Yesterday's taxi driver was...

Lau Mai is a native Singaporean. He doesn't "speak good English" (There is a poster for the official Singaporean "Speak Good English" campaign across from my apartment).

Me: Tamasek Tower please
Lau: Huh?
Me: Tamasek Tower. 8 Shenton Way.
Lau: Oh ok.
Me: How are you?
Lau: Huh?
Me: Are you well?
Lau: Oh, well. You?
Me: Yeah.
Lau: You go to work this late?
Me: I talk to California from home in the morning
Lau: Oh. You LA or San Francisco
Me: San Francisco, do you have family there?
Lau: No, I went for tour. You work with Hollywood?
Me: No, I work for an internet company.
Lau: San Francisco has the grape.
Me: I'm sorry, San Francisco has the what?
Lau: Grape. G-R-A-P-E.
Me: Oh, you mean the wine?
Lau: Yes! The wine
Me: Oh yes, they have very good wine. You can look at the grapes and then drink the wine. I miss all the wine in Singapore, we don't have as much here. Which do you prefer, LA or San Francisco?
Lau: Vancouver. I have relative in Vancouver.
Me: Oh, did you visit them?
Lau: I visited them, very nice.
Me: What time of year did you go?
Lau: 2001
Me: Ah, did you go in winter or summer?
Lau: December.
Me: Wow, were you cold?
Lau: No, it wasn't so cold.
Me: Did you see snow?
Lau: No, No, I went to Seattle.
Me: Oh, there's the building.
Lau: Oh, sorry, sorry (drives past the entrance).
Me: You can drop me here.
Lau: (Silence...$0.60 on the meter later...) Sorry, sorry.
Me: Hrm. Thanks.