Yes….I’m back. Not only in my guest blogging role, but also back to the familiar ground of the USA after a weeklong business trip to the foreign lands of South Asia. A 15-hour flight gives you plenty of time to reflect, not only on the capabilities of the airline maintenance crews (I hope they “topped” off the fuel one last time before we pushed away from the gate), but also why we love the USA. Maybe I should submit this to that Larry the Cable Guy show on History channel…I love the History Channel, but I am digressing in a jet lag induced state. I though a blog potpourri of observations would be warranted….
Things I liked:
· Hotel service. Now this is coming from a guy who is thrilled when they leave a piece of chocolate on the on the pillow. But, this place went over the top. I think they waited for you to leave your room and when you came back there was something new in the room! Every night they would leave a pair of slippers by your bed (see picture). Now granted, the slippers were probably size 6’s, but still. There would be a pot of tea on the table (a nice wicker basket carrying case) for you as well as a “fruit of the day” selection. Two fresh toothbrushes were left for you every day.
Odd things:
· The service at bars was amazing (yes, I have a weakness for beautiful Asian women)- you never waited on a drink and the bar snacks were great (they all served hot cashews that were coated in some sort of sugary mix). But the drink delivery….it appeared that the waitress staff had at least 4 different dress colors. One for AM, one for aft, one for early evening and then late evening. Same style, just different color. The odd part was when serving the drink, they would kneel down on both knees right next to you and present the drink. They did it with such a beautiful grace, it didn’t seem difficult, but if I was to try that- after the first hour the paramedics would need to be on call and you better hope I hadn’t been eating chili. No tipping was accepted.
Odd Food:
· Why do they insist on keeping the heads on the fish when served? The fish actually isn’t bad, but why the necessity of the fish eye?
Odd but good Food:
· It was a brief stay, so I’m sure we would have found more dishes to try, but they had an interesting twist on one- it was Chili Crab (see picture). Who wouldn’t love chili smothered over crab? II wonder if I can get Long John Silver to add this to the menu….
Emotional rollercoaster hotel promos:
· So picture walking into the hotel room….exhausted after a 30 hour trip. You turn the TV on- and this video plays:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0z2y3SOZoY . For those not wanting to waste the time watching the video (it was pretty scratchy as I was recording from my phone)- it starts out with this guy walking on a mountain (no reason is ever given for his being there). As he’s walking through chest high snow drifts and the wind is blowing, this dramatic music start to crescendo in the background. It’s getting colder and he’s having trouble getting a fire started…and then there are wolves tracking him. More music, now it’s getting dark and the wolves are circling. It’s looks hopeless…Our Asian hero (we can assume that I suppose) cries out in despair and probably curses in Mandarin at his situation and imminent freezing death (I don’t think he knows about the wolves yet). Then the last scene…he’s sprawled out in the snow……it appears he tried to make snow angels first...forming icicles (I misspelled that word in a 7th grade spelling bee and everybody laughed at me so thankfully spell check is now available) and then we see the wolves closing in on him. I’m ready for a gory limb pulling finality, but then in a twist the pack just covers him up and saves him from the freezing cold. Then the 1 ½ minute video would replay again. Over and over. Maybe it was the fatigue, but I was an emotional wreck after watching that for ½ hour.
· I’m not sure how legal that was to phone-copy that video and given they seem very proud of their “caning” punishments, I sure don’t to want step on any toes. If a Singaporean authority contacts you, just plead ignorance.
I had hoped the Jet Lag wouldn’t bother me, but considering I’m writing this at 3 AM…..you can see who won. Until next time.
“Bob”
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