Seven Weeks in Southeast Asia

Grand finale of pictures!!!!

2006-07-31T10:54:00.000+08:00

So here you are... a few pictures to give you a taste of China and Thailand...

That was a bit of China (Kunming, to be exact, except for the picture with the rocks, which was in the Stone Forest in a nearby province, I think).

Here's some Thailand for you.

Well, I think that's about all I have for now. If you're interested in seeing more, I printed off a ton at Target and would be more than happy to show you my currently incomplete album for the trip! Once again, thank you all for reading. If I ever return to Asia (I should say "when" because I know it'll happen one day), I will once more keep you updated if you would still be interested. Thanks!

Back in the States

2006-07-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone. I'm not sure if anyone is still checking this since I've updated very sporadically the past few weeks, but I wanted to say that I am home safe and sound. Jetlag was actually less brutal than I had expected. I thank you all for reading the blog and I look forward to hanging out as soon as possible.

If you want to check the blog within the next few days, I should have an update with more detail regarding my last days abroad as well as some pictures. Thanks!

A-hotel hopping we shall go...

2006-07-14T21:08:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone and my most sincere apologies for the complete lack of updates in the past week and two days. I also want to apologize for how ridiculous my last post must appear to everyone. Blogger refused to post this long post I'd written, so I tried for three hours in the wee hours of the morning to post it. Unfortunately it did indeed update my blog, unbeknownst to me. So now you have six posts that sound exactly the same. Sorry about that.

So where have I been? Oh my, I feel like a better question is where haven't I been! The past several days have been very tiring to say the least. We left for Kunming, China, which was three flights away but not all that far. Anyway, I loved China! At least, I loved Kunming. I hadn't really expected to like it that much, but now I know I definitely can't wait to go back to the country, hopefully to see the big cities of Beijing and/or Shanghai.

Then four days later we took a plane back down to Bangkok and hopped on a bus for a three hour ride late in the evening to the coast of Thailand, a place called Jomtien. We stayed at that resort for two nights and had an amazing day snorkeling off the coast around the various islands. What a great day.

Then we hopped back on the bus to go a couple of hours to Ayuttaya, also in Thailand, for one night. We toured around the city a bit and saw some temples and some ruins and rode some elephants (hilarious memory there... our elephant could not walk in a straight line or with any sense of constant speed).

After a day there we got back on the bus for a two hour ride to Bangkok, our final destination. The city is nice, but I feel that I'm too tired to appreciate it for what it's really worth. We had a fairly busy day today, but it was the crazy traffic that made it seem that way. Two hours in bumper to bumper traffic... and that's typical here, unfortunately.

So we're staying in this amazing hotel (Novotel) that has amazing rooms and amazing breakfasts. Trust me, I've learned to appreciate food on this trip. And good beds. Ha.

Okay, that's about all the time I have to write. I might not update again until I get home. I'll be home on Wednesday afternoon! See you all soon!

Goodbye Singapore

2006-07-06T04:18:00.000+08:00

I'm now reaching my last few hours in the beautiful city (country) of Singapore. It's so hard to believe that in 24 hours I will be in China, a place that still sounds just as distant now as it did back in the States. I'm not too sure what to expect there, but I do know that I'm looking forward to a change of scenery and a taste (figuratively and literally) of something new. If I make any nonsensical statements during the course of this post, my apologies beforehand. I also tend to be more verbose in the early hours of the morning, at least in terms of my writing. Intelligible conversation, on the other hand, is a foreign concept at two am. Anyway, that is my disclaimer for the following lines, so be forewarned. So where did I last leave off in my travels? Monday? Well then, I suppose it would make sense to start with Tuesday, which was quite busy. It was our last day of class and we were all ready to be through with the work intensive part of the program. The next two weeks should be very busy but not strictly academic in the classroom-based sense. We do have a final exam that takes the form of a daily journal, but that should be enjoyable and not too much of a struggle. As far as exams go, that sounds like an excellent alternative. So classes were over and essays (almost) all turned in. We have one more for the class on Thailand that's due in the next few days, but since we'll be in China we all wanted to finish it early and turn it in. I just did that myself this afternoon. Sorry, back to Tuesday. I'm sure my academic pursuits hold little interest for most people who read this, but they do take up a good part of my time here and are always hanging around in the back of my mind. With them gone, it should be a different type of experience. Like I said, BACK to Tuesday! (see earlier disclaimer) We had the interesting opportunity to visit a primary school (like an elementary school at home) while in session, which gives you a different perspective on the average life in Singapore. It seemed very orderly, with uniformed students and well-spoken fifth-grade guides for our tour. Seriously, these kids were eleven but they were very bright and had vocabularies well beyond what I had at that age. We first had a information session and a Q&A period with some school administrators, but I definitely enjoyed the tour more. The kids were more than willing to talk to us, telling us about their day and how their classes were and what they liked to do. The facilities at the school were also impressive, with a new technology initiative that was installing software and widespread programs for students to hook up to and interact online. Each student would have an online account to keep track of grades, similar to what I have at UNC except geared towards younger students, obviously. Then I discovered (though not to my surprise at all) that this was an upper-middle class/upper class residential area and that the students' backgrounds were probably much more academically oriented than other schools' students. That part definitely reminded me of home. After the primary school visit we went out for our farewell Singapore dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. The food was good, but some of it was too spicy for my taste. I also don't really know how healthy it was in terms of fried foods and sauces. Some of the dishes were great, though. I'd probably go back there. Today was my last day in Singapore and the schedule was completely free, so Andrew and I decided to do what we termed "MRT hopping." Basically we went to Little India, Chinatown, Orchard Road, then to Boat Quay to meet a larger group for dinner at an Italian restaurant. (I know, I know, Italian... but we're going to have nothing but Asian food for the next two weeks straight, so we thought we were okay.) Little India was, well, Little India. It's only the second time I've been there, and I have to say it's definitely not one of my favorite areas of Singapore. It is less touristy, I suppose, but it is also less attractive. I mean nothing against Singaporeans of Indian background, but it's just not my scene. I did, however, want to try out some Indian food at least once (other than prata), so I got some mutton murtabak at a rather authentic restaurant there. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure I would order it again. Then we went to Chinatown and looked around for a few minutes, got some ice cream, then went to a performance area where the old men play mah jong every day. We sat there for a few minutes and watched some teenagers setting up some music and a mat of sorts, then they came out and practiced. Turns out that one of them was a contortionist and the others were performers as well. I got some of it on video. We watched them for about an hour, then decided to head up to Orchard to check that out one last time (and also stop at BreadTalk for our breakfast tomorrow). We sat by the street and people watched for a while. Then we headed to Boat Quay and watched it get dark by the river. All in all, definitely a great day. Very chill and we got to see the main Singaporean attractions in the process. I'd do it over in a second. At the same time, like I said earlier, I am ready for a change and looking forward to experiencing China and Thailand. So there you have it, folks. That's about where I am now, nearly 2:30 am and waiting around until we have to check out at 4:30. We have to take three planes to get to Kunming, so that should be oodles of fun. Otherwise, the flights don't sound to bad. We should get to our destination by late afternoon. Dinner, then bedtime for sure! Well, I guess this will be my last post for at least a few days. I'm not really sure what the internet access will be like in the next two weeks, but hopefully I'll manage something. We might have decent access in our hotel rooms. Thank you all, and I hope you have lovely weeks!

Goodbye Singapore

2006-07-06T02:32:00.000+08:00

Goodbye Singapore

2006-07-06T01:56:00.002+08:00

I'm now reaching my last few hours in the beautiful city (country) of Singapore. It's so hard to believe that in 24 hours I will be in China, a place that still sounds just as distant now as it did back in the States. I'm not too sure what to expect there, but I do know that I'm looking forward to a change of scenery and a taste (figuratively and literally) of something new.

If I make any nonsensical statements during the course of this post, my apologies beforehand. I also tend to be more verbose in the early hours of the morning, at least in terms of my writing. Intelligible conversation, on the other hand, is a foreign concept at two am. Anyway, that is my disclaimer for the following lines, so be forewarned.

So where did I last leave off in my travels? Monday? Well then, I suppose it would make sense to start with Tuesday, which was quite busy. It was our last day of class and we were all ready to be through with the work intensive part of the program. The next two weeks should be very busy but not strictly academic in the classroom-based sense. We do have a final exam that takes the form of a daily journal, but that should be enjoyable and not too much of a struggle. As far as exams go, that sounds like an excellent alternative.

So classes were over and essays (almost) all turned in. We have one more for the class on Thailand that's due in the next few days, but since we'll be in China we all wanted to finish it early and turn it in. I just did that myself this afternoon.

Sorry, back to Tuesday. I'm sure my academic pursuits hold little interest for most people who read this, but they do take up a good part of my time here and are always hanging around in the back of my mind. With them gone, it should be a different type of experience.

Like I said, BACK to Tuesday! (see earlier disclaimer) We had the interesting opportunity to visit a primary school (like an elementary school at home) while in session, which gives you a different perspective on the average life in Singapore. It seemed very orderly, with uniformed students and well-spoken fifth-grade guides for our tour. Seriously, these kids were eleven but they were very bright and had vocabularies well beyond what I had at that age. We first had a information session and a Q&A period with some school administrators, but I definitely enjoyed the tour more. The kids were more than willing to talk to us, telling us about their day and how their classes were and what they liked to do.

The facilities at the school were also impressive, with a new technology initiative that was installing software and widespread programs for students to hook up to and interact online. Each student would have an online account to keep track of grades, similar to what I have at UNC except geared towards younger students, obviously.

Then I discovered (though not to my surprise at all) that this was an upper-middle class/upper class residential area and that the students' backgrounds were probably much more academically oriented than other schools' students. That part definitely reminded me of home.

After the primary school visit we went out for our farewell Singapore dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. The food was good, but some of it was too spicy for my taste. I also don't really know how healthy it was in terms of fried foods and sauces. Some of the dishes were great, though. I'd probably go back there.

Today was my last day in Singapore and the schedule was completely free, so Andrew and I decided to do what we termed "MRT hopping." Basically we went to Little India, Chinatown, Orchard Road, then to Boat Quay to meet a larger group for dinner at an Italian restaurant. (I know, I know, Italian... but we're going to have nothing but Asian food for the next two weeks straight, so we thought we were okay.)

Little India was, well, Little India. It's only the second time I've been there, and I have to say it's definitely not one of my favorite areas of Singapore. It is less touristy, I suppose, but it is also less attractive. I mean nothing against Singaporeans of Indian background, but it's just not my scene. I did, however, want to try out some Indian food at least once (other than prata), so I got some mutton murtabak at a rather authentic restaurant there. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure I would order it again.

Then we went to Chinatown and looked around for a few minutes, got some ice cream, then went to a performance area where the old men play mah jong every day. We sat there for a few minutes and watched some teenagers setting up some music and a mat of sorts, then they came out and practiced. Turns out that one of them was a contortionist and the others were performers as well. I got some of it on video. We watched them for about an hour, then decided to head up to Orchard to check that out one last time (and also stop at BreadTalk for our breakfast tomorrow). We sat by the street and people watched for a while. Then we headed to Boat Quay and watched it get dark by the river.

All in all, definitely a great day. Very chill and we got to see the main Singaporean attractions in the process. I'd do it over in a second. At the same time, like I said earlier, I am ready for a change and looking forward to experiencing China and Thailand.

So there you have it, folks. That's about where I am now, nearly 2:30 am and waiting around until we have to check out at 4:30. We have to take three planes to get to Kunming, so that should be oodles of fun. Otherwise, the flights don't sound to bad. We should get to our destination by late afternoon. Dinner, then bedtime for sure!

Well, I guess this will be my last post for at least a few days. I'm not really sure what the internet access will be like in the next two weeks, but hopefully I'll manage something. We might have decent access in our hotel rooms.

Thank you all, and I hope you have lovely weeks!

Goodbye Singapore

2006-07-06T01:56:00.001+08:00

I'm now reaching my last few hours in the beautiful city (country) of Singapore. It's so hard to believe that in 24 hours I will be in China, a place that still sounds just as distant now as it did back in the States. I'm not too sure what to expect there, but I do know that I'm looking forward to a change of scenery and a taste (figuratively and literally) of something new.

If I make any nonsensical statements during the course of this post, my apologies beforehand. I also tend to be more verbose in the early hours of the morning, at least in terms of my writing. Intelligible conversation, on the other hand, is a foreign concept at two am. Anyway, that is my disclaimer for the following lines, so be forewarned.

So where did I last leave off in my travels? Monday? Well then, I suppose it would make sense to start with Tuesday, which was quite busy. It was our last day of class and we were all ready to be through with the work intensive part of the program. The next two weeks should be very busy but not strictly academic in the classroom-based sense. We do have a final exam that takes the form of a daily journal, but that should be enjoyable and not too much of a struggle. As far as exams go, that sounds like an excellent alternative.

So classes were over and essays (almost) all turned in. We have one more for the class on Thailand that's due in the next few days, but since we'll be in China we all wanted to finish it early and turn it in. I just did that myself this afternoon.

Sorry, back to Tuesday. I'm sure my academic pursuits hold little interest for most people who read this, but they do take up a good part of my time here and are always hanging around in the back of my mind. With them gone, it should be a different type of experience.

Like I said, BACK to Tuesday! (see earlier disclaimer) We had the interesting opportunity to visit a primary school (like an elementary school at home) while in session, which gives you a different perspective on the average life in Singapore. It seemed very orderly, with uniformed students and well-spoken fifth-grade guides for our tour. Seriously, these kids were eleven but they were very bright and had vocabularies well beyond what I had at that age. We first had a information session and a Q&A period with some school administrators, but I definitely enjoyed the tour more. The kids were more than willing to talk to us, telling us about their day and how their classes were and what they liked to do.

The facilities at the school were also impressive, with a new technology initiative that was installing software and widespread programs for students to hook up to and interact online. Each student would have an online account to keep track of grades, similar to what I have at UNC except geared towards younger students, obviously.

Then I discovered (though not to my surprise at all) that this was an upper-middle class/upper class residential area and that the students' backgrounds were probably much more academically oriented than other schools' students. That part definitely reminded me of home.

After the primary school visit we went out for our farewell Singapore dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. The food was good, but some of it was too spicy for my taste. I also don't really know how healthy it was in terms of fried foods and sauces. Some of the dishes were great, though. I'd probably go back there.

Today was my last day in Singapore and the schedule was completely free, so Andrew and I decided to do what we termed "MRT hopping." Basically we went to Little India, Chinatown, Orchard Road, then to Boat Quay to meet a larger group for dinner at an Italian restaurant. (I know, I know, Italian... but we're going to have nothing but Asian food for the next two weeks straight, so we thought we were okay.)

Little India was, well, Little India. It's only the second time I've been there, and I have to say it's definitely not one of my favorite areas of Singapore. It is less touristy, I suppose, but it is also less attractive. I mean nothing against Singaporeans of Indian background, but it's just not my scene. I did, however, want to try out some Indian food at least once (other than prata), so I got some mutton murtabak at a rather authentic restaurant there. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure I would order it again.

Then we went to Chinatown and looked around for a few minutes, got some ice cream, then went to a performance area where the old men play mah jong every day. We sat there for a few minutes and watched some teenagers setting up some music and a mat of sorts, then they came out and practiced. Turns out that one of them was a contortionist and the others were performers as well. I got some of it on video. We watched them for about an hour, then decided to head up to Orchard to check that out one last time (and also stop at BreadTalk for our breakfast tomorrow). We sat by the street and people watched for a while. Then we headed to Boat Quay and watched it get dark by the river.

All in all, definitely a great day. Very chill and we got to see the main Singaporean attractions in the process. I'd do it over in a second. At the same time, like I said earlier, I am ready for a change and looking forward to experiencing China and Thailand.

So there you have it, folks. That's about where I am now, nearly 2:30 am and waiting around until we have to check out at 4:30. We have to take three planes to get to Kunming, so that should be oodles of fun. Otherwise, the flights don't sound to bad. We should get to our destination by late afternoon. Dinner, then bedtime for sure!

Well, I guess this will be my last post for at least a few days. I'm not really sure what the internet access will be like in the next two weeks, but hopefully I'll manage something. We might have decent access in our hotel rooms.

Thank you all, and I hope you have lovely weeks!

Goodbye Singapore

2006-07-06T01:56:00.000+08:00

I'm now reaching my last few hours in the beautiful city (country) of Singapore. It's so hard to believe that in 24 hours I will be in China, a place that still sounds just as distant now as it did back in the States. I'm not too sure what to expect there, but I do know that I'm looking forward to a change of scenery and a taste (figuratively and literally) of something new.

If I make any nonsensical statements during the course of this post, my apologies beforehand. I also tend to be more verbose in the early hours of the morning, at least in terms of my writing. Intelligible conversation, on the other hand, is a foreign concept at two am. Anyway, that is my disclaimer for the following lines, so be forewarned.

So where did I last leave off in my travels? Monday? Well then, I suppose it would make sense to start with Tuesday, which was quite busy. It was our last day of class and we were all ready to be through with the work intensive part of the program. The next two weeks should be very busy but not strictly academic in the classroom-based sense. We do have a final exam that takes the form of a daily journal, but that should be enjoyable and not too much of a struggle. As far as exams go, that sounds like an excellent alternative.

So classes were over and essays (almost) all turned in. We have one more for the class on Thailand that's due in the next few days, but since we'll be in China we all wanted to finish it early and turn it in. I just did that myself this afternoon.

Sorry, back to Tuesday. I'm sure my academic pursuits hold little interest for most people who read this, but they do take up a good part of my time here and are always hanging around in the back of my mind. With them gone, it should be a different type of experience.

Like I said, BACK to Tuesday! (see earlier disclaimer) We had the interesting opportunity to visit a primary school (like an elementary school at home) while in session, which gives you a different perspective on the average life in Singapore. It seemed very orderly, with uniformed students and well-spoken fifth-grade guides for our tour. Seriously, these kids were eleven but they were very bright and had vocabularies well beyond what I had at that age. We first had a information session and a Q&A period with some school administrators, but I definitely enjoyed the tour more. The kids were more than willing to talk to us, telling us about their day and how their classes were and what they liked to do.

The facilities at the school were also impressive, with a new technology initiative that was installing software and widespread programs for students to hook up to and interact online. Each student would have an online account to keep track of grades, similar to what I have at UNC except geared towards younger students, obviously.

Then I discovered (though not to my surprise at all) that this was an upper-middle class/upper class residential area and that the students' backgrounds were probably much more academically oriented than other schools' students. That part definitely reminded me of home.

After the primary school visit we went out for our farewell Singapore dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. The food was good, but some of it was too spicy for my taste. I also don't really know how healthy it was in terms of fried foods and sauces. Some of the dishes were great, though. I'd probably go back there.

Today was my last day in Singapore and the schedule was completely free, so Andrew and I decided to do what we termed "MRT hopping." Basically we went to Little India, Chinatown, Orchard Road, then to Boat Quay to meet a larger group for dinner at an Italian restaurant. (I know, I know, Italian... but we're going to have nothing but Asian food for the next two weeks straight, so we thought we were okay.)

Little India was, well, Little India. It's only the second time I've been there, and I have to say it's definitely not one of my favorite areas of Singapore. It is less touristy, I suppose, but it is also less attractive. I mean nothing against Singaporeans of Indian background, but it's just not my scene. I did, however, want to try out some Indian food at least once (other than prata), so I got some mutton murtabak at a rather authentic restaurant there. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure I would order it again.

Then we went to Chinatown and looked around for a few minutes, got some ice cream, then went to a performance area where the old men play mah jong every day. We sat there for a few minutes and watched some teenagers setting up some music and a mat of sorts, then they came out and practiced. Turns out that one of them was a contortionist and the others were performers as well. I got some of it on video. We watched them for about an hour, then decided to head up to Orchard to check that out one last time (and also stop at BreadTalk for our breakfast tomorrow). We sat by the street and people watched for a while. Then we headed to Boat Quay and watched it get dark by the river.

All in all, definitely a great day. Very chill and we got to see the main Singaporean attractions in the process. I'd do it over in a second. At the same time, like I said earlier, I am ready for a change and looking forward to experiencing China and Thailand.

So there you have it, folks. That's about where I am now, nearly 2:30 am and waiting around until we have to check out at 4:30. We have to take three planes to get to Kunming, so that should be oodles of fun. Otherwise, the flights don't sound to bad. We should get to our destination by late afternoon. Dinner, then bedtime for sure!

Well, I guess this will be my last post for at least a few days. I'm not really sure what the internet access will be like in the next two weeks, but hopefully I'll manage something. We might have decent access in our hotel rooms.

Thank you all, and I hope you have lovely weeks!

some pictures for your enjoyment

2006-07-03T07:25:00.000+08:00

This is a view from Siloso, a beach on the island of Sentosa.

Sunset came and it was time for us to get off the beach. I think that's part of my crowd in the water to the left...

Here's the dragonboats coming to the end of the race! Who's it going to be? And NUS comes in for the win!

We got these clappers to cheer for out NUS team! We're also all decked out in NUS gear. Look at how violently orange these shirts are. Here Amy and Katie are fighting it out...

All work and not play...

2006-07-02T18:07:00.000+08:00

...is a ridiculous concept. Instead, I prefer to treat schoolwork as a in-the-mood type of thing. Right now I'm definitely not in the mood, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to update the blog. I didn't realize it had been since Thursday when I last posted, so my apologies for that. I might as well let you know now that my posts from here on out could be spotty. I'm just not sure how viable the Internet access will be in China or Thailand, and I'll be much busier there than I am now. Worst case scenario is that I'll keep a written journal of sorts for the next couple of weeks and post the highlights when I get back home.

Four more days in Singapore. We leave very early Thursday morning, so I probably won't be out too late Wednesday night. Plus, packing will be oodles of fun. I feel like I've accumulating so much, but mostly it's just a big pile of papers and articles I've read for my classes the past few weeks.

Oh, class. The last day of those is Tuesday. In Dan's class we're just doing group presentations, so no more lectures or in depth learning. All we have to do is sit and appreciate other students' work. I can manage that. I'm just glad the reading is all done. I am quite proud to announce I read practically everything for his class, except for a couple of chapters and a few poorly skimmed chapters. Otherwise, I did it. His paper was turned in Friday, which was a nice relief. I think I may have mentioned doing it in my last blog.

Thursday evening I had for the first time in five weeks.... PIZZA. I want to share the fact that I love pizza and I especially love Brick Oven pizza. Liz, Andrew, and I went to a nearby area called Holland Village, which is basically where non-Singaporeans or wealthier Singaporeans go for a meal. It's similar to Boat Quay or Clarke Quay minus the Singapore River and minus some bars. The restaurants are pricier, but I know that every Sing dollar I spent on that pizza was well worth it. It was good. After that the three of us had a philosophical discussion for a few hours, which is more tiring than you might think.

Given that our group presentations are on Monday and Friday afternoon was finally materializing, I thought it could be important to start researching. My group is talking about human rights issues in Singapore (specifically the death penalty, freedom of speech, and maids abuse, the last of which is my focus) and international pressures to fix them. I went first to the Ministry of Manpower, hit dead ends, then went to the Council of Women's Organizations, another dead end with a medium-sized window in it. In other words, the woman at the desk had no information for me except a good website. Thankfully the website is entirely dedicated to the status and protection of foreign domestic workers in Singapore. Perfect.

So then Andrew and I met up and decided to get off at a random MRT stop and walk around, since neither of us was hungry yet. We were already on the green line, which is where NUS is, so no interchanges were necessary. We got off at Tiong Bahru, but that ended up just being a good sized mall with HDB flats and an open market. Nothing too exciting, except for the fact that Andrew tripped five times in the span of one minute or thirty feet worth of walking. It was hilarious.

Then we decided it was a good night for prata, so we went and decided to be bold. We got off at a new stop that should have been moderately close to the Dover prata shop. Well, we got a bus that looked promising but got off too early. We walked by so many bus stops after that, finally seeing an HDB community that looked like Dover, but it looked a little different and we didn't see where the prata shop could be. All we saw was a closed 7-11 and a surgery clinic and a closed POSB ATM. Well. We kept walking. And we walked by these kids in blue shirts playing football at a Methodist school that I recognized from the usual bus route. Whew. Well, we found a bus stop with a familiar bus, got on and then went past the usual stop hoping it would take us in a circle.

No. It did not take us in a circle. It took us to the end of the route. The doors opened onto a dark, deserted sidewalk but no one else was on the bus or at the bus stop. Pause. Quiet. Then the bus driver leaned down and looked at us. "Last stop. Off."

Off we went. Fortunately there was the bus going in the opposite direction across the street. We sprinted over and caught it in the nick of time, rode it back to where we should have gotten off the first time, finally caught the A1, got off and walked over the overpass to get to the Dover prata shop. There were the kids in blue shirts eating prata and nearly finished with their meals. Puzzled but still not making the connection, Andrew and I ordered and ate our prata.

"Oh no," I said.

"What?" Andrew replied.

"Well, I think this is oddly familiar." I pointed to a closed down POSB ATM.

We finished, got up, walked fifty feet and around the corner and realized we were standing where we had been over an hour earlier.

What a night. Later it would get even better with Andrew forcing me to sprint full speed for nearly a quarter of a mile (slight exaggeration, okay?) to catch the A1.

Anyway, that was my Friday. Basically it was a series of comedic errors, so all in all very entertaining.

Saturday was supposed to be spent doing work on the presentation and my Thailand paper, but that didn't really happen. Instead I was invited to go to Sentosa, the touristy beach on a tiny island (the self-proclaimed southernmost tip of continental Asia-- but it's an island). Actually, it was quite nice just to lie on a beach and do leisure reading for once and enjoy the breezy warmth of coastal Singapore. We stayed there until sunset or so, then made our way back and then Bekah and I tracked down Andrew (we hadn't talked to him all day, but it turns out that he just slept really late). The three of us went to (I'll give you one guess) the prata shop.

And no, I am not going to the prata shop tonight. I'm eating a PGP, as much as it pains me to say. I really can't afford all of the travel time involved with eating elsewhere when I can just walk a hundred yards to eat decently.

Today was pretty chill too, actually. We went to the dragonboat races as a group of five or so and got some cool TeamNUS t-shirts. At least I found a tiny bit of school spirit here. Trust me, it's really sad compared to UNC or any other decent American school. I also got a cap, too, so I was all decked out in NUSwear. The dragonboat races were pretty cool, and there were more foreign teams there than I had expected. People from earlier trips made it sound like a NUS and Singapore Polytechnic type of competition, similar to a UNC-NCState one except much less rivalry. Anyway, there were teams from Australia and foreign businesses. We met these performers from Kenya and Russia. Interesting combination. They were nice and definitely interesting to talk to. They kept telling us they were going to Las Vegas in a month and should get our numbers so we could meet up since we were from the States... yeah... we didn't think that was such a good idea. We kept trying to explain how far away we live from Las Vegas, but it didn't really seem to register.

Anyway, that was basically my day in a nutshell. We came back via taxi and had a pretty cool cab driver. He was friendly and was plenty willing to talk. That always makes the ride faster, especially since our ride today was about a half hour. The Bedok reservoir is a good ways from NUS, apparently.

Well, I'm off to the food court. Hope you all have pleasant Sundays and upcoming weeks!

Tea time!

2006-06-29T18:55:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone! I know it's been a little longer than usual in my posting schedule, but that's just because I've been busy with classwork and papers. Fortunately I finished the one due tomorrow early this afternoon (Dan let us out of class early today!), so my evening is work-free!

I don't have too much to report in terms of goings on here, but a couple of things might interest you. On Tuesday afternoon our group was hosted by Mary Leadbetter (sp?), the daughter of Bill Friday (yes, as in the Friday Center at Chapel Hill) at one of two tea houses in Singapore. The shop owner or manager gave us a very, um, interesting breakdown of tea to enhance our "tea appreciation". According to him, there are only four types of pure tea in the world, and all of those originate from China over 4,000 years ago. There are no other proper teas. End of story. Japanese green tea, for example, is only imitation. The only pure types are green tea, white tea, yellow tea (the real name started with an 'o'), and black tea. We tasted/smelled all of them. Green tea and yellow tea are more traditional tastes, and I think black tea is more bitter. White tea had a good taste, too, though. He showed us a tea plant and where each type of tea came from. He wanted to "make us experts" at tea, so we could distinguish the good from the bad.

After his nice talk about the superiority of Chinese tea, we went into an adjacent room to try to make our own. The teapots are clay and are very tiny, smaller than the size of a typical mug, because they are intended for smaller groups of people. The cups themselves are practically thimbles, but I'm glad they weren't as large as American tea cups because the tea master informed us that one could get drunk.

Exactly how I love spending my days: drunk on pure Chinese tea. Needless to say, I did not get any tea highs, but perhaps that's because I only had four or five cups while eating food (which was delicious, by the way). Perhaps I will start drinking tea with my mother when I get home... perhaps. There's something about drinking a cold Pepsi or lemonade with a meal as opposed to hot tea, especially when it's 90 some degrees outside. Hot tea just doesn't cut it.

After that we made a trip to McDonald's (I know, I know...) for some ice cream. I've become a McFlurry enthusiast to say the least! It's so gooooood. In fact, it's about 7 pm now and some dinner and ice cream would be amazing.

Well, speaking of dinner, the rest of the group is ready to head out, so I need to go. I can update later...

Selamat datang!

2006-06-26T13:38:00.000+08:00

Welcome! I wanted to say hello, but I'm not too sure how to spell it, so that will have to do. I think Bahasa Malay looks like a great language to learn, though I don't know how I would go about doing it. A lot of the words are similar to English, like farmasi (pharmacy), fisiologi (physiology), restoran (restaurant), teksi (taxi), and bas (bus). I learned some other random words simply because they were on street signs or signs with translations on them. From what I've heard, it is a relatively easy language to learn, unlike Chinese! I can only say a couple of things in Mandarin, and it's much harder for me to pronounce. As for reading, definitely not. I can write "China" in Chinese and that's about it.

I've just eaten lunch up at the Deck and I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to post about my experience the past few days in Malaysia! It was such a contrast to go there after being in Singapore for three weeks. Oddly enough one of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur and got out of the bus were the dark circles pasted all over the streets-- yes, chewing gum. Singapore has banned the sale of gum, as I've mentioned before, so that something I would never see on the island. Kuala Lumpur was basically filthy. However, I say that not because it was extremely dirty compared to a typical city, but only dirty compared to Singapore. The streets were no less clean than an alley in Winston-Salem or New York City. Granted, Singapore isn't exactly in pristine condition itself. A couple of weeks ago I ate in a hawker stand and saw a rat running around in the rafters above my head. (I've definitely learned to appreciate the concept of A-grade restaurants at home... here I eat mostly at places with B ratings and occasionally a C.)

Anyway, my point is to give you a basic idea of what Kuala Lumpur is like. The most famous national emblem is probably the Petronas Towers, which is government sponsored but inhabited partly by a private/government oil business. I saw several Petronas gas stations as we travelled through Malaysia.

Okay, this picture is the only one I got of the towers that's even remotely close. I apologize for how blurry it is. I've discovered that it is very difficult to take pictures at night. I took this from an market area close to our hotel. We had just eaten and walked around a little, but it was getting late and we were all tired from the day's five hour bus ride through two immigration stops.

Earlier on Thursday we had visited the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, which was far more interesting than I had expected. My knowledge of embassies and those who work there was limited, so this was a great way to see the types of jobs available. The woman who led our group discussion/information session was actually a '98 grad of UNC and was very excited to see people from home. She was very nice and first gave us a rundown of the state of Malaysia before launching into information about herself and how she became involved in the foreign services aspect of the Department of State. There was also an intern there who was a grad student at... Cornell? Or maybe it was Drexel? At any rate, she told us that there were great internship opportunities through the Department of State, one of which was working in embassies all over the world.

The embassy itself was a mini fortress. We had to wait for several minutes and show our IDs to get admission into the premises, plus walk through a metal detector. None of that suprised me, though, considering how vigilant overseas US embassies must be to preserve security. Men with large guns guarded the entrance as we entered, for instance.

Anyway, we spent the day in Kuala Lumpur and went to Chinatown where there was yet another long strip of street vendors. The ringitt is valued at about a third of a US dollar, so the exchange rate is definitely in our favor. Several of my friends bought things, but I declined since transportation of bought items is still an issue. Also I've heard that Thailand and China are even better in terms of shopping cheaply.

While we were walking along and only minutes after we had first arrived in Chinatown, several young men pressed their way through the crowded walkway talking into their walkie talkies and yelling at some of the vendors. I didn't really understand what they were saying, but as soon as the vendors heard they began packing up some of their goods, and they packed up fast. By the time I whipped out my camera to catch them in the act of hiding the stuff, most of them were done and sitting at empty tables. Frustrated and still confused I put up my camera only to see policemen hurrying toward where I was. I don't know if they caught anyone selling anything illegally, but I doubt it. Obviously this had happened many times before. Throughout the rest of the evening and when I went back later those young men with walkie talkies kept weaving in and out of the crowd, apparently keeping tabs for the vendors.

This is only a glimpse of how busy the street was. It took nearly half an hour to push your way from one end to another.

That night I also tried something new with Dan's advice and encouragement, and that was Chinese herbal tea. Or maybe it's just called medicinal tea. He got two kinds for a group of us to try. One was very bitter and really good for you, while the other tasted more like honey and wasn't quite as healthy. I'd had a bit of a scratchy throat for a few days, but after I drank (read: practically chugged) half of a cup of the bitter tea, I felt better. Now, I don't know if that's merely psychological or if it really did any good, but there you have it. Tea has definitely grown on me over the course of the past few weeks. I may have to enjoy it at home as well if I can find one that I like, though I'm not sure I'll be an Earl Grey enthusiast any time soon.

Friday morning we enjoyed a nice walk (hike!) through a forest conservation area just outside of the capital. Even though I wore long khakis and a long sleeved shirt, the heat did not really bother me that much. It's suprising how quickly your body can adjust to very different environments. Within two weeks of being in Southeast Asia I already could tell I was adjusting. Hot doesn't really feel so sticky and unbearable anymore-- just hot. Throughout the hike we saw some cool things, like tiny leeches that tended to attach themselves to whatever part of your body they could find (I was thankful for my sleeves and pants) and giant ants about an inch long.

These trees were also very cool. If you notice, they are quite unusual because the leaves don't touch like typical canopies. In fact, these are an oddity that even featured in National Geographic. The guide said that there weren't any like them in the world and they're not really sure why the trees don't touch. Strange, huh?

On Saturday we departed for Melaka, a smaller city but still quite large with 800,000 people. It was also the home of our tour guide, Eddie. Heavily influenced by the Portuguese over two centuries ago, the city has a Portuguese district and restaurants. We went to a Baba and Nyonya Museum (dedicated to the Straits/Peranaken Chinese who have both Chinese and Malay ancentries) which had Chinese, Malay (Muslim), and Victorian influences in the architecture and decorations. It's an interesting combination, but I loved it. I think Chinese architecture is colorful but still soothing, in a way, so the combination was enjoyable.

The hotel in Melaka was unlike the Swiss Garden Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Both were very nice, but while the KL hotel was more modern and upscale, the Melaka hotel was quaint but rich in decor. Of all the places I've been to so far, Melaka seems to be the most realistic. While tourist influences still mar the original, it's clear that Westernization has yet to completely twist its appearance.

Here's our hotel. Now of course you may not notice, but this is Sunday as we're packing up and heading out to go get on the coach. If you look carefully you can see this red cloth around the door and a strip of red carpet rolled out of the entrance. As we discovered two days prior to our arrival, the Prime Minister of Malaysia was scheduled to eat lunch at this hotel in Melaka only two hours after this photo was taken. Eddie tried to see if we could meet him, but it was too much red tape. This guy here in front of me facing the other way must have worked for the government or something, because he was busy directing traffic before they blocked off the road.

Just think: Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi might have been sitting at the same seat I did earlier that day. Actually, that's pretty unlikely. He probably was eating inside in a fancy room, whereas I had breakfast out in the courtyard. But still, it's a nice thought!

Oh well. I would have liked to meet the PM, but perhaps another time! You never know...

After we left the hotel we went to see a traditional Malay house where I finally bought my first souvenir (a purse, believe it or not) for only 5 ringitt. I was so surprised by how cheap it was that I didn't even bother bargaining. I mean, how do you bargain for something that's about a buck-fifty? Anyway, I really like it and I'm going to be selfish and keep it for myself. Sorry!

We also went to a palm oil plantation (see picture) and a rubber tree farm (see next picture). The palm trees have these huge fruits on them with over a thousand seeds and they weigh about twenty-thirty kilos. You have to get a ladder, get them down from the tree, come through with a trailer and pick them up, then ship them off to a receiving station, then do it all over in a few days with newly ripened fruit.

Here's rubber dripping from a tree after the man scraped it. Actually, I think this substance is called latex, but I'm not sure. I was only half listening at this point because... well I don't really know why. There were lots of mosquitoes. If anything is distracting, it's mosquitoes.

The palm oil plantation was pretty cool, I must admit, and I definitely paid attention here. I described it earlier, but here rae the fruits with the seeds, like giant strawberries except with oil and not juice. Here's the tour guide, Eddie. He was an interesting character. And Dad, here are the trees, though they're hard to make out in this picture. They aren't all that tall, despite how thick they are. Probably just a few metres.

After this we headed back home to Singapore! I actually was relieved to sleep at PGP last night. While I did enjoy the aircon in our hotels, I had to sleep under sheets and blankets and realized how uncomfortable that could be. My dorm room was nice and hot and remarkably ant-free! What more could you ask for?

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any amusing stories for the week... that's a shame. Actually, this might work as slightly amusing: When we went to the administrative capital on Saturday not far outside of KL (Putra Jaya), there was a very large mosque. Originally we thought we could go inside, so we put on some robes (guys included) to cover ourselves. Well, for some odd and unknown reason, these robes were a sickly color of pepto bismol pink. Seriously, take a look...

Exactly. That's some serious pink. I felt so strange wearing that, then on top of everything else I was standing with my friend Rebekah and the sophomore on the trip Joey (who has very blonde hair) when a few Asian tourists saw us and started motioning for us to do something. They had a camera so at first I thought they wanted us to take their picture altogether. Surprise, surpise, no. They wanted a picture with us. Yes, us. Standing in the middle of Southeast Asia in the administrative capital of Malaysia outside of a mosque, three Americans were asked to pose with Asian tourists. Since when did we become the tourist attraction? (You may be coughing and pointedly motioning to my photo spree at the cosplay event, but I argue that the anime characters wanted to be photographed... that's the point of the whole event, basically. Otherwise, you do make a good point.)

Needless to say, my picture is floating around out there with some really random people. And not only is it a picture of me, I'm dressed up like the poster boy for stomach medicine. Fantastic.

With that, it's time to bring this post to an end and start doing some work. I have a paper due Friday, a project due Monday, and another paper due early next week sometime. Oodles of fun!

I hope you all are having lovely Mondays, and I look forward to hearing any comments that you may have! Love to you all!

Busy week!

2006-06-21T14:26:00.000+08:00

Sorry that my posts were not as thorough as they have been in the past. I've had a busy weekend and a busy start to the week, since I had to keep up with the reading for both of my classes and complete a paper by today. I'm two thirds of the way through the actual in class part of the program, which is hard to believe. We just finished having Dr. Emmanuel (who had replaced Dr. Quek) to teach us Malaysian history. It's all very complicated, to be honest. Next we'll have the history of Thailand. That'll be an interesting change, since it wasn't colonized, as opposed to Malaya and Singapore.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia! I'm really looking forward to this trip, though Dan told us not to think of it as a vacation. And I'm not, but I do see it as a welcome break from class and the city of Singapore. I'm ready to venture out into more of Southeast Asia! We leave at 7 am on Thursday morning and get back last Sunday evening, so that means three nights in a hotel. That should be interesting. A relatively soft bed and aircon at night and lack of insect invasions... hopefully. Seriously though, PGP isn't all that bad, and the single rooms have turned out to be nice. The point is that I need to pack four days' worth of clothing and other stuff into a bookbag, allowing for the possibility that I'll buy something in KL or Melaka, the other city on the coast that we visit.

Since Malaysia is more conservative than Singapore and more Islam-oriented, we were told to dress more conservatively. At first I thought we had to just wear either skirts to cover down to our ankles or jeans and a long sleeved shirt, but now I'm not so sure. I think we do need to cover as much as we can without be uncomfortably hot, which is fine with me. I don't want a bunch of stares when I'm out in the city. And don't worry, mother, I'll travel in a group.

So that's what I'll have to write all about when I get back to Singapore. We're going by bus, and it's a five hour or so ride, so I should be able to get some reading done and maybe, finally, some leisure reading. I brought three books with me but I haven't touched them since I stepped off the plane here. That, and my iPod. I mean, I listen to iTunes while I'm sitting at my computer typing this, but I've yet to listen to the actual iPod. I look forward to reading, listening to music, and sleeping.

Now back to the past few days. I barely covered my trip to Pulau Island, but although we spent several hours there my post pretty much covered that aspect. Earlier Sunday morning we'd gone to the Changi Prison Museum on the other side of the island, which was interesting but not quite enthralling. I did enjoy the trip, though, since the site was dedicated to the place where the British had set up camp during the late 19th century all the way until the 1960s or so. The reason it's called "Changi" is because that's what the British called this exceptionally tall tree at the base. It was over 100 metres tall, which made it visible all over the island. Then, ironically enough, troops invading during WWII basically used that tree as a perfect way to aim their weapons from the Malay coast. At least, that's what I gathered from our tour guide. He got a bit longwinded so I tuned in and out of the story, unfortunately.

Well, after that our bus took us to a hawker centre nearby for us to all get food. It was quite crowded, and by this point in my study abroad experience I'm really starting to miss American food. However, I'm still adventurous in the food department. I ended up eating fried carrot cake. Now, let me just point out that I thought it either meant carrot cake as in the dessert or literally a cake with veggies like carrots.

Um, no. I ordered white carrot cake (I have no idea what black carrot cake is either) and it was basically fried scrambled eggs but not really, with random other stuff added in. I couldn't even begin to describe how much it was nothing like what I'd anticipated. It was good, but I don’t know if I’d order it again.

I don’t know, I just feel like right now I’m to the point where nothing’s really sitting well and all I want is some raisin bran or a turkey sandwich or spaghetti. For as unhealthy as people say American food is, at least it has vegetables. Yesterday I had fried rice and an egg roll for lunch, and prata again for dinner. (Have I described prata? I can’t remember. I think I have, but just in case: it’s really thin like a crispier quesadilla with anything inside, like cheese or chocolate or honey.) I got that but again it did not make me feel satisfied. Today I got plain noodles and some sweet and sour potatoes, and it was good.

Anyway, enough about my food woes. Overall it is delicious, but sometimes I just want to be able to walk into my kitchen at home for something simple that does not involve rice or noodles. Haha.

On to other things, like my plans for this afternoon. Dan was holding Chinese lessons, but he wasn’t going to start until 2:45 and he said it would last two hours, so I didn’t go. I really wanted to! Oh well, hopefully he’ll do another. It’s just that I wanted to be able to go out for the evening. A few of us have been wanting to go see Cars at the cinema, so I think we’ll try to see the five o’clock showing at Suntec City today. I’m so excited about not having a reading assignment tonight! That way I can just relax, watch a movie, possibly eat some pizza…? Haha.

Monday we went on another trip as a group, though this time for Dr. Emmanuel’s class. We went to Fort Canning, the old site of the Malay sultanate and its palace. There’s not much there now because everything was made of wood and in a climate like this that doesn’t last long. Anyway, we went from there to Kampong Glam, which I think I’ve talked about earlier as the Arab Quarter or Arab Street. There we visited the Malay Heritage Centre, which is a museum of sorts though small. That’s what I wrote my paper on, because I thought it was rather unusual that the centre barely had anything on the influences of Islam on Malay heritage, which seems to me to be rather crucial. But I just sent the paper off via email, so I should get back comments soon.

We hung out at Arab Quarter and visited a mosque, the same one that I have pictures of a few posts earlier (where I heard the prayer call). It’s a Middle Eastern style mosque with the onion-shaped dome, but I think it’s really beautiful. Other ones that are Southeast Asian are not so distinctly Arabic the way we think of it as westerners.

Let’s see, what else? I can’t really think of anything right now, and we’re about to leave to go to the movies. The cinemas have assigned seating, so it’s best if you get there early so you get tickets that are seated together. Different, huh? We’ll see if I like it.

Thanks to everyone who’s reading, and I hope you all have wonderful Wednesdays.

ps: I don't have time to post pictures right now and I'm not sure if I have any, but if I do I'll do it later. Sorry!

2006-06-20T00:08:00.000+08:00

Today's June 19, which means I have exactly one month left here. Early Thursday morning I leave for Kuala Lumpur, then when I get back there will just be ten more days in Singapore. Kunming (China) next, then Bangkok (Thailand). Time seems to be flying, I think.

This post won't be too long because it is already 11:15 pm and I have yet to complete my reading for tomorrow's classes.

Yesterday we went on a field trip as a group to Pulau Island off the coast of Singapore, closer to the Malay coast. (By the way, there's only about a kilometer of water between Malaysia and Singapore, and a lot of illegal immigrants try to swim across. Just an interesting fact. Immigration isn't just a US issue.) The island was traditional, in the touristy sense of the word. The fifty native inhabitants refuse to adhere to the modernized lifestyles of Singaporeans today, instead choosing to live without electricity. The island is now mostly a trail for people to walk around and see plants. Basically, a plant zoo.

This is a view from the island's coast near where we "alighted." (Singaporeans seem to love that word. I've heard it *so* many times on the MRT. That and warnings not to leave my bags behind or to mind the gap.)

So we divided into two groups with tour guides and were shown around the island very slowly. It was quite hot, too. The air didn't stir at all when we got off the beach area. First we went through the medicinal plants section, during which our guide gave us some things to try. We tasted a plant that acts as a laxative and one that helps cool you off after hot foods. We also rubbed something over our legs to keep bugs away. This plant I knew, but now I've forgotten the name. The laxative one tasted so similar to tobacco gum, and it stayed there almost as long. Not pleasant at all.

Speaking of which, I discovered some interesting plants that everyone at home should recognize (at least, family should):

Yes. That is indeed the most pitiful tobacco plants I have ever seen. The poor thing looks like it's been primed and left with only a couple of suckers. That is not a proper tobacco plant. The stalk is thin and sickly, and it looked like it had been living in that hot, humid weather for far too long. This was past the medicinal section, by the way. I think it was just in the random plants section, along with some cotton and tomato and random flowers.

Then, I spotted something else people from home should appreciate, though probably none of my friends from school. Sorry, but this is more for certain family members:

Yes. I know. A horn worm, or tobacco worm, or whatever. The point is, I go literally to the opposite side of the world and I can't seem to get away from these things. It dredged up some lovely memories, of course. I laughed when a friend tried to poke it, and I remember pulling off dozens of these from tobacco leaves, throwing them down, covered them with dirt or old leaves, and stepping on them. I hate these things. And this one was so huge...

Daaaaad. I'm scarred. Scarred for life, I tell you!

Unfortunately this is all I'll be able to write for now. I'd finished the post and tried to post it but the site disconnected and erased nearly all of what I'd written. So my apologies for how inadequate it is, but hopefully I'll have time to post a more comprehensive description of my trips the past couple of days.

Have wonderful Mondays and weeks!

Cute little mousedeer?

2006-06-17T11:16:00.000+08:00

Or not. Mousedeer are not cute, contrary to the opinions of some group members. Mousedeer are weird little things that look like genetic experiments gone wrong. The leaves are a realistic size, so this things is not even two feet long. Creepy, I tell you. It's seriously a mouse on stilts.

Now here's the next site: kangaroos. (Actually, we saw otters before this, but I can't put in everything. If you want a picture of a cute little otter, email me.) In the states, when we think of "kangaroo" we think of funny hopping rabbits the size of small deer, roughly. Except they aren't so cute around here, or more specifically in Australia. Every Australian I've talked to is like, "kangaroos? what's so great about them?" In fact, my SEAsian professor from Australia last semester said that kangaroos run around everywhere, similar to deer in the US. On trains and things when they used to be more populous he said that you could hear "pop pop pop BING" when the train or bus hits small rabbits and then hits a kangaroo. Except these things tend to jump up, so there's a chance in can go through your windshield. Not so cute anymore, eh?

So we saw some other animals, like tigers and lions and mongeese and TONS of baboons and other monkey-type-animals. In fact, Singapore Zoo is one of the nicest zoos in the world, plus it has the largest collection of primates of any zoo. Trust me, there were plenty.

Elephant rides! To tell you the truth, I missed the actual elephant exhibit somehow. I don't really know how that was possible, because it had to be a huge exhibit. Anyway, this was what I thought the elephant area was, but basically they just gave rides on two sad-looking elephants. And I've said elephants so many times in the past two sentences that it's making me type funny things. So that means time to move on to another animal!

Snakes galore! I just liked this picture because it looks like the most uncomfortable sleeping position I've ever seen. That, and I bet it's six feet long when it's stretched out. There was also a boa constrictor there that opened its mouth at a 180 degree angle while yawning. Even snakes yawn, apparently. Anyway, I nearly caught it on camera but the flash is hard behind glass.

Okay, I just thought the "When You Meet A Snake" sign was great. I mean, that snake looks like happy caterpillar on a diet with an overactive tongue. I really hope you can click on this picture and blow it up a bit so you can read some of its advice. My favorite part of the sign is the fact that it says that "should you encounter a snake, do not RUN." I mean, why put RUN in all caps? Put DO NOT RUN. The first time I read it I thought, that's odd. Then after reading about the "unfortunate" event of being bitten, I proceded to look at the snakes behind glass. THEN I came across these bolted but unlocked cages about half the size of my dorm. I'm thinking, well that's odd. Maybe it's storage? High security storage? Then I see another sign that reads: Gentle Reminder: The reptiles in this exhibit are allowed to free range. Please DO NOT TOUCH OR PICK them up, as they may bit. Thank you." No, Sign Number Two, thank you. Clearly these high security storage rooms are opportunities for me to follow the advice of the first sign. I kindly declined. I mean, snakes are cool I think, but I'm not about to go free range with them and step on one.

But hey, that's Singapore. Signs everywhere and ample opportunities to disobey them. Signs everywhere and no police. (Except for the two padlocked buses I saw with POLICE on the side last week. There were uniformed men standing around with huge guns. Strange.)

This zoo, I forgot to mention, really is a free range zoo. Well, that's not entirely true. It's just that the "cages" are really nonexistent. They have "natural barriers" instead of fences. Seriouly, there really wasn't anything between me and the rhinos I saw. Thankfully they just looked bored and hot. As for the cheetah, he was ready to pounce any second, I'm sure.

See what I mean? It was pacing back and forth and all that was between me and it was a ditch. I mean, these people know what they're doing by building these barriers, but I just look at this and think Jurassic Park. I really like this picture, though. This is the one I tried to send to you, Mom. I think he's just a cool animal.

And THEN, after all that walking around the hot but really cool zoo, we had tickets to the Night Safari. About six of us had been walking around the zoo together, then we met up with a couple more group members and ate at KFC for dinner. We were all pretty hungry and would have eaten just about anything, but everything else was really pricy. Ergo, KFC. The taste was similar but the serving sizes for the fries and drink were much smaller and there were no refills. Oh well, at least the price wasn't bad. Under S$5. Anyway, we ate and headed over to the (dun dun dun) Night Safari! After some Ben and Jerry's and a cooling off period, we got in line for the tram right as dark was settling in the jungle. Crickets chirped loudly all around us as we set out on our adventure. Then, suddenly, mountain goats appeared! Actually I don't think they are mountain goats at all, but I can't remember what they were called and they remind me of mountain goats. Anyway, they were there. And I tried to take a picture without flash (no flash allowed, as our tour guide repeated fifty times to the people in the third carriage), but with no success. All I got was a glob of black stuff with a fuzzy white thing in the middle. It looks like it could be anything from a muppet to a road sign, so there's not much to see.

The night safari had a lot of cool animals in it, so it's a shame I don't have any good pictures. I'd say my favorite animal to see in the tram ride was an anteater. Actually, there were two of them, and I'm not kidding, they're as long as my bed. Plus, they look like they are symmetrical. The mouths look like tails. Anyway, very humorous.

Then the best part of the walking trails was definitely the bat cage. You could walk inside (free range bats, of course) and walk right up to where the bats hang down. Then one stretched out its wings to about a three foot wingspan and took off in a dive. Fortunately I was towards the back of our six-person group, so no extreme fright, but I can't say the same for the few in the front. Then we stood around and watched them for a while, waiting to see if they would fight over food. They came close, but not quite.

We finished the trails and the tram by nine so we tried to see the animal show, but it was full. This place was extremely crowded. Our bus was leaving at 10 pm, so we decided to just walk and find a table to hang out. Eventually several other people from the group joined us because they couldn't get in either, so we just ended up sitting around and talking for a while.

As soon as I got back I checked email, put on pajamas, brushed my teeth, and fell asleep immediately. Zoos are exhausting! Ha. Then up this morning at 8-ish (yay for sleeping in) and off for some toast and orange drink at PGP. Now it's about 1:30 pm and I've been talking to people and writing in this blog all morning, so it's time to head out into the city. First lunch at the Deck, then exploring!

Fun in the sun...

2006-06-15T17:14:00.000+08:00

...or at least that's what I had expected in Singapore. Mostly it's been cloudy with a fair amount of rain. I talked to a Singaporean yesterday who said this weather was unusual for this time of year. It should be hotter and drier right now, but the rain keeps falling nearly every day. Don't get me wrong, because there's still a lot of sun and it is quite hot, but the amount of rain surprises me. It was storming again this morning when I woke up. At least it is definitely cooller this way. I'm not complaining!

Next, speaking of expectations, let me just point out that there is more emphasis in this program on the "study" part of study abroad than I had expected. Not that there is any more work here than in a typical class at UNC based on my past year's experience, but there is definitely more responsibility for the student to do the work. All twenty-five of us are in two classes together, one of which is taught by the UNC professor who helps run the program, so there is definitely a higher degree of expectation in terms of how thoroughly we do the reading assignments. At school, I could get by with a quick read-through, especially for classes of four hundred people. Not so here.

The reason I bring this up now is because I just finished a 1200-word essay, which really isn't long at all, nor was it very time consuming to write. The truth of the matter is that this is the first time in my life that I actually have to do real schoolwork during the summer. But if that's the price I have to pay to have this experience, then I would probably pay it five times over. Singapore's worth every bit of it.

It's strange how quickly routines can develop, too. I've only been here for two and half weeks, but I feel that I've reached a degree of comfort in my environment. I don't know if that makes much sense, but with every day that passes I feel less and less like an outsider and more of just an observer and a participant. Then, of course, there are those moments when something happens or you realize you don't know where you are and it hits you suddenly that this city is as foreign as it was when I first got here. It's so modern, and perhaps Western, and yet in some places the touch of the West hasn't completely corrupted the original.

For instance, when I pass by a tourist who is noticeably Caucasian, half the time they refuse to acknowledge me. You know how people give a smile or nod or just give a look in recognition? None of that. Someone mentioned in the group that it could be that they do not want another foreigner invading their "pure Asian experience." Well I hate to tell them, but if they want a "pure Asian experience," they might want to look beyond this little island. I've yet to see anything that I perceived as pure Asian, whatever that means anyway.

Another instance when it was painfully obvious that I'm a foreigner and clearly not from Asia was in Little India. I finally went last night and did enjoy it, since it is different from Chinatown or Arab Street. I saw the fewest number of non-Indian (or similar to Indian, as my friend with me pointed out... she's Bengali herself) people in any area like that since I've been here. Since she has lived in Bangladesh (which borders India) and knows Bengali, she could point out some things that I would not notice as quickly or with as much information, like the languages on the signs or the types of clothing in the shops or the prices of bangles here as opposed to home. The clothes are so bright and colorful, and a lot are made in India. I have yet to buy any clothes, but I think I'll wait until I get back from KL to do that. Clothes are supposed to be even cheaper there, along with everything else. We'll see.

After Fahmida and I looked around Little India, we got a cab and went a short distance to Arab Street. She had been to a deli the night before and really enjoyed it, so we decided to go back there last night for dinner. I just want to say how delicious that place was. I had chicken, a type of mild salsa stuff, and bread. Real bread. Practically a loaf of bread. I was so happy. The place was called Deli Moroccan (I think), and the owner was a very nice man. The area we were in was rather quiet around 8 pm to 10 pm when we were there, so it was a great place for us to get some reading done for class today. People just sat around and talked along the little strip of cafes and restaurants with music playing. Then once, abruptly, the music stopped and I looked around to see what was wrong. Earlier the CD had been skipping. Instead, the prayer call sounded from the mosque behind us, and it was soothing to hear even though I'm not Muslim. We'd actually heard anothe prayer call earlier when we tried to find the restaurant. As we walked, the call started and we were able to follow the voice to reach the mosque, behind which we knew the restaurant was. Pretty cool.

Let's see, what else is there to tell. Before our wanderings yesterday the entire group had gone to the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Arts (MICA) to hear a presentation in a format similar to that of the one at HDB. The woman presenting told us about the Singapore Arts Festival going on right now, as well as the efforts to improve the image of Singapore abroad. She says there are a lot of misconceptions or incomplete views of the country, which is very true. People think it's too authoritative and too regulated, a place where chewing gum is illegal and drug trafficking gets you the death penalty. While these things are true, they don't exactly show the whole picture. At least, that's what the presenter said. I don't really know where I stand on the issue yet.

Okay. Well, pictures are yet again not cooperating with me, and I need to do some reading so I don't have time to really fool with it right now. I'll try to add Little India pictures later.

But before I go, a story:

The night before last I was up late talking to people on the trip and just hanging out, then it was just a couple of us talking until practically 2 in the morning. Then it was just me, and I was definitely realizing the stupidity of my decision to take a long name earlier that day. I could not get to sleep, so I just laid there for a while in the dark, thinking sleep would have to come sooner or later.

Then, something in my fan made a noise. Now, this ceiling fan is seriously industrial strength, not like mine at home or in our living room. This thing has five speeds, and the fifth speed sounds like a small airplane has taken up residence on the roof so I try to avoid that one. Anyway, I heard this snapping noise and thought, hmm, that was odd. So I lie there for a little longer, not really wanting to move but not able to sleep either. Finally, I get up and turn the lights on, thinking that it sounded an awful lot like a bug being hit by the fan. I don't really care for bugs to be around me when I'm sleeping. It weirds me out. So I'm looking around and not seeing anything, but now that the lights are all on I decide to sit down at the computer for a while and talk to my roommate on IM (she's back from Tanzania!) and catch up with her. I sit there for a couple of minutes, but the longer I do the more I realize that it really sounded like an insect had hit the fan. That thing goes so fast, I thought, it had to have killed the bug. But then wouldn't it have been on the floor somewhere?

Basically it's three in the morning and I have to get up in three hours and I don't know what to do because I don't want to sleep with a crazy unknown thing flying about my room. Then I realize I had been sprawled out on my stomach on top of the sheet (it's hot in the room some nights) and that I hadn't checked my back. Great, I thought. So, I go over to my mirror and turn around, and sure enough there's a huge black beetle on my back. Not kidding. This is no cutesy little junebug or anything. This thing is two inches long and, of course, barely moving. Now, I'm not really one to freak out or scream when there's a bug around, but I definitely don't care for strange and not to mention large bugs to be on me. So basically I'm standing there wondering if it's poisonous or if I should just knock it off and really wishing my dad were there so he could be macho and kill the bug for me. Pathetic, I know! So I change shirts (carefully) and go outside and shake off my shirt hard, but it won't come off. Finally I end up knocking it off with a folder of papers from the HDB visit. Crisis averted. Still, though, just picture me sitting around in my room at three in the morning looking for any more beetles. Then my friend had to go and tell me that it might have been laying eggs somewhere. That helped matters immensely, of course. First ants, now beetle infestations! But so far, no such infestation. Just an army of one.

Well, at least I didn't wake up one night with a gecko on my face like a girl did down the hall. That's just what happens when buildings are as open as all the ones here, especially housing flats or resident halls without aircon like this one.

Okay, so not that great of a story. I really need to work on my story-telling abilities. I could have turned that into a long winded epic tale of man versus beast, a sleep-deprived girl fighting off a dangerous, fanged insect in the Orient...

Speaking of which, we're going to the zoo and on a night safari tomorrow afternoon/night, so that should give me some more better stories. For now, though, that's all folks.

Hello all...

2006-06-13T15:05:00.000+08:00

Right now I've just returned from some very humorous lessons in basic Mandarin Chinese, and I figured it's a good time to post on the blog. The past couple of days have been fairly relaxed, which has been fantastic, but then that doesn't really give you a lot of reading material. That said, the majority of people who read this probably wonder when I'll ever shut up sometimes, so this post is for you.

Monday I had class as usual, but instead of going to the Deck for our usual lunch, we ate in style with the NUS president. From what I've gathered, Dan Gold ran into him in Korea or some other Asian country a few months ago and they agreed to arrange a lunch for our group of 25, plus Shu (NUS alum who helps us out), Meredith (UNC grad student), Dan, and Joey (UNC sophomore). We had to dress up a bit, more than the "smart casual" when we've gone out to events before. This time was a tie and slacks for guys, and the female equivalent for the girls. Anyway, we ate in the University Hall on campus, which reminded me of a modern, less swanky version of the UNC Alumni Building on south campus at UNC. The three round tables were in a large, circular room with a great view of the campus and beyond into some of the outskirts of central Singapore. The NUS president said a few words, as well as Dan, then it was wonderful food for all. Food food food... I seriously need to find something else to talk about in my blog. It's just that it's so intense here and quite different, in a way.

The assistant professor at our table was in the history department and native to Australia. I feel like a lot of professors at NUS and around Southeast Asia are Australian, just because those old enough now to be professors did not have such schooling options like NUS as there are now. In that sense, the demographics of professors should change in the next few decades. At least, that's my humble and very unqualified opinion, based on personal observation (as Professor Gold would have me note carefully). The professor specialized in comics and how the evolution and production of comic strips reflected social norms and conflicts within a society, particularly in the US. Now, I'm not much of a comic enthusiast. The extent of my knowledge comes from Get Fuzzy, Peanuts, and Garfield, and that's not exactly the type of comic he studies. As for ones like Batman, Superman, and Xmen, if it's not in the movies (or early episodes of Smallville), I don't have a clue. At any rate, it was an interesting dinner topic. Then we got into other things like the mad quantities of text messages that Singaporeans, as well as this professor, seem to receive and send. Even Carrie was texting the whole weekend, while I've sent only two in all the years I've had my phone. That conversation also led into the logistics (and horrors) of Facebook, which is always an engaging topic because it's always amusing to see people's reactions to the concept and exactly how popular it is among students.

After lunch Rebekah and I went the Singapore Art Museum. We'd thought about going to the Botanical Gardens, but we finally decided to stick to an indoor activity and save the gardens for a weekend. The art museum was cool, especially since it's so rare to see actual Asian art. Some of the modern stuff was really good, and it's a shame this strain of art is neglected in school and in Western museums.

And then we investigated the really modern art, like a film called The Seven Lost Loves of Frank, in which this guy tries for years and years to find love until he's in a nursing home or something and then he meets the perfect woman. Very unusual film. There were also strange exhibits with things hanging from walls, even an entire room with red fluffy stuff on the walls like something right out of Dr. Seuss. Strange. Then we went to get some homemade fried dumplings and fried rice and Milo ice cream milkshakes. Amaaaaaaazingly delicious.

Last night I just messed around, did my reading, and talked with some of my fellow group members for a while.

And the highlight of today, after classes and lunch, was when about fifteen of us got together and had Dan teach us some Mandarin. Ha. The hardest part about Mandarin (aside from the phenomonally difficult task of learning to read it) is the four different tones. English doesn't really have any structured tones, except maybe sentence inflections when you make your voice rise at the end of a question. Well, syllables in Chinese have high tones, falling tones, rising tones, and falling then rising tones.

Needless to say, all I learned was how to say one through ten, and even those are horrible. I would write them here to prove it, but I can't write Mandarin. All I know is the Romanization of the language, or how it looks phonetically to us, and even that's difficult because I don't know how to do the tone accents. You'll just have to believe me!

So that's about it for today. All in all, very relaxing. Right now I just want some Milo milkshakes, though. Mmmm.

Homestay weekend

2006-06-11T19:47:00.000+08:00

So of course as soon as I told you that I would try to update every other day, I hit a little problem with internet access. I had every intention of updating on Saturday, but the network wasn't allowing anyone on our hall access to the internet. I also tried to call my parents, but I couldn't get my phone card to work. Immediately afterwards on Saturday morning I left for my homestay with an NUS student. But anyway, I just wanted to explain my absence.

Okay, back to Friday. After class I attempted to do my reading and a paper due this week, but I fell asleep after reading two pages. I have to admit, though, it was an excellent nap, my first Singaporean nap ever. Okay, that was meant to be funny, but as usually it's falling flat. We will just fast forward a few more hours to the performance our group attended at the Victoria Theatre near the durian hall. That was quite an experience, to say the least. The play was called Geisha, and it has only three performers: a woman who played both male and female roles, a man who played a geisha (the Japanese women with white painted faces), and another man who played an instrument and sang. The preformance was an unusual and unexpected mixture of modern dance music and traditional Japanese. The lyrics came across a screen above the stage just like subtitles in a movie, so those were very helpful. I think that I enjoyed it as a whole, but it certainly had some parts that left me with a very confused expression. The plot was more or less nonexistent... it just highlighted some of the pressures of a geisha and the continuing degradation of the profession to something around the same level as prostitution.

But anyway. After that most everyone went out because the World Cup is on, and soccer (football, here) is huge everywhere besides the US. All the pubs and bars have it playing, so we wandered around trying to find a good one with a big TV. Some of us ended up eating fries and McFlurries at McDonald's, which was my first fast food since being here, and it was delicious. Ohhh, you don't even understand how good a McFlurry is after walking around in humid heat for a while. I could eat one right now, in fact. After Mickey D's we walked around some more, and Andrew and I just sat by the river and talked about random things, listening to the cheers whenever Costa Rica would score. Well, I think people were pulling for Costa Rica. I'm really not sure.

Then Saturday morning I met my host for the homestay. Another girl, Emily, and I were to stay with the host overnight. She had already emailed us and told us to bring our anime shirts for something she called a cosplay streetfest. Apparently she was really into that and J rock (Japanese rock, come to find out, specifically a guy named Gackt). Well, Carrie (my host) was fun, and we headed off to her mother's flat to drop off our stuff so we wouldn't have to carry it around all day. Her mother's flat was on the other side of the city, about an hour MRT ride from NUS. I can't imagine going all that way every day for class. Not many people live in dorms here, so they commute from home. That's practically the amount of time it would take to drive from Belews Creek to UNC every day, except not as expensive, I don't think. The MRT is cheaper than gas money.

The flat was pretty cool and reminded me of an older mobile home in the US on the inside. They'd had the flat for over twenty years. Carrie had an older brother and a younger sister, both of whom I met yesterday. The sister was extremely shy, I think, and hardly introduced herself, but she seemed really nice. The older brother I met later that night. Basically we went to an MRT stop near hers for a little shopping and some lunch. We had Japanese food, paiku ramen, I think. It was pork and noodles in broth, so that was a nice change from all the chicken and rice I've consumed lately. After that we looked around at yet another mall (I'm seriously shopped out, and I haven't even gotten to cheap KL or Bangkok yet) and went back to her flat to chill for a while. She put in a movie that I'd never heard of, but I really enjoyed it. Battle Royale is the name and it's a Japanese film (I think?) with English subtitles. The cover said it was a cross between A Clockwork Orange and Lord of the Flies, and it really was. I thought it was great. I'll try to look it up at home, because I think Jillian and Alison would enjoy it.

The movie went on while her mother was cooking in the kitchen, and it smelled delicious. She went and bought snacks for us while we watched the movie, and then she went straight to cooking dinner. How much food can a person eat!? Anyway, she fixed some great salmon and some chicken rice, which is salted (heavily salted) chicken over white rice. After Emily and I had eaten about all we could handle, she pointed to a pile of cherry tomatoes on the salmon and motioned for us to eat them. "Don't you like tomato?" she asked. "I got them for you. I thought all Americans like tomatoes." Well, that made me squirm a bit out of sheer guilt, but then she smiled and pointed to the mushrooms. Now, I'm not a mushroom fan, but I ate those things, by golly.

Well, after dinner Carrie had promised to volunteer for the DramaCentre at the National Library by passing out programs for a play at eight, so we went along with her to help out (though mostly we wandered around the 14-story library trying to find a good view from which to take pictures). Needless to say, I have a lot of blurry pictures taken through windows, some with the flash in my face because I forgot to turn it off. I would show you an example, but I deleted them all in embarrasement of my poor photography ability.

So then we took off on the MRT for the fifth time that day, this time going to Boat Quay to meet her brother and a friend at a bar to watch England play in the World Cup. (I can't believe, by the way, that they won from a free kick scored off of the opposing team member's head in the third minute of the game. Not another goal scored in the next eighty-seven minutes!) It was fun to watch, but OH man, the bar was a Chinese karaoke bar. (They pronounce it "kare-okay" instead of "kary-oky" like we do.) Now, I'm not big on loud karaoke, but this was extremely loud and entirely in Chinese except for a random line or two in every other song that was in English. For instance, one song was in Chinese except for a line that said "forever love" over and over. At any rate, it was an experience. I'm not sure I'll go back there any time soon, but the evening wasn't all that bad. Emily and I were both exhausted, so that made it worse, but then Carrie's brother sang a couple of songs. He's not a bad singer at all. Trust me, one guy that sang a few songs wasn't quite so good. I didn't need to understand the language to understand that.

So we got back to her flat around 1 am, and lo and behold her mother and younger sister were still up and her mother was still trying to get us to eat! So, after a helping of chocolate cake and something else we were finally off to get some much needed sleep, since Ms Chia had asked us if we wanted to accompany her to church in the morning. Carrie had a bit of a sore throat and was losing her voice, so she stayed home.

We got up around 9:15 and went to shower, but the shower wasn't like a shower at home. It was more of a five by five foot room with both a squatter toilet and a shower together, with the sink thrown in too. The shower was one of the detatchable head kind, which was a relief after having showers under short shower heads for two weeks. Having above average height at home means being taller than most of the Singaporean population. But I've commented on that before, I'm sure.

Let's see, where was I? Ah yes. Shower, then breakfast. She fixed this bean dumpling, um, thing for us to share, and it was great. I really loved it, but as soon as I took my first bite I realized it tasted very similar to something I'd had at home. After a few minutes of pondering I came to the conclusion that it tastes just like very sweet oatmeal, except dumpling-style. I remember not being fond of oatmeal when I was younger, but maybe my taste buds are changing. Or maybe it's just a texture issue. At any rate, it was good. We also had some amazingly good coffee (I'm not usually a coffee person, either) with chocolate in it. Basically it was cocoa coffee and I loved it... then Emily and I were informed that the mixture can only be bought through Ms Chia's company and not in any store. I'm determined to find some somewhere, though. I can already sense the beginning of a long relationship with this type of coffee. She was gracious enough to give each of us a package of our own, so I have a starting place for my search. Maybe I'll see some in KL next weekend.

Okay, I know, enough on the food. Moving on. The three of us went to church, and she had told me the night before that the church was Methodist when I asked her the denomination, but I must have misunderstood her. This was not a Methodist church. She claimed it wasn't charismatic, either, but I'm pretty sure this church qualified. The church service was two hours, from 10:45 am to 12:45, and the first 45 minutes consisted of everyone standing and singing praise songs. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but Emily and I both stood there wondering how on earth they could stand for that long without wanting to at least sit down and sing. I say all this jokingly, though, because it really was an enjoyable service. The sermon was long as well, but engaging enough not to seem that way. It was such a change to go from this type of church from the more traditional Methodist church last Sunday. Ha. At the beginning, we'd signed in on the guest list and then they read off the guests' names at the beginning of the sermon portion of the service. "Emily and Janice? Emily and Janice, will you stand up?" ...I should work on my handwriting, I guess. Maybe he read it as "Jannis"... I don't know. Hehe. I would think it was stranger if my name hadn't been mixed up with Janice's while handing around Christmas presents before. Maybe it's the cursive?

We went out to eat lunch at a nearby hawker stand after church, and all of this is in the same community of Bedok, near her HDB flat. Carrie joined us there, and we tried some interesting food. It was hard to figure out what was in the food, since most of the people working in the booths didn't understand/speak English well at all. It was an interesting contrast from the more popular inner city hawker stands where English-speakers frequent quite regularly. A storm was coming up by this point, so we hurried to the MRT station with our bags to catch the train to the Somerset stop near Orchard Road to go to what Carrie had called the cosplay streetfest.

Ha. Costume play indeed. She'd told us to wear our anime shirts, but Emily and I have very little knowledge of anime. All I know is based on my limited exposure to Final Fantasy and video games like that. Carrie's favorite is Bleach, but I was (and still am) clueless as to what exactly anime that is. I don't recall seeing it before. Anyway, all three of us were running through the rain to get to the tents outside the youth centre downtown. When we got there, I was shocked by what I saw. When Carrie said costume, she meant costume. These outfits were more elaborate than I'd ever expected, like something off of Franklin street on Halloween, except gothic. Think bride of Frankenstein crossed with, uh, Little Bo Peep. If that's possible.

How awesome are these costumes? I didn't even get some girls with crazy hair, and there were tons more just like these guys. I mean, check out the last picture on the right. Look at the guy's eye! I pretty much stalked him for half an hour before asking him to take a picture with me. There was another girl that had bright red eyes, too, but I could only put in but so many pictures. Then Emily and I were just standing around with Carrie and a random girl came up with a notepad and pen and asked how we liked it. I mean, okay, random. Music is blaring (J rock, of course, and I mean blaring), and this girl keeps asking us questions, like where we're from and why we're there and what the exchange program is. So finally we ask who she's with, because by this point she has taken down several lines of notes, and she says the Straits Times. The Times! I was expecting a university paper, not the biggest newspaper in the region! So, I'm half expecting me to be in the Saturday paper completely misquoted and saying tons of stuff about anime when I have no idea whatsoever what I'm talking about. I told Carrie that's what I get for being noticeably not Asian and being noticeably not dressed up at all. At least I had on grey and black, not lime green and pink prep colors like Emily (she stuck out like a sore thumb, and probably more so because I'm not really sure why a sore thumb would stick out anyway).

Oh my. By this point, we're listening to the bands come up, and there's finally this group from Indonesia that comes on stage. Well, earlier I had commented to Emily about the guy's pants when he was in the audience area. I had no idea he would be performing. Yes, you don't even need to ask: I got pictures.

Haha. And check out the girl's outfit. Very unique. Plus, the guy on the left has the coollest hat ever. I think the highlight was when they got on stage. Actually, in all seriousness, the guitar players were both good, and so was the drummer. The girl had her moments, but she was so shy! Her voice was not amazing, but it wasn't bad. It was definitely unique, I'll give her that.

Okay, let's see what else I can find to show you.

This is Carrie and her mother outside the hawker/shopping center complex. Her mother was adorable, dressed up completely in purple. (By the way, and I'll probably talk about this later, but Singaporeans are very fashion conscious. It puts me to shame, not that that's hard or anything, but still.) I really enjoyed spending the weekend with them, and I think it gave me a serious look into where and how people live, and how similar it is in some ways to back home. The food's just different, that's all. (And not to be random, but the plugs are different too. You need adapters for Singaporean-bought appliances. I got a hair dryer here and I still need an adapter. Weird.)

And here's one last picture for today's dose of Singapore culture at its best:

Hopefully you can click on the picture an zoom in more, because I wouldn't want you to miss out on the appetizing selections on the menu (spine meat soup, pig's liver soup, etc). That's how all hawker stands are, though, with pictures galore. Some things I would rather go my whole life without seeing in a picture above the table where I'm eating. But that's just me.

Okay then, I think I've typed and loaded photos for an hour longer than I intended, and I still haven't done my reading for tomorrow, not that it surprises you. By this point, you've probably realized that I procrastinate. What better way to do so than writing in my blog?

Another rainy day

2006-06-08T16:42:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone! It's another rainy Thursday in Singapore, but I don't mind. The rain makes the air cooler and gives me an excuse to take an afternoon off from doing something out in the city. I wish I could transport a little home, because I have a feeling we need it there.

Speaking of home, I just want to thank everyone who's reading this. I guess I don't realize exactly how many people do read it, but my mother assures me that people have mentioned it to her. I hope it has been living up to expectations. I've found that updating every other day fits my schedule best, so I think I'll try to keep that pattern. If I miss a post, my apologies in advance.

So what's been happening the past couple of days? To be honest, nothing too exciting. At least, nothing all that new. Everything is exciting here, in a way, since it's just so different from home. First things first: I've been told that our grad student has purchased a large can of ant killer, so that is a relief. They've actually been better today, so maybe they'll be gone soon. Everyone else in the block seems to be having similar pest problems. My next door neighbor has a newt in her room that seems to have taken up permanent residence under her cabinet, but then again, I have a newt at home to keep me company. (Speaking of which, I forgot to clean its bowl before I left...sorry Mom.)

I think I left off in the last blog before I went to the dinner with UNC alum. That was an interesting experience, I must admit. The restaurant was called a hot pot restaurant, which is similar to fondue in that you cook your own food in boiling broth in front of you. I just searched for a picture on my friends' facebook sites, but no luck. I'll see if I can find some later to add in. This food looked less than appealing, to say it mildly. No lie. I mean, it was a nice restaurant, and it didn't taste all that bad, it just wasn't what I felt like eating. There weren't many vegetables at all, just some slices of meat. It was all-you-can-eat, so they would bring you just about anything off of the menu, so we ordered mussels, ox tongue, chicken and mushroom balls, and some other stuff. Needless to say, the mussels were not my scene, and neither was the ox tongue (though the table next to us stole it before we could try it, no idea why). I did eat the chicken and mushroom balls, as well as prawn (with the shells and eyes still attached, no less). Oh wait, I mean, I shelled it first. I didn't actually eat the eyes. That would be weird. I'm just saying that it's quite bizarre to eat while there are bulging eyes staring back up at you.

Blech.

Anyway, after moderatly filling ourselves with this food, we set off to explore the mall in which the restaurant was located. Yes, a mall. Everything is located in a mall in Singapore, it seems. This place is called Suntec and houses the largest fountain in the world. I really wish I had pictures, but I plan to go back because they have a laser (light?) show every evening. We could see bits of it while eating just outside the fountain, but not the whole of it. The fountain isn't exactly what I pictured beforehand, but neither is anything else in this country/city. At any rate, it's the largest in the world. Speaking of largest, I don't know if I mentioned this, but when I went to the bird park I saw the largest manmade waterfall in the world.

Singaporeans and their water. And.....speaking of that. (I'm in a tangential mood, sorry.) The water here is called recycled water, which is exactly what it sounds like. They recycle the water and bottle it. So there, Mom and Dad, that's what I'm drinking. And you were worried about tap water. Ha. At least they do it out of necessity: Singapore has a limited supply of fresh water, and the desalination plant can only do so much. I think I heard that they have to ship some in from surrounding countries as well, which drives up the prices of bottled water. It's about a dollar for a bottle, which is out of proportion with the typical prices of food and drinks.

It seems that Singaporeans import significant amounts of their culture and liftestyles, creating their own blend, much like the Singlish I mentioned in the last post. Elements of this importation and assumption of foreign culture are everywhere. Movies are mostly American, Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. Water comes from here and other countries as well. Even language comes from everywhere. The people themselves are mostly not indigenous to the country, at least, not in the sense of more than a couple of centuries, if even that long. Many of the beautiful trees and plants and flowers have been imported here from Indonesia and surrounding nations. A quantifiable percentage of the city has been built on reclaimed land, meaning that Singapore had to buy actual dirt from Malaysia and dredge up some of its own from the harbor to extend the reach of the tiny island. Beach Road is, for that reason, no longer along the beach. The beach (at least, the edge of the island) is much farther away because the city kept adding on land, 8,000 football fields' worth of it. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a lot to me.

Now... where was I? Oh yes, the dinner at Suntec and seeing the fountain. We slipped into BreakTalk, a wonderful smelling bakery chain here, and some people bought a few items to supplement their meals. We also stopped by an Auntie Anne's (they have them, yes!) for pretzels. Actually, they have chocolate mint pretzels here. And a waffle shop. (Oh, there's a waffle vendor here at NUS, but they don't open until 12pm. Weird. I guess waffles aren't much of a breakfast food here.)

Anyway, that was the extent of our evening Tuesday. Yesterday we had class and went to the Housing Development Board building in Singapore to hear about the government housing policies. (Again, in a city building that was a mall of sorts with stores and vendors and everything. Singaporeans are obsessed with shopping, food, and movies, I've been told, and it's so true.)

The HDB was interesting to hear, because they have model flats on display and we could walk around to look at them. Clearly they were models, because they were very nice. Too nice, if you ask me. The most common is a four bedroom flat, but they also had a five bedroom on display. The displays and presentation we saw on video were all flashy, like any other advertising for a product. While I admit that this government project seems to be successful, at least on the surface, it also has come with its own costs. But I've already talked about housing in Singapore, so it isn't necessary for me to do it again.

After we came back around four, JJ, Andrew, Katie, Rea, and I set out for Orchard Road for some quick, goal-oriented shopping. I needed a gift for my homestay host, in particular, so we decided to go to Borders. Thanks to the graciousness of the Great Singapore Sale, they had some good deals, but I decided on this colored mug for my host. I hope she likes it. I know I liked it, though I have no particular use for one. We hung out there for a little while, and I tried to teach myself some Mandarin in thirty minutes. Basically, I just remember how to say okay (pronounced "how") and thank you ("syeh syeh" I think) and I/me ("wor" I think). Clearly, I didn't teach myself very much, nor with any type of precision.

Professor Gold said he would hold lessons in Mandarin and Thai next week for anyone interested. I'm fascinated by Chinese, since its written language seems so far removed from its spoken language, but that's my own language background distorting my perceptions. It is an extremely difficult one to learn, nevertheless, though I suppose I only need to know how to say and understand a few phrases. I'll leave the written language for later. And also, I've learned how to recognize the word Allah in drawings. Unfortunately, that's the extent of my multilingual experience. I can't recognize any Indian or Malay words. Except on DANGER signs they have dengan or something similar, but I don't know what language that is. At least I know it, right? I think it's Malay. Progress has been made, at any rate.

Hmm. What else. After class today I had something new at the Muslim food stand, called mee rubus, I believe. It's noodles in a peanut oil-based sauce. A little spicy, but not bad. I enjoyed it. The Muslim stands have their own receptacles for dirty dishes since they cannot be mixed with the same dishes used in preparation and serving of pork. And there's plenty of pork at the Chinese and other stands. On the sign for the stand, it says "halal" referring to the way the meat was prepared. (I think the blood has to be drained from a slaughtered animal, though I am not completely sure exactly what the religious rites require.) Basically, it was a new experience. I didn't enjoy it as much as the Chinese food, but it was nice to have a change. Next I want to try Indian food, but I may leave that for next week.

This afternoon has been very chill, so that's been nice. I like to relax and just hang out. Rebekah and I watched the fourth Harry Potter movie on her laptop in the air conditioned lounge after lunch, and we finished a little while ago. I think in a few I'll go get some dinner with some other people and then maybe go next door to an American style restaurant to have dessert and watch some of the French Open. Several people here are big tennis fans, and although my knowledge of the sport is limited, I wouldn't mind watching some. (Yay, right, Meagan?)

Well, just so you guys get to see some good visuals, these are some random pictures from the past week and a half...

Above pictures and lower right were all taken on Orchard Road. These places are just enormous. Even Borders was in its own mall with a huge food court. (Ah, great food too. I had fried fish soup. Mmm.) The lower left picture is HarbourFront, one of my stops on way to church Sunday morning.

I thought this particular mosque was really cool. It's near Arab Quarter, if I remember correctly.

Sorry, I'm not too sure exactly what this building houses, but I love the color and architecture of it. It might be the national library, but I don't really know. It's in the area of the national library.

So this is me, obviously, with the financial district as a background. Cool, eh? Well, there's a small story behind this picture. I'm walking around Sunday afternoon and this guy (in his late twenties, thirties) asks me if I can take a picture of him. Sure, you know, no problem. So I take it and he looks at it and says, "Oh." I thought, oh? So I asked him if it was okay and he said no, he'd like for me to take it again. So I did, and I don't think he liked that one either but he just smiled politely and nodded. Then he motioned to my camera and offered to take a picture of me. At this point, I don't know what to say, whether he's asking me to be polite or if he genuinely wouldn't mind. But it's a picture, you know. Whatever. No big deal. He takes four pictures of me. Granted, his camera was fancier and I assumed he was more of a photographer than I am, but I mean, four? All four of them look fine to me, but he was into changing the angle and the sunlight and all this stuff. No wonder he wasn't satisfied with my picture. I didn't treat him like a model. But anyway, he told me he was from California on business for a couple of weeks. Bah. Tourists! Hm. That was a joke. Anyway, then I found five dollars. Or make it ten. Ha.

Well, that's all for now. Enough of my rambling for the day. Love to all of you!

Ants in my pants...

2006-06-06T15:53:00.000+08:00

...and I mean that quite literally. For some reason ants have decided to mount an attack on my room, concentrating around the desk. They tend to crawl on my arms and up my legs while I'm typing and it weirds me out a little bit. I'm definitely getting jumping. There is a high-powered fan in my room, so whenever it's on my hair tends to blow a lot, just barely tickling me on the neck or the shoulder or something. It feels JUST LIKE ANTS. So now I'm convinced there are a thousand more than there really are. And yesterday I found two in my bed. Plus they get in my keyboard.

Gracious. On to happier things. Like whiskers on kittens and brown paper packages tied up in strings. (I have a craving to watch that movie, the King and I, and Mulan. Not really sure the source of the first, but the last two are definitely Asia-related, at least.)

It stormed this morning, and it's been raining ever since. It's such a wet, grey day outside, but I don't mind too much. I like rain.

I think I'm still adjusting to the food, since I still haven't found anything I've gotten too attached to yet. I mean, it's good food, just nothing I've found that I can't live without. Chicken rice is probably my favorite. Today I had gong bao (sp?) chicken rice at one of the stands at the canteen, and it was delicious. Just S$2.20, too (about US$1.50). I may not be completely in love with all the food, but I'm definitely in love with the prices of the food.

Yesterday morning I had class, but nothing too exciting to report there. Dr. Quek's class is still very good, and Dan Gold's is fairly good as well. Today he talked about his family, which is interracial and interreligious (his wife is Thai). We got into that topic because we've been doing overviews of Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucionism. It was an interesting topic, considering how (supposedly) integrated Singapore is. At least my presentation today touched on the topic, because I talked about my trip to Wesley Methodist and how it seems to be just as common, if not more so, to see temples and mosques on streets rather than all churches. I never really perceived the US as an inherently religious nation, and I still don't to some degree, but now I see exactly how much it leans towards Christianity. It's hard to reconcile that quality of American culture with the diversity of the Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam here. I passed by a Chinese temple on Sunday and saw a dozen or so people out burning incense in front, but I'm not sure exactly to what form of Buddha the temple was dedicated. My apologies to any Buddhists who might read this... my knowledge of the religion is shaky at best, and I probably worded that incorrectly.

Anyway, I just wish I could have conveyed that point better in my presentation today. The diversity among and within religions has always fascinated me, and for now Singapore has proven to be an interesting case study for that diversity.

Today in Dr. Quek's class we talked about the housing in Singapore, which is mostly operated via the state. It's really an amazing achievement, rivalled by nothing in the West. In 1960 only 9% of the population lived in public housing. Today, over 85% lives in public housing, and even more lived in public housing at one point. The Housing Development Board is the main channel of operations for the public housing. People can buy HDB flats or rent them, but the point is that they are owners themselves, so they are responsible for them. That responsibility has created a unique phenomenon, preventing these high rise flats from becoming slums like in the states. We always associated public housing with poor, but here the poor and the middle classes live in public housing, leaving the few private residences to the rich. Trust me, houses are an extremely rare sight in Singapore. They must be all grouped together on a farther part of the island. It's just so hard for me to fathom living in a city like this, I guess, when I'm so accustomed to the moderately open spaces of North Carolina.

I think this is a HDB high rise. I don't know if you can really see it well, but there are AC units all over as well as clothes hanging out. You see big buildings like these everywhere.

Anyway, today and yesterday we watched movies for Dr. Quek's class. Yesterday we watched Home Run, a movie about a boy and his younger sister in Singapore in 1965. The boy loses his sister's shoes and spends the rest of the movie's plot trying to get a pair for her, since they are too poor to buy any. Today we watched I Not Stupid Too, a popular sequel to the hit I Not Stupid, a Singaporean produced movie (which is rare). It was an interesting movie, to be sure. Both were overly dramatic, like a watered down, realistic version of the Spanish soap operas on Univision. At least these have subtitles, with some Singlish scattered in it. Singlish is like English except with a thick Asian accent and without articles. It has the structure of Chinese but with an English vocabulary, more similar to British English. Things here have British spellings, like flavour or colour.

Well, that's about all I have to report for now. Tonight we have dinner with UNC alums at a nice restaurant. I think it's the Asian version of fondue, but I'm not really sure. Should be interesting.

Hope you all are having great weeks and continue to do so. Time for me to read about Chinese history.

Whew...

2006-06-04T17:10:00.000+08:00

What a day! It's 5 pm on Sunday and I am already looking forward to some heavy sleep tonight. Not that that's different from any other night, but still.

So where to start...? How about this morning. Well, actually, I need to tell about Saturday, because that was an experience in itself.

I posted yesterday and then did some reading, but not much at all in the end. Then our group was to meet at the front of PGP at noon to go eat lunch at a dim sum restaurant, which is basically a way of saying finger foods and large appetizers. They bring bowls of food out and put it on a lazy susan (sp?) for the whole table to share. And by the way, my chopstick skills are definitely improving. I'm thinking about investing in some when I get back to the States, because sometimes they're just plain fun. The only main hassle is cutting meat, or cutting anything for that matter. They don't allow for that option. But anyway, back to the meal. Apparently (I found out after the fact), I ate some duck during the meal. I also had these delicious rolls with sweet sauce and chicken in the middle. Some large, fluffy tofu squares (which was strange... not bad, but I wouldn't order it again). This bright yellow slippery thing about the size of a golf ball that had shrimp in it (I was "encouraged" to try that by the girl sitting next to me-- we split it). And other stuff too, it's just slipping my mind. Dessert was this thick mango, um, sauce? It wasn't quite pudding, but past juice. That was really rich but soooo good.

Can you see now how obsessed I am with food? Singaporeans are ten times more obsessed, and I know it's rubbing off on me. Speaking of Singaporeans, we ate lunch with several NUS students who had been exchange students at UNC in recent years. The girl who sat beside me, Jackie, was great. She asked about our housing and how things were at Chapel Hill, so it was refreshing to talk to someone native to here who knows about something from home.

After lunch 13 of us, including three of the NUS students, went to Orchard Road. Now I and three others hadn't been before, but everyone else had been and had told me that it was overwhelming the first time. "Mall after mall after mall," they told me. Well, I don't know what I had expected, but they hit it right on target. Orchard Road is a shopper's paradise in any sense of the word "paradise."

Well, unfortunately I cannot post pictures yet again. I'm not sure what's wrong with the pictures or blogger or me, but they won't come up on the page. This is starting to frustrate me, but I promise I will investigate it further. I looked on blogger's help site, but no luck. (Edited: I came back and put a picture here, but I don't really know how I did it. That's a mall, a typical mall. Remember, there are rows and rows of these huge places on this road. The stores are very tiny, about half of the size of a small store in Hanes like Easy Spirit or something. It's amazing how much stuff you can cram into a small space like that.)

Anyway, back to Saturday, the most notable experience of the day, besides the fact that Orchard Road is insane in the amount of stores there, was my introduction to bubble tea. Jackie suggested that we try it, so we waited in line at the stand outside for a while mulling over our many options. You could have green tea, red tea, milkshake, or something else, though it eludes me now. I'm not sure how the milkshake works as tea, but that was an option. Then you picked a flavor: passion fruit, mango, honey, green apple, sourplum, strawberry, peach, and on and on. Then Jackie told us that the bubble part is this thing called a "pearl." A pearl? Quite frankly, I was skeptical. She said it was a black thing in the bottom of the drink made of flour or something like flour. Okay, Jackie. So I ordered a green apple red tea with pearls. And sure enough the lady dumped in some black things. They're slightly smaller than marbles, and there are lots of them. A fourth of the drink was black at the bottom. So anyway, I get a straw but she says no no no, a BIG straw. So I get a big straw and it is BIG, no joke. Then, I take a sip. Mmm, I say. Did you get a pearl? she asked. No, so I took another sip, this one practically a gulp, and up comes this slimy gooey ball into my mouth! I'm standing there in front of dozens of people with a weird, sour look on my face and she just bursts out laughing. I said, what am I supposed to DO with it? Swallow it?! And of course, she says chew, so I chewed. And it is so gooey. Think a floury gummy bear but slimy, if that's possible, and put it in flavored tea in balls the size of marbles, then suck hard. Yeah, exactly. And to be honest, I liked it! It's like getting a prize whenever you take a sip, except they don't always come up.

Anyway, that was quite an experience. So the rest of the day was pretty chill. We came back, attempted to go out to eat at a hawker stand but all the taxis kept whizzing by us, so half of us returned to the food court at PGP and ate. Then Fahmida and I sat around talking as various members of the group came and went. All in all, pleasant evening.

Then I had an epiphany, though not so dramatic and not so sudden, so it wasn't really an epiphany at all, just a realization. Well, I suppose you need to know what this epiphany relates to. For Dan Gold's class, we have to go out on our own somewhere Singapore-related for two hours and present our findings for ten minutes in class. My presentation is the second one, on Tuesday, but that is a good thing because people who go last might have a harder time coming up with an original place to visit. So Fahmida and I were talking about religion-related issues and I thought about what to do for church this morning. And THEN I thought about the presentation and decided that might just go hand in hand. I mean, experiencing worship in a foreign country is an experience, right?

So at one in the morning I investigated via google my church options for this morning, discovering several. In fact, there were dozens, I just had no idea where they were and couldn't get the street directory online to tell me how to get there. So I finally found one that looked close by, but I still didn't know how to find it. Finally I found a church, actually two churches next to each other, Methodist and Presbyterian, near where we had been at Orchard Road. I definitely knew that area as well as any. So this morning I took off around 7:45 for the 9:30 am service, thinking I'd left myself plenty of time. Well, I discovered the campus shuttle wasn't working to take me to the closest city bus stop, and I didn't know how long it would take to walk there. So I went back behind the dorm and down the road to another bus stop, though I had no idea what buses would be there. Turns out, just one or two, neither useful. So, I just kept walking thinking that I would find something eventually (I get it honest on both sides, I think). Well, yay, a bus stop less than a quarter of a mile away. I ponder the map, decide I need the 200. Two seconds later the 200 drives up and I wave at it-- it drives right on by. Fantastic, I thought. Maybe this wasn't really a 200 stop at all. Then another bus came ten minutes later (I don't even know the number) and I asked the bus driver if he went by an MRT station close by.

"MRT?"

"Yes," I say. "Do you go by one near here?"

He says something I can't understand.

Great, not very good English, I think. At that point I really wished I knew some Bahasa Malay (I think he was Malay). Then I say, "MRT station? ANY station? Can I get on this bus to get to one?"

Well, I think he might have understood that, because he just nodded. I get on. Well, we drive for a while. And a while further. People get on, get off. Finally I'm thinking that I need to get outta there before he takes me to Malaysia. In all reality we probably weren't driving that far, but when you don't know where you're going your mind dwells on every single inch the bus rolls and every direction it lurches. Finally we get to a busier bus stop and lo and behold I see an MRT sign. I have no idea where I am, except that I know I can get to where I'm going from here.

Well, I get off with most of the people on the bus and discover I'm at some place called HarbourFront. It's a really flashy building and I see buses for Sentosa Island parked nearby a hawker stand. Hmm, I think. Sentosa? HarbourFront? We must be on the harbor! So I go into this huge building to investigate. Turns out, it's a station for the ferry over to the island and for a cruise ship that's getting ready to leave. So I snap a few pictures out the window and head back to the MRT station, proud of myself for discovering such a pretty place. Touristy, but pretty.

Well, MRT took about twenty minutes and I got to Dhoby Gaut, my stop. I get out, check my travel guide and wander around for another ten minutes until I find Wesley Methodist. Like everything else in Singapore, it is open air and full of people milling about. There's a table set up for some fund, so I ask here where the sanctuary is. I go in, fifteen minutes early. So, an hour and a half to get fifteen miles. Impressive, huh?

The service itself was really good. The church was beautiful and it was a communion Sunday. Lots of hymns and the sermon was good. It was on the cost of discipleship, referring to the scripture where Jesus tells the man not to return to bury his father. "Let the dead bury the dead."

This is the church. It's the largest Methodist church in Singapore, and there were probably a two hundred or so there for the 9:30 service, and they have several services per week.

Many of the people there were Malay, I think, but I did see some Chinese and a couple of white families. It's so amazing to me that on the opposite side of the world the worship service is so similar. Except that they had these great bags for offering. I mean, churches probably have them in America, I'm just saying.

So 11:30 am I'm off again, starving because I didn't stop to eat breakfast. I wander down the road a bit and discover a Chinese flea market type thing. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I walk around and realize all the vendors are speaking Mandarin (or Cantonese? I can't differentiate between them) and I have no idea what anyone's saying. Then again, the signs were all in English. It's so paradoxical, I think. I didn't buy anything until I found a hawker stand for food.

Then I walked some more and stumbled into the Arab district. Someone called it the Arab Quarter, but I don't know if that's the name for it. It's not like Chinatown, and I presume it's not like Little India, but it was still interesting to explore. The stores were often fabric stores, some furniture, some food. After that I wandered into some of the prettiest parts of Singapore I've seen so far, which is the famous Merlion in the Marina Bay, and the Esplanade, which looks like a durian. (Durians are infamous fruits. They stink but most Singaporeans love them. I've tried it and it's horrible. But taste is in the mouth of the beholder, I guess. Okay, that was my attempt at being witty today. No more. Promise.)

A picture!!!!
These are durians!
Sorry it's low quality, but it was a busy market and I didn't want to look too touristy. I took the picture while walking and facing the other way. Not such great aim or focus or zoom, but I tried.

Yay. Now, I've gone up and put more pictures in earlier, so scratch anything I've said earlier about not having pictures. I can't find where all I said it.

Well, after the Arab district I found historic Chinatown, which was really cool. There were historic temples there and even a mosque. It was much less touristy than where we went on Friday evening, but no less enjoyable. There weren't many people out, except for a few Asian tourists taking pictures. It was a very quiet area.

Let's see, what else. Well, I tried to take a shortcut through a park to get to an MRT station. Needless to say, very bad idea. I'm thinking park as in lots of children and families and playgrounds. Definitely not. This thing was a mountain, probably the second highest in Singapore. Okay, not a mountain. The highest point is 300 feet or something, and that's Mt Faber. This has to be about 100 feet straight up. Well, I climbed it and turns out, it was fenced off and the top and I couldn't get to the other side. Yay. After wandering around this pseudo-park (deserted, practically), I finally wound my way right back to where I started twenty minutes later. Mission unaccomplished. I ended up walking for another couple of miles looking for the Outram Park MRT stop. I'm sure there was one closer, but hey, I did find a cool bridge to take a picture of.

Anyway, that was my day in a nutshell. Whew. I walked for many hours and many miles, but it was well worth it. I feel like I'm more acquainted with the true Singapore now.

Here's a picture to make this post worth your while:

Just so you know, sizes are like this everywhere. And I don't think I fit into an XXXXXL. Depressing.

This was at the Chinatown flea market thing, but shopping on Orchard Road was equally disappointing. All those stores are very Asian-size oriented. Not much luck for me.

If only they'd had XXXXXXL...

A day in the city...

2006-06-03T09:27:00.000+08:00

Hello again, everyone. Today is absolutely beautiful! Even the temperature is milder than it has been, though it is only 9:30 in the morning. Today was the first day that I did not wake up at exactly 6:24 am of my own accord. I slept in until 7:30! Anyone who knows me knows that 7:30 am is much earlier than I usually wake up on my own. I think it must be the heat and the fact that I get to sleep earlier.

But enough of my sleeping habits... Iknow you want to hear more about what's been going on. Well, after I wrote that post on Thursday a thunderstorm did indeed come, and it was accompanied by very loud thunder and rain that lasted for over an hour. We had planned to check out the local arts festival, but that did not start until 8 pm that night, so instead we decided to visit a hawker stand across from Ginza, where the group stayed last year. Four of us took a cab for four bucks, so it wasn't expensive at all. The hawker stand was literally dozens and dozens of stall vendors in a type of flea market, for lack of a better description. Fruit stalls stood next to hi tech camera stores, with food vendors wedged in between. The smells are overwhelming, especially since I am so accustomed to restaurants at home that have very little smell. The vendors all have banners over the window with pictures of the types of food they offer, most of them beef, chicken, and seafood. All of them had rice or noodles. It is fascinating exactly how much of a staple it is here.

Anyway, it was early in the evening and none of us was particularly hungry, so we decided to come back to the dorm to do some much needed reading for class the next day. After working on that for a while we went to a "gourmet cafe" that is located at PGP (our dorms). It was more American, with sandwiches and pizzas. The food was okay, but nothing spectacular. If I go back it will be out of a need for convenience. The building itself is like every other building in Singapore: architecturally creative and colorful. It looks just like it would fit in on Franklin Street as a coffee shop, actually.

Speaking of American stuff, we've also seen a few McDonalds, one Burger King, a few Starbucks, and lots of 7-11's. Even though they are not originally Southeast Asian, they all have regional influences. McDonald's has rice cake burgers. Burger King has some sort of Chinese-style chicken sandwich. Starbucks has mango frappuccinos. The 7-11's have stacks of canned drinks, like every other food vendor here. The only place I've seen fountain drinks was McDonalds. And no, I have not had any fast food yet. I was there with other people. Though I have to admit that if the flurry machine had been working, I would have caved. But anyway, that was all just a side note. Back to what I was saying...

Then Friday morning we had class at 9, but after I had a strawberry milkshake for breakfast. It tastes more like a strawberry smoothie, though, and it was delicious. I could eat one every day. Our first class with Dr. Quek was just as entertaining as the day before. She enlightens us with her own perceptions of Singaporean culture and the common characteristics of Singapore as an identity. If someone asked me exactly what it was to be American, besides a citizen of the USA, I don't know that I could describe it accurately. We say that we are more free, but how are we more free? We are more similar to this tiny island nation than I expected, and yet the differences still surprise me. This place has little resources of its own, opposed to the vast US with its wide variety. But this country also has a relatively recent history, much like the US. It also has a variety of races and ethnicities, also like the US. I rode the MRT (subway system) last night and saw people of European, North American, East Asian, West Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian descent. It feels a little strange to be thrust into the status of a minority, but here with its steady flow of Caucasians in and out of the country, my white skin evokes little reaction, if any at all. People seem to be very receptive to Americans.

Even forty years ago no one thought this nation would survive on its own, much less the people of Singapore. Released as a British colony in the '60s and unsuccessfully handed over to Malaysia to join its federation, its economic outlook was dim. Now its one of the world's leading ports, with a per capita GDP that rivals most countries that have been industrializing for centuries. The city is clean and bright, and I have never seen a place so dedicated to a pragmatist point of view. Money and appearance seem to be at the heart of the Singaporean philosophy, carried on the shoulders of every flashy high rise in the financial district. That said, though, I spent the rest of yesterday at the Asian Civilisations Museum, a state-of-the-art facility with touch screen tour guides and fiberoptic images recreating scenes from centuries past on the dark walls. Then I went on a boat tour of the Singapore River and saw the giant durian, a new opera house and performance hall settled in the valley left by the surrounding skyscrapers. Culture is not dead; on the contrary, it also seems to form the core of this city with its diverse population. We also witnessed that later when we went to Chinatown.

Well, I wanted to put a picture of the durian, but for some reason the pictures are not showing up on the post. I will see if I can fix it later.

I forgot to say earlier that we ate at an amazing Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, eating round after round of food. There were rolls, noodles, chicken and pork with rice, some sort of barley soup, and more. It was delicious.

After the boat tour we were on our own, so several of us headed off for Chinatown on the MRT (mass rapid transit... a subway of sorts). As we came up on the escalator out of the MRT station, we emerged right into the bright lights and sharp smells of Chinatown. Although more of a tourist attraction, the area was also a glimpse into the cultural side of Singapore that cropped up only a mile or so from where we had seen the glistening financial district. The vendors lined the streets, full tourists and locals poring through the items and enjoying the cooler evening. We wandered around, looking at bags and clothes and watches for five dollars, all cheaper prices helped by the fact that this summer is the great Singapore Sale, an advertising campaign to boost sales and the status of this city as a shopper's paradise. I know I will be back soon to buy some things that caught my eye.

After a while we stumbled upon a performance stage next to a hawker stand, with old men playing games on stone tables and families milling about, waiting for something to come onstage. We stuck around for a few minutes and were rewarded by Chinese kung fu performed by several young men, all of whom seemed very talented. A man standing next to us said that something happened in the area every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Needless to say, we promised each other we would return.

Finally we found a vendor where we could all sit around and table. It was Chinese, and more expensive than the typical prices of food in Singapore. That's probably because the area was so touristy. More delicious food followed. It will be a wonder if I make it through Southeast Asia alive after eating so much. Then five stops on the MRT and two buses got us back safely to PGP after a long but very enjoyable day out in the city.

But anyway, sorry this post wasn't as interesting as it could have been. I'll work on adding some pictures later. Now, off to do some reading.

2006-06-01T13:19:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone! Sorry I didn't update in the past couple of days, but I've been so busy getting situated and experiencing Singapore!

I just got back from lunch at the Deck, which is NUS's version of a dining hall, I guess. They have tons of vendors in stalls, for lack of a better term. It's like the food court at the mall except open air and more vendors. Also, it's faster. The food is all Chinese or Indian or Muslim (in fact, you return your trays to the Non-Muslim food stack or the Muslim food stack...weird, huh?). For lunch I had diced chicken with dry chilli rice at a... Chinese place? It was very good, but all the rice I'm eating makes me full quickly. I have a bad feeling that I am going to consume way too much rice while I'm here. So far I've eaten it with every meal, including those on the plane. The food is also very cheap here. I think I had my meal and a Pepsi for three dollars. And that's Singaporean dollars. Here that would be... $2.

The university is really nice. Our dorms are probably the shabbiest area of campus I've seen, and they aren't really too shabby. They could use a paint job. We're in single rooms, and the floors are divided into units with about 10 rooms per unit, including a kitchen and a bathroom. Speaking of bathrooms, the shower heads are definitely too low. My shorter friends on this trip have expressed how they feel that they fit in better here. I'll just say that my height puts me in a bit of a minority, except within our group of 25 UNC students. Anyway, as I was saying, the campus is beautiful! It's hard to say that I think somewhere other than UNC is as attractive, but they have distinct types of beauty. UNC has a sense of a stately, refined beauty, for lack of a better term, but NUS is fresh looking and more functional. That said, everything here seems to be more functional than home, considering how advanced the public transportation system is and how the architecture of the buildings reflects the feng shui practices.

The city itself is bright and colorful, with a crisp-looking financial district (seen below, though that's a poor quality picture taken out of a bus window), and areas like Chinatown and Little India. There's also the famous tourist attraction (and local attraction) of Orchard Road, but I haven't been there yet. It's supposed to be filled with shops of international brand clothing and jewelry and handbags for cheaper prices, since Singapore is so close to the sites of manufacturing for these brands.

I took that picture on a city tour we took yesterday morning. Being from a rural suburban area of the southern US, it's hard to fathom how large these big cities are. I've been to NYC and London, but I guess I never really had a firm grasp on exactly how large those cities were. Singapore itself is an island about 25 miles across, most of it city. There are about 4.5 million people here, though only just over 3.1 million are actual citizens. The rest are "foreign talent" or "guest workers," the former being well educated and white collar, the latter being blue collar immigrants from countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, India, etc. Singapore is 80% Chinese and 20% Malay, Indian, and other.

Today was my first day of classes, which take place from 9 to 12. The first half is with alternating professors from NUS who teach us the history of Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. The second half is taught by Dan Gold, the professor accompanying us from UNC. They were interesting today, especially since Singapore has such a compelling history. In fact, one of the more interesting facts is the origin of its name. It was originally known as Temasek, or "sea town," but when a prince landed here he claimed to have seen a beast that his companion called a lion for fear of being punished for not knowing what the beast was. Therefore, the island was then known as "singa purra," or "lion city." However, there are no lions in Singapore, nor is there evidence of any lions in the past, so the guy couldn't have seen a lion. Okay, I thought it was interesting.

Moving away from random history facts that probably bore everyone but me, I'll get back to the tour yesterday. We drove past the financial district and went to a mosque (seen below). I wasn't able to capture it very well on camera since there are so many trees, but you can see the dome (I can't remember the name of it) and the steeple to the left (I can't remember the name for that either). The steeple's actually leaning backward a noticeable six degrees because years ago they were digging to make some architectural changes and it started falling, so they injected wet cement underneath to try to stabilize it. We were allowed to go around the sides and look inside, and there were children inside being taught.

And after the mosque we visited a Hindu temple (seen below, but sideways, sorry), which was especially beautiful. The carvings are really ornate, and the men inside were all dressed in colorful clothing. We were allowed to go inside, but we had to take off our shoes. It was very open and very colorful, as you can see. There's another picture below that taken from the inside of the temple. It is also sideways, I'm sorry. Perhaps you can twist your neck sideways? I'll see if I can fix future pictures when I post. And by the way, the name of the temple is Chettiars' Temple, and you can see the website at www.sttemple.com.

We also went by some of the city monuments and buildings, which weren't all that interesting except that they were the traditional Roman style architecture with Corinthian columns, which is unlike anything else we've seen here. I do have to share one picture, though. It's the only unattractive structure I've seen thus far. The building below is what I mentioned earlier with the traditional style, but look on top! That UFO-shaped thing houses the Court of Appeals! Our tour guide said that people joke that the appeals system in Singapore is so alien. Ha. Anyway, I thought it was an amusing picture.

Here's a view of the southern coastline. The guide said that you can see Indonesia's coast in the far distance. That's how close they are. There were also cable cars going down to the island in the middle, which I think is were Sentosa is, one of the few actual beaches in Singapore.

And after the tour... came the Jurong Bird Park! That was basically a bird zoo, but I got a couple of cool pictures. There were tons of birds. All I have to say is, I did not realize ostriches were so big. This thing was giving us such an angry look that I thought it was going to jump right over the railing, which didn't look like much of a leap for it. I wish I had a good picture for you, but there's no way to compare the size. Here it looks small because I'm on a step looking down on it. Needless to say, right after I took this picture it turned around and did its business right there to give us his opinion of us.

And... just so I can leave you with something amusing. The following is hanging in the bathroom of our floor. Singapore is obsessed with cleanliness, I think. Everyone is well dressed, the streets and sidewalks are constantly cleaned, and chewing gum was only just made legal again. And it is funny, in a way, but everything is much cleaner here. A lot of the buildings have huge glass windows to where the walls are practically just windows themselves, and they're spotless.

I think that's about everything for now. Whew. It's two in the afternoon now, and the wind is really picking up for the first time since I've been here. It's thundering, too, so I think I'm about to witness my first Singaporean thunderstorm! The temperature hasn't been that bad, but there isn't any AC in our rooms, so we all turn the fans on full blast (which is really and truly FULL blast) and open the windows. All in all it's manageable. Singaporeans are big on AC. I think we got the only rooms in Singapore without it. Even Lee Kuan Yew, a longtime leader of Singapore, said that air conditioning was the most important invention of the twentieth century because it basically makes life here in the tropics so livable. Being here makes me appreciate NC's more temporate climate, though I am getting used to the heat and humidity. Okay, the storm is really coming now, so I must go shut my windows.

I hope you all have great ends to your weeks, and hopefully I'll be back soon to report more!

Day 1!

2006-05-30T01:31:00.000+08:00

Finally, I have arrived. I will apologize in advance for how short this post is, but it is 1:30 in the morning and I have slept less than two hours total in my one and a half day trek. It boggles my mind even now to think that I am on the opposite side of the world-- literally. Our flights were rather uneventful, though I must say I am a fan of AirNippon. They have little TV screens in front of every seat, allowing you to watch the movies you want or do things like playing old school SuperMario. That consumed many, many hours between Washington and Tokyo and between Tokyo and Singapore.

Speaking of which, I had been under the impression earlier that we were to fly east from DC to get to Japan, but that was incorrect. We flew over the Great Lakes and Canada and the entire length of Alaska. Alaska went on forever, but it was fascinating to watch (one of the channels on the TV was the view from a camera attached beneath the plane!). The landscape in that state is amazing from an aerial view.

At 10:30 pm on Monday evening, our flight landed in Singapore. We tracked down our luggage (everyone's was accounted for, thankfully) and jumped in a bus to take us to the dorm-style rooms we've been assigned for the next several weeks. The room is tiny, but it is a single, so I expected that. Not in the best of conditions, but it's not bad. I have to say, however, that it is so hot here. By the time we got out of the airport it was midnight, and the heat was enough to make you break out in a sweat in three minutes by just walking a short distance. I can't wait to find out what it's like under the noon sun tomorrow.

Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived, so although the city was fairly lit, I couldn't really see any sights. We have a tour of the campus and a tour of the city within the next couple of days, so I should get a much better picture then.

Somehow I can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that it is nearly 2 am Tuesday, not 2 am Monday. The fourteen hour flight messed around with my concept of what day it is. Anyway, the important point is that it is quite late and I have to get up to meet the group for breakfast in the morning. I hope you all had (are having?) wonderful Memorial weekends!

One week to go...

2006-05-22T02:18:00.000+08:00

My trip starts in one week, and I'm starting to get ready. My flight leaves Sunday, May 28, at about 6 am. A little early, I think, since I'm supposed to be at the airport two hours early. I will probably be too excited to even think about sleeping at first, but once I'm on the fourteen hour flight to Tokyo I will probably change my mind. Then it is another seven hours from Tokyo to Singapore. By Monday evening I will be on the opposite side of the world... literally.

So this is it. The blog has begun. Thanks to everyone who is reading it, and you are all more than welcome to make comments. I should have internet access in my dorm room, if all goes according to plan. That way I can update rather frequently.

Here's to seven weeks in Southeast Asia!