Last Stop - Hong Kong

Wow, was I happy to land in Hong Kong a few days ago! There is only so much sunshine a person can take as well as 90 degrees + temp everyday (says the girl moving to Florida). Hong Kong is a nice, cool, and cloudy change from Indonesia. Living in Hong Kong seems to me like living inside of a mall. Everywhere you go, every place you turn there is a shop. My hostel, for example, is across from Calvin Klein, above DKNY, and just to the right of Outback Steakhouse (ahh welcome back western culture!). For all you Baros's out there, don't worry - Tonny Romas is just half a block away!

My hostel is pretty unique. Land is hard to come by in this city; that is why there are still pulling a Dutchman here (reclaiming land from the sea); and a hostel surely can not afford a big hunk 'o chunk of space. So what they have done is bought several apartments around the city and converted them to 4 or 5 rooms. So my room is on the 12th floor of an apartment building (livin' with the locals), and is about the size of a broom closet. Really, it is. There is not enough room to even sit properly on the toilet! I had to study all angles before deciding the best way to use the thing. And I don't even want to get into failed attempts....

Hong Kong also has learned a lesson from Vegas, if you keep it bright all the time, maybe people will forget it is midnight and hopefully continue shopping. It is the strangest feeling to sit in a restaurant at around 8pm, look outside, and feel like it is noon because of the brightness. I have had to run outside a few times during dinner just to reassure myself it is actually nighttime and I am not going crazy. Now seeing starts is another issue. I am sure they are there, I saw an unbelievable amount in Bali, but sorry charlie, you are not going to spot one from Hong Kong!

I have spent the days walking though the city with what feels like the other 6.5 million people that live on this island. The streets and sidewalks are always packed with people! Walking through town you feel like you are on a human conveyor belt, the flow just don't stop.

I have also taken a class on Chinese Medicine, and decided that I like Western Medicine. There aint no way someone can convince me that eating deer wee-wees is good for my health! Not to mention, they are quite dear (American translation = costing major mullah). And the most popular item in Chinese medicine - Bird's Nest. That is just a fancy name for bird throw up. But it is ok if it gives you a nice compextion, right? Uh - NO! Sorry, they did not make a believer out of me.

I also took a class on Jewelry Appreciation, now that is something I can appreciate! I learned all the ways to identify the most expensive pearls and diamonds. Oh that can and will be useful information! The class was great until the teacher tried to sell me pearls. Well.. they will just have to wait until next time.

Now I am waiting for the laser and light show - its a Christmas special. Whew-hoo! Stay tuned for the picts.

Burning Time

So after I left Lovina I made my way over to the next Island to the East - Nusa Lombogan. To get to this island you have to take a ferry. Normally for common folk this would not be a problem. But for those prone to sea sickness, the 2 1/2 might be alright if it were not for the massive swells and a storm that we hit halfway through the trip. Too bad I am prone to sea sickness. Getting into the ferry was unique as there is not really a marina or port. The boat was just anchored about 15 feet out in the sea. This is bali.. no need for those luxuries. So basically you had to carry your bag over your head out to sea with the water up to your waist to get on the boat. You just have to pray that you can make it to the boat before the next wave comes that might knock you over. I could not have been happier once we made it to the island, though I probably did not look it. I somehow ended up at a really nice bungalow guest house. Tourism is quite low at the moment and I was able to enjoy secluded white sand bays all by my self. What do you do when you have a beach all to yourself? Well, i don't know what you would do - but I did cartwheels. Yeah... i know all you girls out there are jealous. When was the last time you did a cartwheel??I also got to enjoy some nice snorkeling and surfer watching and beautiful sunsets.

But the Island in the end got the best of me. I got burned, both by the sun and by a motorbike muffler. Well, that was then end of my beach enjoyment. The motorbike burn ain't lookin pretty, and probably being on sandy beaches would not be the best in terms of pain management. So I decided to head back to Ubud (not you bud), the town in the center of Bali. I am sitting here getting plenty of reading time in, as well as banana juice sippin time. In a few says I am headed to Hong Kong... the place for the shopping time!

Bali-hoo!

Well, though there was some speculation on whether or not I would pass immigration at the airport here I am happy to report not only was there no problem getting an Indonesian visa, but I got it at a discount! Welcome to Bali, where everything can be bargained. I have no idea why the border dude gave me $5 off (maybe it had to do with my shocking good looks...) but I was not about to start asking questions.

Bali is an Indonesian island known for its good surf, nice beaches, and cheap goods. I would like to add a few things to that: too many hawkers who do not give you a second of peace, strange business practices where people actually get mad and belligerent when you do not buy from them, and beautiful country side. I took a driver with a few other people yesterday and he got pretty mad at us for not wanting to eat at the exorbitantly overpriced restaurant that he took us too - probably missing out on a pretty commission. But really... the place wanted min. $5 for lunch without drinks! Well $3 - beer included - is about my top mark.

My first stop in Bali was Kuta Beach, the place where the terrorists bombed the clubs back in 2002 and 2005. I am glad to report that despite the bad history, people are still bar hopping til the early morning hours there. I also treated myself to the nicest hotel i have stayed in yet during this trip! TV, air-co, pool with a swim up bar... ah, the luxuries of life.

After Kuta I headed up to a small town called Ubud. The hotel was not quite as nice as Kuta, but at $7 you can not really ask for much. In ubud I saw an official Bali style fire dance. Although it lasts about 1 1/2 hours, I am pretty proud of the fact that i stayed there for a full hour and did not fall asleep once! Yeah - that is attention span progress for me! There must be something in the air here..

Now I am hanging out on the black sand beaches of Lovina, in the north of the country. I plan on doing some major vegging out here, as well as some diving. From Lovina you can organize some dives to the best place in Bali - a national marine park in the west, and a shipwreck dive in the east!

Happy Hanukkah! (For those that are interested.. no - in this Muslim nation there are not many lights to be seen from the windows. Since I am wary to draw too much attention to myself I have decided to light a mosquito coil every night in place of candles. It is a 2 for 1 deal for me: it gives off some light, and it minimizes the ritual scratch dance every morning.

There is no 'poor' in Singapore

I made it into Singapore 2 days ago after another great Cathay Pacific flight. Nothin' beats the service on Cathay Pacific! Honestly, I did not really want to get off the plane.

• First impression of Singapore: Its darn hot and humid
• Second Impression: Stunned by the fact that not only are their traffic laws here, BUT that people obey them too! (Rarety in SE Asia)
• Third Impression: Its clean and organized. So well organized, in fact, that it looks like a real life Sim City.

After a few days at Bangkok I was getting pretty good at spotting the trash piles next to trees where a few people threw down their trash together. This does not happen all the time as most people just randomly throw their trash down as they are walking. Well no need for that skill in Singapore, trash cans everywhere!

Another shocker I got in Singapore is the quality and cleanliness of their public toilets! Not only do they exist (I simple fact that I have A LOT of appreciation for), there is also always toilet paper and soap too!!! Yay! Singapore, you impress me. If Hong Kong has the best toilet paper, then Singapore has the best restrooms.

I spent the past few days walking around the city, sippin' on iced lattes, and studying the clothing of the locals. Talk about people who dress nice! Yesterday it started pouring rain and I found myself in a mall connected to the SwissHotel. The SwissHotel here is one of the tallest towers with, I heard, and great bar at the top. I decided that I would check this bar out, but I felt a little out of place in my Champion Capris and Tshirt. I was temped to go shopping but there is nothing cheap about the fancy clothes that people are sporting around here. I fairly quickly talked myself out of that crazy shopping idea and made my way to the top. Good thing, because it was happy hour (meaning the drinks were only double the price of the normal bars rather then quadruple the price). It was amazing to watch the downpour over the entire island and sip on a few Whiskey Sours.

I also made the mandatory visit to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, the place where the Singapore Sling was invented. Great bar, drink... well its so so. They sell so much of it that they do not even make it on the spot. It is all pre-made and they pour it out of milk jugs when you order it. What a sham. Well... I only did 1 of those (and more of other good stuff)! Drinks are meticulously expensive (more then my hostel for the night), but atmosphere is great. A place where you can throw the peanut shells on the floor and listen to live Jazz music is always fun.
Food is also a gastronomic affair here! They have these places that are like food courts where you can get anything from Fish Ball Soup to Pig Entail Delights. I have been sticking to the Indian cuisine, which is a nice change from the rice and noodles that I have been eating everyday for the past 2 months. I find these places to be definitely better then the oodles of restaurants that are around town.

Another fun place in Singapore: Sentosa Island- A perfectly manicured Island with beautiful white beaches and fun theme park sections. Every blade of grass is pointing in the direction the way the organizers want it to.

Now I am off to the airport for my flight to Bali. I want to get to the airport early to check out the IMAX and Pool that they have inside!

Back in Bangkok!

I made it back to Bangkok last night, and managed to keep all my internal organs in the proper place. That should not be a hard thing to do, one might think. But let me tell you... if you have travelled on the road from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Poipet, Cambodia (a boarder town with Thailand) the fact that you make it in one piece is truly an accomplishment. The road (when it exists) is notorious for being one of the worst in SE Asia. There are huge pothole, blinding dust everywhere, and the road is packed with cars, trucks, bicycles, motorbikes, tractors. There are no such things as traffic rules... so really the whole ride is just a game of chicken. What made it even more exciting in my case is that the shared taxi I was in had the steering wheel on the right side, when theoretically Cambodians drive on the right side. This made passing always a fun experience. This is a rundown of the tallys that I kept during the 4 hour ride:

Percentage of time spent on the wrong side of the road: 47%
Number of times the driver nearly hit a dog: 5
Number of dogs actually hit: 1
Number of very close calls with hitting other cars: 2
Number of cars actually hit: 1
Percentage of time car spent soaring over potholes: 78%
Percentage of time I spent cursing myself for not wearing a better bra: 78%

But I will tell you something... I have never been happier to be at a boarder crossing. Normally they are a pain in the behind, but after that ride I could not have been happier to get out of the car and manage the bureaucracy of the border guards.

At this point I must publicly give a big thank you to Barry, the other guy I shared the taxi with. Barry lives in Bangkok, and could not have been nicer guy in helping me out. He explained the whole locals bus vs. tourist bus scam thing to me that the Thais have going on at the boarder. Apparently most tourist take the tuk tuk (motorbike with a little caravan attached to the back for you to sit on) from the Thai boarder to the bus station. Well, good 'ol Barry new better! We took the locals transport that was more comfortable and a fraction of the price. There are also 2 buses to Bangkok - Barry worked out the better one. Then once we got to Bangkok - he went totally out of his way to show me the skytrain and took me to the area of town that I had to get to, and walked around with me till I found a guesthouse. Normally I don't mind doing all this work myself. And I would do so without complaints. But I have to admit, it felt nice for once in 2 months not to have to think and figure this stuff out myself. It would have got done, it just would have cost me more in terms of both mulla and time. So, here is to you Barry! You are a good 'ol chap!

Now, I have been in Bangkok before, but this time I decided to stay away from the backpackers area. It is like a whole different city! The smelly and grimy Bangkok I remember seems like a 3rd world country to the area I am now staying in. I went wandering in the big malls today, more in search of air-co then to fulfill and shopping urges. I walk into the first mall and I see REAL Prada sunglasses and La Perla Black Label lingerie being sold. Whoa... I could not believe this is the Thailand that I was in just 2 months ago. Up in the north the poor children in the villages don't have shoes, and here the people are spending $400 for a pair of underwear. Don't get me wrong, I respect the people who have earned the money and choose to spend it on underwear - but I was totally taken by surprise! This was not the Bangkok that I saw before.

Well... the fun does not stop there. I then made my way to the 2nd mall. The second mall made the first seem like a Macy's. The second mall would even put Neiman Marcus to shame! We are talking about store after store of the best names... Cartier, Hermes, Piaget, (this was just the floor with the watches), Bang and Olefson, even Ferrari! And then there was me walking into these stores with my tshirt with just a few small wholes, and well worn travel pants (rolled up, if I put them down then everybody would see where my pants got burned when I got too close to a candle one day). Yes, I did feel a bit out of place. But was that going to stop me?? Shoot - I wanted to see the latest Piaget styles.

I also did get my first reminder of Christmas. These mall owners know exactly who they are catering to. They have the reindeer's and Christmas tree up, they even had "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" playing over the loud speaker. Oh yes... this place is for Expats and tourists.

Today is also a very big Buddhist holiday to mark the end of the rainy season. How do you celebrate: well you float flowery things down the river, eat a lot of street food, and move down the street very very slowly. The river part is pretty cool. There are areas you can not even see the water anymore since it is full of these flower offerings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving; both Americans and non-American alike ('cause I don't discriminate). I am very thankful for my awesome parents, cool sibs, and great family in general. I am also thankful that my travels have been easy and adventurous so far and that my health has stayed pretty good (well an extra shout out to Mr. Fleming for discovering Penicillin is needed for that!). In honor of Thanksgiving my celebratory meal was as native as I could get and as much as my stomach ... well would stomach. I had Khmer Curry. I must say Khmer Curry is the best darn curry not only in Cambodia, but I would even dare to say anywhere! On the subject of food I would like to go over my best food discoveries in SE Asia:

• Bananas - so sweet you would think they were grown in a candy store
• Bananas - esp. when they are piping hot
• Banana Shakes - nothing better when you are hot and hungry
• Banana Pancakes (aka Rotti) - Talk to anybody who has been in Thailand or Laos and they know what I am talking about! Its a greasy conglomerate of goodness smothered in chocolate.
• Pad Thai - Tried it with bananas but it just does not work :(. Best place for Pad Thai: a small whole-in-the-wall restaurant in Bangkok.
• Fried rice with Chicken - always a dependable fall back.
• Khmer Curry - yeah, it is just that good if you can get over the natural inhibition to have BOTH rice AND potato in the same dish!! Gasp... I know... how 1990's!

If there is such thing as banana poisoning, I am definitely at risk!

Oh - I got caught going off on a tangent and did not finish my beating story from P^2. Well...I just wanted to share my joy of discovering huge fried cockroaches with ya'll. To do so I was planning on taking a picture. Well...I made the mistake of being a nice tourist and I asked if I could take a picture. As soon as the word photo left my lips... and the stall lady saw the camera in my hand she went crazy. It is like the word + the camera created some bad chemical reaction in her head and she started punching me and spitting on the ground and a whole slew of other stuff. I was paralyzed by this reaction. I did not know whether to laugh or cry or fight back or maybe just snap the picture and run! In the end I did the sensible thing and just walked away. Should have taken the picture though....

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

Khmer, Khmer where ever you are...

Ah Cambodia.... Land of the Khmer peeps, astounding poverty, generous poor, public beat downs (maybe that was just me), rich and sad history, and just about any insect for sale to eat.

As I thought I would do, I promptly made it out of Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia) after just 1 day. I just found P^2 (that would be 'P squared'; aka Phnom Penh) just to be a little to sketchy for my likes. After just being there for a few hours I managed to get beat on in the local market. OK, here is the low down. I went for a little wander through the street and ended up at some market by the river. After doing a double take I realized that the baskets in the little food stalls were full of ever insect imaginable, available in every size. To give you some perspective the size of some of those edible cukarachas would put a Costco dog to shame. If they only had hot dog buns and a LOT of ketchup, then maybe I would have tried one of those freaks of nature. Ok, a bit of exaggeration there. I would never try a cockroach no matter how much Heinz was available.




The next day, before I caught my bus out of town, I decided to just take my down mood and bring it down even further. I went to visit the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. The museum is in an old high school that was converted to a prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. The horror that went on their from 1975-1979, during the rule of Pol Pot, is unimaginable. All the torture methods clearly displayed, unimaginable dying conditions (I can't really call it living conditions, since nearly everyone sent there was sent to die), and the barbarianism recounted through pictures and testimonies left an impression that I will probably never shake.

Well, what I needed after that museum tour was to be alone. It just happened to work out perfectly that on the 6 hour bus that I booked to Siem Reap my assigned seat was in the 'local' section. I few hours after dozing, listening to some good ól American music, and just relaxing, I was rudely disturbed by a persistent crunchy sound. Turns out the woman next to me was just munching on some freshly fried spiders! Talk about instant gag reflex! Next time I am nauseous and need to make myself hurl - the lady and the spider legs will be my inspiration.

Currently I am in Siem Reap. A cute town catered mainly to tourists - believe me I am NOT complaining. In between my sipping lattes in chic cafes and enjoying 13 hour happy hours (dude, 75 cent draft beers!), I have been exploring the temples of Angkor. Angkor is an area chock full of ancient Khmer ruins. It is absolutely gorgeous and I am afraid that no picture can do it justice. The most grandiose and famous of the temples in the area (although I would say the least enchanting) is Angkor Wat.

Wondering through some of the ruins was like being transported to some mythical land. I am telling you, if unicorns and dragons popped out of some of the old passageways I don't think anybody would think it is strange. They would just blend in so perfectly with the surroundings.

What brings ya right back to reality after you leave a temple, are the cutest and most cunning children waiting to sell you anything they can. It takes strong determination and a lot of quick dashes into your tuktuk to get away without buying anything. The employment of children is a tough moral dilemma. Most times it is the parent who puts the child to work. Western tourists find it harder to turn down buying the kitchyist bracelets from a cute child then they do from an adult. If the children can sell more it makes sense to keep them out of school so that they can make money and pay for food for the families. Yet, every time you buy something from a child you just perpetuate this cycle. On the other hand, there is no social network in Cambodia and the families depend on the children to make the mulla. The few things I did buy I tried to buy from adults if they were around. But mostly I found it easiest to pass out toothbrushes to the kids in lieu of buying anything. They seemed pretty happy with that.

I also popped my head into a children's hospital here to donate some blood. It will go a longer way the the $1 I paid to a kid for postcards.

Tomorrow I am headed back into Thailand. Right now my bet is on rolling into Bangkok a full 12 hours after leaving Siem Reap. Although the potential for it taking longer will keep me from putting any money on that.