The River Hongbau festival also had anamusement park with mostly the insane kind of rides that only hurtle you in loops. After an evening of eating Sichuan food there was just no way that I was going to hang upside down locked in a cage. Again.
Once again, the experience of a festival in Singapore is a very clean and controlled environment. The last two fairs we visited — the Montgomery County Fair in Maryland and the Tennessee State Fair in Nashville — each had wholesome elements such as 4-H livestock competitions but there is always an element of seediness to be found. Ex-cons running the carnival games and rides games run by former Deadheads who lost their way in search of a magic ticket. In other words, my friends.
Years ago I was taking a lunchtime walk through Washington Square Park in New York City with a friend and, from the distance, a somewhat bedraggled man began to approach us. Instinctively, we veered away until he called out “Mitja!”.
It was ________, whom I last saw in Berkeley four years earlier after he missed a court appearance and I found him sleeping in his closet.
Me: Long time no see! Where have you been, _______?
________: Oh man, I followed the Dead for a while and then my foot got run over by a ferris wheel in Kansas.
But of course. You never know when a ferris wheel will roll by and catch you off-guard. Very sneaky.
At the River Hongbau festival everything was, of course, very clean. No garbage on the sidewalk, everyone behaving well, ferris wheels up-to-code and fully anchored. After Giuliani became mayor of New York City many people complained that he turned Times Square into the corporate and retail environment of Disneyland but people here would probably not see that as a bad thing. In fact, I am surprised the Lion City does not have animal-costumed tourist ambassadors frolicking around the city.
After her experience riding Space Mountain at Hong Kong Disneyland I was not so sure that my daughter would trust me when it came to thrill rides, or any ride. But she did not hesitate when she saw the giant plastic bubbles floating on a pool of water with kids rolling around inside.
She sat calmly inside as the bubble was inflated around her and then spent about ten minutes falling all over the place, loving it. I was just glad she did not pee in there like the child of another military family. It is against the law to not flush a public toilet so I am sure they do not appreciate a wetting down of their giant hamster liberty balls.
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Giant hamster liberty balls!!! What’s not to love?