November 13 - Singapore

Football Again!

Jon set the alarm for 7:00AM so he could watch Sports Center on ESPN.  Yes, I said 7:00AM.  He gleefully tuned into his favorite sports announcers and caught all the dirt on the latest sporting events.  I haven't seen him so happy in a long time.  It's the little things.

Then he went out for a run near Allen's place.  As we were walking to the MRT last night, we walked along a nice running/walking path that led to the beach.  So this is where he ran today.  Unfortunately, the heat and sun were stronger than he anticipated.  So, while he had an OK run, he felt like crap for the rest of the day.  We spent the rest of the day in bed, reading and watching television. 

This was fine with Jon, because the Baltimore/Tennessee Game was on - Monday night football on a Tuesday morning. 

So there's really nothing more exciting to mention for the day.  We were going to go on a night safari with Alan and Michelle, but Jon felt very poorly so we called and cancelled.  We decided to meet up sometime tomorrow to meet his friend Tim.

Fragrance Hotel

Since we didn't do much of anything today, I thought I'd mention something about our hotel.  The Fragrance Hotel is most definitely in the Red Light District.  Yet because prostitution in Singapore is legal, this means that the Red Light District is actually safe and clean.  The hotel is clean and relatively new.  And despite the fact that there are a large population of men hanging out on street corners at odd hours of the day, the hotel didn't ask us if we were interested in the hourly rate.  Must have been the backpacks that gave us away.

When we checked in the other day, the first room on the 5th floor that they led us to wasn't made up.  So the nice man went back downstairs and got us another room on the 5th floor.  When this second one reeked of cigarette smoke, we asked if there were any other rooms.  He told us 'not on the 5th floor'.  We've decided that the 5th floor is probably for the 'travelers' and not the 'hourly' clients.  Although we actually haven't SEEN anything to support the latter assumption.  Everyone looks quite normal.  But it makes for a good story, doesn't it?

Anyway, we're happy with the hotel.  We're just a few short stops from the city center, and the bed is comfortable and and the air conditioning works.  And it's cheap by Singapore standards.  HBO flickers out on occasion and the cleaning lady makes a bit of noise in the morning, but that's all there is to complain about.  At least the shower is hot!  After 3 weeks of cold showers in Koh Tao, we're quite happy with it.