My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

We could not leave Thailand without taking a tour to the historical
Bridge over the River Qwai. During the Japanese occupation of
Thailand in World War II, the Japanese Army brought the iron
bridge from Java. It was then reassembled by Allied Prisoners of
War. The bridge was part of a strategic railway route to Myanmar
that the Japanese aimed to use to secure supplies with which to
conquer other western Asian countries. As most of us know, there
was a famous movie, whose main actor was Alec Guinness
entitled, The Bridge over the River Kwai that had a musical piece
with the same name and became very popular.
Singapore
From Thailand, we flew again on Singapore Airline to Singapore,
a relatively short flight. We arrived at the airport and as I presented
my US passport to the immigration official, she asked for my
vaccination card. I handed her the card and she noticed that the
card did not show that I had the required shots. I insisted saying
that I had taken the vaccination, but perhaps the doctor’s secretary
had forgotten to fill out the card. I even explained that I had been
sick for a few days, as a reaction to the vaccination. The official
did not care about my problem. She said, “You either get
vaccinated or you cannot enter Singapore.” Naturally, I had no
choice and I was vaccinated again, but afraid of becoming sick as a
result! Thank God I didn’t have a negative reaction. The process
took a couple of hours. Deodete told me that she thought that after
I got the vaccination in Bristol, I probably started joking and
talking to Mary Lou, Dr. Da Silva’s secretary, and she forgot to
stamp the card! My wife was right. Many times I can’t keep my
mouth shut – always talking and joking around!
When we finally arrived at our hotel, it was after midnight and
they had given our room to someone else and we had to go to
210