Dude... where's my country?

I was initially going to write about the hardships of getting to Singapore (e.g. the "sleeper" car, the airport that opened yesterday, complications with left baggage, etc.) but who cares about all of that... I am in Singapore. Our Singapore, sadly to say, is gone. Last night, I ate at Newton Circus and everything looks modernized (laminated menus, tables with umbrellas, etc.). Even the squat toilets which use to arouse so much interest, have been replaced by something that would be acceptable in South Charlotte. I was sad to find out that you can no longer order stingray, so I ate murtabak for Cameron and drank a tiger beer for Dad. (Sorry Andrew, I gave up pork after living with a Muslim family for three months.) I knew that Orchard Scotts had been torn down but apparently it was rebuilt as luxury condominiums. One of the buildings is built in the shape of a hollow square with an arboretum in the middle! The Malay man that was working there (and who probably worked there when we lived there) said that if I came by today he could give me a tour. It was eerie to walk the loop, passing by the school and the recreation center along the way but I was able to cover about three times the distance and I found that the walk was much simpler than it used to be.
In Thailand, there are at least two guesthouses and three internet cafes on every block. I would be surprised if there were that many in all of Singapore combined. Every accomodation was full, options A through Z fell through, so I had to stay in a "budget hotel" that was exponentially more expensive than the French riverside villa I stayed in in Laos. Tonight I am going to stay at the YMCA on a cot with 8 other travelers. I must have left some of my vital organs in Thailand because I am feeling terrible but I know that I must endure; this opportunity comes but once in a lifetime. My sandal broke and not even the Chinese merchants who sell everything under the sun can find a replacement big enough. For being "communist", Chinese people try to sell more stuff than Wal-Mart. The next time I hear "You want to looking!!!", I am going tell the merchants how truly disinterested I am in their singing plastic frog key chains. Now it's off to drop my bags at the Y-M-C-A and walk down Orchard Road to looking for either a crutch or a new pair of flip flops. Hopefully the next post will include a more comprehensive description of Little India and Delifrance.