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!

Nam.com! (get it, a play on words…the Bomb.com which is also a double entendre... considering history…ok I’ll stop!)

I arrived in Hanoi on Thursday night and was inundated with motor scooters galore, they are everywhere and they obey no traffic rules. People carry their babies (yes plural) on the scooter, construction materials, 100 lb bags of rice, you name it it’s transported on scooters. The city was amazing so I was a little disappointed I had to leave so soon to catch the cruise in Halong bay…oh just wait I made it back to Hanoi for more! Friday morning my new travel buds Colleen, Nikki and I had a 3 hour ride to Halong Bay. We met some other great people along the way: a couple from Canada taking a year off from work to travel along with the gal’s Mom who joined them for one month and another couple that deemed themselves everyone’s Travel parents, Ian and Cherylanne. Ian and Cherylanne met in Australia, she is aussie and he is Canadian and they have been P.E. teachers in Canada for 29 years, they are retired and teaching in Hanoi for 2 years, they were genuinely some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. It was fun to learn about everyone and what brought them to Halong Bay. We stopped at a rest stop along the way where the workers were diligently working on creating the art that was then for sale in the store, wow that is something I have never seen before! It did feel kind of like visiting a sweatshop so that was  sad but it was amazing to see the skills they have. Once we arrived at the boat we met more of the fun cruisers that were on the boat with us.

Special delivery....

Artists hard at work!

Once on the boat we had an amazing lunch as we shipped off and enjoyed the scenery that the word picturesque can’t even capture, the giant island like masses in the water are lime stone and stunning. Our first stop was to see a floating village. This is where 70 people live full time, they basically live in little garages that are built on a floating inter-tube like thing. They are full time fishermen and at some stage they just decided to stay out on the water and not go back to the mainland. We also visited the floating school which only has seats for the small children, but most children stay in the floating village with their parents and are only schooled thru the primary grades. There are a rare few that leave the village and if they do they go off to boarding school. They do have some electricity, you could see a few boats that looked like they were generators, really crazy to imagine living here.

Floating Village

 The corner store of the floating village

As you have gathered so far everything about this cruise/house/boat was to.die.for! I love a good vessel and the craftsmanship was spectacular along with the meals and service.  After being on the boat about 20 hours and waking up for morning Tai Chi it was time for breakfast. The nice man leading communications (and I use the word, leading, loosely) was going from table to table, I imagined he was giving us the agenda and was eagerly awaiting the bullet points!! –tea ceremony, squid fishing, spring roll cooking lessons…ah not so much…. he came to tell us there was a typhoon blowing in from the Philippines and the cruise was going back to land. Total bummer but we did get to see so much in 24 hours that I wasn't too upset. 

Not the best pic, but you can see the balcony right off the room, love it here!

On the van ride back to Hanoi our Canadian friends living in Hanoi invited the boat members to a dinner in the spot they have deemed the best Vietnamese food they have had since moving there, so we had to go! There was a group of about 15 of us stranded cruisers that met up and had dinner, so delish and about $10 per person. We ate a lot too!! Our Canadian ‘travel mom’ wanted us young girls to have a real taste of nightlife so she phoned up her co worker who is closer to our age and asked what was on tap…well there was a rugby party and Cherylanne sent us on our way, she did warn us that the crew could get wild but we told her we could handle it. Ummmm, I am no stranger to cray cray but this crew was getting after it!  They had been drinking since 2pm and it was 11pm and I am sure you can guess how that goes. I met and old guy named Tony Quinn who gave himself the name Ho Chi Quinn, I met a man whose job is to diffuse bombs, and yes I did ask him…like hurt locker??? He said yes. Lastly, I learned rugby players take their clothes off in public and that is ok in Hanoi, I guess. Ah, Check please…we were def on a different level than these cats.

The last day our Canadian travel angels arranged a motor scooter tour through the city, they had 12 motor bikers come for the cruise crew and we all got to ride on the back of a scooter,  we did not drive, that would be a death wish.  It was truly the back door tour, through alley’s and by the river and by the lake that John McCain was shot down in and where he was captured and taken into prison. It was so amazing, something you could never sign up for. For a 2.5 hour tour it was $12, that is a steal. I think we made the drivers month on that $12 trip, my driver Gong seemed quite happy. 

Front and Center: Katy G & Gong! (when I asked him his name I basically said 'me katy' so when he responded me Gong...I felt like I was having a conversation with King Kong. Sometimes fewer words makes life much easier over here...

To get real a bit, it was strange after all these years of school and hearing about Vietnam at home to be there in person. I carry all my people in my heart as I travel around and Uncle Bill and my late Uncle Kurt were definitely on my brain as I travelled through Vietnam. How much more you appreciate the sacrifice that was made by our very own family for our country. I am not political by nature; I just felt such deep gratitude for seeing how far you had to be away and in an unimaginable situation, not to mention the heat, my god, the heat! I was also quite shocked to see that what we call the Vietnam War is locally referred to as the American Destruction War.

End Bits:

-Ugh, smoke, haze and face masks. I was thrilled my trip to Hanoi was planned since Singapore was buried in smoke and haze. Indonesia has little funding to clear their farm land once the crops have been picked so they set their farms on fire to clear the land, if the wind shifts that fiery smoke blows over to Singapore. Just my luck that the fires and smoke have been the worst in history…his.tory. It’s so gross and makes you sick. My house smelled like a bonfire. Hopefully they can stop this going forward, b.c. I am assuming the article I read about 1 airplane dumping a bucket of water on the fire isn’t gonna do the trick. Also Indonesia went ahead and said Singaporeans were being a ‘bunch of babies’…6MM people can’t go outside, I think that’s a big deal.

-Vietnam, of course I will buy a scarf to cover my shoulders before entering the mausoleum. I wouldn't dare bare my arms to the late Ho Chi Minh, I am not that kind of girl!

-I am keeping my end bits short since I was babbling about my trip!

Earth Money

After having lived through the last month I have decided that while world peace would be nice I would settle for a world where everyone used the same money, outlets, toilets and showers. Sometimes I feel like I am in an episode of Scooby Doo when I am trying to operate faucets, etc!

I guess it’s been about 2 weeks since my last update and I feel like my weeks here are jam packed since I still have weekly issues with banking, electricity set up, etc. When I last left off I was heading to Malaysia. I didn't know what to expect as I had no itinerary and it ended up being a great weekend however, it started out a little rocky.  As I had mentioned Malaysia Airlines organized the weekend and they said someone would be at the airport to pick me up…with a sign that had my name on it. Well after getting off the short flight I went through customs to find my ride. I found no one with a sign with my name or hotel name on it, so I wandered around wondering how on earth I was supposed to get to town, a 1 hour ride. After about 10 minutes a nice Malaysian man said ‘I think I am supposed to pick you up, but you didn't say anything about my sign’? His sign said, ‘AH HWON.’ I mean, I have no idea what that means but it’s not my name or Hotel, but he had a sheet of paper with my name on it, Katy Gakkagher…so I knew he had to be the chosen one! A rocky start indeed but the trip was smooth sailing from there. The weekend was action packed and all planned out using my tour guide who called me Katy Gakkagher, all weekend. We have a traditional hot pot meal, drove to Melaka a cute small town about 2.5 hours from KL and then back through KL up into the mountains to stay at Le Chateau which was the most relaxing and amazing hotel I have been at in a long time. The service was so impeccable and they left no stone unturned I can not wait to go back for a weekend as we were there for less than 24 hours. 

I will be back in Singapore for the next few weeks and the end of June will be filled with travel for me to chat about!

I have been having a great time decorating my new apartment but should probably cool it or I will never get home with all the stuff I am finding. There is a limit to my shopping since I am not supposed to hang anything on the wall and I don't have that many tables, etc to put stuff on. Today I found a new rug and some lovely Buddha's to grace the house. This lil guy can't see or hear any evil

This is the living room, with my first rug purchase,  other new Buddha and My Asian lamp i put together myself! I shocked myself, I am not sure I have ever put something together on my own.

Here is the entry way with my new runner:

And finally my kitchen, complete with my rugs that have been in two other homes with me. There is just something about the bright colors that I love, so they came with me :)

Work has been really busy so I don't have much new to report this time around. 

End Bits:

- I went to see Dirty Dancing on Broadway here this week and it was amazing! It was very Asian in the fact that the back drop was digital. Maybe they do this at home now but it was really cool and different. I loved the lift scene, I think i got a tear in my eye, such a great movie!!

-My mom hates fluorescent lights and I never understood, now my house only had fluorescent lights and I 'GET IT', it's like i am always at the doctor. I am working to remedy that on my home make over obsession!

-The tv here is a bit strange, I think they buy shows or seasons in bulk. What seems to be hot right now are shows like: CSI, Law & Order, The Closer and Physch...I might quite my job to be a murder detective if i don't stop watching these shows!

-I have been to Ikea 3 times and all 3 times they have played, 'All by Myself'.  It makes me want to  go ask one of there unenthusiastic info guru's where I can find service for 1, while looking down and pointing up to the speakers blaring the song...

I will leave you with a short video of the cruise I am taking later this month in Viet Nam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=577g9S296pQ

and some photos:

Along with my plant wall for my future home, I also want a room where a lamp display of sorts will work:

7-11 has a dispenser for Tom Yum. I guess nachos and 3 day old hot dogs are not big sellers here:

I went to an expat party last week and won the Lucky Draw! (grand prize drawings are popular here)  Tres exciting since I am never the lucky winner:

XOXO

Katy

Some content not suitable for minors…yup it’s been 4 weeks and I already took a left turn.

I have been so bad about keeping up so I apologize. But the bright side is that I have been keeping busy! I guess this blog can mark my 4 weeks in Singapore. I have to say I feel like I have been here a lot longer but not in a bad way, I have just done a ton for 4 weeks.

I will not keep you in suspense any longer, I have chosen an apartment and moved in! I went with #2 LPT in Singapore. (Lincoln Park Towers was my beloved condo in Chicago) I am happy to say I live by myself and if there are any empty vodka bottles rolling around it will be my own problem. J The ‘furnished’ apartment has no couch so it’s still a smidge from feeling like home but it should be complete by Monday! I was really looking forward to getting out of the hotel because I was feeling like Gilbert Grape’s mom sitting around on my bed all the time, alas I still sit around on the bed. I am simply thrilled with my choice so if anyone wants to visit there is plenty of room! Not that you were expecting a home cooked meal but you won’t be getting one, the kitchen has no air and it’s seriously like an oven. I can’t take the heat and therefore I will be getting my a@* out of the kitchen. I seriously can’t even handle getting a glass of water, my brain shuts down and I forget what I was in there for. One of these days I will take pics, maybe when it’s all set up.

I have been keeping up with the expat group I joined, so far I have been to a few outings including the bike tour I posted about on Facebook. That’s an island off of Singapore, you take a very small boat for $2.50 Sing Dollars to the Island and then you can ride around all day, have lunch it was lot of fun and the people in this group have all been so great. So many new people to the island it’s easy to make friends.

One of my clients is a food critic and told me I must try this Thai place, so I went with someone from the expat group. He was slightly thrown off when I suggested we eat at Orchard Towers. He triple checked to make sure I really wanted to go there….well what my client left out is that Orchard Towers is also called the Four Floors of…gasp…whores…. I guess I should have been tipped off when the name of the restaurant was Thai Tantric. When all was said and done the food was out of this world even if we were eating it adjacent to a coupla working girls (or lady boys). We were so intrigued by our surroundings we went to a bar in the towers, strange to see all the girls dancing with their clothes on? I was thinking –you. go. guuuurls, leave it on til the check clears! I also witnessed what I can only describe as a global grind off. A Russian and an Asian girl going for the same guy. Unlike Ivan Drago, this Russian crushed it! She knocked that other girl righto outta the running! For some light reading, you should Google orchard towers…real interesting place.

Work is going well, not too much to report on that end. The people in the office are great! Leaving the Chicago office after setting up shop there over 7 years ago was very tough but the Singapore office are so welcoming, it’s been great.

I have a lot of travel coming up and I am so looking forward to it, although getting visa’s is going to get old fast, I can’t believe how many places you need them for. I am heading to Kualua Lumpur this weekend, KL as the locals call it. I am accepting an award that Malaysian Airlines is giving to Orbitz. In June I will be heading to Hong Kong to meet a one Mrs. Caroline Dell!! We are going to hit the town and go into China for shopping in Shenzen, which I have wanted to do for years, then we are heading back to Singapore for a Geneva Terrance reunion (we were all roomies in Chicago On Geneva Terrace) with Jenny before we all head to Bali!! After that I am heading to Hanoi for a night before taking a 2 night cruise, on a very small boat through Halong Bay and Cat-ba.  So excited. Come July I should have lots to say about all these journeys!

End Bits:

-if you go to the bank here and have to sign something you better sign it EXACTLY the same way you did when you opened the bank account or else…add on another half hour to your visit

-today my co-workers were telling me how the uber wealthy people are now building their condos with a car elevator so they can bring their cars into their living room to admire. Hey, why leave it in the garage when you can eat dinner looking at it…might as well if it cost $1MM

- I do not feel super tall here or feel like I stick out but yesterday I went to a very local grocery store and 2 people asked me for help getting stuff off the higher shelves…they both giggled and we all had a laugh over the soy sauce that was just too high to reach!

-Working at a global company has its ups and downs, like anywhere but tonight I got to meet my co-working from Finland that is in town on her honeymoon. It’s great to know people in all corners of the world. It was lovely to see a familiar face

-I went to a meeting the other day and I don’t know if it’s a culture thing but I feel like people talk very low. I can paint a picture, we were in a lobby with a coffee machine grinding for an hour straight and this guy was dragging chairs across a floor and I swear I could hear a dog whistle and I kept wanting to laugh and I looked around and no one was phased but me…everyone was going about their biz and I felt like I was at the circus. Twilight zone, I was seriously looking around for a same wavelength pal that would give me a nod and make me feel like I was not totally insane.

-some people have asked if I have seen Matt, Jenny and their kids a lot? The answer is an overwhelming yes!! They are the best. I would be lost without them and am so so so lucky they are here.

- I need to keep better end bit notes b.c. I feel like I am missing some. That will be my assignment for the next blog…which I will try to do more frequently