The Botanicals

The beautiful Singapore Botanical Gardens. Looks tranquil, eh? And well it might be! I was tipped off recently that these lovely gardens existed by a young girl I met in the gym. She is from the United States, blissfully free of the sort of accent that requires extrordinary concentration on my part, so naturally I decided we were the best of friends. (I am flummoxed by the fact that Singapore claims English to be their first language. NObody speaks it. It is pretty clear that everyone speaks one form of Chinese or another and they simply putter in English, good naturedly putting up with the expats and each other....) We had run alongside each other in air conditioned comfort for an hour or so. She mentioned that she runs at the Botanicals in the early AM. Desperate for female companionship I ignored the fact that she had also mentioned at some point that she was my daughter's age, and that the '10' on my new-age treadmill screen was KPH and not MPH. I threw caution to the wind and headed out there in the early morning to run alongside this young gazelle. I about had a stroke. Near as I can figure it is 2 miles over and just over 9 miles back, the garden jogging path is 10 miles, and it is uphill both ways. Not to mention that the temperature in the early AM is about 25 degrees hotter than the heat of the day. Celsius. Plus, the humidity appears to exceed 100% in Singapore. I made the trek, tho - resisted the temptation to take the train back, and committed to going again. But not every day. I'm an old woman. I could die out there...