this leg I'm flying business class, which is nice, though with Air Astana (as admittedly with most carriers) this does not equate to a good night's sleep. And while they are able to check my baggage through to Singapore, I am only issued a boarding pass for the first leg. As I stand in line at the transfer desk in KL (and a long line it is), I notice my vision becoming somewhat blurry. This is the telltale sign of an oncoming migraine, which begins to get a grip on me as I slowly make my way to the transfer desk where a very small crew of very unhurried people politely assist a queue of people about 50 yards long, releasing people at the front of the queue at precisely the rate the queue is growing. Which tells me that with even one more person there (or just a tiny bit speedier work), there would be no line at all...
But this way it takes 45 minutes until I'm being told that Silk Air is not represented at this transfer desk (which has a long list of airlines it handles, which I'm not currently in a position to read), and that I should go to the 'other' transfer desk (which clearly advertises serving only two airlines, neither of which I'm with). But at least there is no line there, and I am told (after a brief huddle and a phone call) that Silk Air will issue my boarding pass at the gate...
This might have been funny on another day, but I'm not in a funny mood. KL to Singapore takes no time at all, and I'm being picked up from the airport again. Changi airport in S'pore is probably the easiest airport to get around and away from that I know of, but in my current state I am immensely grateful for this bit of overblown luxury.
Officially, Check-In time at the hotel isn't until 2 pm (it is now 10 in the morning). I mention my migraine at the reception, ease into an easy-chair and let time do its passing thing while they 'see what we can do'. And I'm in bed by 11 local time. Phew.
I sleep until 4 pm, and feel considerably better (if not quite well). So I go out to get dinner, and my bearings. Singapore evidences Singaporean weather – hot and humid, as usual. I find the tailor again where I had shirts made the last time I was here (and a colleague of mine had a suit made, which has had me thinking about that same project ever since), though the whole building is closed on Sundays. I also find the 'Evolve' Mixed Martial Arts gym again, in which I've trained the previous times I've been in Singapore (also closed on Sunday afternoons, not that I'd be in a condition to take advantage of any of its offers). I have dinner at Lau Pak Sat, which is the Singaporean take on a food court. A large corrugated iron hall, inside of wh
ich there are over a hundred little food hawker stalls with a bunch of tables. It's not closed off and therefore not air-conditioned, with a bunch of fans doing little more than comp
ensate for the additional heat produced by the food production. The food on offer is 'regional' in the larger sense – Indian, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, Chinese – you name it. If you want 'Pig Organ Soup', there's a stand here selling it. I go with considerably more conventional (from a Western point of view) fried noodles-with-something-or-other, and even find a funky local desert for afterwards. A lot of it is shaved water ice, but the mango juice poured over it (and seeping into it) makes it nice – the corn at the bottom I'm ambivalent about, the kidney beans I could have done without.
I meet the Canadian delegation here, but decline the offer of beer. No, really, thanks but no, thanks.
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