stroll.

A few of our days were spent on Sentosa Island, the island to the south of the city. Sentosa has the dual (but undoubtedly linked) status as both where Singapore goes on weekends to unwind at the beach as well as the epicenter of ‘Asia’s grooviest [New Year’s Eve] party.’

Indeed, Sentosa has all the amenities you might want in a magical beach resort, from a bi-nightly musical water spout/laser light performance (dubbed ‘Song of the Sea’), to a friendly sea creature mascot of such indeterminate lineage that he could only have been produced by the murky waters in which children splashed enthusedly and sari-clad Indian women sat soggily, to an alpine slide (on a killer 250 feet of vertical, complete with a chairlift), to ‘Underwater World,’ to a monorail, to the Port of Singapore.

Whaat? Wait. Whaat?

As there is little room in Singapore, Sentosa has a front row seat of the musical 'Singapore: Commerce.' In fact, as Singapore handles one quarter of all the world's shipping containers and an amazing half of the world's supply of crude oil, there is more than enough to see on Sentosa, all of it happening right off the beach! This contributes to a sort of strange scene, something on the scale of a cross between beach Disney and oil refinery Disney, where the equatorial sun would not so much set as fade into a sort of particulated impressionist's haze, to be replaced by the soft, all night glow of burning refinery flares.

One of my favorite things on Sentosa (besides a downright terrifying population of local peacocks that formed a sort of death from above brigade to deal with inquisitive children) was the 'Cool Stop' and its preservation of the traditions of shitty beach food. The 'Cool Stop' was your average, grimy, fluorescent-lit, stand-alone beach kiosk where you have to specify that no, in fact, you do not need the swimming pool of coke in the semi-pliable, yours to keep cup, with your popcorn and sweaty looking hotdog. Notable menu items included classic beach fare such as mashed potatoes--advertised as being high in vitamin C--and prawn crackers (undoubtedly for putting the beach in your snacking). The most homey touch of the 'Stop' was a Microsoft WordArt generated sign on the cash register instructing: 'Please pay here for tattoo service.' I do not know what is more unsettling: that people were entrusting the 'Cool Stop' with having clean needles or that, given the clear lack of room in the shack, someone was roaming the sands of petroleum refinery Disney doling out the inevitable big cat.