December Travel Overview. So my last exam was on November 30, I spent December 1st tying up loose ends, and left Singapore on the 2nd. I spent pretty much the whole of the December travelling around (mainly Southeast) Asia before returning home to the states. My trip went like:

Dec 2-6 - Indonesia
Dec 6-13 - Vietnam
Dec 13-17 - Cambodia
Dec 17-20 - Hong Kong
Dec 20-23 - Singapore
Dec 23-29 - Taiwan
Dec 29 - home

My passport is starting to fill up with stickers and visas, mwahahah- I'm such a passport stamp whore, haha. Anyways, details and thoughts on my travels are fleshed out more thoroughly in other entries. (All posts dated for the month of December were transcribed from handwritten journal or written long after the fact.)

Memories, the kind that you probably had to be there to get.
"Teats", "Semen" (teeth, cement) ~Angkor tour guide
"Weed doesnt mess me up nearly as much as pizza"
"I got off on my watch" (OFF! bug repellent)
Tuk-tuk adventures
humburger, guacnole, crocketter
crossed fingers
powdered sugar
weasel coffee
Dan Brown
"I promise"
"CanNOT, la!"

*Movies watched recently, in rougly descending order of my liking: Crash, City of God, Syriana, Chronicles of Narnia, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Promise (Master of the Crimson Armor), Good Night, and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, Aeon Flux, Jarhead, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of Were-Rabbit, Initial D, Match Point, The Myth, Seven Swords, Must Love Dogs, The Producers (1968), Polar Express, Drunken Monkey

Taiwan. I spent Christmas in Taipei with my extended family; it was terribly uneventful. Visited my paternal grandfather in a nursing home; the cancer really seems to have taken its toll. =/ Saw my twin nephews for the first time; they were very cute.

Met up with Vivian and Frank a couple times. The first time we went to XiMen- had tea, shopped a bit, and played some arcade games; then we took a train to the KeeLung night market and ate like everything- we ate for hours. The other time we went to BaLi and rode bikes, then to SongShan night market for dinner.

Singapore (again). I came back to Singapore on Tuesday (12/20) to wrap up some loose-ends (and cuz the ticket package for my return flight to the States mandated it). It was good though, since I had time to make out a list of things I hadn’t gotten to do/see yet and actually come back to finish ‘em off. Good for alleviating that coulda shoulda woulda feeling that I often have in retrospect. (Though I guess I still didn’t get everything accomplished. =/)

I had already checked out of the NUS hostels, so I had to find myself a hotel. From the airport, I just told the taxi driver to take me to the cheapest hotel that was close to the airport. He ended up taking me to a Hotel 81 at Geylang (though the actual street name was different, so I didn’t know where I was). And I’d seen Hotel 81’s around, so I thought hey, it must be a chain like Holiday Inn or something. So I go into town that evening and grab coffee with PZ and return after sunset only to realize that I was staying right in the heart of a red-light district! I was shocked; I mean seriously, it’s absolutely crazy how normal this place manages to look in the daytime. It’s like they’ve all got legit daytime business fronts or something; then when the sun sets, carriages turn into pumpkins, pet stores and hardware stores turn into clubs and karaoke parlors, and all the prostitutes come out of hiding. I slept with the tv on that night to drown out the outside sounds, and any sounds from the neighbors. I found out later that Hotel 81 is apparently a chain that caters mainly to ummm, [illicit liaisons]. To the place’s credit though, it was pretty cheap to stay there (by Singapore standards). The next day, I moved myself to a more respectable hotel a bit further from harem district.

Wednesday was largely a hang-out day. I got my errands taken care of early, and Deenie had taken the day off from work, so we hung out and did touristy stuff that I hadn’t gotten around to during my main stay. We met up for lunch in town, then went down to Boat Quay to take the River Taxi tour. Took pictures with the Merlion, the Esplanade, Raffles Landing statue, etc from the boat. Then we grabbed some coffee and headed out to the Night Safari- it was really cool; it’s like a zoo, but at night, so you get to see all the nocturnal animals actually doing stuff instead of just napping like they do when you go to a regular zoo. At night, we went to the new MoS (Ministry of Sound) club down on Clarke Quay that had just opened up the week before. It was freaking packed; waited over an hour to get in. The inside was pretty cool, but some of the different theme rooms are like hidden and you gotta look for ‘em (errrr, at least it seemed that way after a few drinks, heh). Didn’t find the hip hop room until we were about to leave. Anyways, the whole day was a lot of fun, and I couldn’t have asked for a more well-spent day in Singapore.

Thursday, more errands, had dinner with Deenie, then hung out with Clara and her friends. I got a really bad case of that nostalgic heartache at the thought of leaving for good. It’s funny, I always miss a place more before I actually leave, and then once I’m gone, it doesn’t actually hurt that much. In some ways, I guess it’s good, cuz it saves me some heartache, but I hate to think of myself as an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of person. =/

Friday, Clara and Serene saw me off at the airport. The finality of it all struck me pretty hard, and I had to choke back some tears. Then the customs gave me a bit of a hassle cuz I apparently overstayed my student visa by like one day. They scolded me a bit, but ultimately let me off with a warning.

Hong Kong. Hong Kong was pretty uneventful for me cuz the food poisoning or whatever kept me in & immobile for most of the time. It sucked cuz the food in HK is supposed to be really good, and I just didn't have much appetite for it. I stayed at my cousin Jack's place, and he took me out to dim sum and whatnot. Most of my stay in HK was spent watching Arrested Development (absolutely hilarious show) and assorted DVD's at Jack's place. Went out drinking the last night, then watched more DVD's, hahah. That was basically the extent of my Hong Kong stay. =/

Cambodia. On Tuesday, Gary separated from our group, and the remaining three of us took a bus across the border at Moc Bai into Cambodia to Phnom Penh. We were able to book a pseudo-taxi driver to get us to Siem Reap that night, which was definitely worth the (relatively) high price. (Transportation gets really tricky in Cambodia, cuz buses across the country only run like once a day. I found out this trip that travel/transit time is definitely the maker/breaker of trip planning.)

Travelling in Cambodia is kinda funky (in a good way) cuz for all true purposes, the commonly used currency is the US dollar. Sure, you need to get a few bucks worth of Cambodian riel, but all transactions over like a buck or two are done in USD. It's also a curious oddity that supposedly there are no ATM's in the entire country that can access foreign bank accounts. Add to that the fact that basically no other countries will exchange for Cambodian riel (they won't buy it from you, so any bills you take out of the country are only good for souvenir value), so I kept thinking of the riel as only slightly above seashells and shiny stones in terms of monetary value. =P Anyways, cuz of the country's third world status, a dollar goes a pretty long way. We stayed in a place that could be a 3- or 4-star place for like US$10 a night (for 3 ppl). The ticket to get into Angkor is like the biggest purchase you probably make (US$40 for a 3-day pass), but it's definitely worth it. To tell the truth, Angkor's the only really amazing thing I saw in Cambodia.

Ok, so like the entire 100 sq. mile area complex or so is known as Angkor. But it's sometimes casually referred to as Angkor Wat by tourists, when that's actually the name of just the one most famous temple that is itself like only 1 sq. mile (which is actually still pretty big). And Siem Reap is the city you stay in to go see Angkor Wat (like 15 minutes away).

Angkor was amazing. The level of detail and the sheer size/scale of the place was unbelievable. So much intricately carved stone, and the wall carvings tell stories... of gods and the Khmer people. They seemed to have been a lot better at war than I woulda given them credit for. I always had this impression that this entire area of the world had been constantly dominated by outside powers; but at the height of its power, the Khmer empire really was amazingly grandiose in its own right. The whole time, I kept wishing I could turn back time to see how things woulda been back in the glory days, before these amazing temples fell into ruin.

But yea, I was actually pretty surprised how quickly we went through all the temples (that we wanted). We spent an entire morning at Angkor Wat, like 2 hours at Angkor Thom (Bayon, Elephant Terrace, Terrace of the Leper King, etc.), and about 2 hours at the jungle temple (the "Tomb Raider temple"). To tell the truth, that's really all I was DYING to see at Angkor. So yea, while you could spend months in Angkor in general, you can do all the highlights in 1 very jam-packed day. We spent another half-day in Angkor (Prah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup) before we had to leave for Phnom Penh. The stuff the second day was significantly less amazing than the more famous temples we had seen the first day.

The next day in Phnom Penh, we stopped by the Luol Seng (S21) Genocide Museum- a lot of stuff without any written descriptions, so we didn't really know what we were looking at. After that we went out to the Killing Fields; it was kinda morbid- like there's still human bones half sticking out of the ground in some places, and uggghhhh... it's just hard to understand such conscienceless mass-murdering. Visited the Russian Market (good place for souvenir shopping) and the Royal Palace (was ok; heard it was just a rip-off of the Thai royal palace) after that.

That night, I came down with food poisoning (or stomach flu, or something); it was vicious. Vomiting, Diarrhea, Nausea... the works. And the weird thing is that I didn't even eat anything crazy. Well, it lasted like a week, and ruined my trip to Hong Kong.

Reflections. Cambodia was like 10 times more interesting to me than Vietnam. The Hindu influence was much stronger here. Adds up to a very interesting look. And it was good to finally see something that didn't look even remotely Chinese.

I was also surprised how undeveloped Phnom Penh was. Even as the country's capital, it was not very metropolitan at all. Definitely not a country of skyscrapers at all.

The kids in Angkor who try to sell you stuff have remarkably clean English. They even know how to guilt-trip you like pros. "You buy from me later, ok? I'll wait right here.", "I'm so nice to you, why are you ignoring me?"

Vietnam. I flew into Hanoi on Tuesday and met up with Bryan, Gary, and Sheri. It was freaking cold; turns out it's a lot further north than I had imagined, and I didn't bring any winter clothing (for the entire semester). On Wednesday, I went and saw the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum- that ups the count of enbalmed former dictators I've seen to two (I think). Went to the Literature Museum and Sword Lake, had some (kinda) street-style pho, visited the Hua Lo Prison (nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton", the prison where Sen. John McCain was held) then watched a water puppet show that's supposed to be pretty famous- it was alright I guess. Took an overnight train to Hue. On Thursday, we went to the (Nguyen) Imperial City and the Thien Mu Pagoda. Strong Chinese cultural influence present in both. On Friday we took a bus to Hoi An, where we just kinda wandered the city, shopped a little, had some clothes tailored (I only had some drawstring pants made; didn't have time for a suit), then went out drinking at night.

On Saturday morning, we got into an argument with the travel agency service that was blatantly trying to overcharge us on a taxi ride. But it turned out to be incredibly difficult getting a taxi anywhere else, and we were in a big hurry. We ended up taking four separate moped taxis on like a 30 minute ride to Danang (I had to carry my massive suitcase on my back like a backpack). We nearly missed our train to Saigon. We arrived after the scheduled departure time, but the train was delayed and everything worked out ok. That's one of the only instances where I've been thankful for "Asian time."

The train in Saigon (technically Ho Chi Minh City, but everyone calls it Saigon) arrived Sunday morning. We went to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum and the Binh Thanh Market; neither was very spectacular.

On Monday we went to the (Viet Cong's) CuChi Tunnels and the War Remnants Museum. These were both very educational. I think the tunnels were the redeeming point of the whole Vietnam trip, saving it from just mediocrity. I got to shoot a real gun (M-16) for the first time (cost US$1 per bullet)- it was quite empowering, but a hell of a lot louder than I would have imagined, even with ear protection. Crawled through a tunnel that had been widened to tourist size; it's amazing how well-made and extensive the tunnel network is; also amazing that people could live for months or years in those tunnels. The tunnels and the Vietnam really gave a different take on the Vietnam War. Surprisingly, the people generally were not that bitter towards Americans; they just saw it as them sticking their noses into a civil war, which the Soviets were doing the same. The museum really pointed out the damage that our intervention and our weapons wreaked on the nation and its people though; I came pretty close to crying. War is hell. Even when you win, you can lose a lot.

Reflections. (Especially in the North) There's strong Chinese influence evident all over the place here. Chinese writing everywhere, Confucianist temples, and same building styles- could easily be confused for Chinese... Like no offense to the Vietnamese people, but to tell the truth, most of the country has felt like kind of a rip-off of Chinese culture. Like Chinese but a bit more run down and war-torn. Not a whole lot of localization evident here at all- just straight out copying. For instance, the Nguyen Imperial City literally was an attempt to recreate the Chinese Forbidden City. The South was a bit more interesting though- more visible French and colonial influences on architecture, culture, etc.

There's so much blatant Communist propaganda all over the place here. Hammer & sickles, Uncle Ho (Chi Minh)'s portrait, the flag all over the place. (I actually didn't know for the longest time that the single gold star on a red background was the Vietnamese flag. I always thought it was the three red stripes on yellow background; turns out that's the flag of the former South Vietnam. Since the North won, it's been the star one.)

By and large, Vietnam has been a country ravaged by war (they were basically in a state of war for the latter half of the twentieth century). And one would think that would tear the people apart, but they thrive in spite of it- a testament to the will of the people to move on with their lives. They've worked so hard to put the past behind them; I feel like I could learn something.

Indonesia. I think this was the first time I'd ever been in the Southern Hemisphere. I flew on Garuda Indonesia Airlines for my whole trip through the country; all 4 of the flights by this carrier were late. But yea, Indonesia was the country I went through with the least amount of forethought into. I was travelling by myself and went with almost no game plan at all, which upon reflection now seems kinda dangerous, haha. (Indonesia is like ALWAYS on the US State Department's travel advisory list; and the Bali bombing had happened not too long ago.) Admittedly, there were a few times that I did fear for my own safety, like when I was being led down maze-like passages by my guide and surrounded in shops with exit path blocked being pressed to buy something. (When that happened, I coughed up the US$5 for crap I didn't want just so they'd let me leave.)

So my travel in Indonesia was limited to the island of Java (the big island). I had wanted to go to Bali, but between not having friends to go with and the bombing, it just didn't happen. So anyways, I spent about 3 days in Jogyakarta and 1 day in Jakarta. The people in Jogyakarta overall were very friendly; in Jakarta, not so much. Most of my stay in Jogyakarta was spent looking at temple ruins. My first day, I went do Candi Plaosan (a small temple) and Prambanan- the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. On the second day, I went to Borobodur- the largest Buddhist monument in the world. Then I went to Candi Mendut (another small temple) and to see a batik (wax dyeing fabric art) gallery, then I went to the Sultan's palace (Kraton Palace and the Water Palace (Taman Sari)). I also saw a wayang puppet show at the Sono Budoyo museum; it's pretty amusing watching the puppets fight, but then sometimes they stand there for like 10 minutes just talking, and when you don't understand it gets boring. Didn't do a whole lot the third day. Flew to Jakarta after that. The traffic in Jakarta is horrendous, and all the shops closed really early. I basically just saw a fountain that's supposed to be pretty famous and window shopped at Plaza Indonesia and Entertainment Xenter. Overall, Jakarta wasn't so great for me, and I gotta say, it was probably the most not-big-city-like of all the big cities I've been to.

I don't think I really enjoy travelling alone in unfamiliar territory that much. I always feel like I'm watching my back. It's like I can feel myself hardening on the inside (especially when walking through those seedier areas, and I put on the mad-dog expression and puff out my chest a bit to make myself more intimidating and don't-mess-with-me-esque).

Pearls of Wisdom gained in Indonesia.
1. "Special morning price" - no such thing!
2. Everyone always says, "oh there it's just for the tourists. HERE it's the real thing." - they're all just trying to sell you something.
3. If a guy walks up to you at the airport asking if you need a taxi, cuz he's a taxi driver- he's NOT. A REAL taxi driver waits in his CAB. These are the kind who don't run meters, and you haggle over price. This can work either for or against you.
4. Admittedly, I can see now how certain kinds of travel & exploring can only be done while you're young. Some stuff you just can't really reasonably expect to do while dragging kids around. Kids just can't appreciate some stuff, and trying to force it just ruins the experience for everybody.

Afterthoughts. It was interesting to see how a strongly Muslim country like Indonesia (the most populous Muslim country in the world) could be so vastly different from the Islamic countries I envision in the Middle East. They're not so hardcore fundamentalist, so they're more chill about their religion, it seems. So yea, although the country's been Muslim the past few hundred years, it had been Hindu for nearly a millenium before that. Old habits die hard, and the result was an interesting hybridization of customs and the like. I also didn't know beforehand that the Indonesians are of the same ethnic group as the Malays and speak the same language (Bahasa) with a few vocab variations here and there.

At the Sultan's palace in Jogyakarta, I had the chance to talk to one of the palace servants (of sorts). And though ultimately he was trying to sell me something, I did manage to get some good information/conversation first. I was surprised by the sense of loyalty the people had to their Sultan. All the servants nowadays are descendants of the servants from back in the day. None of 'em get paid to do their servantly business, and they have to hold real jobs outside of that- but they all do the servant thing out of a sense of loyalty to their ruler. I think a people are really united by having a person or an ideal they can rally around. The people in the Jogyakarta province, like a lot of people around Indonesia, are cynical of the national government; but they back and trust their Sultan.

Rent. (11/26) I went with Deenie to see this musical performed at Kallang Theater on Saturday night (coincidentally on the week that the movie version opened in the US). They had Karen Mok as Mimi to give the production a bit more local appeal I guess; her singing was actually very good, and her English has gotten a lot better since her early movies. Anyways, there were a LOT of really catchy tunes throughout and the show really WAS good, but I guess it had just been hyped up in my mind from years of anticipation that it couldn't possibly live up to my expectations. And I guess I couldn't really follow what was going on the whole time (they don't distribute those playbill/program things at any of the shows in Singapore). I really liked the carpe diem message of the story, even though I have so much trouble living by it. =/ "I should tell you, I should tell you..."

"There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today"
~Rent - Another Day

A Twist of Fate. (12/1) I decided on a whim to see this show (on my last night in Singapore, while I should have been packing and tying up other loose ends) mainly cuz I hadn't seen the inside of any concert/theater halls in the Esplanade, and I was curious. The show turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. It's a musical comedy murder mystery set in Singapore. They toss in some clever jabs at the local and/or Peranakan (Chinese-Malay crossbreed) culture. I laughed out loud several times. However, I did nearly have a cathartic bursting-into-tears moment from sadness at the thought of finally leaving the country also- that wasn't really the show's fault though. The show was Singaporean through and through, and I suppose it was a pretty good way to wrap up a half-year stay in the country.

"Love would be an easy game if there were no rules"
~A Twist of Fate - One Step at a Time

*Went to Malacca, Malaysia with the Singapore Chin Woo Association the weekend of 11/13. It's like a sleepy state that's got historical significance, but not a whole lot to do. We visited several historic sites, performed at the Malacca Chin Woo center, and got taken to a bunch of tour-related shopping places that kinda sucked. The trip was pretty uneventful overall, but it definitely made me feel more like a part of Chin Woo.

**Had Thanksgiving dinner with Tore, Lennart, Calvin, and Kyungee in my cluster kitchen. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing- I just woke up that Thursday morning and decided that I'd like to actually celebrate. Went over to the Cold Storage (supermarket), bought a bunch of canned foods and a smoked turkey. The "cooking" of the meal actually consisted mainly of heating canned food, heh. The only thing made from scratch was mashed potatoes. All-in-all, the dinner went very smoothly (much better than the bbq I threw in the middle of the semester). Oh yea, and turns out people from other countries don't really drink milk with desserts; coffee apparently is definitely the norm.