Sentosa

This is a beach on the man-made Singaporean island of Sentosa, home to many fancy resorts, golf courses and such. There were signs along the road warning tourist of aggessive peacocks although the Singaporean teacher who led us around assured me that no such peacocks were to be found.

Children are hovering around me at the moment. One can get wireless access in certain areas of the school only and one of them is a corridor. I made the poor choice of trying to post in this hallway during recess and so every primary student who passes stops to look at my MacBook which is very impressive to most although one student said to me only moments ago that, "I have one just like this at home, only my screen is much bigger." The students' parents don't want for money and so what he says is very likely true--also, a Mac here would be several times the price of a Mac in America. Many of the Chinese homes warrant the adjective "palatial" and look something like European hotels. I'll get a picture of that out soon. I live in a neighborhood with many such homes. They line garbage strewn streets and the size of the rats impresses everyone.

I was of the opinion that such creepy things were overhyped although one woman told me that last year a baby cobra had managed to slither under her door. It was only a few inches long, but where there's a baby there is also a mother, right? Anyway this woman, who stands no more than 5 feet tall herself and speaks in a barely audible soft spoken voice was still frightened and threw a towell over the serpeant, then beat it with a broom. I said, "you mean to tell me that such things are anomolies, right? I don't have to worry about that happening to me." She's quite quick and responded, "I mean to tell you always carry a broom."