Reflections on Singapore Part I

Or. more accurately, reflections on Monkey. Reading my last post, the sleep deprivation shows. To be clear: Monkey actually took home the Thai girl who sat on my lap Friday night, and for whom we bought pad thai. So with the omelette, I guess she got two meals out of the deal. And, yes, cab fare.

She was here until 4 pm Sunday. I had to hear things that no human being should have. I, of course, was up at 9, despite having gone to bed at 6:30 or so. Took a walk to the grocery store, read my book outside for a while, but couldn't go anywhere for real without Monkey. And couldn't shower, as the bathroom is off the bedroom. Disturbing.

There's a whole post lurking in my head about the psychology (and, in my opinion, required psychiatry) of Monkey's meeting women here. And, he says (totally unprompted) that he would like to write a book about all the women he's been with ("but they couldn't ALL get a chapter, just the ones I remember something good about at the time I'm writing the book"). For one thing, he has this pathological need to be in all the places where he's the only white guy. Sunday, we went to the known hotspots for both Thais and Filipinos. And he's famous there. "Oh, Monkey, hello." I know he likes the attention, but I was not so into it. Don't get me wrong - everyone is, for the most part, friendly; I didn't feel threatened, or unsafe. But I wonder if he really is oblivious to the fact that some significant portion of the attention he gets, from women and men, is derisive in nature. It's impossible not to see that. Of course, when you're wandering around a mall with women yelling your name and saying "How does she know my name? I don't think I banged her," I guess you have a different perspective.

We ended Sunday night at the Thai disco, where we were, again, the only 2 white people there. Except for the performers on stage, who were both whiter than me, but sang fluently in Thai. Oh, and the female one looked remarkably like a woman I used to work with.

Monday I slept relatively late, met Monkey for lunch and then decided to embark on a couple of "walking tours" as recommended by my Singapore book. It was marginally interesting, but the truth hits me constantly: I'm not a good alone traveler. I'm trying. But it isn't me. I better tune it up for Shanghai. I think it'll be somewhat easier there, as I should have better planned out the things I want to see.

Another thing I'm not good at: haggling. I decided to have some suits custom made for me. Long story short: I've paid in advance, and think I'm probably overpaying by about $500 US. The story would be funnier, but I'm too pissed at myself to tell it well. What I should have done, of course, is waited until I got here to Koh Samui. Signs advertise 2 Suits, 2 extra pairs of pants, 2 shirts and 2 ties for $199. I sincerely hope I'm getting better quality from Master Dino in Singapore, but still. I comfort myself by remembering that, in haggling with me over the price, Master Dino invoked the phrase "Inshallah," as in "Why would I lie to you, inshallah?" So, if he screwed me really bad, no 72 virgins for that guy.

Samui, so far, is uneventful. The hotel didn't send someone to pick me up at the airport, as promised (though they insisted they did and he couldn't find me; the airport terminal is a Gilligan's Island-style hut - if he were there, he couldn't have missed me). My room is OK - not fancy, but relatively clean. The mattress is hard as a rock. Which is exactly how I like it. Seriously, I'm thinking of peeling back the sheets to see what kind it is and where I can get one. But, of course, that would involve peeling back the sheets and possibly discovering other things. We'll see. Had a solo dinner that was good and pretty cheap, though not nearly as cheap as some food is here. It's unbelievable. Then went back to hotel and passed out. I was in bed by 9:30. And actually slept decently despite the fact that my room is close enough to the clubs/bars that I might as well be trying to sleep onstage at a Slayer concert.

So far today - breakfast, a long walk down the beach [there's a personal ad for you], and some sitting and reading on the beach. It's very overcast, but relaxing. Did go for a little dip in the water. Now gonna go seek out some pad thai for lunch. And if that doesn't keep me on the toilet all night, will likely check out some of the "nightlife" such as it is. So I'll be in bed by 10.