If you don’t understand the title, Google “Ris Low”.
HDB Balcony Gardens
Singapore’s HDB housing blocks can look pretty sterile. From the outside they all look the same. In some areas there are whole groups of buildings that are built in the same fashion. From what I’ve noticed, it seems like tenants have a lot of leeway with what they do to the interiors, but sometimes the hallways and corridors are just plain boring.
So, it’s nice when you’re walking down a corridor and you see that people are taking an initiative to liven the place up a bit, to make it more natural looking and more cozy.
A lot of people have personalized signs in front of their houses with their family name. Some people get custom metal gates installed with designs in them, like birds.
Other people go to more extremes and have lots and lots of plants. It’s very pleasant and refreshing seeing that splash of green down an otherwise drab corridor, especially considering how much extra work it has to be to maintain it all.
Some people get very creative with their plants:
I thought the fish were a really nice touch.
It also reminds me of my mom’s balcony. She has a little garden out there where she grows tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables, which is even more impressive considering she lives in New York City and she does it with limited space. She also sets up flowering creepers, morning glories, every year. She attaches string so that they grow to cover the balcony from top to bottom. When they bloom it looks really great and makes the place feel a lot more alive.
I’m looking forward to the next time I’ll be able to see these in person. Photo courtesy of my mom!
It was really interesting to me how much people are able to modify their HDBs, because I’m used to places like this being apartments, where you’re only renting. You can’t make any changes without approval, and who wants to improve a residence that they don’t own? HDBs are owned though, so it makes sense to put some effort into them.
Aggressive Salespeople Are Ineffective
Sometimes employees in Asia can be a little too helpful for comfort.
There’s a stereotype that in the Southern US, people are more friendly. In most cases that’s true. It’s not unusual to have a conversation with a stranger. It’s acceptable to ask a stranger for directions. It’s not uncommon to have a conversation with your server and, depending on where you go, it doesn’t take long to become a “regular”.
Now, take that hospitality and re-imagine it as something aggressive and unwanted and that’s what you get from many sales clerks in Asia. Add being a white foreigner to that and you wind up being harassed almost nonstop when in a shopping area.
It’s not particular to any one country either. I’ve experienced it in every country I’ve visited in Asia so far.
Philippines
The first time I took a trip to the Philippines we stopped by a mall. Which mall it was slips my mind now, but we were in a big department store. I think we were looking for some new socks.
(Picture from the store where the sock incident occurred. This outfit looked really gay so I took a photo of it to laugh at later.)
Distributed throughout the area were dozens of sales people. They looked like vultures. As soon as I stepped off the laminated walkway and onto the carpeting and showed the slightest interest in something on the shelf it was like watching cats descend on a bowl of fresh fish.
“May I help you sir?” “Would you be interested in this sir?” “How about this?” “We have a special right now on…”
All this before I’d even finished looking at the first package of socks I’d picked up. How am I supposed to know what I want before I’ve had a chance to properly browse? And what makes this horde of sales people think I’m incapable of picking out a package of socks on my own? I don’t have to be a local to successfully complete that mission!
Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
This one was kind of expected, since it was, after all, a tourist area. But it’s still unnerving to walk down a row of stalls and have people constantly calling, “Sir! Good deal sir! Hello! Hello! Hello!” As if I didn’t hear them when they first started talking, and I’ll stop just because they say hello? I don’t think so.
Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand
Again, this is somewhat expected because it’s a tourist area, but some of them were seriously aggressive. They would step out in front of you and try to block you from moving on as they waved flyers and menus in your face. One of them even tried to grab my arm. That’s definitely not cool.
Singapore
You don’t see that sort of thing happening in Singapore quite as much. Well, it’s not as aggressive anyway. If you enter a store and start handling the clothes one person may stop by and ask if you need assistance, but if you decline, they leave you alone. My only issue is that they approach you as soon as you start browsing. Then, when you do need assistance they’re elsewhere, behind the register or in the stock room. It would make more sense for them to approach you after a few minutes of being in the store.
Where it is a bit bothersome is at the hawker centers and food courts. People will call out to you and try to draw your attention. Some of them are more subtle. They try to be friendly, or try to guilt you into buying. There’s a particular woman that sells fish soup at the nearby hawker that tries to win people over with a charming smile. So, like I said, not so bad, but still more than what I’m used to.
It Just Doesn’t Work!
I suppose you could say this adds to the excitement and experience of visiting these places, but I’d rather relax and not have to worry about being hounded by people every time I get near a store, restaurant or bar. Rather than draw me into a sale, what this type of behavior does is push me away. I don’t want to feel like I’m being forced into making a purchase and I definitely don’t want to be hassled on a vacation. Well, Singapore doesn’t really count as a vacation, since I live there, but I thought it was worth adding for comparison.
Oh, and one other thing I noticed is that there seem to be more salespeople in Asian stores than in the US, where you sometimes spend 10 minutes trying to find a single employee to help you with something.
Your Worst Customer Service Experience Was In:(online surveys)
Misbehavior on Public Transportation in Singapore
[Update 15 June 2012: Peoples’ behavior when getting on and off trains really isn’t that much better in New York City. In fact, it’s about the same, or maybe worse. I suppose that’s a “grass is always greener” thing, because I may have been remembering NYC better than it was while in Singapore, or I may be remembering Singapore better than it was now that I have to deal with commuting in NYC every day. The trains still smelled worse in Singapore, though. I can’t forget that day my eyes burned and my wife got nauseous and we had to get off the train and wait for the following one to avoid becoming physically ill. Not that weird situations don’t happen in NYC, like vomit, but it’s just much more infrequent.]
I’m sure that at some point, anyone interested in Singapore has read a post about people doing things that are, basically, retarded when dealing with Singapore’s transit systems. After living in Singapore for over a year, I think it’s time for me to weigh in on the debate. So, here’s my list!
- 1) When there’s a problem with your EZ-Link card, don’t stand in front of the turn-style scanning it over and over … and over … and over … and over … and over. Obviously there’s something wrong with your card, so after at most three attempts, get the hell out of the way and let other people through! Don’t just stand there looking stupid, annoying everyone else that’s trying to pass through to either get in or get out of the MRT station. There’s a customer service desk usually located less than 10 feet away from the turn-styles in MRT stations. Use it.
- 2) This next one is a classic and is what people complain about most. The people, usually older women, that stand directly in front of the train doors as it arrives. Let me demonstrate with this handy image that I borrowed from this site.
- As you can see, it’s made very plain to people where they should stand. Obviously common sense wasn’t good enough and the lines had to be put on the floor to demonstrate how to be courteous and let people off the train before getting on. On top of that most train doors have images of local actors repeating the warning to let passengers alight from the train before attempting to board. It doesn’t really help though.
- Here are some photos from the Outram Park Interchange MRT station that should help illustrate this point to people who’ve never been in Singapore:
- 3) This is something that can apply in all situations, but is especially annoying if you’re in an enclosed area like a train or bus. Don’t play your music aloud. There’s a reason portable music players are sold with headphones. Even if you want your life to have a soundtrack, it doesn’t mean the rest of us want to hear it. Respect the people that are stuck being around you. Ya, it’s a free world, but that doesn’t mean you should be rude.
- 4) This follows suit with #3. Mobile calls can come at any time, but it doesn’t mean people in the front of the bus should be able to follow along with your conversation when you’re sitting in the back seat. Have some volume control on your voice as well, ok? You’re not making yourself look important by talking about your mergers or financial transactions either. You’re still just being annoying.
- 5) This one is perhaps the most deadly of all, and has been addressed recently by an advertising campaign in the trains:
- Please, do stop the horror with soap and water. To paraphrase someone I know, if you stink like old rotting flesh at 7:00 AM, sure it’s impressive, but it’s still disgusting. Really disgusting. I’ve gotten on trains in Singapore at all times of the day, whether it be early morning, afternoon or evening or late night and there’s a varying degree of odor. Sometimes it smells like urine. Sometimes it smells like vomit. Sometimes it reeks of durian. Sometimes it smells like someone shit their pants. Sometimes it stinks of body odor the likes of which makes the eyes burn and the stomach churn. I’m not exaggerating. My wife and I caught a train once over in the Jurong area that stank so bad we got off at the next station to wait for another one. My eyes were watering and my wife was trying not to puke. Ladies and gentlemen, Singapore has great plumbing. USE IT! PLEASE! Wash your nasty asses before getting on the train and subjecting the rest of us to your disgusting body odor. Besides the odor, your fetid bodies are leaving trails of harmful bacteria everywhere you go. I’m almost afraid to hold the handrails in the trains now.
- 6) On buses and trains there are designated seats for the elderly, pregnant and disabled. If you’re a 20 year old stud and you’re sitting in the reserved seat with a 70 year old woman in front of you, you’re not only wrong, you’re a jackass. Everyone else on the train knows you’re a jackass too.
Well, that’s what I’ve got. Feel free to add to this list by leaving a comment in the comment section below!
Wet Cat Food. It’s Just That Damn Good!
Tastes so good!
iPhone: Open vs Closed
A few days ago I had a really interesting conversation with Sachin Agarwal, co-founder of Posterous, one of the hottest new blogging sites on the internet. (If you haven’t checked it out yet, you have no idea what you’re missing). We were discussing Apple, iPhones, and how much control over their iPhones users actually have, especially when it comes to what a user is “allowed” to put on their phones. The conversation was just so good, I wanted to repost it here.
Bradley Farless said…
I enjoy my iPhone but Apple’s policies annoy the hell out of me too. They’ve given us an amazing piece of hardware but then not allowed us to actually use its full capabilities.
They’ve also told us that we’re not smart enough to make our own choices when it comes to what we want to install. They have to babysit us and make those decisions for us. I’m pretty sure I’m not a dumbass and I’m pretty sure I can decide on my own what I do and don’t want on my phone, and whether or not I want to see boobs in pocket-size goodness. It’s my damn right. I bought the thing. Why can’t I use it the way I want to?
Sachin Agarwal said…
The iPhone is an amazing piece of hardware/software/ecosystem *because* it is closed.
Only by controlling the entire experience can you make it as great as they did.
I love how my parents *never* need tech support with their iphones. If they could do anything with them, it would be a disaster.
Personally, there’s nothing i wish i could have on my iphone that i can’t get through apple’s system
Bradley Farless said…
Then perhaps the answer to everyone’s concerns is an opt-out method.
You either stay onboard with Apple’s “protected” experience, or you opt-out, and your guaranteed satisfaction is no longer guaranteed, not that people are always satisfied with the current iPhone anyway. But you see what I’m saying.
People want choice. They don’t want to feel limited in how they use something that they’ve paid for. This is essentially the same as Honda telling you that you can only drive your car within a 70 mile radius of your house after you’ve bought it and own it.
Sachin Agarwal said…
If Honda wants to set those rules, they have the right to. I’m not saying I like that, but I am saying that it’s their own ecosystem. If you don’t like it, buy a BMW 🙂
It’s really along the same lines as people wanting Disqus and other advanced features on posterous… we want to make the platform as flexible as possible, but sometimes you have to draw lines. It’s definitely hard
Bradley Farless said…
But Sachin, in that case you would have bought a car, not a license. Honda would have no more right to tell you how to operate that car than a home builder has to tell you what you may use each room in your house for. Once you buy it you own it and it’s up to the purchaser to maintain. If, on the other hand, we were purchasing licenses I could totally ‘get’ Apple monitoring what’s allowed on the platform (though they don’t do that with OS X and it’s still great) but this is a physical piece of hardware.
By the way, as far as Disqus goes, good move with keeping it simple and in-house but these days isn’t it more classy to at least support threading? 🙂
Sent from my iPhone
Sachin Agarwal said…
True, you are buying hardware, not a license.
So hack your phone and run whatever you want on it. You aren’t breaking any laws, Apple can’t really stop you.
But you can’t complain to apple because they aren’t welcoming you to mess with their device.
it’s like if you modify a car, you void the warranty. Granted you are right, at least you *can* modify the car if you choose to do so
Bradley Farless said…
Good analogy with modding the car. I shouldn’t have to “void the warranty” on my iPhone to add the apps I want to use on it though.
I still don’t feel good about having the Apple thought police telling me that I shouldn’t, let’s just use this as an example, have an app on my iPhone that acts as a remote control for a remote uTorrent program because it could possibly be used for copyright infringement. That was their argument with an ebook reader recently as well. They also won’t add apps that have any nudity because it doesn’t fit the company’s wholesome…. oh hang on while I close this porn site on Mobile Safari… anyway, it doesn’t fit the company’s wholesome values.
When you mod a car, you’re replacing parts to make it work in a new way. When you want to put whatever app you want on the iPhone, you’re just trying to use what’s already there to its full potential.
Now that I think about it more, there should be an app approval process, but the only tests done should be to make sure the program itself is sound, not the content.
Sachin Agarwal said…
Installing apps on an iPhone is more like adding a turbo charger to a car: you are trying to use what’s there (engine etc) to its full potential. But then when your engine explodes, your transmission dies, Honda is the one who gets the bad reputation. That’s what Apple is trying to avoid.
1. Yes there should be an app approval process. And yes, it should mostly be to make sure the apps run and don’t do anything malicious. I wouldn’t mind if apple was more lenient in what they allowed
2. It’s their platform and it’s an amazing experience. They should have the right to control it. Just like I have the right to control how Posterous works.
Bradley Farless said…
Well, I guess we both agree that there should be an app approval process, but only for keeping out malicious ones.
Your comparison between Apple’s right to control a piece of hardware and your right to control Posterous is a bit flawed though. Posterous is a platform. It’s free even. It’s not a physical product that I can hold in my hand and claim ownership of. The iPhone on the other hand is a piece of hardware (albeit with an OS inside) that, just like the MacBook Pro I’m typing this comment on, I have purchased and fully own. However, unlike my MacBook, it’s not left to my discretion as to what I put on my iPhone. It should be.
Do you think Apple would get away with it, or stay in business, if they had tried to keep a choke hold on the applications that are installable on Macs the way they’re doing with the iPhones?
They have no more right to say what I put on my iPhone than they do to say what I can put on the laptop they sold me. Once I own it, I own it. And the ability to freely install the software of my choice, even if it’s sometimes the wrong choice, hasn’t tarnished Apple’s image. There are always going to be stupid people, but the vasty majority know that if something goes wrong with a Mac, it’s 9 times out of 10 a user error, and that’s not Apple’s fault.
Sachin Agarwal said…
“the vasty majority know that if something goes wrong with a Mac, it’s 9 times out of 10 a user error”
I’m not sure sure that’s true. People always blame the platform. I know, based on questions I get about Posterous 🙂
Ok, so back to the main point:
When you buy an iPhone or a Macbook Pro, you are buying hardware. You can do anything you want with that hardware. I agree with this. So if you want to wipe your iPhone and install Android on it, go for it.
But by owning OS X on the Macbook Pro or iPhone, that’s a software license you own to run that software. You have to abide by the rules of that agreement. If that agreement says you can only run Apple software, then that’s how it is.
Now, please understand that I don’t necessarily agree with this. As you point out, this might be the downfall of the iPhone. If after a few years the Palm Pre improves, Android gets better, maybe the fact that the iPhone is closed will be what causes people to switch away.
Or maybe Apple will be forced to adapt and open the platform up (remember back when there wasn’t even an iPhone SDK? Now that’s closed!)
But for now, I’m quite happy with the closed Apple ecosystem, just as I’m happy with the Posterous ecosystem, or the fact that my BMW runs all the parts and software created by or approved by BMW, so I don’t have to worry about anything at all. Could they be more powerful? Yes. Is it worth it to me? No.
Bradley Farless said…
Well, user error usually gets blamed on something else, because no one likes to feel stupid. ^_^
I guess I can’t really argue with what you said about the license agreement. I think you’re right in that Apple may be forced to reevaluate its game plan when or if Android and Pre become more popular.
I guess it all just boils down to people wanting to feel like they actually own what they bought.
This argument is really starting to drag out to the point of almost being annoying. I won’t argue anymore for my side of things, as that’s basically what this whole post is about, but if you want to weigh in on it, feel free to do so in the comments here, or on the original post by clicking this link.
Final Thoughts on Phuket
Overall, Phuket was one of the more interesting vacations we’ve taken. The sights, the sounds, the food! It was all great! Also, despite the foul weather, it was relaxing, because all of our worries were, quite literally, hundreds of miles away.
We’re looking forward to being able to go back in the future, hopefully to take advantage of other attractions like the Thai International Boxing, the Phi Phi Island tour, and elephant riding. (Hopefully with more sunshine than we saw this time too).
The last thing I’d like to touch on is that the attitude of the locals is great. In a lot of countries I’ve been to in Asia, everything feels forced, or business as usual, even in tourist areas. Phuket as a whole had a more service-oriented atmosphere, and with good reason, since the economy there relies on tourism.
Here are a few examples of that great attitude:
- Our taxi driver from the airport to Patong Beach had trouble finding the guesthouse we stayed in, but he didn’t charge us extra. He also gave us his card and agreed to drive back to Patong Beach (45 minutes from the airport) to pick us up when we were ready to leave.
- The owner of the guesthouse we staid in (Som Guesthouse) booked tickets for us to the Simon Cabaret and provided the transportation, all for 100 baht less than the cheapest seats you would pay for at the counter. Also, the owners of the guesthouse were very friendly and accommodating. When it came time for us to book our taxi ride back to the airport, the lady used her personal mobile phone to make the call and arrange it for us.
- When we were done eating breakfast at Nicky’s Handlebar on the third day, the waiter went out and flagged down a ride for us, so we wouldn’t have to stand in the rain and do it ourselves.
- The people in general are approachable and not opposed to having a conversation.
Don’t assume that all of the locals are being extra friendly, because some will be trying to rip you off, but overall they want to project a good image, so you’ll tell your friends and also come back yourself.
Thumper Tries To Dig Through The Bed With Clipped Nails
via youtube.com
I clipped my cat’s claws because she has a habit of wanting to attack our legs and feet while we’re sleeping. She didn’t like it! She had a fit trying to figure out why she couldn’t gain any traction on the bedsheets and then tried her hand… or paw… at digging through.
Phuket Photo Special
I’ve kinda been dragging out my posts about Thailand, so, in the spirit of finishing it up and posting a link in the sidebar to a full list of the posts in some semblance of order, I will be blasting out three posts today. That includes the one before this and one more after this to finish it all off!
This post is a set of photos that are interesting, but aren’t worth a post all to themselves. Check them out!
Here’s a fantastic work of art you won’t find in too many bars. I’m still trying to figure out if it’s supposed to be depicting a woman or a ladyboy.
This monument was sitting down by the beach. I’m not too clear on its purpose but one of the ladies told me it’s for prayer.
Mutant prawns. I was shocked to see how big these things are.
The lobsters and crabs were huge too!
This tattooed chick was walking up the street, swinging her upper body back and forth in an exaggerated fashion, presumably to entertain the kid, who cried anyway. The baby looked like he was mixed. Actually he looked full on caucasian, but I just assume he was mixed. As for the identity of the woman, I can only guess. Nice tats though!
A rip-tide warning sign. This thing disappeared on the third day when it started flooding. I don’t know if the sea swallowed it or if it was simply underwater.
There are always Life Guards on duty, just in case you ignore the sign.
This is what happens when you sit on a restaurant chair shortly after taking a dip in the ocean. And the following image is how you use it to gross out your family (click to enlarge):
Well, hope you enjoyed this photo special!
International Thai Boxing. TONIGHT!
Unfortunately this is one event we didn’t get to see, this time around anyway.
What we did see (and hear) were the boxers riding around on the tops of trucks. There was a recording playing, lauding the boxer and his achievements and informing onlookers of when the next show would be held. Louder and more forcefully spoken than any other part was the word, “TONIGHT!”
These trucks were riding all around town and as that word repeated itself over and over it became both catchy and annoying at the same time. While talking to each other we would sometimes throw that word in, “TONIGHT!”, just for a laugh!
As the trucks ride through town, they’ll stop at busy locations and a guy with flyers will jump down and run around passing them out. So, if you go to Phuket, you’ll definitely get the chance to see these guys, even if you don’t go to the show.
Here are a few more photos. As you can see from them, and from the flyers we had, there are quite a few nations represented in the event. Also there were two women competitors.
This guy was posing on top of the truck for photos. There were a couple of us there on the sidewalk with cameras ready.
Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog 