with a passion. I am talking about a genuine and utter and deep disdain for them. My legs have exactly 12 mosquito bites on them, thanks to the $7 hostel that I stayed at in Cambodia. I slept for about 4 hours on that bed. And woke up as the main entree for those disgusting little suckers.
In class, they itch. I walk, and they itch. All they do is itch. And it's weird because normally mosquitos don't like my blood. But these Cambodian mosquitos are willing to get any meal they can, I guess. Which is just my luck.
Did I mention that I have found a new sugary addiction? Being frozen yogurt deprived has led me to pursue other forms of temporary unhealthy obsessions. At home, it ranges from mom's homemade granola to frozen yogurt. In Singapore, it has ranged from pineapple (currently still ongoing), Hershey's chocolate kisses, McDonald's vanilla cones, and the one I am currently suffering from: chocolate covered raisins. Is that gross? I feel like not many people would like them. But for some reason I find them delicious. I am eating/popping them into my mouth like it's no one's business. Seriously, this cannot be healthy. And of course, I am supposed to be doing some homework but my mind is just out of control right now. Completely unable to concentrate. And I find the best cure is to just write (and eat vast quantities of chocolate raisins), even if it is about something as insignificant as chocolate covered raisins. But isn't it the little insignificances of life that make it interesting? I would say so.
MOVING ON: I was hoping to get to talk to Manny today. But that was a fail. I am truly missing that boy so much. There's just something about him...
But I talked with some of my friends back home today. Heather updated me on her life (her new military boyfriend)...and Brieanna's life (her new acting career)... Jessica updated me on her life (new Italian boyfriend who she says is an "angel") Also talked to Ronnie, who is in a similar situation (in terms of significant others). At this rate, I'm going to find out that Staci got a boyfriend too. So basically everyone is either falling in love or becoming famous, all while I am on the other side of the world. That would happen.
But it IS almost spring time at home though, right? (In Singapore, it's summer all year round, so I am unaccustomed to the term "seasons") So I guess love is in the air..and meanwhile, I am in southeast asia, where apparently the only thing in the air are bloodthirsty mosquitos.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Random Ramblings
I am trying to pack for Cambodia. Can you even call it packing? More like throwing a few pairs of shorts, tops, some underwear, and my toothbrush into my backpack. I also had to exchange my sing money for US money because apparently that's what they go for in Cambodia. It was weird to see US money again. Whenever I hold one of those green dolla bills I feel like I'm carrying gold. Especially in Vietnam.
This past week, ever since I went to Vietnam, I have been so tired, as if a bus hit me. Then the driver reversed and ran over me again. My hypothesis is that it is from many many many too many countless nights of going out. Oh and southeast asia country hopping. Running every morning. School. Ok well more like feeling the pressure-of-school and not doing too much about it. Sometimes everything seems surreal, like it is all a dream.. I'm not really in Singapore, living this crazy lifestyle. But then I look over and see my I Love Bali t-shirt...My plane ticket stubs...My Singapore ID card...12 different types of currency sitting on the table...and I know this aint no dream baby!
I must be honest though. I'm definitely enjoying every second here. But I'm people-sick. No, not homesick, but people-sick. I want to make that clear. Because there is a difference. Feels like I haven't seen my mom in 10 years. Yet she looks 10 years younger...it must be the long shiny mane she is growing out. Or my little poochie, who I'm sure is taller than me now. I miss my BFF, emphasis on the B (you know who you are!)...and manny...who i adore....and heather and brieanna.. and my mel ho. But I'll see them all very soon. It is only a matter of time. I just hope they all have the patience to deal with my reverse culture shock. ie What's that? That's a fork, Renee. What's that? That's a toilet seat cover. What's that? That's a white person.. ha jk. But you know, things like that.
Today I needed some time alone. I find I really need that, no matter if I'm at home or here. But especially here because I feel like I am incessantly surrounded by friends. Which I love, but sometimes I just need to be alone. Went for a walk with my ipod to canteen A to grab some dinner. I really want to like canteen 9. But every time after I eat there I feel like I want to throw up. I think it may be from seeing the worker cooks chopping up their vegetables on some wooden block in the back alley. Or maybe it was because there was the hair in my food, that the lady scooped out and put a new spoonful of vegetables to replace it. Perhaps I should eat their nasi goreng. But after eating it for literally every meal in Bali..I just can't bear any more of it. But I swear I am going to go through withdrawal without cant A's hot sauce. This hot sauce blows Sriracha out of the water. Anyways, after I ate, near the random Indian businessmen...and the random Chinese businessmen... who I hope are professors but who knows? I took the bus to JP to grab some last minute essentials before I leave in the morning. Like some US money.. and some fruit and crackers for the trip.. and a backpack. I still have no clue why I didn't bring my backpack here..
For the first time, Fairprice wasn't crowded. I thought I was in the wrong store at first. No one was running into me. No random smells of people rushing by. No looooooong lines down the aisles? Huh? I was shocked and confused. No loud buzz of chinese chatter. But I smelt the durian and knew I was in the right place (I think I just threw up).
I had a minor heart attack yesterday. When I found out that grad schools will be looking at my grades here at NTU. Which I hope won't be straight D's. Especially since I got my first D on a college quiz that I have EVER gotten in my life! And I promise will be the last, because the feeling of uneasiness and disappointment and failure was way too much for me to handle. San Diego Renee almost had a heart attack..So I signed on to Web Portal, to check my transcript. It took me about 10 minutes to remember what the hell my Red ID number was. Or what it was a Red ID was for that matter. Then I checked out all the classes I need to take next semester...checked my grades...stuff like that. It made me feel a bit better, but not much.
So the moral of this long, pointless, rambling story featuring my complaints and whining about my NTU grades is that I need to stop slacking and get my school act together. And study. Much more. And stop saying that and then not following through! Because it is just causing way too much stress for me. How students don't care about school and grades and college is beyond me. I tried it for about 3 months and now am freaking out. It's the cognitive dissonance talking here..
Anyways, I need to finish my Vietnam stories and put them up, before I forget them all. Which I do believe would be an even greater disappointment than getting straight D's.
This past week, ever since I went to Vietnam, I have been so tired, as if a bus hit me. Then the driver reversed and ran over me again. My hypothesis is that it is from many many many too many countless nights of going out. Oh and southeast asia country hopping. Running every morning. School. Ok well more like feeling the pressure-of-school and not doing too much about it. Sometimes everything seems surreal, like it is all a dream.. I'm not really in Singapore, living this crazy lifestyle. But then I look over and see my I Love Bali t-shirt...My plane ticket stubs...My Singapore ID card...12 different types of currency sitting on the table...and I know this aint no dream baby!
I must be honest though. I'm definitely enjoying every second here. But I'm people-sick. No, not homesick, but people-sick. I want to make that clear. Because there is a difference. Feels like I haven't seen my mom in 10 years. Yet she looks 10 years younger...it must be the long shiny mane she is growing out. Or my little poochie, who I'm sure is taller than me now. I miss my BFF, emphasis on the B (you know who you are!)...and manny...who i adore....and heather and brieanna.. and my mel ho. But I'll see them all very soon. It is only a matter of time. I just hope they all have the patience to deal with my reverse culture shock. ie What's that? That's a fork, Renee. What's that? That's a toilet seat cover. What's that? That's a white person.. ha jk. But you know, things like that.
Today I needed some time alone. I find I really need that, no matter if I'm at home or here. But especially here because I feel like I am incessantly surrounded by friends. Which I love, but sometimes I just need to be alone. Went for a walk with my ipod to canteen A to grab some dinner. I really want to like canteen 9. But every time after I eat there I feel like I want to throw up. I think it may be from seeing the worker cooks chopping up their vegetables on some wooden block in the back alley. Or maybe it was because there was the hair in my food, that the lady scooped out and put a new spoonful of vegetables to replace it. Perhaps I should eat their nasi goreng. But after eating it for literally every meal in Bali..I just can't bear any more of it. But I swear I am going to go through withdrawal without cant A's hot sauce. This hot sauce blows Sriracha out of the water. Anyways, after I ate, near the random Indian businessmen...and the random Chinese businessmen... who I hope are professors but who knows? I took the bus to JP to grab some last minute essentials before I leave in the morning. Like some US money.. and some fruit and crackers for the trip.. and a backpack. I still have no clue why I didn't bring my backpack here..
For the first time, Fairprice wasn't crowded. I thought I was in the wrong store at first. No one was running into me. No random smells of people rushing by. No looooooong lines down the aisles? Huh? I was shocked and confused. No loud buzz of chinese chatter. But I smelt the durian and knew I was in the right place (I think I just threw up).
I had a minor heart attack yesterday. When I found out that grad schools will be looking at my grades here at NTU. Which I hope won't be straight D's. Especially since I got my first D on a college quiz that I have EVER gotten in my life! And I promise will be the last, because the feeling of uneasiness and disappointment and failure was way too much for me to handle. San Diego Renee almost had a heart attack..So I signed on to Web Portal, to check my transcript. It took me about 10 minutes to remember what the hell my Red ID number was. Or what it was a Red ID was for that matter. Then I checked out all the classes I need to take next semester...checked my grades...stuff like that. It made me feel a bit better, but not much.
So the moral of this long, pointless, rambling story featuring my complaints and whining about my NTU grades is that I need to stop slacking and get my school act together. And study. Much more. And stop saying that and then not following through! Because it is just causing way too much stress for me. How students don't care about school and grades and college is beyond me. I tried it for about 3 months and now am freaking out. It's the cognitive dissonance talking here..
Anyways, I need to finish my Vietnam stories and put them up, before I forget them all. Which I do believe would be an even greater disappointment than getting straight D's.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
A Taste of Vietnam (SAIGON)
HO CHI MINH CITY. Or should I say Saigon? I prefer Saigon, as did most of the Southern Vietnamese..especially that guy who sold me that yogurt stick ice cream on the street. Oh, and our crazy intense tour guide of course.
Probably one of the coolest, tastiest, and most unique trips I have ever been on in my life. I didn't know what to expect. So first I guess I'll start with the Pho (first things first, right?): It was real, authentic, not loaded up with MSG like at home, leaving you thirsty hours later. Overall, the ethnic variety of the food was surprising. I ate 2 really delicious Indian meals (love that curry!) and a really nice Thai meal (another green curry!) From Mediterranean to Japanese to Malaysian, the city literally had it all. Now if only I was able to muster up the courage to try the local street food (sitting on the small baby stools and tables of course). Or at least the dinosaur egg, crocodile, or snake that they offered during the tour lunch..
The Vietnamese culture was overwhelmingly strong. It was a feeling that is hard to describe..it seemed to be in the air, the smells, the sights, the people, the noises, everything. Experiencing a different Asian culture (a YELLOW one) was unforgettable. Next on my list is the Japanese. Then Koreans. Then I think I will have them all covered...
We left on Friday morning. The group of 6 was divided into 3: Me, David and Andrew (Team Tiger) and Amanda, Roel and Tommy (Team Jetstar). Unfortunately, I have no team pride, due to Tiger's delays and...utter unreliable-ness.
David failed to apply for a Vietnam visa, and realized this when he got to the airport and wasn't let on the airplane, thus leading to his decision to pay 200 sing to change his flight to a later time, apply for a visa online and rush it, then wait for it to process, then come over separately on Friday night.
This left Andrew and I waiting for our flight for a few extra hours, and making me regret getting up so early and paying extra for that taxi. But what are you going to do? Like so many other times on exchange..you just have to breathe and let it go...
After reviewing some key Vietnamese phrases that Andrew had written down, we boarded and flew to Vietnam. The process of getting your Visa and paying and filling out the form was..very unorganized to say the least. But honestly, I wasn't surprised. I was a bit scared of the really intense Chinese-Canadian girl who was yelling at the office worker lady to get her visa. Rude, so rude.
Anyways, we finally got past immigration and were in SAIGON! I couldn't believe how nice and clean the airport was too. Andrew and I bargained with a cab driver over the price. He anted $15 US to take us to the hotel. We laughed. Andrew said $6. He laughed. After some intense bargaining, and walking away..the man settle for $10 US. We later found out that that was a complete rip off, but again...live and learn right?
Driving through the city was awesome! All the motorcycles, and people wearing those face masks...The city was more developed than I thought it would be, yet still old in some parts. We finally got to our hotel ("CHERRY HOTEL. C-H-E-R-R-Y") and found Amanda, Roel, and Tommy waiting in me and Amanda's room watching cartoons. The guesthouse we stayed at was pretty nice! Definitely not bad for about 15 bucks a night. The only negative was that smell...(hahaha)
The 4 boys stayed at the Mai hotel literally around the corner. For the rest of our first day there we just walked around exploring the city, and the boys scoped out places to get their suits. The streets were very dirty. Really made me grateful for the no littering laws of Singapore. Although maybe there is a happy medium...where you can't litter...but you don't get caned and fined if you do....
However, I must say that the very first thing Andrew and I did when we got there was GO EAT PHO from PHO 2000 down the street because we were absolutely STARVING. And, typical me, I ordered a pineapple smoothie. I am not exaggerating when I say that I eat pineapple every day here. Southeast asian tropical pineapple is heavenly. But the pho was not as tasty as at home...but it definitely tasted more authentic. And Bill Clinton ate there in the year 2000. Which, now that I think about it, is probably why they gave it that number? Hmm..
Amanda and I wandered off a bit from the boys, checking out the city. And pissed off an old woman trying to sell us t-shirts. I bargained her down to $1 US per t shirt. But Amanda and I thought it was too early to start buying things!
We found the boys in the tailoring store that we would return to about 13 times that trip. They picked out the fabric for their suits. And Andrew was very impressive with the pictures and notes he had taken for the EXACT look he wanted for his suit. They got them for $150 per suit. I tried on a beautiful green jeweled dress that was about $50 US. And Amanda tried on a classy black one. But neither of us could afford it, being that we would have blown ALL of our money on these dresses. And we had more important things to buy with it. Like coconut candy for example.
We ate dinner that night at this huge food court place. Again, any type of asian food you could imagine. I settled for Indian, of course, while the boys ate about 3 dishes each of food. And Andrew is pretty much a human garbage disposal. It is shocking how much that boy can eat. I bought some chocolates at the vietnamese grocery store..and Amanda and I had some ice cream cones from some fast food place that would literally be the offspring of McDonalds and Burger King if they decided to have a child.
We went to the Ben Thanh market, but didn't stay too long. It was great just walking around the city. Jaywalking in Vietnam is intense. All the motorcycles and cars honk ALL THE TIME and dodge you as you go across the street. I felt like some rebellious child, with all of these opportunities to break what would be a criminal offense in Singapore, like jaywalking.. littering.. spitting... eating on public transit.. we were like teenagers who go to college and get their first taste of freedom and go nuts.
Amanda and I, exhausted, got ready for bed and watched tv! It was all pretty much in Vietnamese though, except for one Australian music channel station that played the same 5 music videos over and over and over. We stayed up talking extremely late, talking about literally everything and everyone. It was hilarious. We finally fell asleep and got about 4 hours before the alarm went off at 5am (which we thought was 6am) and we found ourselves getting up and getting ready to go running. Yes, running in Vietnam while on vacation at 5am. Probably not the best idea we have ever had, but whatever. We sneaked down the stairs, where the people who worked there were sleeping on the couches. We tried to wake them up by subtly talking louder, but it didn't work. Finally the guy got up and unchained the front door. We set foot out to run on the dark streets of Vietnam. It was a bit sketchy..to say the least..But we ended up finding some little park thing and ran around it 15 times. Yes, 15 times. And it was pretty funny when Amanda steppe don some crazy fast squirrel that ran across the sidewalk.
We got back, alive, and took showers (in the bathroom that flooded) then ate some of the delicious breakfast downstairs. We ate about 15 of those little baby sandwiches that they serve in little triangles. What is it about those triangles that make them so much better then when they are cut in squares? I'm convinced that when kids don't eat, parents should just cut the food into triangles and they will eat it..
We met with the boys and took the tour bus over to the station, where we boarded our main bus which was ironically not as nice. We met our tour guide, Mr Lovely, who told us that his face is "lovely" which is where he got his name. He is obviously humble too! Our first stop was as the Vietnamese Handicapped Handcrafters place, where we saw the assembly line and makings of various Vietnamese arts, like boxes..paintings..everything. It was incredible. And it was very sad watching how hard and poor those workers were. I was tempted to buy some painting or something, but it was way overpriced.
Next we headed over to the Mekong River to get aboard our boats! It was a long trek out there on that bus. But I really do not mind long bus rides. They can actually be pretty fun! We arrived at the delta and the water was very brownish and murky. We got on our boats and cruised a bit to change to another smaller boat, and take it down into the jungle parts of Vietnam. It was surrounded on either side by huge green trees, a very beautiful scene! It was very relaxing. And seeing the boys playing and jumping in the water was pretty cute. We arrived at this hidden place in the jungle, where we watched the Vietnamese women there making coconut candy. Now, I will be the first to tell you that I hate coconut. But, I tried it anyways, and this candy was absolutely delectable! So delectable that I bought 3 packs of it (2 chocolate coconuts and 1 peanut coconuts) - I finished nearly 1 of the packages before the trip was even over. It tasted somewhat like saltwater taffy, minus the salt water flavor. Sooooo good.
Then Mr Lovely showed us a real honey bee nest thing, followed by us having a tea party and drinking real honey tea, which was SO sweet I couldn't drink more than 1 sip (and I LOVE sweets). Then a young boy brought out a huge snake for people to hold (and give him tips for) and I was the FIRST one to do it! The snake was cool at first, then it started to kind of hiss at me and I got freaked out so I gave it back..
We took the long leisurely boat to eat lunch, at this school place. Actually I do not know where we were but there were lots of school kids around eating and playing with crocodiles and stuff. They served us a plate of white rice, some meat, and vegetables. But they had a menu consisting of dinosaur eggs...crocodile...eel...frog..all kinds of things that I could never even think of trying! The boys weren't brave enough to try any thing either. Which really disappointed me.
I went and saw some crocodiles afterwards..then bought a whole pineapple for the lady to cut up for me for less than a dollar. It was the sweetest pineapple ever! We ate the pineapple and discussed relationships and how to guess how long a couple has been together just by looking at them on our way to go take a more personalized, really Asian boat ride somewhere else along the Mekong to see the traditional song and music of some Vietnamese people. It was here that we got to eat some tropical fruits (although I wolfed down only the pineapple) and they sang some Vietnamese music and played some instruments I have never even seen before. I bought a bag that I later regretted, so the next lady bought it off of me in exchange for the one I wanted from her! And it was here that Mr Lovely came up to me and TOLD me that I was half asian and half Western, although he didn't know what asian..and that I was a half-breed. Pretty funny guy, right?
We took the boat back to the main area to go to the bathroom, and while I was in the bathroom (gotta love those southeast asian squatters) I came out and everyone was gone. Everyone. I was so scared. I went out into the parking lot..searching for the bus..couldn't see any tourist. All I wanted to see was a white person, some person looking lost too..anyone. Just when I was considering how I would get back, I saw Mr Lovely running towards me...I ran towards him too, so thankful to see his Lovely Face! I now understand why they say his face is so lovely! I apologized because the bus was waiting for me...and asked him "What can you expect from half-breeds?" which made him laugh pretty hard.
By the time we got back from the long bus ride, we were STARVING. Amanda and I had eaten nearly 70 of those coconut candies, and we dying for real food. We decided to eat at this little Indian restaurant, that was probably some of the tastiest Indian food I have ever eaten. Nevermind that at EVERY meal my food is ALWAYS the last to be served, although it is always the easiest to make...but it was well worth the wait.
Next we went back from District 7 to District 1 to get the boys suits. They were SO excited. But only to be let down when they heard that they werent ready yet. Amanda and I went back to our rooms to rest a bit before possibly going out later, but she ended up studying for her Chinese quiz while I passed out. Later, I took a shower and fell asleep at about 9pm. The boys came at 11 pm to get us, but I was dead asleep. And Amanda told me the next day that I was sleep talking to her. I really am my mother's daughter...
The next morning, the alarm went off again at 5am. This time, it was way more difficult to get up and run. I literally stood up and just stood there. A zombie. Dead to the world. Amanda was like "Let's just sleep 1 more hour and do it at 6" so I threw my running clothes down and passed back out in bed. 1 min later I was like "No Amanda, let's just go now!" so we got up and did our loops again, this time, however, make it clear that we went 16 times around!
We got back and again enjoyed tons of triangles and pineapple and such..and then we got picked up to go to our half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, which I would say was my favorite part of the trip!
On the way, we stopped again at a different handicrafter place, this time with even more workers and paintings. Then we got to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where we first watched a video underground in a big dirt room, informing us of the background, from the Vietnamese point of view, of the Vietnam War and what these tunnels were used for. It was very interesting hearing such a different perspective on the war. Our tour guide was also a soldier in the war for the South (non-communist) side for Vietnam.
After watching the video we began our walking tour through the tunnels. We were shown a bunch of trap devices that the soldiers used that were strategically placed throughout the jungles. In school, we would always learn about guerrilla warfare, but actually going and seeing it and experiencing it was insane. We even got to try to go down in a tunnel (Where they would then place the opening over their head and hide underground). I was small enough to go in, but it was quite hard trying to get back out!
My favorite part was obviously when we got to actually go down IN the tunnels, just like how the soldiers did. It took them 5 hours to walk/squat through them for 3 miles. They were SO small, dark, claustrophobic, humid, and a bit creepy. At some points I couldn't see where I was going, just squatting along sweating through the tunnel that you could barely move in. I stayed in the whole time with some random guy on the tour who followed me! I felt much safer with him behind me.
Afterwards, we got to eat tapioca and tea, which is what the soldiers ate EVERY day while they were out. Even their kitchens were underground, and the tour guide told us that they would cook only very early in the morning or very late at night. They were very very sneaky, these Vietcongs..
After the tour ended, we were all very very dirty and sweaty. But no matter! We went back and decided to eat at this great Pho place that had all kinds of great food. I got some fresh spring rolls and pho which had the freshest vegetables and flavor I could imagine! The lady even gave us free dessert, 1 being a chocolate cake, and the other being some vegetable croissant thing...it was actually pretty good!
Amanda and I reluctantly tried this yogurt stick dessert thing on the street for 5000 dong. We bought it off some guys who were selling it off a motorcycle. It was the best tasting dessert I have had in a loooong time.
We decided to spend our last half day in HCMC doing as much as we could. We went to the Vietnam War Museum, which was mainly pictures and big tanks, but I really learned so much. We also tried to go to the Reunification Palace, which was closed by the time we got there. We then walked down to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was near a huge park and a huge building that we still don't know what it was. A post office? A train station? Who knows? But I sent my family a postcard there, and in the park happened to come across a big group of Vietnamese teens sitting down singing happy birthday with a cake for a friend. I proceeded to take a picture of them, trying to be subtle, but they saw and started posing. Also, the girl near the stature trying to sell us stuff really insulted Roel, which was hilarious, asking him why he was bald? I won't tell you his response. lol. We ate dinner at a great Thai restaurant, where I ate the best green curry of my life. David was literally SWEATING BULLETS from his Wild Spring Curry...Amanda and I got cheap ice creams from the Circle K afterwards because we always crave something sweet after eating Asian food. We went back to get their suits - where the women again tried to get me to buy the beautiful green and gold dress and the black one for Amanda - and then returned to the hotel. I was exhausted, but still went with the boys to the night market. It wasn't very cheap, and they weren't willing to bargain very much. I sat with the boys while they ate their 6th meal that day at 11pm - enjoying their last Vietnamese meal of real pho and beer (And the spring rolls Andrew never got - he had the WORST luck with food on this trip!)
The next morning we flew back to Singapore. I thought Tiger was going to screw me over again and have such a delayed flight that I would miss my 130 class. Despite our delay, I got back just in time and was able to cab back to NTU and go straight to class with my suitcase. I borrowed a pen and paper from my friend and took notes for 2 hours, then while walking home with my luggage, it started to POUR. Perfect timing of course. So I somehow made my way back in the rain, lugged the suitcase up to the 6th floor, and came back soaked. Oh well. It was all worth it.
Overall, I was awed by the people and culture of Vietnam. How a country, so fresh from war, could still be full of optimistic people.
It was a great learning experience, truly opening my eyes to the different perspectives of war and hardships. I absolutely loved Vietnam, and am now dying to go back to Hanoi with mom this summer. You can never have enough Pho.
Probably one of the coolest, tastiest, and most unique trips I have ever been on in my life. I didn't know what to expect. So first I guess I'll start with the Pho (first things first, right?): It was real, authentic, not loaded up with MSG like at home, leaving you thirsty hours later. Overall, the ethnic variety of the food was surprising. I ate 2 really delicious Indian meals (love that curry!) and a really nice Thai meal (another green curry!) From Mediterranean to Japanese to Malaysian, the city literally had it all. Now if only I was able to muster up the courage to try the local street food (sitting on the small baby stools and tables of course). Or at least the dinosaur egg, crocodile, or snake that they offered during the tour lunch..
The Vietnamese culture was overwhelmingly strong. It was a feeling that is hard to describe..it seemed to be in the air, the smells, the sights, the people, the noises, everything. Experiencing a different Asian culture (a YELLOW one) was unforgettable. Next on my list is the Japanese. Then Koreans. Then I think I will have them all covered...
We left on Friday morning. The group of 6 was divided into 3: Me, David and Andrew (Team Tiger) and Amanda, Roel and Tommy (Team Jetstar). Unfortunately, I have no team pride, due to Tiger's delays and...utter unreliable-ness.
David failed to apply for a Vietnam visa, and realized this when he got to the airport and wasn't let on the airplane, thus leading to his decision to pay 200 sing to change his flight to a later time, apply for a visa online and rush it, then wait for it to process, then come over separately on Friday night.
This left Andrew and I waiting for our flight for a few extra hours, and making me regret getting up so early and paying extra for that taxi. But what are you going to do? Like so many other times on exchange..you just have to breathe and let it go...
After reviewing some key Vietnamese phrases that Andrew had written down, we boarded and flew to Vietnam. The process of getting your Visa and paying and filling out the form was..very unorganized to say the least. But honestly, I wasn't surprised. I was a bit scared of the really intense Chinese-Canadian girl who was yelling at the office worker lady to get her visa. Rude, so rude.
Anyways, we finally got past immigration and were in SAIGON! I couldn't believe how nice and clean the airport was too. Andrew and I bargained with a cab driver over the price. He anted $15 US to take us to the hotel. We laughed. Andrew said $6. He laughed. After some intense bargaining, and walking away..the man settle for $10 US. We later found out that that was a complete rip off, but again...live and learn right?
Driving through the city was awesome! All the motorcycles, and people wearing those face masks...The city was more developed than I thought it would be, yet still old in some parts. We finally got to our hotel ("CHERRY HOTEL. C-H-E-R-R-Y") and found Amanda, Roel, and Tommy waiting in me and Amanda's room watching cartoons. The guesthouse we stayed at was pretty nice! Definitely not bad for about 15 bucks a night. The only negative was that smell...(hahaha)
The 4 boys stayed at the Mai hotel literally around the corner. For the rest of our first day there we just walked around exploring the city, and the boys scoped out places to get their suits. The streets were very dirty. Really made me grateful for the no littering laws of Singapore. Although maybe there is a happy medium...where you can't litter...but you don't get caned and fined if you do....
However, I must say that the very first thing Andrew and I did when we got there was GO EAT PHO from PHO 2000 down the street because we were absolutely STARVING. And, typical me, I ordered a pineapple smoothie. I am not exaggerating when I say that I eat pineapple every day here. Southeast asian tropical pineapple is heavenly. But the pho was not as tasty as at home...but it definitely tasted more authentic. And Bill Clinton ate there in the year 2000. Which, now that I think about it, is probably why they gave it that number? Hmm..
Amanda and I wandered off a bit from the boys, checking out the city. And pissed off an old woman trying to sell us t-shirts. I bargained her down to $1 US per t shirt. But Amanda and I thought it was too early to start buying things!
We found the boys in the tailoring store that we would return to about 13 times that trip. They picked out the fabric for their suits. And Andrew was very impressive with the pictures and notes he had taken for the EXACT look he wanted for his suit. They got them for $150 per suit. I tried on a beautiful green jeweled dress that was about $50 US. And Amanda tried on a classy black one. But neither of us could afford it, being that we would have blown ALL of our money on these dresses. And we had more important things to buy with it. Like coconut candy for example.
We ate dinner that night at this huge food court place. Again, any type of asian food you could imagine. I settled for Indian, of course, while the boys ate about 3 dishes each of food. And Andrew is pretty much a human garbage disposal. It is shocking how much that boy can eat. I bought some chocolates at the vietnamese grocery store..and Amanda and I had some ice cream cones from some fast food place that would literally be the offspring of McDonalds and Burger King if they decided to have a child.
We went to the Ben Thanh market, but didn't stay too long. It was great just walking around the city. Jaywalking in Vietnam is intense. All the motorcycles and cars honk ALL THE TIME and dodge you as you go across the street. I felt like some rebellious child, with all of these opportunities to break what would be a criminal offense in Singapore, like jaywalking.. littering.. spitting... eating on public transit.. we were like teenagers who go to college and get their first taste of freedom and go nuts.
Amanda and I, exhausted, got ready for bed and watched tv! It was all pretty much in Vietnamese though, except for one Australian music channel station that played the same 5 music videos over and over and over. We stayed up talking extremely late, talking about literally everything and everyone. It was hilarious. We finally fell asleep and got about 4 hours before the alarm went off at 5am (which we thought was 6am) and we found ourselves getting up and getting ready to go running. Yes, running in Vietnam while on vacation at 5am. Probably not the best idea we have ever had, but whatever. We sneaked down the stairs, where the people who worked there were sleeping on the couches. We tried to wake them up by subtly talking louder, but it didn't work. Finally the guy got up and unchained the front door. We set foot out to run on the dark streets of Vietnam. It was a bit sketchy..to say the least..But we ended up finding some little park thing and ran around it 15 times. Yes, 15 times. And it was pretty funny when Amanda steppe don some crazy fast squirrel that ran across the sidewalk.
We got back, alive, and took showers (in the bathroom that flooded) then ate some of the delicious breakfast downstairs. We ate about 15 of those little baby sandwiches that they serve in little triangles. What is it about those triangles that make them so much better then when they are cut in squares? I'm convinced that when kids don't eat, parents should just cut the food into triangles and they will eat it..
We met with the boys and took the tour bus over to the station, where we boarded our main bus which was ironically not as nice. We met our tour guide, Mr Lovely, who told us that his face is "lovely" which is where he got his name. He is obviously humble too! Our first stop was as the Vietnamese Handicapped Handcrafters place, where we saw the assembly line and makings of various Vietnamese arts, like boxes..paintings..everything. It was incredible. And it was very sad watching how hard and poor those workers were. I was tempted to buy some painting or something, but it was way overpriced.
Next we headed over to the Mekong River to get aboard our boats! It was a long trek out there on that bus. But I really do not mind long bus rides. They can actually be pretty fun! We arrived at the delta and the water was very brownish and murky. We got on our boats and cruised a bit to change to another smaller boat, and take it down into the jungle parts of Vietnam. It was surrounded on either side by huge green trees, a very beautiful scene! It was very relaxing. And seeing the boys playing and jumping in the water was pretty cute. We arrived at this hidden place in the jungle, where we watched the Vietnamese women there making coconut candy. Now, I will be the first to tell you that I hate coconut. But, I tried it anyways, and this candy was absolutely delectable! So delectable that I bought 3 packs of it (2 chocolate coconuts and 1 peanut coconuts) - I finished nearly 1 of the packages before the trip was even over. It tasted somewhat like saltwater taffy, minus the salt water flavor. Sooooo good.
Then Mr Lovely showed us a real honey bee nest thing, followed by us having a tea party and drinking real honey tea, which was SO sweet I couldn't drink more than 1 sip (and I LOVE sweets). Then a young boy brought out a huge snake for people to hold (and give him tips for) and I was the FIRST one to do it! The snake was cool at first, then it started to kind of hiss at me and I got freaked out so I gave it back..
We took the long leisurely boat to eat lunch, at this school place. Actually I do not know where we were but there were lots of school kids around eating and playing with crocodiles and stuff. They served us a plate of white rice, some meat, and vegetables. But they had a menu consisting of dinosaur eggs...crocodile...eel...frog..all kinds of things that I could never even think of trying! The boys weren't brave enough to try any thing either. Which really disappointed me.
I went and saw some crocodiles afterwards..then bought a whole pineapple for the lady to cut up for me for less than a dollar. It was the sweetest pineapple ever! We ate the pineapple and discussed relationships and how to guess how long a couple has been together just by looking at them on our way to go take a more personalized, really Asian boat ride somewhere else along the Mekong to see the traditional song and music of some Vietnamese people. It was here that we got to eat some tropical fruits (although I wolfed down only the pineapple) and they sang some Vietnamese music and played some instruments I have never even seen before. I bought a bag that I later regretted, so the next lady bought it off of me in exchange for the one I wanted from her! And it was here that Mr Lovely came up to me and TOLD me that I was half asian and half Western, although he didn't know what asian..and that I was a half-breed. Pretty funny guy, right?
We took the boat back to the main area to go to the bathroom, and while I was in the bathroom (gotta love those southeast asian squatters) I came out and everyone was gone. Everyone. I was so scared. I went out into the parking lot..searching for the bus..couldn't see any tourist. All I wanted to see was a white person, some person looking lost too..anyone. Just when I was considering how I would get back, I saw Mr Lovely running towards me...I ran towards him too, so thankful to see his Lovely Face! I now understand why they say his face is so lovely! I apologized because the bus was waiting for me...and asked him "What can you expect from half-breeds?" which made him laugh pretty hard.
By the time we got back from the long bus ride, we were STARVING. Amanda and I had eaten nearly 70 of those coconut candies, and we dying for real food. We decided to eat at this little Indian restaurant, that was probably some of the tastiest Indian food I have ever eaten. Nevermind that at EVERY meal my food is ALWAYS the last to be served, although it is always the easiest to make...but it was well worth the wait.
Next we went back from District 7 to District 1 to get the boys suits. They were SO excited. But only to be let down when they heard that they werent ready yet. Amanda and I went back to our rooms to rest a bit before possibly going out later, but she ended up studying for her Chinese quiz while I passed out. Later, I took a shower and fell asleep at about 9pm. The boys came at 11 pm to get us, but I was dead asleep. And Amanda told me the next day that I was sleep talking to her. I really am my mother's daughter...
The next morning, the alarm went off again at 5am. This time, it was way more difficult to get up and run. I literally stood up and just stood there. A zombie. Dead to the world. Amanda was like "Let's just sleep 1 more hour and do it at 6" so I threw my running clothes down and passed back out in bed. 1 min later I was like "No Amanda, let's just go now!" so we got up and did our loops again, this time, however, make it clear that we went 16 times around!
We got back and again enjoyed tons of triangles and pineapple and such..and then we got picked up to go to our half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, which I would say was my favorite part of the trip!
On the way, we stopped again at a different handicrafter place, this time with even more workers and paintings. Then we got to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where we first watched a video underground in a big dirt room, informing us of the background, from the Vietnamese point of view, of the Vietnam War and what these tunnels were used for. It was very interesting hearing such a different perspective on the war. Our tour guide was also a soldier in the war for the South (non-communist) side for Vietnam.
After watching the video we began our walking tour through the tunnels. We were shown a bunch of trap devices that the soldiers used that were strategically placed throughout the jungles. In school, we would always learn about guerrilla warfare, but actually going and seeing it and experiencing it was insane. We even got to try to go down in a tunnel (Where they would then place the opening over their head and hide underground). I was small enough to go in, but it was quite hard trying to get back out!
My favorite part was obviously when we got to actually go down IN the tunnels, just like how the soldiers did. It took them 5 hours to walk/squat through them for 3 miles. They were SO small, dark, claustrophobic, humid, and a bit creepy. At some points I couldn't see where I was going, just squatting along sweating through the tunnel that you could barely move in. I stayed in the whole time with some random guy on the tour who followed me! I felt much safer with him behind me.
Afterwards, we got to eat tapioca and tea, which is what the soldiers ate EVERY day while they were out. Even their kitchens were underground, and the tour guide told us that they would cook only very early in the morning or very late at night. They were very very sneaky, these Vietcongs..
After the tour ended, we were all very very dirty and sweaty. But no matter! We went back and decided to eat at this great Pho place that had all kinds of great food. I got some fresh spring rolls and pho which had the freshest vegetables and flavor I could imagine! The lady even gave us free dessert, 1 being a chocolate cake, and the other being some vegetable croissant thing...it was actually pretty good!
Amanda and I reluctantly tried this yogurt stick dessert thing on the street for 5000 dong. We bought it off some guys who were selling it off a motorcycle. It was the best tasting dessert I have had in a loooong time.
We decided to spend our last half day in HCMC doing as much as we could. We went to the Vietnam War Museum, which was mainly pictures and big tanks, but I really learned so much. We also tried to go to the Reunification Palace, which was closed by the time we got there. We then walked down to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was near a huge park and a huge building that we still don't know what it was. A post office? A train station? Who knows? But I sent my family a postcard there, and in the park happened to come across a big group of Vietnamese teens sitting down singing happy birthday with a cake for a friend. I proceeded to take a picture of them, trying to be subtle, but they saw and started posing. Also, the girl near the stature trying to sell us stuff really insulted Roel, which was hilarious, asking him why he was bald? I won't tell you his response. lol. We ate dinner at a great Thai restaurant, where I ate the best green curry of my life. David was literally SWEATING BULLETS from his Wild Spring Curry...Amanda and I got cheap ice creams from the Circle K afterwards because we always crave something sweet after eating Asian food. We went back to get their suits - where the women again tried to get me to buy the beautiful green and gold dress and the black one for Amanda - and then returned to the hotel. I was exhausted, but still went with the boys to the night market. It wasn't very cheap, and they weren't willing to bargain very much. I sat with the boys while they ate their 6th meal that day at 11pm - enjoying their last Vietnamese meal of real pho and beer (And the spring rolls Andrew never got - he had the WORST luck with food on this trip!)
The next morning we flew back to Singapore. I thought Tiger was going to screw me over again and have such a delayed flight that I would miss my 130 class. Despite our delay, I got back just in time and was able to cab back to NTU and go straight to class with my suitcase. I borrowed a pen and paper from my friend and took notes for 2 hours, then while walking home with my luggage, it started to POUR. Perfect timing of course. So I somehow made my way back in the rain, lugged the suitcase up to the 6th floor, and came back soaked. Oh well. It was all worth it.
Overall, I was awed by the people and culture of Vietnam. How a country, so fresh from war, could still be full of optimistic people.
It was a great learning experience, truly opening my eyes to the different perspectives of war and hardships. I absolutely loved Vietnam, and am now dying to go back to Hanoi with mom this summer. You can never have enough Pho.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Paper From Hell
I try to live my life by the rule of: Learn from your mistakes. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Especially for people like me, who make decisions like eating Indian food the night before a race. Or taking a nap 20 minutes before youre supposed to leave for it.
These past 2 days (after my race fiasco on Sunday) have been characterized by pure exhaustion. Yesterday was Monday, aka Day 1 of 3 of intense 10 page essay writing for my positive psychology class. This never ending essay from hell is due on Saturday, but because I'm conveniently leaving for Vietnam Friday morning, am forced to have it done by Thursday.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have been planning on writing this essay for a long time. My intentions for getting it finished were definitely for the best. But my actions failed me. Yet again. San Diego Renee would have had this done a month ago. But Singapore Renee is different. But can you blame me? You can probably understand how going to Bali, or taking a weekend trip to Thailand, can get in the way of accomplishing your school goals. For the first time all semester, I have experienced school stress; maybe it really is the stress of getting the paper done by a deadline. Or perhaps it is the stress that comes with re-learning what it means to have to write a legit paper: Focusing. Not procrastinating. Knowing what you're supposed to be writing about. An attention-span that lasts more than 3 minutes and doesn't resort to Facebooking.
Anyways, I spent all of Sunday cooped up in my room writing the first 2 pages of my essay. Yesterday, I spent all day and night in the library working on the next 3 pages of the essay. I didn't meet any of my friends for 2 full days, which is like an eternity when you're on a serious time-limited exchange program. They were wondering what happened to me, where their San Diego girl had gone. Little did they know her life was being taken over by a paper...
Delirious, and dazed, I walked home after the library closed, and somehow made my way into bed. Today, after class, I went to the library to finish another 2 pages. For the record, I spent 2 hours working on these 2 pages...pouring my heart...soul...brain power...and okay the best BS I have into it. Then, as I go to leave to meet my group for a project, I didn't save my essay, and the last 2 pages I had just done were gone. Lost. Finito. To the Singaporean computer gods. I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. Nausea overwhelmed me, and I felt like I was going to pass out when suddenly--
***Flashback, to the SDSU library, last semester, where the SAME EXACT THING happened to me as I was writing some other crazy essay. For DA (PSYCH 410) I'm guessing. Who knows? But I failed to save it, and it was lost on the library computer, and I pretty much wanted to end my life. But I had to suck it up and rewrite it, and promise myself to never be so stupid again. Clearly, I broke that promise.***
After the group meeting, where the local Singaporean girls told me to go and try to recover the file on the computer, I wandered back to the library, full of despair and sorrow. 2 hours of my life wasted. After Zami gave me his sympathy ("Are you okay? You look really depressed") and David made a few clicks to try to find it, I officially gave up trying to save it, and decided to rewrite it. My anger was seething through my skin as I channeled it into my paper-writing and I ended up writing more pages than I had previously. After my next class, I returned to the library to finish the paper (yes, all 10 pages) by 9pm.
Unfortunately, I could not tell you what I wrote about. And after trying to reread and edit those 10 pages of legit BS, I was bored by page 2 and stopped.
Therefore, I would like to say that the lesson learned is to always save your file before you exit out of word. But perhaps it's more honest if I say that the best BS writing comes out when you are extremely angry. And that, my friends, is what living and learning from your mistakes is all about.
These past 2 days (after my race fiasco on Sunday) have been characterized by pure exhaustion. Yesterday was Monday, aka Day 1 of 3 of intense 10 page essay writing for my positive psychology class. This never ending essay from hell is due on Saturday, but because I'm conveniently leaving for Vietnam Friday morning, am forced to have it done by Thursday.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have been planning on writing this essay for a long time. My intentions for getting it finished were definitely for the best. But my actions failed me. Yet again. San Diego Renee would have had this done a month ago. But Singapore Renee is different. But can you blame me? You can probably understand how going to Bali, or taking a weekend trip to Thailand, can get in the way of accomplishing your school goals. For the first time all semester, I have experienced school stress; maybe it really is the stress of getting the paper done by a deadline. Or perhaps it is the stress that comes with re-learning what it means to have to write a legit paper: Focusing. Not procrastinating. Knowing what you're supposed to be writing about. An attention-span that lasts more than 3 minutes and doesn't resort to Facebooking.
Anyways, I spent all of Sunday cooped up in my room writing the first 2 pages of my essay. Yesterday, I spent all day and night in the library working on the next 3 pages of the essay. I didn't meet any of my friends for 2 full days, which is like an eternity when you're on a serious time-limited exchange program. They were wondering what happened to me, where their San Diego girl had gone. Little did they know her life was being taken over by a paper...
Delirious, and dazed, I walked home after the library closed, and somehow made my way into bed. Today, after class, I went to the library to finish another 2 pages. For the record, I spent 2 hours working on these 2 pages...pouring my heart...soul...brain power...and okay the best BS I have into it. Then, as I go to leave to meet my group for a project, I didn't save my essay, and the last 2 pages I had just done were gone. Lost. Finito. To the Singaporean computer gods. I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. Nausea overwhelmed me, and I felt like I was going to pass out when suddenly--
***Flashback, to the SDSU library, last semester, where the SAME EXACT THING happened to me as I was writing some other crazy essay. For DA (PSYCH 410) I'm guessing. Who knows? But I failed to save it, and it was lost on the library computer, and I pretty much wanted to end my life. But I had to suck it up and rewrite it, and promise myself to never be so stupid again. Clearly, I broke that promise.***
After the group meeting, where the local Singaporean girls told me to go and try to recover the file on the computer, I wandered back to the library, full of despair and sorrow. 2 hours of my life wasted. After Zami gave me his sympathy ("Are you okay? You look really depressed") and David made a few clicks to try to find it, I officially gave up trying to save it, and decided to rewrite it. My anger was seething through my skin as I channeled it into my paper-writing and I ended up writing more pages than I had previously. After my next class, I returned to the library to finish the paper (yes, all 10 pages) by 9pm.
Unfortunately, I could not tell you what I wrote about. And after trying to reread and edit those 10 pages of legit BS, I was bored by page 2 and stopped.
Therefore, I would like to say that the lesson learned is to always save your file before you exit out of word. But perhaps it's more honest if I say that the best BS writing comes out when you are extremely angry. And that, my friends, is what living and learning from your mistakes is all about.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A Race (in itself) To The Starting Line
Running a race in Singapore was on my list of things to do before I die (I mean, isn't it on everyones?), and it has now officially been completed, although about 12 hours ago, I may not have been so sure...
Let's go back to last night, Saturday night, the night before the 16K race that Amanda, Brooke, Allie and I planned to run together. Yes, the one that I haven't been training for AT ALL. If only going on 3-4 mile runs every morning in a different country (with a SLIGHTLY warmer climate than home) would have fully prepared me for the big 10-miler, I may have been more confident about the run. Therefore, despite my unpreparedness to run the miles (kilometers, I mean) I decided to also not be prepared when it came to getting enough sleep.
Due to my new mindset of "living in the moment" I went to eat with Shermaine and her friends at Bakit Timah, a local, Indian, outdoor food place with food as local as local gets. Let me just say that eating Indian food (and I mean REAL Indian food) the evening before a race is not the wisest idea. Anyways, I had a few sips of the Indian Lasi mango-yogurt-ice concoction before I couldn't take any more. It was so overwhelmingly sour because of the different type of dairy that they use in their yogurt. May I also add that I haven't eaten or drank any dairy for 3 months (besides some ice cream and some eggs) so the sour yogurt that tasted like it had gone bad didn't agree well with my poor tummy. Next, instead of getting the mix veg curry which sounded delicious, I was talked into getting a spinach-cottage cheese gravy curry instead...Moreover, we ordered a bunch of chicken, red, green, and yellow, to top it all off. May I also mention that I barely eat any chicken here, because it is rarely white meat or served without skin or bone. However, I ate the chicken last night, which my stomach also didn't appreciate very much. MISTAKE #1
But it was great to get to talk to Shermaine, who is an NTU student but went on exchange for a semester at SDSU. Someone who could relate to my undying love for Yogurtland, and the beautiful SDSU campus, and the convenience of living next to Ralph's was pretty cool. Among the culutral differences we could name, here's what I remember: Toilet Seat Covers, Passivity/Direct, Fro Yo, Being Tan/White, Gum, Riding on the wrong side of the road, etc.
After the somewhat unsettling meal, I had a terrible stomach ache. And it only augmented when our friend decided to eat an entire Durian. It was at that point that I was fully prepared to throw up, for the smell of durian (onions+butt) is deadly. Stay away. FAR far away.
When they dropped me off at hall 13, I felt very sick. But I pushed it to the side when I met up with the girls (Sam, Yun, Julie) and we went to JP to do some shopping. We have found our new favorite store, Cotton On, which sells the cheapest cutest clothes. We met up with the NUS boys to go and see the 9:40 pm showing of Alice in Wonderland (which was, amazing, by the way. A real 9.1/10) MISTAKE #2
By the time I went to bed last night, it was almost 1am. Please keep in mind that I had to wake up at 430am to meet the girls in the taxi at 5am then go to Boon Lay to catch the 530am bus ride to Pasir Ris. Also it is important to note that the race was on the complete opposite of the Singaporean island (East Side). And that we, here at NTU, are on the COMPLETE WEST SIDE. The boonies. Literally.
I set my phone alarm for it to go off 5 times in case I didn't wake up. I also was planning on giving Amanda her bib number and shirt when we met in the cab. After my 4 1/2 hour nap, I woke up to the alarm, feeling queasy from the Indian food but still ready to go run. I brushed my teeth, got changed into my Singaporean singlet and shorts (the standard NTU outfit) and facebook chatted with Amanda at about 445am, telling her I would meet her down at my bus stop at 510am. Bored, and freezing, in my room, I decided to lay back down and "doze off" for a few more minutes before I had to go down and catch the cab with them. MISTAKE #3
One hour later. I wake up, startled. I look at my clock, which reads 550 am. Yes, I had "dozed off" and fallen asleep for an hour. Frantic. Panic. Stress. And cuss words overwhelm my brain. I jumped up from the bed, grabbed my stuff, and FLEW out the door. I still had Amanda's number and shirt to give to her! Yet it was almost 6 am, and our race was supposed to start at 650am. And it was on the complete other side of Singapore.
Amanda calls me from Allie's phone. She tells me that they had waited for me at the bus stop but that I wasn't there so they had to leave to catch the bus (which I paid 2 tickets for). It was still completely dark outside, and I was all alone. I almost started crying, thinking I was going to not only miss my race, but that I let down Amanda! She gave me the number of the taxi reservation company and I called for a taxi. It came in 5 minutes and it was the nicest old Chinese man ever. I told him in a panic that I needed to go to Pasir Ris ASAP. He told me roads were closed down for the run I was doing, but he could get me there in 30 minutes if he drove fast. So while the driver booked it, I came to terms with my stupidity of going back to sleep and screwing everything up. I imagined what Matt would tell me in this situation, and I told myself that this was just life and I would make it.
As we pedaled to the metal, I called Amanda apologizing and stressed and upset and she told me to breathe and calm down. We arranged to meet at the Bag Check In stand near the starting line. The taxi ride cost me 29 sing dollars, which I was not very happy about. But sometimes in life, you just have to suck it up and pay for it I guess.
So there I was, running as fast as I could through the dark streets of Singapore, desperately searching for the starting line. I finally found it, and heard it, and saw all the runners in their matching red singlets, and I sprinted over to find the 3 girls getting ready to run. The girls race started literally 3 minutes after I got there and gave Amanda her number and checked in my bag. We began the race! Amanda and I ran together for the first half an hour then I broke off and wanted to go faster. There were stairs...and lots of sweaty people (it was SO humid) and it was an out-and-back course. Even though I was planning on just running it for fun, my competitiveness got the best of me and I had to play catch up and pick off as many girls as I could while passing groups and groups of guys. I ended up doing the 10 miles in 1:17, which is better than I thought I would get but definitely slower than my time would have been at home. It was a sub 8 minute mile pace, and the most I had run was maybe miles since I've been to Singapore, so I guess it wasn't too bad.
I have NEVER IN MY LIFE sweated as much as I did this morning at this race. I looked like I had just gone swimming. We all did. It was hilarious. And in the goodie bags, they gave us a bottle of "energy maximizing" pills, which was very very ironic...
We MRT'd back home ($3) and Amanda and I had a one-track mind of just getting home and showering. That shower was probably one of the best showers I have ever had in my life.
I am now sitting on my bed, contemplating taking another nap, but this time without the worry about needing to wake up for anything. My body is pretty tired but not too bad. And I have tons of homework to do, but I just needed to blog about this chaotic morning running fiasco. Welcome to my life...
Registration fee for Northeast run: 38 SG dollars
Last minute taxi ride to starting line on opposite side of island: 30 SG dollars
1.5 hour long MRT/bus ride back home: 3.80 sing dollars
Being in a sea of a million asian runners in Singapore: Priceless.
<3
Let's go back to last night, Saturday night, the night before the 16K race that Amanda, Brooke, Allie and I planned to run together. Yes, the one that I haven't been training for AT ALL. If only going on 3-4 mile runs every morning in a different country (with a SLIGHTLY warmer climate than home) would have fully prepared me for the big 10-miler, I may have been more confident about the run. Therefore, despite my unpreparedness to run the miles (kilometers, I mean) I decided to also not be prepared when it came to getting enough sleep.
Due to my new mindset of "living in the moment" I went to eat with Shermaine and her friends at Bakit Timah, a local, Indian, outdoor food place with food as local as local gets. Let me just say that eating Indian food (and I mean REAL Indian food) the evening before a race is not the wisest idea. Anyways, I had a few sips of the Indian Lasi mango-yogurt-ice concoction before I couldn't take any more. It was so overwhelmingly sour because of the different type of dairy that they use in their yogurt. May I also add that I haven't eaten or drank any dairy for 3 months (besides some ice cream and some eggs) so the sour yogurt that tasted like it had gone bad didn't agree well with my poor tummy. Next, instead of getting the mix veg curry which sounded delicious, I was talked into getting a spinach-cottage cheese gravy curry instead...Moreover, we ordered a bunch of chicken, red, green, and yellow, to top it all off. May I also mention that I barely eat any chicken here, because it is rarely white meat or served without skin or bone. However, I ate the chicken last night, which my stomach also didn't appreciate very much. MISTAKE #1
But it was great to get to talk to Shermaine, who is an NTU student but went on exchange for a semester at SDSU. Someone who could relate to my undying love for Yogurtland, and the beautiful SDSU campus, and the convenience of living next to Ralph's was pretty cool. Among the culutral differences we could name, here's what I remember: Toilet Seat Covers, Passivity/Direct, Fro Yo, Being Tan/White, Gum, Riding on the wrong side of the road, etc.
After the somewhat unsettling meal, I had a terrible stomach ache. And it only augmented when our friend decided to eat an entire Durian. It was at that point that I was fully prepared to throw up, for the smell of durian (onions+butt) is deadly. Stay away. FAR far away.
When they dropped me off at hall 13, I felt very sick. But I pushed it to the side when I met up with the girls (Sam, Yun, Julie) and we went to JP to do some shopping. We have found our new favorite store, Cotton On, which sells the cheapest cutest clothes. We met up with the NUS boys to go and see the 9:40 pm showing of Alice in Wonderland (which was, amazing, by the way. A real 9.1/10) MISTAKE #2
By the time I went to bed last night, it was almost 1am. Please keep in mind that I had to wake up at 430am to meet the girls in the taxi at 5am then go to Boon Lay to catch the 530am bus ride to Pasir Ris. Also it is important to note that the race was on the complete opposite of the Singaporean island (East Side). And that we, here at NTU, are on the COMPLETE WEST SIDE. The boonies. Literally.
I set my phone alarm for it to go off 5 times in case I didn't wake up. I also was planning on giving Amanda her bib number and shirt when we met in the cab. After my 4 1/2 hour nap, I woke up to the alarm, feeling queasy from the Indian food but still ready to go run. I brushed my teeth, got changed into my Singaporean singlet and shorts (the standard NTU outfit) and facebook chatted with Amanda at about 445am, telling her I would meet her down at my bus stop at 510am. Bored, and freezing, in my room, I decided to lay back down and "doze off" for a few more minutes before I had to go down and catch the cab with them. MISTAKE #3
One hour later. I wake up, startled. I look at my clock, which reads 550 am. Yes, I had "dozed off" and fallen asleep for an hour. Frantic. Panic. Stress. And cuss words overwhelm my brain. I jumped up from the bed, grabbed my stuff, and FLEW out the door. I still had Amanda's number and shirt to give to her! Yet it was almost 6 am, and our race was supposed to start at 650am. And it was on the complete other side of Singapore.
Amanda calls me from Allie's phone. She tells me that they had waited for me at the bus stop but that I wasn't there so they had to leave to catch the bus (which I paid 2 tickets for). It was still completely dark outside, and I was all alone. I almost started crying, thinking I was going to not only miss my race, but that I let down Amanda! She gave me the number of the taxi reservation company and I called for a taxi. It came in 5 minutes and it was the nicest old Chinese man ever. I told him in a panic that I needed to go to Pasir Ris ASAP. He told me roads were closed down for the run I was doing, but he could get me there in 30 minutes if he drove fast. So while the driver booked it, I came to terms with my stupidity of going back to sleep and screwing everything up. I imagined what Matt would tell me in this situation, and I told myself that this was just life and I would make it.
As we pedaled to the metal, I called Amanda apologizing and stressed and upset and she told me to breathe and calm down. We arranged to meet at the Bag Check In stand near the starting line. The taxi ride cost me 29 sing dollars, which I was not very happy about. But sometimes in life, you just have to suck it up and pay for it I guess.
So there I was, running as fast as I could through the dark streets of Singapore, desperately searching for the starting line. I finally found it, and heard it, and saw all the runners in their matching red singlets, and I sprinted over to find the 3 girls getting ready to run. The girls race started literally 3 minutes after I got there and gave Amanda her number and checked in my bag. We began the race! Amanda and I ran together for the first half an hour then I broke off and wanted to go faster. There were stairs...and lots of sweaty people (it was SO humid) and it was an out-and-back course. Even though I was planning on just running it for fun, my competitiveness got the best of me and I had to play catch up and pick off as many girls as I could while passing groups and groups of guys. I ended up doing the 10 miles in 1:17, which is better than I thought I would get but definitely slower than my time would have been at home. It was a sub 8 minute mile pace, and the most I had run was maybe miles since I've been to Singapore, so I guess it wasn't too bad.
I have NEVER IN MY LIFE sweated as much as I did this morning at this race. I looked like I had just gone swimming. We all did. It was hilarious. And in the goodie bags, they gave us a bottle of "energy maximizing" pills, which was very very ironic...
We MRT'd back home ($3) and Amanda and I had a one-track mind of just getting home and showering. That shower was probably one of the best showers I have ever had in my life.
I am now sitting on my bed, contemplating taking another nap, but this time without the worry about needing to wake up for anything. My body is pretty tired but not too bad. And I have tons of homework to do, but I just needed to blog about this chaotic morning running fiasco. Welcome to my life...
Registration fee for Northeast run: 38 SG dollars
Last minute taxi ride to starting line on opposite side of island: 30 SG dollars
1.5 hour long MRT/bus ride back home: 3.80 sing dollars
Being in a sea of a million asian runners in Singapore: Priceless.
<3
Friday, March 12, 2010
C's Get Degrees?
This week has consisted of exhaustion. I think that all of the craziness that happened in Bali has finally caught up to me. Even when I get a full 8 hours of sleep, I am still tired. It's as if when I go on these trips, I have one big huge shot of adrenaline that lasts me the entire time, then I get back to Singapore and drop dead. Then come back to life long enough to book another trip. Next I go through the motions of school...eat some canteen food...run...go out for ladies night...then before I know it I am off again on another adrenaline rush. The lifestyle of the exchange student!!
This last Monday was Christina's 21st birthday. We went to Cafe Iguana, a Mexican restaurant at Clarke Quay. Everyone ate their body weight in chips and salsa. I don't want to see another tortilla chip or salsa for the rest of this exchange. Or my life for that matter. Clearly the little waitress lady and the manager guy were getting upset at how often we requested more (about every 4 minutes). I finally met Fernanda's boyfriend, who came all the way from MEXICO to visit her! He might be one of the funniest, I-dont-care-what-you-think, goofiest guys ever. His random spanish words, and the way he said them, were hilarious. And they are clearly very in love.. It was very cute.
Of course it started POURING right before we left!! It's the singaporean curse to start raining as you are literally on your way to your birthday party!
This week has been rather mellow. Meeting up with Jenny and Melody to discuss our travels (Both girls are such rebels in their own right)...and of course meeting up with Sam and Yun and Julie, and the boys. Tommy came back from his extended leave of absence to HK and Taiwan to see his girlfriend. And my Poa Poa. Who gave him a red pocket. When I saw him again after 3 weeks, he was skinnier and cut his hair. My jaw dropped.
But it is weird because now that T is back, Big D is in Australia. So it's been a long time coming since DDTRR has been together officially. And even when we go to VIetnam next weekend - little D won't be with us (he is anti-vietnam, although he is vietnamese and doesn't know it). Hopefully we can all go to HK at the end of exchange together though.
I talked to Ron today, and we had a GREAT conversation. I do miss my dear brother. But he seems to be okay occupying himself ;)
I have really been missing my friends back home a lot lately. At least I have been keeping up to date a bit with them via facebook messaging and what not. I am going to be traveling so much in these upcoming weeks, so I have to get so much schoolwork done...but focusing here is SO much harder than at home. I have the mindset of an SDSU frat boy when it comes to school: C's Get Degrees! What have I become?
This last Monday was Christina's 21st birthday. We went to Cafe Iguana, a Mexican restaurant at Clarke Quay. Everyone ate their body weight in chips and salsa. I don't want to see another tortilla chip or salsa for the rest of this exchange. Or my life for that matter. Clearly the little waitress lady and the manager guy were getting upset at how often we requested more (about every 4 minutes). I finally met Fernanda's boyfriend, who came all the way from MEXICO to visit her! He might be one of the funniest, I-dont-care-what-you-think, goofiest guys ever. His random spanish words, and the way he said them, were hilarious. And they are clearly very in love.. It was very cute.
Of course it started POURING right before we left!! It's the singaporean curse to start raining as you are literally on your way to your birthday party!
This week has been rather mellow. Meeting up with Jenny and Melody to discuss our travels (Both girls are such rebels in their own right)...and of course meeting up with Sam and Yun and Julie, and the boys. Tommy came back from his extended leave of absence to HK and Taiwan to see his girlfriend. And my Poa Poa. Who gave him a red pocket. When I saw him again after 3 weeks, he was skinnier and cut his hair. My jaw dropped.
But it is weird because now that T is back, Big D is in Australia. So it's been a long time coming since DDTRR has been together officially. And even when we go to VIetnam next weekend - little D won't be with us (he is anti-vietnam, although he is vietnamese and doesn't know it). Hopefully we can all go to HK at the end of exchange together though.
I talked to Ron today, and we had a GREAT conversation. I do miss my dear brother. But he seems to be okay occupying himself ;)
I have really been missing my friends back home a lot lately. At least I have been keeping up to date a bit with them via facebook messaging and what not. I am going to be traveling so much in these upcoming weeks, so I have to get so much schoolwork done...but focusing here is SO much harder than at home. I have the mindset of an SDSU frat boy when it comes to school: C's Get Degrees! What have I become?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Blogging About Bali
Bali. Bali. Bali!!!! (27 Feb - 6 Mar 2010)
AKA My second favorite place in the world. Behind good ol' NYC.
Green. Lush. Expansive. The countryside parts of Bali were absolutely breathtaking. Staying the first couple of nights in Ubud was a great choice, and it was all thanks to past SDSU Singapore Exchangers who gave me great advice! Ubud was an art/cultural hub of Bali, with so much arts and crafts. It was much farther away from Kuta and other outskirt parts of the island, but finding a driver to take us all around the island wasn't difficult at all. And of course staying at the volcano lodge (I have a really difficult time calling it a hotel) was also near the volcano and way out there in the country, and surrounded by picture perfect scenery.
Old. Busy. Backwards. Dirtier. The city part of Bali (or should I say the touristy part of Bali) Kuta was different than Ubud. Some parts of Kuta were definitely a bit more sketchy. "You ladies look sexy toniiiiight!!!" (While me, Sam and Yun have a death grip holding hands with each other).
David and I arrived in Bali on Saturday night. For the first time I felt sick on the airplane. But nothing in comparison to my extremely nautious-dominated past. Anyways, our driver (Wayan 2) who was really cool, drove us to the Ubud Bungalows, our accommodations for the next 3 nights. If I had to describe Ubud Bungalows in a few words: Chamber doors. Animal noises. Travel brochure mania. Egg and toast combinations. Wayan 1 and 2.
The next day David and I walked around Ubud. Highlights included: pineapple ice cream plus homemade waffle cone, bargaining for a gift for my sister before I even knew what I wanted to buy, searching desperately for air conditioned places, meeting the mean monkeys by the forest, and seeing i <3 Bali merchandise. Little did I know how much I would come to truly understanding this statement.
We met up with Daniel, Yun and Sam, and our group was ALMOST complete. The 3 of them had just come from Jakarta, where they updated us on the crazy stories, such as opening water bottles on the side of the dresser...and surprising strip clubs they had no idea were a part of the plan.
The 3 of us girls changed to an air con bungalow room which really wasnt too bad. When I saw the cockroach on the ground while going to the bathroom, I didn't even get that freaked out. Luckily David flushed it down the toilet. The mattress was on the ground, so we all agreed to sleep in the big King bed. I'm a pro at sleeping in the middle now.
Anyways, we decided to do a half day tour that day, to make the most of every moment right? So we hired a personal driver through the hotel to drive us to GWK. Which I have no idea what it stands for. But they had huge statues there, so massive! We walked around the beautiful ruins there. And it was where we took the infamous David holding my foot optical illusion photo. Then we ate a bit (Yun and I had mango drinks, that he literally made with a mango and ice) then we headed over to ULUWATU TEMPLE! One of my favorite places in the world! Besides the really mean monkeys that appeared out of nowhere and pulled my hair making me scream. Then stole Sam's sunglasses, forcing the mean monkey trainers to get her glasses back then make her pay them a tip. But the huge cliffs were absolutely gorgeous, overlooking the Indian Ocean. We wandered a bit and my intense fear of those monkeys increased. Then we found a really nice secluded place to watch the sunset. But the others didn't like how close it was to the edge so we moved to another location overlooking the sea. It was the 5 of us up there, waiting for the sun to set..It was so worth the wait. Honestly, words cannot describe the feeling of being up there watching it set...in Bali.
Then we took off to Jimbaran to enjoy a seafood dinner. Well I pretty much ate the free peanuts they gave, plus Nasi Goreng which by the way was a definite staple in my Bali diet (but not as much as it was in Sam's). The seafood dinner was literally on the beach, with pretty tables and candles and a Mexican band that played at each table. All we wanted was for them to come to our table to play for us. And when they finally did, we turned them away because we were too cheap to pay them a tip. lol.
After dinner we dunked our feet in the Indian Ocean. I can now say that I have swam in 3 of the main oceans! I'll let you know how it goes when I touch the Arctic Ocean..
On the way home from dinner, we played the most hilarious game of Celebrity Name Game. Me David Sam and Yun. I lost to my own rule, where at the last minute when we pulled into the bungalow Yun yelled "King Tuck" as her K name celebrity and I lost. Some highlights of the game were: T-Pain, Flo Rida, C.S. Lewis, Barrack Obama, etc. Sam won, but that's not surprising. And I could have won, especially with all of my fictional celebrities (Harry Potter...Wilma Flintstone...)
When we returned we decided to go across the street to a little tiny upstairs bar that had a live band playing really cool laid back American songs. They were a great band! It was soo relaxing. This is where I discovered my new love for chess, and vowed to make it my goal to become an amazing chess player when I get back home from exchange. I lost to David and Roel, but I put up a good fight! I wish I had taken chess club like Pooch did..
The next day we had a little 3 hour road trip to the hot springs, where we listened to Sam's ipod for awhile (and her amazing mixes) and then eventually switched to Yun's ipod with her Chinese music from J Chau and her old old american songs. I really liked the Chinese music, and could feel myself becoming more asian by the minute, especially being surrounded by my Chinese Canadians. And Roel, who knows more mandarin than me. >:(
The hot springs were....interesting. Hot, green, murky water. It made me wonder what people did while in there. But I went in anyways, because why not? It was warm...not hot...not cold....an interesting sensation. On the way there I was bombarded by the people trying to sell me things. The lady practically begged for me to buy a I <3 Bali towel. But the best bargainer was a little 5 year old balinese girl, selling bracelets in a basket. She was a feisty little one too. Wanting 2 for 5000 rupiah. I tried to bargain her down to just 1 for 2000 but David told me to just give it to her for 5000. Although it was less than 1 sing dollar we were bargaining over, and she was only 5, I still felt like I had to bargain to the best of my ability and not let my sympathy get in the way. But she won. And I got my sis yet another bracelet, as well as myself.
After the hot springs, it started to rain and we weren't able to see the waterfalls but no worries. We went to this Chinese lake garden area. It was raining and we had to get rental umbrellas - which truly devastated Sam and David and Daniel who didn't want to return them. It was pouring, and we weren't able to really see or understand the beauty of the gardens, but we got some nice shots of it anyways. We paddled around the area there for a bit and shopped around. I bought my Bali picture album!!! With real leaves. That will probably turn yellow soon.
Afterwards we hopped back in the car and off we went to the RICE PADDIES!!! The fields were massive, and green (why do I keep using that as an adjective?) and pretty and turny and basically all the words that end in -y (haha). We took our infamous jumping pictures and some pictures with our sweet driver, then headed over to walk on the paddies. While walking, my cheap HK sandal broke, and I was forced to walk with only one sandal. Just my luck.
Then we got to a little paddy row and from there it was a series of disasters. Sam lost her shoe in the mud..then David tried to record me jumping into the mushyness of the field, hoping I would sink down into the mud, then Daniel jumped and he was fine until he tried again and his foot fell into the mud. I almost died laughing.
It wasn't before long my other sandal broke, and I was walkin' barefoot on the rice paddy. We took the bumpiest rockiest ride back (the streets are in horrible conditions) and stopped at a local store so I could buy some sandals. Yun found the cheapest pair 16,700 rupiah (which is about 2 sing dollars) for a pair of brown sandals. I need to take that girl with me shopping every time I go out..
We went out to dinner at a VERY local place. Everyone got fish but I got a tiny scoop of nasi goreng, which I was even hungrier after eating it than before I started. SO I demolished Roel's cream crackers, but everyone helped me so it was okay. Me plus crackers is never a good combination. We returned to the hotel where we went to bed to prepare for our next day:
WHITE WATER RAFTING!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the highlights of the trip for sure. Our Captain Salenko made it even more memorable, with his great sense of humor and badass-ness. We descended down the steep mountain in the middle of the jungle to aboard our craft. On the way Yun broke her sandal too but luckily the man fixed it. Anyways, we white water rafted down the strongly current-ed river. It was not only beautiful scenery, but the water was really nice and fun to swim in (except for the fact that it kept pushing me downstream because of how strong it was!) My favorite part was when we went spinning in a circle down one of the falls. That and splashing the Germans in the boat next to us any chance we could.
Afterwards we had to take a stair-intense hike back up to the top. We took showers in these outdoor stall things with spiders and Yun and I bought underwear that was way too small from the lady because we were so desperate to wear something dry. I felt like my hips and pelvis were being suffocated the underwear was soo small..
We were served a buffet lunch and watched ourselves white water rafting on the video they filmed of us. We then left to go to our Spa and Massage which consisted of me and Sam in one room, David and Roel in another, and Yun and Daniel in another. HAHAHA. Sam and I opted for the avocado scrub, because it is so good for the skin! And it was so great, with a face hole and everything! Then we had a flower bath after too. I felt so rejuvinated.
We then went back to the bungalows and spent about an hour trying to pay them back for the millions of rupiahs we owed them (no exaggeration). Thank god for Yun and her amazing financial skills. Then we went to the VOLCANO LODGE!!!!!
MT. BABUR VOLCANO HIKE
After a great nasi goreng meal at 10 pm followed by a chocolate crepe, all of us (we met up with Diana, Amanda, and Christina) played the most intense slash hilarious game of Never Have I Ever. We still don't know if you lose or win if you get out first, but we established that Yun is definitely the most innocent, and Diana is definitely...not. lol.
"Never have I ever..... watched Heroes." lol
But it was Diana's crazy face that made the night that much better...
We went to bed, well we took a 4 hour nap (me, Sam, and Yun in the big bed that probably had bugs) in our very cheap and mosquito infested room) and got up at 330 am to get ready and go to the volcano to hike up it.
Our personas were amazing: Athletic Yoga Girl, Gangsta, aand Ski Bunny.
We drove to the volcano and began our climb! We were definitely sweating. And it was so dark. But thank god we had our little lighters that had a great light on them lol. It was about and hour and a half to the top. I led some of the way but kept going the wrong way. When we made it to the top, it was still so dark, so we just waited around until the sun rose.
The view from the top was indescribable. I felt like I was in heaven..with the clouds floating beneath us. And the volcano in the distance. Words can't even describe how amazing it really was..
They served us hot banana sandwiches on the top, which were surprisingly delicious. I just might try making it at home...That's why I love the balinese. Such simplicity, yet so wonderful! Our guides (who were SO nice) even brought up eggs with him to bring up food to the little restaurant at the top. And the poor guy who carried the soda bottles all the way to the top...
We took a million pictures and videos, and then made our descent down, where we encountered the crater of the volcano, and a part where steam was coming out so hot it cleansed your pores. We got to echo in the volcano, and everyone was echoing "HELLO! (hello...hello...hello...)" so I decided to echo "GOODBYE! (goodbye...goodbye...goodbye..)" It was so cool. We had to climb up...down....all around..it was such good exercise! And this one view was absolutely gorgeous, it almost brought me to tears.
Our walk back, Sam and I talked a lot and I also talked to one of the balinese guides telling me all about the government and jobs and education systems there. It was so heartbreaking. Yet they are so content and happy and satisfied. It is eye-opening.
Even though I was tight on money I tipped him 20,000 rupiah because he was such a nice man. We came back and ate our complementary 2-item choice breakfast. I had a banana crepe. It was either that or a Jaffle. We ate with the flies and dogs, which is really becoming like second nature now. And we left to go to the BEST WESTERN at Kuta. But only after Yun trying to argue with the Boss about the price of our transport, although it was already agreed upon the night before. Yet again we were blessed with the sweetest driver, who stopped at my request at a fruit stand on the side of the road where I could get my out of control pineapple fix. The woman sold me a pineapple for 5000 rupiah. It was sour on one side, sweet on the other!! Such an unforgettable taste in my mouth!
We got to Best Western at Kuta Beach which was pretty touristy and I walked in our hotel room and nearly cried. What was tat black square thing on the wall? What was this huge fluffy square with white sheets on it in the middle of the room? Where are the bugs and mosquitos? It was dreamlike. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you I am not...
Sam and I were in one room, David and Roel across the way in another, and of course Daniel and Yun in the superior room downstairs. Let me also note that Sam and I got turn down service every day there, WITH 2 chocolates (no, Daniel, we WEREN'T lying). I took the BEST shower of my life and just relaxed on the bed and watched TV for the first time in 3 months. Watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians and American Idol...I truly felt like connected to the American lifestyle again..
Sam and I discovered the cheapest and best place for Nasi Goreng near the hotel. We went there everyday for the rest of the trip. 8000 rupiah for nasi goreng!! That is like 1 US dollar for anyone who cares. You can't beat that. Sam and I only left the room to get food, and then sugar crackers and chocolate later to satisfy our craving. Too bad we ended up eating our body weight in nasty sugar crackers (is it a premium cracker? or a cookie? we have no idea.) while watching American Idol and then felt sick the rest of the night. We decided we would eat nothing but carrots the next day. But that failed once we saw the huge free breakfast the hotel served. Delicious.
We walked around Kuta later with the boys. We went to the Discovery Shopping Mall there and walked around outside for a but and they ate KFC for dinner. Those little ice creams from the mini mart are amazing by the way. The 3 of us girls bought different friendship anklets in every color. We ended up at a bar that Wednesday night for Roel's birthday countdown. The T-Pain bar of course. Where we ate even more of the famous Bali peanuts. Why are they so addictive? I sang Happy Bday to Roel in dutch. He turned 23. So old!!!
The next day we got a shuttle van with out hotel driver and he took us to Tanah Lot. I bought my I <3 Bali t-shirt and instantly became a typical tourist, dear lord. We did some shopping there, but it was SO hot! We finally went into the temple and it was very pretty, out in the middle of the water. David and I explored and found a huge golfing resort with white tourist golfers and Indonesian cabbys. It was beautiful. The highlight was telling david about the disgusting sugar crackers that Sam and I ate too many of (about 30 each, plus chocolate) when he almost ran into a bat. A real bat. Just chilling outside Tanah Lot. It was really creepy looking. But a definite bonus. Who ever gets to see a bat?
After Tanah Lot, we went to Dreamland Beach, which had the most monstrous gargantuan waves I have ever seen in my life. The waves even went backwards. It overtook me and slammed me to the bottom of the rock bottom ocean floor banging up the right side of my body, leaving my hip with a big scratch. And some random local boy on the beach asked me to take a picture with him. Surprisingly, I agreed without any hesitation. Weird.
After Dreamland we took off to go get the girls at Nusa Dua. The beach at Nusa Dua was completely opposite of Dreamland. Quiet (except for the screaming naked kids in the water near us, probably peeing) and barely any water in the ocean marshland part. The girls and I just chilled in the decreasing water for awhile talking and talking and talking.... afterwards I was so beached out I just wanted to leave. So we went and got Diana, Amanda, and Christina from their 5 star hotel and took them back with us to our faithful Best Western. We got some food from the cheap place for dinner then got ready. While all of them got alcohol and pre-partied I finished getting ready. We finally all left in a free shuttle bus from the hotel (have I mentioned that I love the Best Western?) where everyone was just a BIT tipsy....We were going to go to Bounty but ended up going to Paddy's Club instead which had awesome music until they started replaying the same songs over and over. This was where Sam filmed the now famous I Gotta Feelin' video. "It's a video!" Yun: "Yaaaaaaaaaay!!! A videoooo!!!" lol
We danced all night long, as always, and later went to Bounty and Sam, Diana, and I sang karaoke. Sam's famous last words before going up on stage in front of everyone was "I think I need a shot." But we sang it! And it was a success I would say! "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing"....perfect choice.
We came back at about 2 am and Sam and I stayed up til 330 am talking. We passed out and began our long coma into Friday. We got up at 10 to eat the free hotel breakfast then went back to bed until 3pm. I have NEVER slept like that before. I felt like a truck had hit me. The boys had gone out all day renting motorbikes and riding around Bali. So we had a girls day and got pedicures (we bargained for them, and the flowers I would get to) and then we went to get some dinner at the mall food court which was delicious!!! After we seeked out temporary tattoos, and ended up getting them from this family who initially wanted to rip us off but ended up being so cool. We got the balinese symbol for "good luck" in a diamond, each of us the same symbol in a different part of our body. For me, the ankle. Sam, her neck. back. And Yun, her arm. It looked very cool. Although it was very sharp. Us girls were holding hands scared to death on the dark sketchy walk back home, where guys were saying "Oooh looking sexy tonight!" Luckily we ran into Roel and Daniel on their motorbikes and found out about David's running into the glass accident. We checked on him and his stitches in his hand. I knew I had a bad feeling about those bikes. And I came to find out later that Sarak from Canada was on a motor bike in Canada and ended up in a wheelchair! And now she can't run the race on Sunday..
Afterwards, we got ice cream and sat outside the mall on the steps. We were so sad to be leaving Bali the next day. It truly was an amazing vacation that I will never forget. I really want my mom to see it! She would have LOVED it. I really missed my family on this trip..Nevertheless, I can only say three words:
I LOVE BALI.
*Bali Playlist:
-J Chau songs
-Fight For This Love
-I Gotta Feelin'
-Angels Cry
Until next time Bali....
<3
AKA My second favorite place in the world. Behind good ol' NYC.
Green. Lush. Expansive. The countryside parts of Bali were absolutely breathtaking. Staying the first couple of nights in Ubud was a great choice, and it was all thanks to past SDSU Singapore Exchangers who gave me great advice! Ubud was an art/cultural hub of Bali, with so much arts and crafts. It was much farther away from Kuta and other outskirt parts of the island, but finding a driver to take us all around the island wasn't difficult at all. And of course staying at the volcano lodge (I have a really difficult time calling it a hotel) was also near the volcano and way out there in the country, and surrounded by picture perfect scenery.
Old. Busy. Backwards. Dirtier. The city part of Bali (or should I say the touristy part of Bali) Kuta was different than Ubud. Some parts of Kuta were definitely a bit more sketchy. "You ladies look sexy toniiiiight!!!" (While me, Sam and Yun have a death grip holding hands with each other).
David and I arrived in Bali on Saturday night. For the first time I felt sick on the airplane. But nothing in comparison to my extremely nautious-dominated past. Anyways, our driver (Wayan 2) who was really cool, drove us to the Ubud Bungalows, our accommodations for the next 3 nights. If I had to describe Ubud Bungalows in a few words: Chamber doors. Animal noises. Travel brochure mania. Egg and toast combinations. Wayan 1 and 2.
The next day David and I walked around Ubud. Highlights included: pineapple ice cream plus homemade waffle cone, bargaining for a gift for my sister before I even knew what I wanted to buy, searching desperately for air conditioned places, meeting the mean monkeys by the forest, and seeing i <3 Bali merchandise. Little did I know how much I would come to truly understanding this statement.
We met up with Daniel, Yun and Sam, and our group was ALMOST complete. The 3 of them had just come from Jakarta, where they updated us on the crazy stories, such as opening water bottles on the side of the dresser...and surprising strip clubs they had no idea were a part of the plan.
The 3 of us girls changed to an air con bungalow room which really wasnt too bad. When I saw the cockroach on the ground while going to the bathroom, I didn't even get that freaked out. Luckily David flushed it down the toilet. The mattress was on the ground, so we all agreed to sleep in the big King bed. I'm a pro at sleeping in the middle now.
Anyways, we decided to do a half day tour that day, to make the most of every moment right? So we hired a personal driver through the hotel to drive us to GWK. Which I have no idea what it stands for. But they had huge statues there, so massive! We walked around the beautiful ruins there. And it was where we took the infamous David holding my foot optical illusion photo. Then we ate a bit (Yun and I had mango drinks, that he literally made with a mango and ice) then we headed over to ULUWATU TEMPLE! One of my favorite places in the world! Besides the really mean monkeys that appeared out of nowhere and pulled my hair making me scream. Then stole Sam's sunglasses, forcing the mean monkey trainers to get her glasses back then make her pay them a tip. But the huge cliffs were absolutely gorgeous, overlooking the Indian Ocean. We wandered a bit and my intense fear of those monkeys increased. Then we found a really nice secluded place to watch the sunset. But the others didn't like how close it was to the edge so we moved to another location overlooking the sea. It was the 5 of us up there, waiting for the sun to set..It was so worth the wait. Honestly, words cannot describe the feeling of being up there watching it set...in Bali.
Then we took off to Jimbaran to enjoy a seafood dinner. Well I pretty much ate the free peanuts they gave, plus Nasi Goreng which by the way was a definite staple in my Bali diet (but not as much as it was in Sam's). The seafood dinner was literally on the beach, with pretty tables and candles and a Mexican band that played at each table. All we wanted was for them to come to our table to play for us. And when they finally did, we turned them away because we were too cheap to pay them a tip. lol.
After dinner we dunked our feet in the Indian Ocean. I can now say that I have swam in 3 of the main oceans! I'll let you know how it goes when I touch the Arctic Ocean..
On the way home from dinner, we played the most hilarious game of Celebrity Name Game. Me David Sam and Yun. I lost to my own rule, where at the last minute when we pulled into the bungalow Yun yelled "King Tuck" as her K name celebrity and I lost. Some highlights of the game were: T-Pain, Flo Rida, C.S. Lewis, Barrack Obama, etc. Sam won, but that's not surprising. And I could have won, especially with all of my fictional celebrities (Harry Potter...Wilma Flintstone...)
When we returned we decided to go across the street to a little tiny upstairs bar that had a live band playing really cool laid back American songs. They were a great band! It was soo relaxing. This is where I discovered my new love for chess, and vowed to make it my goal to become an amazing chess player when I get back home from exchange. I lost to David and Roel, but I put up a good fight! I wish I had taken chess club like Pooch did..
The next day we had a little 3 hour road trip to the hot springs, where we listened to Sam's ipod for awhile (and her amazing mixes) and then eventually switched to Yun's ipod with her Chinese music from J Chau and her old old american songs. I really liked the Chinese music, and could feel myself becoming more asian by the minute, especially being surrounded by my Chinese Canadians. And Roel, who knows more mandarin than me. >:(
The hot springs were....interesting. Hot, green, murky water. It made me wonder what people did while in there. But I went in anyways, because why not? It was warm...not hot...not cold....an interesting sensation. On the way there I was bombarded by the people trying to sell me things. The lady practically begged for me to buy a I <3 Bali towel. But the best bargainer was a little 5 year old balinese girl, selling bracelets in a basket. She was a feisty little one too. Wanting 2 for 5000 rupiah. I tried to bargain her down to just 1 for 2000 but David told me to just give it to her for 5000. Although it was less than 1 sing dollar we were bargaining over, and she was only 5, I still felt like I had to bargain to the best of my ability and not let my sympathy get in the way. But she won. And I got my sis yet another bracelet, as well as myself.
After the hot springs, it started to rain and we weren't able to see the waterfalls but no worries. We went to this Chinese lake garden area. It was raining and we had to get rental umbrellas - which truly devastated Sam and David and Daniel who didn't want to return them. It was pouring, and we weren't able to really see or understand the beauty of the gardens, but we got some nice shots of it anyways. We paddled around the area there for a bit and shopped around. I bought my Bali picture album!!! With real leaves. That will probably turn yellow soon.
Afterwards we hopped back in the car and off we went to the RICE PADDIES!!! The fields were massive, and green (why do I keep using that as an adjective?) and pretty and turny and basically all the words that end in -y (haha). We took our infamous jumping pictures and some pictures with our sweet driver, then headed over to walk on the paddies. While walking, my cheap HK sandal broke, and I was forced to walk with only one sandal. Just my luck.
Then we got to a little paddy row and from there it was a series of disasters. Sam lost her shoe in the mud..then David tried to record me jumping into the mushyness of the field, hoping I would sink down into the mud, then Daniel jumped and he was fine until he tried again and his foot fell into the mud. I almost died laughing.
It wasn't before long my other sandal broke, and I was walkin' barefoot on the rice paddy. We took the bumpiest rockiest ride back (the streets are in horrible conditions) and stopped at a local store so I could buy some sandals. Yun found the cheapest pair 16,700 rupiah (which is about 2 sing dollars) for a pair of brown sandals. I need to take that girl with me shopping every time I go out..
We went out to dinner at a VERY local place. Everyone got fish but I got a tiny scoop of nasi goreng, which I was even hungrier after eating it than before I started. SO I demolished Roel's cream crackers, but everyone helped me so it was okay. Me plus crackers is never a good combination. We returned to the hotel where we went to bed to prepare for our next day:
WHITE WATER RAFTING!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the highlights of the trip for sure. Our Captain Salenko made it even more memorable, with his great sense of humor and badass-ness. We descended down the steep mountain in the middle of the jungle to aboard our craft. On the way Yun broke her sandal too but luckily the man fixed it. Anyways, we white water rafted down the strongly current-ed river. It was not only beautiful scenery, but the water was really nice and fun to swim in (except for the fact that it kept pushing me downstream because of how strong it was!) My favorite part was when we went spinning in a circle down one of the falls. That and splashing the Germans in the boat next to us any chance we could.
Afterwards we had to take a stair-intense hike back up to the top. We took showers in these outdoor stall things with spiders and Yun and I bought underwear that was way too small from the lady because we were so desperate to wear something dry. I felt like my hips and pelvis were being suffocated the underwear was soo small..
We were served a buffet lunch and watched ourselves white water rafting on the video they filmed of us. We then left to go to our Spa and Massage which consisted of me and Sam in one room, David and Roel in another, and Yun and Daniel in another. HAHAHA. Sam and I opted for the avocado scrub, because it is so good for the skin! And it was so great, with a face hole and everything! Then we had a flower bath after too. I felt so rejuvinated.
We then went back to the bungalows and spent about an hour trying to pay them back for the millions of rupiahs we owed them (no exaggeration). Thank god for Yun and her amazing financial skills. Then we went to the VOLCANO LODGE!!!!!
MT. BABUR VOLCANO HIKE
After a great nasi goreng meal at 10 pm followed by a chocolate crepe, all of us (we met up with Diana, Amanda, and Christina) played the most intense slash hilarious game of Never Have I Ever. We still don't know if you lose or win if you get out first, but we established that Yun is definitely the most innocent, and Diana is definitely...not. lol.
"Never have I ever..... watched Heroes." lol
But it was Diana's crazy face that made the night that much better...
We went to bed, well we took a 4 hour nap (me, Sam, and Yun in the big bed that probably had bugs) in our very cheap and mosquito infested room) and got up at 330 am to get ready and go to the volcano to hike up it.
Our personas were amazing: Athletic Yoga Girl, Gangsta, aand Ski Bunny.
We drove to the volcano and began our climb! We were definitely sweating. And it was so dark. But thank god we had our little lighters that had a great light on them lol. It was about and hour and a half to the top. I led some of the way but kept going the wrong way. When we made it to the top, it was still so dark, so we just waited around until the sun rose.
The view from the top was indescribable. I felt like I was in heaven..with the clouds floating beneath us. And the volcano in the distance. Words can't even describe how amazing it really was..
They served us hot banana sandwiches on the top, which were surprisingly delicious. I just might try making it at home...That's why I love the balinese. Such simplicity, yet so wonderful! Our guides (who were SO nice) even brought up eggs with him to bring up food to the little restaurant at the top. And the poor guy who carried the soda bottles all the way to the top...
We took a million pictures and videos, and then made our descent down, where we encountered the crater of the volcano, and a part where steam was coming out so hot it cleansed your pores. We got to echo in the volcano, and everyone was echoing "HELLO! (hello...hello...hello...)" so I decided to echo "GOODBYE! (goodbye...goodbye...goodbye..)" It was so cool. We had to climb up...down....all around..it was such good exercise! And this one view was absolutely gorgeous, it almost brought me to tears.
Our walk back, Sam and I talked a lot and I also talked to one of the balinese guides telling me all about the government and jobs and education systems there. It was so heartbreaking. Yet they are so content and happy and satisfied. It is eye-opening.
Even though I was tight on money I tipped him 20,000 rupiah because he was such a nice man. We came back and ate our complementary 2-item choice breakfast. I had a banana crepe. It was either that or a Jaffle. We ate with the flies and dogs, which is really becoming like second nature now. And we left to go to the BEST WESTERN at Kuta. But only after Yun trying to argue with the Boss about the price of our transport, although it was already agreed upon the night before. Yet again we were blessed with the sweetest driver, who stopped at my request at a fruit stand on the side of the road where I could get my out of control pineapple fix. The woman sold me a pineapple for 5000 rupiah. It was sour on one side, sweet on the other!! Such an unforgettable taste in my mouth!
We got to Best Western at Kuta Beach which was pretty touristy and I walked in our hotel room and nearly cried. What was tat black square thing on the wall? What was this huge fluffy square with white sheets on it in the middle of the room? Where are the bugs and mosquitos? It was dreamlike. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you I am not...
Sam and I were in one room, David and Roel across the way in another, and of course Daniel and Yun in the superior room downstairs. Let me also note that Sam and I got turn down service every day there, WITH 2 chocolates (no, Daniel, we WEREN'T lying). I took the BEST shower of my life and just relaxed on the bed and watched TV for the first time in 3 months. Watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians and American Idol...I truly felt like connected to the American lifestyle again..
Sam and I discovered the cheapest and best place for Nasi Goreng near the hotel. We went there everyday for the rest of the trip. 8000 rupiah for nasi goreng!! That is like 1 US dollar for anyone who cares. You can't beat that. Sam and I only left the room to get food, and then sugar crackers and chocolate later to satisfy our craving. Too bad we ended up eating our body weight in nasty sugar crackers (is it a premium cracker? or a cookie? we have no idea.) while watching American Idol and then felt sick the rest of the night. We decided we would eat nothing but carrots the next day. But that failed once we saw the huge free breakfast the hotel served. Delicious.
We walked around Kuta later with the boys. We went to the Discovery Shopping Mall there and walked around outside for a but and they ate KFC for dinner. Those little ice creams from the mini mart are amazing by the way. The 3 of us girls bought different friendship anklets in every color. We ended up at a bar that Wednesday night for Roel's birthday countdown. The T-Pain bar of course. Where we ate even more of the famous Bali peanuts. Why are they so addictive? I sang Happy Bday to Roel in dutch. He turned 23. So old!!!
The next day we got a shuttle van with out hotel driver and he took us to Tanah Lot. I bought my I <3 Bali t-shirt and instantly became a typical tourist, dear lord. We did some shopping there, but it was SO hot! We finally went into the temple and it was very pretty, out in the middle of the water. David and I explored and found a huge golfing resort with white tourist golfers and Indonesian cabbys. It was beautiful. The highlight was telling david about the disgusting sugar crackers that Sam and I ate too many of (about 30 each, plus chocolate) when he almost ran into a bat. A real bat. Just chilling outside Tanah Lot. It was really creepy looking. But a definite bonus. Who ever gets to see a bat?
After Tanah Lot, we went to Dreamland Beach, which had the most monstrous gargantuan waves I have ever seen in my life. The waves even went backwards. It overtook me and slammed me to the bottom of the rock bottom ocean floor banging up the right side of my body, leaving my hip with a big scratch. And some random local boy on the beach asked me to take a picture with him. Surprisingly, I agreed without any hesitation. Weird.
After Dreamland we took off to go get the girls at Nusa Dua. The beach at Nusa Dua was completely opposite of Dreamland. Quiet (except for the screaming naked kids in the water near us, probably peeing) and barely any water in the ocean marshland part. The girls and I just chilled in the decreasing water for awhile talking and talking and talking.... afterwards I was so beached out I just wanted to leave. So we went and got Diana, Amanda, and Christina from their 5 star hotel and took them back with us to our faithful Best Western. We got some food from the cheap place for dinner then got ready. While all of them got alcohol and pre-partied I finished getting ready. We finally all left in a free shuttle bus from the hotel (have I mentioned that I love the Best Western?) where everyone was just a BIT tipsy....We were going to go to Bounty but ended up going to Paddy's Club instead which had awesome music until they started replaying the same songs over and over. This was where Sam filmed the now famous I Gotta Feelin' video. "It's a video!" Yun: "Yaaaaaaaaaay!!! A videoooo!!!" lol
We danced all night long, as always, and later went to Bounty and Sam, Diana, and I sang karaoke. Sam's famous last words before going up on stage in front of everyone was "I think I need a shot." But we sang it! And it was a success I would say! "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing"....perfect choice.
We came back at about 2 am and Sam and I stayed up til 330 am talking. We passed out and began our long coma into Friday. We got up at 10 to eat the free hotel breakfast then went back to bed until 3pm. I have NEVER slept like that before. I felt like a truck had hit me. The boys had gone out all day renting motorbikes and riding around Bali. So we had a girls day and got pedicures (we bargained for them, and the flowers I would get to) and then we went to get some dinner at the mall food court which was delicious!!! After we seeked out temporary tattoos, and ended up getting them from this family who initially wanted to rip us off but ended up being so cool. We got the balinese symbol for "good luck" in a diamond, each of us the same symbol in a different part of our body. For me, the ankle. Sam, her neck. back. And Yun, her arm. It looked very cool. Although it was very sharp. Us girls were holding hands scared to death on the dark sketchy walk back home, where guys were saying "Oooh looking sexy tonight!" Luckily we ran into Roel and Daniel on their motorbikes and found out about David's running into the glass accident. We checked on him and his stitches in his hand. I knew I had a bad feeling about those bikes. And I came to find out later that Sarak from Canada was on a motor bike in Canada and ended up in a wheelchair! And now she can't run the race on Sunday..
Afterwards, we got ice cream and sat outside the mall on the steps. We were so sad to be leaving Bali the next day. It truly was an amazing vacation that I will never forget. I really want my mom to see it! She would have LOVED it. I really missed my family on this trip..Nevertheless, I can only say three words:
I LOVE BALI.
*Bali Playlist:
-J Chau songs
-Fight For This Love
-I Gotta Feelin'
-Angels Cry
Until next time Bali....
<3
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