You know what this website has been missing?

Product Placement, that’s what.

So let me present to you…the ladies of Singapore Airlines…quite possibly the single greatest improvement on flying since Kitty Hill. 

I still have a lot of flying to do, but Singapore Air just took a commanding lead in the standings thusfar (bringing up the rear and waaaaay back is USAir.  Oh, USAir, how could you sully our country’s name so badly?  Have you no shame?).

Not only does Singapore bring the legroom, the quality meals and the outstanding service, they also have those uniforms.  With that matching look and all of them moving identically, they’re like the Rockettes of the friendly skies. 

And lest you think they’re plying me with free airline tickets, they’re not.  Oh, they could…believe me, they could; I certainly have no ethical standards.  Actually at this point, for a first class ticket on my next marathon flight, I’d change the site to Hectorhill.com Brought To You By Bernie Madoff, if I thought that’s what it would take.

While on the subject of air service, I have a note for USAir.  Unless that dollar is really the differece between solvency and bankruptcy, drop the charge for tea and coffee.  Hasn’t a single USAir manager flown coach and watched all the passengers laugh derisively as they are nickel and dimed for a cup of tea?  And hasn’t he/she thought, “you know, maybe we’re not thinking big picture here.”?  No?  Okay, fine, keeping riding up there in first class and watch your stock tumble on your private screen instead.

Singapore has been what you’d expect it to be: ultra-efficient, clean, and by-the-book.  Great food too (thanks for the suggestions, Lisa). 

They also have an inordinate amount of shopping malls.  And they say we like our material goodies.

Another thing they’re stocked with are medical facilities for the surgery tourist.  I took advantage of this, finding a doctor to re-stock me with antibiotics after using the ones I had in the Philippines. 

The doc asked a couple questions, told me to drink only beer when not in big cities, wrote me a prescription and then we got down to a 55 minute dicussion on General McArthur and General (?) Yamashita.

And, no I’m not joking. 

After finding out I had been to the Philippines, he asked if I was interested in McArthur (the site of the “I shall return” line).

Very, I said.  I’ve found that agreeing has a way of leading these travel conversations off into enjoyable tangents.  “The McArthur Road is the longest in the Phillipines,” I said, using up the lone McArthur talking point I had in my arsenal.

It was enough.

Dr. Ng was a history buff and a huge McArthur and Yamashita fan (the latter was executed by the Americans, but apparently went out with some quality last words). 

Here we are (some of his McArthur books are on the shelf behind us):

The whole time I was there, he kept getting calls on his cellphone from a friend he was supposed to be meeting for lunch.  He kept telling the guy he’d be right there and then he’d just turn back to me and our history discussion (my portion of the discussion being, “huh.  you don’t say.”)

Hopefully, it doesn’t sound like I’m banging on Dr. Ng.  I’m not.  I freaking loved the guy.   One of the more interesting people I’ve listened to thusfar.

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I’m overdue for Bet #4, I know, but Singapore isn’t looking like the best place for it.  The casino they’re building isn’t open yet.  The horse track doesn’t run for a few days.   And seeing as you can get 10 lashes of the cane for even small offenses, “illegal bookie” doesn’t seem to be a career many go into around here.

It’s not like they don’t like gambling though.  Apparently the 4D lottery is quite popular.  Some people even slow down at accidents and write the smashed car’s resgistrtation numbers, as these are somehow viewed as lucky ones to play.  Same with funerals.  They’re a good place to look for  lucky numbers.

I’m headed for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia right after this, and I see there’s a casino up around there, so I’ll put it off til then and make up for the lag in Thailand.

Next leg of the journey is by train, so alas, that’s it for the Singapore Air experience. 

Sigh.