Darin & Maggie's Blog

74.365 Face-down at the Texas Capitol

2011-04-12T20:17:00.001-05:00

74.365 Face-down at the Texas Capitol, a photo by ApplesInMyBra on Flickr.

A behind the scenes look at some of Basil's 365 shots (Part 3)

2010-09-14T19:22:00.001-05:00

A behind the scenes look at some of Basil's 365 shots (Part 3)
Originally uploaded by ApplesInMyBra

Saint Basil checks the credentials of a newly arrived deceased duck

2009-06-27T12:14:00.001-05:00

Saint Basil checks the credentials of a newly arrived deceased duck
Originally uploaded by ApplesInMyBra

Basil's big yawn - 365:5

2009-06-01T14:12:00.001-05:00

Basil's big yawn - 365:5
Originally uploaded by ApplesInMyBra

Basil's big yawn - 365:5

For 365 days of my dog - day 5.
True TTV - taken through a Kodak Duaflex 2 that I bought on eBay for $1.25!

Flickr

2009-05-31T15:50:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Darin and Maggie doing the Charleston!

2007-12-05T14:13:00.000-06:00

Shoal Creek Blvd - Before and After

2007-11-04T12:20:00.000-06:00

Darin and I recently moved to Allandale - a charming older neighbourhood in Austin which is closer to downtown. We down-sized from our 4 bedroom house in Round Rock to a 2 bedroom 50s style smaller house (bungalow). The house is in a real good shape: the kitchen was redone recently (the previous owners refaced the cabinets and installed granite counter tops). The whole house (except the two bedrooms) has solid hardwoods. The two bathrooms have vintage tiles in real good condition.
The backyard is gorgeous - over one third of an acre, with trees everywhere and it backs to Shoal Creek. We love it!

Eventually we plan to add a second story to the house with a proper master bedroom and spa bathroom, and to bump out the kitchen wall. This will allow us to remodel the entire kitchen and enlarge it. Luckily there is plenty of room for the addition.

Projects:
Remodeling: So far we have painted the entire interior of the house (including ceilings) and we ripped up the nasty carpets in the two bedrooms and put stained concrete floors instead.
Landscaping: Darin has cleaned up the landscaping in the front of the house and planted lots of herbs. In the backyard we have planted some more trees and shrubs and removed some tatty hostas that were just everywhere.

Here are a few before and after pictures. if you click on the slideshow, it will take you the Picasa album that has more description:

Maggie goes jogging

2007-06-10T16:28:00.001-05:00

Maggie likes to go running with Basil. The other day, I took some video of their trek.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7011254639294008009&q=running+with+basil&hl=en

Farewell Singapore, hello again Austin!

2007-03-29T03:25:00.000-05:00

We are leaving Singapore tomorrow, Friday, 30th May after staying here for 9 months. Time went by really quickly! We had fantastic adventures here in Southeast Asia and we will treasure heaps of fond memories.

We are heading to the Australian outback for a week before returning to Austin. We arrive home in Austin on Saturday, April 7th. We can't wait to see our house and our doggies and all our friends and family.

Goodbye, Singapore! We will miss all the adventures!

New Delhi, India

2007-03-27T20:04:00.000-05:00

In early March we went to New Delhi, India to attend Vivek Chopra's ( a colleague of Darin's) wedding.

Nothing prepares you for the sights, smells, sounds and absolute chaos that awaits you the minute you touch down in Delhi. Driving in a taxi is a white-knuckle ride as there are no road rules, and regular obstacles include elephants or camels walking along the side of the road and trucks and taxis coming towards you on the wrong side of the road.

We saw some jaw-dropping sights - people transporting heaps of petrol cans with passengers sitting on top of the cans, 3 dozen people riding on the back of a delapidated donkey cart and so on.

We stayed at the Hyatt hotel which is a regular 4 star hotel and in the US one wouldn't even pay more than $150 for this type of place. In Delhi, the Hyatt ran $375 a night. And this was the least expensive "real" hotel we could find!! From our room, we could see people living in shabby hovels and tents right across the road, sitting around camp fires at night with no electricity. This is very depressing and disturbing on many levels.

We went to the Taj Mahal one day which was a 3 and a half hours' drive from Delhi to Agra in a small "bus". The driver had excellent skills in dodging camels, elephants and wandering pedestrians on the crowded streets. I could not tear my eyes away from the road, and quite a few times I had to gasp out loud from the sheer horror/then relief of narrow escapes by a goat/dog/person/other taxi.

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The sad part is that she died before it was completed and never got to see it. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj Mahal is actually an integrated complex of structures and it is surrounded by beautiful gardens.

That day we also visited Agra fort which is a powerful fortress of red sandstone. After crossing an extremely smelly (dry) "moat", you enter through a very impressive gate called "India gate". We took some stunning pictures here.

The next day we went on a tour of the old city appropriately called Old Delhi. We visited the Red Fort and the mosque of Jama Masjid, and also Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi.

The wedding was a tradional indian arranged marriage. It was absolutely amazing! We attended the ring ceremony the first night, which is a whole night affair and ends in the wee hours of the morning. It is at this ceremony that the two families of the bride and groom meet for the first time. Darin and I were the only westerners at this ceremony (because it is really just for the families) so it was extra special for us to see this. The women were all dressed up in stunning colorful saris and there was a lot of music, dancing, eating and celebrating while the bride and groom got engaged.

The wedding ceremony was also very spectacular. In a procession of dancing,loud trumpeting and drumming, the groom rode in on a white horse to the wedding ceremony. This procession is called the "barat" and lasted about 45 minutes. The bride arrived about an hour after that and was exquisitely dressed in the finest fabrics. Her hands were very intricately henna'd and she wore a lot of gold jewelery. And there was also the biggest buffet of indian food I have ever seen. They also had a traditional tandoor oven in which the chefs baked fresh naan and roti. The food was delicious. In fact, all the food in Delhi was excellent. Our friends, Mike and Sara, another US expat couple living in Singapore who also attended the wedding, took us to two restaurants in Delhi - both had some of the best indian food I have ever tasted.

On that same day, we got chased down a street by naked children begging for food and water, and Mike got firm with a pushy tout. We also had fun with Mr. Singh, and a very good laugh about a human scarecrow. For maximum impact, these stories have to be told in person my Mike/Darin/Sara. =)

To see more pictures, including pics from the wedding:

Delhi, India

Serendah: A Glass House in the jungle

2007-02-26T22:38:00.000-06:00

Recently went on an off-the-beaten-path adventure in the jungles of Malaysia. We took a bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. The bus ride itself was part of the adventure, because we booked on an "executive coach" promising personal entertainment sets, massaging chairs, food & beverage services and leather seats. Sounds glamorous, no? Well, not really. When you wipe the arm rest of the seat with an antiseptic cloth, a lighter streak reveals that the seat is actually totally covered in grime. You cannot feel the "massage" either because the bus itself vibrates/rattles so much. The food was slightly worse than airplane food, and in order to enjoy the entertainment system you need bring your own headset (because you won't want to use the ones they provide)! Anyway, still faster and cheaper than any airline, so we endured the 5 hour ride in anticipation of a relaxing weekend in the jungle.

In KL, we rented a car from Hertz - a locally manufactured car called a Proton Waja. Not too bad considering the jalopy of a taxi we rode to get from the bus stop to the rental place. I got a bit nervous about the stickers on the dashboard that were a dead-giveaway that this was a rental, and therefore a potential prime target for thiefs and crooks. Darin did a great job of driving through the mad and very confusing traffic of KL at rush hour on a Friday where they tend to change the directions of lanes as needed. Of course, you cannot see this on a map, so a two way street suddenly turns into a one-way street and before you know it, you are jam-packed and stuck in traffic with thousands of devotees on their way to prayers at the mosque.

We drove about an hour north of KL to a little tiny town called Serendah. From there, we took a few (very scenic) meandering dirt roads into the boonies, past 2 Orang Asli villages to the retreat in the jungle. The Orang Asli are the indigenous minority peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. The name is a Malay term which means 'original man' or 'first peoples.' (Incidentally, Orangutan is a Malay word, and means "man from the forest"). They (the Orang Asli, not the Orangutans) still live in simple, often delapidated shacks with no sign of electricity or facilities such as toilets or running water.

Two little scruffy looking boys standing by the side of the road, surprised us by throwing a big rock at our car as we slowly drove by. We didn't stop, but we heard the father shouting loudly at them as we drove off in shock. I am sure the got in trouble, but luckily our Proton wasn't damaged.

The Serendah Glass House: Sekeping Serendah is a private house/shed that is very transparent to allow you to fully enjoy the beauty of the natural environment surrounding them. The sheds are intentionally kept basic and free from lavishness. They are seen more as ‘glorified tents’ to provide basic shelter - so one step up from camping. There were these hand-made iron wire chairs everywhere that were very uncomfortable and there were a number of bugs and mosqitoes that feasted on my body, but other than that, the glass house was very comfortable, relaxing and very quiet - no tv, phone or radio. Just the basics.

We had a great time just getting away from it all, cooking food on an open fire, listening to the sounds of the jungle, catching up on napping and reading, and being awakened at dawn by the sunlight pouring in through the glass walls.

Glass House, Serendah, Malaysia

American in Singapore

2007-02-25T18:10:00.000-06:00

The clock is ticking and we have about a month left in Singapore! I thought I would record some of my observations before they are lost in the dark recesses of my brain. These are just random observations.

In Mexico, I am a Gringo. Here, I am an Ang Moh. I don't think it's a derogatory term. At least, that's what they tell me.

In America, we visit tanning salons and buy lotions to make our skin darker. Here, they buy whitening cream to appear more "fair".

Public transit here is amazing. The buses have a GPS system and you can send a text message to find out if the bus is near your stop. There is a smart card that you can use at on every bus and train throughout the country. You tap the reader with your card when you board, and tap when you get off. It automatically deducts the proper fare based on the distance travelled.

Some city buses have satellite television. I watched Singapore Idol for several weeks on the Express Bus from Jurong to Orchard Road.

Many people here have maids from the Philippines or Thailand. It is not uncommon to read about a maid who has been verbally or physically abused by a Chinese housewife. I have also read about several maids who fell to their deaths while hanging laundry out of the window in a high-rise apartment.

There are no laws against drunk driving here. Only "drink driving" is illegal.

You don't "get off" the bus. You "alight". Sounds much more graceful than something I would do every day.

There is no tipping in restaurants and no server is assigned to your table. They will NEVER bring the bill unless you flag them down and ask for it. This is because it is considered rude to bring the bill before you ask because it implies that you should vacate your seat. Once we learned this, we were much less furious when dining out. Just stick your hand in the air, and someone will come help you. I actually like it better than the American system. If you flag down the wrong person in an American restaurant, they will say "let me find your waitress for you". Here, they just take care of you.

In general, service staff in Asia are better than what I've seen in the West. Here, they are more attentive and proactive. They anticipate your needs and take action.

Most carriers serve free alcohol in coach. The service on Singapore Airlines is so superior to any that you will receive in America that it's embarrassing. American Airlines should change their name to Kazakstan Airlines based on the comparative quality of service they offer. Let me illustrate a couple of examples:

Singapore Airlines screens its employees for customer service skills and good looks. The men and women are young and attractive and seem most happy when they are filling a request.

American Airlines employees on the Texas to Japan route are grumpy old cows who hide in the galley and give you dirty looks if you ever press the Call button.

On asian flights, you receive an ice cold scented fresh towel as soon as you sit down, and a full hot meal - even on 1 hour flights. You may also order a special meal such as vegetarian, muslim, seafood and others according to your preference or dietary needs. The food is really tasty!

Just recently, an airline steward saw that I was reading and turned on my reading light for me. This has never happened in the history of American aviation.

On American Airlines, if you miss your connection due to a late departure, you get sent to a counter with nobody to help you, three dirty phone, and nothing to write with. "Call the reservation line and sort out your own damn schedule" is their message.

On a recent Malaysian Airlines flight, our departure was delayed 1.5 hours. They hired a caterer to serve hot food, tea, coffee, and juice in the waiting area at the gate! Also notable is the fact that with all the travelling I've done over here, I've only had one late departure.

There is a wide range of foods and wide range of prices. I can eat fish, rice and a vegetable at the local food court, (Yummy Yummy is the name of the food court), for less than two Singapore dollars. Or, I can pay a LOT more for Western food at a proper restaurant. I've yet to eat at a Mexican restaurant where everything didn't taste like curry. I really miss burritos.

There are some foods I really like here, but to be perfectly honest, most of the local food is not appealing to me. Food courts tend to have a fishy, greasy, chicken smell that dampens my appetite. Even though everything is in English, you still don't know what it is. A food court may offer Tom Yam soup, Laksa, Nasi Lemak, Ikan Bilis, and Chicken Rice. I only know what chicken rice is. They take a whole chicken, cook it, and chop the whole thing into slices and serve with rice. Each slice may contain bone, skin, and chewy bits. Much like the Native Americans, Asians waste no part of the animal. This approach is much less wasteful than the American approach, but it takes some getting used to.

One thing I do crave now and then is Durian. It's a spiky smelly fruit that MUST be eaten as soon as you crack open the skin. If you save it for later, you have a stinky mess on your hands. You must also buy good quality Durian and pay dearly for it. As much as $15 SGD per fruit.

Three Nights in Hanoi, Vietnam

2007-02-25T02:52:00.000-06:00

We get a long weekend in Singapore for the beginning of Chinese New Year (they call it Lunar New Year here), and Maggie booked a trip to Vietnam for us. We travelled on Vietnam Airlines and experienced the same level of comfort and service one would expect from any airline in the region, (which, for the record, is superior to any American carrier).

We cleared Immigration in Ho Chi Minh City, (formerly Saigon), then boarded a domestic flight to Hanoi. The airport at Ho Chi Minh is clean but tired looking. Our luggage was scanned three times as we made our way from the International Arrivals gate to the Domestic Departures gate.

I was struck by how quickly people would fill any perceived void in a queue. I used body language and my size advantage several times to prevent people from squeezing ahead of me in line. One young Vietnamese lady even tried to squeeze right between me and Maggie as we stood in line to present our boarding passes at the departure gate. Fortunately, it did not take much effort for me to hold my place in line as long as I was vigilant. After nine months in South-east Asia, I have lost most of the concern I once had over being perceived as a rude American.

In Hanoi, we used an ATM to get local currency. The exchange rate is 13,500 dong for 1 U.S. dollar. As in Cambodia, most businesses accept U.S. currency.

Maggie had arranged two guided tours for us through an on-line booking service with a local Vietnam company called Buffalo Tours. Our guide for both days was a somber young man named Hi - 26 year old Vietnamese guy. All tour guides must be trained and certified by the Vietnamese government. Hi said this is to ensure that we get accurate information about the country and the "regime".

Hi harbored a thinly-veiled bitterness about the fact that people in his country were not as wealthy as people in other countries. Just like many people in this region are, Hi seemed jealous of the prosperity that Singapore enjoys. He asked if if I thought that Singaporeans are genetically superior to Vietnamese. I laughed at such an absurd question, but he seemed to think it was relevant. I explained that Singapore is successful because the government is transparent and free from corruption. He acknowledged that Vietnam suffers from corrupt government officials, but did not seem to equate Communism with corruption. He seemed to think that corruption in the Vietnamese government happened in spite of the Communist regime. I did not share my thoughts on the subject.

Hi told us that Vietnam now enjoys a market-based economy and this has made things better for everyone. In fact, Intel is building a chip-manufacturing and testing facility in Vietnam to take advantage of the cheap labor and relaxed environmental laws.

Hi did not explain why the regime still calls itself "communist" when they have a market-based economy. I did not ask. I assume that would be admitting defeat. He used the word "regime" whenever he referred to the government, apparently not realizing that regime is a derogitory term in America.

[side note: Here in Singapore, the word "scheme" is neutral. You will often see banks advertising an investment "scheme". Funny how this word always means something bad in America. Comment from Maggie: same thing in South Africa - the word "scheme" refers to a schema or system - nothing negative at all. In America, no wonder I was met with a long, awkward silence when I asked a member of the Human Resources team to explain the "bonus scheme at Dell" during a fully packed meeting which included regional directors and managers]

Hi told me that he harbors no resentment against America for "the war" He is too young to have fought in the war, and America is just one of many countries to invade Vietnam over the centuries. Just as the Vietnamese successfully pushed the Mongols out of their country, they pushed out the Americans. The Chinese and the French seem to have had the most success occupying parts of Vietnam, and their influence can be seen in the food and the architecture.

Our first trip involved a visit to the Perfume Pagoda, and a hike to a shrine in a huge natural cavern. The only way to reach the pagoda at the base of the mountain was by renting a boat. Most boats were rowed by young Vietnamese ladies. I saw one lady rowing a boat with 13 people in it (see picture). One thing I found interesting is that the person rowing the boat pushes the oars through the water, thus propelling the boat forward. I find it much easier to pull the oars, but then you can't see where you're going.

None of the boat-rowers seemed tired, and I never saw one break a sweat. The journey was about 45 minutes and nobody stopped to rest along the way. The lady rowing with 13 people in her boat kept pace with our boat. Our boat was rowed by a man and had a total of four people, including the guy rowing the boat.

Lunar New Year is an auspicious time to visit a pagoda and pray for good health and prosperity. There were thousands of people making the journey to the pagoda that day, and only about 10 of them appeared to be tourists like us.

Although Hi said it was OK to take pictures inside the pagodas, I felt uncomfortable snapping photos in a place that was packed with people making offerings and praying at the various shrines. Hi said that many of the people only come once a year to pray for prosperity. He said these people are not real Buddhists. (Sounds like some Americans who only go to church at Easter and Christmas. )

When you make an offering at a Buddhist temple, the stuff you place in front of the shrine is collected by the monks for their consumption. Most of the stuff is small bags of rice, fresh fruit, toothpaste and other practical items. Cash is also acceptable. When I noticed a can of beer at one shrine, I asked if monks are allowed to drink beer. (They are not). Hi said that some items are only left on the altar until they are blessed, then you can take it home and share it with your family, in case they couldn't make the pilgramage to the temple. I guess somebody shared that can of beer with his family.

[Side note: Here in Singapore, as in China, "Hungry Ghost Month" is a time when you leave offerings for your ancestors and other ghosts who roam the streets. Small offering tables are set up on the sidewalks, and items you want the ghosts to have in the afterlife are placed on the table. Money must be burned before the ghosts can use it. They sell special ghost money that you burn each night for the ghosts. I mention this because I once saw a can of Guiness on an offering table during Hungry Ghost Month here in Singapore. The ghosts come and take the "essence" of the offerings. In the morning, the trash collector takes the physical item and disposes of it. You never take the beer home to share with your family in this case.]

Buddhist monks are not allowed to kill another living being, so this makes them vegetarians by default. [Sort of.] When we were in Cambodia, our tour guide, (who always smelled of booze and garlic), told us that some monks get hungry for meat and will eat fresh meat if it died a "natural death". Monks will not slaughter a live animal, but if they walk past a market and see chickens in a cage, they will ask the vendor, "Any dead chickens?" The vendor will say, "Sorry, not right now". Later, when the monk walks by the same vendor, one chicken will be dead. The monk will purchase this chicken and take it home to eat. I guess all religions have their loopholes. For some reason, this makes me smile.

Hi also told us that "we the Vietnamese people are carnivores, we eat everything". Everything including dogs, cats and a ratty looking ferret animal called a cevit of which we saw carcases stringed up in local restaurants, complete with blood still streaming from their noses. I kept looking over at Maggie, trying to anticipate the exact minute she would start crying, but she kept a poker face. She quietly announced at lunch-time that she wasn't hungry at all. I didn't blame her. (see pictures of the food we ate, and didn't eat)

I was disappointed to find that the infamous hammer and sycle emblem is not prominent in Vietnam. I only saw it once in downtown Hanoi. I suspect that much like China and other Communist countries, the government of Vietnam finally realized that the educated "elite" are something to be valued, rather than scorned. [During the cultural revolution in China, everyone with a college degree was rounded up and killed or sent to a labor farm. Now, China grants an exeption to the "one child per couple" policy to people who have a PhD.]

Sorry, this is a long entry....

Our second tour involved a 3 hour drive from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. In Ha Long, there were dozens of boats waiting to take tourists to see the sights. We did not realize until we were on the boat that our $40 USD per person had bought us a three-hour drive from Hanoi, and our own personal chartered boat.

We wound up on a replica of a Chinese junk with a crew of three. They served lunch and warm beer on the boat. (In Vietnam and Thailand, "ice" is pronounced "eye". There was no "eye" on the boat). Hi said that only rich people could afford to charter a boat for two people. Most boats had 20 people on board. Maggie did not disclose that, when booking on-line, we had no idea that we would have a private boat.

[side note: In Cambodia, our tour guide told us that Germans and Koreans are the most obnoxious tourists. They tend to ignore the rules and violate the temples. In Vietnam, Hi told us that Israelis are the worst tourists, because they demand "better" food, etc. than what they have paid for with their tour package.]

View our pictures here:

Vietnam

Siem Reap, Cambodia

2007-02-07T19:08:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went to Siem Reap, in the north of Cambodia. Siem Reap is small charming gateway town to the world famous UNESCO World Heritage sites which comprises a mind-boggling 292 ancient temples . There is no way you can see all of these temples and ruins in 2 days, so we had to cram in as much as possible in our short visit.

After an early morning flight that departed at (an excruciating) 6am from Singapore, we arrived in Cambodia at 7:10am and had to endure the longest customs/immigration process ever. You get a visa-upon-arrival at the airport for which you have to stand in line with your papers, passport and $20 US per person. Then your passport is scrutinized by 9 different officials by handing it down a line. Then you have to stand in a line and wait for you name to be called out (Darin's name had to be called 3 times, because we didn't realise the official was calling Darin when he kept yelling "Deh-REAM"). Then you h ave to wait in line to go through the actual customs, where a picture of you is taken with an outdated web camera. What surprised us the most was that all the computers and monitors were Dell. The entire process took more than an hour.

We were then taken to the Bed and Breakfast called Journeys Within, owned and run by a very young couple from California. The rooms were very spacious and comfortable, overlooking a salt-water sparkling pool. We organized a driver and a guide through the B&B and they were waiting for us when we arrived. Our guide, named "Kong", could speak english quite well but had a very hard-to-understand accent and at times I had no idea what he was saying, but just smiled and nodded. He must have thought we were very stupid. He talked a lot!

The temples are awe-inspiring - all of them are exquisite in their own right - some have very detailed carvings, some are so vast in size (Angkor Wat), and one (Ta Prohm) is being swallowed (literally) by the jungle with gigantic banyan trees growing over the ruins. This is also where the film Tomb Raider was shot. Other highlights included a ride on elephants around Angkor Thom, eating at a Khmer restaurant where they served delicious food at incredible prices ($3USD for an entire meal of green curry, rice and soup) and $2USD for a large bottle of beer. We also visited the town of Siem Reap which has an old market that sells everything from fabrics, t-shirts to bottles filled with unknowd brown liquids and unrefridgerated eggs. We saw a grisly sight of a woman washing/sloshing dishes around on the ground in a muck bucket filled with brown liquid and lumps of food floating around. They also eat everything from frogs (on virtually every menu), and snakes - amongs other things.

But Cambodia was the country that has touched me the most out of any other country we have travelled to. After many years of war and genocide this country seems to be able to move past their tragic past without ever forgetting it. Given the relatively recent trials and tribulations the country suffered, it is absolutely staggering just how friendly everyone is, even to Westerners.There were many children around the temples trying to sell their wares (usually books or bracelets made from grass) and most of them could on say one sentence in english: "Only wan dollah, meddim". It was heart-wrenching to say no to them. We also saw several landmine victims, some blind and some with lost limbs, making music on home-made instruments. We bought a cd from them, and they were genuinely thankful.

One night, we took a tuk-tuk (an auto rickshaw or cabin motorcycle) to a local restaurant called Madame Butterfly. Owned by an old French guy, this restaurant offered exquisite French/Khmer fusion cuisine that was very reasonable (nowhere in the US, or anywhere else in the world, have I had exquisite French food for a reasonable price). Our tuk-tuk driver (who's name was "Wet") patiently waited for us outside the restaurant to take us back to the hotel. When we arrived at the B&B, I asked him how much, and he said "whatever price you think, madam". I gave him $6 and his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. Apparently, $1 would have been enough (I found out later from the B&B staff). And considering that most of the farm workers in Cambodia earn about $1.25 PER DAY, Wet got his annual bonus that night. I am glad I paid him $6. Because he wetted outside for us. Hehe (sorry, couldn't resist).

Poverty-stricken, delapidated houses, road-side cooking on open fires, dusty dirt roads, people riding on bicycles with their faces covered - these are all sights that reminded me so much of South Africa.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Thaipusam in Singapore

2007-02-05T05:29:00.000-06:00

I was aroused from a drunken stupor at my desk by the phone. I figured out how to set my phone at work to sound like the phones in the Counter-Terrorism Unit on the show "24". It makes every phone call sound important.

An excited Maggie was on the other end of the phone line. "They're doing Thaipusam right near our apartment! I was on my way to Plaza Singapura and saw them walking to the temple!"

I hurried home to make sure I wouldn't miss the stream of devotees as they marched to the Hindu temple in a cleansing and purifying ritual that is practiced by Hindus each year. Note that the pictures only show a handful of the dozens (hundreds?) who performed the Pilgrimage that day.

The pictures speak for themselves. Captions are added for the less imaginative viewers:

Thaipusam in Singapore

The Elusive Kukup Valley

2007-02-05T03:23:00.000-06:00

Let me first say that overall, Maggie has done a fantastic job of booking fun weekend trips for us, and I really appreciate all the time she spends dealing with poorly designed web sites and a variety of thick accents when making our travel plans.

Kukup Valley was to be a simple day trip across the border into Malaysia, yet Maggie seemed more excited about this trip than most of the others. She kept reminding me "Kukup Valley next weekend!". There were promises of a remote fishing village where all the buildings were on stilts. An authentic Malyasian seafood lunch. Shopping for local handicrafts, and a visit to Orchid Valley! Every day, I heard the countdown: "Four days till Kukup Valley!".

Finally, the day came.

We walked a couple blocks to a nearby hotel to catch a minibus to the Suntec City mall. At the mall, we transferred to a large tour bus. I had my huge camera bag and my tripod. Maggie had a giant bag filled with snacks, brochures, her camera, and enough Malyasian Ringgit to handle her planned shopping spree.

Once on the bus, we heard the tour guide explain the process for crossing the border and we learned that a Malaysian Tour Guide would replace out Singaporean Tour Guide. We each got an immigration card to fill out. As the bus headed north toward the causeway that separates Signapore from Malaysia, the tour guide started at the rear of the bus, checking to make sure we had all completed our immigration cards.

[When we first moved to Singapore, we had to apply for green cards. I have a green card indicating that I have a work permit. Maggie has a green card to indicate that she is the spouse of someone with a work permit. These green cards have ensured that our wait at Immigration, when returning to Singapore, is never longer than 20 seconds.]

It so happens that when the tour guide stopped at our seats to ensure that our paperwork was in order, Maggie confessed that she was not in possession of her green card. Maggie inquired if it was "really necessary" to actually carry the card at all times? In response to Maggie's query, the tour guide walked to the front of the bus and said something to the driver. Within 30 seconds, the bus stopped at the side of the road and the doors opened. The tour guide unapologetically told us: "You might alight here. You can take a taxi home".

We gathered our camera bags, sack of snacks and brochures and my tripod and marched the long walk of shame from our seats to the front door of the bus. We stood in shamed silence as the bus drove away. Maggie began to cry.

I assured Maggie that this was a minor setback. "By God!", I said. "We'll keep trying until we get to Kukup Valley! We'll get it right eventually!" Then we went to the Orchid Garden in Singapore and had breakfast.

Three weeks later, "Try, try again". The tour company graciously offered to book us on a later trip, and we once again arrived at Sunset City mall. This time, before we boarded the bus, they told us that they "No longer do the trip to Kukup Valley, due to lack of interest". This, despite Maggie's phone conversation with them the previous day confirming our trip. Instead, they asked, would we like to visit the Zoo or Johor Bahru?

Johor Bahru is another town in Malaysia, just across the border. Something akin to Tijuana. The trip ended with us gnawing on my camera bag because we were so hungry. They did not stop anywhere near a source of food during the entire tourist-trap ridden journey.

We told ourselves that the Kukup Valley trip was probably over rated anyway.

Langkawi, Malaysia

2007-01-28T21:15:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, Darin and I went on a short getaway to Langkawi, Malaysia. A popular holiday spot known for beautiful white sandy beaches and romantic sunsets, Langkawi is an archipelago of 99 islands in the Andaman Sea, some 30 km off the mainland coast of northwestern Malaysia.

While waiting at the gate for our delayed airplane to arrive, the friendly Malaysian Airline staff broke out a refreshment stand serving hot food: rice, noodles, samosas and spring rolls as well as coffee, tea and orange juice. Something you would never see in an American Airlines waiting lounge! We also had complimentary foot massages (see picture in the album) which were a bit more vigorous than what we anticipated. It felt like you stuck your feet into a machine that you shouldn't have - perhaps a paper mill.

We stayed at the Frangipani Resort and Spa, set on a long, white powdery stretch of beach with smaller islands dotting the horizon. The resort was pretty, with lush gardens and ocean view bungalows. But the "spa" in their name is a bit misleading. The only massage available was offered by an untrained masseuse (an old lady wearing Muslim attire) in a beachside hut for which one pays 60 Ringgit (about US$20) for 45 minutes. I had the massage late in the afternoon at which time the sun shone directly onto the massage table at an angle. I got so sunburnt while the lady vigorously rubbed my skin with hands that felt like rough sandpaper. Ouch!

We went on a tour to an oriental village at the foot of a cable car that takes one up to the top of Langkawi's higherst vantage point to look out over all the other islands. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong so the cable cars didn't run that day. The oriental village was also an overrated tourist trap selling expensive "crafts". The highlight was feeding an elephant that some locals were offering rides on.

One evening we walked along the beach to the "Light House Restaurant" where we had a lovely meal while enjoying the gorgeous sunset.

We had a very nice and relaxing short weekend getaway. Picture are posted on google photos:

Langkawi, Malaysia

KL and Batu Caves

2007-01-23T18:26:00.000-06:00

On January 12-14, we went on a short weekend getaway to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital city. Locals refer to it as "KL". They love abbreviations in Singapore, even more than the U.S. military does. ("sabo" is short for sabotage, and refers to setting up your friend for embarassment; people often write: "S'pore" instead of spelling out the name of the country; and the newspaper refers to "m-cycle" accidents, as if they can't afford the space to write the word "motorcyle").

But I digress.

Kuala Lumpur is a modern city with skyscrapers, Starbucks, and Kenny Rogers Roasters. The Petronas Towers (owned by the petroleum company) are the largest twin towers in the world.

Throughout the city you will see taxis and personal vehicles made by the Malaysian automobile company, Proton. A Proton looks like something Chrysler might have made in the early 80s to compete with the Toyota Corolla.

On Friday night, after having checked in at the Istana hotel in the heart of the golden triangle of downtown KL, we went of a night tour of the city. This included a stop at the bustling Petaling Steet night market where one can find heaps of knock-off watches and purses. Some are better crafted than others, and of course one has to bargain for the best prices. After that we went to a Malaysian restaurant where we enjoyed some authentic malay dishes and watched a traditional malay dance show. Darin even got on stage to join in a dance where two men hold onto the ends of 2 bamboos and clack them together in a repetitive rythm. The "dancer" (in this case Darin) then has to jump in and out of the bamboos before his legs get caught. It was really funny, I got some good video footage of this.

The show ended with a Disney-style crescendo of the recorded music from the television advertisements that the Malaysian Tourism Board plays throughout the region. The full dance troup was on stage in bright colors, while huge video screens showed beautiful scenery and images of racial harmony. There was no mention of the Muslim militants in the north who are training for jihad against America and Israel. Nor did they mention the black magic that the militants use to defend themselves against the evil weapons of Western nations. I guess they don't have time to cover every little thing that Malaysia has to offer.

On Saturday we went on a full day tour of the city. We thought it would be a bus tour, but when our driver picked us up at the hotel in a blue Mercedes, he announced that it was a private tour. I cringed because I thought we'd have to make uncomfortable small talk with the driver all day long, whereas a bus tour offers comfort in anonymity. But it turned out that our driver was super nice, very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. He explained that Malaysia is divided into 14 regions, each of which has a Sultan. To avoid jealousy and civil unrest, each Sultan gets a turn at being King of Malaysia. The term is five years, and you get to live in the Royal Palace. No official duties are required of you.

Chinese temple on the hill:
Although Malaysia is officially a Muslim country, you are free to practice the religion of your choice. (you are not, however, allowed to hang a pig carcass in public, except in Chinatown. No joke). There are many Chinese people in Malaysia, so there are Buddhist temples. We visited a temple that honored several of the Buddhist gods, including the God of War, who is often visited by businessmen. Visitors to the temple can place a smoke stick into a thing that looks like a wishing well, and for a fee, you can have your name placed in the temple for one year. Your name is written on a piece of paper and stored in a special plastic container. There are stacks of these things arranged in columns that stretch from floor to ceiling. Having your name in the temple for a year is meant to help those who have fallen on bad fortune.

There is also a can full of long sticks that look like tongue depressors. You pick them up and drop them into the can. If one stick is sticking up above the others, you read the number at the top of the stick, and open the corresponding drawer to find your fortune. If no stick stands out, or more than one sticks out, you keep trying until only one sticks up. I believe there were 100 sticks and 100 corresponding drawers.

Batu Caves:
The Batu Caves are situated thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. They are a sacred place for both the Hindus and the people who sell food and trinkets at the entrance to the limestone caves.

There are 272 steps to climb before you reach the top. Each step is numbered in bold red numbers to save you from having to count them yourself as you climb to the top. Darin shamefully photographed two large women from behind, as they overcame tremendous posteriors to make the climb. Justice was done when Darin was later attacked by a monkey while posing for a picture. Sadly, there is no photo of the actual attack because I was so shocked that I forgot to press the button. I only got the moment just prior to the attack.

The Thaipusam festival: Every year, on Thaipusam, as many as 800,000 devotees and other visitors throng to the caves. As a form of penance or sacrifice, many of them carry kavadis (literally, "burden," such as a pitcher or jug). These are large, brightly decorated frameworks, usually combined with various metal hooks and skewers which are used to pierce the skin, cheeks and tongue. By doing this penance they expect some favours from their Gods. This grisly festival is held in the tenth month of the Hindu calendar (mostly the end of January). Darin says his kavadi is his paunch, and he considers it a form of sacrifice to carry it to work each day.

Royal Seleangor Pewter factory:
The Malaysian Tourism industry makes a huge fuss over the pewter factories. "The tin is mined RIGHT HERE in Malaysia!!". Despite live demonstrations prooving that a pewter mug can be made in 12 seconds, all pewter items are prices as if they were made from pure silver. I actually saw a poster touting pewter as a precious metal. I'm not sure who buys the pewter items, but the shops had plenty of salespeople and halogen lights to highlight the beer steins and ashtrays, so they must be making money somehow.
To view our pictures:

Kuala Lumpur and Batu Caves

New Year's Eve in Borneo

2007-01-07T04:45:00.000-06:00

What better place to ring in the New Year than Borneo? That's what we thought when we reserved a "chalet" at the Lankah Syabas Resort in Kota Kinabalu. Borneo is an island that is "shared" by Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia is officially a Muslim country, but you are allowed to attend the church of your choice. About 60% of the population are Muslim. Men are allowed to have up to four wives. I'm not sure if this is a Muslim thing or simply a Malaysian thing. Last year, a little over 13,000 marriages in Malaysia involved a new wife being added to the family. The last cannibals in Borneo were reformed 50 years ago. At least that's what they told us when we were driving through remote stretches of jungle.

When we boarded the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 737, they were playing music from the Lawrence Welk era. It was Christmas carols on a Wurlitzer organ. That same weekend, another Boeing 737 flying between the islands of Java and Sulawesi disappeared and still has not been found (five days later). A ferry also capsized off the island of Java with over 600 people aboard. Some of the passengers floated in the ocean for five days and travelled over 120 miles from the wrecked ferry before being rescued. After hearing about all of that, the organ music on the plane seemed like a very trivial matter.

The resort where we stayed is run by an Aussie couple and the atmosphere is decidedly laid back. There is a friendly little pony called Raleigh that runs freely around the property. When we first arrived, he spotted us from a distance and ran directly at us. I feared new video footage for "When animals attack" was in the making, but it turns out he just wanted to say hello. We have pictures of the pony and all the other cool stuff we saw on our Google Albums site (see link below). There were also a couple of sheep walking around, and one sheep head-butted Maggie when she petted it.

The beach was a disappointment for us. In front of the resort is a narrow, sandy beach that is completely littered with trash. Unfortunately, this is what most beaches are like in Borneo. The Malaysians are the worst litterbugs I have ever seen. Piles of trash line the highways in most of the beautiful jungles and valleys. One person explained that Malaysians used to wrap all their purchases, food and other items in banana leaves. These wrappers could be discarded anywhere and they would blend back into the vegetation. The advent of plastic bags and the Malaysian tradition of discarding wrappers on the ground have resulted in a trashy landscape.

On our first day there, we went on a private tour with a guy from the UK named Martin. A nature lover who is very passionate about Borneo, Martin took us to Mount Kinabalu and the Poring Hot Springs. Fortunately, there is much to see other than the hot springs themselves. It was very hot and muggy that day. As in Thailand and Bali, we saw many, many dogs running loose as we traveled through Borneo. None of them looked hungry, but I doubt if any of them have ever been to a vet for a checkup.

On New Years Eve, there was a big party in the second floor restaurant/bar of the lodge. A full buffet was laid out, and the entire carcass of a pig was on a separate small table away from the other food. A large handwritten sign above the pig stated "Non Halal". I can't imagine a Muslim person mistakely eating a pig, but maybe there is a legal requirement that non-Halal food be labeled in Malaysia.

We were assigned to a table beside a boorish Australian gentleman named Drew. His job is to secure customs clearances for his company to ship spices all over the world. He spent nearly two hours explaining that to us. We spent much of the evening thinking of reasons to leave Drew alone at the table. Ironically, just days prior to this trip, I had mentioned to a colleague at work that I have never met an Austrialian that I didn't really like. They are all such likeable people and fun to be around. Maybe Drew isn't really Australian... When we returned to our table from our first "Drew break", the buffet has been closed and the pig carcass removed from the little table. I noticed then that the little table where the pig had been resting had a chrome pole running up through the center of it. Soon the young Malyasian ladies were on the little table, dancing around the strippers pole. Their dancing was provacative and showed a talent that must have required hours of practice, but it seemed as if they were just having fun and they were completely unaware of the keen interest that some of us paid to their moves. At one point, the white haired, overweight, elderly Australian man who owns the resort, joined the ladies on the small table. After that, his six year old daughter (grandchild?) took her turn on the pole. I couldn't decide if the little girl on the strippers pole was charming or disturbing. I want to say she danced very well, but that would sound creepy, wouldn't it? Fortunately, nobody actually "stripped", so I was spared the decision of sticking around to leer and nake ladies vs. grabbing Maggie by the hand and loudly announcing my disgust at the behavior on the stripper's pole.

On our last day, we went on a jungle cruise to see monkeys. The Proboscus monkeys are the most interesting, because of their large ugly noses. Unfortunately, they tend to stay high in the trees and they are not attracted by the fruits that the lady at the dock sold us. Fortunately, the Macaque monkeys on the remote fishing pier were very eager to catch the hairy fruits that we tossed to them.

I am always on the lookout for examples of good luck that have been bestowed on me. That day, my good luck involved NOT being on the same boat as the loud, whiny children who rode on our bus to the dock. I was also fortunate to get some pretty good pictures of monkeys, despite the rocking boat and the overcast skies. Take a look at the pictures here:

Borneo, Malaysia

Maggie buys airline tickets online

2006-12-05T18:56:00.000-06:00

We have been spoilt in the US with websites that work, electronic ticketing, online bill payments and online shopping in general. Getting things done here is definitely harder and more frustrating than in the US. For example, the AC is leaking in my studio and I complained 3 days ago to the maintenance guy who promised he would "come fix it soon".

Also, I recently bought some air tickets online on a Singapore website called "Zuji.com - your online travel guru" for us to go to Vietnam next year. When they asked for my billing address on the website, naturally I had to give our Round Rock (Austin) address for the credit card that I was using. When I checked out they said the tickets will be mailed to the billing address, but they changed the country from US to Singapore: Foppiano Loop, Round Rock, Singapore! This is AFTER I have paid and checked out, assuming we would be issued electronic tickets. Nowhere did it say they were actually going to mail tickets through snail mail!

So I had to call them and ask them to send it to the correct address here in Singapore. There was a lot of confusion. Conversation went something like this:

[Robot says: "Hi Welcome to Zuji, your online travel guru. Your call is imporant to us. Please hold and your call will be ansered by the next customer service representative" - goes on for 18 minutes]
Zuji Customer Service: [Loud cough/snort] Haao, thi ee Zuji, how ken hell yoo?
Maggie: Hi, I just bought some tickets online and at checkout it asked for my billing address, which is in the US because that is where my credit card is from. However, the site never asked me where I would like the tickets mailed to and it bungled up the US address by adding Singapore as the country.
Zuji Customer Service: Mem, wha is bookee numbah
Maggie: 39847758892
Zuji Customer Service: Okee, mem, plees holl why I get yoh bookee. Yes, your ticket will be mailed to 1515 Foppiano Loop, Round Rock, Singapore.
Maggie: That is not the correct address. There is no Foppiano Loop in Singapore
Zuji Customer Service: Okee, mem. But tickets heff reddy been mail.
Maggie: Ok, so when the tickets are returned to you by the post office, can you please send them to this correct address: [gives Singapore address]
Zuji Customer Service: I will go check to see if mebby I ken fine tickets.
[Puts me on hold for 5 minutes. Robot says " You can now book all your travel needs online at zuji.com. Our website makes your trip easy!" I groan]
Zuji Customer Service: Okee, mem. Tenk yoo foh holdin. I was lucky to fine ticket in mail basket. [paper shuffling noises]
Maggie: Thank good ness!
Zuji Customer Service: [Loud cough] Okee, mem. Wha you say is that you put wrong address on website?
Maggie: No, I put the correct billing address for the credit card I am paying with, but it is US credit card.
Zuji Customer Service: Mem, then the ticket will be mailed to thet address.
Maggie: No, it won't because the Zuji website assumed that I wanted the tickets mailed to my billing address but then added Singapore as the country instead of what I put in the first place, which is USA. It is an error on the website. I do not want the tickets to be mailed to the US.
Zuji Customer Service: Okee mem, can you hold for a minute?
Maggie: Sure
[Puts me on hold for 6 minutes. Robot says " You can now book all your travel needs online at zuji.com. Our website makes your trip easy!"]
Zuji Customer Service: Ok mem, thak yoo for wetting. You send us fax. Can?
Maggie: Excuse me?
Zuji Customer Service: You send us fax with yoo new address to where we sen the ticket. We nee to heff yoh signa-chair.
Maggie: My what?
Zuji Customer Service: Your SIGNA-chair
Maggie: Oh, my signature. The fact that I know the booking number, reference number, flight number, address on the booking and email address isn't enough for you to validate my identity as purchaser of these tickets?
Zuji Customer Service: No mem, you send fax to 6758-4498. Put booking number, reference number, flight number and new address on fax...wif signa-cher.
Maggie: Ok, can you give me that number again? I will send that out this morning. Shall I put "For Attention....."?
Zuji Customer Service: Can, 6758-4498. Just put For Attention Ingrid
Maggie: Ingrid, my I have your surname?
Zuji Customer Service: Only wan Ingrid in office.
Maggie: Ok, thanks, Ingrid

Maggie sends fax. 2 days later.....
Maggie gets email from Zuji confirming that tickets have been dispatched to 1515 Foppiano Loop, Round Rock, Singapore...

Grilled seafood at East Coast Park

2006-12-04T22:07:00.000-06:00

Darin once went to East Coast Park with some of his colleagues and said that he had the best food in Singapore there. So naturally, I wanted to go also!

We arrived at East Coat Park after a 90 minute bus ride (ok, this was due to my inability to accurately read the bus schedule - I picked a bus that took us in a wide loop from our apartment west and then up and then east...long story). Five minutes after we arrived, it started to rain - our timing was definitely off, but luckily we had an umbrella.

East Coat Park is a long stretch of green along the coast, and the beach and landscaped terrains make East Coast Park a weekend favourite for Singaporeans. And where there are Singaporeans, there will be food! At the hawker centre there, located on the beach, we ordered grilled calamari, satay and roasted sting ray and some Tiger beer with ice chips to wash everything down.

I was surprised by how delicious the sting ray was. It is served in a banana leaf and covered in a tangy lemon chilli sauce that is to die for. The fillet is about half an inch thick and you scrape the tender meat off of the soft bones. I felt bad about eating a stingray because I know how beautiful and graceful they are. But it was very tasty and worth the try.

Maggie's Birthday Steamboat

2006-12-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

For my birthday I wanted to do something real Singaporean - go to Marina Bay and enjoy a Steamboat dinner under the stars while enjoying fabulous views of the Singapore skyline. Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Well, it really isn't that glamorous, but it is certainly very tasty and a lot of fun!

Hot pot, also known as Steamboat, is a communal dish which originates from Mongolia, but now eaten in a variety of forms throughout East Asia. It consists of a simmering pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Around the pot there is a little grill on which you can put meat and fish to cook.

Typical Steamboat dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, fish and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce, which you can mix up yourself from various condiments on a table.

Marina Bay is famous for it's various Steamboat restaurants and many Singaporeans flock there to enjoy their outdoor dinner buffets. You get to select your items from (very clean) refridgerated display cases and then you bring it all back to your plastic table on which your hotpot is standing. It is almost like camping - families stand around the hotpot, drinking beer and chatting just like around a campfire - the cooking of the food is very sociable and communal.

We had a fun time!

Haw Par Villa

2006-11-26T19:18:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went to the Haw Par Villa here in Singapore - also known as the Tiger Balm Gardens. The Aw brothers, Boon Haw and Boon Par (who made their fortune from the well-known Tiger Balm ointment) opened the park in 1937. It is inspired by Chinese legend and mythology as represented by the display of grotesque and gaudy statues, the coup de grâce of which are depicted in The Ten Courts of Hell. These exhibits feature the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. The statues are very literal and leaves no room for imagination - VERY gruesome.

This entertainment park was built with the purpopse of teaching and preserving Chinese values and cultural heritage. The park's colorful collection of over 1,000 statues and 150 giant tableaux centers around Chinese folklore, legends, history, and Confucian ideology. Morality tales includes classic battles between good and evil and tributes to Chinese cultural heroes. To me they just bordered on being really bizarre.

Headlines from Asia - posted by Darin

2006-11-10T21:23:00.000-06:00

Most of the funny stuff I see in print is simply bad English. These three items are funny because of the content.

This first item about tax evaders in India ran in the Singapore Straits-Times.

Asians love horror movies and this one really sends chills up and down my spine. Can you imagine 90 minutes of a squalling infant? Sounds like every business trip I've ever taken in Coach.

My favorite comes from the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, and highlights a growing problem in all societies. Sadly, Ching Cheong's wife is not the first person who has turned to Fok for help.

Won't be home for xmas

2006-11-09T23:42:00.000-06:00

Ok, there is good news and bad news: the bad news is that unfortunately, we won't be home for x-mas. The good news is that we have an end date for Darin's assignment which cannot be changed again - March 30th, 2007.

We will probably spend xmas here in our apartment listening to carols downloaded from iTunes.
Here people only get xmas day off, no bonus days etc. Also, Singaporeans shamelessly view xmas as a consumerist shopping holiday with no pretenses of babies or angels to sugar coat things with. It is all about SPENDING MONEY!

Hong Kong, China - Nov 2006

2006-11-09T21:56:00.000-06:00

Hong Kong is on the eastern side of the Pearl River Delta on the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, facing the South China Sea in the south, and bordering Guangdong Province in the north. Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842, until its sovereignty was transferred to the PRC in 1997. Subsequently, unlike Japan, English is widely spoken in Hong Kong which made it really easy to get around.

At first I was a bit reluctant to go to Hong Kong because I was terrified of seeing the bloody slaughtering and eating of dogs on the streets. Luckily, we saw none of this - the grossest thing we saw in a restaurant window (where we did NOT eat) were lungs and other unidentified bodyparts of unidentified animals being boiled in a pot.

On the first day we went shopping - Darin hoped to find some cheap electronics and I was hoping to find some cheap knock-off designer purses. At the Ladies Market (a bustling outdoor market jam-packed with all kinds of merchandise) I found the motherload. (See the display board behind me on the picture). The stalls selling the purses only have a catalogue containing everything from Chanel, Prada, Balenciaga and Chloe purses to Tag Heuer and Rolex watches. At one stall, as we were excitedly browsing through one of these catalogues a "sales dude" (a young chinese man with slicked-back greasy hair who spoke fairly good english) told us that he would show us the merchandise at his "shop" closeby. I started having visions of us following this bloke down a smelly dark alley where we would be mugged at knife point by his cronies, left wallet and passportless to die in the streets of Hong Kong, when my thoughts were interupted by Darin's voice saying "Ok, show us!". I was so surprised that I didn't even argue, and Darin winked at me as we followed sales dude down a narrow walkway weaving through the stalls to a seedy looking building. We entered the narrow building and got to a very old elevator that didn't look very reliable. The three of us got in and sales dude pressed the button to the 9th floor. At this point my heart was beating louder than the creaking of the elevator and I was trying very hard to recall all the self defense moves I had learnt at kick boxing class. When we got to the ninth floor, we got out and sales dude led us to a door that had one of those sliding metal burglary doors on it. When he unlocked the doors and let us in, all my fears vanished as we stepped into a room filled from floor to ceiling with the best made fake purses I have ever seen! Darin made a beeline for the watches at the one end of the room while I just gazed at all the Tod's, Prada and Coach bags dangling in front of me. Sales dude then showed me an adjacent room containing only Louis Vuitton purses and luggage, and another room containing all sorts of wallets. I was thrilled!

Later that day we went on a night tour of Hong Kong. This time we made sure that the narration was in English. We went to a night market (selling more knock-offs) and after that we were whisked to a floating restaurant called "Jumbo" where we were promised to enjoy and 8 course dinner of "fine authentic chinese cuisine". While the food was good, the portions were tiny - served in little saucers - and there was nothing really authentic about it. It was chinese food as we know it in America. But I don't know if I would have been able to stomach authentic chinese food anyhow, so it was ok.

We were seated at a round table with other tour group goers and this is where we met Katrina and Lloyd - a young couple from Wales who were on their honeymoon and en route to Bali. We immediately clicked with them and chatted away. On Darin's other side sat a Korean bloke who bought an entire bottle of Japanese clear liquor that tasted and smelled like petrol and was very very strong. He happily shared it with everyone at the table - and this is where the trouble started.

After dinner we rode the ferry back and stumbled to the bus that took us to a look-out point to view the harbour of Hong Kong. It was spectacular (the view, not the bus ride). Being the 2 youngest couples on the tour, Katrina and Lloyd and Darin and I decided to head to a swanky nightlife area called SoHo after the tour. There were a lot of bars and many expats and we walked around for a bit. Then we decided to go to a Kareoke bar - something about "when in Rome"... Anyway, this was no ordinary Kareoke place. It was like a hotel where you and your group checked into a sound proof room containing a large screen telly , some comfy couches and microphones. This guarantees you privacy, and no doubt embarrassment from the greater mass of people. Apparently, chinese people have business meetings and corporate events here!

Anyway, the unexplained mystery of Kareoke hit me the next morning when I tried to figure out how adults could possibly think that belting out "Girls just wanna have fun" at the top of their lungs in front of virutal strangers is a terrific idea. I hope that Lloyd and Katrina had a fabulous time in Bali, and that they would contact us when they got back. Perhaps they would be able to clarify the mystery of the missing wallet and the white jacket and also inform us of the whereabouts of certain incriminating pictures taken at the Kareoke place?

If you'd like to see more pictures of Hong Kong:

Hong Kong - Nov 2006

Yokohama, Japan - Nov 2006

2006-11-09T21:34:00.000-06:00

We went to Yokohama, Japan - a port city 90 minutes by "limousine bus" from Tokyo international airport. Darin had to be there for work and I tagged along as "complimentary spouse". In Japan, I felt for the first time what it must feel like to be illiterate. English is not widely spoken and almost all signs, menus, directions, instuctions and labels are written in Japanese only. At most restaurants they simply tell you "no menu in english" and we had to resort to pointing at pictures hoping that whatever we ordered was edible and not something very gross. Here I was thinking in Afrikaans, trying to locate the word in English, looking at Japanese and resorting to body language.

All in all, the food everwhere was excellent. Our favorite was tempura (I liked the shrimp and veggie ones and Darin liked the pork) that is served with cabbage on which you drizzle a molasses sauce. You also get a little mortar and pessle in which you grind some sesame seeds to mix into a past for dipping the tempure in. Delish!

Out of fear of being rude, I read up on some Japanese etiquette and learned that blowing your nose in public as well as eating or drinking while walking around is a huge boo-boo. But the bowing still confuses me. I never knew to whom to bow, when to bow, how deep to bow or how many times to bow but luckily I found out that nodding is acceptible for stupid westerners like ourselves, so I nodded a lot.

The not-being-able-to-understand-anything made me get lost a few times - I got on the wrong train, went to the Art Museum and couldn't understand any of the descriptions, wandered around grocery shops looking at items wondering what it was. It felt like I was stuck in that movie called "Lost in Translation". I also went to Chinatown (Yohohama strangely has the largest Chinese settlement in Japan) which was even more overwhelming because here I didn't know if I should even speak the 2 words in Japanese that I knew (hello and thank you).

I found myself thinking of the time with my parents in New York City when my dad (who was obsessed with observing orthodox jews in their environment at the time - don't ask) made my mum and I join him in a quest to secretly follow an orthodox person to his neighborhood in Brooklyn. Our presence in this community was frowned upon, and as we walked down the street, every shop changed there "open" signs promptly to "closed" right in our faces. Anyway, this is a story for another time..

Not that I felt unwelcome, just uncomfortable. One day we went on a sightseeing tour of Yokohama, hoping to see more of the sights without having to find things ourselves. When we got on the bus, we realised that the tour was in Japanese only - the tour guide didn't even speak english. We spent the rest of the day listening to Japanese commentary and being driven around in a bus to destinations we did not know. Each time we got off the bus, she held up a little sign for us with the time at which we were to return to the bus, so it worked out well! We went to a rose garden with a view of the bridge, to Sankeien Gardens (an authentic Japanese Garden) and took some really nice pictures.

To view more pictures of Yokohama:

Yokohama - Nov 2006

Breathtaking Bali!

2006-10-25T20:26:00.000-05:00

We just got back from a trip to Bali, Indonesia - a short 2.5 hour flight from Singapore. We wanted to stay away from major tourist areas, especially the ones filled with Aussie travelers, so we headed to the "Art Centre" of Bali called Ubud. Ubud Village is located on the hillside of Pengosekean Ubud and we stayed at the very lovely Ubud Village Resort & Spa.

Darin and I both agree that our room at this resort was by far the most spectacular, most spacious AND best value for money at any resort we've stayed in the world. Each room has a private plunge pool (left), two outdoor lounge gazebos, and outdoor shower and outdoor bath tub and is surrounded by lush foliage with a splendid view of rice paddies. We stayed in Villa Banjar Kanging #222 on the edge of the resort and it felt like we had the entire resort to ourselves.

The rest of the resort is very nice too - there is one restaurant that serves good food, a coffee shop that offers complimentary high tea in the afternoon and we indulged in a 3.5 hour spa treatment session (in our villa) including a facial, massage, body scrub and flower petal bath for only US$50 each! Pure bliss!

In Ubud we went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. This was what Darin has been waiting for for a long time - to see and feed monkeys. And there were thousands of them everywhere - they aren't scared of people at all but come right up to you and take bananas (that we bought at the entrance for $1) right out of your hand.

One day, we hired a local guide called Nengah Polos to drive us around and show us some sights. He took us to an art village just outside of Ubud where we bought 3 paintings. Then we went to a very spectacular temple called Gunung Kawi set amidst rice terraces, and we also saw a huge volcano that is still active.

Bali must be one of the cheapest destination for Americans - everything was incredibly affordable and we will definitely go back there soon!

View more pictures of our Villa, the resort, monkey business and the tour of Bali

Welcome to our new Online Journal!!

2006-10-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

Farewell to the old journal where popups and unwanted ads abound! Welcome to the new and improved version that is easier to use, and less cluttered.

I am working on transioning all the content from the old blog into this one, including the pictures.

Enjoy!

Repeatedly approached by Indian men - Posted by Maggie

2006-10-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, the first time it happened, I was caught off guard a little. I was walking along in Plaza Singapura - 'n huge shopping mall not far from where we live when a friendly looking indian man approached me and started talking to me. I was a bit weary of him and tried to get away but didn't want to be rude, so I listened to him. I thought he was probably going to try and sell me something but instead he said (or this is what I heard) "grid on forehid means you heff goo luck and bring goo karma". I said "excuse me?" and he said again "grid line on forehid mean you heff goo karma". I smiled and thanked him, trying to be polite and he continued with a monologue of what the lines on my forehead meant, sort of like an impromptu palm reading (instead he was apparently reading my forehead!). I didn't listen to everything he said because I could hardly understand his thick accent and politely tried to get away from him as quickly as possible. When I got home I told Darin about it and we both laughed.
The second time it happened was right in front of our townhouse. Another random Indian man approached me and pointed at my forehead exclaiming loudly "you are lucky lady, the line on forehead means good luck to you". This time I was speechless. Two men randomly approaching me in Singapore saying the same thing? Darin and I thought that perhaps *they* had let loose some indian guys in Singapore and gave them instructions to approach random western woman and talk about their foreheads. The odd thing was they really did not want anything in return, they weren't trying to sell me anything and they were really friendly.
I had forgotten about all of this until yesterday. I was walking around downtown in the business district carrying my cousin's teddy bear to take pictures of it with Singapore sights. (To make a long story short, my cousin has a school project where they send their teddy bears all over the world, and the 'hosts' have to take pictures of the teddy bear in foreign locales so that the kids back home can learn about different countries and cultures etc). I set up Bob the bear in front of a famous sculpture by Salvador Dali and felt rather stupid, standing amongst people in suits and high heels holding a teddy bear (me, not the men and women in suits). When suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me saying "You are very lucky woman!". I turned around and there was another indian man walking toward me saying "your forehead means you are very very lucky woman" all the while pointing to my head. I thought it was rather rude, and I immediately avoided eye contact with him, threw Bob into my purse and tried as quickly as possible to disappear into the faceless mass of the business lunch-going throng of people. I did not look back.
One time is really odd, two times is definitely weird, but three times is really freaking me out. I am wearing a hat from now on!

Darin & Maggie Visit the Cinema - Posted by Darin

2006-10-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

Maggie's parents told us that "Little Miss Sunshine" is a must-see, so last night we met at the Plaza Singapura shopping center to our first movie here. Theaters in Singapore have assigned seating, so after we purchased our tickets, we were free to relax until the electronic sign-board indicated that the theater was ready for seating.
We wandered into the arcade see what it was all about and found it to have a distinctly different feel from American arcades. For one thing, the patrons were mostly in their 20s. Few teenagers were seen, and competitive fighting games far outnumbered the racing games that tend to dominate American arcades. Three games in particular caught my eye:
1. Photo Y2K. Two young men played this game on a large touchscreen. Two seemingly identical photos are shown side-by-side, and you must identify the diferences in the picture by touching them. I was shocked that two young men paid money to play this game.
2. Master Drummer - This game is similar to Dance Dance Revolution. A large screen displays six tracks of drum scores. The player sits in front of six drums and must play the exact arrangement for the song which is playing. For each drum beat on each of the six tracks, there is immediate feedback as to the accuracy of the player's rythm. The player's friend looked on as if anxious to take his turn.
3. Master Guitar - Yep, this game is almost identical to Master Drummer, except you play a guitar along with a soundtrack and get rated on the accuracy of your notes and rythm. An adoring girlfriend accompanied the man on this game. The man appeared to be in his early 30s, and was taking the game quite seriously. He was extremely accurate according to the display, and held himself with the confidence of a seasoned professional, playing yet another gig in another city on a long tour.
There were few patrons inside our theater. Partly because Little Miss Sunshine is not a new release; partly because it's not a horror film (The Sinking of Tokyo is big now); and partly because it's an English language film. When my colleague at work, Zhang Hua, asked about my weekend plans, she seemed excited when I told her we would see a movie. When I told her the name of the movie, her excitement waned and she said: "Oh, an English movie". Her favorite movies are those where it starts with about six main characters, and "each gets killed one by one".
The movie was great. There are some great actors and I recognized some of the scenery as being filmed in the desert of Southern California where I grew up. The family in the movie drives an old VW Van that winds up having two mechanical problems: a burned out clutch, and a horn that honks at random times. They have to travel from Arizona to California without a clutch, which means getting a rolling start and easing the van into 3rd gear.
This might have seemed a bit contrived to most of the movie patrons, but I distinctly remember our VW van having the same issues when I was growing up. The horn would honk randomly when the key was turned either on or off. Once, my dad was in his Los Angeles Deputy Marshal uniform and needed to serve a summons to a bar owner. The bar was on Dad's way home from work, so he drove our VW Van to the bar. As he parked the van, an old bar fly was walking from her car to the bar entrance. The VW horn honked just as she passed in front of the van, and the lady looked to see who was honking. When she saw the uniform, she perked up and gave Dad a very friendly smile. He was horrified by the episide and vowed never to work from his personal vehicle again.
Another time, Mom was driving the van when the clutch cable broke. She was so flustered that when she got a ride home, she told Dad that the brakes were out. Dad and I arrived at the van to find it with working brakes, but no clutch. Dad said we could push start it in first gear and I could drive it home in first. It was easy to start, but first gear was very slow, so I pushed my luck and attempted a shift to second (with no clutch). There was no grinding at all, and the shift went without a hitch. Believe it or not, I worked all the way up to 4th and back down to 1st by the time I reached the house. Those Germans know how to build a transmission. It was perfectly synchronized, as long as you kept the RPMs at the right level.
Anyway, we had planned to eat at our favorite Thai restaurant after the movie, but there was a long queue, so we went to the outdoor Vietnamese place. Our appetizer was shrimp ball on the end of the stick of sugar cane and some dipping sauce. It was fantastic. I ordered the chilli and lemongrass chicken for my main course, and found myself faced with chicken parts that I could not identify. They were all knurled and twisty bits of chicken, alternately chewy or melt-in-your-mouth fatty, with splinters of bone throughout. Meals like this one have forced me to eat largely vegetarian food during our stay here.

Weekend in Bintan, Indonisia - Posted by Maggie

2006-10-11T21:06:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we went to an island called Bintan, Indonesia. Resting in the warm waters of the South China Sea, Bintan is just 55 minute ferry ride from Singapore. The ferry ride itself was a bit choppy at first. The ferry bobbed up and down so much that I thought there would definitely be some motion sickness action happening. Luckily I didn't see anyone grab for their barf bags, conveniently located in the seat back pocket in front of you.
After arriving at Bintan, we were greeted by a friendly staff member of Angsana Resort who escorted us to our air conditioned bus for the transfer to the resort. Then we were whisked off on a short 10-minute ride to the resort, remotely tucked away on the north east corner of the island, and lovely situated right next to the renowned Banyan Tree Resort (we could use all of Banyan Tree's facilities, including restaurants, spa and swimming pools, which was very nice considering that nightly rates there range from US$500-US$700!)
Angsana Resort was pretty nice, but a bit run down for international standards. Spotlessly clean, the rooms are neat and comfortable and very scpacious - we had a 1 bedroom suite with kitchenette overlooking the pool and beach. It also had a balcony that ran the length of the living room and the bedroom with access to it from both. Yet the furniture was a bit scuffed, the drapes a bit frayed and the walls definitely needs a lick of new paint.
The resort is situated in a lush rain forest and the sparkling olympic sized pool with water features definitely made up for everything else. The beach was also very nice with white powdery sand, but unfortuantely, we were there the weekend when the haziness was really ad, due to the fires in Jakarta. We were warned about sand flies on the beach, but luckily the resort offers bug repellant as you walk out onto the beach.

The staff is very very nice - sometimes to the point of making you uncomfortable because they are so apologetic about everything. At the spa, Darin's masseuse started EVERY sentence with "...excuse me sir...". Even if she said two sentences in a row. "excuse me sir, you may sit here, excuse me sir I now wash feet, excuse me sir and then we begin massah". It got a bit annoying.
At this spa, we didn't get any paper panties. No sirreee, they gave us instructions to "take every thing off". During the massage, when they yank open the sheet to reveal your leg, at times I felt a bit, um, exposed due to the lack of the paper panties. It was pretty weird. But the massage was good, though, I almost feel asleep, until the masseuse asked me to turn around. (They also stare at you while you turn around, unline in the US when they turn around while discreetly holding up the sheet).
Ok, I have never had anyone at a spa massage my belly. Much less my chest. But yep, that was part of the massage. It was a bit awkward, but the masseuse was luckily very professional (didn't linger) and obviously does that every day. Weird, how they have no inhibitions in the spa, but topless tanning is prohibited!
Basically, we just relaxed the entire weekend. We would go to breakfast and then immediately after head to the pool to read. At lunch time we'd order a few cocktails and lunch, and in the afternoon we'd nap, go for a walk and read (not all at the same time) till dinner time. It was fabulous!
The Banyan Tree Report next door is very swish compared to Angsana. All the villas are private and tucked away on the lush tropical hills, guaranteeing complete privacy. Their two pools had breath taking views and the last day, Darin and I spent the afternoon lounging on a treetop platform with nobody else around.
Treetop lounging on a double chaise. I know, we have it real rough out here!
--> View more pictures of Angsana and Banyan Tree (Photoworks will open in new window)

Darin Gets a Haircut - Posted by Darin

2006-10-02T21:05:00.000-05:00

My first haircut in Singapore was a couple months ago at the IMM Mall near the Dell office. There's a place called $10 for 10 minutes. Nobody in the store is allowed to handle money. You buy a haircut token at a vending machine just inside the door (it only takes $10 bills) and sit on the lowest numbered chair that's open. As the person in chair #1 is taken to get a haircut, everyone shifts over to the next lower numbered chair. I left the establishment with a $10 haircut that made me look like a neo-Nazi. My friend Wallace would have been afraid of me.My second haircut was last weekend at a shopping center near our apartment. It looks like a "normal" hair salon you'd find anywhere. It is run by Japanese women and the receptionist spoke little English and appeared to be frightened of me. Luckily, the stylist spoke English well enough to understand my instructions: "Number 3 on the sides and scissors on top". She walked over to a closet and retrieved a small cookie sheet from the top shelf. This sheet contained "the clippers". Apparently there is only one set that is shared by all four cutting stations. And nobody is responsible for cleaning "the clippers". I had always imagined Japanese people to be obssessed with cleanliness, but the amount of hair clippings on the old steel tray and stuck all over the cutters and to the power cord forced me to reconsider this stereotype. Should I have demanded that she at least perform a cursory "wipe" or blow off the majority of the clippings from the device before pressing it against my head? I didn't.The scissors were equally covered in little black hairs (straight hairs, thank God). The good news is I looked like a million bucks afterward. Was it worth it? How much is a good haircut worth to you??

Will the real "Derek" please stand up - Posted by Maggie

2006-10-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

This past weekend Darin and I decided to go see a live stand up comedy show at Clarke Quay's premier comedy club called "The 1 Nite Stand". There was a show on with 3 UK comedians, so we knew without a doubt it would be good. I checked the website to make sure the show started at 8pm and verified that there was a full service restaurant. Since Darin usually works till 7pm, there wouldn't be any time for us to grab dinner before the show.
We got to the comedy club at 7:15pm and it was already rather full. Usually in a club like this (that seats around 50-60 - pretty small) in America, the seats would fill up from front to back, so if you came late, you'd have to find a seat waaaaaaay in the back by the kitchen door. Not here, the place filled up from the back to the front, so Darin and I stolled in and took seats right in front to the microphone, not believing our luck. The act would literally be 3 feet away from our table. Big mistake.
But let me tell you about the food situation. By this time I was starving and asked the dazed looking running waitress (who'd been ignoring us for 15 minutes) for a menu. She hastily replied that there was no menu, and that all they served was the list of appetizers ('bar food") on the little list on our table. Things like chicken wings, pizza and potato skins . Huh? No real food? The website said....full menu? I asked her again and she explained that there was no cutlery allowed in the show area (my imagination went wild with thoughts of angry audience members and their fork weapons). You could eat outisde, but then you'd lose your table. Oh, and last orders are in 5 minutes. Huh?? No drinks served during the performance, not even at the bar? Yep, she said. We ordered immediately.
So, I ordered the "vegetable pie" (the only vegetarian dish on the menu) dreaming of a tasty home made pie filled with delicious and healthy steaming veggies in a crispy light and flaky crust, and Darin ordered some samosas and spring rolls. My veggie pie came - it should have been called "soggy pie", it was that gross - like they flung the thing into the microwave and pressed defrost instead of cook in their haste to serve the last rounds. Darin said his food was ok, but I saw him chewing on his samosa for a very long time.
As soon as the show started I had a feeling that there must be a good reason why nobody else wanted our prime seats. My suspicions realized when the first comedian put his glass of water on our table and started asking Darin questions. He asked his name, where he was from etc, and then exclaimed "Derek, the Texan"! Ohboy, hilarity ensued, American and Texas jokes were flying around and poor Bush definitely got wacked. But the whole time the guy kept calling Darin "Derek". It was almost as bad as my mum calling Darin Bryan on our entire first vacation together!
It was hilarious, we had a really fun time. 3 different british comedians were part of the show - each introduced by the same MC funny guy who started giving Darin a hard time, and each next act kept picking on poor Darin. But he was great, and a good sport about it, and even answered a tricky political question very cleverly. During the last act they asked him what his name was again and he was fed-up with being called Derek, so he said "My name is Sam Houston". Nobody got the joke. Except maybe for Derek.

Shiatsu Massage for Darin - posted by Darin

2006-09-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

Maggie and I have enjoyed massages of all kinds, but until this past weekend, the closest I had ever come to a Shiatsu massage was one of those chairs at Brookstone. But before I talk about my recent massage, let me tell you a bit about my massage experiences so far.
In Austin there are a variety strip-mall locations that offer aromatherapy massages. They typically show you to a room and tell you to disrobe to your level of comfort and get under the sheet on the massage bed. You disrobe while alone in the room. When the massage "therapist" returns, they uncover various parts of your body and rub your cares away with scented oil. They leave while you are still on the table under the sheet, and meet you outside the room after you have dressed to greet you and collect a tip.
In Costa Rica, we had a similar massage experience, except that the massage table was located in an outdoor gazebo back in the rainforest between several rushing streams of natural hot water from the nearby volcano.
In Thailand, we were given "sample" massages while visiting the King's residence in Bangkok. If you liked the sample, you could write your hotel name and room number on a piece of paper, and someone would show up later that day to give you the full treatment. Maggie and I signed up for this and two middle aged Thai ladies showed up at our room later that day. A Thai massage involves rythmic pressing, rubbing, and stretching, with no oil. We kept our undergarments on. The ladies talked to one another in Thai the whole time, sometimes giggling (no doubt at my fat hairy body). During the course of the massage, the ladies climbed onto the bed, straddled us, and bent our arms and legs into various poses. I enjoyed it and it was very cheap (about $10 US for an hour). Maggie thought there was too much "pressing" and stretching, and didn't like the fact that the ladies' hands smelled of onions (when they touched Maggie's head).
The Swedish massage we had at a spa here in Singapore was more like what you get in Austin, except the person climbs onto the bed and straddles you for part of the massage. They use scented oil. I wore the supplied paper "panty" that looked much like an adult diaper.
Now to the Shiatsu massage. Maggie booked us a couples massage at a spa in a nearby mall. They have a huge facility, with separate jacuzzi, steam baths, saunas, cold plunge pool, etc for men and women. After changing into the spa-supplied shorts and robe, I met Maggie in the common lounge for a fresh carrot juice while we waited for our "therapists". Soon we were shown to a room with two massage beds, each of which had two parallel black bars hanging down from the ceiling directly over the bed. Maggie requested an aromatherapy massage and I got the Shiatsu. The tiny Chinese lady looked at me to confirm my request: "Step on you?". I confirmed: "Yes. Step on me".
She unfastened my robe and removed it without knowing what was underneath. She left my shorts on me. I lay face down on the bed with my face in the donut. She laid some thick towels over the length of my body and started squeezing and pressing my shoulders while she stood at the head of the bed. As she worked her way around my body, the pressing and squeezing became more intense. Mostly it felt good, but there were times when I tensed up a bit from the pain. She eventually climbed on top of me and started working her fists into my back. I was glad she could not see my wincing and grimacing.
Finally, she stood on my back and walked up and down my spine. She did some things that were so painful I began to wonder if anyone has ever been paralyzed from a massage. Although I had promised myself I would not make any noises, regardless of the pain, she caught me off guard. What I thought was a gentle walk around my upper back, was in fact, preparation for a pounce. She jumped twice, quickly on my upper back and I heard and felt more things snap than I thought possible. I let out a combination of a grunt, cough, and startled cry. I expected her to jump off and ask if I was OK, but she was undeterred by my noise-making. (incidentally, she kept her balance by hanging onto the black bars that were above the bed). I became equally fearful that one of two things would happen: 1) she would hurt so badly that I would scream; 2) she would squeeze a very loud fart out of me whilst walking on my lower back. Thankfully, neither happened.
My final whimper was induced when she had me sit up on the bed and she got behind me with her knees in my back. She laced my fingers behind my neck and told me to relax. As soon as I started to relax, she pulled me backward and up onto her knees to elicit even more cracking from my back. I was amazed that I had any cracks left in me. It was the only time I heard her make a noise, which was a determined grunt as she pulled my massive weight off the bed and up onto her knees. I felt humbled that such a small lady could handle a man my size the way she did. She offered me some delicious ginger tea and then put my robe on me and tied it. That part was the most uncomfortable for some reason. She was standing behind me, reaching around and tieing my robe. I felt very awkward.
The biggest surprise is that I was not sore at all that day, nor am I sore today. I guess she knew what she was doing. I think I'll get another Shiatsu massage someday. Now that I know what to expect, I might enjoy it more the next time.

Phi Phi Islands, Thailand - Posted by Maggie

2006-09-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

Phi Phi island is not far from Singapore, but the trip is rather inconvenient: a 40 minute cab ride in Singapore to the airport, short 90 minute flight from Singapore to Krabi, a 30 minute cab ride to the pier, a 90 minute ferry from Krabi to Phi Phi Island and a 30 minute long boat ride along the coast of Phi Phi to our resort. But well worth the hassle is being comletely transported to a tropical paradise where fine, white sandy beaches suround you and breathtaking rock formations rise from the vivid turquoise waters that surround Phi Phi islands.
The Phi Phi Islands are located in south Thailand, just south of the island of Phuket and the mainland (Krabi Province).
The resort, Zeavola, is the newest - all suite boutique resort and spa on Northern tip of Phi Phi Islands and is absolutely gorgeous. It is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the world, and has also made the Conde Naste Traveler's Hot List 2006. The resort it is a wonderful combination of rural Thai charm and five-star comfort, with 52 suites made almost entirely of wood and glass, furnished with a very successful combination of traditional and contemporary pieces. The 'living area' is open on three sides with motor-driven, floor-to-ceiling bamboo blinds replacing the walls with splendid seclution.
One day we rented a "long boat" and a boat man to take us snorkelling on the smaller island of Phi Phi Ley, about 12 kilometers to the south of Zeavola resort. Despite h is limited english, Boat Man was very capable in the sometimes choppy waters, and took us to several lovely coves and sights, and used hand signals to tell us where the best snorkelling areas were.Contrary to Phi Phi Don the islet is uninhabited, not only because it is banned but there are no long stretches of surrounding beaches. The island descends abruptly into the sea on all sides. There are small secluded little beaches along the cliffs and we stopped at one to have a picnic. Unfortunately, within seconds a black cloud of mozzies (as I call mosquitoes) surrounded and attacked me. I had to slather myself from head to toe with anti-mozzie-stuff. Of course, they ignored Darin entirely!
Darin on the long boat. Boat Man in backWith its emerald crystal sea, secluded beaches wooded cliffs and mountains, colourful coral reefs and undersea life-Phi Phi really is a paradise in the Andaman Sea.
Maggie getting ready to go snorkelling:
>> View more pictures here on Photoworks (no account required).

Lisa's visit! - Posted by Maggie

2006-09-14T21:02:00.000-05:00

My friend Lisa from Austin came to visit for a week! We had loads of fun. Darin was away in Italy the entire week she was here, so it was ladies week, and we painted the town red.
We did a lot of shopping (of course) but other hightlights include Arab street bargaining for hookahs, steam boat dinner, dim sum disaster and the Singapore zoo.Steam Boat dinner in Chinatown!
Dim sum disaster: Dim sum here is very popular and there are alot of good restaurants in Chinatown. One in particular called Yum Cha advertised a special running Monday - Friday till 11am for a dim sum buffet for a fixed price of S$9.80 (about US$6.50) per person. Dim sum buffet here means unlimited orders from the little carts that the servers push around. Sometimes you don't know what the dish is, but for the most part it is steamed buns, spring rolls and potstickers - eaten for breakfast/brunch. One server offered us chicken feet, but we declined.
Anyway, so Lisa and I arrived at 10:30 am at this place. We were the only westerners in the establishment and subsequently we were completely ingored for about 15 minutes! When the server finally stopped at our table (after walking right by us 10+ times) we asked for the fixed price buffet. He exclaimed: "Buffet finish! You pay a la cart" and shoved an ordering list onto our table. The next thing we know, one server with a cart comes along and starts unloading items onto our table (things we didn't necessarily want) and then she proceeded to check off the items on our list. At around $3-4 per small plate, things can add up fairly quickly (this is why the fixed price option is a good deal).
Lisa and I started looking around and saw that none of the other customers had an order sheet like we did. We were miffed. We asked one waiter why we had to pay a la carte, but all the other diners had the fixed price option. He claimed that we "had to say fixed price when we came in". We said we DID say that, and that we arrived at 10:30 when the buffet was not supposed to be over and that we feel this is unfair. We called the manager to complain and got into a bit of a tif. After stomping off, and a bit of huffing and puffing (the manager, not us), he came back and said that we could pay the fixed price. He immediately said "last order!" which ended the buffet anyway.
I won't go to that establishment again. Just because we are westerners and women doesn't make us stupid! We just want to be treated like everyone else.
If you'd like to see pictures of Lisa's visit and of all the fun things we did, you can view them here

Eat, drink and feel like a complete idiot - Posted by Maggie

2006-08-20T21:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's lifestyle and entertainment section of the newspaper boasted a huge article entitled "Eat, drink, and be merry", claiming "the restaurant scene is hot-and-hoppin' and LIFESTYLE presents the country's top 50 choices." Lifestyle asked 16 food critics (who are obviously not on any sort of budget since they get to expense all their meals - you see where this is going?) to vote for Singapore's top restaurants, based on consistent quality of food and service.
Darin and I studied the list and under the Japanese section and found 2 restaurants claiming to do "Shabu Shabu". I don't know exactly what Shabu Shabu is, but Darin has been looking for a restaurant preparing this ever since he got back from Taiwan 2 weeks ago. He describes it as a sort of Japanese fondue - but instead of cheese, you cook the veggies and meat in a fragrant and savoury clear broth. So naturally we were very excited to finally find a place doing Shabu Shabu in Singapore - and the restaurant was somewhere we knew how to get to - in Shaw Centre near Orchard Road!
We took the MRT to the Orchard station and walked to Shaw Centre. Looked at the building map and located the restaurant named "Aoki" on the second floor. Finding it on the map was much easier than finding the actual place! Took the elevator up, but the first stop was the 3rd floor. Heh? How did we go from 1st to 3rd floor? Where is 2nd? Down we go again, look at map again. Ask information desk who points outside of the building, he says turn left "and keep walking". "How far? What exactly should we be looking for?" I think but didn't ask. We walk outside, turn left and up a small hill on a narrow road and come to the end of Shaw Centre. No restaurant. Go back into Shaw Centre and walk around, look at map again, go back to where we were last. Everthing indicated that the last shop we saw must be the restaurant, but there were no signs, lights or hours of business or any indication that this was in fact a restaurant. On a whim, Darin tried the door. It opened! We went inside and were greeted in Japanese by the chef shouting from the open kitchen below, and by waitressed scurrying about in half dressed japanese outfits (you know, the ones where they wear socks with flip flops, and a little square backpack on their lower backs over their kimonos). Looking around quickly, I was pleased that the place looked very elegant with authentic shoji screens dividing the booths, very Feng-Shui decorated - tres chic! The chef told us to come back at 6:30pm -another 30 minutes or so. Darin made sure they do "Shabu Shabu" and everyone one nodded solemnly, and we confirmed our reservation.
After spending 30 minutes browsing books in a nearby Barnes and Nobles, we returned to Aoki, filled with anticipation of a big Shabu Shabu feast awaiting. The server showed us our own special booth where one person enters on one side, then the shoji screen has to slide over so that person number two can enter the opposite end of the booth. Bamboo behind frosted glass made enigmatic patterns agains the wall and ceiling. The waitress smiled and brought us some tea and a very little dish with a few strips of what looked like jellyfish to me. I've had jellyfish before and don't like it at all. Luckily, this was cabbage - very tart and very chewy raw cabbage. Then she gave us the menus. We quickly scanned the menu to locate the Shabu Shabu choices, and my stomach fell when I saw that there was only one choice - sirloin steak, for $120!!! (Yes, one hundred and twenty dollars per person - about $90 US). So, first of all, I don't eat meat, and second of all I especially don't eat $120 meat, Shabu Shabu or not! So I looked at the other items on the menu and found no entree below around $36. It was very disconcerting. At that point it was way too late for us to get up and leave either.
I ended up ordering some edamame ($12 for 9 edamame beans - I counted them!) and "Seafood and Vegetable Soup" (for $18 . It came in a teapot as big (small) as a coffee cup. It was a clear broth that looked, smelled and tasted exactly like the water in which one has just boiled hotdogs. I swear, it was very salty and a bit oily, and just generally nauseating. Darin ordered the "Sole in Black Soy Sauce" and got an entire fish - about 2 inches long, with little fins, head and skin still attached. (BTW - Darin hates this - please see his entry on July 9th) He had to scrape that fish with his chopsticks to get a bit of meat off of the bones - I would say he got about 2 teaspoons full of meat all-in-all.
Our entire bill was $104 - this was for 2 teas, 9 edamame beans, one soup, one fish and one small bowl of rice. No dessert, no wine, only one entree. I felt so ripped off, disappointed, angry and frustrated (AND STARVING), yet I wanted to giggle hysterically. I also had vengeful ideas of writing a very stinky letter to the editor of the Straits Times because all we did was (not even) eat, (didn't even) drink and we felt like complete idiots (for following the advice of food critics). Next time we'll ask to see the menu up front.

Things I really really miss from home - Posted by Maggie

2006-08-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the things I miss the most from home:
The dogs! I miss Beanie and Basil, my 2 little buddies terribly!
Our garden and outdoor room, grill and water feature. Tranquil bliss! Here we don't even have a balcony.
My kitchen. Especially a dishwasher, all the counter space and the oven!
My washer and dryer. The one here doesn't really dry the clothes, it just makes everything VERY wrinkly so I have to iron everything!!
A good margarita. As scarce as chicken teeth here, and if you find it you will pay around $15 US for a not-so-great watered down one!
Ebay. Even thought I can browse Ebay US from here, shipping costs are detrimental and makes it not worth it for me to sell or buy stuff on Ebay. Singaporeans don't really believe in Ebay (or shopping online in general) - the entire island is a perpetual shopping mall, why would they buy anything online if they can just duck into the nearest shop to buy it?
My closet. (think lots of space...ahhhh)
Meeting my girlfriends for lunch. Lisa, this means you! And others of course =)
Chewing gum. It is illegal to buy or sell chewing gum here, but if you brought it with you, it's ok. I did not know that so we ditched all my gum at the airport in fear of being caned upon setting foot on the island.
Ruxi and Adi's swimming pool. They throw the best damn pool parties ever. Period!

Curried Fish Head! - Posted by Maggie

2006-08-15T20:59:00.000-05:00

Our friend Corrina took us to the Banana Leaf restaurant in Little India for some authentic curried fish head. You probably wonder why it is not calle curried fish headS - but this is because there is only one. A giganitc fish head (about twice the size of a grown man's palm) "swimming" in a bowl of fragrant curry gravy with vegetables.
There is a lot of fish meat on the cheeks, and you can order different sized fish heads depending of the number of people in your party. The meat is very tasty and flakes off of the bones easily. The fish eye is a delicacy (not recommended for everyone) and you often see locals sucking on the bones of the head, and some, they say, eat the teeth too. I liked it a lot, thought the curry was delicious and the fish very tender. If you can get over the fact that the poor fish's identity will forever be lost due to the person who ate it's dental records.
At this restaurant all the food is served on a banana leaf - no plates. Locals eat everything with their fingers and hands, but we used our knives and forks. Side dishes were rice, cabbage and some brinjals

Adventures in Kampong Glam, Singapore - Posted by Maggie

2006-08-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

I recently went on a walking tour of Kampong Glam - one of my very favorite areas in Singapore. I particularly like the bright colors of the beautifully restored shophouses that sell traditional handmade batiks, clothes, artefacts, handicraft, furniture and jewelry. I also love the restaurants here because all of them are Halal and most are vegetarian.
Named after the Gelam tree which used to grow in the area, Kampong Glam was the historic seat of Malay royalty in Singapore. The buildings and architecture has been meticulously restored to retain its flavour and authenticity.
A key building in Kampong Glam is Sultan Mosque (or Masjid Sultan) at Bussorah Street, the largest mosque in Singapore with the capacity to accommodate up to 5,000 Muslims in congregational prayers. Built in 1928, the mosque features a massive golden dome and is one of Singapore’s most imposing religious institutions.Nothing beats Arab Street for (bizarre) bazaar-style shopping with true ethnic character. The goods spill out onto the pavements, anything from baskets, incence, shishas and floor mats to serving trays, shoes and handbags. I love it!
--> View more pictures of Kampong Glam (link will open in new window)

Nature Reserve (MacRitchie Reservoir) - Posted by Darin

2006-08-04T20:57:00.000-05:00

I once said there is no such thing as a nice day in Singapore, but that's not completely true. There have been a couple of days where the sky was blue, clouds were white and fluffy, and there was enough of a breeze to keep you comfortable is you stayed in the shade. Today was one of those days.
We visited a nature reserve that is anchored by a large reservoir: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nparks_cms/display_level2.asp?parkid=8&catid=9
We arrived around 2pm and walked for two hours through the rainforest to see the Tree Top Walk, which is marketed as a "canopy tour" but is more like a suspension bridge across a valley.
When you first enter the park, you walk past the main part of the reservoir:
The walk through the rainforest was nice and shady, with lots of strange sounds and interesting looking trees. We saw the largest bamboo stalks imaginable. Probably six inches across and 50 feet long.
At one point Maggie thought she heard something in the dense undergrowth along the path. She screamed and jumped to my side, when she realized it was a monkey looking at her from about three feet away.
As we paused to look at the monkey, we were literally surrounded by about five other monkeys who suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. Maggie freaked out, certain that we would be attacked by the monkey who were rapidly invading our personal space. I was too excited to be scared. They were very small monkeys and they seemed more curious than angry or hungry. There was even a momma monkey with a little baby held close to her chest.
Maggie was clinging to me, dancing around, and loudly announcing that she was "skaid". I was torn between shooing the monkeys away and trying to reason with Maggie that we were perfectly safe. Luckily, at that very instant, a "local" came jogging along the path and clapped his hands several times to shoo the monkeys away. After the jogger passes, only about three monkeys came very close to us, and only one was close enough to touch. He was very carefree. He sat in the middle of the path and groomed himself, yawning and stretching.
He didn't even care when I walked behind him so Maggie could take a picture of us together.
The "canopy tour" is a suspension bridge, where you are only allowed to walk in one direction. A guard at the end of the bridge prevents you from walking the wrong way.
The section of the trail that leads to and from the suspension bridge is made from nice decking, and is sponsored by a popular bank in Singapore, HSBC.
While walking away from the reserve and looking for a taxi to take us somewhere with cold beer, we ran across some bushes with the biggest leaves I've ever seen.
It was a great trip to the nature reserve, topped off by some mediocre tex-mex in Holland Village and a refreshing swim in the pool at our housing complex.

New durian lover!! - Posted by Darin

2006-08-03T20:56:00.000-05:00

Today I was introduced to the King of Fruits. One of my colleagues at work turns out to be a durian connoisseur. Early this afternoon, Hai Seah stopped by my desk and said, "Tonight at 5pm we leave". He made a gesture as if smelling the sweet fragrence of fresh durian. I knew what it meant. I was going to have a new experience.
You see, even durian of the same variety but from different trees have their own unique flavor. Hai Seah has a relationship with a supplier who monitors specific trees. (You never pick durian, you wait for it to drop). When durians drop from specific trees, Hai Seah gets a phone call from his supplier.
At 5pm, we hustled down to the parking deck to Hai Seah's car and drove to a parking lot near the Botanical Garden, where a very, very old Chinese man has a fruit stand. He sells only durian and mangosteen. Wee Han met us there and we admired his new car before walking to the fruit stand.
Unlike the stinky, red-onion odor I had smelled when locals smuggled durian onto the bus, the aroma around the stand was fresh and sweet and reminded me of road-side fruit stands in central California.
Inside the spiky fruit are large yellow-white pods. They are actually a sweet creamy coating that encases each seed inside the fruit. The consistency is like warm cream cheese and the flavor is about as close to flan as you can get from a fruit. Mind you, this is premium durian. The taste and smell is quite different from what you get when you order durian pudding at a food court.
After enjoying the flesh from two different durians (one with a stronger flavor than the other), we cooled our palates with mangosteen. (durian is a "heat" food, while mangosteen is a "cool" food). We achieved proper yin and yang by balancing our fruit intake.
You open a mangosteen by lacing your fingers together and creating a cradle for the fruit. Then you gently press your palms together until the skin of the mangsteen breaks open. Inside are small white pods that resemble cloves of garlic. They are very juicy and flavorful with a slight acidic content. They were the perfect compliment to our durian.
By this time, I had done my best to lick all the stickiness from my fingers, but was worried about how I would make it home without touching anything. That's when Hai Seah walked us over to a large bucket of water that had a lime floating in it. There was a cup for dipping out the water, and we took turns pouring lime water over each other's hands to remove the stickiness and durian smell. Maggie can testify that my hands have no odor tonight, but my breath is another issue.
I'm so glad I got to taste "the good stuff" today and learn the ropes from a master durian eater!

Some observations so far - Posted by Darin

2006-08-02T20:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been updating the journal much. There's no time when I'm at work, and before our shipment came, Maggie usually hogged her laptop at night with emails in Afrikaans. Now that I have my personal laptop at home, there should be more time for me to contribute.
Two things that I have never said so far:

"Wow, it's a beautiful day. I think I'll take off early today" (it's always hot and humid)
"What am I going to do with all of these napkins?" (food courts have no napkins here)

Other observations:

Many of the local and commuter buses have digital satellite television (one channel). I've seen AsiaNet news (similar to CNN) and Singapore Idol (exactly the same as American Idol) while riding on the bus.

Lots of public service signs encouraging good behavior, but they never use the word "you". It's always "us" and "we". For example, "Public toilets can be clean. We can make a difference".

We have VOIP phones at work. I can take my phone from my desk to a team room and plug it in. After it boots, I can make and receive calls just like I'm at my desk. Haven't tried it from home. Yet.

Our apartment has a washer/dryer that's all one unit, but there's no vent for the dryer part. Don't know how well this will work. The spin cycle is broken so we haven't done any laundry yet.

At restaurants, they never bring the check until you ask for it. When they bring the bill, they wait right there for you to give your form of payment. If you pay with a credit card, they stand over you while you sign it, instead of just leaving it on the table.

At a bar near our apartment, the price of beer changes depending on the time of day. It's cheapest at lunch time, and most expensive after 8pm.

Things that have gone wrong so far - Posted by Maggie

2006-08-01T20:55:00.000-05:00

First of all, I must say that many things have gone right for us, but unfortunately we have had a few bumps during this trip:
1. Our shipment arrived safe and sound. It was a small (5 cubic ft) shipment of personal effects that was shipped via air freight. Unfortunately, Darin's red camera bag, containing his video iPod, Digital SLR camera, Digital handy cam video recorder and other memory sticks did not make it. Somewhere between Round Rock and Singapore, it was taken out of a carton and put in someone's hand other than their owner. Now it sucks going through the schlepp or filing claims etc.
2. Our credit card company has been charging us 10% service fees FOR EACH FOREIGN TRANSACTION! Ok, this is bizarre - we are world travelers but we have to pay 10% to use our credit card?? I called them and they shrugged and said it was in our initial agreement that we signed. Naturally, I am closing this account faster than you can say rip-off.
3. Opening a local bank account has been a big challenge. First, you have to have proof of your address - they will only accept a utility bill showing your name and address on the same page. Since the relocation company is paying the apartment directly, there is no such paper with our name on it. So figuring out what other proof we can bring is a hassle.
4. Darin's work permit has been severely delayed. It should have been done by now, but apparently the Ministry of Manpower doesn't have any manpower to make it happen! This is particularly problematic because Darin has to travel to Taiwan next week, on the date that his temporary permit expires. We are keeping our fingers crossed that eveything will come through in time.
5. Order newspapers for delivery has been very confusing. I have been sent online to fill out a form, then asked to fax something, then I had to mail something and once I was told to call the delivery guy at his home phone and pay him directly for the paper. I honestly don't usnderstand why something this simple is so very hard!
Anyway, this is just a short list of things that have gone wrong. Luckily there is a much longer list of what actually went right too... more later!

Meanwhile, back in Florida....

2006-07-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

Beanie and Basil are in heaven! Just look - happy dogs. I miss them so much!

Darin's birthday weekend - posted by Maggie

2006-07-30T20:54:00.000-05:00

Today, Monday July 31st is Darin's 40th birthday. So the entire weekend was a celebration, packed full of new adventures.
Cultural Training - Singapore 101The weekend started off with a local Singaporean named Keith that came to out aparment to train us in Singaporean culture. It was a lot of fun and we learned so much about the culture here as well as some interesting historical factoids. Here are a few examples:
4 million people live on the island of Singapore
1 million of those are expatriates (25 % of the population)
Singapore is only 41 years old
Only 10% of Singaporeans hold a university education
Always present your business card with two hands, and accept someone elses with two hands (don't bend it or place it quickly in your pocket or wallet!)
You feet are considered unclean - never use your foot to move an object or touch another person.
Your left hand is also considered unclean. Never hand anything to another person using your left hand.
Later on, Keith took us for authentic Chinese Dim Sum in Chinatown. Dim Sum means "small pieces going straight to your heart". The servers push little carts around containing small dishes (like "tapas") and you just nod when you want something. We had spring rolls, salad, shrimp dumplings, fried fish and more. It was delicious! For dessert they offered us a dish made from bird saliva! I declinedand had the mango pudding instead.
Sentosa Island:On Sunday, Darin and I went on a special excursion to Sentosa Island, described in magazines as " an island resort that's just minutes from the Central Business District, yet a world away from the bustle of the city!".
We arrived via cable car (that moves horizontally for the most part, not up or down) from Mount Faber (which isn't really a mountain but a hill covered in rain forest - very pretty). The island is full of entertainment and attractions such as Underwater World, The Merlion and Cinemania. But we mainly wanted to go walk on the beach and go to the famous Spa Botanica at the Sentosa Resort and Spa.
The had a nice lunch on Siloso beach and then headed to the Spa. It was absolutely breathtaking. Set amidst the lush rainforest, we were led to an outside pavillion where we could hear peacocks and falling water whilst enjoying obscenely indulgent pampering with a 90-minute massage. After that we had a mud bath where you cover your entire body and face with mineral mud. We felt relaxed and rejuvenated, and went back to the city to have dinner by the river (yes, we washed the mud off before going back to the city).
See more pictures on Photoworks.com (link will open in new window)

Our Townhouse in Singapore - Posted by Maggie

2006-07-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

Great news! We finally moved into a townhouse. It is in the Park Avenue Residences on Kim Yam Road, close to Mohammed Sultan Road.
The townhouse is on 3 levels - the lower level has a living room, kitchen, dining and utility room and one loo. The second level has the master bedroom with master bath and a guest bedroom with a full guest bathroom, the third level has another guestroom with full en suite bathroom. Loads of room for anyone to come and visit. And heaps of room for me to paint!!
This is a very nice neighborhood near Robertson Quay, on the famous Mohammed Sultan Raod which is a popular hang-out spot with expats and locals. The river is one block from our place. It is also near major shopping areas, Chinatown and Clarke Quay - all of which have abundant grocery shops, restaurants and bars. The Mohammed Sultan area is also the Art Center of Singapore (naturally, this is why I like it so much) with art galleries galore all around (one right across the road from our townhouse!)
--> See more pictures of our townhouse & neighborhood on Photoworks

Weekend in Bangkok, Thailand - posted by Maggie

2006-07-24T20:52:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we went to Bangkok, Thailand for the weekend. We went to meet some friends of ours (Lydia & Alyson) who were on a Smartours /Friendly Planet tour of China and Thailand. They were at the end of their 2-week trip.
We met Lydia and Alyson in New Zealand in May - they were tour mates on the Friendly Planet tour we went on. They both live in Las Vegas, and the last time we saw them was in Tahiti when we said goodbye. And now we met them again in Thailand. It's a small world!
The tour guide, who's name is Boeing, let Darin and I tag along for two days in the bus along with the other Friendly Planet tour-goers. We saw a lot of temples and palaces. The most famous ones we went to were The Temple of the Reclining Buddha & Wat Po as well as the Grand Palace. It was a lot of fun.
I was surprised by how cheap everything was in Bangkok. A meal in a nice restaurant would cost around $4-6! It was very different from Singapore. We saw many stray animals (mostly cats and dogs) everywhere, and there is a lot of poverty too - more than in Singapore.
I posted some pictures on Photoworks.com - you can view them without having to sign up as a member:View our Tailand pictures now

Singapore Art Museum & Chinatown - Posted by Maggie

2006-07-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

I visited the Singapore Art Museum recently to investigate what kinds of Asian art is in the collection. When I got there, I was prepared to pay the $3 entrance fee (that I read about in a guide book), but they handed me a floor plan and said the entry was free. Naturally, I was pleased about this.
The map was very hard to figure out, even though the museum itself is very small - 2 story building in a u-shape (compared to the likes of MoMA and the Met, this place is a mere spec of dust). There were 2 temporary exhibits of local Singapore artists. Works ranged from photography to abstrac and figurative painting. I wanted to see more, but the rest of the exhibits were under construction. This is probably why the entrance fee was free.

After the Art Museum I walked down to Chinatown. There are many street stalls selling everything under the sun. There are also tailors everywhere that will make you custom clothing in your choice of fabric. In the US you would pay top dollar for custom made tailored shirts. Here, you can get one for about SG$40-80, which is about USD$30-60!! So for Darin's upcoming 40th birthday, I got him 2 custom made tailored shirts made out of fine silk and quality cotton. (He knows about this gift because he had to come with me to get measured ) I hope they turn out nice.

Club Street in Chinatown is a hip little street with unique and quirky little shops dotting the street. Also known for it's vibrant night life, this street is the place to see and be seen at.

Bollywood Veggies: Organic farm in the coutryside - Posted by Maggie

2006-07-16T20:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Darin and I went on an adventure to the countryside in Singapore. We had to take a train for 40 minutes to get to Kranji, a rural town on the north side of the island. Once there, we still had to get a cab to Bollywood Veggie farm.
Our first cab driver said he had no clue where it was, even after we gave him the address. The second cab driver we asked said the first one lied. He just didn't want to take us there because he would have no passenger coming back. This, we have found out, is "taxi diplomacy". Drivers would pretend that they don't know where the destination is, and tell you to get out of the car!
Anyhow, the second cab driver was a lady, and she gladly took us right to the farm. Only 10 minutes from the station.
Bollywood veggies is a farm that groes organic fruits, vegetables and herbs on a lovely 10-acre farm run by nature lovers Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim and her husband, Mr Lim Ho Seng. We ate at the farm's restaurant "Poison Ivy Bistro" - they served very tasty dishes using produce straight from the farm!
I had the banana & coconut curry, and Darin had some lemongrass chicken and a dish that came with all sorts of things on it - about 70% of which were edible.
We had a fun time!

Ok, this was very disturbing - Posted by Maggie

2006-07-12T20:49:00.000-05:00

Guess what I saw today. OMG, brace yourself for this. I had to come back to the hotel to lie down in a fetal position after this experience! They have these food stalls everywhere - selling all kinds of food - from "western food" (looks like grey chicken nuggets), to indian and thai food, and dim sum & dumplings and such (see the Fish ball entry below). Well, one place looked interesting - I thought there were little breads on display and then I saw a jar on top of the counter, and I couldn't figure out what was in there. At closer inspecition, I saw that the label said "Marinated Duck Chins". And that is exactly what they were!! It was literally the lower half of a duck's beak (in the u-shape) with a piece of skin attached to it, and the whole thing skewered on a stick. Serious. I am not kidding!

I was so appalled by this that I started looking around frantically to see if there were any other (westerners) people around who see this. I needed some kind of acknowledgement that this was real (and very disturbing). Of course there was nobody who even blinked an eye, and I actually saw someone ordering some. I fled immediately, feeling sick to my stomach, and came straight back to the hotel.

Lucky for me, there are tons of indian (vegetarian) food everywhere, but I swear - there is only so much vegetable curry, rice and roti one can stand.

Do I write about food a lot? I guess it's because you can't even throw a chop-stick in the air without it landing in a restaurant or food stall around here.

Disturbed in Sing

Durian fruit and glutinous fish balls - Posted by Maggie

2006-07-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

So far Singapore is fun. It is a bit overwhelming - feels like living in Manhattan surrounded by multiple cultures that speak english with heavy accents, who shop and eat a lot. Sort of being in a perpetual Chinatown...

The food is good, but most of the time I don't even know what I am eating. And I still have to get used to the weird smells, like durian fruit. It smells like rotten fruit doused with petrol, but tastes pretty sweet (almost like a guava) and it has prickly thorns on it. Buses and the subway have signs prohibiting the transportation of durian fruit. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

As a globe trotter, I have seen (and sometimes eaten) many weird dishes. ("Globe trotters" actually sounds like a dish you'll find in a restaurant here in Singapore: "I'll have the curried globe trotters with a side of glutinous fish balls". Serious, they sell "glutinous fish balls" here - it looks like ping-pong balls served in a soup with noodles). Here is a picture:

Today I also saw chicken feet, and soup made from the slug-like sea cucumber and something called seafood porridge. The porridge part is actually just rice in a broth of some sort.

Bon appetit!

Made it to Singapore! - Posted by Maggie

2006-07-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

he flight was pretty harsh and very long, and we still have a bit of jet lag. Yesterday we fell asleep at 5pm and woke up at midnight - confused at first and unable to sleep any further.

You won't believe the shopping here!! It is like a never-ending shopping mall. There are high-end labels like Prada, Gucci, Valentino, Longchamp, BCBG etc. and there are other brands like Marks & Spencer and Mango (from Spain) and there are also heaps of fleamarkets and vintage clothing stores. Even an IKEA and a lot of other home furnishing shops. Wherever you go there is a huge mall, there are literally shops everywhere, and there is also specialized areas such as little india and little china etc.

I was really surprised by how many trees there are everywhere - the climate is very tropical and there are apparently more tree species in Singapore than the entire US! The city itself is spotless. The sidewalks are very clean, you will never see any trash anywhere. But so far my biggest quest has been to find rubbish bins. There are none on the street. You have to carry all your empty water bottles and other debris with you for a long time, until you spot a rubbish bin - usually hidden away in a corner where you least expect it.

They Hyatt is very nice - they have an excellent spa with a whirlpool, steamroom and sauna and an excercise room, and we are centrally located just off of Orchard road which is the main shopping street.

And the food!!! there is every single cuisine you can think of here. Food is very cheap (and good) but alcohol is very expensive. You pay about $8 for a glass of beer.

Darin and I rode the MRT (subway) out to the Dell office yesterday to see how long it will take him to get to work. It took us about 50 minutes from the hotel. The MRT goes everywhere and is very clean (no pee smells), but is a bit crowded. Much like London's tube with very clear directions etc.

We've also scoped out an apartment so far and it was really nice - very comfortable and nicely furnished. But it was too far away from the MRT so it would take us really long to get anywhere. So the search for housing continues.

Long Bus Ride - Posted by Darin

2006-07-08T20:43:00.000-05:00

Today we decided to take the MRT to the Dell facility in Jurong East. It took nearly an hour door to door from the Grand Hyatt on Orchard Road.One thing I learned about riding the bus. They don't stop at a bus stop unless someone is at the bus stop waving at the driver or someone on the bus has pressed the button. Another thing I learned is if the bus is at a stop letting someone on, and you stand up and try to exit the bus, they don't open the rear exit doors unless you actually press the STOP button. The nice thing is that all the public transit systems use the same smart cards, so you can "badge on and off" of trains and buses throughout the country.I may wind up losing weight here simply because it takes so much effort to eat the food. If you get shrimp and noodles, the shrimp still has his eyes, tail, anus, and everything else that a cook normally removes before serving a meal. This has the effect of reducing my appetite somewhat and slowing my food intake considerably. Now a curry puff is right up my alley. Grab one of these babies in your hand and start eating. No preparation necessary. However, being a fried meat pie, curry puffs will have to be a rare treat, lest I wind up in the newspaper as "Fattest American in Singapore".Tomorrow is my first day in the office and I have tons of stuff to do.