A mixing blessing with my job is that I end up travelling fairly extensively. That’s good, in that I have a deep-seated wanderlust and love exploring. It’s bad, very bad, in terms of the amount of time it keeps me away from home.
My current trip sees me in Singapore thanks to a customer who booked flights and hotels for me, then cancelled the event I was supposed to be running. As the travel was non-refundable, it seemed rather a shame to waste it!
I’ve already had one of the biggest startles ever, on the way in from the airport yesterday morning. The breakfast presenters were discussing a news item about some teenagers who’d misbehaved. “Last time they were naughty, they were locked in their bedrooms”, commented the female half of the presenting duo – somewhat to my horror. She continued:
“Do you think it’s now time for the rotan? It’s still the school holidays, so call us. How do your parents punish you?”
Then, she turned to her co-presenter, asking, “Did you used to get the rotan when you were growing up?”
He didn’t, and quickly played the next song rather than asking her the same question. Drat! And the cab arrived at my hotel before the phone-in began 
The rotan – the local name for the cane – still appears to be in surprisingly wide use here for parental discipline. According to one report from the Singapore Sunday Times, hardware stores are the place I need to head while I’m here for my souvenir hunting:
COST: 50 cents, made in China and guaranteed to last a lifetime.
WHERE TO BUY: At neighbourhood shops selling household items. Usually found stacked with the brooms and mops on sale or hanging, tied together, from the ceiling of the shop.
NEW LOOK: Rotans today have a plastic hook at the end, which comes in a variety of colours.
At that price, pennies per cane in UK currency (even if the report is a few years old), I may have to purchase a bundle. (And if there’s anyone reading in Singapore, do please recommend a suitable shop)!
i live in a country that really near with Singapore.The situation is same. i can buy a cane as cheaper as $0.38USD. The problem is..nobosy want to use that on me..as an adult..lol
Awww, Holly, perhaps you should try bad girl instead and see if that helps 😉 I’m sure that Abel would try to help you if he could!
Have this great image of a family of sisters, each with her own cane with its unique coloured handle! So if daddy enters the dining room looking thunderous and carrying the blue-handled and green-handled canes, it will be poor Gemma and Cindy whose hearts sink, whilst the others can breathe again….
Gosh, Abel, you can start a business! Buy for 50 cents, sell to Westerners for $15/each (at least). Charge double for the dragon canes (do they carry those in hardware stores as well?). Man, that’s one of the rare occasions that I dream of the benefits of living in the East.
I think Holly and Amber should go into business! LOL and Amber proves that she’s our most entrepeneurial reader, whilst Martha proves that she invariably has the hottest ideas 😉
I bought several whilst out in Singapore a few years ago. They are only 1/8th inch thick and 15 inches long and are very stingy without being harsh. They fit nicely in a suitcase and I played one several times over the bottom of a lovely Thai lady in Phuket during my week’s stay with her. …. Happy memories .. and they only cost 10p each then!
p.s. ask for a cane for training a dog … the Singaporians prefer that LOL.
Hi, SoundPunishment
Haron would be ever-so grateful if you could recall where you found said canes in Singapore…!!!
Abel – Are you taking orders for when you find the cane hardware shop and is your suitcase big enough or do you need a shop for a new one of those too for all your new purchases?
Martha – Very very hot idea
Okay everyone, pick your handle colours and place your orders please! Purple for me of course
Oh! I wanted purple!
Can I have a nice shade of turquoise instead then please?
Bearing in mind it was 2001 when I was there, I found them in a little general store in the Chinese quarter of Singapore. They were displayed in the entrance.
The shop was near to the Chinatown Complex on Keong Saik Road, more exactly on Trengganu Street.
Latitude : 103.8436210155487
Longitude : 1.2822195393560507
if he has Sat Nav
There was also an excellent Chinese Massage Clinic (totally above board … I had aromatherapy massage to cure jet-lag … and it worked!) on Keong Saik road near to the Royal Peacock Hotel (not a bad hotel, I stayed 2 nights there)
If he buys some can he buy me 6 as well …. I will gladly pay him when he gets back!
Oooh, I want one too! No one I ever met had a cane – it seems you English perverts use them quite a lot though. They’ve always fascinated me. Please, Abel, can you bring me a nice one back?
Yeah but clearly everyone has overlooked the most important issue… Do they come with pink handles?
Heh heh, it would indeed be good to find out if any men out there are brave enough to touch a cane with a pink handle… or is that too much for them to handle?
Crikey…be careful! The cane is used officially there..and we all know how Abel feels about being on the receiving end…..
Guess where I’ve been shopping….
Good luck Haron…
Heh. Good luck Abel, you mean – those canes sound pretty wimpy.
That sounds like a challange!
Challenge duly accepted
Did you get enough to fill all requests for canes from those on this blog ….. when does the 40ft container arrive at Felixstowe LOL
(Hopes he has some for me …. and was the shop in the same place I mentioned?)
I like the sound of wimpy canes, all those tried and tested upon my derriere have been far from wimpy… but not sure looking back and asking if that’s the best they can do would be a good idea, so maybe it’s for the best that the wimpy canes and I have stayed apart…
Sarah, for future reference, Abel is not the best person to ask whether it’s the best he can do, or whether he’s even started yet.
I did once say the line to Farthingdale, silly me. Mind you, he’d warmed me up so well, I could hardly feel the caning. Couldn’t sit down for a couple of days afterwards, though.
I was brought up to always try my best…
I’ll put up a new post a little later about yesterday’s cane hunt!