Date: 15 Jan 2006
Time: 1409 hrs
Place: Hong Kong
(both) We're about to cross from Canton Road to Peking Road and this guy, with a shaven head, wearing a windbreaker, asked us something in Cantonese again, something about where to buy something, and he was with his girlfriend.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Thursday, January 12, 2006
kong si mi?
Date: 12 Jan 2006
Time: 1431 hrs
Place: Hong Kong
(both) We're walking down Hollywood Road waiting to cross the street and we get asked directions by a young woman wearing an orange lined jacket. She must have assumed we were natives because she approached us from behind and just blabbered a long string of Cantonese, a language neither of us understand.
Time: 1431 hrs
Place: Hong Kong
(both) We're walking down Hollywood Road waiting to cross the street and we get asked directions by a young woman wearing an orange lined jacket. She must have assumed we were natives because she approached us from behind and just blabbered a long string of Cantonese, a language neither of us understand.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
the bank with the key...
Date: 07 Jan 2006
Time: 2029 hrs
Place: Just outside Mustafa
We're going to do some late night shopping at Mustafa and just as we were going into the entrance a young Chinese man came up to me and asked me, in Mandarin, where the nearest ATM was. He looked very much like an ah-beng and spoke almost no English. He was very polite though. He told me the bank had to be "the one with the key", and I could understand that he meant the POSB because that's the shape of their logo. I told him to go down Kitchener Road and then turn left on Jalan Besar as there's a POSB branch there.
So perhaps there was some good in having those symbols for the government bodies shaped like what they were. Like the PUB symbol looking like a lightbulb, or the HDB logo looking like a house.
Time: 2029 hrs
Place: Just outside Mustafa
We're going to do some late night shopping at Mustafa and just as we were going into the entrance a young Chinese man came up to me and asked me, in Mandarin, where the nearest ATM was. He looked very much like an ah-beng and spoke almost no English. He was very polite though. He told me the bank had to be "the one with the key", and I could understand that he meant the POSB because that's the shape of their logo. I told him to go down Kitchener Road and then turn left on Jalan Besar as there's a POSB branch there.
So perhaps there was some good in having those symbols for the government bodies shaped like what they were. Like the PUB symbol looking like a lightbulb, or the HDB logo looking like a house.
Black Eggs
Date: 07 Jan 2006
Time: 1139 hrs
Place: Mustafa supermarket
(both) We're at Mustafa and some black dude (probably from Africa) wearing a cap and an Argentina football jersey asked us how much eggs were.
$1.90 for ten.
Time: 1139 hrs
Place: Mustafa supermarket
(both) We're at Mustafa and some black dude (probably from Africa) wearing a cap and an Argentina football jersey asked us how much eggs were.
$1.90 for ten.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
just follow where the Chinese are heading?
Date: 05 Jan 2006
Time: 1532 hrs
Place: Dhoby Ghaut MRT
(sorf) Middle aged couple at Dhoby Ghaut MRT asked how to get to Chinatown.
(we get lots of questions at the Dhoby Ghaut interchange. evidently the place is just really badly designed, if after about three years of it being open that people still get lost and confused.)
Time: 1532 hrs
Place: Dhoby Ghaut MRT
(sorf) Middle aged couple at Dhoby Ghaut MRT asked how to get to Chinatown.
(we get lots of questions at the Dhoby Ghaut interchange. evidently the place is just really badly designed, if after about three years of it being open that people still get lost and confused.)
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Super-market search
Date: 14 Dec 2005
Time: 1202 hrs
Place: Harbourfront
I'm outside Tower One, near the base of the escalator, two Malay men (probably Bruneians), both wearing caps, t-shirts and 3/4 pants, one in his 20s, another in his 30s and fatter, looking for a big electronics supermarket. I pointed them back to Harbourfront.
Time: 1202 hrs
Place: Harbourfront
I'm outside Tower One, near the base of the escalator, two Malay men (probably Bruneians), both wearing caps, t-shirts and 3/4 pants, one in his 20s, another in his 30s and fatter, looking for a big electronics supermarket. I pointed them back to Harbourfront.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Mohamed... Mustafa...
Date: 07 Dec 2005
Time: 1818 hrs
Place: Farrer Park MRT
A young Indian man in a blue shirt and backpack at the escalator asked me how to get to Mustafa.
Time: 1818 hrs
Place: Farrer Park MRT
A young Indian man in a blue shirt and backpack at the escalator asked me how to get to Mustafa.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
It's awl in the drawl
Date: 3 Dec 2005
Time: 0845 New York time
Place: New York hotel breakfast
(sorf) Extremely chatty waiter behind counter from Fort Worth, Texas. He thinks the two little old ladies gaping at the restaurant are also from Fort Worth. Meanwhile, eggs benedict.
Time: 0845 New York time
Place: New York hotel breakfast
(sorf) Extremely chatty waiter behind counter from Fort Worth, Texas. He thinks the two little old ladies gaping at the restaurant are also from Fort Worth. Meanwhile, eggs benedict.
Crappy cabbie
Date: 3 Dec 2005 (2 Dec 2005 New York Time)
Time: 1900 hrs New York Time
Place: New Jersey, somewhere on the way from Newark Airport
(sorf) Cabbie lost in Jersey trying to find the Lincoln Tunnel got asked for directions.
Time: 1900 hrs New York Time
Place: New Jersey, somewhere on the way from Newark Airport
(sorf) Cabbie lost in Jersey trying to find the Lincoln Tunnel got asked for directions.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Globally plugged in
Date: 2 Dec 2005
Time: 1100 hrs
Place: Changi Airport T2 lounge
(sorf) Asian 30-something guy asked how to plug into broadband.
The place's renovated with lots of Playstations all over and he wants to check his email??
Time: 1100 hrs
Place: Changi Airport T2 lounge
(sorf) Asian 30-something guy asked how to plug into broadband.
The place's renovated with lots of Playstations all over and he wants to check his email??
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Why is everyone in a rush?
Date: 29 Nov 2005
Time: 1936 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura
(both) A tall skinny Chinese girl wanted to cut our queue because she only had one item.
Time: 1936 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura
(both) A tall skinny Chinese girl wanted to cut our queue because she only had one item.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Three times
Date: 16 Nov 2005
Time: 1400 hrs
Place: The Factory
(sorf) Got asked for directions at my desk three times!
Time: 1400 hrs
Place: The Factory
(sorf) Got asked for directions at my desk three times!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
It's a kind of magic...
Date: 15 Nov 2005
Time: 2030 hrs
Place: National Library
(both) Lots of people hang out at Hans for the nice ambience, cheap food and free wifi. A couple of young nerdy male Chinese guys also hung out there to show people unsolicited magic tricks. They said that they were trying to publicise a magic workshop where for a small fee you could learn the tricks they just showed (some standard ones involving a deck of cards, and dice, and rubber bands, if I remember right, because it was quite a generic magic trick). We patiently sat through the trick (sorf was banging out some story on her laptop throughout the whole ordeal) and then we politely said no, we weren't interested. And they reacted as if it was unbelievable that we could be uninterested. "Derek SUM, IT Business consultant" even gave me his business card, but I don't think his was a real business considering he had a yahoo.com.sg email address, only a mobile number listed, and a Tanjong Pagar cubicle farm for his office address. They looked like they were really free and were doing these tricks over and over to unsuspecting passers-by.
Time: 2030 hrs
Place: National Library
(both) Lots of people hang out at Hans for the nice ambience, cheap food and free wifi. A couple of young nerdy male Chinese guys also hung out there to show people unsolicited magic tricks. They said that they were trying to publicise a magic workshop where for a small fee you could learn the tricks they just showed (some standard ones involving a deck of cards, and dice, and rubber bands, if I remember right, because it was quite a generic magic trick). We patiently sat through the trick (sorf was banging out some story on her laptop throughout the whole ordeal) and then we politely said no, we weren't interested. And they reacted as if it was unbelievable that we could be uninterested. "Derek SUM, IT Business consultant" even gave me his business card, but I don't think his was a real business considering he had a yahoo.com.sg email address, only a mobile number listed, and a Tanjong Pagar cubicle farm for his office address. They looked like they were really free and were doing these tricks over and over to unsuspecting passers-by.
To the Harbourfront
Date: 15 Nov 2005
Time: 1053 hrs
Place: near Sim Lim Square
Perhaps they were trying to get to Sentosa? I was crossing the road at the junction outside Sim Lim Square when two young Indian men, one wearing a brown shirt and spectacles, another with a shirt and jeans and backpack, approached me to ask where they could take a bus to Harbourfront. Ignoring the fact that they were overdressed, I took out my PDA and checked the bus guide that I had in there, but I couldn't find any direct bus that they could take. I told them to walk down a short distance to the Little India MRT station and take the train from there. They thanked me and shook my hand.
Time: 1053 hrs
Place: near Sim Lim Square
Perhaps they were trying to get to Sentosa? I was crossing the road at the junction outside Sim Lim Square when two young Indian men, one wearing a brown shirt and spectacles, another with a shirt and jeans and backpack, approached me to ask where they could take a bus to Harbourfront. Ignoring the fact that they were overdressed, I took out my PDA and checked the bus guide that I had in there, but I couldn't find any direct bus that they could take. I told them to walk down a short distance to the Little India MRT station and take the train from there. They thanked me and shook my hand.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
We don't own it anymore
Date: 10 Nov 2005
Time: 1907 hrs
Place: Near Raffles Hotel
(sorf) Young bearded (?) boy in bermuda shorts and backpack asking for Raffles Hotel. Don't think he's staying there...
Time: 1907 hrs
Place: Near Raffles Hotel
(sorf) Young bearded (?) boy in bermuda shorts and backpack asking for Raffles Hotel. Don't think he's staying there...
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Scary monster shopping carts
Date: 08 Nov 2005
Time: 1848 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura
I'm at the place where the shopping carts are parked outside of Carrefour when a little bespectacled Indian boy wearing a "Scary Monster" t-shirt comes up to me and asks "Can you help me?" He couldn't figure out how to take out the one dollar coin deposit that was in his cart. I told him "you just put the thing in", and he quickly managed to figure it out himself, and then he ran off, embarassed.
Something tells me he's not going to be asking for any more help or directions from strangers after this...
Time: 1848 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura
I'm at the place where the shopping carts are parked outside of Carrefour when a little bespectacled Indian boy wearing a "Scary Monster" t-shirt comes up to me and asks "Can you help me?" He couldn't figure out how to take out the one dollar coin deposit that was in his cart. I told him "you just put the thing in", and he quickly managed to figure it out himself, and then he ran off, embarassed.
Something tells me he's not going to be asking for any more help or directions from strangers after this...
Friday, November 04, 2005
perhaps it's for his drunken prawns?
Date: 04 Nov 2005
Time: 1732 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura
(both) We are waiting in line at the Carrefour with a substantial amount of groceries when some guy in a chef's uniform comes by, cutting the queue, with a single can of Carlsberg, asking us to let him go first because he is in a rush to go to work, and then later he says that he's "fang gong liao" (just finished work). Liar.
Time: 1732 hrs
Place: Plaza Singapura
(both) We are waiting in line at the Carrefour with a substantial amount of groceries when some guy in a chef's uniform comes by, cutting the queue, with a single can of Carlsberg, asking us to let him go first because he is in a rush to go to work, and then later he says that he's "fang gong liao" (just finished work). Liar.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
To market to market
Date: 02 Nov 2005
Time: 1204 hrs
Place: near Newton Circus
I was making my way back to Little India and didn't feel like taking the train all the way down to Dhoby Ghaut in order to change to the Northeast Line back up again, and so I decided to try taking a bus. Getting off at Newton MRT, I was jaywalking to cross the road to get to the bus stop. As I was crossing, there was an late-middle aged Sikh couple waiting to cross to, but obviously somewhat bewildered by the heavy flow of vehicles towards the circus. He was wearing a light blue turban, white shirt and singlet and brown pants, and the lady had a veil over her head, wearing a cream dress, walking quite slowly. They wanted to know if there was a market around here, which they've heard was a very large one. I couldn't think of any markets in the area so I suggested that perhaps they were looking for the Tekka market. I told them it was quite a ways and perhaps they should take a cab but they seemed to have (well, at least he seemed to have, because he was talking in his heavily accented English to me and his wife was keeping quiet) some irrational fear of dishonest taxi drivers. So he asked if they could walk and I said it was quite far away to walk and probably not a good idea given the hot weather, and they could take a bus, so they walked with me to the bus stop. When we reached there they were discussing something, probably in the Sikh language, and then abruptly decided to walk, but walking in the opposite direction. Strange.
Time: 1204 hrs
Place: near Newton Circus
I was making my way back to Little India and didn't feel like taking the train all the way down to Dhoby Ghaut in order to change to the Northeast Line back up again, and so I decided to try taking a bus. Getting off at Newton MRT, I was jaywalking to cross the road to get to the bus stop. As I was crossing, there was an late-middle aged Sikh couple waiting to cross to, but obviously somewhat bewildered by the heavy flow of vehicles towards the circus. He was wearing a light blue turban, white shirt and singlet and brown pants, and the lady had a veil over her head, wearing a cream dress, walking quite slowly. They wanted to know if there was a market around here, which they've heard was a very large one. I couldn't think of any markets in the area so I suggested that perhaps they were looking for the Tekka market. I told them it was quite a ways and perhaps they should take a cab but they seemed to have (well, at least he seemed to have, because he was talking in his heavily accented English to me and his wife was keeping quiet) some irrational fear of dishonest taxi drivers. So he asked if they could walk and I said it was quite far away to walk and probably not a good idea given the hot weather, and they could take a bus, so they walked with me to the bus stop. When we reached there they were discussing something, probably in the Sikh language, and then abruptly decided to walk, but walking in the opposite direction. Strange.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
The return of the Tai-Tai
Date: 6 Oct 2005
Time: About 1600 Moscow time
Place: Red Square, Moscow
(sorf) A middle aged lady, the Russian equivalent of a tai-tai, asked for her photo to be taken. Aren't that many Asian looking people walking about Moscow, yet tourists will be tourists.
Time: About 1600 Moscow time
Place: Red Square, Moscow
(sorf) A middle aged lady, the Russian equivalent of a tai-tai, asked for her photo to be taken. Aren't that many Asian looking people walking about Moscow, yet tourists will be tourists.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Do I look Russian to you?
Date: 5 Oct 2005
Time: 1108 hrs Moscow Time
Place: Outside Kievskaya Station, Moscow
(sorf) Fifty-something man with mustache and purple plastic bag and his twenty-something blonde son asked for directions. In Russian. Doesn't wielding a camera make one a tourist?
Time: 1108 hrs Moscow Time
Place: Outside Kievskaya Station, Moscow
(sorf) Fifty-something man with mustache and purple plastic bag and his twenty-something blonde son asked for directions. In Russian. Doesn't wielding a camera make one a tourist?
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