Singapore'd

Next stop...Singapore!

I only had it in mind to visit Spore for a couple of days as everyone told me that that would be all I needed to visit all the people in town that I would need to see.  In retrospect, maybe I should have taken one more day for site-seeing, but yea, 2 days was about plenty.

Spore was the only place on my Asia trip that I'd never been to.  I'd heard all about the place from friends who grew up there or worked there so I had a sense of what to expect, but there's nothing like actually stepping onto the soil of a place you've never been to in order to understand what it is.

Everyone already knows this surely, especially folks in Asia, but for a first-timer, I must say my eyes were opened wide upon reaching this little land down under.  It's a cleaner, more modern version of Hong Kong.  It's not as anally clean as I expected it to be (after all, us narrow minded Americans only hear about things like the kid who spit gum out and got caned).  It's got a crazy mixture of Chinese and Indian people all over.  And it's got a cool vibe all it's own that I only started scratching the surface of.

I was essentially jam packed once I hit the ground there since I only had a couple of days to do everything...and that included visiting the couple of friends I know there as well as some agencies that I'd arranged to meet ahead of time.

The first person I met up with when I got there...and this is a wild story...was someone I knew when I was in college.  Truth be told, if I break it down to the very beginning, he was the reason I was on this Asia trip to begin with!  Back in college, my friend Holman got involved with the making of the film Joy Luck Club.  He was the extras casting director and at the time, being a poor college student who just thought being on a movie set would be a cool thing to do, I agreed to work a couple of days as an extra when Holman asked me if I'd be interested.  It was on that set that I was exposed to the world of filmmaking, became familiar with who Russell Wong, Wayne Wang, and the like were, and learned that Asian people actually worked in this industry.  The next semester, on a lark, I enrolled in a dramatic arts class and, well, basically I've never looked back.  I'd lost touch with Holman over the years, but I'd heard he'd moved to Spore, and through the power of social networking sites, had reconnected with him and told him I was coming.  That is not the wild part.  (If it were, I'd be a pretty boring person lah).

So, in trying to figure out where to stay in Spore, I randomly picked a place off the internet that looked okay and that was somewhat close to the areas I'd have to visit during the day.  When I got to Spore, I called Holman and he told me to give me a call when I checked in.  I told him the area I was staying in and he said it sounded like it was near him.  Well, when I checked in and gave him a call back to figure out where he was to go and meet him, it turned out that not only was I in his vicinity, I was on his damn road!  Of all the places I could have picked in the city, I chose a place right under his nose.  Connected at Cal through the world of film, found over a decade later through the 'net, right next to each other.  Could the world be any crazier?

Anyway, I caught up with Holman and his lovely wife Grace at their place and got an introductory lesson in Spore 101.  It was a great way to start my short stay.  The next day, I met up in the morning with a fellow AnD artist, Yu-Beng Lim, who I was introduced to through mutual friends and I'm not sure if all Singaporeans are this kind, but he took me out for lunch since it was my birthday (he found out on AnD), broke down the biz in Spore to me, and then dropped me off at my meeting with an agency in which I was recommended to go visit by everyone including my college friend, fellow AnD artist, and stud host of the Amazing Race Asia, Allan Wu. 

I tried to squeeze in a tiny bit of site-seeing - basically saw Chinatown for 5 minutes and then it was off to a meeting at a TV station followed by another small window of site-seeing time - about 30 minutes of hanging out on Orchard, Spore's big shopping street.

I later had the chance to visit Allan and his beautiful family as well and it was great to see how well he's doing out there.  Can't believe he's been in Asia for about 10 years now!  I remember when we were starting out around the same time in the biz out in LA/SF.  He, smartly, made the decision to go out to Asia at the time, and I only find myself exploring it now, many moons later.  It's interesting, the different choices we all make in our lives.  Anyways, very good to see him, catch up, and get his POV on the biz in Asia.  Later that night, Holman, Allan, I, and some friends all got together for chili crab - yum!  Of course Holman and Allan know each other cause that's how small Asia is and well, because Holman, being the magazine mogul that he is, had put Allan in a spread in his mag last year...all I gotta say is, that Allan, he's so out of shape!

The next day, I managed to wake up early to go for a run around my area.  I had no idea where I was going so just followed wherever my heart felt like going.  I saw some of the most colourful, lush, and interesting scenery ever.  I literally felt like I was on an adventure as I didn't know anything about wherever I was going.  I just took the road before me, remembering the streets I had to get back on to get home.  I cut it short since I basically only had a half day.  I rushed off to a meeting with another agency and then quickly saw a couple of friends I'd known from the States around lunchtime in Clarke Quay, and then it was off to the airport for Shanghai!

By the end, I'd come to an agreement to work with the agencies I visited, but as in HK, it remains to be seen how that will play out since I don't actually live in Singapore...it's something we addressed, so we'll see.

I left Spore with a desire to return one day to do some kind of work.  I'm not sure yet how or what, but I know it's there.  I often talk with my Singaporean filmmaker friend about doing something there.  This short jaunt only refueled my desire...I'll have to see how I make heads from tails of this place, but all in all, a short in and out trip that was a good starting point for what this country may mean to me eventually...