The Terminal

Hi again everyone. I have been so busy at work that I realized that I have neglected to tell you all about our trip to Singapore (except to complain about India, like I said, it was hard to leave). The trip to Singapore was uneventful, which was great since that was the one thing that worried me, travel on unknown airlines into unfamiliar airports. However, I found that we Americans have really been missing out on some great air travel, Sri Lankan Airlines was awesome! We were given warm towels to refresh ourselves upon being seated, the airplane food was, well, it was actually good, and we drank from proper glasses and used real silverware! It was much better than any other flight that I have taken. So we made it into Singapore at around 7 AM on Friday, and it was HOT! I was dressed Indian style (jeans and a kurta, this is a long, loose cotton blouse) and I thought that I was going to DIE. It is hot in India (around 95 right now), but the humidity in Singapore was absolutely killer. Anyway, since we couldn't yet check into our hotel, we decided to walk around a bit. So we walked straight to the mall, and I don't think that we really left the mall the entire trip. The main (and as far as I can tell, only) attraction in Singapore is the shopping. There are so many different malls, and you can get just about any designer or brand that you can imagine, it was wild. We spent nearly all of our time in an electronics and computer mall so that Eric could find the parts for his computer. Though this might sound boring to some, it has been some time since we have just walked around a mall (at least one that isn't jam packed), and we had a really nice time just being together and shopping. We also went to China Town (Singapore is mainly populated by Chinese immigrants, and also by Indians and Arabs) and got some really cool jade jewelry and silks. We had also pledged to not eat any Indian food the whole trip, and had some nice Greek food, dim sum, and good old American food (we found a rib joint).



Being in Singapore was wonderful, it was so much like home because it is so Westernized. I was able to wears shorts and tank tops without feeling like everyone was staring, in fact, compared to the young women of Singapore, I was much more covered. Probably the strangest thing about that place is that it seems that everyone who lives there is very concerned about how they look and what they wear. Everyone on the streets was dressed to kill (bear in mind that it was probably around 95 degrees and at least 85% humidity). The women especially were almost all in designer labels, with heels and the whole nine yards, it was like nothing that I had ever seen. Maybe living in India has made me more aware of women's clothing coverage, but I couldn't help but feel sometimes that the young girls were dressing like prostitutes with REALLY short skirts and tight everything! If I get looks for my gym shorts here in India, I couldn't imagine what sort of reaction these girls would elicit, probably several traffic accidents! I suppose this focus on appearance makes sense based on the number of malls and the adoption of shopping as the national pastime of Singapore, but it was still shocking so see so many people looking so good.



But, alas, we did have to leave, and so we made our way to the airport early Sunday afternoon. Singapore has this deal that you can get back the tax that you pay any purchase that you make over 100 Singapore Dollars (about $66 USD). Since Eric bought loads of computer equipment (we had to buy another suitcase in which to bring it back) we got back some money just before we left so we bought some treats in the airport for my lab. The airport was really nice so we walked around a bit and during this little constitutional I told Eric that this trip had been really nice and uneventful...famous last words. It began when our flight from Singapore to Sri Lanka was delayed by about an hour, as our layover was only about an hour and a half I felt that this was cutting it pretty close, but really no big deal. We arrived to Sri Lanka and when we checked the departure board found that our 6:50 PM flight has been postponed to 11 PM! The airline offered to send us to a hotel to relax for a few hours before the postponed flight but we decided that it wasn't worth leaving the airport for a four hour delay. They said that they would bring the people from the hotel to the airport 2 hours before the departure time, and with getting through immigration and actually getting to the hotel we figured that if we went, we would get to the hotel and sit for an hour at the most, and then turn around and come back. So we decided to get something to eat at the airport and sit down and watch a movie on Eric's lap top. We went to a coffee shop to get some tea and asked what currency accepted. They said that they take only Sri Lankan rupees or US dollars, not Indian rupees! We found this to be really funny, that a country so close to India (see picture, maybe 20 miles between the 2 at the closest point) would not accept Indian rupees, but would accept USD. Anyway, we said no problem, we will go to the currency exchange in the airport and change in some Indian rupees for Sri Lankan rupees. Uhhhhh, nope. The money changer also wouldn't accept Indian rupees. At this point we were rolling, this was hilarious and oh so typical. Again we thought, no problem, we will go to an ATM and withdraw Sri Lankan rupees. So we make our way to the one and only ATM within the departures terminal, and naturally, it is out of order! Again, we find this to be so funny. So we head to the information desk and ask how in the world are we supposed to get any money. They tell us that the only solution that they can think of is for us to go through immigration, go to the front of the airport where there are supposedly 4 or 5 ATMs that we should be able to use. We decide that this sounds good to us, we get to have our passports stamped in Sri Lanka, we get to say that we have actually been in Sri Lanka (other than the airport) and we get some Sri Lankan rupees (both Eric and my dad like to collect foreign currencies). So we fill out all of the immigration forms, we walk out of the airport, and we walk right back to the airport and find the ATMs. Luckily they were there, and they were working. Unfortunately, neither Eric nor I had the foresight to find out the worth of a Sri Lankan rupee, was one worth $500 or was 500 worth $1. We had no idea. So we ventured a guess that maybe it was valued similarly to the Indian rupee, which is
about 45 equal to $1, and took out 500 Sri Lankan rupees. We then proceeded to re-enter the airport and go through immigration and security, which was really interesting as there is a civil war going on in Sri Lanka, so security was TIGHT (for good reason, as Tamil Tiger rebels actually attacked the airport yesterday, exactly one week after we left it, bombing a military base just next to the airport, freaky). So we go back to the coffee shop armed with our 500 rupees and try to order something, it was then that we discovered that 115 Sri Lankan rupees is equal to $1, so we had in our hands just over $4 which meant that we could maybe get a cup of plain tea. Bummer, but still, pretty funny. So we settled down to watch some Casino Royale (which isn't a bad movie by the way, I'm not typically a Bond fan). After the movie Eric got up and checked the departure board to see if they had posted which gate we would be leaving from, and he found that the flight had again been postponed, this time to 2 AM!!!!! We decided that the offer of the hotel was looking much better by this point so we asked someone from the airline if we could still go to the hotel. They said no problem, and filled out a voucher for us. So we again filled out our immigration forms, and went to immigration, looking forward to relaxing in a hotel for a few hours before leaving. Except that the guys at immigration wouldn't let us out, they said that since we had left already (to get our $4) we couldn't go again, and we had to stay at the airport! This sucked pretty bad, and it made me think of Tom Hanks in The Terminal (speaking of sucking pretty bad). So we were stranded at the airport until our flight finally left at 2:30 AM. We arrived in Bangalore at around 4 AM, and as chance would have it, ran into a friend of Eric's who he worked with at Motorola in Arlington Heights who was visiting his folks in Bangalore and happened to arrive at the airport the same time (small world). We then proceeded to sneak through customs (shhhhhhh) and catch an auto home (Eric ended up tearing the driver a new one for wanting more money once we reached home). Finally, we went to bed at 5 AM, ending our Singapore adventure!





I just wanted to add a couple of concluding remarks about our trip, specifically concerning how lucky we are to be American citizens. Holding an American passport is so valuable, and I think that we all take it for granted; I know that I did. First, the money thing. I now believe that you can go anywhere and use USD, unlike any other currency. The fact that a coffee shop in Sri Lanka would accept only USD as a foreign currency speaks volumes when you consider the distance between the two countries, both the UK and the European Union are closer yet the shop didn't accept either of these currencies. Finally, travel to foreign countries is so easy with an American passport. We have never had to get a tourist visa to visit another country (except India) while Indians have to get a visa to go just about anywhere, even Singapore. Imagine having to go to the consulate and get visas for every member of your family if you want to go on vacation, what a pain, and one that we, as Americans, usually don't have to deal with. The concept of getting a visa to travel to a foreign country is so, well, foreign, to many US citizens that I have heard a number of stories about well-traveled and intelligent Americans just showing up in India without a visa, and of course being turned away. So even though throughout the past seven years I have sometimes been embarrassed to be a citizen of the USA, I still recognize how lucky I am to be one. I guess, like with American Express, membership has its privileges.