Ernst in Singapore

Louis Vuitton Island Set to Open in Singapore

2011-08-18T10:13:00.002+08:00

Not content with 4 obscenely large stores in Orchard Rd, Louis Vuitton is set to open it's 5th store in Singapore on September 18th.

This will not be any ordinary store - it will be an island!

I guess there is no better way to blow your winnings from the casino than to visit this store. Ahoy Matey!!!

This second concept image I find particularly amusing, as the Singapore River/Marina Bay is not connected to the open water and there are no other "docks" that I am aware of within the confines of this area.

So for anyone to dock their boat at the Louis Vuitton island means that they own a yacht for the exclusive purpose of cruising up the Singapore River to shop at Louis Vuitton.

They Celebrate Everything in Jakarta

2011-08-03T11:01:00.001+08:00

There was a party at the JW Marriott Jakarta celebrating the 84th anniversary of the founding of the PLA

Hanwoo Beef - The Best Korean BBQ on Earth

2011-07-31T10:32:00.002+08:00

On my last trip to Seoul I did not enjoy much - 5 consecutive days of torrential rains (that turned deadly 2 weeks later) and 17-hour working days.

The lone bright spot was the always fantastic Korean BBQ! Seoul is the Mecca of Korean BBQs - any true fan of the food must at some point make a pilgrimage to the place where it all began and still does it best.

The key ingredient in Korean BBQ is beef and the absolute best-quality beef is known as "Hanwoo" 한우 - it can only be found in Korea. The stuff is so delicious there is no export market for it as the locals gobble up all that is available. The Koreans I spoke with are extremely proud of the quality and look down upon Kobe/Wagyu/Angus and all the other "famous" cuts of beef as inferior.

This is heaven on a plate - big chunks of perfectly-marbled beef.

Notice the green bottle in the background - no authentic Korean BBQ experience is complete without copious amounts of Soju (Korea's national drink, a rice-based alcohol)!

After you are full to the gills with beef it is Korean tradition to order some naeng-myeon (냉면) or cold noodles.

The texture/temperature is a perfect antidote to the dragon breath filled mouth you are left with post-BBQ.

Korean BBQ is ubiquitous in Seoul - from simple street-side affairs to fantastically expensive luxury joints. Since my first trip to Seoul and my discovery of Korean BBQ I have always been curious about one thing: Do Korean couples go for Korean BBQ on a date? My anecdotal observations lead me to think yes - but why??!

Can you imagine a worse "date night" with a girl than Korean BBQ?

"Let's stuff our face with copious amounts of red meat, garlic, onions and slather a spicy paste all over it."

That garlic/spicy beef smell gets into your clothes and leaves a noxious substance in your mouth that takes hours to dissipate.

I guess it works because both the guy & the girl have such horrendous breath that they cancel each other out.

Miserable Weather in Seoul

2011-07-15T23:34:00.003+08:00

I was in Seoul from Sunday-Friday of this past week and it rained CONSTANTLY. Not a single ray of sunshine or a dry sidewalk. Reminds me of a trip to London several years ago where I didn't see the sun for 10+ days. Spending every day entombed in a murky gray sky saps the life out of you and you don't even realize it.

Normally I have a really nice view of Gangnam or the Han River from my Executive Floor perch the JW Marriott atop the Express Bus Terminal, but not on this trip.

On a positive note I did consume enough kimchi in a week to feed a North Korean family for a month and gorged myself on Korean BBQ.

Return of the Super-Nerd

2011-07-14T09:16:00.001+08:00

Yes, I had to go see Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon in IMAX 3D.

Gunther's Singapore

2011-05-25T20:59:00.002+08:00

Gunther's is a very posh, modern French restaurant in Singapore that my restaurant sleuth of a mother managed to find me some gift certificates to for Christmas. This is not the first time my Mom has done this - pretty impressive for someone who lives 10,000 miles away!

So we finally found time to celebrate our Christmas present in May - blogging is not the only thing these days that I can't find enough time for...

Kia started off with Wagyu Beef Carpaccio. It was quite good with a melt-in-your-mouth beef flavor, but quite a small portion for S$30.

I opted for the Bouillabaisse and was disappointed. It was not the rich seafood stew that I was expecting - tasted more like salty tomato soup with some overcooked pieces of seafood thrown in.

The fantastic main course more than made up for the lukewarm starters. Salt-encrusted sea bass which was presented to us with the fish literally encased in a giant block of salt.

The texture and flavor were fantasic and the sides complemented it quite well while not drawing away from it.

It must be ordered for a minimum of 2 people if anyone stumbles upon this blog post and ever tries to order it.

No special occasion for Kia would be complete without a chocolate lava cake dessert - the quality of the Valrhona chocolate was excellent but too dark for our liking.

If I return to Gunther's it will be for just the seabass entry and I will resist the very hard upsells for angel hair pasta with caviar, sparkling water, and wine...

Turkey Trip

2011-04-23T16:56:00.003+08:00

I will be spending the next week traveling around Turkey on vacation, and then working in Istanbul the following week. Hopefully I'll be able to blog - I'd say that I don't write about 75% of my travels because I just don't have the time.

The trip starts off at the Renaissance Polat Hotel with a beautiful view of the Sea of Marmara and Istanbul in the distance.

It's been over 5 years since I was last in Istanbul and there's not much I remember beyond the "Big 3" tourist sites - Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace.

I did make a great friend in that long weekend escape from Bulgaria in Feb 2006 and it will be cool to meet up again for the first time in 5 years...

Still a bit cold here, but the view from my window on the 21st floor is quite impressive.

Haggling for Sushi at Carrefour

2011-04-16T14:37:00.003+08:00

Sometimes when ~~my wife is out of town~~ I don't feel like cooking I pick up sushi from the closest supermarket to our apartment, Carrefour.

In the evenings Carrefour staffs a "sale" counter for Sushi at the front of the store trying to unload the unsold inventory from the day.

I always wondered what the grocery stores in the US did with the unsold sushi at the end of the day as it loses freshness very quickly. My record is 3-day old sushi in the fridge and the taste/quality was definitely not suitable for human consumption.

The annoying/fun (depending how you feel about bargaining) part is that there is no set price/offer - it is whatever the sushi counter person dreams up. Sure there are some slight discounts posted up-top - but those are only for the expat chumps willing to pay sticker price.

The woman that works some weeknights & I now recognize each other and each of us know that there will be a winner & a loser in the transaction. She will never quote me the same deal twice, and does her best to shaft me while smiling and being sickly polite.

Tuesday night I stopped by around 8:30pm and picked up 2 6-piece sets with a retail value of around S$16. She offered me a special discount of S$2/pack - I demanded a 2-for-S$10 deal that I had been given weeks prior. She made a fuss about how that kind of discount was impossible, she would lose money personally, etc. I told her I'd be back after I finished my other shopping - let her stew in her increasing desperation to offload the sushi. I returned a little before 9:00pm and re-iterated my terms. 2-for-S$10 - she countered with 2-for-S$12 but in the end I prevailed when I told her I could get a footlong sub at Subway next-door for only S$10. Victory was mine.

I returned again the following night and she was still licking her wounds. I grabbed 2 packs of sushi and gave her my "cut the bullshit I know your best price" look and she smiled and said 2-for-S$10 no problem.

That put me on guard - she caved far too quickly and was still smiling.

I fumbled around looking at other Sushi sets and overheard her offer to another customer "S$3 off list price".

Then it was my turn to pay and she was grinning ear-to-ear ready to collect my S$10 - "Sir just like yesterday I give you 2-for-S$10" - the initial sushi packages I picked up didn't have a price tag but I was able swap them for equivalent packages with price tags and the combined list price was S$9.70.

Vindictive little bitch was trying her hardest to close the deal quickly and hoping she'd get the best of me. This is what sucks about buying things in Singapore - frequently the other side of the transaction isn't satisfied with just selling you something, they also do their best to screw you over and seem to take pleasure in it.

Then I turned the tables on her. "I heard you offer S$3 off list price to another client - so I'll take that instead". The "blackface" look I got was priceless - she gritted her teeth, silently cursed me and accepted my S$6.70.

I win again.

I don't like shopping under normal circumstances and I absolutely despise being a "mark" for some charlatan - whether they are selling shawls in Dubai or sushi in Singapore. If the store posts reasonable prices I will happily pay for them - but 3.5 years in Asia has turned me into quite the asshole when it comes to bargaining.

Last-minute sushi buying in Singaporean Grocery Stores - buyer beware.

Hook Turns in Melbourne

2011-04-03T10:24:00.003+08:00

After 3.5 years in Singapore I thought I had fully-adjusted to driving on the left side of the road. Which way to look at when crossing an intersection was the most difficult part.

This past week in Melbourne I experienced something new - the "hook turn"

The hook turn is when you are attempting to turn right, but you do it from the far left lane.

Imagine my surprise when our driver said he needed to get all the way over to the left so he could make a RIGHT turn. I thought there was some kind of mistake, but he pulled it off with a hitch.

Apparently this is because there are trams running down the center of many streets in Melbourne, and if you waited in the right lane to make a right turn you would block the tram.

I still haven't attempted driving on the other side.

Good Morning Melbourne

2011-03-30T04:32:00.002+08:00

This week marks my first visit to Australia's 2nd largest city.

I will be spending most of my time at the Convention Centre and will probably not have time to venture far beyond the Southbank area.

I'm staying at the Crown Metropol - part of the swanky Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex, which is a number of hotels and apparently the largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere. Let's hope my luck in Australian casinos stays with me - I've never done better than my blackjack forays at Crowne Plaza, Canberra.

Great time of year to be in Melbourne - I forgot what spring/fall and less than 90% humidity everyday feels like!

We All Love King Abdullah

2011-03-16T18:24:00.003+08:00

Is there a personality cult surrounding King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia?

You be the judge.

Ford Crown Victoria - Saudi Arabia's #1 Car

2011-03-13T16:08:00.002+08:00

As the country with the world's largest oil reserves and the 3rd-cheapest gas prices on the earth at US$0.45/gallon, you would expect Saudi Arabia to be gas-guzzler central and it does not disappoint.

Driving a small car around Riyadh is treacherous as you will find yourself surrounded by aggressive Saudi drivers in tank-sized SUVs that do not observe traffic laws and could easily crush your pint-sized vehicle.

Despite the huge amounts of money sloshing around the kingdom and the high-end car dealerships (I saw Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Koeningsegg stores) that you come across everywhere the most prevalent car I saw in my week-long stay in Saudi Arabia was the Ford Crown Victoria and its clone the Mercury Grand Marquis.

Therefore based on my personal observations and discussions with a few locals (non-Saudis) I declare this the most popular car in the kingdom. According to my sources it is a "manly symbol" influenced by US media and the ever-present crown victoria as a police car and frequent winner of daring high-speed chases.

To illustrate my point, here are 6 different Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis that I found in a single small parking lot between meetings.

Welcome to Riyadh

2011-03-06T17:40:00.002+08:00

My first foray to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been an interesting trip.

This is Saudi Arabia's tallest building in the heart of Riyadh, the 1000ft tall Kingdom Centre - otherwise known as the "Can Opener"

Riyadh is a chaotic mess. There are too many cars and not enough roads/parking places and traffic laws are completely disregarded. Yes you can find crazier drivers in other parts of the world like India/Egypt, but the traffic there moves so slow and their cars so old and small that their maniacal driving habits do not pose a threat to your life. Contrast this with a careless Saudi cruising at 60mph in his (and it is only HIS, as women are not permitted to drive) Hummer H3 and deciding to make a left turn from the right lane of a 4-lane street. "Defensive" driving is the only way to survive here. There is no such thing as "small car" or "fuel economy" in Saudi Arabia so everyone drives tank-sized SUVs. Even if that is not your cup of tea you have no choice as you can't risk one of these monsters broadsiding your Toyota Corolla and crushing it.

Riyadh is smack in the middle of a giant desert and dust/sand is everywhere. Don't bother shining your shoes because the minute you step out of the hotel they will look like you just bathed them in dust. Washing cars is a pointless exercise as your car will look like this after driving a few blocks.

The other really odd characteristic of Riyadh is that there are NO women. You do not see them driving cars, working, eating - you may catch a glimpse of them gliding through a shopping mall like wraiths - completed shrouded in black, but that's it. I don't think I've seen a woman's face in over a week - it's like a different planet.

Everything is segregated - all restaurants/coffee shops have a "family section" and a "singles section" where the unaccompanied males have to sit. Banks have a separate "Ladies Center". Even McDonalds has a separate ordering section for Men/Women.

On the positive side, you never have to worry about which bathroom to use - there is only "toilet" - and it is exclusively for men.

Arrival in Dammam

2011-02-26T13:51:00.002+08:00

This is my first trip to Saudi Arabia and my arrival last night was an interesting experience.

I was on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Dammam in a huge plane (Boeing 777-300ER) that was full.

Upon deplaning you have to walk down a very long (at least 1/2 mile) corridor from the gates to immigration.

People were walking VERY fast down this corridor all in a rush to get to immigration. Then some people started running. Then more people started running and it soon turned into a mad dash to immigration.

Not wanting to be left behind and having no idea what was going on, I started running too.

1.5 hours later I understood why.

This 300+ passenger plane arrived in Dammam at 11:15pm and there were probably 3 people working the immigration lines. For each person to clear immigration required 5 minutes. It was hands-down the slowest immigration line I have ever witnessed. I was probably #15 in line and it took me over an hour to pass through. My condolences to the people at the end of the line that was probably 60 people deep.

The immigration officers could not be less interested in hurrying things along. They take your time flipping through the pages in your passport, slowly moving through the computer program that guides you through the process. They also have these fingerprint scanners from the 1980's that require you to make the vulcan symbol with both hands (one at a time) and then scan your 2 thumbs separately - 3 total scans with a 1-minute duration for each scan.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia.

Creative Shop Names in Chiang Mai

2011-02-19T09:29:00.001+08:00

Pretty cleverly-named shops that I found on the streets of Chiang Mai

When in Bangkok.. Eat Local!!!

2011-01-24T22:04:00.003+08:00

Thai food is hands-down my favorite cuisine of SE Asia and there's no better place on Earth to get it than Bangkok.

Bangkok is TEEMING with restaurants - every international cuisine you can imagine, street vendors everywhere, small cafes dot every side street off the main thoroughfares and there is a fast-growing "luxury" dining segment like Saffron at the Banyan Tree.

On the 57th floor of the Banyan Tree with stunning views of the surrounding Silom area and absolutely fantastic food - yet you should NEVER eat here.

Why not? Because the "authentic" simple streetside cafes in Bangkok serve up absolutely brilliant Thai food at absurdly cheap prices. As the city continues to rapidly gentrify it will become harder to find these hidden gems in Central Bangkok - so do your part to support these places as long as you can to hold off the onslaught of the uberluxe serviced apartments/condos/hotels and the sleek dining establishments that accompany them.

So while I stay in one of those aforementioned "uberluxe" hotels - Renaissance Ratchaprasong, I take pride in being able to avoid the allure of the fancy restaurants nearby and take a 15-minute stroll to find something far more casual.

Behold Krua Nai Baan or "Home Kitchen"

Situated on Thanong Lang Suan close to the intersection with Thanon Sarasin, this unassuming place with an open kitchen serves up some of the freshest, best-tasting Thai seafood I've come across.

Here's a shot of the kitchen from my table

I'm trying to eat healthy in 2011 so I ordered a steamed Sea Bass cooked in Thai Chili with lime sauce. When asked if I wanted it mild, medium or spicy I asked for "Thai Spicy". The waitress gave me one of those "here's another idiot farang that thinks he knows spicy food" looks prior to delivering my order to the kitchen.

Look at this beauty!

In most simple Thai restaurants you will notice a box of tissues at your table instead of napkins. This is because while you won't often need to clean your hands, you will frequently have to wipe your nose due to the mouth-watering heat of the Thai chilies.

And now for the "after" picture. An entire fish devoured by yours truly - including the head! The cheek meat is the most tender/best-tasting meat on the fish and I gulped down the eyeball too because I've been told by friends in Singapore that it tastes good. It doesn't...

Despite my 3+ years of living in SE Asia and avid pursuits of "local" cuisine, there is still 1 skill that I am sorely lacking in comparison to most locals: tongue dexterity (cue the inappropriate jokes).

No matter how proficient one becomes at eating a whole fish, it is inevitable that you will pop into your mouth a few pieces that have fishbones/fishscales in them. The speed at which my Chinese/Singaporean friends are able to isolate the bone from the meat and spit it out is mind-blowing.

Try as I might, I am always fumbling around with my tongue unsuccessfully trying to strip the meat off the bone and maneuver it to the front of my mouth to spit it out. 8 out of 10 times I end up having to reach into my mouth and pull it out - but I will persevere until I master this!

Cultural Festivities at Changi Airport

2011-01-23T21:50:00.002+08:00

Yeah, slow start to blogging in 2011 so far - lots of work and lots of travel. Yet another "airport-related" entry.

Singapore's Changi Airport continues to be the world's best airport on several levels - efficiency, cleanliness, ease-of-navigation and now you can catch a "Cultural Performance" while you are inside the airport.

I'd be interested in catching a "Wushu" show - but Chinese Opera doesn't really do it for me.

Proof that Asia's Property Market has Reached Bubble Status

2011-01-10T15:40:00.002+08:00

When property market ETFs are marketing to retail investors via display ads at bus stops on Orchard Rd. in Singapore.

Dubai Duty Free Spectacular

2010-12-23T09:57:00.002+08:00

Dubai has the reputation of being an excellent shopping destination. Dubai's Airport claims to be the world's #1 duty free store.

Does it stack up?

I found the prices far better than Singapore but less than impressive when compared with the USA.

But that's just my American-centric opinion.

The rest of the passengers on my EgyptAir flight from Dubai to Cairo found Duty Free in Dubai to be a shopping paradise. Easily 50% of the overhead storage on our plane was white duty free bags - it seemed like everyone had one.

Here are some pictures taken from our arrival in Cairo - notice the preponderance of white duty free bags!

McDonalds in the UAE

2010-11-26T00:29:00.002+08:00

Some unique items on the menu at McDonald's in Dubai.

Chicken Big Mac - first time I have ever seen this
McArabia Chicken - will check if this is a regional special on my upcoming visits to Kuwait/Qatar

McRoyale - This made me think of Pulp Fiction, but I thought in the movie that McRoyale replaced the Quarter Pounder... so I was a bit confused to see both the Quarter Pounder and McRoyale on the menu. But then I looked it up online and it turned out that in Pulp Fiction they mention "Royale with Cheese" - not McRoyale. Will have to try this one as well.

I ended up ordering the "Big Tasty" which was neither big nor tasty. I was worried that it might come with Mayo - as I hate Mayo on burgers.

Me: "Does the sauce have mayonnaise in it?"
McDonald's Girl: "No, it is BBQ sauce"

It was a cheeseburger with Mayo instead of ketchup.

Will try something different next time...

Line of Emirates Planes

2010-11-25T13:58:00.003+08:00

Time to return to a familiar theme of this blog - airports.

Here's a shot of Dubai's terminal 3 - the world's largest building by floor space.

Parked at the gates are a slew of Emirates widebody jets - currently the 6th-largest airline in the world, and with U$80B of aircraft on order they will soon become by far the world's largest airline and at least so far they seem to be quite successful in their objective of connecting every important city on Earth to Dubai.

An impressive sight.

Marital Infidelity in Singapore is Good Business?

2010-11-23T10:29:00.002+08:00

I came across this bumper sticker walking towards Orchard Rd. Successful advertising as I had to check the website when I came home (not because I have any interested in using their service).

Over-sized Plane for the Flight Home

2010-10-30T10:58:00.000+08:00

I don't think I've ever flown such a large plane for such a short flight.

Singapore to Bangkok is just under 2 hours - and we flew a 747.

Central World - Not Quite Re-Opened

2010-10-29T19:38:00.003+08:00

Central World is the biggest shopping complex in Bangkok and was set on fire by the red-shirt protests in May.

In the past month there has been a lot of press surrounding the recent re-opening of Central World but it appears that only the shopping mall has been restored to operating conditions.

From my vantage point at the Chit Lom BTS station one can easily spot the burnt-out shell of one of the office towers.

Crazy Crowds in Little India

2010-10-23T19:35:00.002+08:00

Little India is one of my favorite places to visit in Singapore. The culture, language, music and atmosphere is in my opinion an authentic representation of the real India - and its only 1 metro stop away from my apartment.

There are stark difference between my perfectly manicured expat enclave and the freewheeling chaos that is Little India and this can definitely intimidate your average visitor. Sunday night is Little India on steroids as there are literally thousands of people on the streets.

Sunday night is THE best time of the week to visit Little India as in my opinion it's the closest parallel to the real India. The disorder and chaos of thousands of people going about their business is alien to most westerners but is an essential part of the urban Indian experience. If you can't make the trip to real India, then you should definitely pass through Singapore's Little India on a Sunday night.

What makes Sunday night so special? I have no factual evidence to substantiate this, but here is my theory:

Sundays are the only day off for most of Singapore's tens of thousands of foreign workers - a great many of which are South Indians. They are housed in barrack-style residences typically near their construction sites and the majority of them don't speak English. So on their day off, what better place to go then the one part of Singapore where you can feel "at home" - linguistically, culturally, the food and your fellow countrymen.

Ironically, this makes local Singaporeans and Westerners uncomfortable so they generally shy away from Little India on Sunday evenings.

I don't think I am part of the advertiser's target market.

Little India on Sunday nights is literally bursting with people. All the open space is filled with hundreds of people sitting down and eating, chatting... no one can stick to the sidewalks even if they wanted to, and any poor motorist trying to drive down Serangoon Rd has to stop for dozens of pedestrians that cross the streets when they feel like it.

The pulsing heart of Little India's on Sunday is Mustafa Centre - Singapore's closest equivalent to Wal-Mart. It is the only store on the island that is open 24x7x365 and it sells ANYTHING.

Mustafa is the entire city block on the left side of this photo

Mustafa Centre gets so crowded that the Singaporean Civil Defense Force recently forced them to close for 40 hours and implement crowd control measures. Mustafa has chalked up 40+ safety violations in the last 5 years and has been levied with a number of fines.

This is the first time I've visted the store since the policy was implemented, and now at every 1st floor entrance there is a guard standing by and a monitor that supposedly tracks the number of people that are inside on the 1st floor.

I don't buy it - there's no way to track the number of people actually on the 1st floor when it is both the only entrance to the store and also the transit area for everyone going up/down to the other floors, but apparently going through the motions and coming up with garbage 1st floor occupancy statistics was enough to pacify the SCDF.

The Fish Spa

2010-10-11T11:20:00.002+08:00

A regular stop on all of my "tours" of Singapore that I give to friends & relatives is the "Fish Spa".

You place your feet into a big fishtank and then feel a strange, uncomfortable sensation as dozens of little fish eat the dead skin off of your feet. These places can be found all over Singapore - apparently it is quite popular.

It looks/sounds a lot worse than it is.

The highlight of each visit is always the initial moment when the fish spa virgins submerge their feet in the tank and then howl/squeal/squirm from the resulting fish onslaught.

Kia has now been to the fish spa several times but she's still a big sissy

McDonalds in Thailand

2010-10-10T18:03:00.003+08:00

I always get a kick out of checking out the menu at McDonalds in all the countries I visit.

Today's culture is globalized to the extent that you can find a McDonald's in 100+ countries, but still sufficiently localized such that each country has different menu items.

I didn't actually eat anything when I took the photo - but if I did I most certainly would have ordered the "Samurai Pork Burger"

Beef on Weck

2010-09-18T20:03:00.003+08:00

There are not many things that Buffalo, NY does better than anywhere else in the world.

Beef on Weck is one of them.

This amazing sandwich can only be found in Western NY - why it has not spread farther beyond the region is beyond me. None of that crap served at Panera Bread holds a candle to Beef on Weck.

Look at this beauty!

That's right. Juicy, slow-roasted slices of rare roast beef topped with fresh horseradish and served on a kimmelweck bun.

If you ever find yourself flying into Buffalo you too can grab yourself one of these amazing sandwiches right outside the airport at Charlie the Butcher's on the corner of Wherle and Cayuga.

Situated at the former Cayuga Snack Bar (which according to my Mom served the best french fries ever), Charlie the Butcher's is a perfect Western NY dining experience - it may not look like much but that's exactly the point! No frills, just great food. When you ask for water at Charlie's they definitely don't try and upsell you.

I'm not kidding about how close it is to the airport either:

View Larger Map

Sorry Frank - future posts will return to Asia-centric material.

Feasting in Washington, DC

2010-09-05T23:28:00.002+08:00

I've been incommunicado the last 2 weeks preparing for and then hosting my company's annual user conference in Washington, DC.

On the positive side I get a trip back to the US, the opportunity to see my old friends in DC and go out for some excellent meals. The negative aspect of this trip is the amount of work involved and the point of sheer exhaustion reached after 4 consecutive 18 hour conference days.

I did manage to catch up with a ton of old friends - many thanks to all for making the effort to meet up with me while I was in town.

Special kudos to Ira & Ilana for hosting me at their place, lending me their car, and also for hanging out with me on just about every spare evening I had.

So what kind of restaurants do I target when I'm home in the US? The types of food I find lacking in Singapore:
- Tex-Mex
- Beef

I also politely turn down invitations to Chinese, Indian, Thai and just about any other type of Asian restaurant. It's better on my side of the world - sorry.

So in my quest for the ultimate beef-centric meal I look no further than Fogo de Chao In my opinion there is no better Brazilian churrascaria outside of Brazil. I brought a lot of my co-workers from Asia there for lunch last week and all of them left incredibly satisfied.

15 different cuts of meat, all delicious, all well-seasoned and slow-cooked Brazilian style. We also didn't fall for the salad bar trick - a tempting diversion offered by the restaurant to reduce your total beef consumption.

The next stop on my culinary tour that I remembered to take a picture of was RIS a new entrant to the DC scene recommended by my friend Wendy.

Great drinks, great food - especially the "scallop margarita" - a ceviche-esque dish with iced tequila that was one of the coolest original creations I've had in a long time.

No trip back to DC would be complete without a visit to my all-time favorite tex mex restaurant for my all-time favorite dish - the Carne Asada fajitas from Rio Grande, Bethesda.

Skirt steak marinated and mesquite grilled to perfection with fresh guacamole, tortillas, pico de gayo and cheese. Also thanks to 3 years in Asia, the previously overwhelmingly spicy jalapeno pepper is now a great condiment that adds the perfect final touch to the fajita.

I have it on good authority that the best way to eat it is to stuff a giant portion of the fajita into your mouth so that you can fully enjoy the mixture of ingredients.

How Not to Ship Fragile Objects from USA -> Asia

2010-08-19T17:32:00.002+08:00

This is what happens when you try and re-ship a box of newly-arrived corporate coffee mugs from the US to Singapore.

We did manage to recover 1 of the 8 mugs.

Attempt #2 shows that they learned their lesson - use profuse amounts of bubble wrap!

Singapore's Coolest Houses

2010-08-04T12:27:00.002+08:00

Some recent articles on Gizmodo highlight Singapore as one of the world's most avant-garde home builders. Some of these recently built houses look like something my little brother used to build for his families in The Sims.

Both houses were built by the seriously creative Guz Architects

We start with "The Fish House"

This waterfront half-house, half-aquarium had to be built by someone with more money than god.

Then it appears another client of the firm decided he needed to one-up The Fish House and built "The Tangga House"

The only thing missing here is sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

Now where do they keep the scuba gear...

As a resident of Singapore I will now do my best to find out where these houses are located.

My Kimchi Fetish

2010-07-26T08:58:00.002+08:00

I just spent a week in Seoul for work - my 4th trip to Korea in this past year - and my addiction to Kimchi has reached dangerous levels.

For the unenlightened, Kimchi is THE essential staple of Korean food. It is a distinctly-smelling dish that is made of fermented cabbage and chili - with a spicy kick to it. There is no way to relate the taste of kimchi to other foods... it just tastes "like Kimchi".

I'm unable to explain what it is about this pungent aged cabbage that tastes so good but now I've reached a point where if I have a meal in Seoul that doesn't include kimchi, I am disappointed.

Up until now I have stuck with "traditional" Kimchi dishes - Korean BBQ, Kimchi pancakes, Kimchi soups, pork with kimchi. Notice how the Kimchi is the most prominently-placed item in this simple Korean lunch - pork with Kimchi.

The only thing missing is a lame t-shirt that says something like "I'm here for the Kimchi"

On this trip I decided to take my Kimchi obsession to another level - and concoct my own Kimchi-based meal that is decidedly un-Korean.

Behold my new culinary masterpiece - Kimchi Eggs!

The hotel I was staying at had a nice breakfast buffet with an egg station. They had your usual condiments - onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomato, ham, cheese... You bring a bowl filled with the ingredients of your choosing and the chef cooks it up in whichever form of eggs you desire.

So I took the bowl, walked to the other end of the buffet where the kimchi is located, and passed a giant bowl of kimchi to the egg station chef.

He was not exactly thrilled with my cutting-edge concept - he would not cook the eggs with Kimchi at his egg station. He claimed that the Kimchi smell/taste would persist in the pan and cause other people's eggs to taste like Kimchi. The compromise we worked out was that he would send my Kimchi eggs request to the kitchen and they would prepare it in the back.

Kimchi scrambled eggs came out quite good - I strongly recommend it. The chili from the kimchi gets mixed in throughout the eggs and the crunchy, wet cabbage texture of the kimchi mixes well with the soft scrambled eggs.

But a kitchen artist like myself had to continue searching for the ultimate kimchi breakfast - and my ephinany came to me in my final morning in Korea.

Eggs Benedict with Kimchi!!

Building this work of art took me to all 4 corners of the hotel buffet - poached eggs from the egg station, ham from the carving station, kimchi from the salad bar and a toasted English muffin from the bread area.

I knew I had hit upon the next big things by all the curious and jealous looks I was getting from other diners as I made my way back to my table.

Coming soon to a brunch near you - Eggs Benedict with Kimchi.

Marina Bay Sands - Revisited

2010-07-17T15:04:00.003+08:00

Since it's opening on June 23rd, we've become kind of obsessed with Marina Bay Sands. It's not every day that the world's most expensive hotel (US$5.7 Billion) and the world's tallest pool open up 15-minutes from your apartment.

I no longer have to rely on stock footage stolen from other websites; Kia & I made a point to head over to Marina Bay Sands with our DSLR and take some photos.

There's still a lot of work to be completed - you can see the construction in the front of the 2 "Crystal Islands" - one of which is rumored to become the world's largest Louis Vuitton store - I can barely contain my excitement...

The 3 towers contain 2,560 hotel rooms. There will also be a convention center, theater, musuem, shopping mall, skypark and of course a casino.

The half-open clamshell-looking structure is the musuem.

A new pedestrian walkway was built from the Esplanade area directly to MBS - they call it the "double-helix bridge". The viewing platforms that extend outward at various intervals make for some stunning views of the CBD.

A casino hotel definitely looks better at night.

I made my way into the casino for the first time last weekend and came out S$200 poorer. Unlike most casinos, there weren't any clearly-posted signs prohibiting photography so I managed to snatch a birds-eye view of the entire casino floor. This is what 500 tables and 1600 slot machines looks like.

Without question the most impressive feature of Marina Bay Sands is the SkyPark - the giant boat-like structure that appears like it is almost floating on the top of the 3 hotel towers. Housed within the SkyPark is the world's tallest pool - a 150m infinity pool with unbelievable views of downtown Singapore.

The only challenge for us was that only hotel guests are permitted in the pool - but thanks to the generosity of a friend of mine we managed to acquire a room key and make our way up to the pool!

Evidently we weren't the only ones with this idea - on Saturday evening the pool was packed.

Good thing that Kia is currently unemployed and was able to return to the pool on a Monday afternoon when it was nearly deserted. She managed to take some absolutely stunning pictures.

The pool/skyline photos are so surreal they look photoshopped

Some people are just living the life...

Marina Bay Sands - the World's Coolest Pool

2010-07-01T01:10:00.003+08:00

The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore officially opened last week - the world's most expensive hotel/casino at a cool US$5.7 Billion.

This place really has to be seen to be believed - which I have been waiting to do until the grand opening (June 23rd). It won't be 100% open until ~~end of 2010 Singapore Time~~ mid-2011.

So what is that giant boat-looking structure atop the three, 55-story hotel towers?

That is the Sands SkyPark. Gardens, Jogging trail, Infinity Pool all perched high above Singapore's business district. The cornerstone of the pinnacle of the debt-crazed construction boom that swept the world in 2006-2007. But it does look damn cool.

Here's an artists impression of the SkyPark:

Nothing like a 150m long Infinity Pool 55-stories in the air for a nice early-morning swim - check out this view!!

The only drawback for me is that it is only available to hotel guests and I need to find a good ~~degenerate gambler~~ friend that can get a comped/discounted room - S$400/night is just a bit much to pay for the chance to swim in the pool... but this is now definitely on my list of things I must do prior to departing Singapore.

Swim laps at sunrise in the Sands SkyPark Infinity Pool.

Orchard Floods

2010-06-16T23:18:00.002+08:00

This morning's tropical rainstorm turned out to be a bit more than the intense, blinding 30-minute storm that characterizes rain in Singapore.

I was watching the Brazil vs. North Korea replay at 8:30am and planning to leave for the office around 9-9:15.

Around 9:00 the rain started getting really intense - any attempt to walk to the bus stop with or without an umbrella would have resulted in me being totally soaked. So I decided to work from home until 9:30 - these storms usually don't last more than 30 minutes at this level of intensity.

9:30 rolls around and it's raining even harder. It has poured the past 4-5 mornings in a row it seems... what happened to June being the "dry" season??? Ok, let's work from home for another half-hour.

10am arrives and it's still a torrential downpour outside - time to give in and just take a taxi to the office... except this appears to be the same idea everyone else has and I struggled for 30 minutes to get a taxi.

10:30am - finally en route to the office in a taxi and I'm amazed at the continued heavy rainfall - parts of Orchard/Bras Basah Rd are giant puddles and all the cars have to plow through very slowly. Can't remember the last time this happened to me in Singapore.

Evidently I was just a bit too far down Orchard to see the real action - flooding at Orchard/Scotts Rd!

For those of you familiar with the famous intersection and the Ion Orchard mall - all of that area was underwater.

Here are some pictures from the Straits Times website - definitely the strongest rainstorm I've experienced in my 2.5 years in Singapore!

Limestone Cliffs of Krabi

2010-06-12T11:39:00.001+08:00

This weekend we're taking a 4-day vacation to Koh Lanta, Thailand with the Wirth's. We flew into Krabi airport from Singapore and then took a 2.5 hour minivan/speedboat/minivan to our hotel on Koh Lanta.

Here are some pictures of Krabi's famous limestone cliffs and our trek through them. Absolutely stunning scenery!

Famous around the world with rockclimbers.

Just soaking it in...

Again... Lack of Blog Posts

2010-06-09T19:38:00.002+08:00

Great trip in the US - the wedding, the food in Bethesda (Rio Grande Carne Asada - doesn't get any better!!) and re-uniting with our former 8200 Wisconsin Ave. roommates in Draper, Utah.

Too bad it's all gone by too fast for me to find time to write about it!

Now we're back in Singapore with a heavy workload and some regular houseguests - the Wirths! I have managed to ~~bribe~~ persuade them to honeymoon in Southeast Asia and while they jump from Bali to Lombok to Koh Lanta to Ho Chi Minh City they are making a few pitstops in Singapore.

I will do my best to post some evidence of this visit.

Now That Sucked

2010-05-12T06:00:00.003+08:00

Set a new record in total travel time from Singapore to US East Coast this past weekend - 44 hours. Normal travel time is 26-28 hours.

The trip started off just fine... Singapore to Hong Kong was an easy 3.5 hour flight. Leaving my apartment at 4:30am is never fun, but the United flights out of Singapore to Hong Kong/Tokyo depart at 6:40am/7:20am respectively - so there's really no avoiding this part.

The fun began in Hong Kong...

The flight was full - 375 people on a cramped United 747 with no TVs in Economy for the 14 hour flight to Chicago. Frequent flier geeks know that this is one of the worst flights in the entire world - an old plane with cramped seats, unfriendly matron flight attendants, no in-seat TVs for a torturous 14-15 hours. Full flight meant no available seats in business so my upgrade doesn't clear. Bummer!

So boarding begins on-time and about half of the people board the plane until our first issue. According to the captain there was some "weight distribution issue" which I translate to "we sold too much cargo for this flight" and they held the rest of the passengers outside at the gate area. 60 minutes later it became apparent that they were the lucky ones.

Since the plane was only running on gate power and it was hot & humid on Hong Kong, the A/C in the plane couldn't keep up with the heat generated by the 160 passengers on-board and the people in the back of the plane were slowly roasting. I was lucky to be in one of the initial Economy rows - but walking back to the restrooms was uncomfortably warm and the farther back you went the hotter it got.

90 minutes after our scheduled departure time, the rest of the people start boarding the plane. The A/C now definitely can't cope with the full plane and it continues to get hotter. A few of the passengers in the rear begin to voice their discontent. Someone complained that they were beginning to melt.

2 hours after our scheduled departure time the captain announces that due to the continuing "weight issues", we are offloading some fuel and will not be able to fly non-stop to Chicago - there will be a fuel stop in Minneapolis. Curses are muttered throughout the cabin, as the majority of the passengers are now certain to miss their connecting flights from Chicago.

3 hours after our scheduled departure time we finally began to taxi away from the gate and eventually make it to the runway. Except apparently there were "bad tailwinds" on that runway, so we had to make our way across the airport to the other runway.

3.5 hours after our scheduled departure we left Hong Kong.

3 hours into the flight it is still unbearably hot in the back of the cabin and every 30 minutes a flight attendant gets on the PA and apologizes to the sweaty masses in the back.

I watched "Extraordinary Measures" - Brendan Fraser really cannot act at all. The movie sucked. I spent several hours trying to conquer the evil hordes of Set in "Age of Empires: Mythologies" on my Nintendo DS and then went to sleep.

I woke up 90 minutes from landing time where the captain brings us some good news - thanks to favorable winds we will no longer have to stop for fuel, and can proceed directly to Chicago.

We land at Chicago at 5pm local time - 3 hours behind schedule - and then proceed to sit on the aircraft for another hour as we wait for an Air France plane to leave our gate. I finally de-planed at 6pm local time.

I spent 19 hours in an Economy seat on a United 747 - serious knee and back pain had set in. This was hands-down the worst flight I have ever been on.

I got off the plane quickly and breezed through immigration - the people towards the back were not so lucky - the 3 on-duty immigration officers at 6pm don't usually handle a full 747 from Asia.

United had flights to Newark and Philadelphia at 9:15/9:30pm that I could be re-booked on - I elected to fly to Philadelphia.

My original plan was genius as Kia was scheduled to arrive from Miami within 8 minutes of my arrival from Chicago and my Dad's office is close to the Newark airport - but that didn't quite work out as I had hoped.

So United 640 from ORD-PHL was scheduled to depart at 9:30pm and arrive in PHL at 12:30am.

A few minutes later, United 640 was scheduled to depart at 10:30pm. Apparently there was a "low ceiling" weather issue at O'Hare - easily the world's most cursed airport when it comes to weather-related delays. All the flights into/out of Chicago were now delayed 1.5-2 hours.

Through sheer dumb luck I am browsing my e-mail and while it's open I receive an e-mail from United's SmartUpdate service informing me that my flight has been cancelled. This is not yet reflected in the monitors in the lounge. I raced up to the lounge counter to lock in a hotel close to the airport before the rush begins. Things work out favorably and I get a room at the O'Hare Hilton - a short walk from Terminal 1 where I am. Sure enough as my accommodation is being processed all of the final departures on the monitors start flipping to "Canceled" and a lot of people start queuing up behind me.

I am now on United 350 from ORD-PHL at 8:45am on Saturday morning.

This flight goes by without a hitch and I finally get to my parents house at 12:45pm Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately my bag didn't join me. United decided to put that on a different flight out of Chicago earlier in the morning except that aircraft had maintenance issues and it was canceled.

*#$*# United!!

So now I've been wearing the same clothes for 48 hours and I don't have a change of clothes. Good thing I'm able to raid my younger brother's dresser and squeeze into some too-tight Adidas pants and boxers that would have fit me when I was 18.

I left my apartment in Singapore at 4:30am Friday morning, and arrived in Philadelphia at 12:45am Sunday morning, Singapore time.

On a positive note, I don't think it's possible for it to ever take me longer than that to travel between Singapore and the US.

Back Home and Back to Blogging

2010-05-07T11:25:00.003+08:00

Too much has been going on this past month and there hasn't been enough time to dedicate to blogging any of my recent trips... Too bad as I visited Hong Kong, Urumqi, Beijing, Xi'An, and Chengdu this past month. But once a few weeks has past since I visited a place the urge to write about it fades away.

I'm sitting in an airport - my favorite subject and coincidentally the only free time I seem to find to blog - en-route to the US.

10 trips between USA and Singapore on United, and I've always managed to avoid what is widely-acknowledged as THE worst flight on United, and possibly one of the worst in the world - 14/15-hours in a 747 with no in-seat TVs between Hong Kong and Chicago.

No longer - I board UA 896 from Hong Kong to Chicago in 15 minutes, and the back of the plane is full.

Going to be a lovely day - cramped in the back of a 747 for 14 hours, immigration at O'Hare (bad - but not Washington Dulles bad), and then an afternoon flight to Newark.

Yardley for almost a week, then Rehoboth Beach, DE for a wedding, then a few days working in Bethesda, and then a long weekend in Salt Lake City.

I think I'll manage to see all 7 people that read this website, except the Fongul!

Crazy Wake-up Call This Morning

2010-04-03T10:53:00.002+08:00

I'm in Xi'An for the weekend, visiting the site of the Terra Cotta warriors between business trips in Beijing/Chengdu.

This morning I was startled out of bed by the sound of rapid-fire explosions that sounded like they were going off right outside the hotel.

I leapt out of bed and threw open the blinds trying to figure out what the hell was going on at 8:00am on a Saturday morning.

Only a Chinese wedding. Apparently to announce the arrival of the bride & groom sets of fireworks are laid out on the ground at the entrance of the hotel.

One couple arrived at 8am, a second couple arrived at 10:30am. There better not be any 8am weddings on Sunday morning, I want to sleep in!!!

My New Clubbing Shoes

2010-03-09T23:29:00.003+08:00

Last weekend... well actually the weekend before last since I've been to busy to write this up saw what was initially going to be a casual evening out into a raging night.

Clarke Quay is probably THE most well-known Singapore nightlife spot which makes it a tourist trap, over-priced - but is also nicely located on the river and a convenient walk from my apartment.

A great place to start off the evening is at Senor Taco

an unpretentious taco stand that does simple, but great-tasting tacos/quesadillas and has some well-priced combo meals that include an ice-cold Corona for only S$19 - a steal for Clarke Quay. Make sure you ask for the extra hot habanero salsa they keep hidden behind the counter.

Originally that was our entire plan for Friday evening. It had been a long week at work, I was tired - but some tacos and a Corona sounded like a nice, relaxing end to the work week.

Or so I thought...

Then after stuffing our face with tacos & quesadillas, we decided to move on to Crazy Elephant - Singapore's best live Classic Rock band.

Through random connections we are friends with the lead singer in the house band and
they are hands-down the best Classic Rock in Singapore - at least while Seth is the lead singer. I felt like I was back at Brookside listening to WMGK 102.9 all day as the band played successive songs by:

Bob Dylan
The Who
Pink Floyd
Steve Miller Band
ZZ Top
Crosby, Stills, and Nash

A set list I didn't think I would come across in Singapore! Some other friends of ours were also in Clarke Quay and they dropped by Crazy Elephant for a few drinks... now things are starting to get more fun - but still a chill evening.

Then we get a call from another set of friends - also out in Clarke Quay - and they want to meet up at China One.

This is a much "hotter" nightspot that the sleepy Taco stand and low-key Crazy Elephant - now things are starting to pick up.

But - uh oh - I am wearing sandals, and China One has a strict "close-toed shoes policy". Having only planned to go out for Tacos and a beer - I did not dress appropriately for a night out at the slicker scene at China One.

Well shit - there goes what was shaping up to be a good night - after a few altercations at some overrated DC bars over the years for improper attire (Dragonfly) - I was ready to pack up and head home.

Except instead of just shooing me away - the bouncer offered me a proposition:

"Hey man - I'll sell you a pair of shoes so that you can go in!"

Now this is my kind of club. I do hate dress codes - especially anti-sandal ones in perpetually hot & humid Singapore - but offering the patron the option to buy appropriate footwear is much better than showing him the door. I bet they have this policy because a good number of Australian/British ~~drunken revelers~~ tourists show up in shorts & sandals to Clarke Quay.

Ok - how much for the sandals?

S$10

Done deal - and man were these sandals cool - I think these are my new clubbing shoes! We'll see if The Butter Factory lets me in with these bad boys.

Check 'em out - I think I'm going to start a new nightclub trend - "Clubbing Sandals":

Be a Fair Employer

2010-02-26T18:29:00.002+08:00

You can always figure out the latest Singaporean government initiative from the advertising at MRT stations.

The latest campaign from your favorite Nanny State is "Hire on Merit".

Got to love the "Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices" name - I wonder how many hours they spent coming up with that.

The aim of this organization is promote fair and merit-based employment practices so that employees can realise their full potential and help employers achieve organisational excellence

As a new (relatively) arrival to Singapore, I don't feel that I'm qualified to comment on race relations/hiring practices - but even from my expat bubble it is possibly to detect an undercurrent of racism in Singapore. You see behavior on the streets, offhand comments in the store - and taxi driver tirades (this is where 99% of the racist material I've come across comes from) - that underneath the "harmonious society" that is multi-cultural Singapore, all is not perfect.

It reminds me a lot of my days in the University of Maryland - the administration incessantly preaching the values of diversity and our lovely, integrated campus - which was a bit disconnected from the reality on the ground - a lot of distinct racial/cultural communities that were fairly isolated from each other and mixed in mostly forced settings, like class.

But let's not go down this path - this joke of a blog is simply something I use to keep a few friends and relatives updated on my life on the other side of the planet.

The thing that got me wondering is that in the country where chewing gum is illegal - why the hell don't they just legislate some form of anti-discrimination act? Why all thise nonsense about "improving your talent pool" and "the values of a diverse workforce?" If you want a more diverse workforce - micro-manage your employment laws and get one - what the Singapore government wants, it usually gets. So why is this different?

Well, as it turns out there is No law against workplace discrimination in Singapore! Would be kind of difficult to maintain those world-famous Singapore girls on Singapore Airlines with pesky discrimination labor laws.

The Tripartite Alliance helpfully explains why this is so:

Why is there no legislation on workplace discrimination in Singapore?

Experience in countries with anti-discrimination laws shows that legislation alone might not adequately change mindsets in this area. Employment relations are complex. Anti-discrimination legislation could make our labour market more rigid and hence less competitive without achieving its aims. In Singapore, we are fortunate to have a strong Tripartite partnership to manage difficult employment and industrial relation issues. With the support of the Tripartite partners, TAFEP is adopting a promotional and educational approach to tackle the issue of discrimination at the workplace. We believe that this will be a more effective way to encourage employers to adopt progressive and enlightened employment practices.

What rubbish.

If other countries have tried unsuccessfully to eliminate workforce discrimination with actual laws on the books, what makes one think that some silly workforce alliance is going to fix the problem with education and positive reinforcement and maybe some free candy bars for the best do-gooders. Too naive to be a legitimate attempt in my opinion.

Strikes me as trying to brush the whole thing under the rug - or ironically, raising the awareness of workforce discrimination in Singapore.

Before seeing these silly posters, I never gave it much thought - but after seeing them in the MRT, and doing a bit of research on this sham of an alliance - I am definitely convinced that there is discrimination in the labor force here - and this is the sham attempt at papering over it.

Spicy Sichuan Food

2010-02-20T12:15:00.002+08:00

When living in a country that is 70% Chinese, one tends to eat a lot of Chinese food. Last weekend we went out to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Singapore for Sichaun food. A few weekends before that, we tried Singapore's first Shanxi restaurant.

The whole concept of "Chinese" food as I knew it in the US was thrown out the window soon after moving to Singapore. Back home there is one generic label for any food/restaurant originating from the world's most populous country: "Chinese Food".

Yes I know there are some authentic eateries sprinkled across the US and easily found in Chinatown - but the vast majority of American Chinese restaurants all serve the same Westernized Chinese food. General Tso's chicken. Kung Pao chicken. Sweet & Sour chicken. I grew up eating the same staple dishes everywhere whether it was Gold Fountain II in Yardley, Happy Garden in college, Golden House in Bethesda, or some unspeakably awful $5.99 Chinese buffet outside a military base in Tampa.

For years I was a General Tso's chicken man (eating untold quantities from Danny's & Happy Garden in College Park), but while living in Bethesda I switched to Kung Pao. Golden House did a really nice version - and you could get it with white meat.

So upon arrival in Asia, I was somewhat surprised that None** of these dishes can be found out here. It was a bit disappointing that there was no such thing as General Tso's chicken, and anytime it was mentioned you got strange, quizzical looks from the locals.

Fast forward 2 years and now I've opened my eyes to the fact that saying "Chinese food" is like saying "European Food". It completely fails to capture the incredible variety of regional cuisines and different flavors. I'm still a beginner, but I can tell the difference between Sichuan and Cantonese food and have also tried Shanxi, Fujian, Shandong, Beijing, Guangdong and heaps of other varieties.

So what does Sichuan food look/taste like? If you had to describe it in one word, you would say spicy.

Most dishes are piled with red-hot chilis and the famous Sichaun peppercorn - a tiny little devil that will completely numb your mouth if you aren't careful.

The quintessential (and best-tasting) Sichuan dish in my opinion is the "boiled fish in chili oil".

It is quite intimidating - a huge bowl packed with chili and peppercorns - but the trick is that you only eat the fish. One must be careful to ensure that there are no peppercorns lurking in your piece of fish, or you will lose your sense of taste for several minutes.

I continue to expand my Chinese culinary horizons out here - but up until now Sichuan is my preferred Chinese regional cuisine.

**Kung Pao Chicken is actually a common sichuan dish - but is nothing like the American version. This is due in part to the fact that it was illegal to import the essential ingredient, Sichuan Peppercorns, into the US from 1968-2005.

Guide to an Evening in KL

2010-02-13T09:00:00.003+08:00

This past week I was in Kuala Lumpur for the week (called KL by everyone in SE Asia) and had some free time in the evenings... a rarity on my business trips.

So where do I go when I venture out alone in the evenings in Asia? Now you will get a glimpse into my ~~lame~~ wild & crazy nightlife.

My business has me visiting the same cities in Asia - so over the past 2 years I have become somewhat familiar with at least very small sections of the major business centers of Asia.

In KL, the area I usually stay in is called Bukit Bintang (Star Hill), and is in central KL and full of malls, restaurants, bars and something for everyone. The main artery road, Jalan Bukit Bintang is bustling with people, sidewalk cafes, mega malls - and is easily walkable - not something you can say for a lot of areas in KL.

So my evening starts off at the ubermall Pavilion - a 7-story monstrosity right off Jalan Bukit Bintang.

SE Asia is amazingly diverse - an area less than half the size of the US is home to a dozen different countries, far more sub-cultures, many different languages and over 500M people.

Too bad they are all building the same luxury branded malls so that no matter where you are, you can always get your hands on a Burberry scarf, Ferragamo shoes, and a Louis Vuitton handbag. Because when I fly into Kuala Lumpur - I definitely need to make sure that I have access to the exact same branded goods I can find everywhere else in the world. If you happen to be looking for them - Pavilion has them all.

A little further down Jalan Bukit Bintang we come across the major intersection with Jalan Sultan Ismail.

The intersection is dominated by the giant McDonalds on the corner.

Here is a KL Monorail station - Bukit Bintang

By urban public transport standards, the KL monorail is pretty useless. It is 1 line with 11 stations, and the trains are only 2 cars that can fit a maximum of 158 passengers. I have yet to use it.

Continuing past Jalan Sultan Ismail, you will find a gem of a sidewalk cafe - Piccolo Mondo

They have good pizza, affordable beer (a tough find in central KL) and good strawberry shisha.

I tried my first ever Cuban beer here, of all places.

A little further on Jalan Bukit Bintang, you come across Changkat Bukit Bintang - this street is a must-visit.

A little ways up Changkat, you will find Jalan Alor - street food paradise.

Here you will find a range of hawker stalls that sell the full swath of Malay/Chinese/Peranakan street food - similar to a lot of what you find in Singapore, except 1/3 the price.

No trip to KL would be complete without a stop at a roadside fruit stand for some Durian - the king of fruits!

Beware of the smell, and the taste is sometimes difficult for the western palate - but I ate one here and Durian is growing on me - slowly.

Continue down Changkat to find a cool strip of international bars/restaurants (that I forgot to take a picture of). Italian, Irish, Middle Eastern, South American - they're all here.

Go beyond that area and you will come across a place called Bijan - for some of the best "gourmet" Malay food I have had.

When it starts to get late, it is time to head to Luna Bar - KL's coolest nightspot. It is an open-air rooftop bar situated 30 stories above KL at the top of the regency suites.

Excellent panoramic views of KL from all sides

And from the midpoint of the upstairs bar - a fantastic view of KL's icon - the Petronas Towers at night.

Thaipusam - Tamil Torture Festival

2010-02-05T20:39:00.002+08:00

This past weekend was Thaipusam, a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community.

Singapore has a large Tamil population, and the procession of 20,000+ worshippers starts in Little India and ends up in Sri Thandayuthapani Temple - just down the street from our apartment.

This festival draws thousands of attendees and onlookers to bear witness to the spectacle. Some people carry a burden on their head, some men shave their head bald and the real devout ones do things like bear the kavadi aka skewer themselves.

I don't know where we were last year at this time, but this was our first Thaipusam experience in Singapore.

They closed off most of the main roads near our apartment - and we actually got stuck inside the temple on Sat. night as we returned home from Clarke Quay. The entire area was cordoned off and the security directed us to pass through the temple to get to our street... my first time inside in my 2+ years in Singapore.

So what did we see?

Here's a man pulling a kavadi

Now how, you may ask, is he pulling this kavadi? Why with rings attached to the SKIN ON HIS BACK of course!

He wasn't alone - there was a steady stream of people subjecting themselves to various forms of self-torture.

And here's the final shot - this guy wins the prize for most excruciatingly-painful-looking setup:

Seoul in Winter

2010-01-24T16:17:00.002+08:00

I spent last week in Tokyo/Seoul in the middle of winter. It's amazing how after only two years removed from winter being a fact of life I've become a complete wimp when it comes to the cold.

Tokyo was cold - but sunny and not windy - and I had little to complain about.

But Seoul was DAMN cold. At least to me it was. Sub-Zero (on the Celsius scale) temperatures, and some frigid winds were enough to keep me holed up in my hotel for the entire trip.

Now I can identify with all those people that have re-located from the colder climates of the north to say Miami or San Diego - seriously, what took me so long!?!? Singapore may be hot and humid year-round - but I'll take the weather here any day over an icy January in Seoul.

A common refrain I hear about people not liking the idea of living in 24/7 tropical heat is that they would "miss the seasons" - Hogwash. I don't miss them at all!

The one positive about the cold weather was the clear skies - I was able to get some good photos from my hotel room... whereas last summer the clouds/fog/smog obscured the distance.

Here we are facing north from Gangnam - overlooking the Han River, and you can see Seoul Tower in the distance.

Seoul is massive - buildings as far as the eye can see on both sides of the Han.

Here we are looking to the right:

And the left:

How I got vaccinated for Yellow Fever in Caracas Airport and entered Costa Rica illegally

2010-01-19T05:48:00.002+08:00

So my trip to Costa Rica was via Caracas as I spent the New Year's with the in-laws in Barquisimeto.

It should have been a quick, uneventful 2.5 hour flight from Caracas - San Jose, except for one small hitch... I didn't have a nice little yellow piece of paper that says I was vaccinated against yellow fever.

So as I approach the TACA check-in counter, the representative asks me for my Yellow Fever vaccination card.

Me: "Que??" - I uhh... don't have one.
Him: Well in that case, you cannot fly to Costa Rica

WTF? I did my reading online, there was nothing about US travelers requiring yellow fever vaccinations to visit Costa Rica. So now I decide to put on my obnoxious American traveler hat.

Me: "Senor, I assure you that as a US Citizen I am not required to be vaccinated for yellow fever on a trip to Costa Rica. All of my friends are meeting me there, and none of them have done this."
Him: "Are any of your friends traveling from Venezuela?"
Me: "No"
Him: "Everyone entering Costa Rica from Venezuela is required to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever"

Shit.

Me: "Where can I get this vaccine?"
Him: "It doesn't matter - the inoculation period is 10 days, so you needed to get this done 2 weeks ago"

Shit Shit Shit.

Me: "So how much can I just pay you to get on this plane?"
Him: "Sir TACA regulations require proof of yellow fever vaccination before we print a boarding pass"

So at this point I'm totally crestfallen - I come halfway around the world to meet up with my best friends for my best friend's bachelor party and now I'm not going to be able to enter the country because of this stupid vaccination!!

I was convinced that I was totally f*&$ed and headed back to Barquisimeto for more quality-time with the in-laws.

But then a shady guy approached me in the airport...

"Yellow fever? Not a problem - just go visit the Health Offices, they can assist you. First you need to go up to a Cyber Cafe on L2 and make a copy of your passport".

Not kidding - only in Venezuela...

So now it is 2 hours before boarding my flight and I am on a quest for a yellow fever vaccination.

I head down to the midpoint of the Departures level, and sure enough there is a small "Health Offices" room. Upon entering I encounter 2 middle-aged women.

Woman: Hola Amigo! What can I do for you?

At this point in my mission there was no time for subtleties - I got straight to the point.

Me: I need to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever right now so I can get board a flight to Costa Rica in 90 minutes.

Then the elder of the 2 women gets a real nasty look on her face and explains to me the regulation and inoculation period.

Woman: You know that you have to get vaccinated 10 days prior to entering Costa Rica, right? Trying to enter without following proper procedures is a major offense - they can send you to jail, deport you immediately, fine you US$2,000...

Me: Can it be done?

The other woman in the office winks - "Come here sir"

She reaches into her desk... but instead of pulling out a pen she pulls out a freaking syringe!

Woman: Show me your arm - I'll have this done in no time

Apparently I'm not the first person to need a yellow fever vaccination in the airport.

Sweet! Crisis averted - now I have my yellow fever vaccination.

Me: Oh - one small thing - can you back-date the paper 10 days so that I'm inoculated?

Now I get 2 sets of cross looks - and the elder woman starts up again.

Woman: "That's illegal, we could lose our jobs - the airline would be suspicious of you...." etc etc etc
Me: "Can you do it? I'll pay you - how much do you want?"

Nicer Woman: "We don't want money.... but we would like you to get us something... sweet?"
Me: "Sweet??"
Now not-so-nice woman: "Buy me a dessert! Something sweet. A cake would be great - there's a chucheria on L3"
Me: "How about I just give you the money for the dessert - I'll give you 3x the price"
Woman: "I can't leave the office and buy the dessert - so you're going to do it for me"

Now there are 75 minutes before my flight - and I need to buy a freaking piece of cake.

I race through the airport to the food court area on L3, and find Subway, McDonalds, Dominos - but no dessert place. Eventually I come across a coffee stand that has a brownie and some cakes.

But there is a line. So I loudly proclaim to everyone in the vicinity

"THAT BROWNIE IS MINE"

Some old woman gives me a dirty look and says she wants the brownie - sorry granny, but your chocolate fix is not getting in the way of my flight to Costa Rica.

I put 100 Bolivares on the counter and say give me the brownie and the other cake right now and keep the change (actual price was about 20 Bolivares).

Woman at the counter smiles. Granny gives me the look of death. I have my desserts.

I race back to the Health Office - the women smile at me, thank me for the desserts, and give me my vaccination card.

I was vaccinated for Yellow Fever on 12/21/2009 - mission accomplished!!!

I make my way back to the TACA counter 10 minutes before my flight.

"Would you believe it Senor? I mis-placed my vaccination card! Here it is"

He gives me a cross look, but gives me a boarding pass.

Great success! Costa Rica here I come.

Giant Blood-Sucking Venezuelan Mosquitos

2010-01-18T05:42:00.002+08:00

One of my least favorite parts of staying at Kia's house in Barquisimeto is the ever-present vicious, bloodthirsty mosquitos.

They have a special affinity for "Gringo Blood", because while Kia & her family members escape unscathed, myself and any other fellow Yankees always end up eaten alive. Not only that - but the wretched pests seem to concentrate on 1 particular individual at a time.

For New Year's 2009, Poor Marci (Kia's sister-in-law) got eaten alive while Frannie & I only suffered minor injuries.

This year, it was just Frannie & I - and while the two of us were in the house I don't think I got bit more than twice as the vile insects concentrated their efforts on Frannie - but literally the day she left I went to bed with ~15 mosquito bites on my feet alone, and for the next several days it was a full-scale assault. I resorted to wearing jeans, socks, and a long sleeve t-shirt so the little bastards focused on my hands.

The battle was never-ending - and there were casualties on both sides.

Here's one that was aiming for a quick snack while I was using my laptop in the bed - imagine my surprise when after squashing the mosquito there was a giant streak of blood on the bed - that was mine!!!

This is the first time I've ever killed a mosquito that left a giant stain of blood - this little turd had just finished gorging itself on my "sangre Gringo".

Also, look at the size of that thing! A dead mosquito post-squashing is a more compact version of the real thing - and it still manages to be the size of my pinky fingernail.

Americans that come to visit Barquisimeto - be prepared and bring lots of bugspray.

The Return of the Blog

2010-01-15T10:09:00.003+08:00

So a lot has happened in the past ~3 weeks since I wrote a blog post... and if there are still people left reading this, 2010 is already shaping up to be a very interesting year.

For me, Christmas of 2009 was a break from tradition - the previous 28 Christmas's were spent with my parents in Buffalo/Yardley, but this year was time for something... completely different - a Bengali wedding in Kolkata, India.

Ever since we were left in awe at the awesome wedding that we happened upon in Mumbai in early 2008, Kia & I have been keenly interested in experiencing an Indian wedding, and my old CMSC422 friend Tania from UMD obliged!

So we spent 5 days in Kolkata in a whirlwind wedding experience complete with all the sights, sounds, smells and chaos that makes for "Incredible India". At some point when I have time, I will devote future blog entries to this adventure - but a sincere thanks to Tania for inviting us to be part of everything!

Next on the crazy adventure was New Year's in Barquisimeto - my 2nd in a row with my Venezuelan in-laws.

I have to give thanks to Lufthansa for making all of this possible - were able to get a Kolkata-Frankfurt-Caracas flight with a return Caracas-Frankfurt-Singapore for an excellent price (beyond excellent when you factor in the "Dolar Paralelo").

So after a 28-hour flight to Caracas, we spent ~3 hours in the lovely Maiquetia domestic terminal before a quick flight on Aserca to Barquisimeto. No duplicate of last year's harrowing, near-death experience on Aeropostal - this one went relatively smoothly.

I then spent a week stuffing my face with every tequeno, pepito, and empanada I could get my hands on before the final leg of my adventure... Jaco Beach, Costa Rica for Wirth's bachelor party.

It was awesome to catch up with all of my former partners in crime, even if I did have to trek halfway around the world to see them all. The VIP penthouse, tuna steaks at El Poseidon, Jaco Taco, and warm milk at the Cocal Casino will always be a source of fond memories.

Then I saved the most difficult piece for last - the unimaginably long and awful return trip home.

Sun 1/10 at 4:30am Costa Rica time
- took a local bus from Jaco Beach to San Jose Airport
- Begged driver not to let me sleep through the stop at the airport
- Woke up at 7:15am to a guy screaming "aeropuerto, aeropuerto" - and barely made it

Sun 1/10 at 10:15 Costa Rica time
- Taca flight 631 to Caracas
- arrived in Caracas around 3pm

Sun 1/10
- spent the night at the new Marriott Playa Grande, in Catia La Mar - you can see the hotel from the Caracas airport runway
- once again managed to live up to my "Lobster Bisque" nickname and fry myself in the sun... despite only spending ~30 minutes under the sun

Mon 1/11 at 5:40pm Caracas time
- Lufthansa flight 534 to Frankfurt
- Flying time of ~9 hours - arrived in Frankfurt at 9:00am local time Tues 1/12

Tues 1/12
- Exhausted - elected to pay for a day room at a hotel in Frankfurt and proceeded to sleep for ~7 hours

Tues 1/12 at 10:15pm Frankfurt time
- Lufthansa flight 778 to Singapore
- Flying time of ~12.5 hours
- Arrived in Singapore at 5:30pm local time, Wed 1/13

I can't exactly figure out how much total travel time that is - but it started on Sunday morning and ended on Wednesday evening - and I'm still wrecked as a result.

Lots more stories to come...

Flutes at the Fort

2009-12-23T12:12:00.002+08:00

This post is primarily intended for my Mom

My intrepid mother managed to order me a gift certificate from a nice restaurant in Singapore for my birthday... so 3 months later Kia & I finally managed to go out and celebrate it just as 2009 was coming to a close (and the gift certificate was going to expire soon).

The restaurant is called "Flutes at the Fort" and is hidden in a section of Fort Canning that is extremely difficult to find - and if you pass the entrance, your taxi has to circle the entire park for you to get another shot. So several mis-guided taxi rides later, Kia & I both arrived at the secluded entrance and made our way up the stairs to the restaurant.

It was a refined atmosphere, and the place was decked out for Christmas, with a tree, wreaths, various ornaments... and complimentary acapella singers.

It was a nice touch for the holidays but I must admit I was initially displeased with the interruption to my feast.

So what did we eat? The Chef's table! The set menu had all of the things on the menu we wanted to try - including the obligatory chocolate lava cake - Kia's favorite dessert.

So we celebrated my birthday and Christmas in the same dinner.

Thanks Mom!

Crazy Kia's Birthday

2009-12-23T11:56:00.003+08:00

The Saturday before last, we went out with some friend's to celebrate Kia's 24th birthday... again.

A number of friends had already departed Singapore for the holidays, so the plan was for a relaxed evening at Harry's - have a few drinks, and tell a few stories.

However, after a few glasses of wine some of the girls had other ideas - and the group consensus was to continue the party at Movida - Singapore's best live Latin music venue.

Kia is normally a somewhat quiet, subdued individual - so she threw us all for a surprise when she decided to vault herself up onto the stage and join the band.

Normally what happens at Movida is that you talk to one of the singers during their break, and they will call you up on stage and let you dance for a song - but we didn't even have a chance to set this up... Kia jumped onto the stage within 5 minutes of our arrival.

She seemed to fit right in...

Then she began a duet with the band leader...

Then things got interesting...

Then 2 more songs passed - and Kia had no intention of getting down off the stage.

A new set of singers came on - and there's Kia

Eventually she had to be removed from the stage after ~4 songs - those that know Kia know that this is very uncharacteristic behavior for her... must have been the wine!

New Destination - Brisbane

2009-12-10T05:47:00.002+08:00

Now that I've been out here for 2 years, it's uncommon for me to visit a 'new' city for work. Business (at least mine) in Asia is restricted to the same yet of usual suspects. On next week's agenda is a short trip to Bangkok for the umpteenth time.

But this week's destination is Brisbane, Australia - and this is my first time here. I like it here in Queensland!

Central Brisbane is a nice area situated along the Brisbane river with a good mix of old colonial and modern high-rise buildings.

I wanted to take a river taxi - they have high-speed 'CityCat' catamaran river taxis that are the cheapest way of getting to points up and down the river. I will have to table this one for next time.

My hotel has a nice view of the famous 'Story Bridge' - Brisbane's very own 1930's cantilever-style bridge... quite similar to the Sydney Harbour Bridge but less-famous and less-iconic.

Still, it looks cool day/night and I was able to get some good pictures from my hotel.

These new pictures were taken with my new Canon S90, an incredible pocket camera

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-07T19:20:00.002+08:00

So this blog has been dead for the past few weeks... but that's because I was on vacation - I decided to return home to good old Yardley to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in 3 years.

We did a family-oriented trip up and down the East Coast - 4 days in Miami with Kia's family, and then 6 days in Yardley with mine.

Sadly this year there will be no repeat of Vijay on his knees kissing Candice's feet.

This picture is completely irrelevant to the subject matter of this post but I never pass up on an opportunity to rib Vijay for his godawful bets and the shameless depths he will sink to.

-----------------------------------

Good old Yardley Hunt in the winter - the home of my tranquil suburban upbringing and the polar opposite of the hyperkinetic concrete jungle that I now call home.

If there's one thing that I don't miss about life in the Northeastern US, it's the weather. You never have to cover/winterize the pool in Singapore!

Here are some of the extended Ernst cousins relaxing on Thanksgiving afternoon - a special thanks to the Kurzius clan for making the long trek from NYC/Buffalo to spend the long weekend in Yardley.

Now that my youngest brother is off in college and my parents are "empty nesters" there is a new baby in the house - the charming ~~furry little rat~~ Bichon, Buddy

Yes, I am related to some odd characters.

Turkey Feast!

I traveled 10,000 miles to stuff my face with this.

Mom went all out for Thanksgiving and put together quite the table spread

It was an excellent trip and well worth the grueling 28-hour journey to be back at home for a holiday with my extended family.

Moments like these are things you take for granted when you live close to everyone, and don't realize how much you actually miss until you return home and experience it from the perspective of someone living on the opposite side of the planet.

I appreciate the effort from everyone to make this year's Thanksgiving a memorable one!

Another airport story

2009-11-14T12:16:00.003+08:00

I'm sure this is going to bring about a spew of complaints from Wirth - but this story is actually worth writing about.

Perhaps I should consider renaming the blog from "Ernst in Singapore" to "Ernst's dumbass posts related to airports and travel" since that's all I've written as of late.

Today finds me in the Sydney airport, on a 100% full A380 back to Singapore. Sharing economy with 399 other passengers is going to making getting on/off the plane a wonderful experience.

This is what the check-in zoo looks like for a full A380 flight

and that doesn't even capture the half of it.

So today on my way home I thought I would surprise Kia with a 6-pack of her favorite Venezuelan malt beverage - Malta Polar.

Personally I found the stuff absolutely foul - but Kia adores this drink and hasn't gotten her hands on a bottle in 2009. I figured this would at least somewhat make-up for the fact that I've been home for around 4 of the past 21 days.

Except for one giant brain fart - I thought it would be a brilliant idea to carry these things with me on the plane.

Despite flying in excess of 100,000 miles on airplanes this year, it somehow escaped me that in NO airport I have traversed can you bring this much liquid through security. Doh!

Dejected, and feeling like a complete moron I took out 1 of the bottles (which are exactly 100ml) and put the rest of the pack next to the trash can... hoping that perhaps I could get by with just 1, since technically it meets the restrictions for carry-on liquids. Seriously - how did this escape me?

I pull out my laptop, but my bag on the conveyor and make my lame attempt to bring at least 1 of the bottles with me.

"Hold it there mate" - shit. I'm not even going to get one of these - TSA are all the same, no matter where they are on the globe.

Except that this security officer takes my bottle and puts it in a plastic bag. Then proceeds to open my 6-pack, and jam another into the bag.

And another
And another
And another

So now my 1L plastic bag is impossibly full with 500ml of soda bottles - and looks like this:

I smile at him incredulously and ask: "Are you serious???" He smiles and says that it looks like all my liquids fit in the bag, so he sees no issue with anything.

Then I leave behind the one bottle that can't fit in the bag - grinning in disbelief that this guy is hands-down the most friendly & helpful airport security employee I've ever dealt with.

And then he goes even further - he takes the 6th bottle and places it in the tray aside the plastic bag about to burst and says: "No Floaters allowed"

So now I pass through security and await my things on the other side of the belt.

The woman watching the scanner leans over and says "Excuse me..." as if trying to hint to my accomplice that this wasn't kosher.

He leans over at her, grins and tells her that there's only 100ml in the bag.

Only 100ml?? she looks at him in disbelief.

Yup - exactly 100ml - I measured it myself - are you questioning my judgement?? Then he winks at her.

Ok, looks like 100ml to me.

And off I go - 6-pack in hand - and quite pleased that there are some redeeming individuals out there that would go out of their way to break the rules like this for a total stranger.

Kia, you better appreciate the effort that went into to getting these for you!

Trip to Ho Chi Minh City

2009-11-09T14:59:00.002+08:00

We spent a long weekend in Ho Chi Minh City - aka HCMC formerly known as Saigon (though 100% of the Vietnamese people I know/met still say Saigon), but only now am I getting around to writing about it.

Saigon is the largest city and Vietnam and the business capital of the country. It captures the essence of urban Vietnam - a chaotic, but exhilarating experience teeming with motorbikes and electric wires.

The first thing we did after checking into our hotel was visit the Vietnamese equivalent of McDonald's - Pho 24 - and eat their Big Mac - a big bowl of beef pho - which was excellent.

Day 1 in the afternoon/evening found us strolling through night markets and furiously bargaining for souvenirs we didn't really want to buy. We were all given a free lesson in bargaining from Helen, the Bolivian with 5 years of living in China that is an absolute master of street market haggling - she has perfected the art of appearing dis-interested/annoyed and off-handedly making an offer that is 10% of the initial asking price - then doing a complete role-reversal and aggressively demanding that her price be met. We watched in wonder as she railroaded one stall owner to cough up these souvenir wallets for $.25/wallet. None of us were previously able to get them for less than $1.50.

Then we stopped for some of the best street food I've ever had - extremely fresh, grilled red snapper, frogs, shrimp, cheap beer and some nasty baluts.

What is a balut? I wrote about it previously - but it is a hard-boiled egg with the embryo inside. Doesn't taste nearly as bad as it looks - but this is my new record for grossest thing I have ever eaten - knocking the scorpion from Beijing off.

We finished the evening with some drinks at the rooftop bar of the Sheraton and a nice view of Saigon at night.

Day 2 finds us trekking out into the jungles for a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels

The tunnels were an impressive tour - far more interesting than I initially suspected. In-depth exhibits about life in the tunnels, all the booby-traps that used to be setup, how they would enter/exit/sneak around the Americans - this is a must-do 1/2 day tour for any stop in HCMC.

Kia was the only one of us skinny enough to play Viet Cong and disappear into the trap door

Then we all got into the tourist tunnel - the one that has been widened and lighted for tourists

Then our guide offered us the option of crawling through 35 meters of a "real" tunnel - original size, pitch black and exhausting - not for the claustrophobic. Kia & I were the only ones that volunteered, and dear lord was it an excruciating trip.

Both of us totally underestimated how strenuous it would be to crawl through just 35 meters of tunnel.

First - it is SMALL. Anyone that is more than 6' tall or 200 lbs shouldn't even try the walk. Second - it is PAINFUL. The reason for this is that you have to move about on the balls of your feet the entire time - no crawling - and if you had seen the ground, you'd understand why. Bugs/cockroaches appear at frequent intervals, and there are a number of bats waiting for you towards the end. It is also pitch dark - and the tunnel curves frequently, so you can never see more than 5-6 feet in front of you. When the guide drops down/turns the corner - you are enveloped in blackness.

I'm glad I did it - but don't think I'd do it again.

Then after you are finished with the tunnels you come to my favorite part - the shooting range

Here you are allowed to buy bullets for the automatic weapon of your choice, and then you are let loose on the shooting range with no disclaimer, safety video, instruction, anything. There is a guy with you to make sure you don't point the gun the wrong way - but that's it.

So what gun did I want to shoot? All of them. But I started with the biggest - the belt-fed M60 machine gun.

When I got to shoot Jake's .50-cal Desert Eagle, I remember saying to myself "this isn't a gun, it is a hand-cannon." Well, the Desert Eagle is a water pistol compared to the thundering M60. The sound was deafening - even with the earplugs they give you, and the power... what a masterpiece of engineering! I also got to shoot an AK-47 on full-auto - not for the faint of heart. You simply lose control from when you depress the trigger until the bullets run out - there is no way you can control/aim/fire that with precision on full-auto.

Here's me with my best Gomer Pyle from Full Metal Jacket face as I'm about to let loose with the machine gun.

I might make a future appearance on the Discovery Channel shooting the AK-47 - more on that later if it happens (they did film Kia & I).

Day 3 was relaxing - wandering the city some more, visiting some museums and getting the world's best "value for money massage".

Our local friend recommended a hotel to us where you got a 'good deal' for only US$15. This consists of a FULL treatment - haircut, face shave with straight razor, facial, head massage, foot massage, back massage, the works. For US$15!!!!

It's also open 24-hours. We showed up at 11pm, and at around 4am we were all so exhausted we had to call it quits - but they still weren't finished!!

It was an awesome 3-day weekend, and I would definitely return. Vietnam is an excellent place to visit in SE Asia.

Observations from the Bangkok Airport Departure Area

2009-11-07T13:51:00.003+08:00

This past week had a lovely schedule - flights on Tues/Wed/Thurs night in 3 different SE Asian airports. Tues night saw me fly from Singapore - Kuala Lumpur, Wed. night was from Kuala Lumpur - Bangkok, and Thurs night was Bangkok - Singapore to head back home.

My meetings ended early and I arrived at the airport at 2:30pm for a 6:40pm flight. Despite 4 daily flights from Bangkok - Singapore, the Singapore Airlines check-in counter was closed until 3:20pm... so I had nearly an hour to kill confined to the departure area of Bangkok's airport.

Armed with my digital camera and an inquisitive mind, I decided that in the world's 3rd-largest passenger terminal I was bound to find something interesting for my audience.

Suvarnabhumi (pronounced soo-wa-na-poom) did not disappoint.

I had previously written about the Bangkok airport - but from inside the terminal. Today's post focuses on what happens in the departure area.

First, there is the size - the departure area is HUGE - especially since most of the world's major international airports are divided into different terminals - but Bangkok only has 1 terminal (Sometime I will have to compare this to Beijing's airport - which is twice as big).

Here is a view of half of the check-in counters:

Next time I will have to bring a better camera, as I feel this photo does not quite capture the dimensions of the space.

How did I get such a good vantage point for this photo? There is a very nice 4th-story observation lounge/restaurant that is unfortunately closed at the time of this post.

Under construction? I didn't see any signs of construction, and the restaurant on the other side was closed as well. In future entires I will report back on the status of this closure.

Here is the latest evidence of Durian prejudice in SE Asia - Singapore Airlines felt that it was necessary to ban the fruit from the check-in area and also the plane.

Another thing Bangkok is well-known for is the quantity of fake designer glasses/handbags/watches that can be bought in the markets - apparently there have been some issues with tourists returning to countries like France/Italy with excessive amounts of contraband goods - so prior to entering immigration, you are greeted with this sign:

Notice how it only mentions "some European countries" - so American/Australian tourists are in the clear to abscond with as much Louis Vuitton as possible!

So far my investigation has yielded a bunch of mildly interesting photos and lame anecdotes on my part in an attempt to write an amusing blog post. For those of you that have made it this far, I offer you the real mystery I discovered during my exploration activities.

Here we are at the Jet Airways counter, which is not yet open for passengers on the 6:30pm flight to New Delhi.

What is not right about this picture? Who checks a 42" LCD TV as luggage on a flight? I know from experience at work that trying to import electronics into India is a massive hassle - and it's not like you can hope to sneak through customs with a giant cardboard box of a TV - "no sir, I'm just using the box to bring in corn flour from South America"...

Seriously, at least 50% of the people waiting at the gate had TVs with their luggage. I had to return to the closed observation deck for a better vantage point.

How many TVs do you count in this picture? I count 7.

Ok big deal, 7 guys thought it was a bright idea to buy a new HDTV in Bangkok, and fly it home with them to India.

But wait, there's more...

I find some more shady characters at the oversized baggage check-in - these are the non-amateurs, since any fool that tries to check-in a 46" TV at the normal check-in counter will get re-directed here.

The plot thickens!

and finally - your intrepid reporter discovers the mother lode!

This was the best shot I could get from my vantage point - but there must have been 20+ TVs lined up back there. I'm willing to bet good money that all of these TVs are destined for New Delhi. But why? Who in their right mind would buy a Sony Bravia in Thailand (a country not known for the quality/authenticity or good prices of its electronics), then pay the excess baggage fees to fly it to India, and then upon arrival deal with the complete nightmare that is Indian customs.

This mystery has piqued my curiosity, and it must be solved.

.
.
.
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Got any better ideas for how to occupy an hour of your time stuck in the departure area of an airport? I'm all ears.

Beijing - Bad Air Quality

2009-10-31T15:33:00.002+08:00

I spent the past week in Beijing - my 5th trip to the capital of China - and felt that the air quality was poorer than usual.

My evidence was only anecdotal, but the pollution/haze/fog felt much thicker than I could remember.

Here's a visual of what things looked like on the morning of Wed Oct 28th:

Thanks to random coincidence my RSS feed from the Nasa Earth Observatory confirmed my suspicions of abnormally poor air quality with an image taken by one of their satellites on the very same day.

Visit their cool Image of the Day page for the meteorological reasons behind the issue.

If you have an RSS reader, you should also definitely subscribe to their daily feed!

My Smuggling Continues

2009-10-19T22:03:00.002+08:00

This is my stash - that I've accumulated from various trips to Seoul, Manila, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Most of these come from airports, but this past weekend in Vietnam I finally remembered to buy gum before I'm about to leave the country.

None of these are especially good - Wrigley's Cool Air is downright awful and tastes like cough drops - but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to gum in Singapore.

What I would give to get my hands on a pack of Bubblicious or Bubble Tape!!

Die Slowly Pepe Lopez Tequila

2009-10-17T16:24:00.002+08:00

Last night was supposed to be tranquilo - a relaxing evening by the poolside with a few of our friends and neighbors playing poker and having a few beers.

Everything was going according to plan until the Estonian devil Kristiina thought it would be a good idea to sample some of the "new" tequila she brought back from India.

Who brings back Tequila from India?!!?

I should have been more cautious, but I decided to give Pepe Lopez a try

What followed a day later is a hangover experience that ranks in the top 5 worst ever of my life. The last time I can remember feeling this incapacitated was the day of Traub's wedding after drinking liberal amounts of $2 bottles of Charles Shaw at the rehearsal dinner.

Pepe Lopez gold tasted like a mix of petrol and paint thinner - I barely drank any of the stuff and I'm still feeling the effects at 4:30pm the next day.

Last Weekend - Rock Climbing & Sunset Grill

2009-10-12T23:14:00.002+08:00

Last night we returned from Ho Chi Minh City, but this blog post has been queued up for awhile and is coming out a week late.

A friend of ours found a decent indoor rock climbing gym here and that's what we all did last Saturday afternoon.

Yours truly is a pathetic rock climber.

After easily triumphing over the weak 5a climb that any non-paraplegic could climb (the rating system here is different - but 5a is the easiest), I managed to seriously injure my knee on my subsequent attempt to climb a 5c. The official diagnosis was a "patellar subluxation" which means that my kneecap popped out/in of it's normal groove and resulted in intense pain, inability to put weight on the knee, and a sense that your knee is going to give out at any moment.

Kia on the other hand had no issues whatsoever, and easily completed a 5a/5b/5c climb (the last one not being so easy - astute observers will note her cheating in the below photo) and might be have a future with the sport.

After a few days and a few x-rays I found out that I have unnaturally loose joints/ligaments (thanks Mom & Dad), and a right kneecap that sits a bit higher than normal in the patellar groove. These two factors mean that any activity that puts heavy pressure on my right knee in an odd, twisted position greatly likens the recurrence of this injury and potential ligament damage unless I subject myself to surgery or purchase an expensive custom knee brace - the word is still out on whether Cigna International would cover something like that, but in the meantime my short foray into rock climbing is over.

Later in the evening we made a long overdue to the Sunset Grill - one of Singapore's best-kept secrets. This former officer's club on the Seletar air base is now a Western restaurant with a decor and style straight out of a midwestern 1960's military base - and also some of the most inhumanly spicy wings ever invented.

They have 30 levels of spiciness, and any sadistic bastard that can finish 6 wings from any level higher than 20 gets his name on a plaque on the wall. The hottest wings at Cluck-U would maybe clock in at level 5 here. Our hardcore fire-breathing Korean friends were choking & struggling on level 5.

Turner, our resident Mexican chili fire-eating friend didn't have much issue with the level 5 wings so he decided to go straight to the top - and ordered a plate of Level 30.

Some people at the table found the mere smell of them overwhelming. I ate a small sliver of meat probably the size of the bottom 1/3 of a pencil and was completely overmatched. I ended up having to steal a large quantity of cheese fries from the strangers next to me in order to quench the burn. I gave Kia a tiny tiny piece the size of a pinky nail and she ended up repeating "Te Odio" (I hate you) for the next 5 minutes.

Spicy food extraordinare Turner was in tears at the end of the first wing, and the entire 20-person table was unable to consume more than half of the 6 wings.

To anyone that thinks they can handle anything spicy, I'd be honored to take you to the Sunset Grill and prove that you are mistaken.

Hột vịt lộn

2009-10-09T10:13:00.002+08:00

I'm in Ho Chi Minh City with some friends for a long weekend, and last night I ate a Hột vịt lộn - aka fertilized duck egg. My penchant for disgusting SE Asian food has reached new heights - this thing is much more wretched-looking than my Beijing street market scorpion.

In addition to the commotion at our table, there was an American family making ghastly looks and shaking their head at me. Pictures to follow when I return to Singapore, but here are some images of the food to whet your appetite.

View from My Window - Manila

2009-09-30T22:46:00.002+08:00

Here is this week's ~~cop out~~ blog post - nice view from the hotel room facing Makati, in Manila.

Down below you can see the outlines of Greenbelt - not the crappy town next to College Park, MD but the Philippines most elite shopping/dining complex.

Greenbelt/Makati is a nice, pedestrian-friendly urban oasis in the otherwise congested & chaotic Manila.

The World's Nicest Smoker's Lounge

2009-09-24T17:18:00.002+08:00

Last week I met with a potential customer at the KT&G (Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation) building in Seoul.

KT&G is the leading tobacco company in South Korea - and based on my observations of Korean businessmen and their smoking habits - this company must be printing money. Of all the different cultures of I've worked with in ~2 years in Asia, South Koreans are by far the heaviest smokers.

This was also the first business meeting I've conducted in a smoker's lounge - but this is no dirty, smoke-filled room in an airport with no ventilation - KT&G has the Mandarin Oriental of smoker's lounges.

Soft flourescent lighting, waterfalls and plants, and the best ventilation system I've ever encountered - I couldn't smell a hint of nicotine in this enclosed area of 40+ smokers.

Seoul - Smoking in style.

The Death of my Shoes

2009-09-18T17:19:00.002+08:00

So these are my piece-of-shit Kenneth Cole dress shoes that I use for work. Yes they're complete junk, but with some of the destinations I visit I don't think it makes sense to be wearing high-quality shoes, so this $60 pile of turd I bought at Off Broadway Shoes in Arundel Mills has had to suffice.

I picked them up in August 2008 and I have greatly exceeded the useful life of these shoes as the above photo attests.

So why not just buy a new pair? A simple pair of dress shoes in Singapore will cost 3x the price I can get them for in the US, and will be of worse quality. So because I'm ~~a cheap bastard~~ stubborn, I tried to hold out until my next trip back to the US to get a new pair.

This plan failed.

The bottom of each shoe has a rubber pad on the sole - here is how it is supposed to look:

Problem is that at some point in my travels, this began to lose its adhesive and at some point earlier this summer (in Bangkok I think) it was hanging on by a thread and flopping around underneath the shoe and I had to rip it off.

Now here is what the bottom of my right shoe looks like:

Initially I thought this would force my hand and require an investment in a new pair of shoes, but after testing the waters a few days in Singapore I didn't find any noticeable difference in the shoe. So my stubborn quest to extend the life of these shoes until Thanksgiving continued...

Until last week in Manila when I discovered a new problem:

There is now a hole in the bottom! How did I discover this?

Wet socks.

There was a typhoon near Manila last week, and it was raining hard every day I was there. I tried putting more weight on my left foot, tilting the shoe as it hit the ground, but no luck. Every day by the time I arrived at my customer site my socks were wet.

This weekend I will be shopping for new shoes in Singapore.

First Birthday Celebration in 3 years

2009-09-12T16:38:00.002+08:00

So this year was nice in that I actually went out and did something to celebrate my birthday for the first time since 2006.

How has it been 3 years since I did anything for my birthday? Let's review.

2007 I woke up the morning of my birthday after an awful night sleep in a hammock, in the jungles of Venezuela after trekking for hours to reach Angel Falls.

Not much of a celebration. The best present of that year was a bed and a working toilet the next day.

2008 was the year of the missing birthday. How does one "miss" their own birthday you might ask? The 12-hour time difference between the US East Coast and Singapore combined with a 24-hour flight. It goes something like this:

---------------------------------
CHICAGO/OHARE to TOKYO/NARITA departing Thursday, September 4
UNITED 881
Depart: CHICAGO/OHARE 12:06 PM
Arrive: TOKYO/NARITA 3:00 PM

TOKYO/NARITA to SINGAPORE departing Friday, September 5
UNITED 803
Depart: TOKYO/NARITA 5:50 PM
Arrive: SINGAPORE 11:55 PM
--------------------------------
Voila! Leave the US the day before your birthday at 12pm, and arrive into Singapore just as your birthday ends.

Looking back on September 2006 it's really hard to comprehend how fast time has gone by and how much has changed in 3 years. Just look at some of the pictures of all of us in DC and what's changed since then.

It was strange to have a birthday party without Wirth for the first time in 10 years - though there are definitely some things about his presence that I don't miss... specifically his diabolical obsession with making me puke from some disgusting shot usually disguised as something harmless like a kamikaze. Usually the 'kill the birthday boy' fetish fades away after 21, but Wirth's trademark birthday behavior was the same year after year - and it wasn't like I got any special treatment. Many a poor, unsuspecting birthday-celebrating fool was on the receiving end of a Wirth special.

On this side we have a globe-scattered group, with Gabriel on the left now in Mozambique, Manuel still holding down the fort in Washington, and Sharon off in Seville.

And some things haven't changed one bit...

But fast-forward to 2009. This year's birthday (and much of my social life) planning fell to Kia as I had been spending most of my weekdays in Manila. In order to ~~make up for my lack of friends~~ make things more interesting, we combined my birthday party with our friend Sofia's - whose birthday is the day after mine.

We celebrated it at Oosh - a tropical jungle-themed bar on Dempsey Hill. The photos don't do justice to its size - the place was enormous, and nicely for us almost empty except for our party.

This post also gives me the opportunity to introduce my audience to our new friends in Singapore. You will notice the preponderance of Latin Americans - this is because I've subscribed to the stereotypical over-worked expat theme of 'making friends via my wife' - and Kia's social circle has a Latin theme to it.

Here's my better half - party-planner extraordinare, Kia

One slight mishap
Here you have the American contingent on the left with Tony, Amanda and Gary and to my right as I stuff my face with pizza is Colombian yoga instructor, Liliana. We also have Lula (Mexico) in the front with a mouthful of pizza and if she ever stumbles on this blog this picture may no longer be visible to future readers.

Here we have the Colombian contingent - Monica, Sofia, Patricia and Lucedy - and Patricia's husband Remy [France].

I like to be the center of attention - the new addition to this photo is Anthony, Monica's husband and from the NYC area.

Speaking of attention, I certainly don't mind this kind!


Then for the grand finale, we have the birthday cake...	and my dismay at discovering the use of trick candles

Borobudur

2009-09-01T22:06:00.002+08:00

Borobudur is a 1300-year-old Buddhist temple in Central Java, Indonesia and was the primary motivator for our trip to Yogyakarta. We were so enthralled with the massive temples at Angkor Wat that we couldn't wait to check out the other massive ancient ruins that SE Asia has to offer.

Borobudur did not disappoint.

The entire temple is one massive, contiguous structure built along various Buddhist principles - 9 levels, 72 stupas - they were big fans of multiples of 9. Everything culminates at the center/highest point with a giant central stupa.

The structure is also built as a sort of living book - the entire life of the Buddha is 'written' in a series of intricate stone carvings that circumvent the entire lower levels. There is a top and bottom storyline, so after you make the rounds twice with a guide you will have learned Buddha's life story.

Here you can get a view of the dual levels. Our indominitable tour guide was hell-bent on giving us the complete life story in all it's gory details but after making it around 1/4 of the way around the bottom level we skipped to the end where the Buddha is enlightened and lived happily ever after.

You really get a feel that you are in the middle of nowhere here - much more so than Angkor Wat. Yeah, that one is a temple in the jungle as well, but there are 500 other temples in the vicinity, and the ruins of the ancient city Angkor Thom that might have held the title for "world's most populous city" at some point.

Here there is literally NOTHING in all directions as far as the eye can see.

Here's a view in the other direction...

and here's the "Ernst makes a dumbass face because Kia takes too long to take the freaking picture" photo

There really isn't a lot of historical detail about Borobudur - who built it, why, when it was abandoned, etc... some of these mysteries are due to the violent eruptions of nearby Mt. Merapi, responsible for widespread death & destruction in Central Java around 1006 AD.

Prambanan Temples

2009-08-20T15:10:00.002+08:00

Prambanan is an ancient hindu temple complex in Central Java, Indonesia - and one of 2 ancient temple complexes that served as the main impetus for our Yogyakarta trip.

While not on the same level as the Angkor temples in Cambodia, Prambanan still manages to instill a sense of awe in the visitor.

There are multiple 'zones' to the temple - the outer zone is mostly in ruins, but in its time it was far more impressive. The small tower in the front-left of the above photo is one of 4 of the original 237 that remain standing.

Here's a shot of one of the main towers where you can get a better feel for the level of intricate detail in the stone carving work.

There were a decent number of tourists at the temple, but the site is far less popular than the temples of Bangkok/Angkor - not as many international tourists either.

Here is another temple in the same park but distinct from the Prambanan temple - this temple is Buddhist, and still has some historians marveling at the proximity between these temples constructed to different religions. In those ancient times, usually the prevailing religion destroyed/converted the temples belonging to different religions.

This temple also had NO other visitors, so we had the ruins to ourselves. Pity that the recent 2006 earthquake rendered the main complex structurally unsound, so we were not able to proceed inside.

This is Candi [Javanese word for Temple] Sewu aka "A Thousand Temples" - although now mostly in ruins

And the stone Buddha guardians, still standing guard 1300 years later

Yogyakarta

2009-08-15T11:40:00.003+08:00

This past week we spent the long weekend in Yogyakarta in Central Java, Indonesia (not to be confused with Jakarta) to view the ancient Prambanan/Borobudur temples, and also check out one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes - Mount Merapi.

This trip would not have been possible without AirAsia - one of the rapidly-growing low-cost airlines in SE Asia that just launched direct flights from Singapore - Yogyakarta in March 2009 - and we only paid S$90 round-trip for our flights.

Before this, one had to fly into Jakarta and either take a domestic flight on Garuda/Lion Air (2 airlines with slightly less than ideal safety records), or an 8-10 hour bus/train ride from Jakarta-Yogyakarta. In either case, a long weekend would not have been feasible.

So upon arrival in Indonesia, most people have to purchase a visa-on-arrival. There was only 1 counter for payment, 1 counter to get the visa, and about 100 people in line - good thing it wasn't raining when we landed, as the small space allocated to the visa on arrival processing was overflowing with people.

Our hotel was in the center of Yogyakarta, on Malioboro street. Here's a south/north view of the main avenue of the city

South

North

Lots of motorbikes, but nothing like Vietnam.

Here in Yogya (as the locals call it), you have a variety of modern transportation options:

On the left you have the andong or horse-pulled rikshaw and on the right you have the pedal-powered trishaw known as the becak. It's impossible to walk more than 20 feet on Malioboro street without cries of "becak, becak!!" And they are all trying to take you to an art gallery or the final day of a batik exhibition.

Here's Kia and I smack in the middle of it - the Malioboro street market on the left, and an andong queue waiting for passengers on the right.

Yogya is a pretty simple, laid-back city with a certain charm to it and also some of the cheapest food I've ever encountered. An entire family of 4 can eat off the street for US$1, and the nice restaurants we went to served main courses that cost US$2-US$3. Yogya goes to the top of the "cheapest cities I've eaten at in Asia" chart, bumping Siem Reap off its perch.

Why this blog has sucked for a while

2009-08-12T22:24:00.002+08:00

I've been on travel for the past 6 weeks.

Singapore-Seoul-Singapore-Hong Kong-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok-Singapore-Brisbane-Sydney-Singapore-Sydney-Singapore-Yogyakarta-Singapore.

That's 14 flights for 28,000 miles - that's what I have been doing since July 1st.

Of the 45 nights between 7/1 and 8/12, I spent 30 of them in hotels.

I do have many interesting things to write about - hopefully I will have the time to write them.

Surprise - my hotel view!

2009-07-29T19:24:00.003+08:00

Another busy week with no time for long posts, and no interesting subjects to write about.

At least I continue to have really nice views from my hotel room! I spent Mon-Wed of this week in Gold Coast Australia for a conference, and now I'm spending the night in Sydney before my return flight to Singapore.

And on Sunday, I do it all again - fly back to Sydney!!

Crazy? Yes. But these are the sacrifices that married husbands are forced to make when they're on the road all week every week - the weekends are sacrosanct.

This time I have a view overlooking Hyde Park in Sydney.

Here's the view into the park:

Here's the view straight ahead - towards Darling Harbour:

and here's the view downtown:

Another Week, Another Hotel View

2009-07-22T22:46:00.002+08:00

It's a sad state of affairs that the sole interesting subject I have time to write about is the view out of my hotel room... but that's all I've got time for this week. Korea writeup will have to wait another week, the time just isn't here - and considering my schedule for the next few weeks, that post might not appear until mid-August.

So this week finds me passing the time in Kuala Lumpur/Bangkok - working all day/all night, but I did manage to score another hotel room with a nice view of one of the world's tallest buildings.

This week's picture is of the Petronas Towers at night - of all the world's tallest buildings that I've seen (and I've seen them all) - these are the most impressive. Not the tallest - but without question the most elegant, impressive, awe-inspiring of the lot - and there is 2 of them. This is the kind of opulence that only incredible amounts of oil money can buy.

Enjoy the view from the 22nd floor at the Renaissance Kuala Lumpur

Hong Kong Sunset

2009-07-14T23:49:00.002+08:00

Once again I find myself overworked and under-blogged - I have a weeklong trip to Seoul in my backlog... but before I have a chance to write about that, I find myself in Hong Kong for a few days for work.

I can't say I know much of Hong Kong outside of the Wan Chai area and a few office buildings/hotels - but I do enjoy the world famous Hong Kong skyline at night from my 41st floor window.

Here are some sunset pictures that I took from my room. The really tall building on the right is the International Finance Center - 1350 feet and 88 stories tall - #7 in the world. But right across the river in Kowloon they are nearly finished with an even taller building.

Starcraft on TV

2009-07-07T17:34:00.002+08:00

I'm waiting for my flight home to Singapore in the Asiana lounge in Seoul's airport and I could not help but notice one of my former video game obsessions... on TV!

For those of you unaware, Starcraft is one of the best-selling PC games of all-time, and has been around for 10 years. I picked it up when it first arrived on the scene back in March '98 - when I was finishing high school. I played it obsessively for about a year, and then throughout college, wasting incalculable amounts of time on "Battle.Net" - the online matchmaking system that enabled you to play Starcraft against anyone on the internet.

There are a few good friends of mine now all grown-up and leading successful careers that were at one time known for being the guys on my floor who would stay in on the occasionall Fri/Sat night to play Starcraft. You know who you are - [E5] *G* and [E5] Galahad. You had a friend too, Jimmy that I remember only for 2 things - Starcraft, and "Hello Danny's???"

My apologies to friends/family who have NO clue what I'm talking about in the last paragraph.

I can even remember my younger brother struggling in vain to play Starcraft online with our old & wretched 56k modem connection to AOL.

But now it's 2009, and Starcraft has been retired from most people's PC gaming repertoire.... except in Korea.

Of the 10 million copies of Starcraft sold globally, an estimated 4.5 million were sold just in South Korea. Starcraft's popularity in Korea has helped it transcend video games - there are professional leagues, sponsorships, television contracts, and some players earning more than US$200,000/year as "Starcraftletes".

I've known about this phenomenon before, but this was my first chance to experience it in the flesh.

I plunked down in a lounge chair and watched a 20-minute terran/zerg vs. protoss/terran 2v2 battle - and was in awe. I've never seen anyone capable of clicking a mouse that fast or micro-managing so many different things at once.

Respect.

Gum Smuggling

2009-06-28T10:55:00.002+08:00

That's not a typo - this discussion of contraband goods focuses on the chewing variety.

"Chewing Gum is Banned" seems like Singapore's international claim to fame. The only fact more well-known about this small island nation is the use of caning as punishment for certain crimes.

For such an image-conscious nation, Singapore isn't doing a good job with your average American. When discussing my move/re-location to Singapore with people back in the US, I'd estimate that 75% of them brought up the subject of chewing gum bans or caning and the serious impact that would have on my daily life. One of those idiots event went so far as to scare my unsuspecting readers into thinking that I was going to be the recipient of a caning.

Shame, as Singapore is a marvelous city in many ways and is more than just the place in Asia where that stupid brat Michael Fay got caned in the early 1990's.

But the lack of chewing gum is very real. Despite popular belief, there is not actually a "Ban" on chewing gum here. It is just exceedingly difficult to get your hands on a pack.

So why is chewing gum so tough to find? Apparently this wasn't always the case, but when Singapore opened their new metro system in the late 1980's, some cretins decided to dispose of their gum in the door sensors, causing havoc with the train system, and the government decided to ban chewing gum. I find the decision a bit heavy-handed, but I never have to worry about getting gum stuck to my shoes.

But Wrigley's in the US didn't take kindly to this imperceptible decrease in their gum sales, and vigorously lobbied the US government to pressure Singapore into allowing gum sales - and as of the 2004 US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, gum can be imported/bought in Singapore...albeit under a ridiculous set of restrictions.

A subset of chewing gum with proven health benefits of certain gums was categorised as "medicinal gum" is allowed for use, provided it was sold by a dentist or pharmacist, who must take down the names of buyers.

I just went to the dentist last week, and I had wanted to get a prescription for chewing gum but it slipped my mind.

So I do what most gum-craving residents of Singapore do - smuggle it in from Malaysia.

I realized that this was against the law - but what I recently learned is that the act of CHEWING this unlicensed gum is also against the law.

Singapore has very explicit instructions on how gum can be imported for personal use:

Here is the official policy on the import of chewing gum:

Except for chewing gum with therapeutic value, the importation into Singapore of any chewing gum is prohibited under the Regulation of Imports and Exports (Chewing Gum) Regulations. The prohibition on the import of chewing gum except for those of therapeutic value is absolute. Therefore, no allowance is given for any person to import them for personal consumption.

With effect from 1 January 2004, traders licensed by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), can import chewing gums with therapeutic value, classified under the Medicines Act, for local sale. The import of all other types of chewing gum and bubble gum remains prohibited. Possession of unlicensed chewing gum would therefore constitute possession of a prohibited item, which is an offence under the Customs Act.

I almost certainly don't want to know what the punishment for that offence is.

HOWEVER - there is an exemption!

The import of chewing gums with therapeutic value, classified under the Medicines Act is under the purview of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA). Please refer to the list of licensed gums in the following website and search for Oral dental gums for 'Product type': http://www.hsa.gov.sg/prism/common/enquirepublic/SearchCCUProduct.do?action=load

Importation may be allowed for licensed chewing gums (medicinal and oral dental chewing gums that are registered with HSA) hand-carried into Singapore either by visitors/tourists or citizens returning from overseas trips provided the import quantity is reasonable, for not more than 3 months' supply for personal consumption. As a general guide, not more than 3 months' supply would be about 300 sticks or pellets in total. For more information on licensed chewing gums, please contact HSA at hsa_info@hsa.gov.sg.

Now here's where things get more interesting. I think Malaysia is aiding and abetting the smuggle of contraband chewing gum into Singapore.

Let's look at exhibit A - my recent acquisition from the KL airport:

When have you ever seen chewing gum sold in a container like that? That's how I buy over-the-counter medicine like Tylenol, or Advil - but I've never seen gum stored like this. My theory is that chewing gum is sold in Malaysia in this type of container so that when it passes through airport scanners, it doesn't appear as chewing gum - just pills/vitamins.

So now the more important question - is my gum illegal? Unfortunately it appears that is the case.

I did my research with the Health Sciences Authority, and there are certain types of Wrigley's gum that is permitted for import:

Orbit Xylitol is permitted, but what I have looks like Extra Xylitol. Or perhaps Wrigley's just brands them differently in Malaysia vs. Singapore? I need to get to the bottom of this, as it could be the difference between idle, gum-chewing bliss or 6 strokes of the cane.

I know Julie is always good for a few packs of Orbit gum, so next time I see her she's going to hand over ever pack she has - I can legally import up to 300 pellets.

East Coast Pig Roast

2009-06-27T13:33:00.002+08:00

The East Coast Park in Singapore is the most well-known/popular of the National Parks here. It's a 15km strip of land between the East Coast Parkway and the coast. No matter what recreational activity you are looking for, this park has it - the essentials like well-shaded bike/running trails - a necessity for the equatorial heat - and not-so-common stuff like an RC car race track and a cable ski park for wakeboarding/water skiing. The entire park is along the coast, so you always have an open view of the sea and there are a lot of BBQ pits, restaurants, and campsites.

The park is very popular with expats - many families re-locate to the East Coast area in large part due to the proximity of the park, and the more natural/relaxed environment in contrast with the concrete jungle that is the central area.

I think it's a great park - but we almost never visit. It's not easily accessible by public transportation, and returning home via taxi always entails calling the cab company, waiting awhile and then the inevitably confused driver that went to a different location. Still, we always say that we should go there more often.

The only drawback to this coastal park is the view - Singapore's entire coastline is marred by an endless procession of container ships leaving/entering the port.

No matter where you are in Singapore, when you look towards the ocean this is what you will see:

So the other weekend a friend of ours invited us to a BBQ they were having on a Sunday afternoon. We feigned interest, but there was little chance of us going until he told us why this was different from your standard BBQ - he was roasting a pig.

I had never done a pig roast before and this was my chance to remedy that mistake.

The BBQ pit areas in the park are very well put together - and here's a much better view - facing inland

Apparently there is a wholesale butcher in Jurong that will sell you the entire pig. Then it was loaded it up with mushrooms, onions, potatoes, oil and barbecue sauces and slow-cooked inside tinfoil for hours on top of the grill.

The brains behind the pig roast is originally from Colorado and I'm more than a bit jealous that this was a regular occurrence during his summers there.

Here is the moment of triumph as he prepares to open up the pig - I wasn't the only first-timer here - people everywhere were taking pictures/videos.

Behold our roasted piglet and the sweet, succulent pork we are about to gorge ourselves on.

The meat was so tender that no knife was required to lift it off the pig - we actually used a pair of salad tongs to pull the meat off the bone. It was some of the best pork I've ever tasted.

Carnivore Kia wasn't going to miss an opportunity to devour meat fresh off the bone - she made quick work of one of the first servings of the pork.

I have decided to become a padawan to this pig-roasting Jedi Master, and hope to one day return to the States capable of such a feat.

Singaporean Courtesy

2009-06-13T15:32:00.002+08:00

Singaporean behavior on MRT trains, public buses, elevators, shopping malls and lack of common courtesy in general has long been a point of consternation for Kia & I here. It's not everyone - but a sufficient majority here lack basic manners when dealing with crowds in public.

The prize for worst public transport experience goes to the Beijing subway during rush hour where I had to forcefully shove people out of the way in order to exit the train. But I've ridden a lot of metro systems in my day... and the behavior in Singapore ranks near the worst.

This is something that I have long lamented - but never wrote about.

I never wanted to come off as having some form of Expat superiority complex - whining about things that are different from home and always comparing the local attitudes/behaviors against some form of American ideals. I'm the visitor here, and if that's how things are - then I'm the one who needs to adapt.

But I will remain silent no longer - as my views now have the backing of the Singaporean government!

The government has recently embarked upon a massive "Courtesy Campaign".

In true benevolent dictatorship fashion they have bombarded the populace from all sides - videos in train stations, signage everywhere, articles in the local paper, enlisting local celebrities - all in a concerted effort to right this bad behavior.

When the government decides they want to change something they make sure you notice.

Here are some helpful guidelines on how to behave nicer at one of the bus stops I frequent:

So why is this such a big deal? It's something fundamental that you have to experience first-hand - but the initial situations where you first encounter complete disregard for something that you consider so basic is a bit jarring.

When a train door opens here, no one waits for you to exit - everyone barrels in as fast as they can and races to get a seat. When you need to get off the train, people don't move out of the way for you.

When you leave the train and are heading toward the escalator, people don't think twice about elbowing you out of the way and forcing themselves in front of you.

When a bus door opens, there is no orderly line of people that get on single file - people try and jam themselves in from all sides to try and get on the bus just 1-2 people earlier.

When you have been waiting for an elevator someone will push right past you to get on first. If the elevator is clearly full they have no qualms jamming themselves into the already packed elevator rather than wait 30 seconds for the next one.

The fearless "aunties" are the worst culprits - these 5 ft. tall 90-lb. Asian women think nothing of ramming you aside in their quest to get up the escalator faster/on the elevator earlier.

Upon arrival in Singapore at first you don't really know how to react - it is your instinct to be polite and give women/children/elderly the right of way.

But after awhile you can't take it anymore and you become "broken in" and the next time you see some old lady trying to step in front of you cut her off with a forearm/elbow and get a sick sense of enjoyment as she bounces off you like a pinball.

But now the government wants to change things and you are reminded at every train door to be polite and let people exit first:

This one I'm not so sure about. My Singlish has improved in my 18 months here, but I have no idea what "Don't Play, Play" means.

This campaign has been in effect for a few weeks now - but I can't say I notice much of a difference.

Happy Hour at the Thai Airways Lounge in KLIA

2009-05-29T17:17:00.002+08:00

At least that's what I'm calling it...

I finished up work earlier today and caught a ride to the airport 4 hours before my flight in hopes of catching an earlier flight, as Singapore Airlines/Malaysia Airlines/Silk Air co-operate around 12 flights/day between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

After walking from counter L to counter F to counter L to ticketing and dealing with a variety of unhelpful nitwits I struck out - no seats on any earlier flights were available. The best I could do was put myself on the waiting list for the 5:30pm Silk Air flight... so I am #49 on the waiting list for a full plane that only seats 100 people.

My original flight is the 6:50pm Singapore Airlines flight, so I have had a few hours by myself to abuse the free-flow of alcohol in the Thai Airways lounge.

Here's a view from my vantage point - at the end is the bar and the fridge stocked with beer, and the 2 employees trying to figure out how they can politely decline this American buffoon from drinking himself off his flight.

For the record - after seeing how insanely drunk Steve got in the New Orleans airport returning to DC from Andy's Bachelor Party, I'm really not sure what it takes for someone to actually prevent a passenger from boarding a plane. I think Steve narrowly missed decapitating some poor old lady as he fired a high-velocity sandal off his foot in the direction of Wirth's over-sized head.

I also am passing the time watching the airplane movements - and as an extreme airplane geek I will now spell out for you what we are looking at:

On the left you have an Airbus A330 from Etihad - came from Abu Dhabi. Etihad is one of the new mega-carriers based in the Middle East (the others being Qatar & Emirates) that each have billions of dollars in planes on order and want to become the connecting point for passengers anywhere in the world.

In the background you have a few Malaysian Airline 747s and the dinky little plane is from Xiamen Airlines in China.

What a splendid Happy Hour

Quick stop in Manila

2009-05-27T22:04:00.001+08:00

Another busy week at work goes by with no time to blog... so here's failed attempt #27 to catch my readers up on what is going on.

The 2nd half of May has been a very heavy travel period for me - I think since 5/15 I have spent 3 nights in my own bed.

Last week found me in Manila for just one day of meetings - so I don't have much to say about Manila beyond my first impression and a few small things.

Of all the cities in Asia I can compare it to, Manila feels closest to Jakarta. The massive sprawl of a city that mixes incredible poverty with modern luxury in a rather haphazard way.

Take these views from the hotel - both taken in the same place just facing different directions.

Here you have your standard Manila shot - city stretches all the way to the sea and there are a smattering of buildings none of which look very appealing.

Now I turned around to face Makati - the commercial center of Manila - this view looks no different from say Singapore or Hong Kong.

Small distance but an enormous economic gap between the two areas.

One other thing about Manila - they have the world's coolest public buses - Jeepneys!!

Originally built by hacking together leftover parts from US Military jeeps in the Post-WW2 era, the Jeepneys now ply the municipal bus routes of the Metro Manila area.

Most of the Jeepney drivers I encountered seemed like they were training for the F1 grand prix and I feel like most residents of Manila have seen someone catapaulted out the back of one of these things - the back is open, there are no seat-belts and people get packed in like sardines.

I'm sure the experience is horrible, but I must take a ride in one of them.

Great Party Idea

2009-05-22T07:14:00.002+08:00

When I saw this poster on Sat. night I had to take a picture.

Nothing like taking cartoon heroes from your childhood and mixing them with scantily clad women to get you excited for a party!!

AND prizes for best-dressed!

My vote would be for the fat guy that is too old to be at the party dressed as Sgt. Slaughter.

For those of you who don't remember, Sgt. Slaughter was one of the best WWF villains back in the day.

Here's a memorable clip from my youth:

Strolling around Sydney

2009-05-18T20:19:00.002+08:00

As promised, some non-Cambodia material is on its way!

This weekend found me in Sydney hanging out with friends, meeting up with second-cousins that I didn't know I had, and running errands for my wife & her friends.

This has to be the biggest Apple store I've ever seen:

No matter where I am in the world, I will always be compelled to enter this store:

And now for the real purpose of my trip to Australia - a mission from Kia to acquire 4 kilos of ~~pure, uncut Venezuelan white powder~~ Venezuelan corn flour. This stuff is more valuable than gold to Venezuelans who cannot exist without a steady supply of arepas & empanadas. You can't find it in Singapore, but Sydney apparently has enough of a South American community to have an online Latin Deli.

Too bad the losers didn't respond to any of my e-mails. So a few google searches later I came across Torres Cellars and Delicatessen, run by a distant relative of Kia's from Spain... or at least they share the last name.

I don't like the looks of that auction sign - or my next ~~drug run~~ trip for corn flour may lead me elsewhere.

And there you have it!!

Note the Venezuelan Aunt Jemima on the packaging.

And entire case of unsealed Harina PAN packages. Turns out that these were produced by the Colombian subsidiary of Venezuela's Grupo Polar - the magnate behind the flour.

We'll see if Singaporean customs has anything to say about this ~~mission~~ errand.

Angkor Wat

2009-05-17T18:47:00.003+08:00

I have really been milking my recent Cambodia trip for blog entries these past couple of weeks... but I've been up to my eyeballs in work and haven't had anything particularly memorable to write about.... but that's about to change.

But my Cambodia entries would not be complete without the big kahuna of Cambodian temples, and the primary reason we visited in the first place - Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is incredible. The sheer size, scope, and level of intricacy found in this 1000-year-old temple in the middle of some of the most forbidding jungles in one of the world's poorest countries is tough to put into words.

Huge. Ornate. Majestic. A few of the words that pop into my head.

Take the moat for example. I don't think I've ever seen an actual moat before. I've seen a few dried up moat remnants - the Tower of London, the castle in Segovia... but this is my first 'live' moat. And this is a MOAT. This thing was irrigated/built in the 1100's and more or less abandoned for 800 years - and the water is still intact. It's also huge - at 600 feet wide, it makes the Tower of London moat look like a swimming pool.

Here's a picture - it looks like some kind of lake... but it's just the moat!

There is an outer wall and then you open up into the interior courtyard. This is where I took some of my best pictures.

I'm not going to type up the detailed history/story behind the temple - you can find that on Wikipedia

But I do have some good pictures to post.

Here's a close-up of the stonework and the towers

The temples in Cambodia look authentic - like they had been abandoned for centuries - there has been some restoration work, but done in such a way that you really feel the age of the sites.

No more Cambodia drivel. Promise!!

Tonlé Sap Lake - Floating Villages

2009-05-08T08:54:00.002+08:00

To take a break from temple trekking, we decided to pay a visit to some of the floating villages on Tonlé Sap Lake.

This lake is the largest lake in SE Asia, and is permanent home to a number of communities. Schools, churches, restaurants - all can be found floating on the lake.

Here's some of the lakeside houses as we made our way into the lake itself

It appears like it's a pretty tough life.

There were a number of villages - supposedly they are split along ethnic lines: Khmer, Vietnamese, and Cham. It was much larger than I expected, but difficult to capture the size on camera

Apparently due to the extreme levels of poverty, and the difficulty in making a living during the dry season the government has tried to forcefully re-locate some of the 'lake people' into villages/towns on land - but it doesn't work.

These people have literally spent their entire life living on the lake, and are unable to adjust to life on land. They usually end up escaping their new dwellings and returning to their floating world.

Ta Prohm

2009-04-27T12:40:00.002+08:00

Ta Prohm is also known as the "Tomb Raider" temple, as it is the location of the some scenes from the first Tomb Raider film.

This Tomb Raider association has some negative impact on the Siem Reap experience, as every bar/restaurant hypes their "Tomb Raider cocktail" (ingredient mix suggested by Angelina Jolie), or "this is what Angelina Jolie ate" is plastered all over their menu.

But I can see why they chose this location for the movie.

This was one of, if not THE best experience of the trip for me - since Ta Prohm was "left alone" instead of being fully-restored by the archaeologists, you get a real sense for just how much the jungle enveloped these temples while they were abandoned.

It far surpassed my initial expectations - I think the Lonely Planet book said something along the lines of "you can see the trees that have grown within the temple" - and I was imagining some trees in the courtyard/open areas - but I did not expect to see the trees ENTIRE root network completely integrated within the stonework of the temple

They literally cannot extricate some of these trees from the temple - the roots have completely infested the stonework and removing them would topple these sections of the temple.

Banteay Srei

2009-04-27T12:31:00.002+08:00

Temple #2 in our trip was Banteay Srei

This temple was tiny in comparison to the other famous sites, but what it lacks in stature it makes up for in detail.

All of the structures are covered with intricate carvings of Hindu mythology - and the level of detail is still visible 1000 years later.

Making these with stone tools must have been quite a challenge.

The carvings are engraved on all of the temple faces/pillars/roofs - and they look especially impressive when contrasted with the cheesy pink replicas of the statues that are supposed to imitate the original red sandstone look - but I don't buy it.

Pre Rup

2009-04-25T11:15:00.002+08:00

Pre Rup is the first temple we visited in Angkor - it was built in 961/962 and dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

I was not aware of the extensive Hindu/Indian influence on ancient South East Asia - I assumed that most of the historical religions/cultures in the Cambodia/Vietnam region would be based on Buddhism/Chinese/Thai culture - since that is all that is visible today.

But from this temple, and other extensive Angkor-era carvings/sculptures - at the time the region was heavily-influenced by Indian traders/merchants, and the kings/official religions of Angkor were initially Hindu.

Our itinerary in Angkor was good in that we progressively visited the more impressive temples - starting with Pre Rup, moving on to Bantay Srei, Ta Prohm and culminating in Angkor Wat.

Comparatively speaking, Pre Rup is a 'normal' temple - but as it was our first one we felt it was very impressive.

The fact that it was built over 1000 years ago - purely made of stone - and in some of the most intense tropical heat that I've ever experienced.

My First Manicure & Pedicure

2009-04-19T16:20:00.002+08:00

One thing I forget to bring to Cambodia was a nail clipper.

We went looking for one at the Siem Reap equivalent of a 7-11 - staffed by the world's youngest convenience store clerk:

Now I consistently tell Kia that manicures/pedicures are a waste of money - but when a new nail clipper costs US$5, and the manicure/pedicure costs US$10 - I decided to give it a shot.

Never again!!!!

According to Kia, "Esto fue la mas chinva de mi vida" (Translation: Worst of her life), I don't have another experience to compare it to, but this was awful.

I have no wish to ever have an emory board filing my toenails ever again - that shit hurts.

Siem Reap - Mandalay Inn

2009-04-19T16:14:00.002+08:00

This is the first in a series of Cambodia trip-related posts I plan to make. Rather than taking forever to crank out one big blog post summarizing my vacation I think it will be easier to write many small, focused posts.

We decided to pair up with the Weintraubs and visit Siem Reap/Phnom Penh Cambodia for the Easter break.

Siem Reap is the gateway to the Angkor temples in Cambodia, and where we spent last Thurs-Sat. Siem Reap re-defines 'cheap' - our hotel was US$18/night.

Here's a shot of the Mandalay Inn - note the sign - didn't look very expensive to me...

This was the top-rated budget hotel at TripAdvisor - and TripAdvisor once again delivered. It had all the basics - air-conditioning, bed, decent bathroom, hot shower and an excellent location that was a very short walk to Siem Reap town and the bars/restaurants. Highly recommended.

A bit more suspicious were the hotel rules:

#4 still baffles all of us.

Trip to Pulau Ubin

2009-04-15T15:38:00.003+08:00

Pulau Ubin is a small island off the east coast of Singapore that is the last remaining undeveloped segment of the country.

It's a nice escape from the concrete jungle and hard to believe that prior to 1960 this is what most of Singapore looked like.

To get to Pulau Ubin, you have to take a bumboat from Changi Village for S$2.50/person. There are no set departure times... when 12 people get on the boat, it leaves.

Getting onto the boat early Sunday morning is rush-hour, and a bit chaotic as each boat operator tries to get 12 people on board as fast as he can.

The ride over takes about 10 minutes, and then you arrive in a small rustic village with a few places to eat and several bike rental shops.

Renting a bicycle is the best way to experience Pulau Ubin - there are several shops renting bikes ranging from S$2/day to S$12/day.

And then we were off - biking through the jungles of Pulau Ubin

There are only about 80 remaining inhabitants of Pulau Ubin, and they live in small Malay-style homes like this one

From the viewing point off the coast, Ubin looks like a deserted tropical island...

Here's the biking crew: Jin, Helen, Kia, Selene, Gabriel, Luis, Fernando & yours truly.

Here is a house that is totally out-of-place - a Tudor-style home with the only fireplace in all of Singapore. This was built in the 1930's by the British Chief Surveyor of Singapore.

On the eastern side of the island you can find Chek Jawa tidal flats, and the Mangrove forest pictured below:

Despite the scorching heat and suffocating humidity, Ubin is a nice day trip and the only place in Singapore where you feel like you have left Singapore.

Beat the Recession and Win

2009-04-09T05:29:00.002+08:00

Terminal 1 at the airport has setup this promotion to encourage more shopping at the airport.

Where's Jake when you need him?

The promotion should read "Inhumanly strong ogres receive up to S$50 shopping vouchers."

Suggestive Advertising

2009-03-30T22:06:00.002+08:00

Open as wide as you can and say "ah"

So thick it will tear something in you

Be careful where you shove this thing

Some like it long, others love it thick

Has Singapore finally legalized Pornography?

Or is Carl's Jr announcing their new ThickBurger?

For a country that bans Playboy and frequently censors movies/video games for 'suggestive content' - this is quite the brazen advertising campaign.

These banners were plastered throughout my metro car as I rode from Orchard to Dhoby Ghaut MRT tonight.

Singapore's Mammoth Construction Projects

2009-03-27T16:24:00.003+08:00

The construction crane is a common sight in the ever-present building boom in Singapore. Since arriving here 1.5 years ago, it appears that the government/local developers have a never-ending stream of new condo high-rises/new shopping malls/mega-infrastructure projects.

What is THE most important part about choosing where to live in Singapore? Not location, cost-of-living, security, or any other key factors that would come into play were you not living in Singapore.

Nothing is more important than ensuring that none of the buildings next-door are torn-down and turned into a new construction site during your lease period.

The activity in these construction sites is NON-STOP - I can recall a few unscrupulous agents telling us when we were apartment hunting that "don't worry about that massive condo being built next-door - building is only performed from 8:30am - 5pm Mon-Fri, and there are strict regulations on noise". Anyone that has lived in Singapore knows that is complete rubbish - these sites are going from 7am-Midnight ALL week, with only breaks on every other Sunday.

But enough about condos - there are some really grandiose projects underway right now in Singapore - and I get to watch their progress every day.

This is the view across the bay from our office - the Marina Bay Sands.

This will be one behemoth of a ~~casino~~ - except you are not supposed to call it a casino because the Singaporean government frowns upon the gambling connotation and exclusively uses the term "integrated resort".

Here's a rendering of the proposed Marina Bay Sands

At the top you have the "Sky Park" a 2 acre park featuring a mix of landscaped gardens, jogging routes and a luxury swimming pool all with a panoramic of downtown Singapore.

This project is running Las Vegas Sands a cool US$5.4 billion. That budget is mind-boggling. I don't know what kind of 24-carat gold diamond-encrusted toilet seats they are buying, but the current record for Las Vegas casino spending is the US$2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas - and when you take into account the FAR cheaper costs of labor/construction in Singapore - this is nuts. By comparison, the new world's-tallest-building the Burj Dubai is coming in at a total cost of US$4.1 billion.

Marina Bay Sands is currently the world's second-most expensive casino project.

Where are they building an even more expensive ~~casino~~ integrated resport? Those crazy developers in Singapore are at it again.

That's right - Singapore's Sentosa Resorts World comes in at a whopping US$6.59 billion, and will be finished by the end of 2010. Boasting 6 hotels, a monster casino, a Universal Studios and a slew of other amenities, these deluded casino moguls think that plunking US$13 billion on casino projects in Singapore is sure to make them a mint despite the current massive downturn affecting Macau & Las Vegas.

Here's the pipedream that is Resorts World @ Sentosa:

Not to be outdone by the debt-fueled greedy lunatics behind these gigantic casinos, the astute commercial developers here realized that the world needed a new Hong Kong-sized business development to house the perpetually booming financial industry and broke ground on Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Here is where Marina Bay Financial Centre stands today, as seen from my office:

Because 3 million square feet of new class A office space catering to the world's formerly-profitable financial industry is just what the doctor ordered.

All of these projects were conceived at the absolute peak of the credit/property/financial bubble - and it is going to be very interested to see how things shake out over the next 1.5 years.

Crappy Return Home

2009-03-19T17:29:00.002+08:00

So Singapore Airlines finally let me down. I've been a huge Singapore Airlines homer since I moved out here - I fly them constantly for work and they are definitely a 5 Star airline.

In-flight entertainment system is top-notch with 80+ video-on-demand movies, in coach meals they provide you with a menu and 2 options, you always have a drink of water/juice (unlike the 15-hour Chicago-Hong Kong flight on Chicago which has about as much available drinking water as the Sahara Desert), alcohol is free on all flights - and the service is tremendous.

And they apologize if the flight is delayed more than 5 minutes! A flight delay of less than 1 hour of a flight out of Newark on Continental is considered a great success...

But probability dictates that eventually SIA was going to let me down - and that moment finally happened this week.

I was on the Tues. morning redeye back from Abu Dhabi - leave at 1:10am and arrive in Singapore at 12:30pm. The plane arrives from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and then continues onward to Singapore.

Except the plan couldn't leave Jeddah. The gate agents didn't seem to know what was going on, fed us a lot of conflicting information - but by midnight it was clear that there was a serious problem. There were a lot of people with onward connections from Singapore to Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, etc. The lucky ones were able to get a direct flight on Etihad from Abu Dhabi -> Jakarta/KL, but the rest of us were routed to Dubai.

Abu Dhabi & Dubai are both in the United Arab Emirates, and only a 150km drive between the 2 cities - so SIA put me and some other passengers in a taxi, told us we'd be flying on Emirates to Singapore and that someone would be waiting for us at the airport in Dubai with further instructions.

Inconvenient, but I'd be getting home only 1.5 hours later than originally planned - all things considered they did a pretty good job of taking care of me.

The taxi ride was interesting - UAE drivers are famous for their aggressive & insane driving habits that results in one of the highest per-capita accident death rates in the world.

UAE - 20 annual deaths per 100,000 people
USA - 3 annual deaths per 100,000 people

So on the straight, flat and completely deserted section of highway from Abu Dhabi to Dubai we managed to go 90 miles in about 45 minutes - which averages out to a cool 120mph for the taxi ride. Now I understand why so many people in the UAE own high-end sports cars...

So I got a quick night tour of Dubai which was interesting in that I got to drive past the world's tallest building the Burj Dubai - DAMN that thing is tall. 2,600 feet! I look forward to returning when it's completed.

We get to the airport Terminal 3 - which is all Emirates flights... and the place is PACKED at 1:30am. Emirates and their Dubai hub is basically one giant connection - routing people from Asia/Africa/Australia to Europe/US - and the connecting times are all 2-3am departures.

Things did not get off to a good start. Thanks to ~~Mario Andretti~~ our taxi driver, we were the first SIA passengers to arrive. Didn't find anyone associated with Singapore Airlines, so we went to check in for our flight - and were denied.

Emirates had no record of us being booked on the flight to Singapore, or any special information about passengers being routed on this flight. And in our haste to get out of Abu Dhabi, none of us managed to get the mobile number of the people "helping" us in Abu Dhabi.

So a few other people show up, and then a few more, and a few more until there are 70 people from the Singapore Airlines flights camped out in the check-in area while Emirates continues to insist that we're not on the flight. It's now 1:15am.

I got to meet several layers of the management of the graveyard shift - my favorite was a heavy-set man named Tarik who could not have been more obnoxious and could not have had worse breath. He spent most of the time asking us to "take a seat and wait for further information" - and then becoming very irritated when no one sat down - a strange reaction when you consider the fact that there were only 10 seats in the check-in area.

Also at this time, upon closer observation we noticed that SIA offered us 2 different flights back to Singapore - EK432 that leaves DXB at 2:45am, arriving in Singapore at 1:30pm, and EK438 that leaves DXB at 3:30am and arrives in Singapore at 5:00pm.

Why does EK438 take so much longer to get to Singapore? Because it goes via Sri Lanka! And EK432 is nearly full. So now you have 80 disgruntled passengers with no ticket, and an impending fight among said 80 passengers regarding who will be the lucky ones with a connection in Colombo.

Eventually Señor Tarik figured out that SIA had re-booked us on the flight and he triggered the mad stampede to check-in counter. After trampling a few old ladies and kicking in the teeth of some little children I managed to be one of the first to get my boarding pass and on the direct flight to Singapore.

Now, my first Emirates flight. I had never heard of Emirates until I moved to Asia (and I'm an airline geek) - but in the Middle East/Asia, they're a household name. They have some aggressive growth plans that puts Miami condo developers to shame, and currently have 50 Airbus A380s on order. The flight to Singapore could definitely use one of these, as it was packed to the gills.

Emirates had an awesome video system with 10" screens and tons of movies, and really good food (they served 2 full meals on a 7.5 hour flight) - but one thing SUCKS about Emirates - and will cause friends like Wirth/Jake/Micah to pay extra never to fly them.

On a Singapore/United/ANA/Continental/Asiana/Every other Boeing 777 I've flown there are 9 seats across. Some do 3-3-3, United does 2-5-2 - but they all use 9 seats.

Emirates has 10 seats across in 3-4-3. And I had a middle seat. Talk about being packed into a sardine can! I was rubbing elbows with the guys next to me the entire way home.

And for the 12354882309 time in a row, I sat within 2 rows of a 6-month old baby that wailed away the entire flight.

Abu Dhabi & the Azan

2009-03-15T20:15:00.003+08:00

I'm a total novice when it comes to the Islamic World - 2 previous visits to Bahrain consist of my entire life experience. But 3+ weeks in Manama, Bahrain never exposed me to the 'Azan' - the Muslim call to prayer.

So it was with great surprise that I woke up at 5:30am my first morning in Abu Dhabi to a deafening sound.

All of the mosques in Abu Dhabi have a set of centrally-connected loudspeakers, and 5 times per day the call for prayer is broadcast throughout the city.

It was quite a jarring wakeup call the first morning - I had no idea what was going on, and in my sleep-induced haze I thought it was the Arabic-equivalent of an air-raid siren and bolted upright in the bed. 10 minutes later the broadcast subsided, but there was no hope for going back to sleep.

This occurs again 4 more times during the day - and after 3 days here I'm still not adjusted to it... makes me jump out of my seat each time.

Here's someone's video of the broadcast in Abu Dhabi - this will give you an idea of the volume levels and duration.

This appears to be an integral aspect of Islamic Life, and the subject is written about/controversial in other cities - see this article about the controversy/issues in Cairo surrounding the broadcast. I feel quite ignorant that this is the first I'm learning of this.

If you are staying at an Abu Dhabi hotel in the Corniche area, and want to sleep through the morning - bring earplugs.

Corvette Post for Steve

2009-03-14T22:26:00.003+08:00

High-end sports cars have been the subject of several posts on this blog, but none of the American variety. Top-end Lamborghinis and Ferraris, high-end Porsches, BMWs and Audis - but no Corvette. For whatever reason, the American muscle car isn't a common sight in my neck of Asia. Spotted some Mustangs here in Abu Dhabi as well, and I can't recall ever seeing one in Singapore.

This was my first glimpse of the Z06 in the wild - and it is a nice-looking car. Steve, you need to upgrade.

Spotted at the Le Meridien Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Quick stop in Abu Dhabi

2009-03-11T21:05:00.002+08:00

This week brings me back to the Middle East for the first time in 2 years, and back to my old haunt in Manama, Bahrain. I'll then spend a few days in Abu Dhabi before returning to Singapore, and here I sit in the Abu Dhabi International Terminal. Yours truly is becoming quite the intrepid citizen blogger these days!

However, my plans hit a snag as I attempted to upload my picture of the terminal interior to Flickr. Instead of my usual Flickr upload page, I was presented with this:

Fortunately I have access to a means of circumventing these draconian filters and am able to get my images in the hands of my 4 readers.

Whoever constructed these filters isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, as all of the existing Flickr pictures on my blog remain visible - they just blocked 'www.flickr.com' - but none of the actual alternate URLs that serve up the pictures.

Here's the interior of the Abu Dhabi terminal - interesting honeycomb-like structure

I would take a picture of the views outside, but there's nothing to view but sand as far as the eye can see.

3 Lamborghinis

2009-03-09T12:52:00.002+08:00

It's not every day you're heading out to lunch and come across a scene like this:

Pity I had to exclude the new 911 Turbo on the far right.

It looks like 3 Lamborghini Gallardos - this is lunchtime on a Thursday at the Fullerton Hotel.

Merlion Catastrophe

2009-03-02T22:00:00.002+08:00

Singapore's Merlion, rich in symbolism and history, suffered an unfortunate accident this past weekend when it was lobotomized by a lightning strike.

The iconic Merlion is a mandatory stop for any tourist visit to Singapore.

My bus to work every morning passes the Merlion, and usually the viewing platform is packed to the gills with tourists - but this morning yielded a different sight... just a covered scaffolding shielding the poor, wounded Merlion from public embarrassment.

This is what currently greets viewers at the mouth of the Singapore River:

I couldn't get a really good close-up with the covering and the limited zoom on my P&S camera, but if you look closely you can make out the hole in the back of its head in this photo:

This can't be a good omen for the Singaporean economy!

Visit #2 to Jakarta

2009-02-26T22:13:00.002+08:00

I spent a few days this week in Jakarta... and just like my last trip there I had very little opportunity to get to know Jakarta.

But I am now familiar with the Soekarno Airport, the JW Marriott, and the posh area surrounding the Marriott/Excelcom facilities.

Jakarta reminds me in some ways of Bangkok - an enormous, chaotic, sprawling city with a massive wealth disparity. Ultra-luxury apartments and brand-new high-end shopping malls right next to corrugated aluminum covered shanty towns.

The airport is rundown and shady compared to the SE Asia modern masterpieces in Singapore, Bangkok & KL. You have to buy a visa-on-arrival when you get there... and when you arrive on a plane of 300+ passengers originally from Europe, China & Japan - the visa on arrival line is long. Plan on waiting at least 30 minutes here.

The fee is 10USD - and there is a helpful real-time exchange rate board that calculates the price in other currencies. For Singapore dollars it was 16.17 - only a 6% markup.

I rummaged through my pockets and was quite pleased with myself that I had $16.30 and smiled as I gave them nearly exact change.

Except they don't accept change.

So I pay S$20 and only get back 10,000 rupiah (US$1). Going to be an interesting expense report where I claim S$20 despite the receipt clearly stating $10 USD and something in the notes section about this discrepancy and how I was cheated.

Upon exiting customs/baggage claim you are totally assaulted by taxi drivers/transportation companies - it makes the scene I remember from Cancun Mexico seem calm & organized.

The JW Marriott Jakarta lounge has a pretty good breakfast spread.

I've never seen a hotel with this much protection - the JW Marriott Jakarta was bombed in 2003 by a suicide driver at the taxi stand with 12 killed and 150+ injuries - and there is no chance of this happening again.

The vehicle entrance is blocked by a MASSIVE iron gate guarded by 4 security guards with automatic weapons. They open all doors/trunk of the car, pass a mirror underneath and use some kind of explosive detection gear. Then you drive through a 2nd checkpoint... and then before you can enter into the courtyard you pass through a metal detector & have your bags searched. The lobby is also a distance from this checkpoint.

I don't know if all this is supposed to make you feel more or less safe.

My 2 days in Jakarta were pretty uneventful. Work all day - eat dinner in hotel room - work all night.

Rush hour traffic in Jakarta is HORRIBLE. Unbelievably so! I was flying back to Singapore at 8:15pm, so I left the hotel around 5:15. It took 1 hour and 30 minutes to go about 10km, and then 15 minutes to go the 2nd 10km. It didn't feel as chaotic as Mumbai traffic - less honking - there were lanes on the roads - and cars used them - but the traffic just did NOT move.

Hopefully on my 3rd trip to Jakarta I'll have some time to experience the city.

Australian Copycats

2009-02-19T12:55:00.002+08:00

I wonder where they got the idea for these stores that I saw in Bondi Junction...

I mean, seriously - they don't even TRY to be original!

Other countries in Asia that I visit are more famous for their brazen plagiarism but I think this is the most blatant attempt I've encountered in Asia.

When you are finished shopping here, you can have a quick burger at another Australian original - Hungry Jacks:

No shame...

Shafted by the weather in Sydney

2009-02-16T21:04:00.003+08:00

I'm still here, and it has now been 8 days since I last saw the sun. I feel like I'm in London.

We couldn't have asked for better weather our initial weekend here, but it has been cloudy, miserable and rainy ever since.

Good Sydney	Bad Sydney