It took me five days, but finally this afternoon I came off my Singapore high.  I no longer pine for the smooth pavement and large, shady trees of the Singaporean parkways.  I’ve made my peace with motorcycle taxis and the Thai post office.

It was while I was walking home from lunch with Stuart at J Avenue that I had this epiphany.  Full from my lunch at a favorite Japanese restaurant, carrying my groceries from Villa market in one hand and eating a single scoop of rich chocolate ice cream from Ummm… Milk (a local dairy products company) from a cone in my other hand, I stumbled along the side of the road, looking over my shoulder to avoid oncoming cars and motorcycles, and wondering whether I would make it home before the rain started to fall.

And it was at that moment that I realized: Krungthep is fine.  I don’t need any fancy city-state central planning.  I’m perfectly happy with my red shirt – yellow shirt political merry-go-round.

But before I let it all go, here’s one final picture from Singapore, snapped while we were driving to the IT mall.

Above: A Chinese immigrant to Singapore pauses in the shade to read a text message.  I really like the composition.