Computer parts and smog: like being back home

Martin's laptop's hard drive gave up the ghost the other day, so after booting it into target mode and stripping it of all the data we could, we decided that a trip to the electronics store was in order. Last night we walked the short distance to the nearest store, where we encountered an utterly mystified salesman who tried to sell us an external drive that we could take apart in order to get at the internal. We decided there was nothing here for us, and that we would have to look elsewhere.

I, being naive, suggested that perhaps there was another similar store nearby. It was at this point that Martin mentioned the electronics market area. Things get kinda hazy for a little while, but at some point I must have convinced him (and Katherine) that we HAD to go there. So we took the MRT, got a little turned around, but eventually wound up in the right place: a whole broad street lined with electronics store after electronics store. Big superstores (useless for our needs) all the way down to little, hole-in-the-wall places where you can bargain for the price of your component (just what we wanted).

We found a hard drive for Martin at the second store we went to, and for a good deal cheaper than we would have paid over the internet. Awesome. So we decided to walk back to the other nearby MRT stop, through the market.

I made it through the market without breaking my bank account. I restrained myself to one purchase: a USB skype phone. I can now speak reasonably into a handset instead of shouting at my laptop. More phone calls in the near future, as soon as I recharge my skype account.

The thing is, after we made it through the market, the MRT was nowhere in sight. So we started walking. We weren't completely lost, just pretty severely turned around. So we kept walking. An hour later, after marching through two districts, we made it home. It was a lovely walk: the temperature was great, there was no rain. The smog is so thick right now that all the lights had lovely little halos! In fact, when I got up today, it had thickened to the point of nearly being fog. No visibility.

Just like back home!