Splatter Flicks in the Tropics

The flaked-out sleeping visible on all the streets through the tropics still startles a relative newcomer even after almost three and one half years. Lunchtimes in Singapore the foreign workers under trees and over the concrete of the Void Decks of the housing towers strike for an instant like massacre scenes from a real-life movie. Tonight going out for supper the woman who provided the buzz-cut an hour earlier was found slumped in the chair before the mirror with head on hands across the narrow shelf. 25,000 rupiah was the charge — $2.50 the woman's boss converted when she saw some hesitation at the price. Over a coffee later with Paijo the becak driver the standard price of a cut was revealed to be 6 - 7,000. In bule kampung, Whitey Village on Sosrowijayan, understandably a different scale operated. Marching up the street the Western tourists at the Massage place, the Pedicure, the sightseeing offices and the bars drinking beer need to be passed. Many of the young bule here would be inclined for some other type of experience were it not for the industry steered by the Tourist Guides. Buying a round of straight kopi tonight for Paijo and his friend, a fellow becak driver, and teas for three young early teen boys, the bill came in below the cut. The people on the other side of the rail-way line were more friendly, Paijo suggested. Sometimes the backpacker kids can be seen along that stretch too beyond Malioboro.