Bring Back The Magic (by Jimmy Buffett)

The last time I was over here I had a chance to spend a few days in Singapore on my way home. After being on the move and living on board a convoy of ships for nearly two and a half months I was pretty tired. Singapore was the first of two stop-overs on my way back home. With all my luggage and my travels home already begun, I decided to turn down the offer to stay with some friends and check out a new country and I continued on my journey home … a decision I have since regretted. The lesson I learned from that mistake: Never let a small amount of money or tiredness get in the way of experiencing a new country. Well, I finally got the chance to redeem myself. When I went to Italy as a teenager with my parents, we had the chance to visit Rome and nothing else or see more of the country and continent but miss out on Rome. My parents said something to me on that trip that they have since repeated many times: “Jeff, we know you, you’ll come back” … They know me well, don’t they?!
This trip to Singapore was to be a day trip to renew my visa. Those of you know me the best know that my plans don’t always go as they’re intended to. I went with a friend of mine, Jen, and we got there around noon. She’s been there many times before and this was my first significant amount of time there, so I asked her what we would do all day … she didn’t really have any solid answers. In fact, the night before she heard me comment about leaving as late at night as possible and she was trying to figure out what we’d do all day. Since she didn’t have any real ideas, I voted that we try to find Raffles Marina so I could try to connect up with Francis Lee, the president of Raffles Marina and the leader of the expedition I was on last time I was here.
After riding the MRT (Metro Rail Transit), grabbing some lunch, and hopping on a bus, we got to Raffles around 2pm. Francis was away, so I left him a note. Jen thought we were done there, but marinas are some of my favorite places in the world and I wanted to head down to the docks to check out all the yachts and live-aboards … reminisce of days gone by and dream of potential days to come out at sea! We went outside and down to the docks and were greeted by a sign that said no one was allowed on the docks unless they were a boat-owner or a member of the marina … neither of which we were. I told her I’d just tell them I was friends with Francis Lee if anyone were to question us and I walked down to the docks … with some hesitation, Jen followed (she’s a bit of a worrier). I pointed out to her one of the first boats I saw because it looked just like one of the boats I lived on during my expedition, but the name on it was the Picante which wasn’t the name of any of the ships on the convoy. We walked down a different dock and I was in heaven checking out all the sailing yachts! Then, as we approached the end of the dock, there she was … the Lady Olivia!!! I hadn’t seen her in over six years! The Lady Olivia, or Lady O as we called her, was actually the only ship I never slept on, but I did spend some time with her. As we got closer, we realized the engine was running and there was someone inside. This kinda freaked Jen out and she was ready to head back, but I just got that much more excited and wanted to see if it was anyone I knew. When we got close enough for me to see the face inside, I recognized him right away, although I couldn’t remember his name. He came outside and I reintroduced myself and asked him for his name again … Captain Steven! It was SO crazy for me to actually be leaning against the Lady O, talking to Steven once again. He caught me up on a handful of the expedition members and told me what they’ve been up to and what they’re doing now. I even got the contact information for a couple of my old friends.
After talking with Steven for about a half hour or so, he asked me if I remembered the Lee Way. I had totally forgotten that name until he said it. He pointed to the Picante and told me it had been sold after the expedition and had her name changed three times since. Jen and I walked over to her and the memories hit me like a tidal wave … this was the boat I had spent nearly the most amount of time living on and had some of my best memories from. This is the boat I had lived on for four days and nights without having any land in site, the boat I same off of in the middle of the open sea with a whale directly below during that same four day stint, the boat on which I had my regular shifts at the helm (of course, as the newbie I was given the graveyard shift), and the boat on which I spent nearly an entire day looking out into the open sea and just praised God for all the beauty I saw! I never thought I’d see her again. Long ago I had convinced myself that the memories of my time on the expedition here on the far side of the world would remain memories and would never revisit me again. It’s a lot like running into an old friend or seeing the house that you grew up in as a kid and fostered so many of your most precious memories. It was like coming home again.
Well, the rest of the day in Singapore was still a lot of fun, but what made it so much fun was the residual effect of the pure elation I felt from seeing Steven and my old sleeping quarters once again. We wandered around the docks a little longer and enjoyed the ships that were docked there. When I was finally able to pry myself away from the marina, we worked our way back to Orchard in the main part of the city where all the action is. We weren’t hungry for dinner yet, so we decided to go see a movie. By the time we were able to find the theater and pick a movie, it was already 7:15pm. What we didn’t factor in was what time the movie ended. When we got out and noticed the time, we realized we were going to be spending the night in Singapore. Fortunately, between the two of us, we have friends there and wouldn’t have trouble finding a place to crash.
Once we got our sleeping arrangements situated and let everyone back home know we weren’t coming back that night, we headed out to the HRC (Hard Rock Café) for a late dinner. We managed to order our food a good 10 minutes before the kitchen closed at 10:30pm. WHEW! While we were waiting for our food we got to talking with the servers (well, I got to talking with the servers. Jen was getting pretty tired). By the time we left the HRC around 11:45pm we must’ve spent nearly an hour talking with nearly every server there. They all wanted us to stick around for the live reggae band that was playing from midnight to 3am. As badly as I wanted to stay, we had some last-minute hosts who we didn’t want to disturb by coming in at 3:30am. So, we left our new friends, grabbed a cab, and made it to our home for the night around midnight where one of our hosts was kind enough to wait up for us. We were shown to our respective rooms and I was finding my way onboard the dreamland express around 1am. It made for a short night having a wakeup call at 6:45am (remember, I’m NOT a morning person!).
Barely functioning, we worked our way back home, making it back by 8:45am. All-in-all, as exhausting as it was, it was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time … and I’ve had some pretty amazing days lately! I decided not to head to the office and took the day off. Believe me, I was much more productive during my nap that afternoon then I would have been trying to do any work. Besides, I don’t foresee any rest between now and my return trip to Singapore in a month. I like to think I deserved this day!!!

By the way, there are some new pictures I added to my “Islands” photo gallery … check it out if you haven’t already. I’ll try to add some pictures of the Lady Olivia and the Picante/Lee Way soon too!