CB in .sg

The Number 8

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:09:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:53:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:34:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:07:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:58:00 +0000

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

Grub Ma Eek Krung

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:28:00 +0000

“Return Again” in Thai

First of all, I hope that all of my American friends had a Happy Thanksgiving! Fortunately, I was able to find a way to celebrate again this year.

It’s been a busy month and a half. I wrote my last blog entry while I was in Thailand. Since then, I’ve gone back to Singapore, only to find myself on another business trip already – first to Malaysia, and now back in Thailand… full circle, in only 6 weeks.

My last trip to Thailand was a lot of fun. Fortunately, I was able to make the trip at the same time that my friends Ann & Chris were visiting Thailand with their son. It was great to be able to hang out with them again. We went out to eat a lot, and I finally made my way down to Pattaya beach. I learned an important lesson on that trip too… take the first class bus.

I was going to meet Ann & Chris at the beach, since they were going down with her family. So, I made my way down to the bus station & bought a ticket to the beach. I was told that the trip would only take about 2 hours. Well, I knew there was going to be trouble about 10 minutes into the trip, when the bus made its first stop! We stopped for about 10 minutes while the driver & crew (not sure what the crew did, other than talk with the driver while driving) got out for a snack. After that break, we started driving again, only to stop 5 minutes later for gas. After that, the journey continued on – stopping every 10-15 minutes to pick up or drop off passengers. 4 hours later, I reached the beach. I later learned that if I had paid 60 baht (about $2) more, I could have been on a first class bus, that didn’t make any stops.

Oh well, the beach was a lot of fun. I went swimming & jet skiing, and we played in the water with Ann & Chris’ son. We also were visited at the beach by our friend & former co-worker Kittiwan. She quit & moved to a city closer to Pattaya with her husband a few years ago. It was really nice to see her again.

Another new experience for me in Bangkok was my trip to Safari World. My friend Aor took me there with some of her co-workers. I thought it was going to be like a zoo, but it actually was much more like a real safari. Safari World is a large park that you drive through – you never get out of your car. There are tons of animals wandering around – able to walk right up to your car. Probably my favorites were the full-grown rhinoceroses. One of them walked right up to our car, while the other passengers were yelling “CB, roll up the window!” :-) I don’t think the glass would have stopped him, if he really wanted to get inside the car.

There was another section of the park that I did keep the windows up – the dangerous cats section. We had to drive through another set of double-gates to get in, and there were signs everywhere saying to keep your windows up at all times. Outside there were full-grown lions & tigers, just feet away from the car.

Bangkok was fun, but I was there for 4 weeks & was ready to go back to Singapore. When I got back, I made a last-minute decision to do a triathlon. It was a Sprint distance race (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run), which was good because I hadn’t done any training. Probably my biggest obstacle, though, was that I didn’t have a bike here. :-) So, it was time to hurry up & buy some wheels.

I had been planning on getting a mountain bike, since I don’t have a decent one back in the US, and because it’s probably better to mountain bike in Singapore than to risk riding on the roads. So, I shopped around a bit, and wound up getting my new ride just 2 days before the race.

The race was a lot of fun. I was really happy with my time! The swim seemed really fast, especially considering that I hadn’t swam any distance in more than a year. But, I think I was helped by the fact that it was salt water, and I was more buoyant. The bike leg was really good too – I was surprised how fast I was able to go on the mountain bike. The run leg sucked… but that’s because I’m not a good runner. :-) All in all, though, I was very happy with how the day went.

Incidentally, my times were:

Swim (750m): 13:15
Bike (20km): 50:59 (including T1 & T2 times)
Run (5km): 31:29
Total: 1:35:43

It’s nice having a bike here – I wish I had bought it earlier. It’s a fun way to get around, although I try to stay off the streets unless it’s pretty early in the morning. I used my bike the next weekend to go from my place out to the airport (about 15 miles). It was a nice trip, and a fun afternoon, but I had another motive. I wanted to see the A380!

Singapore Airlines is the first to fly the new Airbus A380 – the double-decker jumbo airliner. It’s a very big plane, but it’s super quiet. It’s an odd looking plane, though – I think the 747 looks better. I had taken one wrong turn on my trip out there, so I was a little late to the airport & was only able to see it landing from a distance. Next time I’ll see it up close!

Before I knew it, I was heading out on another business trip. I started out in Penang, Malaysia – an island off the Western coast of peninsular Malaysia; close to the border with Thailand. Penang’s an interesting island. The Northern end is resorts, and the southern end is a huge industrial park. It’s amazing to see all of the companies here – many of the world’s largest electronics companies have factories here, all next door to each other.

On the weekend, a few co-workers took me out to go hiking on Penang Hill. I thought it would be a leisurely climb up to a nice lookout point. Wrong! It was much steeper & higher than I had expected. We hiked for about 2 hours before we reached the top, and by that point I was totally drenched. Fortunately for me, my leg held out to the top of the hill before it cramped up. Ouch! At least I got a spectacular view of the entire island, not to mention the Penang Bridge, which connects the island with the mainland. It’s supposedly the longest suspension bridge in SE Asia.

After Penang, it was time to head back to Bangkok – the 2nd time in as many months. I had been a little annoyed that I had to be in Thailand this week – I was planning on celebrating Thanksgiving in Singapore with a few friends. We had gone to Brewerks last year, and had a great time. Fortunately, I was able to find a turkey dinner in Bangkok, at a bar called Bully’s – complete with potatoes, cranberries, etc… The only thing was – I was a little late to dinner, and they were out of pumpkin pie! D’oh. It’s amazing how much a meal can affect your state of mind – I was so happy to have found a turkey dinner! I only wish I could have shared it with some friends & family. Rest assured – I thought of you all while I was eating.

Well, it’s only a few more days for me in Bangkok. I’m heading back to Singapore this weekend… and just in time. I’m running in the Standard Chartered ½ Marathon this weekend in Singapore. And, I’m doing it on about a quarter of the training that I should be. :-) My only goal is to finish it & have a good time. It will be interesting running in this heat.

BTW – Good news! I’m looking forward to seeing most of you again soon. That’s right – I’ll be back for a visit in January! Man, these 5 months have gone incredibly fast. I’ll be back for about 2 weeks, and then it’s back for my final leg in Singapore.

Demolition - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:43:00 +0000

Good guesses everyone!

Of course they’re not Transformers. C’mon! I mean, if they had been Transformers, then I would have heard the transforming sound, and there would have been no question in my mind. :-)

Those of you in the ‘rubble ramp’ crowd win the prize. That’s how I was guessing that they did it, but I still had to see with my own eyes to believe it. I’m sure it’s not an OSHA approved demolition method.

Every morning, the destruction would begin around 8:30 am. They’d start jackhammering one corner of the building (they always started with the same corner – OCD?).

After the first quarter of the floor was destroyed, they’d move on to the 2nd corner, while another excavator was scooping some debris into a ramp. Other debris was pushed down the stairwells & elevator shaft. There were other excavators on the ground, clearing each day’s debris.

It was amazing to watch the vehicles drive down the ramp. Those guys must have a lot more confidence in that pile of rubble holding together than I would. If all the jagged rock & rebar didn’t hold together, they’d be in for a nasty fall. At least they made the ramp in the center of the building, so there’d be less of a chance that they’d tumble over the edge.

They demolished 1 story per day, and they were down to the last floor on the day that I left for Bangkok. I’m interested to see how far they’ve come with the construction by the time I get back (next weekend). Hopefully that will be a little quieter than the demolition.

Demolition - Part I

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:33:00 +0000

There’s a construction boom going on in Singapore. Everywhere you turn, a new luxury high-rise is being built. Either it’s private condominiums, or serviced apartments for expats. And it seems like all the firms are competing with each other to have the coolest design – and they are really cool designs. I love the architecture in Singapore.

And these places aren’t cheap either! I went out with a friend, while her cousin was looking for a condo. A 1000 sq ft place was going for about 1.6 million Sing dollars! (That’s about $1M US). And, the places that we were looking were in a good part of Singapore, but by no means the prime areas.

Over the past year, I’ve been watching the construction of a few buildings down the street from me. Now, it’s time for something a little closer to home. About 6 months ago, I found out that the building next to me was going to be torn down, and a new modern residence would be put up.

They started prepping the building a few months ago. And, right after I got back from the US, the demolition began. It’s been really interesting to watch, but as I expected – it has not been a quiet one. Keep in mind that my bedroom is about 50 feet from the demolition (and they work 6-7 days per week). Well, at least I don’t oversleep.

The way they knocked down the building is pretty interesting. They didn’t use explosives (I guess I’m thankful for that), and they didn’t use a wrecking ball. One Saturday, a huge crane came to the building, and lifted 3 construction vehicles to the roof. Then the crane went away – it’s job was done.

Almost immediately, the vehicles on the roof went to work. Using big jackhammer attachments & shovels, they started tearing into the roof underneath them. This went on every day. They were able to completely knock down one floor every day. I’d leave for work & they’d be getting started, and by the time I’d get home – the building would be 1 story shorter.

Which made me wonder… as they destroyed the floor & walls each day – how did they all the equipment to the next level down????

How do you think they did it? Post your guesses to the comments section. (Have I ever mentioned that there’s not enough audience participation on this blog?) ;-)

In a few days, I’ll write the answer. Yes, I did let curiosity get the better of me one day. :-)

Home & Back Again

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:44:00 +0000

Well, I’ve added a few more miles to my frequent flyer account. My trip home last month was fantastic! I was able to see almost everyone that I wanted to, but even 3 weeks went by a little too fast. Sorry to those that I wasn’t able to meet up with, but I’ll be back again before you know it!

It was great to be back in Minnesota in the summertime. I was sitting out on my parents deck the first night back, and had lost track of time. It was still light out, so I had assumed it was about 6:30pm (my mind was still in Singapore). It was after 9:00pm! I love the long summer daylight.

I had so much fun while I was back. My friends Jason & Amy had a great BBQ at their place, where I got to catch up with a lot of my college friends & their kids. I had so many grilled burgers & brats that first weekend! I went for buffalo wings & visited the farmers market with my friends Matt & Wipa, and their daughter Elizabeth. I got out for a bike ride with Jay & Brian. I spent some time with my friend Pung, before she left the Twin Cities for her new job. And, I got to meet ReAnn & Jon’s new dog.

Oh, and of course I went to see the Simpsons movie!

I also indulged in many of the food & drinks that aren’t available in Singapore. I had to get my fill of pizza (that doesn’t have paper-thin crust), burritos, Famous Daves, and BBQ’d food! And, Singapore, for the record, has a rather limited beer selection. I had my fill of some of my favorite beers, some awesome margaritas at Bar Abilene, not to mention hard lemonade & iced tea – completely unavailable in Asia.

I also made it back in time for the company picnic at Valleyfair, which I love! Fortunately, I haven’t reached the point in my life where roller coasters & ‘spinny’ rides make me sick. So, it was a good day. Their new roller coaster (completely made of wood) is incredible, by the way. But, when we were in line for the last ride of the evening, it broke down literally on the run before we got on – it was time to call it a night.

At the end of July, I ticked off another year in life. As usual, I had my birthday BBQ out in front of Lake Calhoun. Just like other years, it was a beautiful day & I was happy to spend it with good friends. We grilled, threw a Frisbee around, watched the kids run around, and I even got a call from Jed & Alison in Italy!

That evening we met up with some new friends at a wine bar in Minneapolis, and then made our way to Brits, for a drink up on the roof. Brits is a fantastic bar, and I had a lot of fun that evening!

Then, of course, there was the news that put Minnesota briefly in the International spotlight – 35W collapsed! What a weird day that was! I was at Southdale & got a call from my dad- checking where I was. He told me what happened, and as soon as I hung up, I noticed other people in the mall all getting calls too. It was surreal.

I went down to the bridge site a few days later. Even after a few days, you could still smell the odor of concrete dust lingering in the air. I wonder what else was built into that bridge?

The trip back to Singapore was an eventful one. We had all boarded the plane & waited to leave. Time came & went, and we were still at the gate. They announced that we were waiting for some people (19, I think) from a connecting flight. We waited over a half hour, I think. “Yeah – let’s make a couple hundred people late, all because of 19!” We eventually left the gate & almost made it to the runway, when the plane pulled off the taxiway & returned to the gate. A smoke alarm had gone off, so they had to check it out. Another 30 minutes, and they confirmed that it was a false alarm. Whew! But, everyone on the plane new what was in store – they announced that Northwest flights out of Japan ‘probably wouldn’t wait for us’.

Sure enough, when we got to Tokyo an hour late, all but one of the connecting flights were gone. So, we got put up in a hotel & got to eat at a mediocre buffet. There were about 8 of my co-workers on the flight, all heading to Singapore for a 3 day meeting. We missed day one. And, as icing on the cake – Northwest put us on a different airline the next day, and downgraded all of us. Nice touch!

The week after I got back was very fast paced. We had a big meeting at work, which was why so many co-workers came over to Singapore with me. It was fun to spend some time with them, and it was a lot of fun to go out to dinner with the group.

Thursday, Aug 9, was Singapore’s National Day. We had the day off from work, and that evening I went down to watch the National Day Parade. It’s not so much a parade, as it is a big show put on at a huge floating platform that was recently constructed at the northern end of Marina Bay. The Singapore military & police forces were showcased, as well as different choreographed routines put on by different groups from around the Island.

Tickets were very limited (and I wasn’t even eligible, because I’m not a Singapore citizen). So, I joined probably 30,000 of my closest friends at the southern end of Marina Bay. You could see the stage in the distance, and we had premium seats for when the Singapore Air Force flew over. It gave me a great opportunity to try out the new zoom lens I bought for my camera. :-)

On the following Saturday, I took Matt & Aaron over to Bintan to go golfing. Bintan is an island in Indonesia – just 45 minutes away from Singapore by ferry. The northern end of the island is pretty much just golf courses & resorts used by Singapore. They make a lot of money from Singapore, and have made it very easy on tourists. You can book everything online – ferry tickets, greens fees, etc… When you arrive in Bintan – they fast-track you through immigration, and have a bus waiting to take you to the golf course. They take care of your golf clubs, so they’re waiting for you at the course.

The golf course was really beautiful! There were several holes that looked out over the ocean, and the grounds were really well maintained. We all had caddies, which was a first for me. They helped you line up your putt, and kept you honest on the scorecard. I felt like a pro golfer! (who, incidentally, was having the worst game of his career) Actually, I played pretty well, considering I had been out only once in the previous year.

I hope to post some pictures here - check back!

I'm heading off to Bangkok this weekend for a business trip. I'm looking forward to seeing my Thai friends again. And, I'm also lucky that my trip conincides with my friends' Ann, Chris, and their son Nate's trip. It's going to be a lot of fun!

One year... almost

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:40:00 +0000

Wow – it’s been almost a year already. It both feels like I’ve been here forever, and like it’s gone by incredibly fast. Sometimes it still doesn't feel real. When I was a kid (heh… even when I was in college), if you’d told me that I’d be living on the other side of the world, I would have said you were crazy.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here. Honestly, not much has been going on. But, I figured it’s time for me to give an update, as well as let you know what the next couple of months have in store for me.

Probably the biggest news to report is that my assignment in Singapore has been extended. Originally, it was supposed to be for 1 year, ending this July. But, with the products for the upcoming year, they asked me to stay on a while longer. I agreed, so I’ll be here at least another 6 months – maybe as long as another full year.

There’s good & bad to staying longer. I like living close to the ocean, and it’s nice having summer weather year ‘round. And, I haven’t been to every place that I wanted to visit, so some extra time for traveling is good. Work is challenging, and keeps me on my toes. It has it’s ups & downs (although the past few weeks have been mostly downs). People are happy with my work, but sometimes it’s tough being the only American over here. One of my favorite things is when co-workers from the US come over to visit. :-)

The good news is that I’m coming home for a visit in a few weeks! I’ll be back in MN on July 13, and staying for 3 weeks. I can’t wait. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again, and enjoying the MN summer. I already have a pretty extensive list of restaurants that I want to eat at – there are some things you just can’t get in Singapore (well, you can get almost anything, but sometimes it’s not the same – thick crust pizza, for example)

Hmm… since I don’t really have any interesting experience or travels to write about, I figured I’d just post a few observations about Singapore.

I’ve been seeing quite a few movies lately. The really nice thing about seeing movies in Singapore is that you can buy your seats online, and choose the specific seats that you want. No need to go to the theater super early, just to get a good seat.

Singapore is really crowded! There are about 4.5 million people here, and the island is only 270 sq miles – over 16,000 people per square mile. The incredible thing is, the Singapore government wants to increase the population to over 6 million! I’ve heard the reason is to increase the talent pool of the country – to further expand Singapore as an economic powerhouse. But, I’m sure they won’t mind the extra tax revenue either. :-)

Singapore really loves its air-conditioning. Having experienced sub-zero winters almost every year of my life, I never thought I’d come over here & be cold. But, a lot of the buildings here, and even many of the taxis, are uncomfortably cold.

The other annoying thing is that even though they air condition buildings like crazy over here, it’s very common to see doors propped open. You can often feel the cold stream of air up to 50 feet outside the entrance to a building. Sometimes when I pull a door closed behind me, somebody working at the building will open it right back up. I guess the idea of energy conservation hasn’t really sunk in here.

Near the Downtown area of Singapore (the Central Business District, or CBD), there’s a large bay. Currently, it’s open to the ocean, so it’s filled with salt water. But, Singapore has a plan to dam the bay off, and replace it with fresh water. Actually, the dam has been under construction for some time now. They want to create another large reservoir of fresh water.

And, for those of you who want a little technical reading… here you go. From what I’ve heard, the way they’re going to fill the reservoir is pretty ingenious. The dam will be open at the bottom (underwater). Since salt water is denser than fresh water, as it rains – the rainwater will push the salt water down & out the openings at the bottom of the dam. I’ve heard it will only take a few years to make the water completely fresh.

They’re also doing a lot to make the Marina Bay area more touristy. They’re building a large ferris wheel (similar to the London Eye), which is almost completed now. They’re also building a new casino on the bay, which is very controversial. I think it’s the first casino in Singapore.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say for now. I’ll see most of you in a few weeks!

CB

Songkran!

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:01:00 +0000

I’ve been working with Thailand for over 7 years now, and ever since I heard about it – I’ve wanted to experience the Songkran holiday. Well, this year I got my chance, and it was even better than expected!

Songkran is the Thai New Year, occurring in mid April. The main way that it’s celebrated is with a nation-wide, week-long water fight. One of the best places to celebrate, I was told, is the city of Chiang Mai. Coincidentally, that’s where my friends Pooklook & Brian live. So, I flew up there for a few days last weekend for some wet wild fun.

A few hours after I arrived, we loaded up a pickup truck & made our way towards the city center. We had 4 large garbage cans in the back, filled with water. We were armed with buckets, SuperSoakers, and some really great water guns that were basically a tube with a plunger at one end & a nozzle at the other. On the way into the city, we stopped by a roadside stand & bought a bunch of large blocks of ice to put in the water! I was told that it’s much more fun when you ‘shock’ people with really cold water.

As we drove towards the city center, people were throwing water from the side of the road, and from the back of other cars that drove by. Within 15 minutes of leaving the house, I was as wet as if I’d jumped into a swimming pool! :-) And, other people were using the ice trick – the cold water was really shocking!

At the center of Chiang Mai is a wall and a moat that used to surround the ancient city. When we got to this area, we reached a traffic jam that went on for miles. As the cars (mostly pickup trucks & motorcycles) inched along, water was flying everywhere! People were dousing other cars, and people who had lined up along the road. And, those along the road were stationed – ready to get every car that drove by. They either had buckets of water next to them, or they’d frequently run down to the moat to re-fill their guns.

Another way of getting around during the festival is by tuk-tuk. For Songkran, most of the tuk-tuks take their roof off, and drive around as convertibles – so there’s no hiding inside! I got to ride in one during the evening – it was great! The wind blowing through your hair, and no exhaust fumes building up inside. :-)

As the day went by, we ran out of water. So, we grabbed the garbage cans from the pickup, and carried them to the moat for a re-fill. On the way back to the pickup, we decided to dump an entire garbage can of water on one kid (a la the winning coach at a football game). He loved it, and his friends laughed uproariously. When we went to fill up another of the garbage cans, we decided it was a good time for a quick swim in the moat.

Everyone – young & old, Thai & visitors, were out celebrating. There were a couple radio stations putting on concerts alongside the road, complete with people hosing down the crowds. I was told that anyone who doesn’t like participating in the holiday packs up & leaves town for the week. I was really impressed with how good-natured everyone was. We drove around for 3-4 hours on Friday, and again on Saturday, and I don’t think that I saw anyone get upset about getting splashed so much.

Songkran was an incredible experience, and if I get the chance, I’ll definitely do it again. I’m also glad that I got to spend it with my friends & their entire family. It was fun to see them again, and see how much their son has grown up.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a few. There’s more up on my flickr page. I’m glad I had my camera in its underwater housing (normally used while scuba diving, but it got just about as wet).

This kid was about to get us, but Brian beat him to the punch (or, should I say soak). His sister seemed to think it was funny.

This is probably my favorite picture. This girl was having so much fun! And, I’m glad I was able to catch the water in mid-air.

We saw lots of motorcycles like this – parents driving, and kids doing the shooting.

India

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:29:00 +0000

Hi Everyone! Well, I just got back from a 13-day long trip to India. I visited 5 cities, and saw as much as I could in 13 days. It was a very intense experience – I saw some incredible sites, but also found it very stressful at times. I think India’s a pretty difficult place to deal with on your own. I often wished that I’d been traveling with someone else, both to share the experiences, and also to help deal with some of the insanity.

Here’s some of my experiences…

Day 1 (Delhi) – My first stop was Delhi, which I was told was going to be the most ‘intense’ city. But, I decided to jump in with both feet. Delhi definitely lived up to its reputation. The traffic is unbelievable, and the drivers are constantly honking their horns. It was pretty much a solid traffic jam all the way from the airport to my hotel. And, as we got into the city, I confirmed that there are actually cows wandering around in the streets.

I checked into a hotel in the Paharganj area, which is in between Old Delhi & New Delhi. The streets were crowded with cars, cows, bikes, and pedestrians. The Parharganj area is near the New Delhi train station, and is also a popular area with backpackers. I wandered around for a while, exploring & taking it all in.

My hotel room was one level above street level, and had a balcony. The view wasn’t super great, and I discovered that evening that the balcony would allow me to hear the honking of traffic late into the night.

Day 2 (Agra) – Got up early, and headed to the New Delhi train station. Even at 6am, it was bustling with activity. I almost got fooled by 2 different guys who stopped me & told me that I had to get my ticket (which was printed from the internet) stamped. But, when the 2^nd guy started to lead me out of the station & across the street, the little voice in my head said “Hey CB, remember that rule about not going with strangers???” So, I ditched that guy & went into the station & found a guy in a railway uniform. He confirmed that I didn’t need my ticket stamped.

Anyways, I got on the train & headed out to Agra. I booked a driver & a guide for the day, and was off to see the sites. We saw Agra Fort, which is an enormous red sandstone structure. Even though only 5% is open to the public, we still wandered around for over an hour. We also visited Akbar’s tomb, Itimad-ud Daulah, and had a obligatory stop at a carpet factory. There they showed me how carpets were hand woven, and gave me the opportunity to shop for one.

When we were at Akbar’s tomb, I ran into a snake charmer outside. He was sitting there with a basket on the ground. As I approached, he took the lid off, and inside were a couple of cobras! They immediately puffed up their hoods, and stared at him. They struck at him a few times, but my guide told me that they had their fangs & venom glands removed. Still, I wasn’t going to get too close.

Finally, we were on to the main attraction – the Taj Mahal. It’s an incredible structure, and definitely lives up to its reputation. We wandered around, and I took tons of pictures (including the obligatory one in front of the reflecting pool – I had to wait in a long line) We were there in the late afternoon, so after exploring for a while, I got to witness the Taj at sunset. Awesome!

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel (with another brief shopping stop at a marble shop). Oh well, the shopping stops were worth it – he was a good guide. He knew what he was talking about, and was able to tell me a lot of things that the Lonely Planet hadn’t included.

Day 3 (Delhi) – Had to take a 6am train back to Delhi – it’s the only one I could get a seat on. Well, it was scheduled at 6am… it really left at 7:30. So, I arrived in Delhi in the late morning & shared a cab up to Connaught Place with a couple other people. I hadn’t booked a place to stay in Delhi, which was a big mistake. It wasn’t too much fun wandering around in the sun carrying both my big & little backpacks. I eventually found a place. It had no AC, no windows, and a noisy ceiling fan. But, I decided I could tolerate it for 2 nights. So, I killed the roach in the bathroom, put my stuff down, and headed out to explore the area.

Connaught Place is listed as a good place for tourists to go because of the large # of hotels, restaurants & travel agencies there. I found it to be hell, though. Definitely the most unpleasant place in Delhi. I have never felt so preyed upon. I was constantly approached by guys calling me ‘friend’ and trying to take me to whatever travel agency or shop was giving them a commission. Even when I asked 2 guys where an internet café was, they wanted me to come with them to their friend’s shop. I said no, but that didn’t stop them from following me around for a few minutes. Eventually I asked a police officer if he knew where a net café was. He referred me to another guy that was standing there, who proceeded to take me to a travel agency. But, not to worry, he said – I could surf the net on the computers in their back office. Eventually, I found a net café on my own.

Actually, Connaught Place isn’t that bad at night. I went back after sunset one evening, and found it to be very pleasant. There were lots of people out enjoying the cool evening weather. The only difference was all the people that usually harass the tourists weren’t there. All of the travel agencies & other commission-paying shops had closed, so they had left for the day.

Day 4 (Delhi) – This was my day to see as much of Delhi as possible. I booked a day tour with a government tourist agency. Yeah, it felt a little rushed at times, but I got to see a lot of things with a pretty knowledgeable guide. In the morning, we saw Jantar Mantar (which is an enormous celestial observatory & sundial – pretty impressive, considering how long ago it was built), a Hindu temple, and after a brief shopping stop, the Bahai Temple (which is shaped like an enormous lotus).

For lunch, I re-learned what Dosa is. I’ll tell you what Dosa isn’t. Dosa isn’t enough for lunch. It’s a very thin pancake, made from lentil flower. It’s served with a few sauces, and sometimes comes with some potato in the middle. I had had it one time in Little India in Singapore, but had forgotten what the name was. As soon as I got it again in India, I remembered “oh yeah, this won’t be enough”. But, the downside of organized tours is that sometimes you don’t have enough time to go get something else. I had a big dinner that night.

In the afternoon, we went to Qutb Minar. It’s an enormous tower (the tallest in India, at 73 meters). It’s stood up to the hundreds of years (almost a thousand now) very well, although some of the surrounding buildings haven’t fared so well.

We then went up to the Red Fort in Old Delhi, dodging cows in the street along the way. The Red Fort is another enormous structure, and it’s the place that the Indian Prime Minister raises the Indian flag every Independence Day.

We then headed south, stopping briefly at Raj Ghat – where Gandhi was cremated, and then heading down to our final destination, Humayun’s Tomb. The complex is incredible, and was my favorite stop on the tour. I’m glad it was the last place we visited, because the guide told us that we could drop off from the tour & stay if we wanted. I stayed an extra hour, watching sunset.

Day 5 (Mumbai) – My next stop was Mumbai (formerly Bombay). I was optimistic that Mumbai would be easier than Delhi, and for the most part it was.

I got a hotel in an area called Fort, towards the southern end of the peninsula. Not too far from the famous Victoria Terminus train station. It’s an enormous building, with a strong British influence in the architecture (like many buildings in Mumbai). There are gargoyles and other animals all over the building, and there’s a huge statue, called ‘Progress’ at the top of the center dome.

I wandered around the Fort area for a while, checking out all the cool British architecture. Bombay University looks like it belongs in Europe, and there are English-looking double-decker busses driving around everywhere. I came upon one building that was being painted. The painters were about 5 stories up in the air, standing on bamboo scaffolding that looked barely tied to the building. I have no idea how they didn’t fall. After a bit of wandering around in Fort, I decided to head up to Chowpatty beach to watch the sunset & relax… or so I thought.

Chowpatty beach is a popular place for locals & tourists to hang out. There’s stuff to eat, things for kids to do, and it’s a great place to watch sunset. After arriving, I sat down, had a cup of chai, and started to enjoy the evening.

There are a lot of malish-wallahs (head masseurs) wandering around the beach. I’m not sure if they have any formal massage training, but I read that it’s one of the things that you should do at this beach. Throughout the evening, a bunch of them offered me head massages, and eventually I agreed - I guess they wore me down. Actually, my shoulders were kind of sore from carrying my backpack.

The massage was ok. It definitely made my shoulders feel better. The head massage portion was a little intense – just like the Lonely Planet says, “Well… it’s soothing when he stops”. The weird part was that while the massage was taking place, about 6 Indian guys came up & stared at me, standing only a few feet away. I’ve read that it’s not uncommon to get stared at, but it was still uncomfortable.

After a few minutes, the massage was done. The guys were still there staring, so I got up & left. Two of them decided to follow me! As I went from place to place on the beach, there they were. Even when I stopped to sit down on the beach & chat with another tourist, they sat about 30 yards away & stared at me the whole time. When I got up & left, once again, they followed. Eventually I’d had enough, so I walked up to them and told them that I knew they were following me & to get the hell away from me. To my surprise, they said ok & left. Weird.

After that, I went up to the food vendors to get a bite to eat. I got some Bhelpuri. I don’t really know what it is, and didn’t understand the guy when he tried to explain it. But, it was good. It’s weird, though – basically every food stand at the beach was selling pretty much the same thing. Not much variety.

Day 6 (Mumbai) – The next morning, I woke up & decided to get away from the city & head out to Elephanta Island. It’s about 1 hour away from Mumbai by ferry, and has some temples carved out inside caves. So, I headed down to the pier, right in front of the Gateway of India - an enormous structure, built for to commemorate the visit of King George V.

The ferry took us through the busy Mumbai harbor, and past the naval yard where I saw an Indian aircraft carrier. There were also tons of freight ships, and a Panamanian ferry that was transporting busses across the harbor. Not really what I expected to see in India.

Elephanta Island was interesting. After you get off the pier, and up the several hundred steps where tons of people are selling souvenirs, you get to the caves. There are 5-6 caves on the island, all carved out to various degrees. The main cave has numerous sculptures from the Hindu religion. Some of the sculptures are estimated to be over 2000 years old. I was amazed how well they’ve been preserved.

I also made the (very hot) hike up to the top of the island, where there are 2 enormous canons that were once used to defend the harbor. Under each of the canons were a series of tunnels & rooms dug out of the rock. I think they were used to store ammunition & as emergency escape routes. I liked them because it was cool inside. :-) Oh, and I’m really glad I brought my Camelback on this trip!

There were also lots of monkeys on the island, mostly going about their own business…

I took the ferry back to the mainland, and wandered around the Colaba area for a while. It’s an interesting mix of tourist areas, and local markets. I stopped at a restaurant named Leopold’s for dinner. It’s really popular with travelers, and was quite crowded when I got there. There weren’t any tables available, so they had me share a table with an older Dutch guy. This guy was at his wit’s end. He’d been traveling around India for about 5 weeks, only because his airline tickets couldn’t be changed. He was very excited to be going home the next morning. I think he’d had enough of India about 4 weeks earlier.

Right as I sat down, he ordered a raspberry Snapple. They brought him a mixed fruit Snapple. He got this look on his face, shook his head, and turned to the waiter & said something like “why is it so hard for you to bring me what I asked for?” Then, as the waiter was about to take it back & get what he wanted, he opened the bottle & said that it would be fine. I couldn’t help but laugh.

He actually turned out to be a very nice guy to talk to. We chatted through dinner about our experiences in India, as well as other places that we’ve traveled. We sat around chatting, and got some desert. I got a strawberry smoothie, which was surprisingly served in a pint glass with the Leopold’s logo on it. I had to have it, so the waiter added it to my bill. Another glass for the collection!

Day 7 (Mumbai) – My last day in Mumbai, I wanted to get out & see as much as possible before I moved on to my next destination, Aurangabad.

One of the things that I’d wanted to see in India was a dhobi ghat - a traditional Indian municipal laundry. I read that the Mahalaxmi dhobi ghat, towards the north side of the city, was good to see, so I went down to the train station to head up there.

The train ride was an experience in itself. This was a city commuter train, so I had expected something along the lines of the subway in Singapore, or the skytrain in Bangkok. Oh no. This was an old school train. No automated ticket machines – you stood in line & got a piece of paper from the ticket window.

The train itself only had a few benches in it, so most people stood. It was crowded, and I was very glad that I wasn’t traveling during rush hour. There was no air conditioning – just the open windows & doors. A number of guys were hanging out of the doorway to catch the breeze, and to be the first to jump off of the train as it was about to stop in the train station. While I was in India, I read that some guy had died while getting off a train that was slowing down at a station. He mis-stepped, and fell under the wheels. I also read that it’s a somewhat regular occurrence.

So I got to the dhobi ghat, and watched the activity from the bridge overhead. There were hundreds of people (dhobi wallahs) washing clothes there. All of the clothes were soaking in big basins of soapy water. The dhobi wallah would take each piece out of the basin, and beat it against a concrete ledge for a few minutes. I’m surprised that any clothes can survive more than a few washings like this. After watching the clothes get washed for a while, I wandered around in the neighborhood next the dhobi ghat. It was an interesting area – I think it was one of the poorer parts of Mumbai. Shops lined both sides of the streets, and people’s homes were built directly over the shops. There were no stairs – people had to use ladders to get in & out of their homes.

I was pretty much ignored as I wandered through this area, which was kind of refreshing. People were going about their business. I noticed a lot of barber shops there – men still get shaved at barbers is still pretty common in India.

After a while, I decided to get on the train again & head south towards Crawford Market. After getting off the train, I had to walk quite a way to get to the market. I stopped at some restaurant along the way for lunch, and had a terrific meal of potatoes & vegetables, and 2 bottles of raspberry soda. They wouldn’t let me take a picture of the restaurant, though, so I can’t remember the name. I guess they just lost some free advertising.

I made it to the Crawford Market. It reminded me a lot of the Weekend Market in Bangkok, except almost all of the shops were selling silk or other types of fabric for saris or suits. I wandered around for a while, constantly telling people that I didn’t want to buy a suit or shirt. Then the heat & fatigue got to me, and I headed back to the hotel to get my stuff & head to the airport.

That afternoon, I made the 1-hour flight from Mumbai to Aurangabad on a little commuter prop plane. Definitely the smallest plane I’d been on before. It was really interesting to fly on one.

We touched down in Aurangabad – a relatively small city in India (I think about 1.5 million). I was excited to be there. I had heard a lot about the Ajanta & Ellora Caves, and was looking forward to seeing them.

Day 8 (Aurangabad) – The Ajanta Caves are about 2 hours away from Aurangabad. There are about 30 caves carved into the steep cliffs on the outer edge of a horseshoe shaped river valley. The caves were carved around 2000 years ago, and are all Buddhist.

Most of the caves had elaborate paintings of Buddha’s life all around the inside walls, and on the pillars. I hired a guide to take me through a few of the main caves and explain the artwork.

It was a really hot day out at the caves, and I was once again glad to have my camelback with me. I hiked across a small bridge & up to the top of a little hill to get a view of all the caves at once. I stopped & had a cold bottle of Pepsi (actually, I think it was an Indian soft drink, but it tasted just like Pepsi) that some guy with a cooler was selling at the top of the hill.

Even though it was a pretty hot day, and the Pepsi guy recommended against it, I decided to hike up to an even higher viewing point, to get an overall view of the caves. It took about 20 minutes to climb the hill, but it was worth it.

Day 9 (Aurangabad) – The next morning I went out with the same driver to see the Ellora Caves, and a few other sites around the city of Aurangabad.

Our first stop was at Daulatabad Fort, which was by far my favorite stop of the day. I really had no expectations, but it turned out to be a fascinating place. I could have spent a lot more time there. If I get back to the area, I’ll definitely go back.

My driver dropped me off, and warned me about the “very cheating men” that were already surrounding the car, outside of the first of 7 walls protecting the fort. I walked right past them & into the fort. At first, I wasn’t going to get a guide, but I’m really glad that I did.

The fort was built in the 14^th Century by a sultan from Delhi. He decided to march all of his subjects from Delhi to this new area, build a fort, and then march them back to Delhi 17 years later. In the process, he found a way to kill off most of his subjects.

Every aspect of the fort was built around keeping people out, and it did a very good job. My guide told me that the fort was never taken by force (but it was conquered by bribing the guards, or so the story goes…). There are 7 walls built around the fort, which is placed on top of a huge hill. Each wall is probably 30-40 feet high, and 10-15 feet thick. The doors are staggered & placed around corners to prevent elephants from getting a running start & bashing them down. And, most of the doors have spikes on them to further deter elephants (although my guide told me that invading armies got around this by putting camels between the elephants & the doors – kinda like pincushins).

Inside most of the doors, there would be 2 more doors – one to the left & one to the right. While the invading army was trying to figure out which door to break down, the defenders would be throwing hot coals on them. Apparently, the dead ends were usually put on the doors to the left (because, according to my guide – Indian’s usually turn to the left. Hmmmm…. I haven’t verified that yet.)

After the 7 walls, we reached the hill with the fort at the top. 3 sides of the hill were carved to a near vertical cliff. And, the hill was also surrounded by a moat, which was filled with crocodiles & poisonous snakes.

After crossing the moat, we found ourselves at the entrance to a huge maze carved into the mountain. It was incredibly dark, and had lots of wrong turns built into it (some would loop around, and some would lead to steep slopes that would drop invaders into the moat). After you got through the maze, there were only a couple hundred steps to the fort.

After a while at Daulatabad, it was time to move on to the Ellora Caves.

Where the Ajanta Caves put much more emphasis on paintings, the Ellora Caves’ emphasis was on carvings. All of the temples & sculptures were carved out of a gentle sloping hill from the top down, over the course of hundreds of years. There are Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain caves in the group (34 caves in all). I found the Hindu caves to be the most interesting. They seemed to be the most elaborate, and the sculptures were much different than anything I’d seen in other countries.

The main attraction at Ellora is the Kailasa temple. It’s enormous – it’s the largest monolithic sculpture in the world, and it took over 150 years to carve out of the rock. The structure itself is a multi-story temple with incredible sculptures all over it.

I seemed to be a moving point of curiosity amongst the Indian tourists at Ellora. I was stopped several times by families asking to take my picture, or wanting to pose in one of my pictures. I also came across a group of teenagers who followed me around for a bit. One of them started walking next to me (staring the whole time). When I turned & said hi to him, he got a panicked look, shook his head no & walked away.

After the caves, I was pretty beat. It was another really hot day & I was dehydrated despite having my camelback. I was ready to call it a day & head back to the hotel, but the driver said I should go to the last 2 (brief) stops on the tour. I’m glad I did.

The next stop was Panchakki, which is an old water wheel in Aurangabad. Water is piped in, and used to turn a wheel that runs a mill. There wasn’t much to see there, but it was fun to stop for a few minutes & watch kids throw crackers into the water for the fish. They must have been hungry – it looked like a school of piranhas in there.

The last stop of the day was Bibi-ka-Maqbara, which I had heard referred to as the “baby taj mahal”. It was surprising how similar the architecture was. It was much smaller & less ornate than the Taj Mahal, but it was also less crowded.

Day 10 (Cochin) – Most of today was spent in-transit. I flew from Aurangabad to Mumbai, and had a 2-hour layover there before flying to Cochin. I was glad to spend my time at the Mumbai airport. It’s definitely the nicest of the airports that I’d seen in India. They had a decent restaurant, a bookstore, and an internet café, which is rare.

I landed in Cochin, which is a city in Kerala – a state in the southwest corner of India. I found a hotel to stay at through the tourist desk at the airport, and grabbed a cab for the hour-long ride to Fort Cochin. Traffic was better in Kerala than in Mumbai or Delhi, but by this time in my trip I was getting really sick of the constant honking of horns.

The hotel that they recommended turned out to be really nice. It was an old Dutch bungalow, with only 6 or so rooms. The whole place had a colonial feel to it, which made me forget about the mosquitoes that were buzzing around in my room. Ok, they were still a nuisance, but I jacked up the A/C & covered up when I went to sleep. It seemed to do the trick.

A few hundred meters from my hotel were the famous Chinese fishing nets. The nets get tipped into the water, and after a few minutes, a team of guys halls them out – hopefully full of fish. The nets are counter-weighted with large stones, and they’ve been around for hundreds of years, so it was pretty interesting to see. I snapped a few sunset pictures of the nets – most of which would have looked much better without all of the trash strewn along the beach.

After wandering along the beach for a while, I grabbed some dinner at a nearby restaurant & then went to watch a traditional Indian music show. The show was 3 guys – 2 on drums, and one playing a wooden flute. The sound was really interesting, especially one of the drums – which sounded like dripping water when the guy hit it a certain way.

Day 11 (Cochin) – I woke up and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast at the bungalow – fresh pineapple, toast, eggs, and tea. Then I decided to wander around & see what Fort Cochin – the area at the northern part of the Cochin peninsula is called. As I left the bungalow, I noticed a lot of smoke on the roads. It took me a few minutes to realize what it was - people had just swept their trash into piles & were burning it. They did this every morning, which made it a little tough to breathe.

I took an autorickshaw over to an area called Jewtown (not the most p.c. of names, huh?). The only synagogue in the area (probably one of the only ones in India) is located here, along with tons of spice shops, which makes the area smell fantastic. I wandered around, letting my nose enjoy the scents, and then couldn’t resist buying some spices to take home.

I took in another show that evening. This one was a traditional dance show. I couldn’t believe the costumes & make-up the dancers were wearing, considering that the theater wasn’t air-conditioned. I was hot just sitting there.

Day 12 (Cochin) – The backwaters is a series of lakes, canals, rivers, etc… that are just inland from the ocean, and stretch through much of the state of Kerala. They’re the reason that I included Cochin as part of my trip, based on the recommendation of a friend (thanks Trupti!). I joined on to a day trip through the backwaters, along with about 20 other people.

It was an incredibly relaxing way to end my trip. Where as much of my trip was spent in larger cities, dealing with congestion & constant honking horns, the backwaters were nearly silent. Our boat had no motor – it was propelled by 2 guys using long bamboo poles. They pushed us along for seven hours, moving from large lakes, to very narrow streams (where the bushes along the banks were spilling into the boat).

We made a number of stops along the way. We first stopped along the riverbank to have some coconut water. Later, we stopped at a small plant where small clam shells were made into a really fine powder used for cement. For lunch, we stopped on a small island & had a Thali lunch – small servings of several types of food, served on a bananna leaf. Finally we stopped at a place where we were shown how coconut husks were dried, shredded, and then woven into a surprisingly strong rope.

I had debated doing an overnight backwaters tour vs. the day tour. If I had chosen the overnight one, I would have been on my own on the houseboat. I decided on the day tour instead, and am glad I did. I met a couple of really cool people on the tour – an American woman from San Francisco, and 3 English people from London. We decided to meet up for dinner after the tour was over. I was glad to have a few people to chat with on my last night.

Day 13 (Cochin) – With only a few hours left, I tried to cram a bit more of India in before I left for Singapore. I woke up early, and after breakfast caught a ride over to the Dutch Palace – a small palace that was built with a Hindu temple in the courtyard. It’s now been turned into a museum. I met up with one of my friends from the previous night, but we didn’t stay long. It was really hot inside, and there were two huge tour groups going through at the time. So, I grabbed an autorickshaw back to the hotel, with a quick stop at a Hindu Temple along the way. Then, it was time to start the trek home.

It was another close call getting to the airport, but I did get my flight. I flew from Cochin to Bangalore, but decided not to go out sightseeing. It was around 6pm, and most of the interesting sites would be closing soon. Plus, I was in no mood to deal with any more traffic madness. So, I grabbed my iPod (which I’ve found to be invaluable when traveling), and killed a few hours listening to some podcasts.

The flight back to Singapore went pretty quick – it’s only about 4 hours. But, it was tough to sleep on the plane, and I had to work the day I got back (my flight landed at 7am). So, it was kind of a tough day at work. :-)

Travels & Travellers

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 13:59:00 +0000

Well, another month’s gone by. The weather’s starting to get hotter, and it’s not raining as much (although we still have an occasional torrential downpour). It’s been a busy month, full of visitors.

Right after my last blog entry, my parents flew over here as the first stop in their 6-week see-half-of-the-world whirlwind tour. I met them at the airport, and was happy to see that they had survived the flight (this was their longest flight, by about 16 hours & flying isn’t one of mom’s favorite activities). I had used some of my frequent flyer miles to upgrade them to business class, which they really appreciated. They really liked sitting upstairs on the 747, despite some unpleasant flight attendants.

I was very happy to see that they were not wiped out by jet lag the next day, which was good, because I had a lot of things to show them. We took the subway down to the Central Business District, and I showed them around the Quays, where all the restaurants are along the river. We checked out some of preparations for the upcoming Chinese New Year, which would happen the following weekend. We grabbed some lunch & walked around a little bit more before heading back to take a break from the heat.

On Sunday, we flew up to Thailand for a week in Bangkok & Phuket. It was my first time flying into the new Bangkok airport. I wish that I could say that I was really impressed, but… Well, I’ve heard their going to close part of it down soon to make some necessary upgrades. I think it will be much better when they’re done with those. The International Departures section looked really nice – they just need to make the other areas look like that.

Anyways, we got to the hotel, and went out wandering around Bangkok. It was good to show them all the places that I’ve enjoyed seeing on all my previous trips. At night, we went to my favorite restaurant, Suda, for dinner. The food was great, and mom & dad were thrilled when a baby elephant showed up. They bought some fruit from the handlers & had a great time feeding it.

The next day we took a tour up to Ayutthaya – the former capital of Thailand, before Bangkok. That’s an amazing place! The ruins are spectacular, and we also stopped at some temples, and one of the Royal summer palaces.

After the tour, we boarded a boat for a 2-hour trip down the river back to Bangkok. As you sail down the river, you start to see small rural houses built up along the water, which eventually turn into modern office buildings, hotels, and palaces as you enter Bangkok. It’s quite a journey.

The following day we boarded a plane again & headed down to Phuket for some time on the ocean. We stayed on Kata Beach, in a room with a beautiful view of the ocean from the balcony. The only downside… the hotel was built on a hill, and we had to climb about a million stairs (ok, it was a couple hundred) and take 2 elevators to get to the room. So, we had a good leg workout those days.

We took a sailing trip, well… a motor boat trip on a ship with a sail, the next day out to Phang Nga Bay. We saw lots of cool islands, including ‘James Bond Island’, which was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun. Despite being very crowded with tons of tourists, it was a pretty neat site to see. It’s a piece of rock that sticks up out of the water in the middle of a little bay. It was much smaller than I expected, though.

The Phi Phi Islands were our destination the next day. I had booked a speedboat trip for the day, imagining a standard speedboat with 6-8 passengers. When we boarded that morning, I discovered the largest speedboat I’d ever seen! There were 39 passengers, and 4 crew members. It was a little crowded, but not too bad.

The Phi Phi Islands were cool. We stopped at the beach where they filmed The Beach (I never saw it), and we went to a couple different places to snorkel. We finally stopped at another island for a couple of hours to hang out on the beach, and snorkel off the shore. The only problem was the snorkeling was done in less than 2 feet of water in some places, so it was easy to get snagged on some of the coral.

The 2 days we spent in Phuket were lots of fun. One thing that wasn’t good, though, was the time in the vans. We stayed at a hotel on the south side of the island, and the boats for our trips left from a pier on the north side = = 2 hours in the van each day. That sucked.

Then we flew back to Bangkok for a few more days of touring palaces & shopping. We saw the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Wat Po, and Wat Benchamabophit. We also stopped by Baiyoke Tower (the tallest building in Bangkok) one evening to watch sunset from the top. Then on Saturday, it was the obligatory trip to the Weekend Market to do some shopping. Funniest thing I saw – the policeman who was riding a Segway! He drove up to one store, and stood there on the thing while someone grabbed something for him. He paid for it & drove off. Weird…

Coming back to Singapore, I realized that I had timed Chinese New Year wrong. We got back on New Years Day, and I had expected to see an incredibly crowded & festive China Town. Wrong. It was like a ghost town. Apparently all the festivities in China Town take place on Chinese New Years Eve. So, we missed out on that. But, we did see some interesting shows down by the Esplanade. It kind of felt like a carnival, with lots of giant blow up statues & rides for kids. There was also a stage where there were several different performances going on through the evening – dancers, jugglers, etc… By far the most impressive was the Chinese Acrobat. She was a young woman – probably in her late teens or early 20s. What she was doing was incredible! She was balancing her body (parallel to the stage) on one hand. Then, she would push herself up into a handstand (still, only on one hand). It was unreal! Oh, and then there were fireworks. Yay.

In a couple of days, mom & dad left for the next stage of their vacation – Australia & New Zealand. They’ve been having a lot of fun down there, and will swing back through Singapore next weekend, on their way home.

Chinese New Year activities have continued for the past few weeks. My windsurfing friends & I went down to see a parade on Orchard Road two weeks ago. It was incredibly crowded, and I had to watch through a hole in a temporary wall. I tried to sneak past the security line, but the police didn’t think that was such a good idea. So, back to the little hole.

We also had a group come to our apartment for an impromptu lion dance. It was fun to watch, but incredibly loud! The drummers & cymbal players really got into it! As far as I can figure, the deal is that the lion shows up at your door, and there is a try of food out as an offering (mandarin oranges, and some lettuce). The lion ‘eats’ the food, and while it’s inside the lion, the people are peeling the oranges & then leave them as a treat for the audience at the end of the dance.

Last weekend, my friend Brian flew down from Thailand to hang out. He’s over on business, and took advantage of a 3-day weekend. It was really good to see a friend from the US. We were in the Ngee Ann City shopping center one afternoon & wandered into an art gallery – just out of curiosity. I checked out the first sculpture, and saw that it was selling for $39,000. Ok… no touching anything. We kept on looking, and the paintings & sculptures got more interesting towards the back. Then, Brian pointed out a Dali painting. It was for sale for $2.75 million!!! I couldn’t believe it. It was a weird feeling to be so close to something that valuable. There wasn’t really any visible security either. I felt like I could reach out & touch it.

So that’s been life for the past month. In a little over a week, I’m heading off to India for about 2 weeks. I’m going to hit a few different regions, and see some sights like the Taj Mahal, the Ellora Caves, and some very crowded cities. Then I’ll be heading up to Thailand in early April for Songkran – the Thai new year. After that, I think I’ll take a break. :-)

It's been a while...

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:22:00 +0000

Hi again, everyone! Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve written. It’s been a busy month. Let’s see…

The Christmas party at work was lots of fun. It was good to see (most) everyone “turn off” for a while & relax. We had a really nice buffet lunch, some games, a lucky draw (raffle), and some awesome cakes for dessert. The raffle was really great – they gave away an Xbox 360, a mp3 player, a remote controlled helicopter, and about 30 other prizes. My streak continues – I didn’t get anything. :-)

The highlight of the party was the games. One of the games was called “Chinese Whisper” (not the most politically correct of names – we know it as ‘telephone’ in the US). You know the game – a bunch of people sit in a line, and a phrase is told to the first person. The phrase is whispered from person to person. At the end, the team that is closest to the correct phrase wins.

Playing telephone with non-native English speakers is a terrific experience! I was third in line, and the phrase that was whispered to me was “We are bored baby bamboo basters”. Hmmm… ok, I figured they just picked some random words for the phrase. At the end, we were told that the phrase was supposed to be “Rubber baby buggy bumpers”. Even the judges couldn’t figure out how our team butchered it like we did.

Christmas in Singapore was unique. For several days before the 25^th, the sidewalks along Orchard Road were filled with stages. There were mini-concerts put on by groups from all over the world. Probably one of the most popular was the story of Jesus’ birth told in modern dance by a Brazilian group. Interesting.

On Christmas day, they had a ‘parade’ on Orchard Road. The parade consisted of them blocking off the road, and parking a half dozen floats on the road & leaving them there all day. People just wandered around looking at them, except for the ½ hour when it was pouring rain. In the evening, they had a big concert at the end of the road. There was some classical music, some choir music, and some modern music (including the band from Brazil). There was a jazz singer from the US that did a really nice job.

New Years Eve was just a few days behind, and I had plans to go out with some co-workers. Those plans fell apart at the last minute, when the organizer came down with Chickenpox (that’s gotta suck for someone who’s in her late 20s). So, I headed out for dinner by myself, feeling a little bummed about how I was spending the night. But, things quickly turned around. I found a nice little Thai restaurant along the river, and sat down & ordered. Soon after ordering, a woman came over & asked if I was dining alone. I told her yes, and she said that her family would like it if I would come & join them for dinner! That made my day. They were a very nice Canadian family, who was meeting in Singapore for the holidays. The mom & dad live in Hong Kong, because the dad works for a hotel chain. They had 3 daughters – one works in Dubai, one works for the Canadian Air Force, and one is still in the University. They were actually done with their dinner, but they stayed & talked with me while I ate. It was really fun – we had some great conversation. Afterwards, we said good night & they were on their way back to the hotel (they had an early flight). So, I called another co-worker & met him and his friends for the countdown.

We went to Clark Quay, which is a cool area along the river with lots of restaurants & bars. As we arrived, they had a Carnival-type parade marching through the street. There were people on stilts, people juggling fire, and even some transvestites. :-) Everyone gathered for the countdown in the central area, and we celebrated 12:00. We grabbed a beer afterwards (in a coffee shop – one of the guys in the group thought the bars were too crowded), and then I headed home. Not the wildest of New Years, but it was a good experience.

Then, in January, came my 6 month home visit. That was a great time! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see all of you, but I saw most. I couldn’t believe how packed my days were, and how quickly the time went by. It seemed like I was leaving again almost as soon as I had arrived.

I got to make the annual trip up to Brent’s cabin, complete with a broomball game, some incredibly spicy chili, lots of beer, lots of cards, and lots of fun. It was a good weekend with the guys.

I also got to go rock-climbing with some co-workers, and discovered that my forearms need to be in better shape. :-) There were also several parties, lunches, and dinners with friends. It was really nice to see all my friends, my parents, and my grandma. It was a great trip home.

Now I’ve been back in Singapore for a little over 2 weeks. The constant rain has stopped, and the temperature has been really pleasant. I’ve been learning how to windsurf (took lessons in Dec), and I’ve been out 3 times since I’ve been back. I’m finally able to get the board moving without falling over… definite progress.

I went windsurfing last Saturday, and met a big group of people out there afterwards. It was a really diverse group of windsurfers – there were Singaporeans, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, and probably I lot more. They invited me out to dinner with them, and then we went out for drinks. They invited me out surfing again on Sunday, so I did it again. But, when I arrived on Sunday, there were no rental boards/sails available. So, one of the guys that I had just met let me borrow his other board & sail. This board was much smaller & more aggressive, so it was really hard to control. And, the sail that I used was almost twice as big as the ones I had been using before. It was really overpowering. After 2 hours, I was exhausted & bruised. Still a lot of learning to do. But, it’s great that I’ve met a cool group of people to hang out with.

I’m about to be visited by some VIP guests. My parents are coming out to visit. It’s their first time to this part of the world, and I’m looking forward to showing them around. I’m taking them up to Thailand next week, and then we’re coming back to Singapore to witness Chinese New Year. After that, they’re heading down to Australia & New Zealand for a few weeks. Should be a great trip for them.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll try to do a better job of writing more often. I hope you’re all doing well.

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:25:00 +0000

Merry Christmas to you all! (or, at least to those of you who celebrate Christmas). As I mentioned in my last posting, Christmas is alive & well in Singapore. There are even more decorations up now, and Christmas music is being played in every mall and out on Orchard Road. There is a huge tree out in front of Tanglin mall, with all of the gifts from the Twelve Days of Christmas song hung as ornaments. And, during a 30 minute period during the evenings, they have snow machines blowing snow out for all the kids to play in. I saw tons of people gathering for it, but I was in a taxi – I didn’t get a chance to see if it was real snow. I’ll have to check on that.

Work has also put up tons of Christmas decorations, including a tree in the lobby. We’re even going to have a Christmas party this Friday, complete with a Secret Santa gift exchange.

I am also happy to report that I didn’t miss out on another American holiday – Thanksgiving! I was worried that I may not be able to find any turkey (other than the turkey sub at Subway), but one of my co-workers did a little digging & found a Thanksgiving dinner. Two of my co-workers came along for their first Thanksgiving dinner ever.

We made reservations at this restaurant, and showed up on time. But, we wound up waiting 45 minutes anyway. Finally, we got our seat, and ordered the Thanksgiving special. A few minutes later, they came out & told us that they had run out of Turkey! They asked if we wanted something else, and we said no. We just got up & left. I bet they wished they hadn’t poured that wine.

Fortunately, there was a plan B. There’s a microbrew called Brewwerks down at Clark Quay (a super fun collection of restaurants & bars along the Singapore river). They were having a Thanksgiving buffet too. So, we high-tailed it down there, and had a great meal. They had both turkey and ham, as well as a couple kinds of pie, so it worked out even better than the first place. My friends seemed to enjoy their first Thanksgiving too.

Last weekend, I went to ZoukOut – a 12 hour long dance festival on Sentosa. Normally I’m not a huge dance club guy, but this was an event that couldn’t be missed. Zouk is one of the biggest dance clubs in Singapore, and for this festival, they took over several hundred yards of beach from 8pm to 8am. There were 5 stages going all night, as well as lots & lots of drink & food stands. It was pretty commercialized – even Intel had a booth there.

I wandered around, checking out the various stages, until 2am – when the act that I came for started. DJ Jazzy Jeff! No, the Fresh Prince wasn’t there, and he didn’t play Parents Just Don’t Understand. But, it was cool to see him. And, since I was alone by that time (my friends got tired & left at 1:30), I was able to work my way up through the crowd, until I was about 20 yards from him.

After that, I was getting kind of tired, but I had to try the trampolines. They had several set up, with bungee cord harnesses. So, I bounced around for a little bit & did a few flips. It was really tiring! I’m definitely not a gymnast. So, I decided to head home around 4am. Getting home was a challenge. I got off of Sentosa with little problem, but then getting a taxi home was a major pain. Heh... taxis.

Well, it’s a little less than 3 weeks until I fly back into US airspace. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you. For those of you in Texas, California, Arizona, London, or wherever… please book your tickets to Minneapolis now. :-)

p.s. - Mom & Dad - This is what I want for Christmas!

Taxis

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:00:00 +0000

Not having a car here, I wind up taking taxis many places. Actually, I take the MRT (the subway), or walk, as many places as I can. But sometimes, you gotta get there fast, or it’s not close to the MRT route. Anyways, the taxi can be an interesting experience.

The taxi system is very good here. They all use their meters (unlike my experiences in Bangkok), and they have 1 phone # that you can call to access all the taxi companies. It’s an automated system, and if you call from your cell phone, it remembers where you call from at different times. So, if I call around 6pm, it asks if I’m at work, or at one of the other places I’ve called from at that time. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a Mercedes taxi.

It seems like at least 50% of the cars driving around here are taxis, which makes sense – a car in Singapore is a huge investment (not to mention a status symbol). For instance, a Honda Civic costs about $50k (US). Then, you have to buy a permit to own the car, which expires in 10 years. And, since cars are a status symbol, everyone wants the nicest car you can get – hence, a lot of BMWs (several hundred thousand $).

Some taxis smell…bad. The drivers eat, sleep, and sometimes smoke in them. Usually, it’s not too bad, though. Some of them are kept very clean & smell good.

Some taxi drivers are really inconsiderate. They’ll speed up to prevent someone from merging in front of them. If we come up on a line of stopped cars, they’ll get out of line, race up & merge back into the line close to the front (that drives me crazy!)

More often than not, when going to work – they ask me how I want to get there. “Do you want to go by AYE, or Holland Road, or…?” I have no idea why they do this – we’re not going through any toll zones or anything. Usually I tell them I don’t care, but sometimes they press. Annoying.

Some of the drivers are fun to talk to, and I had one driver that really stood up for me. I was out rollerblading at the East Coast Parkway. When I was done, I flagged down a cab & he stopped probably 20-30 yards from me. As I was walking up, a group of people ran up & jumped in the cab. I was a little irritated, and just started walking away. All of a sudden, the driver threw them out & waved for me to come over. He said they didn’t follow “the proper procedure”, and that wasn’t fair. Cool! He got a nice tip. :-)

But, by far my most favorite story was ‘the chicken lady’. I was out grocery shopping, and I got in a cab to head home. The lady asked if I was from Australia, and I said no, the US. She asked how I liked the weather here. I said it was nice, and it was about –5C in my home right now. That set her off… “Wow! So cold! Sir, let me ask you a question – when it’s that cold, do the chickens still lay eggs?” I told her I don’t know (I’m not a farmer!). Then she asked about the other farm animals. I told her that I think they’re warm enough in the barns. Then she went back to the chickens – wondering how we get eggs during the winter.

Then, she asked me if she could have my email address, so she & her daughter could email me & learn more about how the animals get by in the cold. Trying to be polite, I gave her my junk email address. Then she asked me for my phone # - I politely declined. Then she asked if I had a web cam, so we could chat online!!!! I told her no. I don’t think I’ll be emailing her.

So yeah – the taxis here are interesting.

On another note – Christmas is alive & well in Singapore. I thought the US got their decorations up early. Orchard road has been decorated for over a week now. It’s all lit up now, and there are huge Christmas trees in front of every mall. For some reason, they combine Christmas with Mardi Gras too… lots of signs say Merry Christmas & Happy Mari Gras.

Also, I’ve made my plans to come home. I’ll be heading back to chilly MN on January 5^th, and staying for a little over 2 weeks. I’ll be in MN for on the 1^st & the 3^rd weekend, and heading up to Wisconsin for the annual trip to the cabin with the guys on the 2^nd weekend. I’m really excited to see you all (well, those of you in MN). Hopefully you’ll all be in town.

Alive & well... thankfully

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:06:00 +0000

Hello all. It’s been a while since I’ve written, because it’s been a while since I’ve had much to write about. Things have been pretty quiet around here – just working & living, with a few interesting things mixed in.

I’m in the middle of a four-day weekend here. There are two holidays going on right now: Deepavali (Hindu), and Hari Raya (Muslim). So we have Monday & Tuesday off, and like many Singaporeans – I took the opportunity to leave Singapore.

I found a local dive shop that was planning a trip up to Pulau Tinggi, a small island in Malaysia. They were doing a two-day trip, so I decided to join. It would become one of the most mediocre and most terrifying trips of my life.

The diving was quite mediocre. As the dive shop warned, the water wasn’t in the best condition. There has been a lot of rain in the region, and that’s stirred up quite a bit of sediment. Visibility was about 10m or so. I did see a few interesting creatures, including some enormous starfish (with huge spikes on them!), a cuttlefish, and a few sting rays. The one night dive that we did was the most interesting – I saw a large hermit crab, an enormous puffer fish (about 2 feet long), and a squid. The water temp was 86F (30C), so that was nice too.

The boat we dove off of left a lot to be desired. It was pretty run down, and I don’t think they had any safety equipment on it. Good thing we weren’t doing any ‘extreme’ dives. I don’t think I went any deeper than 12m or so.

The resort we stayed at was nice, when the electricity was working. Quaint. Still, it was nice to get in the water again, and brush up on the skills. I hope to get out to do some better diving within the next couple of months.

But, the most noteworthy & terrifying part of the trip was the drive up there. As soon as we crossed the bridge from Singapore to Malaysia, our driver became an absolute maniac. Picture this: 4 hours of driving in the dark, going 80mph on a 2 lane road, passing multiple cars while driving in the oncoming traffic lane… around a corner! We had no way to know if there was a car that was going to come around the bend & hit us head on. Oh, did I mention there were no seatbelts in the van? The driver did the whole trip with 1 hand on the wheel, and the other on his cell phone. He also was swaying back & forth a lot in his seat, I’m not sure why. I’ve read that drivers sometimes use substances to help them stay awake… I didn’t want to ask. I did ask the leader of our trip if the driver could slow down a little bit. The response I got was “Oh, this is the way they drive in Malaysia. Don’t worry, he knows what he’s doing.” Fortunately, we had a different driver on the way back.

Other than that trip, things have been pretty routine in Singapore. A few misc things that have been going on:

I got out cable skiing a few weeks ago, which was a lot of fun. I’ve been wakeboarding a few times before, so the only thing that was different was the start. Instead of starting in the water & accelerating with the boat, you sit on a bench with the board on top of the water, and instantly go from zero to full speed as the tow-rope clamps on to the cable that is running continuously. I fell the first time, but got up every time after that. Fun! I’ll definitely go back.

I’ve also made my way out to East Coast Park to do a little rollerblading. There are several miles of paved path (can’t really call it boardwalk, can you?), and it gets quite busy on the weekend. There are tons of people out biking & rollerblading. Many, it seems, for the first time! You never know when you’re trucking along & someone is going to randomly swerve in front of you. Still, it’s one of the better places to hang out.

I went golfing a few weeks ago with my co-worker (another guy from MN). We got on the course at 7am, and by the time our 9 holes were done – we were completely soaked! I would have hated to play in the afternoon. One cool thing they had at the golf course – compressed air hoses at the end to clean off your shoes & spikes. It works really well! (maybe they have those in the US, but not at the courses I play at.)

Oh, and one other interesting thing about the golf course. On a few holes, you don’t want to go get the ball you hit out of bounds. There are ‘Beware of Snakes’ signs posted along the out of bounds. Hmmm…. yes, I think I will let that cobra keep my ball.

Air quality hasn’t been the best lately. Indonesia has been having ‘wild fires’ (farmers clearing land?) for the past couple of weeks. Both Singapore & Malaysia have been blanketed with a haze. Some days it’s really bad – like a thick fog covering the city.

We celebrated Oktoberfest here last weekend, which was lots of fun! I brought a couple of co-workers from the US along, and we met up with some people that I met here. I realized how international this city was when I was standing on top of a table singing ‘YMCA’ at Oktoberfest in Singapore…

The area that our office is in is called Science Park. There is a fitness center at the end of the road, that is for all the companies in SP. A few weeks ago, they had a celebration for the fitness center being open (15 years, I think). I joined in on the festivities. We had a decent dinner, followed by some ‘fitness activities’. They modeled the activities from things around the world. The North America event was a horse-shoe toss (like they do in Texas, I was told). The Australian event was a boomerang toss – trying to knock a target off of a stand. The Antarctican event was running to the end of a tennis court, and trying to fish coins out of a bucket of ice water – in order. Being from MN, I thought I’d have an advantage on this one. It was so cold! My hands were stinging at the end! There were a few more events, including everyone on the team walking with their feet attached to 2 planks of wood (really hard to coordinate, especially going backwards), and everyone holding a 20 foot long piece of PVC pipe vertically as someone tried to climb up it to get a flag. Of course, when they reached it, they slid down on top of everyone.

The evening ended with a final competition. A set of monkey bars had been constructed, out of bamboo, over the swimming pool. There was a single bamboo pole underneath them, so a people could walk out to the middle of the bars. When everyone got out above the pool, the pole was removed, and whoever could hang the longest was the winner. The problem is, that after 3 (out of 6) people got out there, the entire structure collapsed & they fell into the pool. So much for that competition!

Well, that’s about all that I’ve been up to lately. There is a bunch of people here from MN this week, including some good friends. It’s going go be fun to hang out with them, and show them around. It’s going to be a fun week.

I hope you’re all doing well!

Back in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 14:01:00 +0000

My Thailand trip is done – I flew back to Singapore yesterday. It’s weird, but this place does feel kind of like home, minus all the friends & family. Maybe I was just anxious to stop living out of a suitcase. The first thing that I did when I got home last night (around 11pm) was to open my suitcase & backpack and dump everything on the floor. Then I went to bed. I had got up very early yesterday to go out & see the sights of the Coup around Bangkok.

Yesterday morning I went to the Parliament building in Bangkok. Along the way, I passed several intersections with soldiers standing at them, and a few with Humvees & tanks. When I got to Parliament, there were about 8 tanks there, and a couple dozen soldiers. There were hundreds of Thai citizens out thanking the soldiers & taking pictures.

A middle-aged man & his father stopped me to ask what I thought of all this. I told him that all of my friends in Thailand seemed very happy that the Prime Minister had been ousted, so I was happy for them. (In fact, I haven’t seen anyone that seems unhappy by this whole thing.) And, I was happy that the whole thing happened without any violence.

After several hours of walking around, I headed back to the hotel to pack up & have some lunch. Then, it was off to the airport. Once again, the cab driver tried to rip me off. As he pulled up to the hotel, I told the porter to ask him to use the meter. No, he’ll give me a ride to the airport (with all the tollways paid for), for the bargain price of 350 baht. I said no, I want the meter.

Well, I arrived at the airport & paid the driver the fare – 235 baht. After I had my bags out of the car & had paid him, I looked at him and said “350 baht?” and shook my head & slammed the door. It’s not the worst I’ve been ripped off – I once paid 600 baht for the same trip (what are ya’ gonna do at 4:00am on the freeway – ask to get out?)

I’m always on guard when I take a taxi to the airport. This is the 4^th time in a row that the driver’s tried to scam me. It also seems to happen when you’re leaving the Night Bazaar.

I was out at the Night Bazaar with my friend DP, shopping & having dinner. When it was time to head out, she said she’d let me talk to the driver – she wanted to see how I’d do. So, we got into the cab & the conversation started:

CB: “Marriot hotel”

Driver: “Marriot?”

CB: “Yeah, Sukhumvit Soi 2”

Driver: “Ok – 100 baht”

CB: “No, use the meter”

Driver: “Oh, we don’t use the meter….”

CB: “Meter”

Driver: “But…”

CB: “Khun kit wat phom ngo, laew?” (“You think I’m stupid?” in Thai)

… the meter immediately was turned on.

Rung – Thanks for teaching me how to say that!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad in Bangkok. I still have lots of fun here. I’ve got plenty of friends to hang out with, they put me up in a really nice hotel, there’s lots of cool things to see & do,and the food is fantastic!

My favorite restaurant is Suda. It’s a little hole-in-the wall down on Sukhumvit Soi 14. The food is quite good, the prices are really cheap, and I have lots of fond memories from there. It’s the first restaurant I went to in Thailand, and I’ve dined there with friends from both the US & Thailand on many occasions. Plus, you never know when an elephant is going to show up (it’s happened several times). A baby elephant (about 5 feet tall) showed up this time with its handler. One of the local stray dogs got curious. I figure an encounter like this can best be described in haiku…

Baby Elephant

Stray dog looks up at the beast

Tail between its legs

Some other misc Thailand pics

Thailand Coup

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 01:16:00 +0000

First of all, I'm safe. :-) I'm up in Korat (aka Nakhon Ratchasima), which is about 2 1/2 hours outside of Bangkok. I was just about to go to bed last night, and figured I'd turn on the TV after my conference calls. Saw the news about tanks in Bangkok, and that the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency.

As of this morning, CNN & BBC were off the air in my hotel (and I think in the rest of the country). The Thai military is controlling all the media in the country (except this blog!). I did see one news broadcast at lunch today, so maybe things are getting back to normal.
Good thing for the internet. It's the only way that me (or anyone else around here) is able to know what's going on.

Right now, I'm scheduled to go back to Bangkok on Friday & then fly to Singapore on Saturday evening. Right now, I don't see any reason to change those plans. But, I'll keep an eye on the news over the next few days, and I'll stay put if it looks like there's any danger.

Pictures from the Coup
I hope to get out & take some pictures of my own when I'm in Bangkok this weekend.

CB in .th

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:48:00 +0000

First of all, Happy Labor Day to all of my American friends. I hope you had a nice 3-day weekend. I didn’t even realize that it was this weekend until Monday. I thought I would get bummed out when I missed out on a US holiday, but I guess not.

One thing that I have missed this year is the Great Minnesota Get-Together – the State Fair. I think I’ve gone every year since I was about 5, so it was a little sad to miss it this year. (And, I know that my friends Jed & Alison are missing it too, while living in Italy). But, fear not – I did have a hotdog on a stick this weekend. But, unlike in America, it didn’t come wrapped in Corn Dog batter (or if you want a vastly inferior product, Pronto Pup batter). No – my hot dog came wrapped in a waffle. An interesting taste – pretty good actually.

As mentioned in my last entry, I’ve ventured North to the Land of Smiles… Thailand. I spent a long weekend vacationing in the northern city of Chiang Mai, hanging out with my friends ReAnn, Jon, and Pooklook & Brian (along with the rest of their family).

This was my first time to Chiang Mai (Thailand’s 2^nd largest city, after Bangkok), and I’ll definitely be back. It’s a wonderful city. It’s up in the mountains of Northern Thailand, so it’s much cooler than Bangkok. This was by far the most pleasant weather I’ve experienced in Thailand. It had to be in the low 80s in the city, and when we got up into the mountains, probably in the mid 70s.

The weekend was packed full of activities, although we didn’t get to do what we had planned. We planned to go on a 2 day trek up to an area called Doi Inthanon. But, Chiang Mai has been getting tons of rain lately, and there has been lots of flooding. Plus, we were going to be heading deep into the jungle, and there were concerns about malaria with all the rain. So, we cancelled those plans & went on several day trips.

On Friday, we went up to an Elephant Reserve (passing washed out roads, and flooded streets along the way). When we arrived, there were some elephants putting on a show – one was painting (and doing a pretty good job… for an elephant). One was punting a soccer ball that it dropped from its trunk, one was twirling a hoola hoop from it’s trunk & playing a harmonica. They even had two people come out from the audience to get a Thai massage from the elephants – getting patted on the back with their trunk, and tapped with their foot. Pretty brave actually, trusting that the elephant wouldn’t put its weight on that foot.

The best part of the day was the ride that we took through the jungle on the backs of some elephants. I was on the back of a giant bull elephant. It was a little unnerving, since I was sitting really high up in a basket that was held on by a rope (which the handler had to re-tie during the ride), and we were walking on really muddy ground near some pretty steep slopes.

On Sunday, ReAnn, Jon, and I were on our own. Pooklook & her family all had plans, but she was nice enough to arrange a day full of activities. She hired a driver for us, and we drove up to Doi Suthep, a nearby mountain. He dropped us off (and waited for us) while we walked up several hundred steps to a really cool temple at the top. The temple has a really cool viewing area that overlooked the city. The mountain was shrouded in clouds, so you could only see the city when you walked to the ledge. If you took a few steps back, all you saw was clouds beyond the granite wall.

After Doi Suthep, we stopped for lunch, and then drove an hour or so to who knows where. We stopped on some roadside stand for our next adventure – bamboo rafting. They drove us a few miles up stream, and then we walked to the river where a bunch of bamboo rafts were waiting. Don’t get the wrong idea when I say ‘raft’. These were a bunch of bamboo stalks tied together to make a platform that’s about 50 feet long & 4 feet wide. I wound up on the back end, ‘helping’ steer the raft through the river with a bamboo pole. The guide did most of the work from up front, and was able navigate around rocks & branches while constantly pointing out that I was pushing on the wrong side of the raft. I only fell in once, which actually was really refreshing, since I was getting hot from all the pushing & trying to keep my balance.

By the way – flying AirAsia was really disappointing! They messed up my flights both going to & coming back from Chiang Mai. I was supposed to go up at 12:30pm on Thursday. Well, that flight got cancelled, and I got bumped to 8:40pm (fortunately I was able to change my flight from Singapore, so I wasn’t sitting at the airport for 10 hours). Then, the 8:40 flight got changed to 9:30. When I got to the airport, I found that the 9:40 flight was delayed to 10:25pm, and then to 10:45. We finally boarded & took off around 11:00pm. On the way back, our flight was cancelled, so I had to wait another 3 hours. Fortunately, I had ReAnn & Jon to hang out with on that leg.

Now the vacation is done, and it’s time to work. I flew back to Bangkok, and got picked up at the airport for the 2 ½ hour drive up to Korat. I’ll be working here for the next 2 or so weeks.

It's time to travel!

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:12:00 +0000

Well, I just passed the 1-month mark in Singapore, and it’s about time I get outta here. Next week I’ll leave Singapore on my first trip – this time heading up to Thailand. I’ll be heading up to Chiang Mai, which is in the Northern part of the country; up in the Mountains. I’ve never been there, so I’m very excited to see a new part of that wonderful country. I’ll be meeting up with my friends ReAnn & Jon (they’re in Thailand on their honeymoon), as well as my friends Pooklook & Brian (they live there). Pooklook used to work with me in MN, but she & her husband moved back to Chiang Mai with his work.

We’ll be heading out for a 2 night trek in Chiang Mai. I’m not sure what that all entails but it could very well involve an elephant ride (I hope it does), and seeing some beautiful landscape. I’ve heard many great things about Chiang Mai. We’ll also be going to the Night Bazaar there, and doing some other things around the city. I can’t wait!

After Chiang Mai, I’m flying back to Bangkok & then getting a ride up to Korat for work. I’ll be up there for 2-3 weeks, working & hanging out with my good friends. I’m very excited to see them again. On the weekends, I’ll head back to Bangkok to enjoy the big city & hang out with other friends there. (and I’ll have a cell phone this time!!! :-) ). I’m really lucky that my vacation to Chiang Mai happened to coincide with a business trip. Makes it a lot more cost-effective for me. :-)

It’s about time I start making my other travel plans for the year. There are so many places that I want to see. I probably won’t make it to them all, but here’s my wish list:

Chiang Mai
Bangkok - for Songkran (The annual water festival. Picture a nation-wide water fight) in April
Koh Samui – an island in Thailand, with some great diving (that’s where Robert De Niro was trying to send his daughter in Meet the Parents)
Angkor Wat – huge Buddhist temple in Cambodia.
India
Maldives – tiny islands south of India with picturesque waters. Only a few feet above sea level. Great diving!
Similan Islands – islands off the west coast of Thailand and Myanmar
Australia (again) – either Darwin or Perth
Hong Kong
Beijing / The Great Wall

I stumbled upon a fun activity for the weekend. I was upstairs today, talking with one of the admins, when she told me that there was a volleyball tournament down at the beach this weekend. Turns out, her team is short one player & I told her I love to play. So, I’ll be playing volleyball on the beach on Saturday. Should be about a million degrees with no shade. I’ll have to bring lots of water & sunscreen.

I also had 2 orientation sessions with the relocation company that I’ve been dealing with. They took me around Singapore, and showed me some fun places to hang out & fun things to do. I’m definitely going to take windsurfing lessons, but it will have to wait until I get back from Thailand. I also plan to do some kayaking (start out in one of the reservoirs, and then move on to sea kayaking – I have to be skilled to avoid the cargo ships). There’s also places to do wakeboarding, but it’s kind of expensive to hire a boat. So, I’ll start off with cable-skiing. As soon as I can do jumps, then I’ll hire a boat.

This weekend I’m going to go on the ‘Treetop Walk’ at the Bukit Timah nature reserve. Hopefully my camera won’t fog up (from the inside) like it did the last time I was at there, a few years ago. That was a humid day!

Incidentally, the temperature here has not been nearly as hot as I expected it to be. It’s been in the 80s to mid-90s since I’ve been here. Not too bad. But the humidity can be really bad – it’s usually 80-90%!

My new toy

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 07:28:00 +0000

The last time I was in Singapore, I got stuck over on the East Coast for about an hour because I wasn’t able to flag down a cab. Every one of them was ‘on call’. Finally, I had to have a stranger call for one for me on his cell phone.

The last time I was in Bangkok, I waited at a shopping mall for an hour to meet up with my friend DP. She was stuck in traffic, but I had no way of knowing. I borrowed a Thai girl’s cell phone to call DP, after this girl’s friend translated my request to her (one of the first Thai people that I’ve met that spoke almost no English)

So… I decided that when I got to Singapore, one of the first things I would buy is a cell phone. I wanted to get one that I could bring back to the US (my current cell phone was 5+ years old, and 2 of the buttons weren’t working very well). The phones here are pretty cool – they’re ahead of the US as far as cell phone technology, but I don’t think as far as they used to be. Still, I wanted to find something that I couldn’t get at home.

So, after quite a bit of shopping, I finally got my new toy – a Nokia N80. It’s way more phone than I need, but when in Singapore… It’s a 3G phone (3^rd Generation), which means I can do video teleconferencing with it (just need to find someone to video-conference with). It’s got 2 cameras – a 3 megapixel one on the back, and a small one on the front for teleconferencing & self-portraits. The main reason I got the phone was because of the camera – I wanted to have something to take some decent resolution pictures with, in case I was out somewhere without my camera.

It’s funny, but I’m only talking on the phone about ½ the time I’m using it. Text messaging (called SMS here) is huge! People SMS each other way more than they do voice calls.

On Friday, the 11^th, I made the move to my new apartment. I’m now at a place called Leonie View. It’s just about as far from Orchard road as the last place, but on the other side. They’re going to be tearing down the other apartment in December, and I didn’t want to pack up & move again in 5 months. But, Leonie wasn’t ready when I got here, so I had to live at the other place temporarily. It’s nice to finally get settled into my permanent home & get everything unpacked.

So, now I’m completely settled in. I’ve got my permanent address, and my home & cell phone numbers. A couple of you have asked for my snail mail address. If you want it, just send me an email & I’ll give it to you. I also will give my phone numbers out, if you want. Singapore can be called very cheaply (2 cents/minute) using Skype.

I found a web site with a few facts about Singapore. Just for fun.
Singapore – Did you know?

And, for all you Minnesotans out there – here’s a frame of reference to use. Singapore is a really small country. The entire island is just about the same size as the 494/694 loop. So, it doesn’t take much time to get anywhere here.

Man, in Singapore there sure are a lot of...

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 09:39:00 +0000

Really Expensive Cars – In the 12 days that I’ve been here, I’ve seen a couple Lamborghinis, several Ferraris, and BMWs (even the 7 series) are as common as Fords are in the US.

Fast road-workers – I was walking home last night, and they were tearing up the road in front of my apartment. This morning, I left & there was no sign that anything had been done! The asphalt was all back down, and the lane lines were re-painted. MNDOT needs to come over here for a seminar.

Luxury stores – Singaporeans love their shopping. Orchard Road is one of the premiere shopping areas here. In just a few blocks, you will find 2 Prada Stores, 2 Versace stores, 3 Gucci stores, etc… (I checked on the Internet, I haven’t been shopping for purses). :-P

Cars with little yellow signs in the windows… you know, the ‘baby on board signs’. Except, there are lots of different versions here. I thought they stopped making those about 20 years ago. My favorite was ‘This is a dumb yellow sign’.

Another thing that I thought went out of style 20 years ago – break dancing. I saw a bunch of kids doing it in one of the underpasses yesterday (They have tunnels under busy roads, connecting buildings, and around the subway stations. In fact, they have an entire underground mall near the hotel that we stay at when we come here on business).

I got a lot of questions about cable skiing. Yeah, it’s tough to describe. Next time I’m down there, I’ll take some pictures (or, hopefully someone will take pictures of me doing it!).
But, for now, here’s few links to the cable-ski web page. :-)

http://www.cable-ski.com

I have met a couple of people here. During my first week here, I went out to lunch with a couple of co-workers. We went to the University, which is pretty close to work, and ate at an outdoor café. This girl comes up & sits down with us, and my co-worker introduces her as his daughter. During the lunch I found out that they used to live in Minnesota, near Macalestar college! My co-worker’s wife is from Minnesota (he’s from China), and his daughter was born in Minneapolis. Small world.

Then next weekend, their family took me out to Dim Sum. The food was good, and it was fun to talk with them. Afterwards, Lish (that’s her name) & I went walking around Chinatown & then to the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Too bad she’s heading back to the US for college this Friday. Guess I have to make some more new friends. :-)

Yesterday was Singapore’s National Day (like the 4^th of July), so I didn’t have to work. So, I have 2 2-day weeks this week. I spent the afternoon wandering around - I walked over to Little India & back, taking pictures along the way (still haven’t got around to uploading those!).

In the evening, I went down to watch the ceremony. The actual ceremony takes place at their National Stadium, and I couldn’t get in (sold out). So, I went to the Esplanade – the Theater by the Bay. I heard that you could see it from there. So, when I got there, I went where the crowd was – on the bridge watching over the bay. You couldn’t see the stadium from there, but I figured the locals knew what they were doing. After an hour, the ceremony started. The helicopters flew past with huge Singapore flags hanging beneath them, and the fighter planes buzzed past. Then more waiting. Finally, the sky lit up with fireworks over the stadium – but we couldn’t see them. They were behind the building! What?!!?!?!? I thought the locals knew what they were doing? There were tens of thousands of them there! I left extremely disappointed.

Remember kids… it’s not always cool to follow the crowd. If your best friend was going to sit on a bridge & watch fireworks behind a building, does that mean you have to?

I guess I'll watch the re-broadcast on TV this weekend.

Too hot for ya?

noreply@blogger.com (CB) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:49:00 +0000

I see that Minneapolis is going to be over 100F today, and the rest of the country is pretty much baking. Want to cool off a little? Come to Singapore! Yup, this tiny little country on the equator is actually cooler than it is there. It’s going to be in the 80s today.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve changed positions in the company. I’m now a Program Manager, and I’ll be spending the next year living & working in Singapore. I’ll be the liaison between the Product Teams in the Minnesota, and the Science Park design center here. I’ll be working with all of the products that are designed here, and making sure both the US & Singapore are giving each other the info that the other needs. Or, maybe I’ll just be the whipping boy (yes, Singapore is the country where that kid got caned a few years back)

I flew over here on July 21 – from Minneapolis to Tokyo, and then Tokyo to Singapore. All in all, about 21 hours on a plane. I’m actually fairly used to the trip now. I arrived at about 2am, and was picked up & taken to my apartment. The place is pretty cool – it’s very close to Orchard Road, which is one of the most popular areas of Singapore. Lots of shopping, restaurants, and more shopping (I’m amazed at how many malls there are, and how much shopping people do). My place has 2 bedrooms, so if any of you want to come over to visit, you’ve got a place to stay (never mind the extremely expensive flight). I'll post some pics soon.

The first week here went pretty smoothly. I found a gym nearby & joined it. I found my way to work, and got settled in (I’m working with an entirely new group of people – I have never met any of them before), and went out with a few guys who are here from MN for the week.

Over the weekend, I explored a few areas around Singapore. On Saturday, I had lunch in Little India & went out to East Coast Parkway. It seems like this that's where I'll be spending a lot of time. You can windsurf there, cable ski (picture wakeboarding, but instead of being pulled behind a boat, you're pulled behind a cable that's run around pulleys that are about 1 story in the air), rollerblade, bike, and hang out near the water. And since Singapore's such a huge shipping hub, from the beach you get a glorious view of lots of ships that are sitting off-shore, waiting to come into port.

Well, not much to report yet. I'll be adding to this as time goes along. You can see that I'm not an incredibly captivating writer, but hopefully this will give you a glimpse into what I'm up to.

Talk to you soon.