Singapore

Alright, I know i'm way behind here... It's been a week since I've last blogged and the trip officially ended (Howard left Singapore last Monday morning). Since then, I have been preparing myself for the beginning of b-school at INSEAD, which begins on August 27th (Orientation week). I had originally planned to be in a French class this week (since INSEAD has a requirement of a 3rd language to graduate), but the class got cancelled on Friday. Thus, I have the week to read, relax and generally prep for the program...

First things first... Singapore is a lovely place. I've spent the last few days travelling all over the island/city/state and can honestly say its pretty great. There are quite a few myths regarding Singapore that came from the whole Michael Fay episode back in 1994. Unfortunately, the place gets a bad rap for the incident, even though the actions of Michael Fay were bothersome and anti-social (Who thinks spray painting random cars is a normal thing to do?) Regardless, the city definitely has a protective feel to it, with lots of regulations against "vices" and disruptive behavior. For example, there are many signs warning people against smoking, and there is a heavy tax on cigarettes (oh, and the packs have those gruesome images of people who had operations due to lung and throat cancer). The same taxation applies to beer (a 6 can pack is roughly $15-20 SGD or $10-15 USD for budget stuff). They also have many signs regarding death occuring from jaywalking as well as terrorism warning videos at train stations. Yes, this place is serious, and the locals seem to think it makes sense. While I have certainly seen lots of jaywalking and beer drinking here by locals, there is a general feeling of safety and conservativism here, no question...

I spent a lot of my time this past week dealing with my Lenovo laptop (which took a bit of a beating on my trip, resulting in some serious wear and tear on the outer case) and buying some basics, like a cell phone. For the laptop, I had to lug the device all the way to Chiangi Business Center (right by the airport, about 45 minutes from home) to have them assess the damage and the warranty coverage. If I bought the laptop in Singapore, I would have had to pay for the repairs, since physical damage is never covered. However, my US coverage was sufficient for a free repair. Unfortunately, they did not have the parts on hand and needed to order them (they finally arrived today). Hopefully, I can pick it up tomorrow.

For the cell phone, I went to Funan IT Mall and Sim Lim Center. Funan is a massive semi-fancy mall by City Hall that includes boutique-type PC and cellphone shops. It was here that I realized how complicated buying a cellphone would be here. There are way too many options, and too many functions to think about. Here, cellphone service is much better (including on subways) and everyone is obsessed with the latest gadgets (MP3 player, Camera, GPS, mobile office). I got overwhelmed pretty quickly. I decided a smart phone with some of these functions could be a good idea.

I then went to Sim Lim, which is more like a flea market for high-end electronics (if you need some random cable, you can get it here). This place was filled with cell vendors touting hundreds of phones. Ultimately, I decided on the BenQ P51, a large phone that can double as a 2nd computer (I figured GPS with a Singapore map would be good for getting around here). That evening, I began to regret the purchase, finding that the device acted like a Windows PC (yes, it crashed a few times and I got some weird error messages). I went back to Sim Lim the next morning to try to return it, but the vendor did not have the replacement phone I was looking for (oh, and there are no returns at these stores). Ultimately, the vendor agreed to take the phone back, but I had to cover some of the pieces he threw in (I am now the proud owner of Singapore GPS software!). What a disaster... Finally, I found the Nokia E65 a compact slider phone with Wifi (so that I can speak to all of you via Skype for free/low cost) at another vendor. Its a very cool, small phone and i love it. For my cell plan, I got SingTel Prepaid, which is a bit complicated, but has very good service.

I also took care of my student pass documentation this week, involving a medical exam and dropping off the paperwork at the Singapore government office. The medical exam was pretty painless (even taking blood!), taking under one hour to complete. I then went to drop off the paperwork, and got onto the wrong line at the office. I waited for 1 hour only to find out that the line I was supposed to be on had a queue of 10 minutes. Whatever...

I also visited the local Jewish Community Center and the synagogue Maghain Aboth. The center was recently reconstructed (four months ago, actually) and now includes a beautiful restaurant and event space, along with the typical jewish spaces (market, offices, beit midrash, etc). There is a strong Chabad presence, led by Rabbi Abergel (who's been in Singapore for 13 years now). The community is pretty small (about 100 people) with a few studets from Israel/etc doing exchange programs here as well. The prayer services are heavily Sephardic, very different than what I am used to, but quite nice. The community is actually quite similar to the one in Hong Kong, with a similar kind of community center. Shabbat services and meals were quite nice, and I expect to enjoy the place further over the next few months.

Aside from all of this, I have met a bunch of INSEADers studying at the pre-term course as well as some living in my building (Heritage View on Dover Rise). They all seem pretty cool and excited for the program...

Finally, a note on my apartment and the complex. The apartment is a 3 bedroom with a spacious living room, kitchen w/ washer/dryer, etc. Its quite nice. The complex has 4 pools (1 kids pool, 1 very shallow pool, 1 round pool with a massive waterfall, and one lap pool w/ a curve), gym, bbq pits, etc. Its definitely a great place to hang my hat for the next 6+ months. The only issue is distance, both from the city and the synagogue. Walking on Friday evening back to my apartment took upwards of 1.5 hours (the walk is about 10 kms or 6 miles). On Shabbat morning, walking back and forth was quite brutal. I might need to come up with alternative arrangements for the upcoming weeks...

Well, that's the deal so far... Over and out. Keep in touch...

Chiang Mai

We arrived at Chiang Mai late on Tuesday evening. Our hotel, the Park, is very lovely, but a bit far from city center and the night markets. Luckily the hotel offers a free shuttle, but unfortunately it only runs until around 10:30. We walked around the area quickly, then settled in, following a day of commuting, etc.

On our travels around the immediate area of the hotel, we ran into another nuance of Thai life, specific to Chiang Mai. There is a serious obsession with Karaoke, with bars lining the streets. Additionally, one unique feature is the inclusion of women "hostesses" who participate with your group or cheer you on for a fee. Clearly, this is a lot more tame than some of the theatrics we saw in Bangkok and Phuket...

The next morning, we awoke and went out to see the major tourist sights in the area. The big attractions are buddhist temples, which I was frankly tired of (between China and Thailand, I think we've visited at least 10)... Howard however was still very excited to see them, so we split up. Before we went our separate ways, we went to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep and Wat Chiang Man, both beautiful in their own ways. The first included an amazing temple building with beautifully painted murals on the walls, depicting scenes with the buddha. The second had temples housing both a marble and a crystal buddha (see what I mean :-) ):








I walked past one of the temples to the main road, where there was a massive computer shopping mall. It was certainly not an essential trip for me, but I did have a good time checking out the machines available in Thailand, as well as the cellphones. After seeing this, and knowing how much farther along Singapore is on this front, I can only say that I am very excited to be in Southeast Asia for the next several months:




That evening, Howard and I visited the Night Market, home to thousands of shops selling wares from all over Thailand (at substantially lower prices to both Bangkok and Phuket). In checking out the markets, and realizing that Chiang Mai is actually a fairly normal place, with the red-light district clearly out of the mainstream view, I made the following observation -

Thailand truly has it all for people of all ages. For young people, there is Bangkok and Phuket, which offer exciting nightlife as well as culture. For seniors, Phuket is an excellent alternative to Florida or the Bahamas. And for young/old families, Chiang Mai offers a series of activities for the whole family, without the grit/schmutz found in Bangkok and Phuket. In fact, you find these groups making up the majority of the tourist public in these areas. Maybe I should work on their next tourism ad campaign...

The only exception is the Israelis. They are just everywhere, young and old...

Israeli restaurant in the middle of the Chiang Mai beer garden section
Locals making signs in English, Thai and Hebrew

The next morning, we traveled to Chiang Rai and northern Thailand. Our tour involved stops at a hot spring, monument, wat, "The Golden Triangle", and two local villages, with lunch in between and lots of travel time. Long story shorty, the trip was a bit funny, since the content was light, in lieu of shopping destinations (much like our trip in Bangkok).

The "hot spring" was not like the photo in the brochure we had seen (a large steamy spring). It was actually just a small section by a truck stop, with a mixture of "hot spring" and cold water splashing into a pool that one can dunk their feet into. It was a bit of a sad sight, and as the German tourists with us would say, "the water was hardly 30 degrees (celsius)". Here's a photo:

No, this is not a joke...

The King Mengrai Monument, was not actually stop at all, but rather a brief mention from the van (Howard did get some kind of photo of it). That shocked us all in the van.

The next stop was an old Buddhist temple in Chedi Luang, with a nearby pagoda:




"The Golden Triangle" was pretty neat. The meeting point of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Laos, "The Golden Triangle" is actually a neat place to visit. We took a quick longboat tour that took us into Laos for about 30 minutes (of course, just to a shopping section). This section was called the "Golden Triangle" because it was the center of the Opium trade. Here's some photos of the "Golden Triangle" from our boat on the Mekong river (please note the Snake whiskey bottles, which have actual snakes and scorpions in them. Apparently, this is the "National drink of Laos"):

The water was incredibly gross, with a strong brown color

Good to the last drop (now with snakes and scorpions in the bottle)
Yes, they make a lot of it
Here's the mother load (the tasting container). They offered us each shots, but we declined (apparently, king cobra and scorpion taste like Chicken, but who knows...)


Myanmar on your left, Laos on your right, Thailand behind you...
Another big buddha...
Howard had a good time with this one... ;-)

After a quick lunch, we headed to the northernmost city in Thailand, Mai Sae, which borders on Myanmar (seemingly, the city's only redeeming quality). We opted not to enter Myanmar due to our time constraints and the recommendation of some locals (apparently, not much to see there for 5 minutes). Here's the border:

After that, we grabbed a quick lunch, then headed over to two local villages. Here too, it was a bit strange, but for a different reason. The two sites were quite poor, and the locals were asking for money. It was really awkward and kind of shameful for the tourist company to take us to these places (unknowingly). What can I say...

That night, we headed to the Night Market and grabbed some Thai food (Pad thai for 30 baht or $1usd)...

The next few days, we relaxed and took in the scenery of Chiang Mai. Specifically, on Friday we visited the Phra That Doi Suthep, another Buddhist temple on top of a mountain in the Northwestern part of Chiang Mai, above the Chiang Mai Zoo. We travelled by tuk tuk to the zoo, then picked up a bus that took us up the mountain. There are 300 steps from the top of the mountain to the temple, with an amazing staircase covered in beautiful stones and designs. Here's some photos of the site:





After we walked the site for a while, Howard and I found a food stand selling lots of products in a waffle, including bananas and hot dogs. We opted for banana waffle sticks, which were amazing:



After the bananas, we took a tuk tuk to the shopping mall for some R&R. We ended up watching "The Simpsons Movie" for 120 baht per person (~$4 USD) and another 100 baht for soda and popcorn (coming in three varieties: original, sweet and cheese). At the opening, we caught an amazing Pepsi commercial as well as several hilarious local commercials. Additionally, during coming attractions, they play a video in honor of the king, during which the entire crowd stands. It was pretty cool... As for the movie, it was just OK...

The next evening, we went back to the theatre and took in "The Bourne Ultimatum". Also, a good time... We then hit up some local bars and shops at the Night Market.

The next morning, we would fly to Singapore, our last stop on this journey...

Phuket

Let me start out this blog post with a quick thought. Over the last few weeks, Howard and I have experienced this more than once... Have you ever walked into 7-Eleven seeking a Slurpee? Usually, you have Coke and another option (or two) to select from. As you walk up to the machine, you see that one flavor, inevitably Coke (because its normal) is still 100% liquid, and thus not Slurpee-worthy just yet, whereas the other flavor(s) are frozen and ready for delivery. However, the other flavors are weird/strange/awful sounding like "Coconut Delight" or "Orangutan Orange". Without a doubt, you rationalize the decision to go with this weirdo flavor, simply because you were seeking a Slurpee in the first place. Then, following the initial "brain-freeze" one gets from the initial shock of Slurpee slurping, you regret your split-second decision... We've done this about 15 times over the last three weeks, but like the insane people that we are (see: definition of insanity), each time we are placed in the same scenario, we make the same decision and expect different results... Pretty sad on our part...

We arrived at Phuket on Friday and enjoyed and quiet and relaxing evening and Saturday on the beach and at the hotel. Our bus ride to the hotel involved another "unscheduled stop", much like in Bangkok. Here, we were brought to a travel agency that tried to book us on tours to surrounding islands or get us hotel rooms (which seemed dumb, considering we all had reservations already - they were needed to get on the bus in the first place). Our hotel, the Seaview Patong, was right on the beach and has 2 excellent pools:




The excitement began on Saturday evening. Howard and I went out to the bar/restaurant scene in Bangla Road. The road is quite touristy and has a more subdued feeling than Patpong. There is still plenty of bars, clubs and random go-go bars, with the promoters outside pushing tourists to go to shows, etc. It was a weird experience, and frankly something I was kind of tired of, having just dealt with it (to a heavier degree) in Bangkok. We found a nice restaurant and ate dinner, then checked out the markets and watched an Australian Football match at a local Aussie bar.

One thing to note is that the tourists in Phuket are quite different from those in Bangkok. There are tons of Australians and Europeans, not many Chinese or Japanese. Additionally, Phuket has many older tourists and many venues for them (i.e. Elvis and light music bands). On numerous occassions, Howard and I found ourselves wondering where the young people were...

On Sunday, we took a day trip to James Bond Island (named for its prominence in "The Man with the Golden Gun". We took a tour with SIM Tourism Group, specifically because their advertisement is centered on not taking tourists to unwanted shopping stops. Since we had already experienced that, it was a great pleasure to avoid these shops this time around...

The tour included three stops: 1) Suwankuha Temple(Monkey Cave) with the Reclining Buddha statue, 2) A fishing village near James Bond Island, 3) James Bond Island itself. The last two were reached by longtail boat. The sites were quite cool, although there was minimal substance here...


Suwanka Temple was surrounded by a monkey park, in which wild monkeys walked and climbed around everywhere. There were a handful of people in the immediate area selling fruits to feed the monkeys. Boring and a bit scary (who wants Rabies!)... Inside the temple were a few cool statues, the reclining buddha and two caves (dark and light). Not a lot to do here:



i love it when people follow the rules
the wild monkeys

We then took a longtail boat to the fishing village. This was a pretty cool place to see, with amazing views of the surrounding islands:

Finally, we arrived at James Bond Island, home to a sea shell beach and a breathtaking rock formation in the bay:


the cook rock




The next 007? I think we always knew...

That evening, we ventured out again to Bangla Road, and took in the local culture. What happens in Phuket stays in Phuket, but here are some photos to give you a sense of the atmosphere:
Christin Massage Parlor - a brothel the size of a city block
Looks like one sick grandpa!
"Hard Rock" bar, with a U2, Bon Jovi, and Metallica tribute band
The concept of the tribute band was much better than the reality of it (really awful)
Howard in front of Sharkey's bar, home to dancing women in schoolgirl uniforms who like to play Connect 4
Another shot of Howard at Sharkey's

Here's some shots of the beach:
lots of mopeds/cycles/bikes for rent



Yesterday, we explored Phuket City, which was a huge letdown. We did get a chance to try some exotic fruit though, at this fruit stand:

Pineapple was amazing

We also had the chance to see the great industry of Phuket, Latex:

We ate lunch at the local mall at a Thai shabu shabu-type place - the vegetable plate for 2 was about $100 baht ($3.33 USD). After our time in the city, we took a 20 baht (roughly 66 cents) local bus back to the beach. The bus was crazy packed, leaving Howard and I sitting next to two schoolkids in a 2-seat section of the bus. We were still better off than this elderly gentleman who was asked to sit on a box next to the driver. Needless to say, he did not look happy:

Today is a travel day, with a stop over in Bangkok. Since the stopover is somewhat short, I've decided to relax in the Novotel Airport Hotel... We'll be in Chiang Mai later tonight...