Epilogue

So, I meant to write a wrap-up blog as I was leaving Singapore in September, but I never did. Looking back on this blog I wanted to do a little recap, for anyone who is reading but also mostly for me, looking back.

India was my last vacation. The next two months in Singapore were spent in a state of emotional craziness. I always get that way when I rpepare for a big transition; it's draining to be focusing on trying to wrap everything up well in one location and scenario while also focusing on trying to start everything well in another location, that you aren't even in! I finally decided to just focus on Singapore and not worry about job searching back in Chicago until I got there.

That worked well! My alst month or so in Singapore was bittersweet, but ultimately really good. I saw all of my friends many times, ate all my favorite foods, explored some new places (Botanical Gardens! Prawn fishing!) and ultimately had a good run of it. My friends Bahar and Nate hosted a going away party for me that was really fun!

I caught a prawn! This is a very local thing to do and it was tons of fun. Also, a lot of Tiger beer was drunk throughout this evening...

Just a few of the lovely people at my going away party! Six different nationalities were represented :)

I then got back to Chicago and proceeded to occasionally flip out about not finding a job. Until I found one. And it's a great one! A consultant position at Accenture, that I just started a week ago. Everything so far is great and turned out quite how I wanted to--several months of relaxing and catching up with people and workgina part-time waitressing gig, followed by a position in the private sector. i don't know how long I'll stay, but I like it so far and that's all one can really ask!

I miss the food in Singapore, and I miss the weather sometimes when I'm freezing my patootie off on the commute from the train to my office downtown. I miss the ocean being nearby and the ability to travel to new countries cheaply and relatively effortlessly. But mostly I miss all of my lovely friends that I made over two long years in Singapore. I'm doing my best to keep in touch with everyone through calls, emails, Skype, Facebook, etc. It's hard to set up new systems to keep in touch with people, but it's worth it. You all in Singapore made my time there so wonderful. Thanks for everything. I hope to be back to visit soon!

Birthday in Boracay, Fun with Fan, Hanging in Hong Kong

This is a bit out of order, but I realized that back on May 19th I promised a blog about Boracay and another on Fan's visit and our trip to Hong Kong. And then of course I was hosting and traveling and unpacking and repacking and traveling again, and I ended up going to India and posting about that without ever following up :) So here's a quick recap of what I spent most of May doing, and a few fun pictures!

May 13-19 was spent in Boracay, the Philippines. It's a tiny tropical island, and it's everything you imagine if you imagine the perfect tropical island. Bright turquoise water, lovely hotel that was very reasonably priced, cheap massages, white sand beaches, cute beachy shops and nice cheap souvenirs, perfect temperature, EVERYTHING. Paradise. We had an odd Tuesday holiday, so we all took of Monday and took a four-day weekend. It was a big group actually--pretty much every American I know in Singapore. We didn't all come in and out on the same flight, but at the biggest point I think there was a group of 19 of us! I was lucky enough that my birthday fell during the trip, and Chris had been wanting to have a suckling pig dinner from awhile so it was a perfect opportunity! And we went on a sunset sail right before that. After was hookah, dancing, and a super awesome jungle bar across the island. It was the best birthday in recent years for sure.

Sunset cruise!

And private dinner on the beach!

 

 MMMMMMMMMMMMMM! This was delicious!

I also did one other pretty awesome thing: went SCUBA DIVING! It was fantastic! We were down for about half an hour, the water was so clear! And all the coral and sea creatures look so colorful and cool, I felt like I was in a Discovery channel special!

Two days after I got back from Boracay, my friend Fan came to town to visit me. I was SO EXCITED! For two reasons. 1) I love Fan and she's awesome! and 2) I was really excited to show off Singapore--she's the first visitor I've had since I've been here! We did a lot of stuff, like going to Little India and Chinatown and Arab Street, downtown Orchard Road and City Hall and everything. But the most important thing we did was EAT. Because Singapore has awesome food and Fan and I are both food tourists first!

Dim Sum in Singapore. Which was delicious and we had great company, but which couldn't compare to dim sum in the best sim sum restaurant in Hong Kong, the HOME of dimsum. I had a conference in Hong Kong May 26-27, so I extended the trip a little bit from May 25-May 30 and Fan came with me and we made it into a vacation. And on Saturday we went to the best dim dum restaurant IN THE WORLD.

I loved Hong Kong. It was so energetic and it really felt like a real big city! Since I live kind of in the suburbs of Singapore, it was nice to be in a real "city never sleeps" kind of atmosphere!

Me across the channel in Kowloon, with Central Hong Kong behind me!

We also went into Macau for an afternoon, it's about an hour away from Hong Kong. I loved, it especially the EGG TARTS!!!!! I made them once before, and I'm totally planning on making it a regular thing when I get back, so this Fall when I get back to Chicago, don't be afraid to ask me to make you some!

Fan and I had an awesome time and I'm SO GLAD she came to visit. Everybody else should come visit me toooooooooo before I leave in September! ;)

So sorry about this being so late, but late is better than never, right?

India: Land of Contrasts, Conflicts, and Con-Artists

Some people might say that many countries could be captioned thus. While that's true, I found this aspect of contrast and conflict most pronounced on my most recent vacation to the cities of Chennai--previously Madras, in South India,  and Kolkata--previously Calcutta, in North India. (I was able to mostly avoid the con-artists by traveling with locals 100% of the time.) 

Let me give you some examples. (And please forgive me/correct me if you think I’ve oversimplified anything too much or gotten anything quite wrong. These are simply my impressions based on a week in only 2 cities in India, a country that would take at least 2 months to visit properly and much longer than that to begin to grasp fully.)

1) Despite the fact that many saris pretty much expose your entire stomach, this is considered the most conservative outfit and people who wear the long and very high-coverage tunic-and-pants combination of a salwar kameez or, GASP, jeans and a t-shirt, are considered by many Indian aunties to be somewhat shameless. (The South is significantly more conservative in this regard.)

2) The history of India, due to various empires and conquerors and historical contexts, is littered with contrasts. It is well-known for the creation of the Kama Sutra, and also well known for the traditions of child brides and encouraging widows throwing themselves on their husband’s funeral pyre. Both the extravagance of the Mughal rulers and the asceticism of holy men. Periods of surprising religious tolerance as well as periods of surprisingly violent religious INtolerance.

3) People can’t seem to decide how they feel about the British. While of course they wanted them out and are pissed about having been colonized, they also seem to appreciate the order that they lent to developing cities in India as well as the schools and universities and general developments in learning that they brought. In other words, they don’t seem as angry about it as I would have thought they would be.

4) Matrimonial ads abound in the Sunday paper, and arranged and semi-arranged marriages are preferred by a huge segment of the older part of society, but at the same time almost every film coming out of Bollywood (or Kollywood, or Tollywood—different cities, yes apparently they’re different) has a very romantic, “boy-meets-girl-dances-joyously-they fall-in-love-another-big-dance-number-and-get-married-BIGGEST-DANCE-NUMBER-OF-ALL” format.

5) There is a separate security line in the airport for women so that your cursory pat-down can be done by a gender-appropriate security guard, and also anyone who ever checks your handbag will be female, and you never even really hang out with people of the opposite sex until college, and a man might very often get to his 20s without ever having seen even the knees of a real live woman he’s not related to, BUT every single person who takes your measurements, including (several) bust measurements, is male, as are the shopkeepers who sell ladies undergarments. 

6) It would seem that Indians in general are early risers—most nightlife shuts down by midnight because of liquor laws, and everything else closes at 9 or 10 later—but most shops and sights don’t open until 11. And also sometimes they take a long lunch break from 1-3 or so.

7) Lots of people are fiercely devoted to their religious affiliation, without really knowing much about what that religion actually says.

And that’s not even going into your standard “poverty in the shadow of wealth” and “different cities are different, go figure” or “wow, young people do things differently than old people” contrasts. I don’t really know how to sum all of that up or explain how it ties into some greater point. I think I’d have to be a South Asian Studies grad student to do that. I will just wrap up with “Isn’t that interesting?” And then segueway into something else…

Like, I found a few great Engrish examples!

This sign is on a small playground. While it's grammatically amusing, I was also a bit sad to see it because I was totally heading over to play on it when I saw the sign :/

 Okay, while India in general is not an Engrish goldmine, I think this one might go in the "best of the best" list. Seriously? I have NO IDEA where this poster came from. Is that guy skydiving? Frantically jumping in front of you to keep you from doing drugs in front of the gate? Falling over from a drug overdose? Frantically making a giant "these are NOT DRUGS" gesture? Or just celebrating the lovely drug-free frontal gate space? If you know, please tell me.

So anywho, I had a FANTASTIC time in India. Most of the day-to-day details will be described in my Facebook albums. The food was incredibly fantastically awesome. The temples and churches were stunning. The seaside was great, the cultural offerings were fascinating, the cities were a riot of color and smell and noise and general LIFE. Suffice it to say that both Vasu and Shreya and their families were fantastic hosts, and both of them took their turn to dress me up in saris. 

 In Chennai. This is a formal, wear to a wedding-type sari. It belongs to Vasu's sister.

In Calcutta. This is my own sari that I bought there, posing with Shreya's upstairs neighbor.

 Shreya's lovely mother, my "kakima" (auntie)

Fully SEVEN middle-aged women (four in Calcutta and three in Chennai) asked me if I wanted them to find me an Indian guy. They said they'd use this sari picture in the "grooms wanted" section of the matrimonial ads ;)

As Indian weddings are the BOMB-DIGGITY, and I am well-known to have a thing for Asian guys, I was quite receptive to the suggestion and I am eagerly waiting to see if any of them will actually follow through with their offers ;)

Kansaaaiiiiiiiiiiii!

So I figured I should finish writing my second post about my Japan trip before leaving on my next trip TONIGHT! (May 14, although this is going up several days later due to some weird Blogspot glitch. Post on Boracay, Philippines to come in about a week, followed by a post about my friend Fan’s visit and our time in Hong Kong the next week!) 

My last post was about Tokyo. After three days in Japan we spent 3.5 days in Kyoto and 2 days in Osaka. These two cities are only about 30 minutes away from each other and they, together with a few smaller towns, make up the main population center of the Kansai region. The Kansai region is well-known as the fertile rice-growing region of Japan, kind of like the Midwest is the bread basket. The capital of Japan was here until 1865 when it was moved to Tokyo. I think “Kansai” sounds la lot like “Bonsai” (the mini-trees) which sounds a lot like “Banzai!” (which is the old Japanese war cry which means “hundred years”, as in “may the Emperor live 100 years”). 

Kyoto was the old capital, so it’s chock full of old gardens and temples and buildings and just cultural things in general. I fell in love with it. In terms of size, it’s not super huge like Tokyo or Osaka. The downtown is much more manageable and shorter in general. I fell in love with the city. I think I could live there. If I end up in Asia again I think I’d aim for here. 

A few things that sucked about Kyoto though—1) it was very cold while we were there and I wasn’t properly prepared for it, and 2) the public transportation was not as robust and was quite expensive. The result of that was that we spent a LOT of time walking around freezing our butts off ;) That didn’t keep it from being lovely. 

I’ve already posted a Facebook album of Kyoto pictures which have a lot of description in the captions about lovely places that we visited—several Pure Land Buddhist temples, the Silver Pavilion and the Golden Pavilion, lovely gardens, food, etc. So I’m going to focus here on things that were equally enjoyable but a bit less photogenic.

One was the onsen that we visited. An onsen is a public bath, and they’re very central to Japanese culture. Up until not too recently, many Japanese didn’t have a bathtub in their homes because they couldn’t afford it, but apparently bathing is a very important thing for Japanese and sometimes a shower just didn’t cut it. So most Japanese would go to the local public bath in the evening. You don’t actually clean yourself in the bath—that would be gross, apparently. Instead you sit at these little tiny spigots that are at about waist level and you wash yourself thoroughly, and THEN soak in the baths. The one we went to was great and we stayed for about two hours! In additional to the main hot tub they had one that had electricity in it, one that had some special minerals in it, one that was really cold so you could cool down in between baths, and one outside in the courtyard—that one was the best! There was also a sauna. It was perfect. It was mostly old ladies, because apparently onsens are another one of those cultural things that are fading. But there was a cute family with a little baby and he was sooooo cute and we were smiling at him and his mom came over and started chatting with us! She was super nice and it was just a great time all around. 

Another fun thing was getting accosted at one of the temples by a Pure Land Buddhist monk, an American Japanese named Ray Fukumoto who chatted with Kathryn about being from LA before telling us the history of the temple and of Pure Land Buddhism in general. He was super nice and not at all pushy and had a lot of interesting things to say. Then he took this picture for us!

So if you’re interested in Pure Land Buddhism and want to talk to someone about it, let me know and I’ll pass you Ray’s email J

We also had our own tea ceremony. This was really fun because as opposed to the tea ceremony we did earlier, where there was a lot of explanation and stopping and starting, this was us just focusing on the essence behind the ceremony, even though I’m sure we messed up about a billion small details! One thing that our friend Ikuko told us about the ceremony a few days earlier was that the tea ceremony brought together all the different sections of Japanese art—ceramics (the bowl), bamboo work (the whisk), the tea itself, painting and calligraphy in the art hung in the alcove, an ikebana in the entrance, the architecture of the teahouse itself—but no music. This is because sounds are a very important part of the ceremony—the sound of socks on the tatami mat, the whisking of the tea, the pouring of it, etc. I realized what she said was so true when we had our own ceremony. All of a sudden the neighbors next door sounded almost intrusively loud, even though I didn’t notice anything before or after the ceremony. The sounds all had almost a life of their own. And while talking is allowed and not at all discouraged during the tea ceremony, you find yourself communicating on a different level through the ceremony, by preparing tea for your friends and simply enjoying the fact of being able to relax and drink it with them. Plus being in our kimonos just made it exciting and I felt pretty ;) It was one of my favorite experiences of Japan. 

Osaka is about as different from Kyoto as you can imagine. It’s relatively modern as far as Japanese cities go, and it’s mostly the capital of commerce and food. People are considered more rustic and straightforward, and I hear they have an interesting accent, although of course I couldn’t tell! We actually didn’t love Osaka as much, mostly because it was really rainy for the one full day that we were there, and because we were getting really tired, and also because it just doesn’t lend itself quite as much to tourism. But we still had a great time.

We were there on Sunday morning before we flew out that afternoon, and it just happened to be Easter! We didn’t want to go without celebrating, so we found a local hymn sing and church service in English! We didn’t have time to stay for the service, but the hymn sing was lovely. It’s really not Easter without singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today!” We stayed afterwards for doughnuts and coffee and met some really lovely people! One was a lady who had been living in Japan for 30 years teaching English! She was so sweet. Another was this really funny guy from Ghana who had a great voice! He was also there teaching English. We talked with him for quite awhile, and he actually sent us a couple pictures that he took! There we are in the back on the right.

    We're in this photo, on the right side in the back. You can see my pink striped shirt.

So, altogether, an INCREDIBLY successful trip. I highly recommend Japan as a destination in East Asia. We didn’t have nearly as much trouble with the language barrier as we thought we would. Japan is everything that everybody says it is, and it’s worth experiencing for yourself.

Japan: the home and undisputed champion of Engrish

 So, Japan is the undisputed champion of Engrish. I would venture that this statement shall remain uncontested. I present to you some evidence to further back up my claim. Firstly, the lovely "charm box" pictured above. In other words, a sanitary napkin disposal box. I must admit, it's a much more pleasant name.

 I will tell you that we ate this "sweet potato and chestnut love cake" and it was actually DELICIOUS. I love when my food can be both delicious and hilarious.

Okay okay, so these signs are all in Japanese and therefore there is no Engrish to be found. But the graphics were so entertaining that I figured I might as well throw them in! I think the general idea is "watch out for birds who might poop on your head/your laundry and/or eat you if you're a worm". Maybe? Other possible translations are welcome :)

 Once again, not "wrong", per se, just funny. Bambi Coffee. When you want to be mildly traumatized and bored out of your brain at the same time.

 Maybe this stationary was scented? In which case this would make some sense? Although I couldn't smell anything....But side note: the Japanese make the CUTEST STATIONARY OMG. I want to have some sort of craft I'm supposed to do just so I can buy mountains of the stuff.

 Oh, furniture produce. Trying to upstage the regular, organic produce with flashy marketing.

 My favorite part of this flyer is the "filth putting", definitely. But second-favorite phrase is harder to judge: is it a) The upside-down red "senso" seemingly stamped across the photo? b) The passive tense instructions on how to work the lid, or c) its request that you "encompass" the sanitary pads "to paper".

 I think I'm gonna go with c). But really, this photo is a gold mine.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

They are SERIOUS. Never leave. NEVER. This bathroom is your home now.

Also, the graphics are hilarious. The kid falling off the table looks like a midget skydiver.


Lastly, I'm not sure what the branding meeting for this shop was like, but I would SERIOUSLY have liked to be there. I mean, Question Mark* Jerry Girl? It's genius! I need somebody from this team to help me with all of my future branding issues.

Q

Tokyo

I haven't blogged in months! AHHH I'M A BAD INTERNET PERSON! Oh well, at least I have vacations to keep me from falling completely off the bandwagon.

I wrote this log post on the bullet train on our way from Tokyo to Kyoto, meaning to post it as soon as we got there, but I forgot. Sorry! I added to photos later, obviously. More photos to come on Facebook, and keep watch for a new The Original Engrish post from Japan :)

Tokyo is awesome. I highly recommended that you visit. These last few days have been action-packed and the cherry blossoms (sakura) lend an almost magical air to most things.

Kathryn and I are great travel partners. She likes planning and is good at navigating. I'm easygoing. So it works out ;-) Also, we both want to see similar things, sleep the same amount, and move at the same pace.

Some of the highlights have been:
A fantastic sakura-flavored ice cream cone

The most beautiful garden I've ever seen (or at least top 3) filled with cherry blossoms in bloom, Japanese bridges, and tea houses.
A chance to do a tea ceremony in a famous tea ceremony house with an awesome Japanese lady who invited us cuz she thought we looked interested and she taught us all the special stuff.
A thrift store called Chicago where we put together our Ultimate Kimonos and looked awesome. And I also bought a pretty dress.

The best coffee shop in Tokyo, called Cafe de L'ambre. I can't even begin to describe the awesomeness of thus place. The only way I can do it justice is to say that it is the coffee shop that you dream of opening. Kathryn had Sumatra coffee. I had sweet coffee topped with egg yolk. We both shared a coffee liquid pudding. Pictures will follow. DO NOT go to Tokyo without getting the business card from me.

Miss Saigon

 So I was just in Vietnam--Saigon in particular, which is now technically called Ho Chi Minh City, even though most locals still refer to it as Saigon. (The Communist government changed it after the war.) It was lunar New Year, which is the biggest holiday in Vietnam, which was GREAT because there were a few big celebrations.events to attend that you would be able to see any other time of the year. However, it was also a bit inconvenient because a lot of normal attractions--for instance, the HUGE indoor market downtown, the Opera House, and many regular restaurants and shops including my Vietnamese friend's favorite restaurant--were closed for the days I was there. However, there was still PLENTY to do. Since I have a full 58 photo album going uo on Facebook right now, I think I'll still with a list format and maybe a couple of anecdotes. :)

While in Vietnam I:
*Watched fireworks at midnight in my pajamas in the middle of the street with other revelers, foreign and local. (Well, they were fully dressed. I was the only one in my pjs.)
*Walked a LOT in flip flops and discovered that I need to go to the chiropractor because my shoes are wearing unevenly.
*Looked at SO MANY flowers. Apparently Vietnamese people effing love flowers around New Year.

*Went to the Fine Arts Museum
*Ate french onion soup and a chicken and goat cheese crepe at a nice French restaurant
*Actually wrote postcards and sent them from the country that I was supposed to send them from!
*Learned how to say hello, thank you, Happy New Year, and "hey friend" in Vietnamese
*Met a girl from Germany and shared a round of AK-47 ammo with her and spent the rest of the day shopping
*Realized in the Cu Chi tunnels that I'm just sliiiiiightly claustrophobic...
*Held a giant snake around my neck
*Ate three bowls of pho. All of which were (varying degrees of) delicious. Of course, the best one I had was at the place on the corner packed with locals.
*Ate Vietnamese shrimp salad rolls, which I am in love with and think I could eat every day for the rest of my life.
*Met up with two girls from London who I met while waiting for the sunrise at Angkor Wat, and went to dinner at a delicious gourmet Vietnamese restaurant called Lemongrass
*Practiced my map reading skills and didn't get (more than a block) lost the whole time I was there.
*Rowed a canoe. But not really because I was pretty useless compared to the people who were actually rowing us around.
*Ate at Pizza Hut
*Flirted with a cute pho-stand operator who spoke pretty good English. Almost tried to convince him to convince his parents (whose stall it was) to show me how to make Vietnamese coffee, but if I had I would have been late for church
*Went to church (the English service) at the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral downtown.
*Met a new Singaporean friend who was on vacation with her family who I'm going to meet up with for dinner next week.
*Rode around in a cyclo, which is like a bike with a chair on the front end that the passenger sits in while someone (usually an old guy, all the young guys have motorbikes) pedals you around town. And got super ripped off.
*Rode on a motorcycle taxi--twice--and didn't get ripped off either time! Go me and my mad bargaining skills! And managed to take pictures on the bike and not fall off/drop anything/get anything stolen by the cowboy bagsnatchers--see?

*Almost bought a beautiful tea set which was a steal at about $18. But didn't, and I'm glad I didn't, because I need to stop collecting stuff that's bulky and breakable, making it hard to transport
*Bought a jade bangle, which I've been wanting for a long time and am very happy with.
*Washed some of my clothes in the sink with hand soap because my (limited supply of) clothes were all becoming very sweaty from long days of having fun.
*Got left behind by my tour bus on the side of the road. Yes, that happened. We stopped for a bathroom break, about 1 hour from Saigon and 1.5 hours from our Mekong destination, for a bathroom break and to look through some touristy craft shop. When I came back from the bathroom, my bus was GONE. Yes, gone. Thankfully, a couple other tours had stopped there from the same thing, so I went up to some of the other tour guides looking all pitiful and said "My bus left meeee! (Pouty face)" And thankfully a super sweet tour guide let me join her group, as long as I promised to keep it a secret otherwise she would get in trouble. She was only 24 and sat and chitchatted with me for awhile, and she's super nice and I got her contact information so that we can keep in touch. And that group was really cool and fun to be with throughout the day, and all made good-natured fun of my for getting lost, and a couple of the middle-aged people kept a lookout for me when we went place to place so I didn't get lost again! haha. It was nice. 

Wow. That's a lot of things in 3.5 days. No wonder the week felt SO LONG and why I was SO TIRED when I got back. But long and tiring in a good way :) Me at the airport, leaving, carrying all my stuff, looking tired but satisfied.