Today i have been mostly sad as the news from home is that my dog Ben died. I used to sing to him and he was fat and smelly but i won't have anyone to sing to when i go back and i don't think anyone on this planet used to get as happy to see me as he did, which is probably a good thing as he did used to pee all over the floor.
So, I am in Singapore with nothing really to share. I am first world again. This city is bland and clinical and my time here has been fairly uneventful so I shan’t bore you with the details as you know them all - wake up have a shower walk to the train station, zoom accross the city, get out buy something, eat something watch something etc etc etc. In comparison to India I may as well have stepped into a parallel universe. Nobody is interested in my presence and I am free to walk wherever I please. I am not so free however to smoke in a public place (even if this is outside) drop litter, jaywalk, chew gum; drink in the streets and many other misdemeanors. Through the smiles and suits, pressed chinos and Gucci sunglasses, you can't help but get the impression that this city is far from relaxed, you just have to look up toward the ominous sky scrappers that tower above to know that Singapore dictates a language of order, cleanliness and subservience to the dollar. Everything is new and conveinient. Surprisingly there is not a young rebel in sight. I have been here only two days. That said in those two days I have had a hair cut, cleaned and scrubbed free of the grime, watched a movie and enjoyed seeing in the Chinese New Year. My consumer batteries fully charged I fly to Sri Lanka tonight.