people watching

people watching people I've come across while going about my day to day 

running guy every morning as I am just preparing to go out for my morning jog, this running man is just coming back, dripping head to toe in glistening sweat with a fist full of flowers. He is definitely one of my favorite people in my neighborhood. It seems like every morning, without fail, he returns from his run with a lovely bunch of flowers in his hand. Okay true he probably just stole this mini bouquet, and (being well over six foot I'm sure) actually looks ridiculous dripping with sweat and his teeny tiny shorts sticking to his mile-long legs... but one can't deny just how endearing the whole situation is. Oddly enough, even though we live in the same building, I don't think I've ever seen him any other time in any other state.

adorable scandinavian toddler during a random visit to Holland Village the other day, I was waiting behind this very European family at the crosswalk. The mother and father were the epitome of gorgeous-blonde-and-blue-eyes, tall and majestic, even with the little smidge of pink on their complexion from the scorching Singaporean sun. They had two boys with them; one appeared to be about five or six, but definitely much older and more sure of himself in comparison to the other, who was holding his mother's hand and appeared to be about three or four. This younger one kept squirming, dancing, hopping and skipping all the while we were waiting for the green walking man to light up. His mother would speak in a language I didn't recognize, but it seemed like a kind of Scandinavian language, trying to appease his excitement. All this is seemingly normal, yes, but what caught me completely off guard was for the entire time we were waiting, this little boy was was singing away... in Chinese.

electric wheelchair qinqin player nearly every weekend on Orchard, there is a woman who sits in an electric wheelchair playing what I can only assume is a Qinqin (please don't take my word for it; I may look Chinese, but it doesn't mean I know the culture very well, frankly). She sits amidst the massing throngs of tourists and shoppers, her image perforated by the sea of bodies rushing from designer boutique to upscale cafes. Throughout the shuffles of people, she strums what I can only describe as this beautiful traditional Chinese tune, taking you back for a brief moment to the time of emperors, concubines, forbidden palaces, and the like. Day by day she continues playing this music from another time, all in the midst of the most contemporary and cosmopolitan cities in Asia.