Report 9: The Plan

OK, I am leaving in like ten minutes, here is a basic plan of what I am doing for the next week and a half:

Friday Feb. 23 Leave for Bangkok with Julio

Sat. All day in Bangkok
Sun. More Bangkok and hopefully see Aunt Marina (Mario's (my family's exchange student) aunt)

Mon. Leave in the morning for Chang Mai, Thailand
Tues, more time in Chang Mai
Wed/Thurs Traveling through northern Thailand by train to get back to Bangkok
Fri. FLy out of Bangkok to Cambodia and take a bus to the temple city
Sat/Sun explore the temple sity of Angkor Wat
Mon. Fly to KL Malaysia and take a bus back to NTU SIngapore


once again that is just the wuick run down, I will fill you in on teh rest later, keep us in your prayers for same travel

thanks!

Report 8: The Year of the Pig is Here!!

That’s right folks, it is CNY! Also known as Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year. Think New Years and Christmas all wrapped up into one holiday. It is a time for people to be with there families and observe traditions in order to bring in the new year with good luck. So naturally we had to celebrate by eating a lot and going to Chinatown for the festivities.

First on the list was eating everything in sight. They make all kinds of special treats for the holiday, kinda like Christmas cookies only lots more cookies and way cheeper. So luckily our hall was taking a bus to Chinatown and then to Geylang. Chinatown obviously for the shopping of CNY goodies and then Geylang for the food. Benedict, my neighbor and the man that can get you anything went with us, along with most of the hall. Chinatown was great and I got lots of stuff for my room and to bring back for the scrap book. But the main event went to Geylang.

Ben took us to some place on this one street and said a few things to this lady that worked at the place we were at. We waited for a bit and then the lady that Ben said the things to came out of the back of the place we were at with food that looked like this one thing I ate before. Then Ben went to work, he told us all about what we were eating and why. It turns out that the stuff that the lady brought us was what that place was famous for – beef and noodles. It was a huge bowl, like the size of my entire stomache! And the four of us that were eating dug in. Then came the calamari, some leafy vegetables, prawn rapped in this stuff that looked like bread, Small Ming ordered us an oyster omlete, and then we finished it off with some Frog Porrage. Oh, and there was rice in there too, but I think that is a given. Everything was delicious, even after Chinatown where I had some fish balls, a romly burger, this sweet tasting taco-like thing I had three of and some coconut juice fresh from the nut. The frog legs even tasted good, kinda like chicken only more tender. Then after that we had some dessert at the place next to the original place that I had been talking about. It is famous for its fried dough. Think funnel cake in a long piece that has the length and width of medium size pepperoni stick. You eat two at a time and dip it into this bean curd stuff that is sweet but has no real taste, or the fake milkish stuff that I was drinking. The milkish stuff finished me off and I retreated back to campus where after a quick snack of peanut sheet cookies I went to bed.

Two days later it was Saturday. With the new year only a few hours away, the traveling crew and I headed into the place to be for lunar new year, CHINATOWN. This time, it was packed!! I am not talking like it was hard for me to get around people, I am talking you don’t go around people. If the dude in front of you stops, you and the hundreds of people behind you stop. There are spots where the crowd is not as thick, but when you are in the crowd, you are being touched by four people, the guy behind you, the guy behind you and slightly left, the guy behind you and slightly right, and the guy sqeezing between guy on slight left and guy directly behind. The rest of the people you are touching as you try not to fall into them. But wowy was it worth it. Leading up to midnight there were singers, dragon dancing, drumming that was unbeatable. It was a great cultural experience. Then, once midnight hit, the fire crackers went off and it was possibly the loudest sound I have ever heard. The large dragon that was dancing with other little dragons following it came about twenty feet from me, so I got to see it pretty close. The dragon dances are really cool. They make it seem like the dragon is real, the motions they used are perfect and their legs look like the dragons. If you ever get a chance to see it, you need to. Then after that since you are supposed to stay up as late as you can (the later you stay up, the more luck you will get throughout the year) Jen, Alica, and I went to the Merlion to eat our goodies and chit chat until the sun came up. Then we took the MRT back to campus and prompty fell asleep.

For the next few nights after that, I stayed up real late and had troble getting to sleep the night before classes. Luckily, spring break is coming up soon and I wont be getting a lot of sleep there so I will be used to it. I will post my spring break schedule some time before I leave in two days.

Report 7: Indonesia, bring it on

Well I am a little behind in posting this, but later is better than never. Last weekend a few of my friends and I traveled to Indonesia for the day. We arrived late Friday night, spent all Saturday there, and then left early Sunday afternoon.

I was a little nervous about this trip because the US Government has been sending out warnings to tourists about going there. Many about staying in very western populated areas. Like if you stay in a fancy hotel, it might get blown up. But the place we went was not a tourism hub, but it wasn’t a desserted town either. So everything was ok, especially since we knew of the potential danger and didn’t leave the hostel once it got late.

The name of the place is Tanjung Pinang. It is a pleasant little town about one hour from Singapore to there, but three hours to get back because of a one hour time difference that we were unaware of until Saturday afternoon. At one point I remember waiting to buy our visas and one guy in line asked the security guard what time it was. He said 8:30, but I looked at my watch and it was 9:30, and then I thought to myself, “what a dummy, his watch is one hour slow.”

Upon arrival we met a guy name Bobby, he seemed like a nice guy, eventhough he was just trying to get business for his hotel. But he took us to the hostel that we booked from here and made sure we were satisfied with it before saying goodbye and offering us a boat tour of the island on Saturday. We then went to a place to get some food. It was nice, a little empty, but for 2,000 rupia I sang karaoke. “I would do anything for love,” and “Lean on Me.” It was beautiful. Our waitresses, including one that was at one time a man, enjoyed my singing. Then it was back to the hostel for a relaxing night of tv movies and snacks.

The next morning we awoke to a free breakfast of weird rice, eggs, tea, coffee, and toast with kaya. Kaya is something I discovered on this trip, it is a flavor of jelly that is to die for. I could eat it on my toast for the rest of life. As we were finishing breakfast, Bobby came in to see if we wanted the tour. For 7 sing dollars we took a boat tour of the area. We went down the snake river to snake temple, across the little bay to a neighborhood on stilts, over to a mosque, and stuff like that. It was a about 4 hours and the staff of one tour guide and a boat driver that didn’t speak English was friendly and informative. By friendly I mean that the driver would jump into all our pictures, and ask to get his pictures with the girls, and by informative I mean that our tour guide would usually casually offer information by saying I read in a book once that… but I am not sure if I believe that. But in all seriousness, the tour was great and our two guides were very nice.

Then it was time for a massage. We asked bobby where a good place was and he took us there. Do I have some stories for you. The entire time we were receiving our massage, our girls were giggling and laughing at our western bodies. Often times we would make a word like German as they looked at Sascha, then after some more Chinese, or malay, or whatever they were speaking, they would all laugh at the same time. Sascha asked them if they would care to share with us what they are talking about. To which the my girl replied, “hehehehe, no no no, hehehe” She seemed to be impressed by the size of my nose. While massaging face, she kept flicking my nose and making a dong sound. All the other girls would then laugh. She was also quite impressed with the hair on my belly. When I flipped over, she exclaimed with some excitement to the other girls. This cause a little bit of confusion and I did not know what she was pointing at and making a commotion about. But after she grabbed some of my hair and repeated the word that she had been shouting to he coworkers, I realized what was the commotion was about.

That night we tried lots of local food. It was delicious. Galen and Jen went out and patronized the road side stands and brought back a feast of roasted corn, prata, fish balls, and fruit. We ate a lot and then settled in for the night. The next day we did some more shopping at the mall, I bought two shirts that are too fashionable for me. But I guess the make me look good (like that is hard).

Report 6: Penang; you've got time.

"Penang; You've got time," was the name of the trip that we took this past weekend. We wanted a nice relaxing weekend on the beach, and a chance to do a little more site seeing in Malaysia, truely Asia. Se we decided on Penang. Founded in 1786 by Francis Light, Penang, or Georgetown, became the first British trading post in the far east. Light, fluent in the local languages and customs easily persuaded the Sultan of Kedah to cede Pulau Pinang ("Island of the Betel Nut") to the British in exchange for military assistance. Light and men quickly established fort Cornwallis. Named after the famous General that lost the last battle in the American Revolution, the wooden structure was soon replaced by a more permanent stone structure that is still there today. With most of the island a jungle, Light ellegedly filled a canoon full of gold coins and shot it into the surrounding jungle to encourage his men to settle the rest of the island. Also, by allowing imagrants to have whatever land they could clear, Penang became a mixture of Malay, Indian, Sumatrans, and Chinese. This unique mix of culture can still be found in the bustling metropolitan city that now stands in its place. Housing Malaysia’s largest temple and southeast asia’s most comprehensive war museum, modern Penang is a mixture of all kinds of places to visit including resort areas, beaches, temples, national forests, and the colonial Georgetown. Situated on the Northwest coast of Malaysia, Penang is a hidden gem that should not be overlooked.

This story begins on Thursday night as the seven of us embarked on our relaxing vacation. Instead of taking a bus from Singapore to Penang we decided to try crossing th border first and finding a bus on the other side. After a good amount of waiting, some advice from a nice guy about making sure we get a good bus, some confusion at the money exchange place, and a short negotiation with Ron, and an entertaining ten mintues while Julio tried to communicate with little old ladies that they were in his seat (at one time even breaking into Spanish), we were on our way to Penang. We arrived around 6 in the morning and easily found our buses to take us to the beach. We walked onto a sandy beach just as the sun was lighting up the island. As we walked around to find a spot to sit, we were kindly asked it we wanted to do many things. One of those was Jetski. A guy named Gundi said that once I was ready he could hook me up. So after sitting on the beach for most of the morning, I went over and told good old Gundi that me and my roommate Jeff wanted to ride the Jetskis. After some crafty negotiation from Gundi where he told me 50 ringets for half an hour-meaning both Jeff and I pay 50 and we each get 15 minutes, which added together is a half hour for 50 ringets each- I got a better price of 50 ringets for 20 minutes. That’s less than 15 USD to say that I Jetskied in the Indian Ocean, way cool. The other highlight of the beach for me was my lunch. Also known as the greatest meal I have ever had. I walked up the Hawker center and nice lady came out and handed me a menu. I leafed through it until I came to the squid section. Unsure of which one I wanted I did what I usually in these situations and asked her what her best was. She said, quite emphatically, that the sizzling squid was. So I got that. I waited maybe 15 minutes, which in southeast asia is kinda a long time for a meal from a hawker center. But then I saw it. On top of a wooden slab, a cast iron pan heaped with squid, beansprots, and lots of vegetables and lots of other stuff that I don’t know, was floating towards me, carried by an angel. As the plate came to a rest in front of me, I could feel its warm against my face and watched the droplets of spicy sauce sizzle and spatter onto the table. With a gift of another plate full of fried rice and a, “be careful, it is very hot,” I was left alone with this mound of heaven. God bless the squid that gave his life for that meal, surely he was the noblest creature in all the waters of the earth.

Once we got to our hostel, “the malibu café and guesthouse,” we discovered that there was a small problem with our booking. Instead of having three rooms with a double bed in each room for our seven people, we only had two. So it was the three girls in one room, and the four of us guys in the other. Luckily, Rachel had brought a small air mattress, so as Julio slept on the floor on the air mattress, Sascha, Jeff and I slept widthwise on the bed with our feet hanging out over the edge, mine more than anyone’s. Needless to say, I have had better nights sleep in my life and was very happy to come back to NTU and sleep in a bed by myself.

Saturday was spent traveling to as many places outside of Georgetown that we could do. We saw a bunch of temples. Most notable was the sleeping budda, a very big budha that is always sleeping, and Kek Lok Si, that is the largest temple in Malaysia and one of the biggest in all of Southeast Asia. Sadly the road to Kek Lok Si is filled with venders selling mickey mouse t-shirts, watches, knives, mini budha statues, cards, and all sorts of suvineers. It kinda takes away from the place. Luckily there is none of that once you are up in the temple. We also went into Komtar Tower. We went to the 60th floor and had a great view of Georgetown. And at night, absolutely fantastic.

I woke up early on Sunday and enjoyed a full pot of green tea as I read about Luke Skywalker and Han solo traveling to the crystal planet. Fantastic book, but it is almost finished, so I need to get a new one for traveling. Anyway, everyone else got a later start and by the time we had bought our bus tickets for Singapore and ate breakfast it was time to go see as many places in Georgetown as possible in a few hours. I bought some fried dough stuff that tasted like a funnel cake, lunch was Indian food ( I had an egg prata), and then to wash it al down I had some fresh coconut juice. And when I say fresh, I mean the guy cuts open the coconut right in front of you, pours it into a cup and hands it to you, very cool. So anyway, we saw a few buildings, went to a museum, and visited fort Cornwallis. All very cool stuff. After that we split into two groups, one to stay and shop some more, and the other to go see Penagn Hill and get a great view of the whole island. As many of you know about my love for shopping, I decided to hang out in little Indian and picked out a few nice pairs of shoes, four belts, and this shirt that I look stunning in.

The trolley that takes you up Penang is like that found in pittsbugh. It takes 30 minutes to get the whole way up. But once you are there, it is fantastic. You can see the Komtar Tower, and looks like a tiny model. You can see the beach we were at and the bridge that connects the Penang to the mainland. Kek Lok Si looks like an action figure too small for a young child to play with, and the wild hills look even more majestic from above. With a great taste in our mouths, it was time to leave Penang for the pore.

Two things need to be noted about the ride home. Number one, it was the coolest bus ride ever. You know the sound that comes out of your ac in the car when it is on full blast. That was the sound of our aircon on low. We this because the bus driver allowed Sascha to turn the knob in order to prove to him that this was with lowest setting. If it would have been on high, we would have all died of hypothermia. I think Jen lost a foot to frostbite, luckily the six shirts that Jeff had on kept his core warm enough for him to cling to life. The second thing was that three of our travels bought knives in Penang, all for their brothers. Customs did not appreciate this. After thirty minutes of waiting, our friends were finally released. I thought that there was going to be a huge story about they almost got arrested and canned and stuff. But it just took the border people a long time to get the paperwork and stuff. They can pick up the knives in a few days.

But we all got back ok, I barely made it through my class and then took a long nap, in my own bed, by myself. That should be it for Malaysia, unless I go back to do some shopping in later months. Tomorrow I walking on a tree top pathway through a Singaporean National Forest, just like the Ewokes.

Report 5: The Birth Celebration of Julio

On the thirtieth of January, 1984, somewhere in Mexico, Julio Cesar Soto was born. Growing up in Mexico City, Julio has stared in Sleeping Beauty on the Mexican equivalent to Broadway, has backpacked through Europe (twice), is a certified Master SCUBA Diver, and is an all around good guy. So to celebrate the life and birth of everyone’s favorite Mexican in Southeast Asia, we had a party. Actually two.

Since he was born on eastern standard time, technically his birthday did not start on Tuesday, but we celebrated it then anyway, but then on Wednesday, since every Wednesday is Ladies’ Night all over town and girls get into clubs for free, we celebrated Wednesday too with the excuse that it was his real birthday for most of the day.

Tuesday Night:

We went to a place called Clarke Quay. It is the touristy place to go out to eat. It is mostly old rich white people walking around spending money all over the place. Needless to say, I do not frequent this land of cheeseburgers, spaghetti, “fish and chips,” and chopstick less restaurants very often, but for Julio, we needed to class it up a bit. So I sucked it up, put on a collared shirt, and went to the most western part of Singapore. While we were there we went on this huge bungee thing that gives you the best view of the bay. They strap three people in and tighten the cables and then you go flying into the air. It was a blast. The restaurant that we ate at was right by the river that flows into the bay. And at night, the lights make the bay an almost magical place. So after a nice meal right there by the water, we were back on campus to rest up for Wednesday.

Wednesday Night:

Wednesday started a little later. If you ever come to Singapore someone is bound to tell you that you must have a Singapore Sling from the Raffles Hotel. The drink costs 21 singapore dollars and in a red fruity drink with rum, served with pineapple and a cherry. So we all went to Raffles and spent the cash in order to say that we did it. The drink was good but nothing special really, the great part were the peanuts. In the bar at the raffles hotel, each lounge table has a small wooden box filled with the best peanuts I have ever tasted. And the best part is that you simply toss the shell onto the floor for some one to clean up later. Just like the Country Road Houses found in the states, only surprisingly classy. Like there are peanut shells all over the floor, but the place is still fancy. And with a live band playing some jamming tunes, the night started out great. Then it was of to a club called the devil’s club. Despite the satanistic name, it was a pleaseant time. We found a nice table in the corner and chit chatted for a while, I talked with Ana Paula, she is from Mexico working as a nanny for a Mexican family here in Singapore. We talked in Spanish for about 40 minutes, I did ok, but it was a solid reminder that Spanish is also a language that I will never learn. After that we were on the dance floor until 4am. There was a live band we danced to for a while and then a DJ. It was lots of fun. However, all in all the night costed about 50 sing dollars, which is enough to get me to Malaysia and back, so there wont be too many more of there sorts of nights.

Also, Julio and I have become good friends and have decided that he will do a little hiking with me next time he comes to the states in exchange for taking me scuba diving once I visit Mexico. So if you play your cards right folks, you just might get the chance to meet him.