Forbidden Art

Topless girls in g-strings, gyrating on stage. Hard to believe I'm seeing this in straitlaced Singapore - where even normal tabletop dancing was, until recently, illegal.

Donabel and I went to see the Forbidden Art body painting performance by Yaari at Indochine's Forbidden City. The models started off skimpily dressed in a bandeau and mini-skirt, and then progressed to wearing nothing but a thong as Yaari painted them. Quite racy at the point between disrobing and getting enough paint on...

At first I wasn't too impressed. I mean, really, we could have painted those random colored stripes ourselves! As the paint layers increased, the body designs started to look more and more creative. Then the models stepped under the black light and we all went, "Aha!" It was neon body paint and looked pretty good on the dance floor.

The body paint exhibition was followed by a fashion show, also by Yaari. He designs clothes specifically for clubbing. In other words, they may look boring or uninspired on the rack or on the street, but they're made to shine (literally and figuratively) on the club floor under the black light. Of course, many of the dresses were so translucent and scantily cut, you'd be hard-pressed to try and wear them while travelling to and from the clubs. I did like a few of the designs, maybe if he had slightly less outrageous versions I would try some.

Surprisingly, Indochine wasn't packed. There was a crowd about two deep in front of the stage, but that was it. We had a clear view of the stage's left side from across the room where we were comfortably settled on cushiony soft divans (gotta get me some of those).

As far as art goes though, Botero was still more my style.

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The House Jacks

The House Jacks performed last night at Fort Canning Green. We'd listened to a capella rock songs before (courtesy of the songs on my sister's Ipod) so we thought we knew what to expect from a band that "sings" instruments. Well, watching The House Jacks perform in person was really something else. On top of being talented vocal percussionists and singers, they've got a terrific sense of humor.

My favorite number was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", done in the style of... Chinese opera. That was hilarious. Their U2 rendition ("All I Want Is You") was also good, although their "Harder to Breathe" was a tad too fast. They did about a dozen unpracticed requests but, sadly, weren't familiar with "Ants Marching".

While each of the House Jacks had distinct (and cool) personalities, the crowd favorite was bassist Bert Bacco. Donabel bought a CD on the way out, and we'll probably see them again the next time they visit Singapore.

We walked down Orchard Road and stopped at Round Midnight for a nightcap. It's a pleasant place to chill out; the choice of music makes it more of a Latin piano bar (is there such a thing?) than a jazz bar. The singer was a couple of songs late for the first set - it's our theory that she was watching the House Jacks and got stuck in the crowd buying CDs.

We were pleasantly surprised to discover that Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays are ladies' nights at Round Midnight, so Sarah, Donabel and I were treated to free cosmopolitans. The waiters were extremely efficient at refilling drink glasses and snack bowls, which meant our cocktails were constantly being topped up whenever we paused for breath.

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Lost in Translation

The Kyoto train station was, as always, huge and remarkably efficient. The signboard posted outside the central gate had a neighborhood map which showed the Tourist Information Center location just across the street. I hadn't been to Kyoto for a while, so we crossed over to the TIC.

Or over to where the TIC was supposed to be, as it turned out. The building's exterior didn't show any signs of a tourist information center, and neither did the ground floor. Finally we asked one of the shop ladies which floor it was on.

She pulled a printed sheet of paper off a stack and highlighted a spot inside Isetan, explaining that the tourist information center moved back across the street.

Amazing. When you're travelling in less developed countries, you're usually lucky to get someone who even knows there's a tourist center in the area. An efficient place might have storekeepers who can give you exact directions. But a printed map custom-made to show you the new location, stocked by ground-floor cigarette sellers... only in Japan.

The following day we took a bus to Yonago, a small industrial / rural city in Tottori Prefecture. Most of our friends didn't know where Yonago was, and none of them could understand why we'd want to go there, until we explained that we were visiting the host family John stayed with as an exchange student.

Turned out there was a bus directly from the Kobe Bay Sheraton to Yonago. What are the odds of that? John and I were the only passengers boarding at the Sheraton, but the bus driver still insisted we sit in our assigned seats, 12 and 13 (promptly bringing back memories of that gate attendant from Meet the Parents). We realized why when the bus filled up at Sannomiya.

On arriving in Yonago we promptly spent the next three days being toured all over and being fed all sorts of Japanese food. I ate everything from sweet bean paste jellies (taken with green tea) to umeboshi (pickled plums - been there, done that, never again!). The highlights of the trip were a visit to the seaside onsen and to Tottori Sakyu (sand dunes); watching fifty-something-year-old Okaa-san walking off down the steep sand dune was awesome.

John and Otoo-san were wondering how I managed in the onsen since I spoke extremely limited Japanese and Okaa-san spoke no English. Well, we managed - just like we managed the rest of the three days. Which meant half the time I gave Okaa-san a confused look until she said, "ah, wakaranai", smiled, and gave up. The other half of the time I got it (or most of it).

Getting there

I bought my tickets from zuji.com - cheap and efficient. Zuji adds a service fee on top of the airline fare, but since I was pressed for time and it was after hours, the convenience of booking directly online and having the tickets delivered a day or two later was better for me than coordinating with a travel agent via e-mail. I saved about S$600 by flying Malaysia Airlines instead of SQ.

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