A Journey to a No Man's Land

Hello world!
I'm back!

...from Singapore.

"What?!
Singapore is hardly a no Man's land!," you might say.

Well, for one and a half days, I actually thought it was;
and it had nothing to do with me getting warnings twice from the authorities also (let me tell you it's not for littering or vandalism).

It had to do with the malls.
I guess I'm not much for malls; and the first one and a half days were all about checking them out.
At first, yeah, they were great, especially considering just how many good looking girls roaming them.
But the excitement wore off quickly.
So much that I could only think of four words to describe the country.

Hot babes - Hot pants

That's all there is.
Where am I? I thought.
Everyone was wearing their best clothes, using lots of make up, spending lots of money for things I did not understand.
I was in the land of consumption frenzy, filled with beautiful looking beings that I don't recognize as mere humans.
I was in the land of the gods and goddesses... with malls all around.

(Some say it's a shopping heaven.
Well, I don't like to shop.)

***

It changed everything.

For the first time, I saw the beautiful landscape I had only been able to see in pictures.

It felt like I was in the pictures myself.
The pictures have come to life! I thought.
They are all filled with vivid colors! They surround me from every angles!
Until it hit me.
The pictures are real! I am really here!
I was filled with joy.
And it was far from over.

***

There were only three members (one had the guitar, one on percussion, and a vocalist).
They performed these arrays of light-relaxing songs, and were actually pretty good.
They talked to the audience between every performance, churning out jokes here and there.
Sometimes they told stories from their lives, which were all touching, in a light-happy way.
And to realize all was done on a stage with a backdrop of  beautiful landscape of the river, the tall buildings and the Merlion at night, was just unbelievable.
It was almost a trance for me.

But I was given more.
In the middle of a performance, all of the sudden, an old man on the front row stood up.
I thought he was going to the toilet when he started...
to dance.
Yes, he danced in front of the stage, at the watching eyes of the crowd.
And it was not just a simple dance.
He danced the dance I thought only someone with booties could pull.
The old man danced passionately; and we all cheered.
I almost cried that night.

The next day, I traveled alone to the edges of Singapore.
I saw flats with dried clothes hanging on its railings, schools, bad malls like the ones we have in Bekasi, dirty public toilets (yes, that's right).
I saw ugly people, high school students just coming home from schools, college students, workers, senior citizens, children, families.
I saw a land of Man, with mere Man all over it; ordinary people doing ordinary things.

I was no longer in the land of gods and goddesses.
I was in someone's country, someone's home.

It was beautiful.

I never thought I would be excited to see all the things that had made me happy.
I mean, dried clothes, public toilets, workers? Get real.
But I was.