Final Chapter: Hookers and HotPot

August 22, 2007
(Singapore Sessions, Episode 6 )
Current mood: nostalgic

So, I am writing my last blog from Seattle. I have actually been home for a week, but brought back one hell of a flu bug. Flew out on Saturday, August 11th and spend Sunday in Seoul for the day and visited my friend Hoseok in Seoul. Had a great day walking around, trying to stay awake and take advantage of 12 hours in Seoul before flying to Seattle. Got home and spent a week in bed with a fever and cold. Now I’m back to normal, well 85% and trying to finish my papers before jumping back in to school on the 10th of Sept.

Anyway, an update of my last few days. One of the highlights was going to this small island, Pulau Ubin, just North of Singapore. It was beautiful. I went with 5 of my classmates and we took a bumboat over to the island ($2) and rented bikes ($6) for the day and rode all around the island. We read that there were wild boars on the island so I saved an extra fish ball, in case one of us stormed us and I could bean the pig in the snout. Anyway, no pigs bu t saw a wild lizard which was very cool. I went swimming in the Strait of Johor which is the water between Singapore and Malaysia. It was awesome after riding bikes all day. We all rode back to the village and had an amazing lunch and drank coconut milk and then headed back to Singapore. I think we were all asleep on the train, exhausted but a lot of fun.

As I titled this entry, the last night out, my friend Rachel promised me really hot HotPot. Well she delivered. I call it Hot, Hot, Hot Pot. It was 1) just hot that day 2) the steam from the hot pot was just making it hotter and then the hot pot was really hot, so we were just sweating. I bow down to Sunny, who is now crowned the Queen of Hot Pot. She was amazing. That food was soo hot, but she was a trouper. I actually had to rinse off the meat in the mild side to cool off the food enough so I could eat it. It was really amazing though. Fresh Shrimp, meat, and other stuff I don’t want to know what I ate, but it was soo hot, it could have been anything. All I tasted was fire.

On the Beth that you know and love side, I also found out that prostitution was legal in Singapore, so in the search of education, of course I had to go down to the redlight district. My Singaporean husband, Alex Chan, (classmate) offered to take Rachel, Sunny and me down. It was hysterical, we didn’t know exactly where to go, but we did spot a few prostitutes on the street, but apparentley they aren’t supposed to be on the street, that is illegal. Honestly, you couldn’t tell the prostitutes from any other people. So I either have a grainy photo of a young Singaporean or a prostitiute, who knows. Anyway, we laughed and got some more Durian and then headed home on the Subway (illegally transporting Durian.)

Have I written about Durian? Oh yeah, I did, but in case you didn’t read it, it is the King of the Fruits. It smells like gasoline, but tastes like creamy flan that kind of tastes like butterscotch, caramel and gasoline. mmmm. Anyway, it is illegal to bring it on the subways, but we did!!! When we got off the subway, we got a cab back to our room because it was too late to catch a bus, and the cab driver immediatly asked us to role the window down, yelling “Durian, roll down the window!!”

The next day, I met Carol, one of my classmates, and her kids for ice cream. We were in search of Wasabi ice cream. We were going to eat it after our HotPot, but there was no way I could have anything hot after that HotPot, so we went to this ice cream store to get it AND THEY WERE OUT. So we had green tea ice cream instead and went running through the water fountain in Bugis Market. Had a blast and Carol’s kids are so cute. (See photos). After that, I headed home and finished packing to head out. Very sad, I can’t believe my month has gone by so quickly. Anyway, loaded up my stuff, had to leave some stuff behind to bring back gifts, so I bequeathed my “hello kitty” sheets to Sunny and left towels and other stuff for Sunny and Stephanie to make room. Lugged my stuff on the bus and then the subway and got to the airport. I was going to have dinner with Rachel since she was working out by the airport, but I got a call and Rachel and her family were at the airport and also Alex (my Singaporean Husband) and Rachel. So that was such a nice suprise and I got to say goodbye to everyone and grabbed some sushi with Alex and Rachel and then headed home.

So fyi, Alex is not my husband, but I heard that a couple of my friends told a few of my other friends that didn’t know I was going to Singapore, that I was going to bring home a rich Chinese husband, so Alex volunteered. (Thanks for the gag Alex). Anyway, back home, but missing Singaporean food, and I can actually say, I grew to like my Nescafe, Milo concoction that I created, my Singaporean “mucka”. Made some great new friends, and fell in love with a beautiful new country.

Updated Photos at:http://picasaweb.google.com/beth.tallman/SingaporeHighlights?authkey=2LzIwTgCHw0

Beth

(Organized by Cortilia)

Four More Days - August 7, 2007

(Singapore Sessions, Episode 5 )

Current mood: happy

Well only 4 more days to go here and I have done so much since last week. I finally got my big 2 papers done and have done my research for my paper on piracy in Singapore, so off to see the sites.

1)Sentosa Islandthis is the island where people go to get away, kind of a beach resort. I took a cable car over which was really high and then walked down the Dragon trail to the Underwater park where I truly had one of the weirdest experiences of my life. I did this for my dear friend Niceto, because I know he would have crapped his pants. They have this thing called Fish Reflexology where you put your feet into 2 different tubs and this fish eat your feet. They nibble at all of your calluses, etc. The concept is totally disgusting and if you believe in reincarnation, boy, you must have done something really bad to come back as one of these fish. Anyway, it totally tickles but after you get used to it, it is awesome. You stick your feet in for 20 minutes and then they massage your feet. The small fish tickle and the bigger fish feel more like when your foot falls asleep, kind of pins and needles. Anyway, I have had swollen feet and ankles since I got here because of the heat and after this, it was all gone, I swear to god. Icing my ankles, elevating, nothing worked, but this did and they haven’t swollen up since. You have to see the photos to believe it. Just weird.Also on the island they have a concrete louge which was fun as well as a small island, connected by a rope ladder, that takes you to the southern most point of SE Asia. Great time, beautiful weather and had a blast walking around.

2) Maria Mallon, this one is for you. So Coffee Bean and Tea leaf is here, so I traveled 8000 miles for an ice blended and have had a few in your honor. My only concession to western life that I have done since I was here (OK 2 starbucks)

3) Pulau Ubin-I will do this as my last blog because I don’t have photos yet, so stay tuned.

4) Orchid Gardens-Oh my god, how beautiful. Went to the National Orchid Gardena and Botanical Gardens today and they were just stunning. I took pictures but I can’t capture the smells, simply gorgeous.

5) Tour of Little India and China Town-I went on a tour that the school sponsored of Little India and China town and learned how to make traditional dumplings (you don’t want mine, I suck!) but it was great. Went to the oldest Mosque in Singapore and shopped, shopped, shopped. Also saw the coolest photo shoot. It was a shoot in front of the mosque for some magazine, but it was all a muslin shoot. I took a picture.

I also have been researching all the issues with music piracy here and in Malaysia and have had some very interesting meetings with reps from Warner Bros, EMI, journalists as well as the ministry here in Singapore. Also went shopping in Malaysia at a pirate shop to see how rampant it is. Very interesting.

Well off to bed, getting up early to work on paper 4, go shopping for a new digital camera… yes my technological woes continue, my camera fell out of my backpack and works sometimes, when it feels like it.Anyway, 1 more update before I head home.

New photos posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/beth.tallman/SingaporeHighlights?authkey=2LzIwTgCHw0.

Beth

(Organized by Cortilia)

Durian & Organ Delight at Johor Bahru Trip

July 31, 2007

(Singapore Sessions, Episode 4 )

Current mood: sleepy

Part 3-Well instead of finishing paper, I am writing this instead!! Bad student. Oh well, I only have 2 weeks here to play so I am going to cram a lot in during a short time. I finished my class work on Saturday around 1pm and then my classmate, Rachel, (who will be attending the U of W in the fall on exchange) and I took the bus, train, bus, bus to go to Johor Bahru of JB for short in Malaysia. It is literally on the other side of the Straits of Johor, just north of Singapore, so it would be like going across the floating bridge from Seattle to Bellevue, except you go from Singapore to Malaysia. In a 24 hour day, we crammed the following in. 2 Day 1 night Johor Bahru Trip.

Sat

Ate Bah Kuk Teh (pork meat cooked in herbal soup) and pepper pig stomach soup for lunch (Lani, yes I ate pig stomach and it was good.)Durian Hunting at Johor Jaya (Outskirt of J.B)Shop for pirated CDs at Holiday Plaza (The shopping mall with the best quality of pirated CDs)Dinner at Rachel’s home @ Taman Pelangi (Rainbow Garden)(Dishes: Curry chicken, Sambal Sting Ray, Sambal Sea Shell, prawn ball soup, barley water, durian)

Sun

Breakfast at typical Malay Restaurant: Roti Canai/Prata (the plain one), Roti Telur (with egg), Roti Tisu (Bread Tissue, the cone shape), and Lontong (Glutinous rice in curry)Shopped and Walk around at Dangay bay. (Pouring rain)Walked through Johor Sultan Garden.Visiting the oldest Chinese Temple in JB, Sikh Temple and Hindu Temple.Lunch: Claypot chicken rice with chinese herbal tea (Luo han guo)Tea break: Local coffee + fish cracker
In short, walked a ton and ate even more. With the heat, I’m not very hungry and they keep feeding me more food.

Durian…. For those of you that haven’t had it, it is really hard to describe. It is a spikey fruit that smells, I mean it smells. Kind of a mix of Gasoline and a mediciney smell. Indescribable. Anyway, you crack it open and there are 5 pods that look kind of like raw chicken and they have a huge seed in the middle. You eat the meat, and it is really creamy and kind of is like a caramel/buttery taste. Very rich and strong. The locals love it. It is actually quite good, they call it the King of Fruit and the Mangostein is the Queen (also smells like gasoline.)
Anyway, had a blast in Malaysia, walked around the Sultan’s gardens and estates, of which there are many. Apparently the Sultan (which is the appointed official for the region) rarely moves into an old estate so they usually build a new one, so there are many of these huge estates that are empty, around Malaysia.

I also ate pig stomach at one of the markets here and it was pretty good. Not too organy tasting and the broth was quite good. I figure I will audition for Fear Factor when I get back. I am going to have some organ delight tonight and probably try some eyeballs or something…mmmm. Malaysia was great and Rachel was the best tour guide ever. Her family was so nice and just kept feeding me until my belly button popped out. Stingray is quite good by the way, very tasty.
On Tuesday, 7/31, I finally had a chance to walk around downtown Singapore. Had lunch with my roommate and her father (not the flying cockroach), but Stephanie, exchange student from Hong Kong via Huntington Beach, CA. Then I went out and got lost, just wandering the streets. Went down to the Singapore River and caught a junkboat tour to look around, and then walked down to the Esplanade and saw the Merlion, kind of the symbol of Singapore. The other exciting thing is that they have Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf here in Singapore, so in honor of my friend Maria, I popped in and had an ice blended. I had to travel across the world to get one, but it was good. Damn Starbucks, Coffee Bean’s Ice Blendeds are soooo much better than a frapaccino.
Met Suzanne, former U of W Exchange student, for dinner of duck and rice and then we went shopping at a huge 3 or 4 story market that was full of small stalls of very cool stuff. If you’ve been to Manchester, it is like the big market there. Very cool, lots of fun stuff and did some shopping. Afterwards we had Durian ices and another kind that I can’t remember that had red beans and green squiggly candy things in it. The ices were great because it is soo hot here and they cool you off. Great day, didn’t rain at all. I think that was a first, because there is usually 1-2 big thunderstorms a day and then it stops and is just humid.

Well got to go and work on my papers. Today is a homework day, but dinner tonight down by the river and more shopping and walking around.

New photos posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/beth.tallman/SingaporeHighlights?authkey=2LzIwTgCHw0. This is an easier site to use. There are some good ones.

Beth

(FYI, you can find Durian in International District or Ranch 99, organized by Cortilia)

Frustration in Technology Wars - July 23, 2007

(Singapore Sessions, Episode 3 )

Current mood: busy

So 1 week down and adjusting well to Singapore. My plan of not sleeping paid off, no jet lag to speak of at all. FYI, it is the rainy season here and that is an understatement. Basically it has rained here everyday, and by rain, I mean rain. The good news is that since the weather has been so wet, I am fairly caught up on school. Oh yeah, you have to go to class during an exchange program, what a drag. Also since my program is accelerated, I am going to class 8 hours a day for 3 days, 3 days off and then 9 days straight. The three days I had off it poured, so I wrote 1 of my 15+ page papers and started the second one. My goal is to have all of my papers done by week end so I can actually get out and see some of Singapore and hopefully Kuala Lumpur.

I have also attached some photos on my Flickr site below. For some reason, I can’t upload photos onto my Myspace site. I know there are some tighter server issues here, so you never know, but you can click below to see some of the sights from Campus etc. You will enjoy seeing a picture of one of my roommates here (FYI, they fly.) In case you haven’t figured it out, this is a tropical climate so some of the bugs here are pretty spectacular. Lots of wild cats on campus as well. I came out of the elevator and about died tripping over a cat that made it self comfortable right at the elevator door. There are beautiful flowers everywhere and the frogs croak at night, although they sound more like cows mooing than frogs.

My technology woes are finally over. After first having an older converter, I got the new one and was able to use my computer. Also lost my cell phone somewhere between Seattle, Tokyo and Singapore. That was fun trying to call the airlines on the public phone. It kept cutting me off, etc., I also went through several phone cards because sometimes it worked as a direct dialed call (expensive) and other times like a phone card. The other lovely gem was the day that I left, I got a call from the FBI and someone had hacked into Ecampus.com’s website. (Take note if you are buying text books.) Someone had stolen a bunch of credit card numbers, one of which was mine, so 3 hours before I left, I had to cancel my Amex. Amex has a 800 number that you can call for international calls, but it doesn’t work from a public phone, and since I didn’t have a cell phone, I had to go through automated phone systems, etc., to finally get Amex to send me a new one. Got cut off, same problem with phone cards and I got so frustrated I actually cried!! This is Beth speaking. Totally frustrating situation. Finally Amex said they would send me on, and I got it the day after they told me it would be there, so of course I was in class then. Finally got it and that is taken care of. Also got a cell phone on yahoo auction in Singapore. Got a US phone that a former Canadian exchange student was selling so that worked out OK. It is a weird feeling to be on the other side of the world and be that disconnected. A little disconcerting to say the least, but now I am wired and feel great.

Finally made it off campus to downtown to pick up the cell phone and figured out the train station as well as the bus system. Actually pretty great and easy to get around.

My goal is to just focus on school this week and then play, play, play. I have to do some research on a paper that I am writing and have some meetings set up for next week, but I do think I will be able to do some shopping and toodle around before heading back.

Beth

(Organized by Cortilia)

1st Official Day - July 12, 2007

(Singapore Sessions, Episode 2 )

Current mood: drained

Got up, finished unpacking and headed out to find out all of the missing details, etc. Thank god my apartment has AC. Went outside into the common area and my glasses fogged up, it is that humid. Not that hot, but very humid. 1st hiccup, my universal adapter only had the 2 prong US input, but my computer needs the 3 prong (Note to self, remember this next time). So now I am completely technologically challenged. No cell phone, and my computer battery is dead, so off to find an adapter. $40 later, I am plugged in and writing to you. Also without a cell phone, no alarm clock, but thanks to Karen’s Alarm Clock on the web, I will wake up tomorrow, in theory. Went over to the International Student Center and of course, forgot my Letter of Admission, plus they needed emergency contact info (in my cell phone and my computer, both not accessible) but finally got most of it pulled together. Then went over to the Financial Aid office to pay for my room, and checked in at the MBA Office.

Have I mentioned that it is humid yet? Got over there, huffed about a bit and feel like I’m back in New York, albeit much more pleasant, more like Florida, sans the West 4th Subway station (those of you in NYC will understand). I still can’t figure out if I have to get a student pass from Immigration. Customs stamped my passport as a 3 month visitor so the office thinks I won’t have to (saves more money). Came back to my room to cool off and check email, etc., now that I have an adaptor and then went out for some lunch and to find a real grocery store. There is a 7-11 on campus so I stopped there but it is really just a chips and soda store, so went and got lunch and coffee. This is going to hurt, because I got a Nescafe cappucino, that was the best option. Oh well, but the yummy curry I had for lunch made up for the lack of caffeine. Off to find this mysterious supermarket. Tried to find it earlier but I found it the second time. I think it was just jetlag before. Got some basics, milk, coffee (nescafe , toilet paper) and headed home. I have some reading to do before class tomorrow and am goingto make it an early night. So signing off for now, but photos, etc. to follow.

Beth

(Organized by Cortilia)

Taking off - July 12, 2007

(Singapore Sessions, Episode 1 )

Current mood: drained

OK, well to try and get acclimated, I decided to stay up all night on the 11th to try and force my clock to get out of sync. Fortunately for me, Harry Potter decided to open up that evening and the IMAX was playing Harry Potter for 24 hours straight. Got 3:30am tickets, determined to stay awake. Also, prior to leaving I left my car at my cousins in Oregon to have some work done on it, so I have no wheels as well. Long story, but the last bus downtown was at 1am. (Why is late night transit so hard in Seattle??) Anyway, got down and have breakfast at the Hurricane and then headed to the movie. Sold out and packed, fortunately I purchased my tix early so no problem.

At the IMAX, the last 20 minutes were in 3D and I managed to stay awake for the entire movie, only 1 head node. Got out at 5:45 and headed home to have breakfast with my friend Colin and his partner Mark. Afterwards, headed to the airport and the adventures begin.Got there, no problem. Checked in, flight was on time and wasn’t super packed. Took 2 Xanax and watched a bunch of movies. I can rarely sleep on planes, the Xanax helped but not much. 10 hours later I got to Tokyo. Found the Singapore Airlines place, after a bit, and got all of my flight set up. No problems. Got on board, and then sat on the tarmac for about 2 hours. I don’t know how long because I kept dosing off, but it was a long time. There was weather in Tokyo so the planes couldn’t take off. So at least I got some sleep but then we were off, no problems to speak of at all on both flights.

Both NW and Singapore were great (shocking I know). We made up some time so I was really only an hour late into Singapore. If any of you are counting yet at this point, I am now on hour 53 of no official sleep. I did nap a bit, but really nothing to speak of. Called this woman Mayuko who had my room keys and grabbed a cab. $45 dollars later and 40 minutes, I was at my building, or I thought I was. I couldn’t find Mayuko’s cell number and my travel arrangements weren’t very clear so I was at the wrong building. My cab driver had a cell phone and I finally found the piece of paper after digging around and starting my computer up. I was just around the corner. Got there and Mayuko was great. Got me settled, etc. She has just finished her MBA and is moving back to Tokyo this weekend, so I will only see her for another day or so. Started to unpack and stole both of my blankets from NW and Singapore airlines so I wouldn’t need to bring a blanket. Made my twin bed with awesome “Hello Kitty” sheets that I bought at Freddies. (They were the cheapest twin set available.) Took 2 Ambian and woke up 6 hours later.

Beth

(Organized by Cortilia)