Every now and then the last vestiges of the skeletal remains of old Singapore are uncovered like a scuffing shoe in a sandpit reveals a coin, teasing with just a fleeting but exotic taste of what the city must have been like in colonial times. A row of terraces, spruced up and restored, just in the view line of Lewy's slick Singaporean apartment block was one, Alison's staff drinks on Friday night at the Polo Club, jodhpurs-wearing and whip-swishing pony riders wandering through the bar after their practice rounds was another. The hawker stalls on the corners of slick urban suburbs still plying their trade with $1 curries twenty four hours a day, plastic chairs and tables left askew at all angles, mocking the glittering malls housing the usual international burger joints and shops just metres away. I'm sure it's still possible to order a Singapore Sling at Raffles as well, but we didn't venture that far into whimsy!
Wal and I were having our fourth annual tour of the island of Singapore this weekend. Our good friend Josh had his buck's weekend there in 2008 which was an instant classic and which set the scene for the trips that followed. The Singapore Open golf tournament is always the highlight and the added unique attractions of Singaporean nightlife, including the amazing Friday night race meeting at Kranji, along with the after-party at Singapore's famous Orchid Towers have to be experienced to be believed. I think Wal and I were still a little sleep deprived at work today after a solid stint of three days catching up, eating, drinking, reminiscing, joking and generally taking the piss out of old mates for three days straight!!
Our flight out was delayed by about two hours which although painful, did give us the opportunity to listen to an amazing test match in South Africa via some web-streaming Grandstand commentary on my phone. I'm not sure what the mix of Taiwanese, Malaysian and Singaporean travellers thought as we huddled around my phone, raucously cheering at regular intervals and giving each wide eyed looks of amazement as wicket after wicket fell seemingly at the bowler's will. Anyway, a flight on Jetstar and all it's lack of luxury (and leg room!) done, taxi from the airport and we didn't get to Lewy's till 3.30 am.
Up at a reasonable hour on Friday and off to the golf where we had the pleasure of following a stellar trio of Padraig Harrington, Y.E. Yang and Phil Mickleson. Top ranked players produce an awesome athletic spectacle no matter what sport they are playing, and this was no exception. The crack of their shots and the endless rise, rise of the ball as it sailed off down the middle of the fairway was a special experience. Their touch around the greens was freakish: caressing balls up almost hidden slopes, weighting their approaches to take into account all the undulations and height differences in their path. Unfortunately, we were all called in to the clubhouse for a thunderstorm/lightning warning about half way through the round. This gave us an extra experience of rubbing shoulders (quite literally) with a whole quiver of professional golfers and all the other spectators who had been out on the course. Two and a half hours sounds painful, but Sentosa Golf Club has modeled both it's building and services on the aforementioned colonial style, so we had a pleasant (if rather expensive) lunch and a few steins of beer while we waited.
Bus/taxi/subway/walk back to Lewy's gave us a mild experience of his work commute (albeit in reverse) and it was a slick process, not dissimilar to Taipei's urban train wonderland. A quick shower then off we taxied to the other end of the country, closer to the Malaysia border and the Kranji Turf Club. We met up with Jay and Jimmy, Clarky and Chrissy R. along with the new dad, Josh. The next hours were an intoxicating mix of beer, punting, Chinese food and endless talk. It was a fantastic night and we didn't drag ourselves out of there with our pockets hanging forlornly light, until after 11.30pm.
Clarky had the inspired idea (or so it all seemed to us at the time) of going to the super-exclusive bar under the Hyatt, known as "Brix". Wal put it nicely when he referred to the "angels" who greeted us when we first walked in. After our mega cover charge we were presented with a shot of vodka by stunning models serving trays of drinks in dazzling white skintight mini dresses, all the while drifting in a back-lit sea of wafting dry ice mist. It was so surreal that when you were (quickly!!) ushered into the bar proper, which was in turn very slick, it was a terrible disappointment! We stayed here for what seemed an eternity(you know, angels etc....boom boom tish!) it was onward and upward to the home of half the bars in Singapore housed under one roof, the infamous "Four Floors". Everything very quickly descended into shouted conversations and splintering of groups as the bars were entered and left in quick succession, a hypnotic jungle beat was endured by eardrums and a lightshow , occasionally highlighting groups of writhing creatures on tiny bandstands with or without a pole, attempted to burn out our retinas! As we progressed up through the floors, the damage to the contents of our wallets increased and we broke new records for a "shout", (which had been set last year at the same venue!) until it all got too ridiculous. In the ladyboy bar on the top floor we celebrity spotted all the ladyboys who were trying to imitate the look of their favourite Hollywood star. I have to admit though, that I was most impressed with J. Lo...she was the dead spit!!
Rolling in and out of taxis back to Lewy's, the Saturday was spent very quietly indeed, until we again met up with Jay and Jimmy for some afternoon drinks up on the 14th floor of Lewy's building. Lewy proceeded to have a sickening fall where Wal and I were convinced he'd broken his leg as he fell between a deck and a small pool after slipping. We were mortified till he seemed to recover fairly quickly, but Alison's reaction was priceless: as we related the story, she burst into uncontrollable laughter! After a few "war stories" from Lewy, we once again piled into taxis to make another trip cross-island to Josh and Kristin's place for a BBQ tea.
Tiny, six week old Lucy was the main attraction, and she certainly was very cute. She was a voracious feeder on the night though, which kept Kristin very busy and she wasn't able to spend as much time socialising with us as she might have liked. Josh cooked up a delectable feast of marinated chicken wings, pork rolls wrapped in bacon, sausages and a whole lot of cold stuff(!!). Seroiously though, there were Vietnamese cold spring rolls (delicious!) and all sorts of salads and sides...what a feast!
Josh and Kristin have had some big changes lately, most revolving around the birth of little Lucy. They have moved yet again (this is the third house I have seen them in Singapore), with more room, and also employed a live-in maid to help with all sorts of things. Kristin has decided to take a year off work to care for the baby as the school is very generous in an offer to take leave for a year with a right of return to the job. I got the impression that Josh was dealing with a few less-than-impressive individuals, which makes his professional life difficult at times. Knowing him however, his ebullient spirit and great outlook on life should be able to bulldoze its way through these little roadblocks.
See what happens when something happens on the weekend? I just can't shut up! Sorry for dominating the story here, but Cass reported she had the lowest key weekend ever, but I did hear that slatherings of French blue cheese, a small bottle of bubbly and lots of snuggling with hot, fat, furry ink spots were involved at various stages! Right, this is ridiculous......Braggy, out!