Updates from afar

I have to admit that I have been very lazy but my motivation for this blog post is to tell you all that I love Christmas cards! So I wanted to give you all my address (assuming you are not breaking the bank, with over the top card stock, a card will get here with 2 stamps)

Katy Gallagher

62 Havelock Road

RiverPlace Condo

Tower B1 #06-05

Singapore, Singapore

169659

Please make sure you write the address like so; there is no grey  area in Singapore, so if you write it any other way you will blow the minds of the humans here and I will never get the card. True Story.

Pretty Lanterns in Singapore

I had to visit my last post to see what has happened since then, and it’s been busy. I was in Singapore for what must have been 14 days in a row so I decided I best get traveling again. So I booked 2 business trips back to back and stayed the weekend after each trip to enjoy the city. I later realized this was a terrible idea, it was so exhausting and I missed Singapore. But the trips are always interesting!

My first stop was the, lovely, Philippines. I am so sad for the devastation that has ripped through their country. I have to say of all the places I have visited so far, I felt the people were the kindest there. I would say two years ago I could not have been able to point Manila out on a map, so to be visiting there now is amazing. I don’t think I would tell anyone to go buy your plane ticket there as it’s just a big city, with 1 bazillion people living in it but the islands are beautiful. When I first arrived in Manila it was around 7 pm, my hotel was 5 miles from the airport and I arrived at 9pm…I am not sure I will complain about traffic for a long time after I move home. We sat at a stop light for around 9 rotations and I started getting antsy! The arrow we needed would be green for 7 seconds and all the other lights were 80 seconds. It was like a social experiment to see how long it took for me to go coo coo. When we finally made the turn, I thanked the taxi driver and got out and walked the rest of the way. The next day I came to find out the traffic was al jammed up due to a bomb threat, oy vey! It was nothing, there was an empty back pack on top of a bus but no one knew how it got there so the town shut straight down! While in Manila I work with a Media Rep so she helps set up appointments and takes care of the transportation since she is from there. It was bliss to just have someone navigate, it is so less stressful! Spending three days with a total stranger can be a ton of time if you don’t mesh and as it turns out Clang is my Philippina Soul Sister. I love her!

 Clang is from Manila so you also get a ton of history on the city when you are hanging out with a local. People saw her hanging with me and assumed they were dealing with a coupla foreigners, so when Clang laid down the law that she was local and I didn't have to deal with that non-sense on my own I was so so very happy! Please see notes below regarding my being white and taken advantage of pretty much everywhere! So in the Philippines they have Jitney’s as a major form of transportation, which I was told came after WWII because the US left all of their Jeeps behind and it was a cheap form of transport. Well didn't I feel like a loser, I had no idea WWII was even there, I kept my mouth shut on that one. They call the Jitney’s Jeepney’s since they look like Jeeps and your knees touch the other persons when you are riding in them. Ha, clever. You sit facing each other, so it’s like 2 benches, there is also no air con in them and it looks SO hot.

 I could not figure out for the life of me how people figure out which one to get on? I guess you just figure out public trans in your city because Clang told me when she was in NYC she could not believe the buses had numbers, she said she doesn't know how anyone could crack that code. Haha Ok so you get it, I love Manila and the people that live there, now onto Boracay…bliss! As you are all aware it’s still Typhoon season, there was one in Manila when I was there and then the remnants of the storm made it slightly rainy over the weekend but it didn't even matter. Boracay has about 15-18k people living on the island and there are no cars, they have try-cycles. Ok as I write this I have decided to do the rest with pictures it’s more fun!

This is the Try-Cycle, it's less than a dollar to take a cruise. The pic was a lil leggy so I added some Philippine Swag.

I met a friend in Singapore that has grandparents that own a hotel in Boracay so I stayed there, it was right on the beach and delightful. Here was my home for a few days. (Luckily, the property only sustained minimal damage in the Typhoon and they will be able to rebuild fast, they were very lucky)

Mary sits on a rock formation and watches over the beach, I hope she made it through the storm ok! She is just to the left of the Palm Tree, to give this some perspective.

I have no words for this, she was sitting on a rock just below Mary. It was stunning, nothing will keep this girl from enjoying a swim. This inspires me to never complain!

Amazing Water, You didn't even need to get in to snorkel!

 Hope the tide comes back soon!

 Seriously, this is someone's job! Selling coconuts to snorkelers!

Me in front of a bat cave, I am ok with bats in the wild, that's their house. I just don't want them in my house.

 High tech, sturdy ladder on this vessel

The boats are literally hand made and have string holding them together

Just what you want to see on a man-made bamboo elevator going up into the jungle

They will forever remind me of Jaws

I'll set the scene: it's a warm and sunny day at the beach, the bridesmaids are getting their pictures taken,  family and friends are shuffling in and the band is playing...'Like a Virgin'. Another, true story.

People from Jersey would have an easy time asking the trycycle drivers to go to Da Mall

On my way home to Singapore I met a nice girl on the plane, she was a bit 'churchy' but she didn't babble on too long so I deemed her semi-normal. That is until we were deplaning and she gave me this...at least she didn't give it to me before take off

(I wanted to tell her to update her materials, a lil outdated, no?)

Bangkok, sigh, do you ever visit a city and tell people how much you loved it because you are ‘supposed to’ but deep down you didn't  Well that was Bangkok for me.  I think maybe I feel this way because the first 2 days were a business trip and after my first 3 cabs rides I realized I was totally effed. Seriously my measure of success for each meeting became, getting to them, no matter what happened in the meeting I was just smiling because I actually got there. Again, I don’t expect anyone to speak English and the taxi drivers don’t speak any English there, just enough to totally and completely rip me off each time I got in. When I got in my 3^rd taxi of the day that wanted to charge me double, I totally and completely lost my mind. It’s not easy to get a taxi there either so when he tried to kick me out and say ‘can not’ take you I said fine, rip me off...I had no choice. Strangely enough when we got to my destination (success, do I even need to go to the meeting, I got to the building!) he said sorry and charged me the right amount. Perhaps my melt down in his cab worked. I guess I should tell you when I say they were all ripping me off, they were trying to charge me $6 USD vs. $3 USD. I know it sounds ridiculous but when it kept happening it was infuriating me!

I love getting tapped on the shoulder from the universe. As I was snarling while walking to another meeting, could not handle another taxi, I saw this and stopped, smiled and said, ok grandpa, I hear you and I will stop complaining,  it was so nice to see you! I have to think there are not a ton of classic caddy's in Bangkok with gramps shades sitting on the dash.

I hope this comes across the way I mean it since this is on the internet but racism is very different everywhere else I have been from America, people freely tell me on a daily basis ‘oh well you're white’, ‘well they are Swedish, so ya know’, ‘well he's Japanese’. It’s just not the Taboo that we have in America tip toeing. Again, I am not saying people should be treated differently by race but everywhere else people break it down for me, hey you are white -you will keep getting ripped off until you go back to America, ok? Sometimes when I am in certain places I don’t even like to talk because I don’t want people to hear my accent, but then again everyone in Singapore thinks I am from Australia so I guess it doesn't really matter. But they are Singaporean, ya know. heheh :)  

                                    Would You ever see this job posting in the US?

So anyways, after 3 days of crossing my fingers for a good taxi driver and working my plans of staying on for the weekend was not what I really felt like. But I did some sightseeing, nice temples and took a river cruise which was lovely. There are locks in Bangkok, haha it almost felt like the Chicago river, but on the other side was a sleepy water village, like nothing I had ever seen. Very 

cool!

The Locks

Color Long boats that have the engine of a lawnmower

If you want to behave like a filthy scoundrel, Bangkok is the place for you. If I saw one more white 60+ year old man on a  date with a 18 year old Thai girl...

In honesty, I would go back there are great restaurants, shopping and roof top bars and lots to see that I didn't get too. I just won't go for 3 days of joy rides in evil taxi's first. 

I will sum up London quickly as I have been going on and on and on. It's one of my most favorite cities on the planet. The history and modern buzz make it so unique. I am lucky enough to go to a conference there every year in November, this year I was lucky enough to fly coach from Singapore, thanks new travel policy!!!! Ugh bitter. I was going to say something mean about the person who implemented this rule but this is online so I best keep my comments offline. Anyways, back to my story, in one week I got to see the Fall Foliage and the Xmas decorations put up and turned on, it was a delight for all seasons!

Christmas  Tree In Covet Garden, so lovely

Now on to Da Queen! It was one of those things that I didn't realize I'd even care until it happened. I came out of the tube stop, since I am a good employee saving the company cab fare, and I didn't know which door to exit, so I decided to exit through the door that lead to the pier. I thought, well I'll get a look at the water before I go back to the hotel. So being the fast forward tourist I am, I literally looked at the water for a second and was ready to move on. I crossed the street to the mid way median and all of the sudden a motorcycle came to stop us from crossing. I saw another motorcycle and about 3-4 black cars so I thought this can't be anyone too special. I snapped a few pics and then I wanted to see who it was so the second I moved my camera down there she was right in my face waving, less than 5 feet away. She looked genuinely excited and happy to see all of the tourists enjoying her city, it was a Celeb/historical/political, siting thrill I can't explain. I basically put my hands on my face like in home alone. AHHHHHHHH Mazing!

The oncoming cars, hard to see. 

Next time I am having a bad day, I will go have a drink here:

My Singapore bucket list did only have one item, swim in the boat atop the Hotel, and it was everything I had hoped it would be!

Ta Ta for now! KG

Langkawi, Chengdu & F1

Since returning from Chicago it's been another month of busy travel. I am very lucky that my friend Lauren was sent on a business trip to Malaysia! She stayed on for the weekend and we went to Langkawi an island in Malaysia . Langkawi was another destination that completely blew me away. It was actually what I had imagined Bali would be like, beautiful beaches, very quiet and very serene. The hotel we stayed was lovely but we were warned since we were in the jungle to beware of the cheeky monkies that are always looking for their next meal, even if it's in your hotel room! We had an amazing Thai dinner in the Jungle, basically having monkeys swinging around on the trees by the table; they did not join us for dinner, thank god! Lauren and I had a great time and it is always nice to have someone from home to share Asia with! I hope Groupon sends her back real soon!

Just a little rain storm:

Beauty:

Katy & Lauren in Langkawi! 

I stayed on after Lauren left for a business trip, oh there was so much to learn about doing business in Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur, I don't even know where to start. It’s an extremely religious driven society but in the work place everything seems a bit...corrupt. I know religion and corruption they totally don't go together, right.... After 4 days doing 'business' in Malaysia I went home mentally exhausted! I can't tell if it was from constantly trying to understand who hates who, who pays who under the table or the fact that we went to dinner every night and drank juice or tea until 1am b.c. the Muslim community cannot drink alcohol oh and after our juice dinners I was then woken up by the morning mosque prayer session every day before the sun came up...not cool. Perhaps I should write them a letter and ask if they can take it down a notch for the am sesh!?

I just very recently came back from China and hmmmmmmmm it was awful! The town was called Chengdu I would like to call it Cheng-don't! I won't rant forever, it was hot, the pollution was terrible and it was very difficult to communicate with everyone and after 5 days I had enough with people looking at me with blank stares. I don't expect everyone on the planet to speak English however, when I am sitting at a restaurant and have finished a meal and start drawing into the air and you have NO idea that I am asking for the check, that blows my mind! I told this to my co-worker and he told me he was not surprised, in the Philippines if you want the check you should draw a rectangle into the air with your index finger and thumb....of course! So drawing fake cursive in the air vs. a rectangle is very hard to decipher the difference, I totally get it! I felt like everyone in the town was on a heavy dose of Quaaludes, literally walking around like zombies in the middle of the rode, hanging out under bridges, walking in the middle of the highway...anything goes in Chengdu...it made Mexico seem like an organized place. China can be a sad place, not only because the pollution is so bad you can't see in front of your face but their communist ways, it's very common to see people well into their 80's doing heavy manual labor, which is sad. They also have no uniforms for anything, one day I saw a lady shoveling cement out of a bag wearing slacks and a cardigan?! Then I took 2 more steps and saw an old guy sitting in a chair playing with 6 turtles...like I said, anything goes. So I try never to complain about destinations, hotels, airlines on FB because they are essentially all clients, so after 5 'groundhog' days in Cheng-miz I boarded the plane. The boarding process went like this, 'stewardess yells something in Mandarin and everyone runs to the door'; total and complete shit show! I should also mention that no one obeys seat belt signs here, if you are within eye shot of the gate people just stand up, blows my mind every time! So anyways, I sat down on the plane and penned Jenny an email to tell her how awful Cheng-miz was and I added in a few adjectives to really showcase how upset I was and how excited I was to see the sun again in Singapore...not to worry I sent the email to the wrong person in my contact book that works at a hotel. Son of a biscuit!! I will leave you with this, I know there are beautiful and unpolluted places in China, Chengdu just wasn't one of them. I hope to visit those dreamy places one day, once I work up the energy to go back to the Chinese visa office...so it's going to be a while!
So the reason I went to Chengdu was for a conference, it was set up so that you meet with a different partner every 15 minutes from 9 am- 5:30 pm. I know it sounds amazing, right. I had appointments where the contacts would just give me their card and ask me to email them because they can't understand English very well and I think they feel embarrassed they can’t speak, but I feel just as bad that I only know about 4 words of Mandarin. I don’t know how to sell global advertising by saying: hello, goodbye, tea and your welcome. If you can help me piece that together to form a business sentence, I am all ears! I had a few meetings where the clients’ had translators which was nice but at one point I asked the girl to tell to the client something basic and she just looked at me, I was like ok can you tell him now, and she was like I will tell him now but then didn’t…Fussss-trating! (once I went to a meeting, in Chicago and this woman kept saying over and over  how fus-trated she was, I almost wanted to ask her if she knew it was frus and not fus, but it entertained me so much and as you can see, still does, that was about 8 years ago)

Every Day in Cheng-miz:

I forced myself on the final day to find something positive in this town, I found a nice lil spot:

I Heart Pandas! I think someone from town must have slipped him a Quaalude. (it's hard to tell but the Panda smiled for my selfie)

Baby Love! (Marce tells me these lil ladies were on GMA this week!)

F1, thank you for breathing life back into the week! Singapore was all dressed up and ready for visitors from all over the world! Although I didn't stand around and watch the race for hours it was very cool to see, the cars are so loud you can hear them all over town. They actually drive on the Singapore roads, they just block them off! After the race each night there are concerts, I went to the Killers concert and it was amazing!! They were so much better than I was expecting and right out of the gates played Mr. Brightside, it was like being slapped in the face with awesome! Rhianna played the next night and the Beebs  closed it down on Monday, I heard people were lining up at 10am for his show tonight...awful, I'd melt.

End bits:
-How you know you are an American=you are at a Killer's concert in Singapore and the Killers ask, ‘who know’s Tiffany'? Then they play 'I think we are alone now' and you find you are one of the only people in the entire crowd singing along! (used to play that single on my sister's fisher price record player, awwwww yeah!)

-When I got out of the airport in Chengdu and on the tour bus the girl giving the narrative on the city told us that it’s not uncommon to see people walking around very slowly, it’s their culture and what the town is sometimes known for…wow you should put that on a brochure people will flock here…except anyone with the last name Gallagher.
-my co worker told me the other day she would love to eat Chinese food out of a paper white box, like on American TV shows :) They don't have those take out containers here!
-Skype: since I chose my Skype name, on the fly, I went with a suggestion from the Skype team, katy.gallagher6. Well my friends in China tell me the 6 indicates I am the devil and no one will do business with me, thanks Skype team! Perhaps I will change it to Iheartpandas8, that seems pretty china friendly and unrelated to being possessed by the devil, right? Or maybe, idrinkgreentea4eva-- I could go on and on!

-These days, to me, Fall means having an apple scented candle and having LPAD on my nails, because it's still 90 degrees out! I kind of like knowing my pool will not be closing up for the season, that was always a sad day.

Photo End Bits: titled 'Chengdu, Anything Goes':

Internet check in line would give off the impression these people had actually checked in prior to arriving, right!? 45 minutes later....

 Puppets?, Who knows, this man did not like his gig.

Meat slicing contest and a man in a fake long beard, sure why not

Our bus driver handing with the bell boy while he air drums, no big deal. Please also note the outfit in the background: legging, jorts, and a full on sweater...it was 95 degrees out. I am sure she was just going to walk somewhere slowly so it's ok to wear that kind of stuff

I saved the best for last, sleeping on job, it was 3pm, just a lil siesta, no big deal here!

Besties, Bali n' Back to Chi

I should really think about writing my entries closer together or at least in real time because I get so overwhelmed with all the information I want to share. How on earth could I possibly cover the joy and excitement of having my bestie, since I was three, travel all the way to Asia!!! This blog is dedicated to the one and only Caroline Dell!! Life in Singapore has been going well but I could not even have imagined what it’s like to travel and hang with one of your best friends. I met Caroline at the HK airport, of course I was at the wrong gate(it reminded me of when I told Sheila to meet me at a train track in Rome, when we were studying abroad and I happened to give her the wrong track, destination city and time…luckily she found me in a wine shop, shocking I know, and we were on our way!) Directions are not my best talent so thank god for wifi everywhere in Asia! Caroline and I decided that after a nice dinner it would be lovely to head out for a night cap…or 14. As she said, her jet lag just kept making her want to party so I had to be a good friend, right! In the morning we went for Dim Sum, which I am not sure is the best hangover breakfast and just when I thought I had a headache they handed out the menu.... Um, pardon me sir, which one of these means egg and cheese bagel? 

Hong Kong is such a beautifully city and we covered every square inch of it over the next few days, mildly escaping another Typhoon, level 3. I am told level 3 is no biggie but if it gets to 8, get lost! We were able to watch the Typhoon while drinking our afternoon tea at the Shangri La. Caroline and I used to have tea parties in her basement as kids and we would make each other laugh so hard we would end up simply spitting water all over the place, I know kinda gross but we were having fun! So she reminded me not to spit out my tea as I took my first sip...I kid you not as I took my first sip my brain was thinking faster than my mouth and I went to say the same thing to her and I may have dribbled a lil tea. Can't make that stuff up!

After a few days in HK we headed to Singapore, my very first guest and we got to meet up with Jenny and her husband. For those of you that don’t know, I met Caroline in preschool and Jenny in high school and when we all finished up with college we moved into an apartment in Chicago. I would have never dreamed we would all be in Asia together. We had a great time dining through the city. I have dubbed Jenny's husband Mr. Singapore, so he of course made sure Caroline hit all the top spots before leaving!

I have already rambled so much and I haven't' even gotten to Baaaaaaaaaaaaaali! My love, Bali!

Bali is so much different than I was imagining. I thought it was going to be desolate beaches and small hotels. It’s the opposite, the town is very lively, it’s about a 3 hour flight form parts of Australia so I was calling it the Mexico of Australia. (I am sure Bali would love that) The beaches, restaurants and night life were amaz! We took a day trip up to Ubud, which is about a 2ish hour drive, it’s the Eat, Pray, Love part of Bali and that’s where we rode the elephants. Jenny’s elephant driver and ours were cousins. They taught us that Nowa is the name of every first born son in Indonesia and they then have a name for the next 5 sons. I asked ‘what happens if you have a 6^th son?’ The answer….you start over with Nowa!! Love it! Want to know what our car drivers name was that took us to Ubud…Nowa! There are lots of them floating around there.

While in Ubud we went to a famous spot for lunch, Naughty Nuri’s. Nuri is a Balinese woman who married a western man, so she is considered naughty. The have ribs and martini’s and it made for an interesting lunch and an even more interesting post lunch shopping spree. I wish I had video of Jenny hard core negotiating at the market, girl has developed some skills living here for 5 years!

The main mode of transport in many of these countries is by scooter and I think we all enjoyed that they pull over and fill up with Petro out of an Absolut bottle? Whatever works for ya!

I am not sure I have had a proper vacation in the US in quite some time (I am making up for it by taking 1 per week here, my co-workers think I am insane) but have the pools changed? Every pool here is more blissful than the next. I am taking note for my future back yard. 

Caroline showing me the beach in Bali

We took a low cost carrier to Bali, Air Asia and I have to say it’s the first time I have ever LOL at the security portion of the flight. My personal fav’s:

-if you don’t know how to work a seat belt you should probably not be in public

-While there might be 100 ways to leave your lover, there are only 4 ways out of this plane

Best.trip.ever!!

End Bits:

-As said it before and I failed I am bad at keeping end bits. I may just keep a list and send that out instead.

-I did think a good blog entry could be when I got locked in a bathroom in Bali, when I was there for work. At first I envisioned having to tell my boss I missed my meeting for being in the bathroom, then when I realized there was no way out I had a sheer panic attack and thought, do I have enough milligrams of a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. in my purse to make me stop sweating and panicking?! Luckily the staff in the outdoor, 120 degrees bathroom only spoke Bahasa and tried to tell me to climb under the door...I mean I wish you could have seen this door. And how does one say, excuse me I am wearing a cream lace top, I am not crawling on the floor, in Bahasa? 

-I went to a private island with just a hotel on it a few weeks ago, the hotel is called Batu Batu and it's simply heaven. Wish I could bottle that feeling up because I had to sit in customs for 2 hours on my way back to Singapore and it really took the ahhhh out of the trip! Poor me, I know!

I saw this road sign on the way back to Sing from Batu Batu and I think it's the best road sign I have ever seen... 

-I am going to actually 'end bit' my entire trip home. There is nothing like campfires with the family, a killer Bachelorette party,( seriously Mo, that was so fun. How have I missed Steve-O's all these years), laughing with all your buds at Sheila's and having Asian fare with your coworkers when you are in town from Asia (it was my idea!)

Happy End of Summer! If it gets too cold you can always come see me!