be seafood''), drinking pineapple juice (it's easier to skewer pineapple slices when the glass is almost empty), and what to do with the dirty plates when you're done (leave them), and when it's wise to get something to drink (now).

And then, after some dithering, we went downtown, figuring that was the easiest activity not likely to leave us gypped if jet lag or general fatigue were to cut us short. This took us to City Hall MRT and some exploration of the riverfront, so we got experience fleeing restaurant barkers, saw the Steroid Pigeon, and discovered we were a day late for the World Toilet Day Campaign 2005 presentations. All we saw were the remaining posters and backdrops and such, all behind the Steroid Pigeon, and some odd toilet facts. PIctures to follow, when we get them off my houseguest's camera. Plus we got the picture of the sign in front of Cavenaugh Bridge -- there's no leaving Singapore without one -- and take in the Merlion Park, a good place to take pictures of two Merlion statues and accidentally blunder into other people's pictures.

And then I showed the secret of why it's not so hard for me to keep up a daily Livejournal from here; we found our way towards Suntec City, where the World Cyber Games are being held (though we didn't venture in), explored the Toys R Us which recently opened there and found if Roboraptor wasn't bad enough he's been joined by Robo Sapien, a humanoid figure of equal civilization-destroying cpacity, and that there are some cute little toy Thundarr the Barbarian and Galaxy Trio dolls, with Ookla the Mok and Vapor Man sharing a blister pack (who knew?), and a large plush toy Lego Man. Also along the way was a display of public art, showing off the Causeway Point Mall, the Compass Point Mall, and the Lot 1 Shopper's Paradise mall as Transformers, and don't ask me why. But you can see why it's hard to run short of things to talk about.

Trivia: Claudius Pulcher, commander of the Roman fleet in the first Punic War, took a flock of sacred chickens to sea with him. Source: Time-Life Great Ages of Man: Imperial Rome, Moses Hadas.

Currently Reading: Spaceling, Doris Piserchia.

Comments

[patchoblack.livejournal.com]

o/` Transformers! Robots in disguise! Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons! o/` (gets a warm fuzzy feeling, thinking about the '80's.)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Sometime if I ever get a slow day around here I'll have to include reviews of the Transformers (1980s) episodes I've gotten on DVD or Video CD.

[oliver-otter.livejournal.com]

Robo Sapien actually came first. RoboRaptor is the improved model.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Well, I saw RoboRaptor first. And I have to admit, I'd rather have the raptor if I must have something to destroy civilization in my home.