Digital Lifesavers

I’m in Singapore now for the fabulous wedding of Seiwei and Steph!  This promises to be an action-packed couple of days.  My hosts here just finished giving me the tour of their condo and are going to bed now, so I thought I’d give you a little update.  Sorry, no photos yet!  (Hey, c’mon, I arrived around midnight.)  Here are some of my recollections:

-Stephanie was so sad when she took me to the BART station before work.  =[  This 6-day trip is definitely the longest we’ve been apart since the wedding.  Hang in there, Steph!
-I almost accidentally put $20 on my BART ticket because that’s the default amount for credit card payment.   Wow, I feel pretty clueless about these things.  I double-checked my receipt just to make sure I didn’t accidentally put $120 on the ticket or something dumb.
-Feeling really weak-kneed while standing on the BART.  Maybe it was the extra luggage, etc, but I feel like I almost fell over several times before I could get a hold of one of the bars!
-I was happy to have free Internet at SFO courtesy of Stanford.  Yay!
-There was a huge German Shepherd police dog sniffing everyone’s bags at SFO.  I kinda wondered what kind of sign he gives the officer if he finds something.  I was thinking that the dog is probably trained not to bark, since that would tip off the drug dealer that he’s been discovered.  Andrea thought maybe the dog makes a secret sign to the officer with his paw or something.
-Andrea and I couldn’t get seats together for the first leg of the trip from SFO to Narita.  The people next to me were already a couple, and the guy next to her said he absolutely had no interest in switching seats with us, so oh well, so much for that.  We spent the next 10 hours in separate cabins, which allowed us each plenty of time to be anti-social and watch the onboard movies and read.
-I caught up on 300 (the movie) and The Zodiac.  Movies on the little screen are still automatically less enjoyable, but hey, it passed the time.
-JAL has this “original” drink served onboard called “Sky Time Yuzu”.  I figured this might be my only chance to find out what kind of concoction it was.  It turned out to be a refreshingly light citrus mix.  I ended up ordering it multiple times onboard.
-JAL also offers complementary beer and wines to even its Economy Class passengers.   Didn’t see anyone get drunk off the soju.  =]
-JAL served SUPER cold ice cream sandwiches.  The first bite hurt quite a bit, and Andrea reported that passengers around her had to gnaw persistently at the bar to really bite into it.   I bet Steph would’ve loved these.
-A lot of the stewardesses assumed I spoke Japanese, which was a bit confusing at times, like when one of them was apparently telling me something like, “I apologize profusely for dishonoring your family name due to our extremely inauspicious shortage of the beef entree,” and I said, “Yes, beef, please.”
-We had a fairly long layover in Narita Airport, but once again, I didn’t have time to actually step foot out of the airport to see Japan.  I couldn’t even find the Playstation Gaming Center that was here when I stopped here maybe 8 years ago.
-The strangest item I came across in the Duty-Free shops at Narita were these gel-filled rubber balls that had the consistency of a thick water balloon or like those stress balls.  It took me a moment to realize that it was supposed to resemble a single female breast.  Okay…
-When we arrived in Singapore right before midnight, Brian was already waiting.  He immediately handed me a SIM card and a set of instructions for my time here, in true secret agent style.
-Brian also had a car.  Apparently, you don’t need a special international driver’s license to be able to drive in Singapore short-term, which I find very very scary.
-Brian didn’t actually know how to take me to Waiyan and Larissa’s place, so he kinda just dropped me off on the street somewhere random halfway between the airport and my destination.  I ended up having a good chat in Cantonese with the taxi driver who took me to the other side of Singapore.
-Waiyan and Larissa have a very nice and new condo in what used to be the boonies, at least according to the taxi driver.
-W & L were so kindly waiting for me even though it was already 1:30 AM.  They immediately hooked me up with maps and phone numbers and Internet access.  Thanks!

Well, that’s it for now.  It’s almost 3 AM here and my internal clock is all screwed up and I’m planning to wake up at 7 AM so Larissa can show me how to get to the various places I’ll need to go this week via the subway.  Time to get some sleep!

Does anyone have any travel tips for me?