A great website!
I just came across this website that tells you (out loud) how to pronounce words...I always wondering if I am pronouncing words from other languages correctly (place names, food names, etc.) and this is a great resource!
http://www.forvo.com/
Check it out...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Below are some photos from our recent trip to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat and the other nearby temples. I'm not sure what I expected from Cambodia, but it was really amazing. It is a poor country, filled with people who have suffered unbelievable atrocities under Pol Pot and his regime, yet everyone seems to have a smile on their face. I can't wait to go back! More details to come...
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Part I: Greeting the Smells of India
OK, as promised, I'm starting the large task that is writing about our India trip....
The trip started out in Delhi. Actually, that's not true, it really started at the Bangalore airport. If you've heard of Bangalore, it's probably in its capacity as the IT capital of India. This, despite all of Chris' warnings that India was going to be "tough" and unexpected, put me in the mindframe of expecting something, oh I don't know, modern? However, we get out of the airplane in the "International Terminal" and begin to look for the "Domestic Terminal" from where we will continue our journey. I use the quotes because I am not sure I would even call them a terminal or separate them into two, because they are basically 2 big, connected rooms that you still need to go outside to move between. We step outside and, wham!! India whacks me in the face. First of all, it doesn't smell good, a little like curry, b.o. and pee, all mixed into one, fine package. Secondly, many, many rickshaw drivers start accosting us. The ones who weren't peeing in the bushes on the side of building, that is. As we are carrying our luggage and walking toward the "Domestic Terminal" it didn't seem to make sense, but as we were continually reminded throughout the trip, making sense and India didn't really go together. This would be proved, not a moment after pushing through the rickshaw drivers, by the x-ray machine at the entrance to the "terminal." First, you go to a window outside, with your e-ticket printout and pick up your ticket. Then you walk to the door, with a "line" (anytime I use the words line or queue, they must be taken with a grain of salt. While we Americans tend to be an orderly bunch, the Indians prefer "cluster" approach. One you propel your way to the front of the cluster, you arrive at the machine, where a guard asks you what bag you are checking. This bag, and nothing else you are carrying, gets put on the x-ray machine. Now, to me, this didn't make sense. Couldn't you just go inside and check in another bag when you get to the counter? Yes. But again, it goes to show I know nothing about what makes sense here.
After braving this chaos of the outside world for a few minutes, we were safely inside the "Domestic" piece of the airport. A true caffeine addict, I was ready for a non-Indian-Airlines-brewed cup of coffee. I figured they wouldn't have a coffee shop in this 1970's throwback of an airport, but I started to wander around. Lo and behold, I found a place that claimed to serve coffee. We hadn't changed money over before we left, generally preferring to use ATM machines when we arrive, to get the best rates. I stood in line at the coffeshop and asked if I could pay with a credit card (I was that desperate). No? Maybe Singapore Dollars? Hmm..US Dollars? With the shopkeeper growing increasingly impatient, I asked where I could find the nearest ATM. "No. No ATM" How can an airport NOT have an ATM machine?? So I move on to a man selling silk scarves. Surely, HE'D know where an ATM was. Shot down again. No currency change booth either. Finally, I gave up, knowing that my coffee dream was slipping away. Instead, Chris and I got into line to check in for our flight. I couldn't remember the time difference between India and Singapore, so I started surreptitiously checking out other people's watches. "Crap," I thought, "my watch stopped again." I thought this because everyone's watches showed a half hour time difference (plus the time zone difference) from mine. I mentioned this to Chris and he looked at his watch too - Same as mine. This is when we asked someone else in "line" about the time. Turns out - India is HALF AN HOUR away from the rest of the world on time. That's right - it's 3.5 hours different from Singapore, and likely about 8.5 from the Eastern US. I personally think this is what's thrown the whole thing off!
Anyway, coffee-free, we eventually board the plane, Kingfisher Air, which just seems to be the nicest domestic airline in India. We were really impressed and would definitely fly them again! It was a nice treat, after our short and already overwhelming introduction to India!
Note: Bangalore is in the process of opening a NEW airport, which I'm sure is going to be very nice, so you shouldn't be afraid to go!
Part II: Delhi in my Belly...Coming soon
OK, as promised, I'm starting the large task that is writing about our India trip....
The trip started out in Delhi. Actually, that's not true, it really started at the Bangalore airport. If you've heard of Bangalore, it's probably in its capacity as the IT capital of India. This, despite all of Chris' warnings that India was going to be "tough" and unexpected, put me in the mindframe of expecting something, oh I don't know, modern? However, we get out of the airplane in the "International Terminal" and begin to look for the "Domestic Terminal" from where we will continue our journey. I use the quotes because I am not sure I would even call them a terminal or separate them into two, because they are basically 2 big, connected rooms that you still need to go outside to move between. We step outside and, wham!! India whacks me in the face. First of all, it doesn't smell good, a little like curry, b.o. and pee, all mixed into one, fine package. Secondly, many, many rickshaw drivers start accosting us. The ones who weren't peeing in the bushes on the side of building, that is. As we are carrying our luggage and walking toward the "Domestic Terminal" it didn't seem to make sense, but as we were continually reminded throughout the trip, making sense and India didn't really go together. This would be proved, not a moment after pushing through the rickshaw drivers, by the x-ray machine at the entrance to the "terminal." First, you go to a window outside, with your e-ticket printout and pick up your ticket. Then you walk to the door, with a "line" (anytime I use the words line or queue, they must be taken with a grain of salt. While we Americans tend to be an orderly bunch, the Indians prefer "cluster" approach. One you propel your way to the front of the cluster, you arrive at the machine, where a guard asks you what bag you are checking. This bag, and nothing else you are carrying, gets put on the x-ray machine. Now, to me, this didn't make sense. Couldn't you just go inside and check in another bag when you get to the counter? Yes. But again, it goes to show I know nothing about what makes sense here.
After braving this chaos of the outside world for a few minutes, we were safely inside the "Domestic" piece of the airport. A true caffeine addict, I was ready for a non-Indian-Airlines-brewed cup of coffee. I figured they wouldn't have a coffee shop in this 1970's throwback of an airport, but I started to wander around. Lo and behold, I found a place that claimed to serve coffee. We hadn't changed money over before we left, generally preferring to use ATM machines when we arrive, to get the best rates. I stood in line at the coffeshop and asked if I could pay with a credit card (I was that desperate). No? Maybe Singapore Dollars? Hmm..US Dollars? With the shopkeeper growing increasingly impatient, I asked where I could find the nearest ATM. "No. No ATM" How can an airport NOT have an ATM machine?? So I move on to a man selling silk scarves. Surely, HE'D know where an ATM was. Shot down again. No currency change booth either. Finally, I gave up, knowing that my coffee dream was slipping away. Instead, Chris and I got into line to check in for our flight. I couldn't remember the time difference between India and Singapore, so I started surreptitiously checking out other people's watches. "Crap," I thought, "my watch stopped again." I thought this because everyone's watches showed a half hour time difference (plus the time zone difference) from mine. I mentioned this to Chris and he looked at his watch too - Same as mine. This is when we asked someone else in "line" about the time. Turns out - India is HALF AN HOUR away from the rest of the world on time. That's right - it's 3.5 hours different from Singapore, and likely about 8.5 from the Eastern US. I personally think this is what's thrown the whole thing off!
Anyway, coffee-free, we eventually board the plane, Kingfisher Air, which just seems to be the nicest domestic airline in India. We were really impressed and would definitely fly them again! It was a nice treat, after our short and already overwhelming introduction to India!
Note: Bangalore is in the process of opening a NEW airport, which I'm sure is going to be very nice, so you shouldn't be afraid to go!
Part II: Delhi in my Belly...Coming soon
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
It was just requested that I update the blog, and since I can't say no to a fan :) and since I now spend my days at a desk with a lot of free time, I really have no excuse. I was thinking about why I update this blog so infrequently - is it sheer laziness? Well, yes, I do have that nice lazy streak everyone wishes they could have, but it's more that Singapore just isn't as "interesting" at Turkey. By "interesting" I of course mean bizarre, frustrating, foreign, hilarious, etc...It's just a much nicer, and more "normal" place to live. This isn't to say one is better or worse than the other. I have recently put together my "Istanbul list" for a few friends who've gone to visit Istanbul and it made me miss it. I now have a small and constant hankering for lahmacun, and I occasionally miss the ferry ride commute to work (which truly proves that there's nothing like time to erase the negative - like the stares and the crowds and being surrounded by a boat full of people lighting up a cigarette at 8am).
On the other side of the coin, Singapore is everything people say it is; it's clean, efficient, organized. It's also lush and green, and hot, hot, hot! The food is delicious and the shops are more than enough to get me into trouble! There just haven't been many things here that make me say, "What???" Rather, things just kind of "make sense". Hence part of the reason for my lack of communication. The other part is that I've been pretty much working full time and I just completed my first semester of my Masters program (yay!) It was alot more work than I expected and took up most of my free time. But now that I'm free from classes (for a few more weeks) I appreciate that free time even more. One of the projects from this semester was to design a website, which I did, and it's here. There are some updates on there about the trips we've made this year (to China, Thailand, India and Bali) on the website, along with some library related things that I don't recommend you look at unless that's what you're in to (Flight of the Conchords reference, if you weren't sure. Are they coming back on the air? I miss them.)
Our last trip (well, my last trip. Chris' last trip was a field trip with his students to the non-resort part of Bintan, Indonesia) was to Bali. It was incredible and is now on my list of favorite destinations. The people are amazingly friendly and warm, and the places we stayed were nothing short of luxurious, all at a good price. We were amazed by how upscale it was (of course, I'm talking about the tourist areas.The local parts of the island were more rustic). Rather than a bunch of beachside shacks, the restaurants and bars in Bali were chic and the food was some of the best we've had in our travels. And not just local cuisine either. I had several italian dishes that would rival anything I've had in New York, and a usual meal, including wine or beer, appetizers, a main course and dessert, would be well under $20USD per person. It was amazing! One of the best experiences in Bali was taking a day trip with Wayan, who we met at the Three Monkeys Cafe, in Ubud, where he was our waiter. He is such a nice guy, working hard to support his family and he was really knowledgable about the island. During out tour, Wayan took us to a temple where there were hundreds of school children on a field trip. They were so curious about us and so friendly with the biggest smiles - It made all three of us (Chris and I and our friend Katie, another teacher) want to try and find a way to teach, at some point, in Bali). 4 days was too short of a time to spend in Bali and we look forward to going back and getting to know better the island and the Balinese people.
Still nagging me is the knowledge that I have to post about our India trip. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm intimidated to begin writing about it. It was such a long trip and overwhelming in so many ways, that I was mentally writing a long post about it while we were there, but now it's hiding somewhere in my brain. I do promise, though, that I'm going to start it today and hopefully finish it tomorrow. The photos are in a few different places, including the website I mentioned before.
On an exciting note, both Chris and I leave Singapore soon for our US summer holiday! We can't wait to get home to see family and friends and leave a bit of the heat and humidity behind. See you all then!!
On the other side of the coin, Singapore is everything people say it is; it's clean, efficient, organized. It's also lush and green, and hot, hot, hot! The food is delicious and the shops are more than enough to get me into trouble! There just haven't been many things here that make me say, "What???" Rather, things just kind of "make sense". Hence part of the reason for my lack of communication. The other part is that I've been pretty much working full time and I just completed my first semester of my Masters program (yay!) It was alot more work than I expected and took up most of my free time. But now that I'm free from classes (for a few more weeks) I appreciate that free time even more. One of the projects from this semester was to design a website, which I did, and it's here. There are some updates on there about the trips we've made this year (to China, Thailand, India and Bali) on the website, along with some library related things that I don't recommend you look at unless that's what you're in to (Flight of the Conchords reference, if you weren't sure. Are they coming back on the air? I miss them.)
Our last trip (well, my last trip. Chris' last trip was a field trip with his students to the non-resort part of Bintan, Indonesia) was to Bali. It was incredible and is now on my list of favorite destinations. The people are amazingly friendly and warm, and the places we stayed were nothing short of luxurious, all at a good price. We were amazed by how upscale it was (of course, I'm talking about the tourist areas.The local parts of the island were more rustic). Rather than a bunch of beachside shacks, the restaurants and bars in Bali were chic and the food was some of the best we've had in our travels. And not just local cuisine either. I had several italian dishes that would rival anything I've had in New York, and a usual meal, including wine or beer, appetizers, a main course and dessert, would be well under $20USD per person. It was amazing! One of the best experiences in Bali was taking a day trip with Wayan, who we met at the Three Monkeys Cafe, in Ubud, where he was our waiter. He is such a nice guy, working hard to support his family and he was really knowledgable about the island. During out tour, Wayan took us to a temple where there were hundreds of school children on a field trip. They were so curious about us and so friendly with the biggest smiles - It made all three of us (Chris and I and our friend Katie, another teacher) want to try and find a way to teach, at some point, in Bali). 4 days was too short of a time to spend in Bali and we look forward to going back and getting to know better the island and the Balinese people.
Still nagging me is the knowledge that I have to post about our India trip. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm intimidated to begin writing about it. It was such a long trip and overwhelming in so many ways, that I was mentally writing a long post about it while we were there, but now it's hiding somewhere in my brain. I do promise, though, that I'm going to start it today and hopefully finish it tomorrow. The photos are in a few different places, including the website I mentioned before.
On an exciting note, both Chris and I leave Singapore soon for our US summer holiday! We can't wait to get home to see family and friends and leave a bit of the heat and humidity behind. See you all then!!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The Police!
This is a great week! We had a short week thanks to Chinese New Year, which we got to experience last night. We also got to go see The Police play at Singapore Indoor Stadium on Monday. The Police aren't a band I'd even think of going to see at home (although I do love so many of their songs) but there's something about being far away from home that any "import" is a big deal (and yes, I know the Police are from the UK and that is not my home either!)
It was a really fun concert, preceded by some more fun beer and pizza's at our friends' place. I didn't get videos or decent photos of my own, because i had read that we couldn't bring cameras into the arena, and you just don't break rules here. Or so I thought. Most people had cameras, and I found this good montage of the show YouTube:
And I learned one very important lesson from the show...Old(er) Sting...Wayyyy more attractive than Young Sting. Who knew?
Chinese New Year photos and a posting about India (that I've been putting off because there's so, so much to write about) to come!
This is a great week! We had a short week thanks to Chinese New Year, which we got to experience last night. We also got to go see The Police play at Singapore Indoor Stadium on Monday. The Police aren't a band I'd even think of going to see at home (although I do love so many of their songs) but there's something about being far away from home that any "import" is a big deal (and yes, I know the Police are from the UK and that is not my home either!)
It was a really fun concert, preceded by some more fun beer and pizza's at our friends' place. I didn't get videos or decent photos of my own, because i had read that we couldn't bring cameras into the arena, and you just don't break rules here. Or so I thought. Most people had cameras, and I found this good montage of the show YouTube:
And I learned one very important lesson from the show...Old(er) Sting...Wayyyy more attractive than Young Sting. Who knew?
Chinese New Year photos and a posting about India (that I've been putting off because there's so, so much to write about) to come!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
I Hate It When...
The NY Times beats me to the punch! I always have big goals for my updates here, but I slack off way too much! I meant to write about our visit to Beijing and Xi'an back in October but it never happened. I meant to write that the nice people we met on the
Great Wall gave us super tips about fun places to visit in Beijing, such as Pure Lotus, a fantastic Buddhist, vegetarian restaurant, with fabulous atmosphere, beautiful presentation
,
great tableware
and really funny names of dishes
on their giant menu.
I felt totally behind the times when I opened up the nytimes.com travel section to see the 36 Hours in Beijing article where they wrote just about the same thing.
At least they didn't also mention the Red Capital Club, another place we were directed, a bar/restaurant where Mao and his buddies used to hang out, furnished with old Communist relics, where all the drinks had names relating to the bar's theme. From the Club, the Maitre'D put us in a cycle rickshaw, where the driver took us through streets of the old hutong to the Red Capital Residence - the related hotel, where you can go into the courtyard, slip down a rabbit hole and end up in an former bomb shelter, where you can have a drink and watch old Communist propaganda films in the background. If you're heading to Bejing, we highly recommend an evening at one (or both) of these places.
The NY Times beats me to the punch! I always have big goals for my updates here, but I slack off way too much! I meant to write about our visit to Beijing and Xi'an back in October but it never happened. I meant to write that the nice people we met on the
Great Wall gave us super tips about fun places to visit in Beijing, such as Pure Lotus, a fantastic Buddhist, vegetarian restaurant, with fabulous atmosphere, beautiful presentation
,great tableware
and really funny names of dishes
on their giant menu.
I felt totally behind the times when I opened up the nytimes.com travel section to see the 36 Hours in Beijing article where they wrote just about the same thing.At least they didn't also mention the Red Capital Club, another place we were directed, a bar/restaurant where Mao and his buddies used to hang out, furnished with old Communist relics, where all the drinks had names relating to the bar's theme. From the Club, the Maitre'D put us in a cycle rickshaw, where the driver took us through streets of the old hutong to the Red Capital Residence - the related hotel, where you can go into the courtyard, slip down a rabbit hole and end up in an former bomb shelter, where you can have a drink and watch old Communist propaganda films in the background. If you're heading to Bejing, we highly recommend an evening at one (or both) of these places.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Help!
Once again, too much time has passed since I've posted, but I have an excuse...I have been working pretty much full time since we returned from our fantastic trip to Krabi!
I will update more soon, but now I'm writing with a favor...I have been taking a photography class and we have to print up and turn in for critique 6 photos, covering different categories. They are: Portrait, Night, Motion, Macro (super close up,) Landscape and Architecture. I think. Anyway, I've posted some that I thought might be fitting in each category to my Picasaweb page
If you are reading this and have lots of free time, please take a look and either post a comment here, email me or post a comment on my photo page if you have any thoughts on which one, if any, in each category I should print? (I know there's only one now in Macro, I need to do some more work on that one)
I have looked at them so many times that none of them are looking good. Also, if there's any other picture that you see that's not in one of those recent albums, please tell me. And if there's a photo that anyone else has taken that you think I should co-opt and use instead, definitely tell me!
Thanks!!!!!!
Once again, too much time has passed since I've posted, but I have an excuse...I have been working pretty much full time since we returned from our fantastic trip to Krabi!
I will update more soon, but now I'm writing with a favor...I have been taking a photography class and we have to print up and turn in for critique 6 photos, covering different categories. They are: Portrait, Night, Motion, Macro (super close up,) Landscape and Architecture. I think. Anyway, I've posted some that I thought might be fitting in each category to my Picasaweb page
If you are reading this and have lots of free time, please take a look and either post a comment here, email me or post a comment on my photo page if you have any thoughts on which one, if any, in each category I should print? (I know there's only one now in Macro, I need to do some more work on that one)
I have looked at them so many times that none of them are looking good. Also, if there's any other picture that you see that's not in one of those recent albums, please tell me. And if there's a photo that anyone else has taken that you think I should co-opt and use instead, definitely tell me!
Thanks!!!!!!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Krabi (or Dear Jenna and Chris, Though you have different ideas of the perfect destination, we have created a place that is, individually, the dream location for each of you. Please come. Sincerely, Thailand. And Nature)
Chris and I were both really looking forward to our trip to Krabi, but for different reasons. Krabi is known as one of the world's premier rock climbing destinations, and also has beautiful beaches and plentiful spa/massage amenities. It is also very inexpensive and has great food. Based on these things, there was pretty much nothing to not like about this place. But we ended up liking it even more than we anticipated!
We stayed at the Railay Bay Resort in the area called Railay Beach. The hotel was great, overall, but our room wasn't quite as nice as some other places in the resort. It was a huge place though, and you can't get to this beach by car, so comings and goings were by longtail boats. We were welcomed to the hotel on our arrival by this sign
possibly the first time I've ever been welcomed visually (well, technically it was Chris, not me) to a hotel before...
This is me sitting at the restaurant hotel, with the beach in the background
and this is Chris enjoying himself on the rock
And my favorite (of the 6 massages I tried in our four days in Krabi - each one cost between $6 and $10USD for one hour) masseuse, Mama
The rest of our photos are here
We really did not want to leave Krabi and we can't wait to go back!!
Chris and I were both really looking forward to our trip to Krabi, but for different reasons. Krabi is known as one of the world's premier rock climbing destinations, and also has beautiful beaches and plentiful spa/massage amenities. It is also very inexpensive and has great food. Based on these things, there was pretty much nothing to not like about this place. But we ended up liking it even more than we anticipated!
We stayed at the Railay Bay Resort in the area called Railay Beach. The hotel was great, overall, but our room wasn't quite as nice as some other places in the resort. It was a huge place though, and you can't get to this beach by car, so comings and goings were by longtail boats. We were welcomed to the hotel on our arrival by this sign
possibly the first time I've ever been welcomed visually (well, technically it was Chris, not me) to a hotel before...
This is me sitting at the restaurant hotel, with the beach in the background
and this is Chris enjoying himself on the rock
And my favorite (of the 6 massages I tried in our four days in Krabi - each one cost between $6 and $10USD for one hour) masseuse, Mama
The rest of our photos are here
 |
| Krabi, Thailand - Thanksgivi |
We really did not want to leave Krabi and we can't wait to go back!!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Best. Taxi Ride. Ever.
I have been nothing short of amazed by the service of the taxi drivers here in Singapore (once you're actually in the car. Actually hailing a cab is another, long and frustrating, story.) In contrast to what we experienced in Turkey, and on occasion in the US, they are honest, friendly, helpful, chatty, informed, well-spoken and really interesting. They also (with few exceptions) speak perfect English. Usually I will end up chatting with the driver, sometimes even if I'm just in the mood to stare out the windows and listen to some music.
Today was one of those days. I had just gone all the way to the East of the island to see Chris and 3 friends compete in an all day (11 hours to be exact) group mountain biking race in Tampines. After doing my share of cheering and picture taking (photos to come) I decided to leave and take a bus ride home. Unfortunately, taking a bus from there to our place would likely take 2 hours and my bladder wasn't sure if wanted that long of a ride on the bus. So after a good, long walk to the bus depot, I changed my mind about public transport and hailed and hopped into a taxi. I had about 5 minutes left on the Grey's Anatomy I started watching on my iPod and really wanted to sink into the back seat and focus on George and Izzy's problem, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to happy when I got into the car and in an oddly loud, yet friendly voice, my driver said:
"Lady, where you from?"
Me: The US
Driver: Yes, Yes, where in the US?
Me: (this is a departure, as I normally just say "New York" since everyone knows NY, but it just popped out of my mouth) Connecticut....Near NY
Driver: Ahhhh, Connecticut. Hmmm...Let's see. Greenwich (green-witch)? Cos Cob? Stamford? Westport?
Me: (shocked) Um...Yes, Greenwich (Grenich) How did you know that? Have you been?
Driver: No!!!!! w...w...w...yahoomaps...com
Me: Wow, that's really amazing.
Driver: Let's see...Connecticut. That is I-95 anddddd....Merritt Parkway, yes?
Me: Yes. Wow.
Driver: Now, what does the Merritt Parkway turn into? The Taconic-no, that's not right.
He couldn't come up with the Hutchinson Parkway, but knew right away when I said it. This went on and on - with my College, knowing exactly which highways went by this small town in upstate New York, and continued on with more knowledge of Connecticut. Just by studying maps online. I was shocked and awed for the whole trip home.
After he finished regaling me with tales of Northeast USA roads, we moved on to a conversation about politics in Singapore versus the US (in Singapore, the government is like a 'farm family father. He wants to tell the son what to do all the time, but the son is 42 years old. Sometimes he wants to say "piss off" but he grudgingly says okay to the father', and in the US, we actually tell the "father" to piss off) and the pros and cons of the tight hold the government has on the people (a little less freedom and a lot more safety.)
I didn't get to finish my show, but I had yet another amazing taxi ride in Singapore. I have really learned a lot from the cabbies here!
I have been nothing short of amazed by the service of the taxi drivers here in Singapore (once you're actually in the car. Actually hailing a cab is another, long and frustrating, story.) In contrast to what we experienced in Turkey, and on occasion in the US, they are honest, friendly, helpful, chatty, informed, well-spoken and really interesting. They also (with few exceptions) speak perfect English. Usually I will end up chatting with the driver, sometimes even if I'm just in the mood to stare out the windows and listen to some music.
Today was one of those days. I had just gone all the way to the East of the island to see Chris and 3 friends compete in an all day (11 hours to be exact) group mountain biking race in Tampines. After doing my share of cheering and picture taking (photos to come) I decided to leave and take a bus ride home. Unfortunately, taking a bus from there to our place would likely take 2 hours and my bladder wasn't sure if wanted that long of a ride on the bus. So after a good, long walk to the bus depot, I changed my mind about public transport and hailed and hopped into a taxi. I had about 5 minutes left on the Grey's Anatomy I started watching on my iPod and really wanted to sink into the back seat and focus on George and Izzy's problem, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to happy when I got into the car and in an oddly loud, yet friendly voice, my driver said:
"Lady, where you from?"
Me: The US
Driver: Yes, Yes, where in the US?
Me: (this is a departure, as I normally just say "New York" since everyone knows NY, but it just popped out of my mouth) Connecticut....Near NY
Driver: Ahhhh, Connecticut. Hmmm...Let's see. Greenwich (green-witch)? Cos Cob? Stamford? Westport?
Me: (shocked) Um...Yes, Greenwich (Grenich) How did you know that? Have you been?
Driver: No!!!!! w...w...w...yahoomaps...com
Me: Wow, that's really amazing.
Driver: Let's see...Connecticut. That is I-95 anddddd....Merritt Parkway, yes?
Me: Yes. Wow.
Driver: Now, what does the Merritt Parkway turn into? The Taconic-no, that's not right.
He couldn't come up with the Hutchinson Parkway, but knew right away when I said it. This went on and on - with my College, knowing exactly which highways went by this small town in upstate New York, and continued on with more knowledge of Connecticut. Just by studying maps online. I was shocked and awed for the whole trip home.
After he finished regaling me with tales of Northeast USA roads, we moved on to a conversation about politics in Singapore versus the US (in Singapore, the government is like a 'farm family father. He wants to tell the son what to do all the time, but the son is 42 years old. Sometimes he wants to say "piss off" but he grudgingly says okay to the father', and in the US, we actually tell the "father" to piss off) and the pros and cons of the tight hold the government has on the people (a little less freedom and a lot more safety.)
I didn't get to finish my show, but I had yet another amazing taxi ride in Singapore. I have really learned a lot from the cabbies here!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Oktoberfest and China Part II
Before I continue to update on our China trip, I thought I'd just share a fun story about Oktoberfest. Chris participated in not one, but two competitions! One was eating and drinking, and one was a tag-team Erdinger drinking competition, more of a marathon than a sprint. Chris and 3 of our friends were victorious and won us free drinks for the rest of the night and an Erdinger "Oktoberfest" set, complete with 2 glasses, 4 beers and coupons for free things around Singapore. Here are photos of the victorious group before and after their win!
Now...Onto China...
After a restful day/night at the Simatai Guesthouse, we moved on to hike the portion of the Wall between Simatai and Jinshanling, about 5 km. We had been told by several people that it is difficult and steep at the beginning of the hike and then it calms down, but I didn't get that at all! I felt like I was climbing up stairs and downstairs, and upstairs and downstairs, and...you get the idea. For about 5 hours. It was fun though, and the views were beautiful. I did feel a bit dumb though - we brought Chris' daypack and left our other bags in the car. However, we didn't really measure out how much that would hold, versus what we wanted to bring with us. It ended up that I had to carry a shopping bag (brought from home, but it happened to be a Duty Free bag) on our whole hike - I got some weird looks for that!
This is the scary bridge he had to cross to start our day:
and some of the ups and downs...
We had alot of people following us, trying to get us to buy 'beer, soda, water, postcard, t-shirt?' - all said in rapid succession. But, being used to hawkers from our time in Turkey, we were able to shake them off pretty easily. We had been told that we'd find our next host through his wife, who'd have my name taped up to her stall of 'beer, water, etc...' and we were very unsure about whether or not this was actually going to work out. But sure enough, we walked into the nicest,
most 'together' tower we'd seen that day, and there is a woman, smiling like crazy, with my name on her table.
She served us tea, on our 'terrace' where we hung out for the afternoon, looking at the wall in all directions.
Eventually, her husband arrived, at just about sunset, and walked us into town to his home/shop/restaurant for a fabulous dinner!
Some shots from dinner:
After the humongous dinner (including, among many other things, a plate of dumplings for each person!) we took the 20 minute walk by flashlight back up to the watchtower, shared a bottle of wine on our new friends' watchtower and took our walk home along the wall to our home, where Mr. Sun had set up our beds for us and we went to sleep to get up at 6am for sunrise.
After seeing the beautiful sunrise, we walked down to meet our driver to take us into Beijing. We got stuck in a ton of traffic on the way home, but had some time to relax before starting on our whirlwind tour of Bejing and Xi'an...to come...
Before I continue to update on our China trip, I thought I'd just share a fun story about Oktoberfest. Chris participated in not one, but two competitions! One was eating and drinking, and one was a tag-team Erdinger drinking competition, more of a marathon than a sprint. Chris and 3 of our friends were victorious and won us free drinks for the rest of the night and an Erdinger "Oktoberfest" set, complete with 2 glasses, 4 beers and coupons for free things around Singapore. Here are photos of the victorious group before and after their win!
Now...Onto China...
After a restful day/night at the Simatai Guesthouse, we moved on to hike the portion of the Wall between Simatai and Jinshanling, about 5 km. We had been told by several people that it is difficult and steep at the beginning of the hike and then it calms down, but I didn't get that at all! I felt like I was climbing up stairs and downstairs, and upstairs and downstairs, and...you get the idea. For about 5 hours. It was fun though, and the views were beautiful. I did feel a bit dumb though - we brought Chris' daypack and left our other bags in the car. However, we didn't really measure out how much that would hold, versus what we wanted to bring with us. It ended up that I had to carry a shopping bag (brought from home, but it happened to be a Duty Free bag) on our whole hike - I got some weird looks for that!
This is the scary bridge he had to cross to start our day:
and some of the ups and downs...
We had alot of people following us, trying to get us to buy 'beer, soda, water, postcard, t-shirt?' - all said in rapid succession. But, being used to hawkers from our time in Turkey, we were able to shake them off pretty easily. We had been told that we'd find our next host through his wife, who'd have my name taped up to her stall of 'beer, water, etc...' and we were very unsure about whether or not this was actually going to work out. But sure enough, we walked into the nicest,
most 'together' tower we'd seen that day, and there is a woman, smiling like crazy, with my name on her table.She served us tea, on our 'terrace' where we hung out for the afternoon, looking at the wall in all directions.
Eventually, her husband arrived, at just about sunset, and walked us into town to his home/shop/restaurant for a fabulous dinner!
Some shots from dinner:
After the humongous dinner (including, among many other things, a plate of dumplings for each person!) we took the 20 minute walk by flashlight back up to the watchtower, shared a bottle of wine on our new friends' watchtower and took our walk home along the wall to our home, where Mr. Sun had set up our beds for us and we went to sleep to get up at 6am for sunrise.
After seeing the beautiful sunrise, we walked down to meet our driver to take us into Beijing. We got stuck in a ton of traffic on the way home, but had some time to relax before starting on our whirlwind tour of Bejing and Xi'an...to come...
Friday, October 26, 2007
China...Part I
I had planned to write about our amazing China trip as soon as we returned but, as I actually had to work a bunch, and I had 1,211 pictures to sort through, it kept getting pushed back, but I'm here now...
Our trip had an auspicious start as soon as we left Singapore. We were so responsible and booked our flights months ago, while we were still in Turkey. On the way to the airport, we were chatting with our taxi driver who also had plans to go to Beijing that same week. It turned out that his entire trip, with a full tour, cost about as much as one of our airline tickets. We also did not have a nonstop flight to Beijing. This turned out to be to our advantage...After the short leg of the flight, we had a layover in Kuala Lumpur. From there, we had about 6 hours to Beijing. I was disappointed to find (since I am so large and need alot of space) that I was stuck in a middle seat on the plane. While we are sitting in our tiny, cramped seats, someone comes back and softly asks to see our boarding passes. He tells us that they'd like to give us an upgrade to Business class "but separate seats. Separate. You won't be able to sit together." By the first "sep-" I had (sophisticatedly) shouted "OK" started crawling over Chris, likely elbowing him in the face to get a move on and continuing "yeah, yeah, we see each other all the time." Let me make sure to give them a plug...We were flying Malaysian Airlines, my new favorite airline...And the flight attendants were so nice that they actually asked someone else to move so we could end up sitting together. While one person was putting our bags in the overhead compartment, someone else was handing us glasses (glass glasses. Not the plastic stuff that cracks if you accidentally bite down onto it) of champagne so we could have a pre-take off flight. Chris was so exhausted from all of his hard work at school, so he fell asleep immediately after takeoff. I, on the other hand, love feeling important and pretending to have a luxurious life, so I stayed awake for most of the flight, taking advantage of more drinks "keep 'em coming" might have been my exact quote to the amused flight attendant, the best chicken and beef satay I have had to date, and the personal video screen filled with movies and television shows. Oh, and when they served us food, they set our tray tables with LINEN. We should not have to eat off of mere plastic tray tables, surely not! Basically, it was the best flight I've had since the "NY to Orlando upgrade of 1993" and has led me to the undeniable conclusion that: Coach is for suckers.
Anyway, back to the actual visit to China. The trip was partially to visit China and partially to visit with Chris' parents who were in Beijing as part of a longer trip around the country. We had planned to be with them on their tour from Sunday to the following Saturday (we were arriving early on a Saturday morning,) but visit the Great Wall of China on our own beforehand. Being the over-researcher that I am, I contacted about 5 different companies that do hikes of the Great Wall with a one night camp out on the Wall, nearly signing up with one, before I inadvertently realized that we actually weren't meeting Chris' parents until Monday so I decided to start organizing a 2 night trip on our own. In subsequent research, I came across a guesthouse at the Simatai section of the wall, along with contact information for a man in the US who created the website for the Chinese owners (who didn't speak much English.) I decided to contact this guy, who ended up being an invaluable resource when planning the trip. I'm not going to put his name on here, but we'll call him J, because I don't want him to have to be harassed by anyone else! Basically, he called the owners in China for us, to organize our stay and also organized a driver to bring us from the airport out to the Wall, hold our luggage while we hike, and take us to our hotel in Beijing 2 days later. For our second night's stay, I had contacted the (also invaluable) tour company representative that Chris' parents were using for their tour, and asked if she wouldn't mind contacting a man who I had read about online as someone who rents out a watchtower on the Wall and provides dinner and breakfast to his guests (and who also does not speak English.) As we were going to be hiking along the wall, I wasn't sure how we would hook up with him or figure out which watchtower belonged to him. I was told by the tour agent "his wife runs a stall on the wall, and she'll have your name taped to it."
There were so many loose ends here, I wasn't really sure if it was going to work out, but never one to like failure, I had my fingers crossed and...It couldn't have turned out better! The driver, who I was warned (there's a theme here) didn't speak English, actually brought his college-aged, English speaking niece along for the 3 hour trip, just to make sure we could figure out all the details about where he should drop us off, when and where he should pick us up, and if there was anything else we needed. She gave us her phone number, so we could contact her for any reason, which we did when we decided we wanted an earlier pick-up time on our final day (after 'roughing it' for a few days, a girl needs a couple of hours at the Silk Market...More on that later)
We arrived at Simatai at about 9am on Saturday morning and, in the pouring rain, started our walk. After following the "walk along the river and take a left at the first watchtower" type of directions we got from J and thwarting some would-be Wall-escorters/postcard-hawkers, we arrived at the Simatai Guest House to meet our friendly hosts for the night - "You're the Americans!" he said as we walked up to the place. After finally getting some sleep on the beds (wooden planks with 1" thick foam stapled to it) in the Guesthouse, we awoke in the afternoon and had some amazing sweet and sour chicken, fried rice and homemade (and delicious!) noodles and a couple of beers. After our first meal in China, and after the rain cleared and we realized we could see the Wall extending as far as we could see, from our patio, our host offered to take us on a walk (he did speak a little English) up to the Wall for sunset. It was awesome.
Here are a couple of pictures from the Guesthouse and our sunset hike. We are heading out to Oktoberfest today, so I can't write more but I will update the rest of the trip in the next day or so...
I had planned to write about our amazing China trip as soon as we returned but, as I actually had to work a bunch, and I had 1,211 pictures to sort through, it kept getting pushed back, but I'm here now...
Our trip had an auspicious start as soon as we left Singapore. We were so responsible and booked our flights months ago, while we were still in Turkey. On the way to the airport, we were chatting with our taxi driver who also had plans to go to Beijing that same week. It turned out that his entire trip, with a full tour, cost about as much as one of our airline tickets. We also did not have a nonstop flight to Beijing. This turned out to be to our advantage...After the short leg of the flight, we had a layover in Kuala Lumpur. From there, we had about 6 hours to Beijing. I was disappointed to find (since I am so large and need alot of space) that I was stuck in a middle seat on the plane. While we are sitting in our tiny, cramped seats, someone comes back and softly asks to see our boarding passes. He tells us that they'd like to give us an upgrade to Business class "but separate seats. Separate. You won't be able to sit together." By the first "sep-" I had (sophisticatedly) shouted "OK" started crawling over Chris, likely elbowing him in the face to get a move on and continuing "yeah, yeah, we see each other all the time." Let me make sure to give them a plug...We were flying Malaysian Airlines, my new favorite airline...And the flight attendants were so nice that they actually asked someone else to move so we could end up sitting together. While one person was putting our bags in the overhead compartment, someone else was handing us glasses (glass glasses. Not the plastic stuff that cracks if you accidentally bite down onto it) of champagne so we could have a pre-take off flight. Chris was so exhausted from all of his hard work at school, so he fell asleep immediately after takeoff. I, on the other hand, love feeling important and pretending to have a luxurious life, so I stayed awake for most of the flight, taking advantage of more drinks "keep 'em coming" might have been my exact quote to the amused flight attendant, the best chicken and beef satay I have had to date, and the personal video screen filled with movies and television shows. Oh, and when they served us food, they set our tray tables with LINEN. We should not have to eat off of mere plastic tray tables, surely not! Basically, it was the best flight I've had since the "NY to Orlando upgrade of 1993" and has led me to the undeniable conclusion that: Coach is for suckers.
Anyway, back to the actual visit to China. The trip was partially to visit China and partially to visit with Chris' parents who were in Beijing as part of a longer trip around the country. We had planned to be with them on their tour from Sunday to the following Saturday (we were arriving early on a Saturday morning,) but visit the Great Wall of China on our own beforehand. Being the over-researcher that I am, I contacted about 5 different companies that do hikes of the Great Wall with a one night camp out on the Wall, nearly signing up with one, before I inadvertently realized that we actually weren't meeting Chris' parents until Monday so I decided to start organizing a 2 night trip on our own. In subsequent research, I came across a guesthouse at the Simatai section of the wall, along with contact information for a man in the US who created the website for the Chinese owners (who didn't speak much English.) I decided to contact this guy, who ended up being an invaluable resource when planning the trip. I'm not going to put his name on here, but we'll call him J, because I don't want him to have to be harassed by anyone else! Basically, he called the owners in China for us, to organize our stay and also organized a driver to bring us from the airport out to the Wall, hold our luggage while we hike, and take us to our hotel in Beijing 2 days later. For our second night's stay, I had contacted the (also invaluable) tour company representative that Chris' parents were using for their tour, and asked if she wouldn't mind contacting a man who I had read about online as someone who rents out a watchtower on the Wall and provides dinner and breakfast to his guests (and who also does not speak English.) As we were going to be hiking along the wall, I wasn't sure how we would hook up with him or figure out which watchtower belonged to him. I was told by the tour agent "his wife runs a stall on the wall, and she'll have your name taped to it."
There were so many loose ends here, I wasn't really sure if it was going to work out, but never one to like failure, I had my fingers crossed and...It couldn't have turned out better! The driver, who I was warned (there's a theme here) didn't speak English, actually brought his college-aged, English speaking niece along for the 3 hour trip, just to make sure we could figure out all the details about where he should drop us off, when and where he should pick us up, and if there was anything else we needed. She gave us her phone number, so we could contact her for any reason, which we did when we decided we wanted an earlier pick-up time on our final day (after 'roughing it' for a few days, a girl needs a couple of hours at the Silk Market...More on that later)
We arrived at Simatai at about 9am on Saturday morning and, in the pouring rain, started our walk. After following the "walk along the river and take a left at the first watchtower" type of directions we got from J and thwarting some would-be Wall-escorters/postcard-hawkers, we arrived at the Simatai Guest House to meet our friendly hosts for the night - "You're the Americans!" he said as we walked up to the place. After finally getting some sleep on the beds (wooden planks with 1" thick foam stapled to it) in the Guesthouse, we awoke in the afternoon and had some amazing sweet and sour chicken, fried rice and homemade (and delicious!) noodles and a couple of beers. After our first meal in China, and after the rain cleared and we realized we could see the Wall extending as far as we could see, from our patio, our host offered to take us on a walk (he did speak a little English) up to the Wall for sunset. It was awesome.
Here are a couple of pictures from the Guesthouse and our sunset hike. We are heading out to Oktoberfest today, so I can't write more but I will update the rest of the trip in the next day or so...
Thursday, October 04, 2007
I meant to post these pictures from the Singapore Zoo...I was lucky enough to get paid to help out on a school field trip here. Pretty much the coolest zoo I have ever seen. In some of these photos, the animals were literally a foot away or less - no bars! Apparently the primates are intimidated by the local monkeys so they stay in their little areas even though there isn't much built to keep them there. These aren't terribly well edited so feel free to fly past the multiple White Tiger shots or the many, many Baboon ones...
We're off to China today, to visit the Great Wall, Beijing and Xi'an and to spend some time with the Emersons! I'll update this with lots of stories and photos when we return!
We're off to China today, to visit the Great Wall, Beijing and Xi'an and to spend some time with the Emersons! I'll update this with lots of stories and photos when we return!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
It has been a busy few weeks, especially with work (even I have been working most days!) but made slightly less busy by both Chris' and my long weekend trips falling through! Note to anyone who needs it: You need a visa to go to India. Who knew?
But we have been doing lots of fun things as well...First of all, Chris took part in an amazing race, called the Coastal Challenge. It looked incredibly tough to me, but Chris had a great (full) day!
Here are some pictures of the finish line (the only place I could watch any part of the race, because the locations were top secret) and Chris and his race partner/co-worker Phil finishing the race, triumphant!
More photos and stories to come soon...
But we have been doing lots of fun things as well...First of all, Chris took part in an amazing race, called the Coastal Challenge. It looked incredibly tough to me, but Chris had a great (full) day!
Here are some pictures of the finish line (the only place I could watch any part of the race, because the locations were top secret) and Chris and his race partner/co-worker Phil finishing the race, triumphant!
More photos and stories to come soon...
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Singapore...the land of little monkeys (though I have yet to encounter one,) lots of heat and MOCHI, the inspiration for the new name of our blog: www.mochimadness.blogspot.com
We have been here now for awhile...Well, Chris for longer than me, but even I've been here for over 2 weeks now. We are absolutely loving it - our condo is great, the school is fabulous and the ease of doing just about anything is amazing! More to come, including photos and mayyyybe even a 360 tour, just like on the real estate sites, if you're lucky and if I'm feeling bored, I mean motivated, but now that we're not in Turkey anymore, we're going to change the name of our blog.
Tonight, I decided it should be Mochi Madness - Mochi (which admittedly doesn't sound appetizing on Wikipedia,) for those of you who have not tried the delectable little treat, is the ice cream dessert that we have been mildly obsessed with since arriving here (and I'll be honest, the obsession actually started at Whole Foods back in Greenwich...) It is single serving, so you don't fill yourself up, easy to eat in it's own little package, and just delicious. Chris actually vetoed the blog name Mochi Madness, but...since I'm the one who actually writes this thing, I decided my vote should count twice...
So, for now, until Chris writes a little something, I mean, gets a second vote, I mean, notices...the new address for our blog is www.mochimadness.blogspot.com - Although, if you're reading this sentence, you're already here :) so, welcome! And go try some Mochi!
We have been here now for awhile...Well, Chris for longer than me, but even I've been here for over 2 weeks now. We are absolutely loving it - our condo is great, the school is fabulous and the ease of doing just about anything is amazing! More to come, including photos and mayyyybe even a 360 tour, just like on the real estate sites, if you're lucky and if I'm feeling bored, I mean motivated, but now that we're not in Turkey anymore, we're going to change the name of our blog.
Tonight, I decided it should be Mochi Madness - Mochi (which admittedly doesn't sound appetizing on Wikipedia,) for those of you who have not tried the delectable little treat, is the ice cream dessert that we have been mildly obsessed with since arriving here (and I'll be honest, the obsession actually started at Whole Foods back in Greenwich...) It is single serving, so you don't fill yourself up, easy to eat in it's own little package, and just delicious. Chris actually vetoed the blog name Mochi Madness, but...since I'm the one who actually writes this thing, I decided my vote should count twice...
So, for now, until Chris writes a little something, I mean, gets a second vote, I mean, notices...the new address for our blog is www.mochimadness.blogspot.com - Although, if you're reading this sentence, you're already here :) so, welcome! And go try some Mochi!
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