Sunday, October 19, 2008

Foodie SIN

I'm finishing up almost 24 hours here in Singapore on my way between Tokyo and Delhi. Somebody asked what I was going to do here and I think I said "I don't know; eat", which was pretty accurate. I arrived quite late (1am) and leave quite late (2a next day) and mostly walked, ate, and slept. (OK, I did spend a chunk of the afternoon at the Asian Civilisations Museum, taking a tour of the gallery ... under the theory that educational growth is important too.)

Some highlights:

  • My distaste for seafood is as usual limiting - there have been a bunch of things that look like they'd be tasty to others that I've passed on ... but it wasn't a total bust. Freshly-made almond soya milk with chewy tapioca balls, tropical fruit, and variety of dim sum pieces for breakfast. Oh, and chilled green tea- I think I'm addicted after a week in Japan, though it felt odd not to buy it from a vending machine on the street.
  • Late afternoon snacks at the food hawker center near my hotel was a heaping plate of Satay. And I do mean heaping - I think I made the equivalent of a beginner's mistake at Dim Sum.... I ordered so much from the first stall that it was hard to get much from subsequent places. However, it was quite pleasent to sit under a covered roof as the rain poured and eat some hot and smoky chicken and beef satay, cucumber/onion, and rice cake meal.

Monday, October 13, 2008

When "Automated" isn't 24/7

So I'm in Tokyo for the week on business. My flight into Narita landed a bit later than planned and so ran to catch the bus to the hotel. Knowing there was a post office/ international ATM near the hotel, I didn't worry about having no Yen with me.

Why the post office? Most of the ATMs in Japan only take domestically issued ATM cards, but the post office is also a bank, and has ATMs. But here's the rub: the ATM closed at 17:00. Silly American, why would you assume an automated banking machine would be open 24/7?

Fortunately I still had a few hundred Yen on my PASMO, and so could take the train to a bank a few stops away...but really.