Macau-abunga!

Hello All!

I am soooo fried from this weekend, among the best in my life! It couldn't be THE best, as there was a decided lack of family/Tom, but it ranks high up there. Like really high :)

My friends Priya the Brit, Maleeka and Jocelyn the Canucks (I checked, you can call them that), and I had a whirlwind weekend in Macau/Hong Kong. I decided to join them on a whim and I am SO GLAD I did! Traveling with people you don't know very well either means you bond instantly and become friends for life or you realize you should really get to know people better before you travel. This time, it was emphatically the former-I got so lucky with traveling buddies! All three are amazing, cool girls and we had such an awesome time. Thinking back over the weekend (well, four days all told) I can't believe that we did everything that we actually did. It was a wild, outrageous, totally magical trip. But enough of waxing rhapsodic about it, I guess I should just actually tell you about it! Warning-due to the massive volume of pictures, I'm splitting the weekend up into two posts. The first (today) will be Macau, and tomorrow will be Hong Kong proper. Enjoy!

I met the girls at their apartment (there are two student residences-they all live in PGP and I live in Commonwealth) at 4:00 am for our 6:00 am flight. Priya and Maleeka, rather than grab a few hours of sleep, went out the night before and came straight from the club to our rendezvous point. The contrast between outlook on life between those who'd slept and those who hadn't was pretty comical, although it was hard to find anything funny at that time of morning. Especially when we boarded the plane, sat for an hour, and were told our plane was not cleared to board. We were taken off the plane and made to board another one! All told, we got to Macao three hours late. Little did we know it would not be the worst of our plane experiences, but that was a few days away. At that point in time, we were some cranky, sleepy people, let me tell you.

Macau, for those of you who don't know (which includes me, before I went there) is, like Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. It was a Portuguese colony that got handed over in 1999 to China. The guidebook describes it as "an Eastern city with a distinct Mediterranean charm" and, as confusing as that might sound, it is really true. It's like nowhere else in the world I've ever been. It's also called the Vegas of the East, although revenues are so much higher here than there that Las Vegas ought to be called the Macau of the West. Gambling is legal there (it's not in much of Asia) so people flock from miles around to see the sights, gamble, drink, and generally rabble-rouse. And we were no exception.

We had planned to do a walking tour our first day, but our late arrival meant we had to push that until Friday (the next day). The casinos all have shows, Vegas-style, and our goal was to see if we could get tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show at the Venetian. Lonely Planet guide clutched tightly in hand (seriously, I will NEVER travel again without LP! The difference is tremendous. I do a lot of reading/research beforehand, but it pays off in spades once I arrive. I am a walking/talking LP ad, but I don't even care because they are SO awesome! I have used Fodor's, Frommers, DK Travel, Rough Guides, Rick Steve's, and about everything else, but nothing compares to LP. Nothing!) we set off towards the casinos.

Whether it's positive or not, there are many places in Asia (that I've seen so far) that have been very Westernized. I've seen more Chanel/Tiffany's/Louis Vuitton outlets in Asia than I have ever seen in the US. I'm not sure how the locals feel about this infusion of Western culture-they seem do be doing very well, and I guess it helps tourism and stuff, so...I can't even begin to form a coherent opinion on this. Whether it's good or bad seems like a metaphyiscal decision. Suffice it to say-there are parts of SE Asia that feel very "foreign" to me. Macau is emphatically not one of them. The casinos, in particular, are in many cases carbon copies of their US counterparts, such as the Wynn, the Venetian, the Hard Rock Hotel, and the MGM Grand. That was weird for me, feeling like I'd been to these places before, even though I was on the other side of the world. None of the other girls had been to Vegas, so they were all goggle-eyed and snapping pictures inside the Venetian, when I felt oddly at home. But, we did manage to get some way-back tickets to Cirque's "Zaia", the self-proclaimed most dazzling spectacle ever to be staged in Asia. Here are some photos of the things we accidentally saw walking around. Macau is really small, so stumbling upon great photo ops is practically required.

We had lunch at an LP-recommended restaurant, tucked into a side street off the beaten-path. It was a Portuguese/Maccanese restaurant and we had deeee-licious food there. Maccanese food is, like Macau itself, a unique fusion of Mediterranean and Chinese. We lingered there for about an hour, just savoring the culinary alchemy and enjoying each other's novel company.

"Zaia" was indeed dazzling, if chilly. Something one should know before traveling to Hong Kong-it's not Singapore, that is to say IT'S COLD! The temp was around 10C, while Singapore is consistently 25-29C. That's 50F in HK and 75F in Singapore. And Singapore is so humid that it always feels warmer than it is. In short, we all bought sweatshirts and wore the one pair of jeans we each brought all weekend. So forgive me when all my pictures have the same clothes in them. Just pretend it was one epic day instead of four semi-epic days :) But "Zaia" was awesome. Some of the gals had never seen Cirque, so they loved it. Being a Cirque veteran, I was a) humbled that I have seen and done so many special things in my life, and b)still impressed at this distinctly Asian flavored-Cirque that was still all Cirque. It's such a special blend of acrobatics, drama, dance, and spectacle that translates really well into any culture because it is so otherworldly that it's a culture all its own.

After "Zaia", we hit up the casinos! No one really wanted to gamble (I would have done blackjack, but it doesn't exist as such in Macau, they have baccarat, which I figured if I didn't really understand I would be much less likely to win any money) but we heard that Grand Lisboa had a cabaret called "Crazy Paris Cabaret". What we wanted was some can-can girls, or perhaps even some burlesque. What we found instead was a barely-concealed stripper pole. We were mightily disheartened, however, as the night went on, there were some costumes and lip-synching involved. The girls seemed to be enjoying themselves, and as they were onstage, there was no groping/rudeness involved. It was an interesting experience, to be sure. We had some drinks and turned in early (see 4am flight), and by early I mean 2am. These ladies are much more experienced than me on the partygoing circuit. Hanging out with them forced me to get a bit out of my comfort zone and I found that I quite liked it.

The next day, we set off on a walking tour of Macau, guided by me via Lonely Planet. It was supposed to be four hours and cover the big historical sights. We had a few unexpected detours (aka We Got Lost) but it was so cool! For someone who considers herself a poor navigator, we did pretty well. We saw some notable Portuguese churches, the senate building, and some other cool stuff. It was weird seeing Christian cathedrals after so many Taoist/Buddist/Hindu temples. Here's some awesome pics of our walking tour highlights-

The big stone facade is the ruins of the cathedral of St. John. It was a monastery/cathedral which was turned into military barracks during the Japanese occupation. A fire broke out in the kitchen of the barracks, destroying everything save the front. The  facade tells "a sermon in stone", illustrating the life of Christ next to similiar Chinese religious stories for comparison. It's a bold synthesis of local tradition and colonial occupation that is quite moving. The sort of sculptor who chose to carve Jesus next to mermaids, monsters, and dragons is the kind I'd like to meet someday.

We also saw the Macau museum, which shed some light on the mix of cultures here. Macau's ports were active in the silk trading of the middle ages. Spices and fireworks were also exported from here. Macau seems like an accident of geography-a European city that was the West's gateway to China. In a way, it still is-the Western casinos draw millions of Chinese a year. It seems to belong a little bit to everyone, so in consequence it belongs to no one but itself: gaudy, quirky, lush, and quietly majestic Macau.

The last place we visited was the temple of A-ma, from which Macau derives it's name. Legend says that a poor girl, A-ma, needed passage on a ship but could not afford it. All the big trade ships refused her but a kindly fisherman took her aboard. Out on the sea, a huge storm blew up and sunk every ship in the harbor save the small, rickety fishing junk. When the fisherman returned, amazed, to port, A-ma thanked him, ran up the hill by the sea, and ascended on a cloud into heaven. Not for me to ponder the symbolism of the fable (did A-ma cause the storm to punish the rich traders?), we ventured eagerly out to the end of the island to see the temple. The name comes from when the Portuguese landed in the bay and asked the locals the name of the place. They said "A-ma Gao", which means bay of A-ma. From A-ma Gao came Macau! The temple was huge, set up on a hill, and very, very cool. It had the whiff of the eternal about it, or perhaps that was just the incense. There are so many things I see here in Asia that just feel like they pre-date time itself: so utterly foreign but ancient and majestic, primeval and almost magical. This was certainly one of those things.

Finally, Jocelyn, Priya, and Maleeka did the BUNGEE JUMP! The one in Macau is the tallest in the world, 233 meters. I watched and cheered but stayed the hell on the ground. I skydived once and I feel like I've done my share of tempting fate. Don't want to push my luck. Plus, I knew my parents would flip and I didn't want them to worry about me :) All three girls had an AMAZING time and were totally exhilarated by the whole experience. They could not stop talking about it, which I did not begrudge them. I felt a bit left out, but I was also glad that I made a decision and stuck to it, in spite of peer pressure. Priya jokes out about "fomo", fear of missing out, that motivates her to do things. I don't really have that feeling, and I can't decide if that's good or bad. Oh well. Here's a picture of the 61 story building my friends jumped off of.

We caught the night ferry and made our way to HONG KONG! But that, my dear readers, is a story for another time! Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of this thrilling tale, and until then, Singapore Sue signing off, sayng Sionara Suckers! Love you all.

Monkeying Around on Pulau Ubin

Hello Everyone!

I know, two consecutive days, two posts? My productivity amazes even me :) So, a short update on the boring stuff, then the gripping tale of Pulau Ubin, isle of mysteries!

1. I had to get my visa to go to Vietnam today. It cost SGD$160. Boo, is what I have to say to that. Virtually every other SE Asian country has a visa-on-arrival program, where, upon arriving, you present your passport, pay $20 or so, and they hand you a visa. Not Vietnam. It has to be done in advance, at the embassy, and it's $160. One gets the sense that Vietnam could do fine without American tourists thankyouverymuch. It makes me even more determined to go there, be American, and behave myself. When I was a teenager and I went abroad, I always said I was Canadian and did everything I could to conceal my American-ness. Now, I understand how important it is to tell people who you really are, and then be a good example. Yes, they will roll their eyes at you at first. Be bold. Prove them wrong with your good manners and appreciation of their culture. It will be worth it. You might even get a "high five, Miss US Lady. Obama!"

2. I am still making Chinese New Year plans. It is a huge deal here, lasting about two weeks. The first two days are a national holiday, with banks/schools/etc closed, so I have two days off of school. Predictably, all flights have shot up astronomically, which is super lame. Undaunted, Lisa and I are considering a bus tour of neighboring Malaysia. Or not. Hard to say. (this, along with so it goes and for now, is another of my new favorite expressions.)

3. I am hard at work on a long-percolating creative writing project (I hesitate to call it a new novel because A. it sounds pretentious, and B. that would imply I have more than two pages, which I don't) and I have crafted an essential part of it-the epic moodwriting playlist. No big deal...

4. TOM IS COMING TO VISIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He booked his ticket today. I just can't keep it together I'm so excited. I feel so lucky and grateful and happy. I have missed him SO MUCH and I can't WAIT til he gets here March 4! Hooray!!!! Wahoo!!! Yeehaw!!!

So, Pulau Ubin is a small island (Pulau is the Malay word for island) off the coast of Singapore that beongs to Singapore. It's interesting because it is what Singapore looked like before it was developed/gentrified. People have very mixed feelings about Singapore's development, I think because it is so fresh to them. Whereas we'd have to go back to the Industrial Revolution to find virgin American forests, people are still alive here who remember life as it used to be (the development started in earnest during the 1960s). One the one hand, there has been a spike in prosperity to match the towering skyscrapers, but on the other hand, native customs and the old way of life (and arguably Singapore's Eastern identity) has been lost. Not so in Ubin. Because it is so small, there has not been any development over there. About 100 villagers live in the kampong, or rural neighborhood. They fish and rent bikes to tourists mostly. There's not a ton of electricity and water is pumped from wells. It's very, very cool.

Another awesome thing is that many species of wildlife that were once abundant on the mainland have been relegated exclusively to Ubin. Rare birds, monkeys, lizards, and other creatures abound. It was the promise of said creatures, as well as a desire to use our rollerblades, that drew Lisa and I out to the island. It's about a ten minute boat ride. Not a fancy ferry boat, mind you, a good old-fashioned bumboat.

I could tell this was going to be a great day. 

Once we got there, we had to ask approximately five hundred people for a map. They had them at the bicycle stand, but since we were not renting bicycles (see above re: rollerblades) the bike people were showing us no love. Finally, there was a national parks stand a little bit out of town, where Lisa managed to wrangle a map out of someone napping in his office. It was immediately clear that Ubin was not the mainland. Less English speaking, less solicitousness, less flush toilets...it was raw Singapore, and not for the first time since I got here did I wish I was a little bit braver.

All fears were allayed as soon as we got on the path. There were only about three roads on Ubin (and about as many cars), so we had a fairly easy go of it looking for the way to Chek Jawa, the wetlands preserve. Dork that I am, I giggled when I read "jawa". I was like, but they live in the desert! No way will you find them in the wetlands, the sandcrawler's treads would so not make it...luckily I did not share this with Lisa. I had not been on rollerblades in several years (I bought them secondhand the day before for $15) and I was a bit worried about how it would go. I was fine! I think my time skiing has improved my balance, and I was off like a shot.

Rollerblades are very cool because you're still close to the land. We were not making a lot of noise, so we could see wildlife that other, louder tourists missed. For example, MONKEYS! We saw monkeys right in front of us. There were 5-6 of them, just walking across the path, playing with each other, and hopping into the trees. We felt like we'd been transported to some mystical jungle, which I guess in essence we had been.

 Our day became a blur as we saw more animals, plants, birds, and lizards. There's a five story observation deck which overlooks the marshland. It's really quite breathtaking. I refuse to even post a picture because it just plain cannot do it justice. But it was gorgeous. We could see the mainland, airplanes, trees, wetland, birds...there were these two white birds, maybe cranes, that were chasing each other across the marsh. At intervals, the light would catch their wings just right and you could see both the birds and their white reflections on the glassy sea. It was stunning.

After the monkeys, all creature sightings were a bit of a letdown, but we did see the rare bird, the pied oriental hornbill. It is a very weird looking bird. It's on the brochure as "if you're lucky you'll see it" so Lisa and I felt quite fortunate after the monkeys to see the bird, too.

Finally, on our way out I spied a KOMODO DRAGON! It was hell to photograph, since it stays under the cover of the trees. With flash, it was all very dark. Without flash, it was too out of focus. I took about sixty pics and this is the best one. See if you can pick it out. At first, I thought it was a crocodile! It is certainly very reptillian, and it moves like a snake. Its skin was very smooth looking. Lisa said it looked like a dinosaur and I think she was right. It made me sad to think that some people keep these  primeval creatures as pets. They ought to be roaming the forests! Anyway, monkeys felt less exotic for some reason than the komodo dragon. Seeing it was like peeking back in time. (it was so long-I couldn't get the whole thing in the frame!)

 We reached the dock, exhausted from all our hiking and rollerblading (there are parts where you can only walk), and were privileged to witness the beautiful sunset. We came home, had a hearty dinner, and slept way later than we should on sunday morning :) All in all, one of the cooler things I've done since I've been here. How does each experience keep getting better?

Until next time, this is Singapore Sue saying, Sionara, suckers!

Babe in Toyland

Hello All,

I know you're all chomping at the bit to hear about Pulau Ubin, this amazing island I visited this weekend, but I'm going to do things in reverse order. So, here is today (and tomorrow you get yesterday. Get it?)

I had an unexpected free day when my professor called in sick. Hooray! Well, not hooray for Prof. Soosay. I like him. Hopefully he was not really sick and was out enjoying the sunshine. But regardless of why there was no class, I had a day with nothing but limitless potential (and a need to get out of the apartment. We can only run the air-con for a few hours a day, and it was getting a bit stifling in there...)

I chose, at random, the Mint Toy Museum. Mint, as my fellow geeks know, often means new, in the box condition. However, in this case, Mint stood for Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys. Which I thought was totally cool. I have decided that the way their museum is set up is one of the better ways to do it. It's pretty small, but it's stretched over five storys so it doesn't seem that tiny. You can totally do the whole thing justice in 2hrs though, which is nice. The lighting is dim (think mood lighting) and the music is very chill (think smooth Cole Porter). I loved it. I had an unexpectedly emotional time (I know, everyone is suprised) but it was really neat in several ways.

#1. I learned stuff. The word robot, for example, was coined by a Czech playwright in 1924, from the Czech word "robota", which means "forced labor". It wasn't until the 1956 film "Forbidden Planet" that robots became mainstream. So, those are two facts that I did not know! There were tons of robot toys, space toys, etc., which was totally cool. Did you know most tin toys of the 1930s-1960s were made out of recycled tin cans?

#2. I felt very happy seeing so many childhood favorites: Strawberry Shortcake, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse and the Disney gang, and Snoopy. The things we hand to our children determine how they view the world, and that sets up their whole lives. Playing seems like such a simple act, but it is so incredibly vital to a well-founded life. It struck me that being a parent must be really, really hard: hoping for the best and desperately trying to instill values in your kid, all the while letting them become who they are. I was intensely grateful for my parents, who have given me every opportunity imaginable without letting me become lazy or snobby. They played hours and hours of games with me as a kid, and I still feel like a kid inside because of it. A child's sense of wonder is a beautiful thing, and I have Mom and Dad to thank for that. So, that was lovely.

#3. We have to be careful what we give our children.

Yes, those little toys are black dolls, and the sign does say "nigger boys".  I gasped out loud when I saw that. And those are Western soldiers getting stepped on (and punched out) by Chinese soldiers. When I was a kid, Mom had a sign in our playroom with a toy gun and knife on it that said "is it any wonder prsions are full?" I know now that it was Reagan-era propaganda (prisons are full because you passed three-strikes laws and upped the sentences for drug crimes!) but it always struck me as an important message-you are how you play. And we don't always play very nice. I second my own comment about how being a parent must be really hard. Although I am pretty sure I would never give my (eventual) kids "little nigger boys" dolls.

#3. I was so happy about the inspiring stories in the museum. There was a house of refuge in the early 1900s, for example, where former child prostitutes could make dolls in order to become self-sufficient. These dolls were on display, as well as the dolls made in a factory owned by a man who only employed refugees, and paid them fair, living wages so they could care for their families. It struck me, not for the first time, that everyone has the capacity to be a hero. You don't have to be a politician or a missionary (or even a public defender) to make a difference. All you have to be is a human being who feels like your fellow men deserve to be treated fairly. It's even easier than that-you just have to do something you love. Walt Disney may have been a philanthropist (I'm the wrong Sook to ask about Walt) but he brought joy into the hearts of millions with his little mouse. He put love into his work, and it filled the world with that love. I know this sounds unbelievably mushy, but I know also that it is true. We can all be heroes. And that was so worth the $7.50 to get into the museum.

Next, I went to Raffles Hotel, the standard-bearer of the halcyon days-gone-by of the East India Trading Company era. The guards here dress like Punjab from "Annie". In a non-ironic way. Yes, here colonialism is alive and well. Many famous authors, Rudyard Kipling among them, loved this place, particularly the Long Bar, where the Singapore Sling was invented. Man, they are good. I will have to have one here in Singapore, to date I have only partaken at my fabulous going-away party. I felt like I was at a Disney resort, except this is totally real. It was wicked weird, but also very pretty. I strolled the grounds and spent a leisurely hour reading on the verandah. I have to hand it to the colonials, they knew how to furnish a verandah. I hope when Mom and Dad are here I get to sample the sumptuous cuisine I spied through the window. Today, I was just a peasant at the doors though, and I rather feared at any moment someone would kick me out for not being white enough. After being among the locals for so long, it was a shock to see so many white people. I found that I resented them a little for being here, for coming all the way to Singapore and basking in the glow of their whiteness. I hoped that they got away from the CBD and at least saw a bit of the real Singapore. How did I get assimilated so quickly? I guess I really do love this place.

Just as I was feeling all topsy-turvy inside (byproduct of too much emotion and not enough sleep, I wager) I heard Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" in the food center. My  dear friend Dauren has a theory that I am protected by John Lennon's ghost (it's a long story) but at moments like this I can almost believe it. Just when I needed a little dose of everything I love about home, there is my Texas belle Kelly reminding me that when I am alone, I can do what I want. It was pretty magical. Perhaps the most magical thing that's ever happened at that food center. :)

Last stop of the day, JUDO! I signed up for a judo class with the sum of my judo knowledge coming from Austin Powers. I arrived nervous. I was the only ang mo there, and one of two girls. Gulp. More nervous. Once we started though, I felt awesome. My very kind instructor J.D. explained that judo is a martial art, so it's not about brute strength. It's about balance, flexibility, and body control. Long used to the humiliation of laps in gym class and the feeling that I am shit at anything "sports" related, this was a revelation to me-a sport that did not involve sprinting or pumping iron! Body control and flexibility-I did those things in yoga and dance! Could there possibly be something out there that was considered a sport that I was good at? It turns out-yes! J.D. said I had a "great stance" and encouraged me to stay with the class (I was in a trial period). I was getting stuff right the first time and doing really well. Let me tell you, that felt amazing. Like really amazing. Coming home on the bus after 2.5 hours of practice (outside, no less) I was sweaty as all hell and tomorrow I will probably feel like I was hit by a train, but I felt...good. Empowered. Strong. Beautiful. My body was not something to be lamented, it was to be celebrated. I don't know why it took me so long to find martial arts, but I frickin love it and I will definitely keep it up at home. Yay!

Well, it's late, Lisa is snoring, and I should probably go to sleep. Tomorrow I promise I will post the Ubin pictures (you know you want to see the monkeys). But I wish you all well and want you to know that I love you. Until next time, Sionara, suckers!

Puts the Super in Supermarket!

Hello, dear readers!

Well, I did not go to Malaysia this weekend, as I thought about, so sorry about that. It's probably really good that I am doing this blog, because I feel this pressure to do cool things in order to have something to blog about. Because "sat in my room watching Moulin Rouge on my laptop...again" is not a good blogpost (although full disclosure-tonight I did just that. Is there a sexier date on a Friday night than a singing Ewan MacGregor? I submit not.)

Big news-I am going to Hong Kong next weekend! Yay! My friend Priya wanted to go, and I just joined on to her trip. It's interesting being here alone (as in, no one from Georgetown here besides me) because every group is going on one or two trips this semester. Since I do not have a "home" group, per se, I just go on everyone's trips! It is pretty cool. I just talked to my best buddy Tally, and she made me think about how lucky I am to be here. It's true-I feel like I won the lottery. I wish that every last-semester 3L had an opportunity like this. I have been making the most of it, so I feel proud of me for doing that, but it's hard not to make the most of it when everything is so incredible. So, to Georgetown Law, my parents, and everyone who made it possible for me to come on this trip-thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It's everything I hoped it would be and more.

Yesterday and today I was in Little India. A bit of Singapore history here-there are four main ethnic groups here, Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Caucasian. When Sir Raffles (the founder of modern-day Singapore) arrived in the 1800s, he segregated the different peoples into different quadrants of the city. This used to be the subject of considerable fuss, because it looks an awful lot like segregation, but nowadays it's less wealth-based and more like people have little enclaves where they can be proud of their heritage and traditions. "Racial harmony" is a big deal here, and I have to say the brochures are actually accurate. Everyone is so proud to be Chinese or Malay or Indian, but more than that, everyone is proud to be Singaporean. There's a lot of trouble in a lot of Southeast Asian countries, and Singaporeans count themselves lucky to be safe and prosperous. It's very cool.

So, Little India is the Indian area (I bet you never would have guessed that, huh?). It was blistering hot as I set off there today. The good news is that the rainy season seems to be over. The bad news is that it is ridiculously hot. I've been drinking a lot of Slurpees lately, because they're only a dollar and 7-11s are everywhere. Seriously they're on every block! They're sort of a hub of modern commerce-you can pay bills, charge your phones, get a bus pass, all at 7-11. There are elaborate directions on how to fill your slurpee cups, and I'm thinking, "listen, I'm not sure if you noticed but I am American. I come from the land of the free, home of the brave and Slurpees are my birthright. I do not need fancy directions, thankyouverymuch!" It makes me chuckle when I see them.

The first thing you see when you get off the MRT is the Sultan Mosque. It is very, very big and impressive. Right when I arrived, the call to prayer was starting. It gets broadcasted on very large speakers. It was very cool to hear the chanting, rhythmic and otherworldly to my ears. It's very soothing and beautiful. As I walked past the mosque, I passed a cafe where Frank Sinatra was crooning out of their speakers. What a wild, wonderful, weird place this is!

As I ambled around the area, I realized that, unlike Chinatown, there is not a ton to see here. I am used to attacking cities with checklists, armed to seek out, photograph, and move on, but in Little India that is not really the point. What you're supposed to do in Little India is just be-see and smell and hear.

My first experience with Little India was actually yesterday. It was the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, which is the birthday of the god Murugan, or commemorating something else (there's a bit of miscommunication somewhere-people I spoke to are split over what the festival is for.) What the festival is for is not nearly as interesting as what people do during the festival. Men make giant kavadis, which look like a cross between metal birdcages and something out of Julie Taymor's Lion King. They are covered in peacock feathers and supported, get this, by metal spokes, which are inserted into the skin of the man carrying them. It's this self-mutilation ritual that the men do (carrying the kavadi) to dedicate themselves to a god. For instance, if a man's son was sick, a man could pray for healing by dedicating the carrying of a kavadi to the healing god. I realize that my explanation sounds a bit weird, and that's because I am woefully uneducated about Hindu religion. I asked a ton of questions, though, so I am learning. It is just so neat to see the men lined up carrying these huge things. They do a kind of dance as they walk, and although they must be in a lot of pain, the mood is very festive. It was something that I could have NEVER seen at home, and I felt lucky that I got to witness it. It was really different, and therefore thrilling.

Afterwards, I had Indian food with my new friends, which was cool. I had only had Indian food twice, and it had gone very badly for me in the past. Since these gals were Indian, though, they could tell me what to try and what to avoid. I actually enjoyed it! I had masala tea, which tasted like pumpkin pie in a cup and was delicious. I made sure to get some tea bags today at the grocery store.

Speaking of which-the grocery store in Little India, Mustafa Center, is...there are no words. It's a 24-hour grocery store/department store. It's multi-story and ridiculous. Like really, really ridiculous. There are so many people and just about anything you could ever want. Remember that old tv gameshow, supermarket sweep? I felt like I was on supermarket sweep in Hell. There were twelve aisles of cookies! I felt like the things I needed were nowhere near each other, and the store was not logically arranged at all, and it was just incredibly frustrating. At Cold Storage, where I usually shop, if I can't find something, I just assume that they don't have it. Here, I KNEW they had to have it (because they had EVERYTHING from EVERY country!), it was just not where I thought it would be. I ended up spending way too long in there. It was very dangerous. Plus, although they had Dr. Pepper, they did not have Diet Dr. Pepper. When I spied the Dr. Pepper across the store, my heart started beating faster, like it does in anticipation of a kiss. It was a visceral reaction to the possibility of D.D.P., and I was more than a little bit embarrassed (although not too embarrassed to keep it out of my blog, of course).

I did break down and get a toaster. Lisa had been talking about wanting one, and I discovered that I really wanted one, too. Tom and I ate a lot of toast (when I mentioned this to him, he said he didn't think we had a lot of toast, but I didn't really have it before we started dating) and I associate it with peace. Like, a nice piece of toast with butter and a cup of tea after a long day...yummmmm. I just tested it out, and boy, it was worth every cent of the $12 I paid for it! No matter how much I love Singapore, sometimes there's just no substitute for the sweet creature comforts of home.

That's it for me, everyone. Until next time, sionara, suckers! Love you all!

Bloomin' Good Times!

Hello All!

Very tired today, but I wanted to check in with my loyal readers, who were no doubt foaming at the mouth for an update (although I suspect many of you did not read my last post, as nobody commented. Must have gotten lost in the MLK holiday shuffle, which I totally forgot, as it's not celebrated here obviously.)

First thing's first, I had a very interesting conversation with Lisa the other night. We were on the train discussing movies (her boyfriend is a documentary director, mine was a film major). She mentioned Quentin Tarantino, and I started yammering on about "Inglorious Basterds", realizing about a minute into my monolouge that OH MY GOD I WAS TALKING ABOUT NAZIS TO A GERMAN COULD THIS BE ANY MORE AWKWARD? It's not that I suspected Lisa was a Nazi sympathizer or anything, but still, the Holocaust is a rather touchy subject...desperate to salvage the situation, I took a deep breath and asked, "How is WWII addressed in schools in Germany?" Then I shut my big fat mouth and listened. Lisa said that when she was a girl, WWII was discussed ad nauseum as the most terrible thing that ever happened and that she was told that they could never stop discussing it so people never forgot it. She added, as an aside, that many dictators had killed many people, like in Somalia and the Sudan, and that she wasn't sure why that wasn't mentioned before. She did not mention, either out of tact or ignorance, the Japanese internment camps the US was running during the same war (although admittedly we were not gassing Japanese, but it was still a ghastly thing to do). The conversation moved on, but I just thought that it was an interesting cultural experience that I ought to share. It's funny, the things you learn about other countries on exchange, not things like population densities and all that, but more like which American curse words translate to Danish and so on.

I've been really busy with school, but I feel like I'm settled in fully. To be quite honest, after the rigors of G'town, classes are a breeze. One class has a final paper...of 3-5 pages! I had to bite back a laugh. My four classes have a total page count of roughly what my one class had last semester in terms of final papers. That's not to say that they're not interesting classes, in fact they're all quite interesting, it's just that I am not particularly worried about doing well in them. Either G'town is needlessly complicating things, Singapore is not complicating things quite enough, or some hybrid of the two options. Perhaps also there's something to be said about being plucked from one's environment and having the slate wiped clean. Nobody here has ever seen my resume, and that's liberating. We all get to be who we want to be for four months. I find what I want to be is a serious student, something that I had been for years until G'town whipped the pride out of me. I feel like I'm getting my groove back, if you will.

Today I went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. They're free and a five-minute walk from campus, so today was to be the first of many visits. Let me tell you, they advertise this place as "the gardens of eternal summer" and it lived up to its reputation! It's just glorious. There are so many plants and flowers (duh) and it's just a merciless onslaught of verdant beauty. There's an "evolution garden", where as you walk through it, you chart the progression of plants since the beginning of time. It's very quiet there (not the big ticket attraction) and I felt very alive as I walked beneath the towering pines. The leaves that crackled under my feet sounded tremendously loud and the alien bugs buzzed like buzzsaws. Along the way, signs mark what was alive when. As soon as you cross into the threshold of the time of the dinosaurs, you can sense it. The air becomes thick with the fecundity of the soil, and you can almost hear the rumble of colossal footsteps in the distance. I can't explain it, but the eras felt different. I felt very at-one-with-the-universe, something that hasn't happened in several years. It was quite nice. I will definitely be taking any visitors to Singapore to the garden.

And then there's the orchids. The blockbuster attraction of the gardens, they charge S$5 to go see them. Students get in for S$1, which I think is lovely. There is an embarrasment of riches in the orchard garden. You're literally tripping over them. My camera battery died when I had just arrived, and I STILL photographed more orchids than I'd seen combined in my lifetime. There were dark and mysterious ones, white pure ones, ones bigger than my whole hand, ones smaller than my thumbnail, in every color and shape. I can't even begin to describe them all and you wouldn't believe me if I told you. It was ridiculously gorgeous. I laughed out of pure joy. I will stop blubbering and just post pictures. 'Tis but a meager sample but still, they're stunning. Any mediocrity is due to my camera work. I'm coming to understand every day that my camera skills cannot do Asia justice. I think I like it that way. Although I love sharing things with you, dear readers, a part of these adventures are mine alone, locked in a secret cavern of my heart to marvel at on rainy days.

(the dark purple ones are Andrea Bocelli orchids, Mom and Dad! Singapore named them after him after he did a concert here in 2008.)

Well, I need to shower and do homework. Until I do something cool (probably friday), stay tuned and Sionara, suckers!

In-DO-nesia! (as opposed to In-DON'T-nesia...)

Hello All!


I hardly know where to start! This weekend, my roommate and I (along with a bunch of others from NUS) went to Bintan, Indonesia. It's an island that's 4x the size of Singapore, part of the Riau Archipelago. They speak Indonesian there. That's about all I know as far as statistics. However, that does not even begin to tell the real story...it was just amazing. I wanted adventure, and I got it! Indonesia was everything I've ever dreamed and more. I did not want to leave there, ever! The only thing that would make it better is if I had my loved ones there with me.


Speaking of loved ones, I am so lucky to have Lisa as my roommate! She is very funny, sweet, brave and also tremendously self-aware. She knows who she is and what she wants and she doesn't care what anyone else thinks. She always makes sure to take care of everyone else, but she's not mothering or hovering. Of all the people at NUS, I am glad we got put together. We spend a ton of time together but we never get bored of each other. I'm starting to know her beyond the superficial and it's going really well. She's no Trystan, of course, but she'll do just fine for the next few months. Watching other people on the trip be hell-bent on NOT experiencing the local culture, making a fuss and generally annoying everyone, I was so happy to have a mature, intelligent, and culturally-conscious roommate. Okay, lovefest over. But I was just grateful at so many points over the weekend to have her around.

Anyway, Indonesia! We took the ferry over from Singapore at 9am, which means being at the terminal at 745 which was VERY EARLY! To go to Indonesia, you need exit visas from Singapore, entry visas to Indonesia, boarding passes, etc. etc. It was all a bit overwhelming for so early but luckily Leong (our fearless leader) made sure that things went relatively smoothly. He's a Singaporean NUS student who plans trips like this for the exchange kids, which I think is very sweet. I wonder if Georgetown has such a program?


As soon as I got on the ferry, I felt immediately good. As many of you know, I consider myself to be part mermaid (and descended from Irish pirates), so being near the water makes me feel...whole somehow. There's nothing quite like the feeling of being on the water, sailing towards the horizon with no land in sight in any direction. It's hard to explain but very real. I knew that we were going to have an awesome time. I knew a few people on the trip but not a lot, so I was looking forward to making new friends.


It took about an hour to get to Bintan. As soon as we arrived, it was apparent that this was like nothing that I'd ever seen before. The contrast with Singapore was immediate: no English signs, trash everywhere, etc. Singapore looks like a theme park version of Asia; Bintan was Asia. We walked down the narrow, crowded street past motorcycles, people hawking various wares and some goats to a small, open air restaurant. Once we sat down, foot was brought to us with no explanation, rhyme or reason. Mismatched china plates were hastily distributed, as well as assorted silverware. Bottled water was offered and accepted. Never in my life have I not drunk the local water, but it seemed like a good idea here. We ate foods that we did not know the names of, nor did we ask. The spices were new on my tongue. Despite having no clue what I was eating, I found (most of) it delicious. I don't want to make Indonesia sound sketchy, it's totally not, it's just...foreign. Exotic. Different. Really, really different than anywhere I'd ever been before.


After lunch we were all herded into taxis, where we were thrust headfirst into the heart of the city. Driving here is an aggressive contact sport. Taxis compete with bicycles, pedestrians, and the ubiqutous motorcycles for domination of the road.  I could write an entire post about  the motorcycles alone. I saw women in burquas on motorcycles, ten year olds driving motorcycles, people carrying windowblinds on motorcycles, entire families on motorcycles...it's as if no one told Indonesia about cars. I saw a family of four on on a single motorcycle: child, Dad (who was driving), child #2, and mother on the back. It's really remarkable. Many times as we careened through the city center, I was sure bikers were about to perish, but there were no accidents (that I saw). It was totally wild. We flew past mosques, cemeteries, homes, shops, and farms at breakneck pace. I took pictures, of course, but they cannot do justice to the kalidescope of color and texture that is Indonesia. I will post a bunch of them at the end of the blogpost, but I will put the full album on facebook. There's just too much to see!

Gradually the hustle and bustle of the city faded away and we found ourselves in the country. Like really, really far out. We pulled into our "no frills hostel", aka The Shady Shack. Yes, it's really called the Shady Shack. We had honest-to-God shacks on the beach. No electricity, no plumbing, no sheets or towels, just mattresses and mosquito nets. Here is a picture:

There were not enough beds for everyone, so Lisa and I got moved to another hostel down the road. It was nicer than the shady shack, but without the view. I didn't want to leave all our friends at the shady shack, until I saw this:

 As you might imagine, I ran my ass off as far away from the Shady Shack as humanly possible. I mean, come on, is that thing for real? All the boys were laughing at me but DO YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT THING?


After that close encounter, I had to hit the beach. And, it was glorious. The South China Sea is balmy, even in January. There is lots of seaweed, lots and lots. The wind buffets it about on the beach, making it look like it's alive and crawling. It's a bit alarming at first but you get used to it. There are some seashells but not a lot. Apparently it's a crime to take a seashell from Indonesia to another country, so maybe they have been a victim of over-shelling (like overfishing?). Lisa and I went into the water near our hostel, a bit away from everyone, and swam in the sea. We were both giggling, exhilarated by the sun, sand, and waves. I thought, this is exactly what I wanted. It was so ridiculously perfect, so far away from everything I knew and cared about. My troubles were (literally) miles away and I could not have been happier. Lisa remarked that it was nice to know that the pictures from postcards actually existed somewhere and I agreed. There we were, two young women totally in the moment, rapt in the bewitching splendor of the South China sea.

Later that afternoon I was sitting on our verandah. The sun was setting over the island, roosters scuttled in the grass of the courtyard, and somewhere in the distance a child was laughing. As I inhaled the fragrant perfume of the flowers that surrounded my hut, I felt utterly at peace. I knew in that moment that somehow, everything was going to work out. I would make spring break plans. More importantly, I was going to find a job when I got back to the US. Tom and I were going to fill our days with love and laughter and I was going to grow to enjoy Boston. We would make tons of friends and I would be okay. That's what I felt in that moment: I would be okay. Whatever came next, there was no need to worry and obsess, because I was in God's hands and He surely loved me if He brought me to this paradise. He would see me through. I felt like Aquinas in the orchard, and it was really, amazingly, comforting. Back in my apartment now, the peace may prove to be fleeting, but I will try to hang onto it for as long as I can.

That night we had an Indonesian barbecue! All 35 of us crowded around a long table and passed around chicken, rice, beef satay, and other unidentified (but delicious) dishes. We had brought an undisclosed amount of alcohol with us from Singapore, and that was flowing pretty freely. As the hot night wore on, I found myself chatting up people I'd never met before, laughing and conversating with ease. It wasn't the alcohol (I never have more than one drink in an unfamiliar situation), it was perhaps just the magic of the island. I saw myself from the outside, amazed at the facility with which I entertained my new friends. We joked, shared, and danced in the moonlight. I ended up on my back in the sand, shocked to find Orion's belt above me. Sure, it was in a different position, but it was unmistakably there, same as at home. How could we be under the same sky, the world I knew and this brave new one?


During the party, I found myself explaining being a defense lawyer to a bunch of Canadians. I was impassioned and loud, and apparently very funny, also. I'm not sure when I became this person who loves this job so much, but it has happened. I am so excited to finally find a job that I feel like defending (pardon the pun) at a party. I was horrified this morning that I might have been a bit boorish, but Lisa assured me that everyone was interested and it was fine.


"Don't Stop Believin" was played at some point, and everyone, I mean everyone, got up and danced. We are all different ages from different countries with every life story imaginable, and we all danced our pants off (not really). I was beyond gratified to learn that it is a truly universal song :) That's what the whole night was about-belonging and communion in a new place, celebrating our differences and appreciating what was the same in all of us.


Giddy with the promise of new friends and limitless possibilities, I swam naked in the sea. The experience was indescribable (and unlike Stephenie Meyer, I won't use the word undescribable and attempt to describe it for three paragraphs) and lovely. Highly recommended. That is all.


The next morning, we all reluctantly packed up our things and bid Bintan adieu. Our cabdriver asked us where we were from. I was the only American in our group, and he gave me a high five, grinning ear to ear and saying "Yes, Miss US Lady. Obama!" It was a delightful, wonderful moment. Who could have predicted America could make me cool?


Our ferry back was choppy as all hell and I was glad my sweetheart was not aboard. Astoundingly, no one got sick. It was odd-the sea, which I had swum in that very morning, was a totally different creature now. It made me appreciate how hard it must be to be a sailor, how attuned to the water you have to become. It reminded me of the passage in "the Old Man and the Sea" about loving the sea and calling it different things based on your feelings about it. At least I hope it was "Old Man and the Sea". It left a strong impression on me, I'm just not entirely sure where it was from. I'm getting old, you see.


Returning to Singapore reminded me of the night I landed here two weeks ago. God, it seems like years. Can it really be such a short time I've been here? It is so far past hard to believe that I can't even see there from here. Once back, I appreciated the well-marked signs, the order, the cleanliness, and the calm. Singapore may be Asia Light but it's really, really nice. Going into Indonesia, I was jealous of the "real" Asia and resentful that Singapore was so Westernized. Upon my return, I was gratified by it. A lot can change in twenty-four hours.


I am beyond bone-tired. I have sand in places I can't name and I have a very busy day tomorrow. I will close with a series of photos, totally random. Again, the whole album will be on facebook shortly. Until next time, this is Singapore Sue, saying sionara, suckers! Love you all.