Tawn and I just returned home from a weekend in Singapore, visiting our friends Otto Fong and Han Lai.  They have been together for 8 years and I met Otto originally through another Singaporean friend, Yuen Ping Low, back in SF ten years ago.

I’ll provide more details in the next few days, but here are some pictures.  The first is of the Thai Air Asia plane we took down to Singapore. TAA is a low-cost carrier much in the style of Southwest.  No assigned seats, no inflight entertainment.  You even pay for the drinks and snacks.  But they are friendly and the prices are low.  We paid $80 each for a round trip ticket for a 850-mile flight.

The next picture is of the four of us (from left to right: Han, Otto, Tawn and myself) in front of the central business district of Singapore.  We’re standing outside the Esplanade, a new arts center that was recently built. 

The roof of the Esplanade looks like two giant durian fruit, with spikey shades that are angeled to allow in only indirect light and keep the equatorial heat to a minimum.

The third picture is at the same spot but taken at dusk.  There was an outdoor free concert happening, some rock band.  We ate dinner with another four people at the “No Signboard Restaurant”, eating the White Pepper Crab and the Chili Crab for which Singapore is famous.  Very very tasty.  Also had some Oatmeal Friend Prawns, scallops, and clams.  Yummy.

More later.