Napkins: Not a Necessity

Yesterday I went to the Botanic Gardens, what a calming, peaceful atmosphere!  Attached is a photo of a sculpture with this inscription:  Passing of Knowledge.  "Knowledge, like water, is vital to life.  In this work, a continuous stream of water connects the two figures.  The water is symbolic of passing the knowledge from generation to generation."  Also, I'm uploading some pictures from the Orchard Garden.  The orchard is the national flower of Singapore.

A few other random observations:

-In Singapore, napkins are a luxury, not a necessity.  (Which reminds me of a conversation I had recently with my sister, Victoria.  She was debating what objects in her life were necessities and which were just luxuries...she came to the conclusion that toothpaste, in fact, is a necessity.  What I have to say to that is, that toothpaste definitely is a necessity, but the toothbrush, on the other hand, is a luxury! Anywho, back to napkins...)  It's kind of like bottled water in Europe: at a sit down restaurant in Europe, if you do not explicitly indicate that you want tap water, they will automatically pour you bottled water and then charge you for it!  Well, here in Singapore, most take away restaurants and the local places won't have a napkin in sight.  I guess it cuts down costs.  However, if you go to a sit down restaurant, they will bring you a serviette, (usually in a packaging) and then charge you for it if you chose to use it (and sometimes even when you chose not to, it just ends up on the bill.  I guess they assume most people, especially American tourists, would chose to use the napkin).  I'm hoping that this napkin-less environment will transform me into a daintier eater.  Who knows, maybe I'll learn to eat without spilling on myself!  Wouldn't that be a miracle?

-the other night, I was riding in a taxi with a contact from home, and there were fireworks going off!  I asked what the fireworks were for (it was really an incredible display of fireworks) and it turns out, that they were just practicing for a future event (it was a practice for the fireworks display for the Formula One (night) Racing that's coming to Singapore in September...which is also a big deal, more on this later...)!  Apparently, it's common for Singapore to practice fireworks before an actual event takes place.  It was neat to see such an amazing fireworks show for no reason!