Thursday, April 14, 2005

French dog

Date: 14 Apr 2005
Time: 1609 hrs
Place: Cannes

(sorf) A sweet little old French lady walking her dog stopped to introduce me to her pet. He's called Pearl. Hee hee

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Take me to Taka

Date: 30 Mar 2005
Time: 1505 hrs
Place: Orchard Boulevard

An Indian national asked me at the traffic light, "Where is Taka?"

Saturday, March 19, 2005

film buffs everywhere

Date: 19 Mar 2005
Time: 1829 hrs
Place: In the MRT train between City Hall and Dhoby Ghaut

Thirty-something Chinese man. Yuppie? Groupie? Tapped me on the shoulder and asked me where I got the SIFF catalogue from. Told him it was actually a short films brochure (shown at the temporary history museum) and offered him the SIFF website URL instead.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Geographically misplaced

Date: 18 Mar 2005
Time: 1103 hrs
Place: Club Street Carpark

Five schoolgirls wearing Geography Club and Computer Club t-shirts asked me "Where is Far East Square?"

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

maybe he needs money for shampoo?

Date: 9 Mar 2005
Time: 1435 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura outside Giordano

(sorf) Balding man asked for directions to POSB.

ribbons

Date: 9 Mar 2005
Time: 1123 hrs
Place: Spotlight, Plaza Singapura

(sorf) Girl, pregnant, from China, asking for advice, in Chinese, with some English thrown in, about ribbons.

Well, maybe arts and crafts will be the universal language one day. For crafty girls at least. :)

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Where the young men go...

Date: 02 Mar 2005
Time: 1655 hrs
Place: Outside the Old Parliament House

(sorf) There was a fashion show going on outside the Art House, and a couple asked how to get to YMCA.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

it's holiday time

Date: 1 Feb 2004
Time: 1215 hrs
Place: Kinokuniya, KLCC, KL

Caucasian Tourist in bermudas and sunglasses in his hair asked me the time. Looks like he might have gotten stood up on holiday. Does he not have a handphone to tell him the time?

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

cos that's where the money is

Date: 12 Jan 2005
Time: 1210 hrs
Place: City Hall MRT

(sorf) Someone asked for directions to the bank queue.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

people lie

Date: 4 Jan 2005
Time: 1839 hrs
Place: Outram Park MRT, NE Line

She was short and 50, the target audience of public transport. She asked me how to get to City Hall MRT, and I was about to give her the complicated way to get there, when she then revealed she was going to Pasir Ris MRT. Why didn't she just say that upfront? I told her to follow the green East-West line signs.

you need a laptop, ma'am

Date: 4 Jan 2005
Time: 1700 hrs
Place: Starbucks, Plaza Singapura

(sorf) Asked by some woman how to surf the net.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

eZ come eZ go

Date: 21 Dec 2004
Time: 1800 hrs
Place: outside eZ-Link office

Malay man, probably 30-plus years old, asked me where the Ministry of Manpower had moved to. I pointed to the map pasted on the door, and gave him a piece of paper for him to copy it.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

the signs (part 2)

Date: 30 Nov 2004
Time: 1742 hrs
Place: Braddell MRT

(sorf) ... at the same station, near the bench at the bottom of the escalators, tudung-clad elderly Malay woman asks if it was the right side to take to Novena.

the signs (part 1)

Date: 30 Nov 2004
Time: 1737 hrs
Place: Braddell MRT

(sorf) Middle aged Chinese woman asked which side to the take the train to Ang Mo Kio. She might not have been able to read the signboards in any language. Even then, the signs don't explicitly say "Ang Mo Kio, this way"...

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

10p

Date: 23 Nov 2004
Time: 1307 hrs
Place: Maxwell Market

A girl in her 20's asked me if I could change her 50 cent coin so she could use the toilet facilities there.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

curry hunting

Date: 21 Nov 2004
Time: 1404 hrs
Place: Perumal Road

A gang of 5 aunties, probably on holiday from China, asked us as we exited the taxi where they could eat fishhead curry. We directed them to follow the yellow curry road, that is, Race Course Road, and they went off happily.

Friday, November 12, 2004

do i look like a chair?

Date: 12 Nov 2004
Time: 1325 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura, inside 2nd Floor ladies' toilet

(sorf) A fellow shopper asked where Novena Furniture is.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

international building

Date: 28 Oct 2004
Time: 1800 hrs
Place: Lift Lobby, Shaw Center

Short Asian lady, not Chinese, not Japanese, not Indonesian, not Filipino, not Korean. She asked me, "Where is International Building"? I told her, in English, and she asked if she could go in through the back.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

gym bunny

Date: 16 Oct 2004
Time: 1000 hrs
Place: Fitness First Paragon

(sorf) She was a gym bunny, or perhaps a wannabe, since she was unable to get the threadmill to work. Looking around, the lady with the book seemed the smartest and asking her for instructions would most likely be successful. Turns out that despite looking pretty in the Saturday morning sunlight, this threadmill, like all things mechanical, was broken. Wonderwoman in the TV screen was unable to help, though she too was running in the re-run.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Esplanade

Date: 15 Aug 2004
Time: 1647 hrs
Place: Raffles City Entrance / City Hall MRT Exit

So we've been away on holiday ;) that's why there've been no posts recently. We were a couple, they were a couple, and judging from their slightly off-fashion clothing, pale skin and accents I think they were from Hong Kong. It must have been quite overwhelming for them to suddenly be faced with such a massive crowd (this was the weekend after National Day when everyone seemed to have nothing to do, having all escaped the country over the long weekend and now back and bored), coming out from the dark and long escalators from the MRT station into brightness and confusion.

I could almost sense the slight panic as the guy turned right back to us at the top of the escalators (and we were just a step or two behind, still carrying some forward momentum). I could see the concern in their eyes behind their spectacles. He asked sorf where the Esplanade was and she explained to him matter-of-factly that they should go back down the escalator and turn left and go through the underpass all the way. I think they felt much safer with a overground route but we insisted that it's easier to go underground. I added that they just needed to remember to turn right at the Adidas store (with the very nice Justine Henin poster I might add). The poor couple realised they had to take their chances, so off they went, back into the dungeon.

Is Adidas popular in Hong Kong?