Things to Love and Loathe about Living in Singapore -- part 1

• LOATHE - Sweat running down your legs when you cross them outside for more than two minutes.LOATHE - A cappuccino often is more like a latte.
• LOATHE - Cable companies are just as useless in their customer service though at least they genuinely are trying to help you.
• LOVE - Bus drivers are called bus captains.
• LOVE - Buses are hyper air con and super cheap.
• LOATHE - Buses are often irregular. My 186 commute is reminiscient of the CTA 151 -- interminably late, over-crowded and never preceded by empty taxis when you need them.
• LOVE and LOATHE - Taxi queues. A godsend at times, a nightmare at others. I miss just hailing a cab in the middle of the street.
• LOVE - The fact that air travel feels luxe. Airports are clean, the employees are smiling, people are calm and the flight actually an experience I look forward to.
• LOVE - Singapore Airlines. The best airline ever.
• LOVE - Local, tasty -- though rarely healthy -- meals under 10USD.
• LOATHE - Inconsistent presence of toilets in restaurants. Sometimes they are down the "hall" within the broader building. (And don't get me started on the squatting toilets that still pop up, though not as much as in China.)
• LOATHE - The presence of lizards and roaches, and the inevitability that they will make stopovers in your abode.

• LOATHE - The curious 2ft by 2ft opening in my kitchen. Much better covered with Saran wrap. Though the pink bubble wrap was festive.
• LOVE - Trying new Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese food then having easy access to fully stocked grocery aisles to try to recreate. No more "ethnic aisles" @ Dominick's that try to cram 20 ethnic cuisines in one aisle.
• LOVE - Clean, air con taxis that you can pay by credit card or EZ Link (think CTA card).
• LOVE - The trusting taxi driver who let me exit taxi without paying when his card reader was down and trusted I would transfer it to his account. I did!!
• LOVE - Easy availability of iPhone 4s
• LOVE - Peranakan food and culture
• LOVE - Having exposure not to "Chinese food" but Szechuan, Hokkien, Hainanese, etc.
• LOVE - New friends who hail from China, Australia, India, UK, etc.
• LOVE - The humility of Asians in the  workplace. Lots to learn from them.
• LOATHE - Creepy prostitutes and cigarette smoke -- often can't escape them when out in popular bar or hotel areas.
• LOVE - Shops are open until about 10 p.m.
• LOATHE - Shops, grocery stores and even some breakfast places don't open until 10 a.m.
• LOVE - The ahhhhh feeling when you must break from 90 degree heat and the too-close sun by jumping in the pool that inexplicably remains cool.
• LOVE - Arriving home to a HUGE courtyard filled with fountains, pools, palm trees and countless flora.
• LOATHE - The strange way stores bag your groceries -- by category, not weight...so all heavy canned goods are together, bottles of wine, paper items, etc.