The monsoons have wreaked their havoc on all of our day off plans. It is a bitter pill to swallow when, after a week of physical and mental boot camp, one has to accept that the simple act of sitting outside for the day is no longer an option. To be fair, I fully understand that those who may be wading through hip-deep snow to take the garbage out might be less than sympathetic with my plight (yes Kathi, I know it's blizzarding in Calgary). Still, after days of being locked in a dark, air-conditioned space, wrapped in layers of costuming from head to toe, sweating, stretching, leaping, crawling, trying, failing and repeating, all the while chasing the dangling carrot of just being still in the sunlight...rain seems a cruel, karmic jest.
Lyall and I decided that, for a change of scenery, we might re-visit our old stomping ground and spend the day at the Marina Bay Sands Skypark. We had not walked half a block from the Pan Pacific when the rain began to come down. We thought that if we had a coffee, we could wait it out, but the longer we waited, the more minuscule our optimism looked against the titanic, ever greying sky. The slower we sipped our latte's, the heavier the rain fell. It wasn't long before we were trying to catch a glimpse of the other side of the street through a solid wall of falling water. So....enough. We surrendered.
So as not to have the day be completely without hedonism, I headed to the Kenko on the elevated walkway connected to our hotel. These insta-massage places are all over Singapore. You can walk in, get a 10, 20, 30 or 60 minute massage or reflexology treatment without an appointment. Some days, a ten minute shoulder massage is exactly what I need. And for $10 SGD, you can't beat it. Today, I opted for a twenty minute shoulder pounding, followed by fifteen minutes in the fish spa. Think about those words for a moment. Fish spa. Not words you often hear used together in English. When I first saw these words, I assumed that it must be a place where aquarium owners took their depressed goldfish and pond coy for some r 'n' r and a little communal time with the other city fish. No, no. A fish spa is a place you dangle your feet into a warm aquarium full of something called 'Doctor Fish', and they nibble the dead skin cells, callouses, blisters and what-not from your feet.
At this particular Kenko, they have the regular, minnow-sized fish. But they also have one tank of larger, almost sardine-sized fish. I figured that my crusty, battered old dogs should have the big guns for the first time out. Save the minnows for a maintenance treatment later.
When my feet first went into the tank, it felt like sinking into a vat of writhing eels, particularly because I was the only person in the place so EVERY fish in the tank was on MY feet. I admit, there was a little 'ick' factor that I had to get over. Once I got past the feeling of being swarmed, I had to try to control my giggling because it really, REALLY tickles. Especially these big guys because you can feel their little teeth. Eventually, it felt like dozens of tiny, vibrating massagers running all over my feet and was, in the end, quite soothing. When it's over, your feet are silky smooth and tingly all over.
For my dinner tonight, I once again went out on a culinary limb and order the appetizer of deep fried duck tongues. The texture: an odd mix of soft and sinewy. The taste: virtually non-existent. They tasted mostly like the garlic and chilies that they were dressed with. I only ate a few and then ordered a green Thai curry that was beautiful. While I ate, I was serenaded by the most eclectic music trio I've ever seen. A pianist (who looked like a cross between Che Guevara and Mozart), a percussionist playing something like an Indian tabla (and he looked like a Hindu rapper), and a guy playing something like a Thai Xylophone ( I don't know what they are actually called). These three played a bizarre mix of classical, jazz, Thai, Indonesian, pan-Asian music (often simultaneously) that defies description.
And finally, my favourite topic .... a rant......about alcohol...
I know I've mentioned this already, but I just wanted to use a visual aid to put it into perspective. The photograph, below, shows $79 SGD of booze. With today's exchange rate, that equals $61.56 CDN. Please note that the vodka bottle is only 375 mls.
Cocaine would be cheaper.
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