change of life vacation - the beginning
greetings from beautiful singapore! what a crazy 36 hrs it's been so far.
my adventure began on friday 22apr05 at platinum motorsport. dropped the car off there to get some mods done while i'm traipsing around the world for the next 10 days or so. SO excited to finally be doing this - new exhaust, new brakes, dropping it a bit (nothing ghetto just making it more aggressive), new air intake, performance chip, new grille and new grille shell. that's just the tip of the iceberg too. i have a whole laundry list of things i want to do to the car - 40% of which will be taken care of with the list you just read. again, nothing ghetto. just some things to personalize it. i'll upload before and after shots once i return to l.a. really nice guys at platinum. no runaround, no bullshit, my money is as good as anyone else's, respectful... a lot of these custom shops have gotten so full of themselves ever since the whole pimp my ride aftermarket part boom thing happened... so far, not these guys.
so my trip began with a bit of a hiccup. i checked in at lax and was told that there might be a problem with my passport. apparently "they" like to see at least 6 months left on your passport - mine expires june 14 of this year. now this is complete news to me. as much as i've travelled i've never heard of this. maybe i just wasn't paying attention - which could very well be the case. anyhow, upon further investigation it turned out that going to singapore was going to be no problem and that connecting to the maldives could be a problem - most likely not but possible. i was told that i could get as far as singapore and that a message would be left for me there whether or not my passage to the maldives on my passport would be possible. at best, my itinerary would proceed according to plan at worst i'd have to contant the us embassy in singapore to get an extension on my passport and spend the night waiting for the extension to be approved. not really a big deal - i've always wanted to see singapore.
anyhow, i take off at 1:30am pst and 19 hours later (13.5 hrs to taipei, 1 hr layover, 4 hrs to singapore) and i land here in singapore to the news that everything is cool and my travel plans don't have to be altered. a bit of a relief because of the logistical inconvenience that would have occurred if i did have to stay here overnight - rearranging flights, hotels, transfers, etc. everyone here is so goddamn nice and helpful. living in the interpersonal shithole that l.a. can oftentimes be you unfortunately get used to rude and insulting behavior. here it's just not that way. i don't know why this surprises me. it's like this everytime i travel out of the country - well i take that back. it's like this everytime i've been to southeast asia. africa seemed just to disorganized for the people there to really be helpful. here everything is organized to the nth degree. freeing people up to just be kind.
changi airport is incredible. a little mini city within a mini city-state. every possible convenience you could possibly want, a hotel, free internet, showers, a gym, stores as far as the eye can see, beautiful flowers everywhere... very nice to land after all that flight time and be able to chill.
so i've never actually been to singapore - been to this airport once before back in '99 during my honeymoon on the way to bali - but never the city. so i decided to take a free 2 hr bus/riverboat tour of the city. what a beautiful place this is. green, lush, tropical, clean, architecturally stunning, multi-culti like you wouldn't believe... public parks and gardens everywhere, sailboats out in the marina... i found myself comparing this place to chicago only tropical - the vibe feels very similar. and, like chicago, i found myself thinking that i could so easily live here. but with chicago where i don't think i could deal with the extreme weather, here... i can't think of any reason why living here wouldn't be just awesome. tropical weather - just like i like it, close to all of the countries i love to visit, tons to do, culturally vibrant, thriving economy... fuck it. i'm moving here. you all can come visit once i set up shop.
so here i am in the beautiful airport of what apparently will be my new homebase. 2hrs away from departing to the next leg of my life changing vacation and if the past 36 hrs is any indication of how unpredictible and beautiful the rest of my time here is going to be, i'm in for a hell of great vacation.
more later,
m
p.s. making a promise to myself right here and now to try durian when i land here on my way back to l.a.
my adventure began on friday 22apr05 at platinum motorsport. dropped the car off there to get some mods done while i'm traipsing around the world for the next 10 days or so. SO excited to finally be doing this - new exhaust, new brakes, dropping it a bit (nothing ghetto just making it more aggressive), new air intake, performance chip, new grille and new grille shell. that's just the tip of the iceberg too. i have a whole laundry list of things i want to do to the car - 40% of which will be taken care of with the list you just read. again, nothing ghetto. just some things to personalize it. i'll upload before and after shots once i return to l.a. really nice guys at platinum. no runaround, no bullshit, my money is as good as anyone else's, respectful... a lot of these custom shops have gotten so full of themselves ever since the whole pimp my ride aftermarket part boom thing happened... so far, not these guys.
so my trip began with a bit of a hiccup. i checked in at lax and was told that there might be a problem with my passport. apparently "they" like to see at least 6 months left on your passport - mine expires june 14 of this year. now this is complete news to me. as much as i've travelled i've never heard of this. maybe i just wasn't paying attention - which could very well be the case. anyhow, upon further investigation it turned out that going to singapore was going to be no problem and that connecting to the maldives could be a problem - most likely not but possible. i was told that i could get as far as singapore and that a message would be left for me there whether or not my passage to the maldives on my passport would be possible. at best, my itinerary would proceed according to plan at worst i'd have to contant the us embassy in singapore to get an extension on my passport and spend the night waiting for the extension to be approved. not really a big deal - i've always wanted to see singapore.
anyhow, i take off at 1:30am pst and 19 hours later (13.5 hrs to taipei, 1 hr layover, 4 hrs to singapore) and i land here in singapore to the news that everything is cool and my travel plans don't have to be altered. a bit of a relief because of the logistical inconvenience that would have occurred if i did have to stay here overnight - rearranging flights, hotels, transfers, etc. everyone here is so goddamn nice and helpful. living in the interpersonal shithole that l.a. can oftentimes be you unfortunately get used to rude and insulting behavior. here it's just not that way. i don't know why this surprises me. it's like this everytime i travel out of the country - well i take that back. it's like this everytime i've been to southeast asia. africa seemed just to disorganized for the people there to really be helpful. here everything is organized to the nth degree. freeing people up to just be kind.
changi airport is incredible. a little mini city within a mini city-state. every possible convenience you could possibly want, a hotel, free internet, showers, a gym, stores as far as the eye can see, beautiful flowers everywhere... very nice to land after all that flight time and be able to chill.
so i've never actually been to singapore - been to this airport once before back in '99 during my honeymoon on the way to bali - but never the city. so i decided to take a free 2 hr bus/riverboat tour of the city. what a beautiful place this is. green, lush, tropical, clean, architecturally stunning, multi-culti like you wouldn't believe... public parks and gardens everywhere, sailboats out in the marina... i found myself comparing this place to chicago only tropical - the vibe feels very similar. and, like chicago, i found myself thinking that i could so easily live here. but with chicago where i don't think i could deal with the extreme weather, here... i can't think of any reason why living here wouldn't be just awesome. tropical weather - just like i like it, close to all of the countries i love to visit, tons to do, culturally vibrant, thriving economy... fuck it. i'm moving here. you all can come visit once i set up shop.
so here i am in the beautiful airport of what apparently will be my new homebase. 2hrs away from departing to the next leg of my life changing vacation and if the past 36 hrs is any indication of how unpredictible and beautiful the rest of my time here is going to be, i'm in for a hell of great vacation.
more later,
m
p.s. making a promise to myself right here and now to try durian when i land here on my way back to l.a.
posted by michael | 2:20 AM
7 Comments:
learn to surf, young man. it'll change yer life.
Michael,
We love reading what you write.
Cathy & Jon
Have fun and take care.
mom and dad
I am happy you are moving on with your life. See me when I am in the Philippines. We'll have good fun, young man.
I am amazed!...
What a fantastic experience.
This is great to read and see.
Thanks for sharing — I feel like I'm there.
See you upon your return
Jim
jimi: knowledge speaks, wisdom listens.
love love aya
The durian-like structure is actually not the supreme court thing... If you go back to Singapore in Nov05 you'll see some UFO shaped building. That will be the supreme court. The durian? It's just another overprices overhyped shell for the malnourished arts scene.
Hope that helps
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