Improvement

Hahaha,

I got loads of comments about my shortest post ever.

How to improve my blog 101. Really appreciate the comments from everyone. If only I can add a comments box, make my paragraphs shorter and add in pictures for an overall visual effect. Hmmmm..... lets see what a hmtl-iliterate bastard can do.

Going back to Thursday, it was a filming day as usual. Started from the airport. So, i was filming the flipboard that displayed all the departing flights and a policeman from CAAS approached me. (Why me? do i look like a terrorist to people?)

Policeman: Where are you from? (Policeman's favourite question)

Me: Singapore Polytechnic (Starts packing up the camera)
I'm really worried that he would confiscate my tape at this point of time.

Policeman: You got letter from CAAS to film here?

Me: Um.... no.

Policeman: Then, you cannot film here. (Policeman's favourite shoo-away cameraman line).
You cannot film the check-in counters.

Me: (Courage creeps in) But I only film the board leh.

Policeman: Oh. Then it's okay. (Walks away grudgingly that his authority shrunk with his manhood)

Woo Hoo!!! My triumphant victory over a policeman. As lame as it is, I felt smug because I simply stated my case. And won.
But no, that wasn't the end of the story. Gung-Ho Qian Ling was so daring, that she pretended to film the electronic television that displayed all the flights and she "conveniently" shot the check counters. I'm a coward so what. At least I admit that I'm one. Remember my fears, look at last 2 posts.

Besides travelling all around terminal 2, we went to explore the Orchard area. It seems God has some kind of hatred towards camerapeople and it started to rain, and then stop, and rain again. There goes our outdoor footage. Sulky and grey skies for a colourful cheerful course video.

Besides us camerapeople, we spotted other camera crew too. Not the tourist but people from Channel U and Channel 5. Glenn and Rod was hosting their sports show outside Heeren, Gung Ho Qian Ling went to film them filming and guess what, Glenn, Rod and the whole Channel 5 camera crew waved at her. Never have I seen a scarlet red face in my life before. The channel U crew was less welcoming, they looked like a cocky bunch of crew members, Darren Lim was with them and his voice sounded very macho and deep. Like a booming thunder that resonated with the weather.

That was my entire day. After which my 2 day exertions led to my Sleeping Beauty stance.

Morals of today's post: Tourists Part 2

As I was saying from the last blog entry, Singaporean tourists are so one kind. They are very slanted to their views and use a self-referencing criterion to measure what they encounter overseas. Let me illustrate more examples.

When you're overseas, you always experience the different culture there. But for Singaporeans, they simply refuse to acknowledge that horrible fact that overseas countries cannot keep up to the standard of Singapore class.
A great example would be food. Singaporeans sterotype other countries' food. If they see that students go to England or the United States to study, they would then say "Everyday eat bread, eat french fries. Buay sian ah !". So when Singaporeans go overseas, on the first few days, they will eat Fish and Chips if they go to USA, Australia or England, after that, they start whining and say: " Why so hard to find chicken rice or mee rebus stall huh?"

First things first, if you're overseas, of course you have to blend into the culture and eat their assortment of food there. Don't expect to bring the Singaporean context overseas because that will never happen. So, stop complaining and stop whining. If you want to eat Singaporean food overseas, then you will even complain more. Reason being that rice and noodles would cost more there and then your stingy wallet would slap your hand to make a purchase as much as your unadaptable stomach growls for rice carbohydrate.

Another highlight worth noting is Chilli. Singaporeans die die must eat chilli no matter where they go. Classic example is my mum. Chilli is a spice that will help enhance the taste of your food. That's rubbish to me. I don't prefer a spicy lingering taste in my mouth destroying the crispy chicken skin or the chewy french fries. Chilli, however is the lifeblood and the conversation topic of every meal overseas to my mum. Out of nowhere that we are having a seafood cuisine, she will pop the question. "Can ask the waiter to bring chili sauce for me?" I had to restraint my fork-holding-hand everytime we had a meal together.

Then, if it is not the chilli, what would make an EVEN greater topic would be the PRICE of chilli. In the United states, you would have to pay like S$0.50 for a small cup of chilli sauce at McDonalds and about S$0.30 at McDonalds Australia. So, everytime she approach the counter staff, this normally happens. It's based on a true encounter.

Mom: "Can I have some chilli sauce?"

McDonalds staff: "What sauce, mam?" (Right eyebrow twitched slightly at the request)

Mom: "Chi-li sauce lah."

McDonalds staff: "I'm sorry mam, we don't have such a sauce." (rolling eyes)

Mom: "Aiya, you know the small small one. Red colour and then this long." (Uses her two fingers to measure an average chili)

McDonalds staff: "Oh THAT! We have it. That would cost A30 cents please."

Mom: "Aiyo, sure anot, Singapore give free one leh."

McDonalds staff: .....

Well, you cannot expect Australia to be like Singapore. Or else, why even bother going overseas when you might as well stay home.

- Benjamin