

On his way to a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Singapore, United States Vice President Joe Biden decided to detour to Adam Road.



The purpose: to take a stroll around, have a look-see and buy some lime juice at the hawker centre. Sounds simple, right?



What leads to that happening, though, involves weeks of scouting, location reconnaissance, meetings and brainstorming — just to narrow down a host of different venues Biden might feel like visiting on a whim.



[SEE THE PICTURES: U.S. President Joe Biden in Singapore]







This, say representatives from the team organising the visit, could be anything from the Mandai zoo to the Peranakan Museum. And for every one of these possibilities, every detail down to the precise traffic route Biden's motorcade will need to take in order to get there in the swiftest possible time must be planned and decided upon.





The massive motorcade



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Then, there's the motorcade that accompanies Biden everywhere he travels throughout his two-day trip in Singapore.



It comprises more than 20 vehicles — including vans, police cars, black Chryslers and even an ambulance, as well as at least five SUVs flown in specially from Washington but excluding the local police motorcycles that lead, trail and flank the entire length of the vehicular entourage.



From where the press was, divided into two 15-seater vans marked "PRESS 1" and "PRESS 2", one could barely spot the three police motorcycles that preceded the whole thing. Near the front are two black SUVs marked with two miniature American flags near their front lights — those were the two cars carrying Biden, his wife Jill, their daughter Ashley and her husband Howard Krein.





Of course, a gargantuan parade like this needs a clear road to travel. In this case, a completely clear one -- what seems like at least half the entire Traffic Police force has been activated to create road blocks, close off roads and stop cars at slip roads and lanes turning in and out of the road the motorcade is on. No exceptions are given; even buses (to be fair, we're not sure about ambulances) are stalled.



Even the process of actually becoming part of the VPOTUS' (Vice President of the United States) motorcade is a tedious one. Specific, non-transferable names of reporters and photographers have to be submitted and approved two weeks ahead. On the day-of, name tags and special security passes are distributed and have to be worn.



The security detail





Before anyone can go anywhere, all bags and equipment go through extremely detailed checks — security personnel open every zip and scrutinise every pouch, compartment and its contents, and every person boarding the press van walks through a metal scanner and is further subjected to a follow-up body scan.



In fact, every new location visited (apart from Adam Road Food Centre) required some form of security checks and walking through metal scanners.



The first stop the mostly-black procession had on Friday: the Botanic Gardens' Orchid Garden, where the (elder) Bidens had a deep purple orchid hybrid named after them.





As Dr Jill Biden gingerly placed a small rectangular wooden sign reading "Dendrobium - Joe and Jill Biden" into the orchid's pot, the couple's immediate surroundings were crowded not with eager onlookers, but with men in full suits. Many of them wore transparent earpieces, and indeed, some completed the stereotypical Secret Service look with dark shades.



Moments before the end of the orchid-naming ceremony, roughly a third of the crowd of Secret Service breaks away, surging ahead to another part of the garden for a second photo opportunity of the Bidens walking through a row of flowered arches. Ashley and Jill Biden barely have five minutes to learn about two species of blooms from Ministers Grace Fu and Indranee Rajah before they are whisked away by a flock of security surrounding them and their husbands and ushered quickly into separate vehicles.



The VPOTUS parts ways with his family and, on a whim, heads to Adam Road because he wishes to visit a hawker centre.





There, walking with his son-in-law, Biden strolls along the circular layout of food and drink stalls, while media and photographers jostle, climb tables and dodge more than 30 White House staff and security to snag a precious rare shot of him drinking from the cup of lime juice that he bought with a five-dollar bill fished out of his back pants pocket.



Every event is meticulously rehearsed, discussed and planned weeks ahead, but plans can also go awry — the media, initially supposed to sit in on Biden's meeting with Abe, was unceremoniously chased out by a Japanese official after a single greeting Biden uttered to Abe.





Crowded outside the room, though, is the same massive group of staff and security that follows Biden everywhere he walks or travels.



The same happens at the Istana, where Biden met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, President Tony Tan and his wife, as well as a rare opportunity with Lee Kuan Yew: security scan, large entourage, with a further step-up restricting the number of media allowed into Biden's meetings with the Lees and the Tans.



The younger Lee does eventually emerge with Biden to address reporters all together, but Americans still easily outnumbered even the Singaporean staff present.



The Bidens have one more day in Singapore before flying to Hawaii for a day-long event, and finally returning to Washington. In his short, whirlwind trip here, many parts of the island will undoubtedly go unseen, but one thing's for sure — when Joe Biden travels anywhere, it's pretty hard for him to go unnoticed.















































































































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