For a friend

I'm posting this for one of my friends from Singapore. This is her husband's photography web site - he's got some talent! :-)

Gronow Photography

The Number 8

In Chinese culture, the number 8 is a lucky number. Everyone wants the number 8 to be associated with their lives. If your car’s license plate has the number 8 in it – that’s good news. When you get a new mobile phone #, you can pay extra (sometimes a lot extra) to get a number with lots of 8s in it. Even the Singapore $1 coin has an octagon on it – because the government wanted everyone to be carrying around the number 8 to bring prosperity to the country.

When China won the bid for this year’s Olympics, they scheduled the opening ceremonies for Aug 8. (8/8/08). I’ve even heard that the ceremonies will start at 8:08pm – but I’m not sure about that.

For me, the number 8 will be important this year too. On 8/8/08 this year, I return to the US… for good (or, at least for the foreseeable future).

Well, I’m trying to make the most of my last few weeks here. Last week, I flew down to Bali for a few days vacation with a friend. We spent the time relaxing at the beach, boogie boarding, and eating well. There’s a great bar there, called Ku De Ta. They have reclining beach chairs that look out over the beach. You can sit there, watch sunset, and lounge around to Café-Del-Mar-esque music.

The beach that we were at was pretty touristy. And, it’s the Indonesian school holiday, so there were tons of people there. But we did get away to a different beach, called Dreamland, one of the days. It was more secluded, and much nicer. But the waves there were crashing down pretty hard, so boogie boarding was out of the question.

I’ll definitely go back to Bali. I want to get around to some of the quieter parts of the island. And, I gotta get back to do some diving there.

This past weekend was the last Dragonboat Race for me in Singapore. They had 800m races out at one of the fresh-water reservoirs in Singapore. Tons of teams were there (from the expat organizations, the universities, and different corporations & groups). And, the American team had a special guest with us…

We were joined by Dhani Jones, a linebacker from the Cincinnati Bengals. He is traveling around right now, filming a TV show for the Travel Channel about sports all around the world. He’s played Rugby in England, done Muay Thai in Thailand, and came to Singapore to do Dragonboating. He & his film crew spent the entire weekend with us, and I wound up paddling one row away from him in one of the races.

So, keep an eye on the Travel Channel next Feb. You just might see me. :-)

Traveling

April was a busy month for me. It’s been a while since I’ve taken a break from work & gone anywhere. But, as luck would have it, I was able to take a couple of trips last month.

People have told me “When you’re living in Asia, make sure you take the time to visit Rome.” ?!?!?!? Ok, I don’t think anyone has ever said that. But, I had the chance to meet up with Jed & Alison (living in Rome) and with Jay & Brian (who were visiting from the US), so I made the trip. It was a long flight – much longer than if I had gone from the US. I flew from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, and then to Rome (flying over Tehran in the process).



Rome was really cool, and I’m glad that I got to experience it with some friends. We were on the move for the whole week – I felt like I saw everything there is to see in Rome (although, I’m sure there’s still tons left to see… I’ll have to go back).

We saw all of the standard Rome tourist sites: The Colosseum (very impressive, but much smaller than I had imagined), The Vatican, The Roman Forum, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and more churches than I could count!

Jed & Alison’s apartment was just a few blocks from the Vatican. So, I visited there several times. St. Peters Basilica was awesome, of course. I never imagined how enormous it was going to be. There was incredible sculptures & artwork everywhere. I went to the top of the cupola and out on the roof (lots & lots of very narrow & twisting stairs) for a fantastic view of the Vatican and of Rome. I also went to the vault beneath the Basilica, where many of the Popes are buried. There’s also something one level beneath the vault, which is very heavily secured… I wonder what’s down there?

The Vatican Museums were huge. We spent a good part of a day there, and didn’t even come close to seeing everything. We made our way around, looking at tons of unbelievable statues & artwork. And, we also got to see a collection of the Pope-mobiles & other means of transportation that Popes over the years have used.
At the end of the tour, we made our way to the grand finale of the museums – the Rafael Rooms & the Sistine Chapel. It was great to see all the famous art – it lives up to the reputation. They don’t allow you to take photos in the Sistine Chapel, but I got around that – I bought postcards! :-D
(Actually, when you’re in the Sistine Chapel, the security is constantly telling people “No Photos”, and saying “Shhhhh”. I guess one guy broke the rules one too many times, because we saw security go through his camera & delete all the photos he took, and then throw him out).

The other churches we visited in Rome were just as spectacular. Jay put it best when he said that in any other city, any of the churches that we saw would have been the centerpiece of that city. The artwork & the sculptures at all of the churches were great. I really liked the artwork on the ceilings of many of the churches – which makes you feel like you’re looking upwards into heaven.


One of the eeriest churches that we visited was Santa Maria della Concezione. The walls of the church are decorated with the remains of thousands of Capuchin Monks. Some walls are covered with piles of sculls, and others have archways made out of bones. There is also artwork on the ceilings made out of skulls, vertebrae, and other bones. And, there are even a few bodies that appear to be mummified.

The food in Rome was wonderful. I had fantastic pastas, pizzas, wines, espressos, and some terrific gelato. And, I resisted the pressure to go out for Chinese. :-P
Most of the restaurants that we ate at were much smaller, intimate ones. They all make their own pasta, and sometimes can’t accommodate several different types of pasta in a single order. When we inadvertently ordered 4 different kinds, the waiter responded with an exasperated “Wow!”, and then walked away. :-) Fortunately we all got our orders.

On my last day in Italy, we took the train down to Pompei. It was really interesting to see the ruins of the city, and somber to see the remains of the people that were killed by Mount Vesuvius.


"A Holiday in Cambodia"

Less than a week after getting back from Italy, I was getting on a plane again – heading up to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I’ve been meaning to see Angkor Wat for some time, and I wanted to go before the rainy season started.

It was a fantastic trip! The temples of Angkor are unbelievable. I went to more than 15 temples, but ones that stood out were Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm.

Angkor Wat is probably the most famous – the one that’s shown the most in pictures of the Area.


Angkor Thom is the biggest (over 9 sq km), with giant faces on the gates at the entrance, and on 37 towers at the Bayon temple in the middle.


Ta Prohm is a temple that is being consumed by the forest. Trees are now growing over & through the temple. Ta Prohm is also recently famous because it’s where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed.



Some of the temples are pretty treacherous! They were definitely built without safety in mind. The stairs on some are very very steep (over 50 degrees), and they go up to 4-5 stories high. But, there are fantastic views when you get to the top. There are signs that say ‘climb at your own risk’. Apparently a woman fell down a year or so ago, and had to be airlifted to Bangkok.

There are cute little kids everywhere around the temples – all trying to sell things, from bracelets to guide books, to t-shirts, etc… It’s amazing how good their English is, and how persistent they are. “Mr., will you buy my bracelet for a dollar?” If you say no, you will either hear “Whyyyyyy?” or “Ok, after you see the temple, then you come back & buy from me, ok?” I did a pretty good job of resisting, but still came back with a few things. One girl managed to sell me 10 postcards when she demonstrated that she could count out 10 of them in English, Spanish, German, and a 4th language.


My good deed of the day was when I fixed this girl’s bike. The wheel had come off, and she didn’t know how to fix it. She didn’t speak any English, but I got a big smile out of her when I put it back on.

I also went to the landmine museum, which was really sobering. There are millions of landmines around Cambodia, from the Pol Pot regime in the 70s and when Vietnam invaded in the 80s. They’re still actively clearing mines. Siem Reap has been cleared, but rural Cambodia still has lots of mines. One of the temples that I visited was next to a field that had only been cleared a few months ago.

On my last day, I went out to a floating village on Tonle Sap (the giant lake that stretches from Siem Reap, all the way to Phnom Pehn). It’s one of many fishing villages on the lake, and everyone lives on boats. It’s also turned into a tourist spot – there are a few restaurants on boats out there now.
It was really interesting to see how the people lived, and how they caught fish (with very elaborate bamboo traps). All the kids in the village would come over in little boats, or in barrels that had been cut in half. Some were selling bananas or drinks. Others had snakes that they would show, in exchange for money. Others just asked for a dollar.

The entire trip was a lot of fun. The people were really nice; the sights were very interesting; it was easy (getting there, getting around, communicating, etc…); and despite it being such a tourist destination – I really didn’t feel hassled while I was there. I’ll definitely go back, and anyone that has the chance should definitely see it.

Here are some pictures from my trips.
Italy
Cambodia

Lots going on

Well, keeping with my Chinese New Year resolution, I’ve been trying to keep very busy in Singapore.

Singapore has one water park, and I went there over CNY with my American co-worker, his family, and some of the other families from our building. It’s a pretty small park – nothing compared to Wisconsin Dells, or even Valley Fair for that matter. But, it was a nice get away for the day.

They have 3 water slides, a lazy river, and a wave pool (well, it’s kind of small… let’s call it a wave pond). It’s kind of hard to get excited about a wave pool when you can touch bottom in the deepest part. :-| The slides were fun – one was completely dark, so you had no idea when the next turn was going to be. I spent most of the day floating in the lazy river, chatting with the grown ups.

The water park is near the far Eastern end of Singapore. The next day of CNY, I went to the extreme Northwest corner. I went up to see the Sungei Buloh wetland reserve. It was set up by birdwatchers, because it’s a major stopping ground during migration. But, right now there isn’t many birds to see. I did see a number of very large water monitor lizards up there – up to 6 feet long! They mostly went about their business, but one of them got a little curious about me. I got within 6 feet of it, and it slowly started moving towards me – I backed off. Not something I’d want to tangle with – they’re not venomous, but they’ve got a lot of nasty bacteria in their mouth.



Part of the reserve is a mangrove forest. When I got there, it was high tide & all the trees were poking up out of the water. A few hours later, the water was down & you could see the huge root structure. There were also a bunch of tiny crabs running around everywhere.
You can also see Malaysia from the reserve. There are big barb-wire fences along the shoreline, trying to keep people from sneaking into Singapore (or, maybe from sneaking out) :-)

Last week, I went out to a Lou Hei dinner with a big group of people that I know through windsurfing. (Here's a random video of Lou Hei that I found on youtube - it's not from our dinner) Anyway...I met a guy out there who’s got one of the toughest jobs I’ve ever heard of. He told me he was a diver, but he didn’t seem like the SCUBA-dive-tour-group leader type. So, I asked if he was a professional diver for the petroleum industry (since there’s a lot of that in Singapore). He said yes, and I asked if he had to do a lot of decompression diving (that’s when you go really really deep & have to decompress when you come up to the surface). He said no, because he doesn’t dive in the ocean – he dives in storage tanks full of petroleum distillates, like benzene!!! Whoa! He has to wear a full chemical suit when he dives. I guess he lives up to his name… it’s Hercules. He also kite surfs, rock climbs, and repels for fun. I guess when you’ve got a job like that, you’d better live life to the fullest, ‘cause you’re not going to live very long.

The final event for Chinese New Year (at least for me) was the Chingay Parade. I went last year, and really enjoyed it. This year I wasn’t as impressed – not as many fireballs & other spectacular things. There was one highlight though – before the race, they had an F1 racecar drive through the parade route.

Singapore is going to be hosting a F1 race this September. I wasn’t really that interested in it, because I’m not a NASCAR fan at all. But, I have to say that seeing this car was really exciting. It screamed through the streets at an incredible speed – and I emphasize screamed. It had a very unusual sound – very loud, and very high-pitch. It made several passes, and came within 20 feet of me. I think that F1 would be more exciting than NASCAR, since they race through city streets instead of on a track. I kinda wish I was going to be here to see it now… Oh well.



So, I’ve been doing Dragonboating with the American Association’s team for the past few months. It’s pretty fun, and I’ve met some really nice people there. We’ve got a race coming up in a few weeks, which should be interesting. 500m of paddling, with 20 people in the boat.

Last weekend, we had a big BBQ after practice. We grilled up hamburgers, hot dogs, and had all the beer & pop you could drink. Definitely the best BBQ that I’ve ever had in February. I miss grilling out regularly – I can’t wait to have some BBQs when I come back this summer.

Yesterday, I took a trip down to the Singapore National Muesum. They have an exhibit of Greek masterpieces from the Louvre going on right now. There are over 130 pieces of Greek art here, including several life-size statues. It was a fascinating exhibit – it was incredible to be able to see the statues up close. And, it was fun to listen to the guide try to pronounce the Greek names (Apollo = Ah puh lo; Socrates = So cra tez)

100 degrees

Well, my trip home has come & gone. It went by really quickly this time – I should have come home for 3 weeks, but I only did 2. While I got to see almost everyone that I wanted to, there were a few that I didn’t. :-( But, the next 5 months are going to go by very quickly, and then I’ll be back in July. And, as several people asked while I was back – yes, when I come back in July, it will be permanent.

It was pretty warm in Singapore right before I flew back to MN. And, as most of you know, it’s been pretty cold in MN this year. So, over the course of a couple of days, I experienced more than a 100 degree temperature drop. Lots of people commented that I chose the worst time to come back, but I enjoyed it! When I got off the plane, and saw my breath – I got a big smile on my face.

Two friends from Singapore were also in town during this period of time. They didn’t seem to enjoy the weather as much as I did. :-) But, one did admit that 32F felt pretty good after experiencing –10F.

Of course, there were other good things about coming back in January, other than the chilly weather. I got to celebrate my Grandma’s 86th birthday with her & most of the family. I haven’t seen some of my Aunts & Uncles for a long time, and it was a lot of fun to catch up with them again.

I got to go snowboarding with J & Brian one day, and enjoy a season other than year-round summer. Apparently the cold weather scared people off, because the slopes were surprisingly empty.

It was also time for the annual guys weekend up at the cabin. It had to be one of the coldest years that we’ve done it. It was –10F when we went out to the lake to play broomball, but that didn’t stop us. We were out there for over 2 hours. The rest of the weekend was spent drinking, eating, watching movies, and playing Guitar Hero (finally, a video game that I don’t totally suck at).

It was fun to come back & meet the new babies in friends’ lives. I met Dan & Katie’s new daughter, as well as Matt & Wipa’s new son. Both were very cute. And, it was fun to see the other kids too. I got to shoot Nerf rockets with Ryan, and make monster faces with Elizabeth.

And, of course, let’s not forget the food!
Full turkey dinner, since I missed Thanksgiving
Pizza(s)
Tater-Tot hot dish
Chili
Burrito Loco
Buca
Pepitos
Lasagna
etc...

I got back to Singapore just in time to celebrate Chinese New Year. Last year, I was out of town until New Year’s Day, so I missed seeing the festivities down in Chinatown. I went down there this year, and was amazed at how many people were trying to fit into such a small area! I started out in the early evening – wandering around the streets, trying food (all the food vendors were trying to clear out their stocks), and people watching. As the evening went on, more & more & more people kept filing in. By 11:00, it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to see the stage (despite the fact that I’m quite a bit taller than most people here). I decided not to get stuck in the crowd trying to leave after midnight – so I went home & caught the countdown on TV.

Welcome to the year of the rat. Gong Xi Fa Cai! (I’ve finally learned to say something in Chinese!) :-)


Singapore has pretty much shut down for CNY. The streets are like a ghost town – there are barely any cars driving around. It’s pretty weird to see.

Being the new year, I’ve decided to make a new year’s resolution. I’ve only got 5 more months in Singapore, and there’s still a lot of things that I want to do (both here & in other countries). So, my resolution is to have some kind of story to tell after every weekend. I’ll have time to rest when I get back to the States.

Stay tuned…

Manta!

There were two public holidays in Singapore during late December – Hari Raya Haji (Dec 20), and Christmas. I decided to use a few days of vacation between them, and take a much-needed break from work. I flew up to Thailand (again… it seems like I’m always there) :-). This time, it was Phuket instead of Bangkok, and the purpose was SCUBA diving – not work.

Arrival in Phuket didn’t go as well as it could have. After waiting in line at immigration for over 30 minutes, they decided to close one of the lines & merge everyone into another line. This was not done with any semblance of order, and we all wound up waiting in line for well over an hour. Things didn’t get any better as we approached the front of the line & the immigration staff brought another family over to cut in front. I thought some people were going to lose it.

Well, eventually we got through that. And, after another 30 minute wait for a taxi – I was off to my vacation! I stayed in a cheap, but nice, hotel on Patong beach for the night & was picked up for diving the next morning.

My dive trip was on a liveaboard dive boat - Somboon 3. A liveaboard trip allows you to get farther away from land & go to dive sites that you couldn’t normally get to if you had to go back to shore at the end of the day. It also allows you to spread the dives out more during the day – giving you more time to rest between dives.




Somboon 3 was a little different than most liveaboards. It stays out at sea almost all the time. Every day, there is a speedboat that takes divers back & forth to the mainland. This allows everyone to choose how long they want to stay on the boat, which is really nice.

The diving was excellent. The water was clear, and it was sunny every day – which gave beautiful colors underwater (at least in the first 20 feet or so… after that, everything’s blue/green). We’d get up every morning and dive just after sunrise. Afterwards, we’d get out of the water & have a big breakfast. Then we’d have 3 more dives throughout the course of the day. On the first day, I did a night dive. It’s interesting diving in total darkness – the only things you can see is what your shining your flashlight on. But, since we were only allowed 4 dives per day, I chose the 4 day dives & skipped the rest of the night dives. There was plenty of interesting stuff to see during the day.

When I arrived in the Similans, I had 2 things in mind: manta rays & whale sharks. I knew that I was not likely to see a whale shark – it’s not the best time of year. But, I really really wanted to see a manta ray. Our best chance was going to be on Sunday, when we left the Similan Islands & sailed an hour north to the island of Koh Bon.

We did our first dive… no mantas (but we did see plenty of other things). On the 2nd dive, I saw one off in the distance. But, it was far away when I saw it & it was swimming away. I really hoped that it wasn’t going to be the only manta I saw that day.

On the 3rd dive, we went back to the same area where we’d seen the manta in the distance. We waited there for about 15 minutes… nothing! So, we started swimming towards a shallower part of the reef. All of a sudden, someone pointed above us. I looked up, and there was one directly above. It was huge! It was at least 10 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It swam/flew past & then turned (it banked, like an airplane does), and came past again. As it flew past, I turned around & there was another one behind us. It flew past & the doubled back again. They just kind of loitered around us – clearly not uncomfortable with our presence. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve seen underwater. They’re incredibly large, but very graceful.



Check out how big it is, compared to the diver in the corner!

As we were finishing our dive, we were about to start our safety stop (where you go to 15 feet for 5 minutes, to get nitrogen out of your blood). As we were doing that, another manta came by! This one came so close that some people had to get out of its way. It also doubled back for another pass by us. Incredible!






Oh, and here’s some manta trivia I learned while reading through a book on the boat. Mantas can jump completely out of the water – getting 10-15 feet in the air. And, pregnant females will jump out of the water & give birth mid air! Nobody’s sure why they do that.

I saw tons of other creatures during my trip to the Similans. We came across a leopard shark that let us get really close for pictures, as well as starfish, lionfish, scorpionfish (I almost put my hand on one of those – that would have been really bad), eels, lobster, and even some tiny sea horses.






I’ve put the best of my pictures from the trip up on my flickr page. Check ‘em out when you get a chance.

Oh, and by the way – Happy New Year to you all. I hope 2008 is good to you.

Addendum

Oops – forgot to mention a few things in my last blog update. I have a couple other stories from Bangkok & Penang.

I was in Bangkok for this year’s Loi Krathong festival. It’s a holiday where the Thai people pay respect to the water, for all that it gives them. They do this by floating small rafts on to the water. In Thai, Krathong is the word for the rafts, and Loi means ‘to float’.

I took the Sky Train down to the river, expecting it to be a little crowded. I was shocked to see how many people were there – I could barely move through the crowds! I suppose in a city as big as Bangkok, every holiday will be a very crowded event.
The rafts are made out of banana tree trunks, and decorated with flowers, candles, and incense. They used to be made with Styrofoam, but Thailand was encouraging everyone to be more environmentally friendly this year. Some of them were pretty elaborate. It was fun to watch everyone float their rafts out on the water. There were people in the water, helping guide people’s rafts. Little kids waved goodbye to their rafts as they floated away.

After the river, I took the train over to a mall to meet my friend Aor for dinner. Afterwards, we went to the Queen’s Park – nearby the mall. There’s a large pond in the park, and people were launching Krathongs there too. It was much easier to see at the park, the crowds weren’t nearly as large.





Oh, one other thing I came across in Bangkok – a Cosplay gathering at the MBK mall. There were all of these people (most, but not all, were teenagers), dressed up like their favorite video game characters. I think it originates in Japan, but it’s pretty popular in other Asian countries. Everyone was standing around posing for anyone who wanted to take a picture. Words probably don’t do it justice…



A cardboard mustache, a red nose, and a pink cell phone… what more do you need?

I have even more pics on my flickr page.

Another aside… when I was flying from Penang to Bangkok a week earlier, I had one of the strangest experiences on a flight. During take-off, a woman decided it would be a good time to get out of her seat. Now, this isn’t a few minutes after take-off, this is while we’re still getting up to speed on the runway – before we took off! What the?!?!?! I knew not to do that the first time I was on plane. You’d think her first clue was that she had to lean waaaay forward to keep her balance. Anyways, she eventually sat down. I thought that she maybe had to go to the bathroom, but she didn’t seem to go as soon as the seatbelt light went out. Hmmmm.

Anyways… jumping around in time a little bit more - I flew back to Singapore on Dec 1. On Dec 2, I woke up super early & went to run the Standard Chartered Half Marathon. They had over 40,000 participants, between the full & half marathons, and the 10k. It was unbelievable how many people there were! The half-marathon started at 6:15am (the full started at 5:30), which was necessary to beat the heat. Actually, it was really nice running weather that early in the morning, and it was great to be running during the sunrise.

I didn’t have (or maybe it’s “I didn’t make”) much time to train, but I was really happy with my time. I finished in 2 hours, 15 minutes, which is pretty much exactly half of what my last full-marathon was (which I trained heavily for). I guess that means I’ve improved my running, right? :-)

Well, I’m about to head up to the Similan Islands in Thailand (just off of Phuket) for a few days of scuba diving. It’s supposed to be a pretty good dive site – I hope I see some manta rays (they’re supposed to hang out around there). Then, it’s just a few more weeks until I get back to MN for a visit. I’m looking forward to the snow & the cold.

Lastly, Merry Christmas to all of you that celebrate it!
CB