Message in a Cookie

So..for those of you who know about my untimely, emergency trip back the US, this fortune made me scratch my head.  It was on my return to Singapore, during the grueling 2nd flight of my journey from Newark to Hong Kong that I sprung open my fortune (or as I like to call them, "mis-fortune") cookie.
Personally, I am not a fan of eating the cookies - but the messages often make me chuckle.

Here is the message from inside that cookie:  (I just rediscovered it in my wallet tonight)

RIP, mom...this one's for you.  December 27, 1944 - May 9, 2012

I love the smell of Napalm (Garlic) in the morning!

Yep - if you have seen "Apocalypse Now",  then you will chuckle at the title of this entry.

Here is my assessment of my morning commute:

• I think most folks are half asleep.
• The wild majority of those who are awake spend their time on their phones, iPads, tablets.
• And the train smells like garlic.  STINKY garlic!
• In the evening - not so much....but wow - some mornings are a bit rough!

I do NOT love the smell of garlic in the morning!  ; )

Cycling/Playing in Traffic!

On Saturday, May 27th, I had my first bike ride in Singapore.  Jereme had brought my Cervelo over on his last trip and I finally got to take the bike for a spin. 

Details, Details:

My ride started around 7:15am and I rode up to the Bukit Timah Nature Preserve.   I did not actually go into the Reserve because it is for hiking and mountain biking.   After over 11 weeks off the bike, I took a relaxed approach to my ride.  The intent was to get reacquainted with the bike and to also get a handle on the roads, road conditions, and how drivers would treat me.  

My overall assessment is that, yes, this is indeed city riding.  Most drivers gave way - there were only a couple who were tools.  The buses scared the daylights out of me a few times.  Especially the ultra long buses with the accordion for turning.  

The roads here are very confusing....the signs are sometimes misleading, and determining where to go can be a split second decision.  The roads are mostly one way, and that makes things interesting.  Also, the car's are right hand drive, so everything is backwards for me!  

The roads in several places were pretty bad...I was wondering if my wheel was going to taco on one occasion! 

The ride was nice, until I got within a couple km of my apartment and then I took a wrong turn.  Confusion abruptly set in when I decided to try to take a shortcut and a road that I thought would pop me out to where I needed to be took some unexpected curves.  I was riding through a nice neighborhood and even got a brief reprieve with a rare minor downhill!!

After a brief stop to consult my iPhone map application, I came up with a new route and was on my way!

All in all - the ride was a success.  I will be riding more.  This morning I was thwarted by rain and slick roads.  Looks like the gym will be my friend today and the bike will have to stay inside.

First Haircut!

So it is such a simple thing...but I had been putting this off.  After enduring a week of comments from Jereme when he was here that I "had 70's hair", it was obvious I needed to buck up and get a cut.  Waiting until I return to Denver was not going to work!
I got a list of recommendations from the concierge at my building and found a place near my work.

They were super nice - but there are some interesting differences....

• The cut starts before the wash!
• The wash started in the chair!  Interesting approach - never seen so many suds in my life, but I think my hair is cleaner than ever.  That was the nice aspect of the cut.

After working through panic a few times, I ended up with at least a cleaned up 'do..albeit a tad flat.  But, at least I still have hair, and hopefully with a little help from the hairdryer and some styling products, I will look more like myself!

Chili Crabs - At Last!!

So I have been here for almost 2 months and finally experienced the Singapore Chili Crab and Pepper Crab!
Jereme and I went to Jumbo Seafood on the east coast.  There are numerous Jumbo outlets in Singapore, but we decided to go on a Friday night and finding a reservation was nearly impossible.  After some serious help from Ravin at Scott's Square (thank you Ravin!) - we got a reservation ay 8:30pm.
We were told to arrive early and luckily were seated outdoors.  It was a nice evening in Singapore and was not hot.  I actually wore jeans for the first time since arriving!

We ordered up one Chili Crab and one Black Pepper Crab as well as a jug of Iced Lemon tea, 2 dumplings for Jereme and a small order of seafood fried rice.
The crabs take about 45 minutes to prepare.   The rice came out quickly so we dug in and enjoyed the cool breeze.  At last the crabs came out....the Pepper Crab came out first.  We were given bibs (like when you eat lobster in the US), and started to navigate our way through this delicious, messy dish!
The pepper was PEPPERY!  The chili crab was tangier and had a savory flavor.

After digging in, it became apparent that I was looking more like a 2 year old - with pepper sauce and chili sauce all over my hands.  A few times it ended up on wrist and in my watch band.  I made a mess!  Jereme did too - but I exclaimed at the end of dinner that I was "pig pen" from the Peanuts!
Luckily there was a wash bowl for our hands and a lot of wet wipes.  We got cleaned up and wandered a bit before getting a taxi to head back to the city.

I did have to soak my rings and watch in a warm soapy solution - and all was well again!

YUMMY!  Delicious Pepper Crab! 

Pepper Crab on the left - Chili Crab on the Right! 

DONE! 

OOPS - I made a mess.....

Kuala Lumpur - A Photo Journey (part 2)

Now that the Petronas towers have been shared, here are some more photos of KL!

We wandered the city and went to the Batu Caves.
According to Wikipedia:  "The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves
  

 Cool Fountain in front of Bukit Bintang (Starhill)

Batu Caves!

 Batu Caves - this is the smaller cave to the left of the Large one.  No access allowed here!

       Looking Back out from the gate!

 The Macaque Monkeys were everywhere!  They were in the cave and there was a man with a big stick scaring them away.  

The steep staircase - looking down with a short part left to go back down!

 Batu Caves!  From the Top - looking inside!

Inside the Batu Cave - looking back out!

Kuala Lumpur - A Photo Journey (Part 1)

In my previous post I wrote about how impressed we were with KL, and the incredible growth and opportunity.  Asia is booming!  Here are some pictures from our short adventure!

NOTE:  The Petronas Tower requires a ticket and there are a limited number of tickets issued per day.  We had the hotel pick up our tickets using a runner.  Apparently the line was very LONG.  The runner came back at 9:35am for a 10am tour and we had to hop in their car to try to speed along the winding roads over to the Petronas.  We squeaked in with a few minutes to spare!  The hefty service charge was worth NOT waiting in line.  Also, we had read that you ONLY got the sky bridge - but SURPRISE!  We actually were brought up to the 86th floor after spending 15 minutes on the sky bridge.  Overall, the tour was very well organized, and the staff was all very nice and friendly.

 A view of the Sky Bridge of the Petronas Towers connecting the 2 towers on the 41st floor!

 Looking D-O-W-N!  Very cool!

 Looking down - that park and playground are enormous!

  Darth Vader?  Is that you?

A cool view of the towers!

 Yes - this picture is real - it is NOT photo shopped!  

 Walking through the park you saw in a picture above - very cool stuff!

 A Food court/Hawker type food.  Yum!  Very busy!

 Looking back the other way!

 Petronas at Night!

Love the full moon!

 Fun with the iPhone!

More fun with the iPhone!

 Petronas with the Full moon.  The towers did not look real!

 Jereme at the towers!

The Mandarin right around the corner from the Petronas Towers...very cool water feature that "danced"......

Kuala Lumpur - An Overview

Jereme was here in S'pore for a week and we headed to Kuala Lumpur.
I was not sure what to expect and from what many folks in Singapore told me, I was thinking it was more like Venezuela in the late 90's.  I was told it was dangerous, and people would try to steal my bags and pickpockets were everywhere.   Kind of reminded me of what people are told about the US.  So - while I am sure those things do exist - we had no issues.  Everyone we came across was very nice and we were never hassled.

Instead, we found a city that is is growing like mad.  There is a hunger for knowledge, a hunger for "stuff" and just general energy and buzz that the US population does not carry.


RANT START.  Jereme and I both came to the conclusion that the US is quickly falling to "2nd World" status.  The complacency, satisfaction with the "status quo" and belief that we do not need to change our ways is undoing the US.  If anyone needs a shining example - just look at the US educational system - a system which USED to be #1 in the works has fallen to about 22 or so globally...depending on the source!
Why??  Because we use techniques that may have worked over 50 years ago - but technology and society have changed!  People in the US are not driven to succeed - but why bother when entitlements are king, the wealthy and successful are penalized and there is NO INCENTIVE to be great in the US!!!  Instead, we want everyone to be taken care of from cradle to grave, we want to penalize the wealthy for being, well, wealthy and ensure that anyone who does not feel that they should have to work hard get anything and everything they want.  RANT OVER.

Back to what we saw in Malaysia!  Again - this is a country that was not even on the radar in terms of busiest airports 10 years ago.  Now, Kuala Lumpur is the 14th busiest airport for international passenger traffic!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic

When we were in KL we went to the Petronas towers and this pictures sums up the country in a great way:

Overall, KL is a neat place and we would like to go and explore areas of Malaysia.  The roads of KL are windy and confusing - having a good map and GPS are a must!  We managed to find our way around very easily by train, taxi, foot and monorail!

We flew Air Asia from Singapore to KL - they were super efficient and it was a lot like Southwest or Frontier Airlines in the US.  No frills - but the seats are bigger and more comfortable than the dang United Airlines seats from Tokyo to Singapore.  The airport is about an hour drive outside of the city.

From the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) in KL we took a bus for about 20 minutes to a train station.  Waited about 10 minutes for the train - rode that for aver 30 minutes until we arrived at KL Sentral.  From there we took a taxi to the hotel (about 25 minutes).   The bus and train was really clean and comfy.  The taxi is prepaid for at a kiosk so there is no worry about being over billed.  The currency is the Ringgit.

It poured on Tuesday afternoon upon our arrival at KL Sentral.
It poured again on Wednesday afternoon - so much so, there was localized flooding!
Thursday - we were greeted by a completely sunny day and evening.

The food was good  - less expensive than in Singapore - the hawker centers were about half the cost of Singapore (3.50 USD vs. 7USD) for a meal.

Exciting Cars!

When Jereme was here for my first week he was sending taunting "car of the day" emails to folks back in the US.  Here are some highlights!

This was the McLaren.  I have not seen it since that day we snapped the photo.

Ferrarri - how many Ferrarri's have we seen?  I am not sure....more than I ever saw in the US or any other country combined!

Observations and Insights

Now that I have spent almost 2 months in S'pore, and have been meeting folks and earning more about the culture I have observed the following:

The National sport/pastime is:  

• Shopping/Eating Out or Eating Out/Shopping.

I am not sure of the proper order and am convinced it depends on the time of day/person/and current priority the individual is focused on!

The Culture:

• As I have been told by many locals, when you make money, you must spend it!  
• Most people do not cook at home.  Ingredients are expensive and with the sheer number of places to eat, it  just is easier and can be less expensive than cooking!
• Status is Key.  
• The more expensive the brand, the better.

• There are more Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Bentleys, Rolls Royce's, Mercedes, BMW's, Aston Martin's, Porcshe's, ETC than I have ever seen in one place.  We even saw a McLaren (for non car enthusiasts, this is a very rare car!).  UPDATE:  There are 3 McLaren's in Singapore.
• Add on the fact that the you need a COE (Certificate of Entitlement) that costs SGD$90,000 for a big engine (SGD$60,000 for a smaller car) just to be able to buy a car; plus really, really high taxes and you get prices that would make an American quiver.  

• If US residents/citizens had to pay for a COE and had the tax burden that Singaporeans carry, the number of vehicles on the road would be minimal.  No one would be able to afford to buy a car.
• There is a decent public transportation system.  
• I can walk, take a bus or subway to get to most places I need or want to go to.  
• It is very cost effective.  In spite of a lot of bad press regarding breakdowns, I wonder if the breakdowns suffered are any worse than some of the delays that I experienced in Denver and the occasional disruptions in NYC, Chicago, etc.  
• While the aircon works most days in the subway, there have been a few times when I felt like I was stuck in an EZ Bake oven with hot air blasting instead of cooler air!
• The escalators to the metros break - especially the ones leading outdoors to street level!  I think for every 7 days of operation, the ones at Orchard and Scott break about 2 days out of the 7!  This is not surprising since it is bloody hot here!
• I don't think a "good hair day" is possible here with the heat and humidity combination!
• There is a huge gap between the "haves" and "have nots".  I think it is even worse than the widening gap in the US.
• Service people are not treated nicely by many people.  I call the folks at the hawker centers and other food court type establishments as "the invisibles".  My perspective is that they are treated rudely and like they do not exist or are subhuman.  The fact that I say "thank you" to them surprises them and many times they are embarrassed that I acknowledge them.  Usually it does garner a generous smile that someone actually acknowledges them and the service they provide.
• No one tips.  There is a 10% service charge added to bills, but I have learned that this money does not go to the people serving you.  I have learned that if you get good service it is nice to give a tip and that you should give it directly to your waitperson.  Want to make someone's day and see their face light up with enthusiasm?  Give a tip!!!
• When eating out, I struggle with the arm waving and snapping of fingers of patrons to get a wait person's attention.  Yes, I know I am not in the US anymore, but WOW!!!  I have a much better understanding of some people's behavior across other cities in the world now.
• The Singaporeans do not seem to be aware that they live in one to the 10 most expensive cities in the WORLD and that not ONE city in the USA is in the top 10!
• Housing is ridiculously expensive - but there is no space.
• Want to eat at a sit down restaurant?  Plan on dropping at least SGD$50 - and that is without alcohol!  Want Western type food and your bill will be closer to the SGD$100 mark for 2 people without alcohol!
• Alcohol is really, really expensive!
• This is very "proper" society, but I also live across the street from a building who is known to house the "4 floors of whores"....prostitution is legal, but solicitation is not.  I keep wondering - what??????? 
• There has been a major scandal rocking Singapore regarding underage solicitation
• http://www.smh.com.au/world/underage-call-girl-scandal-shakes-singapore-elite-20120428-1xrdi.html
• The metros are very, very crowded at peak times and the weekends are almost worse than the week days!
• I think this is one of the most technology dependent societies.  
• Watch on the sidewalks - people are texting and trying to walk and walk into you!  
• Watch on the subway/metro and about 70% of all passengers are watching something on their mobile device, talking on the phone, texting or otherwise disengaged from the people and their surroundings!
• Mornings are funny to me - I feel like I am in a feedlot!  You get off a train and no one says a word - all you hear is the endless "click clack" of thousands of shoes as we march off to our offices/destinations!  I secretly wonder what would happen if I started "mooing" during the morning march?  They'd all think the crazy Ang Mo went off her rocker, I am sure!

Slacking!

So, 7 weeks has passed and I am admittedly one of the worst bloggers on the planet.  Things have been busy and my web based antics have slipped as I have been focusing on work.  But today is Sunday, and I have details to share!  Look for a few new posts today as I share insights and pictures!