It’s been a rough couple of days. Yesterday I cancelled my Cathay All-Asia Pass tickets, and today nixed my hotel reservations. Buh-bye KL Corus, sayonara Siam Square…
I can’t bitch and moan too much, of course. En route to Singapore and back, the Second City crew has a ten-hour stopover in Hong Kong… Anybody need a cell phone?
Had an interesting bit of cultural shock the other night. I did a phone interview with a reporter in Singapore — this might be a link to the publication she writes for, but I’m only guessing. Anyway, the young lady’s first question was “what’s your age?”, to which I gave the standard actor’s trite reply:
“Well, in a Second City show I can play anywhere from 18 to 75…”
“Okay, but what’s your age?”
“You know, that’s kind of an odd question to put to an actor…”
“It’s the policy of our magazine.”
“Oh, so you won’t print it…”
“Yes, we’ll print it. What’s your age?”
After playing the “warmer/colder” game for a couple minutes, we finally moved on. But today I’m wondering, would Cher get this kind of treatment?
Each of the Second City actors going to Singapore this month has been charged with submitting something for a piece in a local magazine, specifically “to write a cheeky, witty joke, skit, song lyrics, slapstick sketch, etc. of 100 words or less that must include these words:
Here’s what I came up:
MAN: Honey, have you seen my Singapore Sling?
WOMAN: It’s in the rubber hose, next to the gingivitis, thong and dictionary…
MAN: So why do you think they cancelled our show in Bangkok?
If you’re a fan of this site (hopefully there’s a few of you out there), you’ve no doubt been wondering why the Asian updates suddenly stopped, and why there’s now suddenly seven days worth appearing all at once. Here’s the deal…
As you read further you’ll get the details on why the Internet thing only worked out for me in Hong Kong. I did visit a cyber-café here and there, but never with enough time for a proper proofread and hyper-linked site update.
But now it’s 9:46AM Singapore time, and I’m passing over the southern tip of Alaska en route to Chicago. I have all the time in the world; I’ve just crossed the international date line for chrissakes! I’ve been travelling for more than twelve hours; six and a half of that from Singapore to Tokyo. One of my colleagues, who shall remain nameless (at least until my photos are posted), had a bit of an incident on that flight. Last night she decided to forego the few available hours of sleep, and this morning collapsed on her way to the washrooms at the rear of the plane. I think it was a ploy to get four seats to herself to lie down, but I’m cynical that way.
Once at Narita Airport, my business-class ticket gave me access to the United Airlines Members’ Lounge, where I could recharge my batteries, literally. Whilst doing so, I chose wandering the halls of the departure level over hangin’ with the biz-knobs and their free liquor; that way I could look wistfully at Japanese folks mashing the keys of their i-Mode phones, with fond memories of my vacation here last month.
I’m not the religious type, but I do believe that things happen for a reason. And I found it most interesting to be back in Asia just over a month after going there on my own dime. Why this happened I cannot say. China has some interesting opportunities; there’s already a Canadian comedian, Dashan, who’s a household name there. Unfortunately, this laowai’s Mandarin is not so good. Being on the other side of the world also gave me some distance from America’s mobilization against terrorism; I have to admit that I’m not looking too forward to our stopover in Chicago.
If nothing else, my trips to Asia have taught me that our global village ain’t as small as one would think, and without dismissing any of this past month’s tragic events, I have been reminded with my travels that there’s more going on in this world of ours than what you see on CNN. But then, I already knew that; I’m Canadian..
Today I shopped ’til my shoe flopped…
Orchard Road is where Singapore spends a good deal of it’s money, and while on that street my $40 show shoes finally kacked on me. My left sole all but jettisoned itself from the rest of the shoe, dangling from the toe,succumbing finally to two weeks of double duty — tourist transport by day, and steppin’ out on stage at night. My accident happened at the worst possible time, as I was rushing to meet the rest of the gang for high tea at the Hilton. I walked the last three blocks in a manner that would make John Cleese proud. Fortunately I happened upon a shoe repair place, and the helpful shopkeep gave me a pair of loaners, cheap rubber sandals that were way more comfortable than the shoes being fixed. Half an hour and one crappy high tea later, I was back in business and ready to shop some more.
You’ll read about how unimpressed I was at the Funan Centre in Thursday’s entry, below. Today, I paid a return visit and dropped about three hundred bucks, on last year’s Samsonite luggage and a laptop power adapter for the plane ride back. I got good deals on both, but didn’t realize that the Apple connector included with the adapter didn’t fit my iceBook. It fits the G3 PowerBook and the old iBook, but not the new iceBook. Thanks, Apple… Maybe I’ll send you the bill for the cabs I took in a last minute third trip to the mall, one that almost made me miss the last show of our tour. Taking a cab in Singapore involves waiting in queue at a taxi stand. Considering how expensive cars are here — a new Honda Civic will set you back ninety thousand dollars – the stands are always crowded. I made it to the theatre with minutes to spare (okay, twenty of them) and the swan song of our tour not only went up on time, it even got us an encore!