mix up

Singapore is, apparently, the intro to Asia country. Everyone here is either on their way into or out of Asia for some travel, so it's a really interesting mix. But the country itself is this mish mash of Asia and its British colonial roots.

Everything here is in English. Often, things are in several languages - depending on what it is, it can be in a couple of Chinese dialects, Malay, Hindi, Indonesian, or something else I don't recognize. But everything is at least in English, from advertisements to signage. I imagine this makes it appealing for people who want to do Asia, but don't want it to be impossibly difficult. But what's fascinating is that, even though it's all in English, it doesn't mean that the people who live here and who are from here actually speak English. English is just the common language between all of the people who have come here that it's the default, but many of the people who have grown up with the English ads, signs, television, music, etc, still only have a basic, minor grasp of conversing in it. Still, it's better than it will be in the rest of Asia, I know.

It's still preposterously hot, and I know I will never be able to drink enough water, but I also still love the way the mashup of cultures shows up everywhere. Today for lunch, I ate a samosa, some banana naan (which, why don't I eat this every day? It's banana and cheese baked in NAAN. Wonderful!), and gyoza on a stick. All of it bought on the street, all of it divine, and all of it combined costing about $4.50 Sing (so, figure $3 US). I went to Little India again, I went to the river, and I also nearly suffocated in the heat.

So far, so good, though. I feel better about Thailand, I feel great about my three weeks here, I have officially been to a whole new continent.