Accident

Last night I went to a great dinner with my friend, Tali and two of her friends. We ate at this "modern Japanese" restaurant kind of near my school. It was a seven course tasting menu, but really it was just a seven course meal. The portions were not "tasting" size. They were real.

I ate: A platter of some fish and things. I ate some sort of beef thing that was wrapped around a cone. I ate soft shell crab tempura (with other vegetable treats mixed in). I ate a mushroom soup. I ate a plate of sushi. I ate a chocolate lava cake with good vanilla ice cream. I drank some sort of fruity, cold, icy drink. I liked it all, and it was way worth the price. My biggest challenge was the sushi. They were six or so rolls of rice and nori. On top of each one was a different delectable treat. For one it was eel, another salmon, another some sort of fish egg thing, etc. Well, the whole thing cannot fit in your mouth comfortably (it was big!), and when I tried to break up the roll and split the top stuff in two, it didn't work. I found no solution.

We were there until about 10:30. I got a ride back to the east coast, and I hopped out of the car at East Coast Road in Katong - which is a couple of miles from our house. I was walking along the road looking for a taxi...walking and walking...it was now about 11. I saw a taxi driving the opposite direction, and he pulled over to the left (remember, we drive on the left here), and he waited to make a u-turn.

Traffic went by him (going his direction) and opposite him. He waited. I waited on the other side of the road. The traffic opposite was clearing, and I could see that he was starting to move, but there was a car and a motorcycle going FAST, in his direction, on his right. I don't know WHAT he was thinking, but from the left, he started making a u-turn to the right, and clearly the car and motorcycle were going FAST. I looked away and screamed. The motorcycle HIT the taxi, and the guy went flying. I actually don't know what happened with the car, because I know I saw one driving behind the motorcycle, but it wasn't involved in the accident, and I don't know where it went. The motorcycle rider got thrown to the other side of the road. Thank goodness no cars were coming. Somehow he came over to the curb. I called the police/ambulance. The taxi driver pulled his car to the side, and he seemed to be okay.

The motorcycle rider, thank goodness, had a super thick leather jacket (it cost him $700 and saved his arms), but his pants were all torn up, and I don't know what was going on with his legs. He said his belly hurt, and he also had cuts all over his face - but (again) thank goodness he had a helmet on. It definitely saved his life.

The ambulance took TWENTY FIVE minutes to come. I called back three times, and they kept saying it was on the way. You can drive from one end of Singapore in 25 minutes. I have no clue what they were doing, but had this guy been bleeding heavily. He would have died. I told the ambulance people that. I also had told them that he was thrown from his bike and injured seriously - and 25 minutes was their reaction.

The police never came. They moved the bike, the taxi (don't they need to investigate!?)...the guy got taken away in the ambulance. I left my name and number with the two guys (taxi driver and motorcycle rider), but I never told anyone what I saw. I am SHOCKED at the (lack of?!) response, and it makes me scared to have kids here.

The taxi driver was blaming me for hailing a taxi from the other side of the road. Hell yeah I felt guilty. I felt HORRIBLE. I still feel horrible, and I keep hearing the crash and seeing it coming in my head. Thank goodness they will all be okay, but that was a really scary and horrible experience.