The Game of Desserts Part II

    Berries, they look good, don't they?

I thought the game ended. I had admitted defeat, waved my white dinner napkin in the air, stopped protesting dessert delivery. Game over, naïvely, that's what I thought.
But I was wrong.

We are on what is called a back-to-back cruise or consecutive cruises, so we stay on the ship for 30 days. But that means when guests from the first leg disembarked, new guests arrived. For the crew, the first couple of days of a new cruise are busy. This is good news for me.

On the busy embarkation day, only berries arrive for dessert. 
Me: May be he gave up or ran out of recipes.
R: May be he doesn't know you are on this leg.
Whatever the reason, the next night again only berries arrive for dessert.
Me: (Slightly giddy) It's over. He knows he won. (I relax. No more food fights).

Not so fast little white haired celiac lady, you don't know the rules of this game.

Two nights in a row, the chef slightly goofs up on my order, one night forgetting to add rice noodles to a stir fry and the next serving my pasta dry. I pay a price for his goofs.

SERVER: Let's see what the chef has made for you.
ME: (Meekly) Ok.
I'm presented with a little chocolate cake and a big bowl of berries, "I'm sorry for the
goofs" gifts.
The next night, a little vanilla cake arrives and two bowls of berries. I take one bite of the cake and eat as many berries as I can hold. I remind R that the next day I'm heading to the gym.

    Vanilla cake and double berries. Game back on.

SERVER: You don't like the cake?
ME: Not really.
SERVER: Some times they are good and sometimes not.
These guys are always optimistic.
Unable to simply watch this drama without joining in, the head server and the maitre de 
assume roles.
The head waiter starts monitoring my food consumption. That evening, I eat half my 
enormous salad.

WAITER: You don't like the salad?
ME: It's too big. Too much food. (Immediately, I know I've uttered the wrong words. He'll take what I've said as a challenge).
WAITER: Maybe tomorrow I make it smaller.
ME: Ok.
By now, I know that will not happen because I live in the world of opposites. The next night, my salad is larger than R's. My words are meaningless.
We are now three days at sea and apparently the maitre de, growing restless, needs a 
project.
That evening, bread arrives.

HIM: Try this. You haven't had any bread. I had the chef make this for you.

He presents me with four pieces of gluten free focaccia.
ME: Ok.
I force R to eat a piece and I eat part of another.
HIM: We'll have this for you every night. We'll just keep it in the back.
ME: (Forcefully) No. I don't want it.
HIM: Ok, just tell me the night before when you want it.

No one listens to me.
Dessert arrives. Something new with chocolate. I'm thinking when will this guy run out of 
recipes?

The head waiter takes my order for the next night, a salad and salmon.
WAITER: That's all.
ME: That's all.
WAITER: I saw yesterday at lunch what you ate, you don't eat enough.
ME: I eat plenty.
WAITER: No, not that much.
He tells R that tomorrow at lunch he wants to see us in his station. My thoughts turn paranoid. I wonder if the kitchen has a watch list, a kind of "America's Most Wanted" for
 those accused of under-eating on the cruise ship. My thoughts worsen, perhaps there is a surveillance camera? I'm being watched?
Honestly, even my parents never monitored my food intake this closely.
I rouse myself from my paranoid thoughts and on my way out of the dining room I chide the maitre de that they are trying to fatten me up. He laughs. Regrettably, I think they've 
succeeded.

Modern, Shiny Humid Singapore

    Singapore is a construction zone!

Just want to say, boy is Singapore in mid-March really hot. Like sticky-jungle-humid hot.

With that said --

It is not just the sounds, the whirl of bike motors, the incessant blare of bus and truck horns bellowing their warnings or the vibrant colors, swirls of magentas, gold, teal,
jades, or the pungent smells of foods sizzling in oil, exotic fruits warming in the sun or the constant motion, of people, of vehicles, frenetic, blurry, dusty.  It is all that and more that make Southeast Asia compelling. Old, traditional, slow moving bumping up against and mixing with modern and new. Water buffaloes and rice fields, rickshaws, zippy motor bikes and pedestrians dashing dangerously through oncoming traffic, golden Buddhas and burning incense, open markets bursting with cheap plastic goods, fragrant fruits, faces wrapped against a burning sun. Those are my observations about Bangkok, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.

    View of Garden by the Bay from Marine Bay Sands. These are solar panels and collect rain water.

    Singapore is Eco-green.

How do they contrast to Singapore?

Singapore is the shinier, more cosmopolitan, less gritty, better dressed Westernized Asian sibling to Vietnam and Bangkok. Densely populated, with every inch of real estate wisely (mostly) used, 
Singapore is a well planned, organized, safe, clean city with minimal crime and a government that enforces strict standards for behavior. It is also a religiously tolerant city/state. Children are taught tolerance for others from a young age. Hindu and Buddhist temples, Christian churches, and an Arab Mosque co-exist in this tiny country. 

    Inside the Chinese Buddhist Temple, Chinatown

The idea is that religious diversity is welcomed but pushy attempts at conversion are not. All this takes place in a city where modern architecture, like the Marina Bay Sands and the ArtScience building stand in contrast to older sections like Arab Town, Little India, and the hectic, colorful Chinatown.

    Outside the Hindu Temple, Little India

Some Singapore facts -- the city/state is about 275 square miles with a population of 5.5 million. As one lecturer explained, Singapore doesn't produce anything, other than people. Rather it imports goods from everywhere, improves the product and then exports it. The hard working harbor is teeming with cargo ships of all sizes, fully stacked with brightly colored containers traveling in and out of the port. Singapore also imports workers -- from India, the U.K., and other places near and far to fill specific jobs.

    The ArtScience Museum. Looks like something from a Bond movie.

One other noticeable difference, it is safe to cross the streets here. In Vietnam and Thailand we were told to walk slowly across the street in oncoming traffic so that the motor bikes and cars will slow down (we hoped they would slow down); in Singapore, a transit bus stopped for us when we entered the cross walk! Such politeness was unseen in Bangkok where the guide said cross walk markings are considered meaningless zebra stripes.

   The famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Shopping complex.

    This amazing structure houses Singapore's incredible botanic garden with its rain and cloud       forests.


Our original itinerary contained an overnight stop in Benoa, Bali. When both the Australian and UK governments issued credible travel warnings regarding potential terrorist threats in Bali, the cruise ship company cancelled the stop. So from Singapore, on to Darwin, Australia we go.

Travel can be wonderful. Travel can be risky. Plans change. Best to stay calm and carry on.

   Thousands of ships fill the harbor.