MATT'S TOP 10 FROM SINGAPORE
Weeks 36-51: November 20, 2011 – March 31, 2012 [PART 2]
1. What am I supposed to do????
One of my favorite things to do here is to take pictures of ‘interesting’ signs that I see around Asia. Here’s a few that recently gave me a good laugh…
a) From our Aussie friends - "Who is the designated driver?"
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b) Cambodia - And you all think I'm making this bathroom stuff that I blog about up...
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c) Singapore - It's not a bump...it's a hump:
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d) Singapore - Do not strangle the birds
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e) Singapore - you don't see this everyday in The States...
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f) Singapore - I have no doubt that they would shoot you here...
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g) Singapore - Are you sure it's not "Work Ahead?" Everything has to be plural here...
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g) Indonesia (in a random golf cart) - Can anyone tell me what a buggy chit is so I can display it?...
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h) And my favorite in Singapore:
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2. Tsunamis...
I know I poke fun at lots of things over here whereas it's outside of the norm for me, but the threat of tsunami's are very real. It's strange to see signs like what's below:
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3. Angkor What?
At the beginning of December we went with a group of our friends to Siem Reap in Cambodia to run in a half marathon. Here’s some interesting “stuff” from the trip:
a) Temples: Siem Reap is a pretty amazing place. It’s best known for its temples with the most famous being “Ankgor Wat.” Pretty awe inspiring places – especially being able to run through them as part of the half marathon.
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b) Affordable: From a tourist perspective, Siem Reap is extremely affordable. Everything is sold in US currency and you could get a full meal with an unlimited amount of drinks (alcoholic) for less than $20. And who wouldn’t pay $20 for the tasty delights that Lisa is eating below…yum yum...
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c) Working with the kids: That being said, the general population is fairly poor. We spent a day doing some volunteer work at a school on the outskirts of town. It was extremely humbling to see how little these kids had…but at the same time, how happy they were. It was also the little things that made them happy – when we brought them simple things like coloring books and crayons, it was amazing to see how excited they were. Spending time with the kids at the school was by far the best part of the trip…
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d) Buckets of booze: Outside of the temples, the school with the kids, and the $15 meals, there was this bar called Ankgor What - $6USD for a bucket of red bull and vodka (and they also threw in a tee shirt and a solid ‘next day headache’ for you too for good measures).
4. No Tuk-Tuk…
The most common mode of transportation in Siem Reap is the “tuk-tuk” – the easiest way to describe one of these bad boys is as a moped/scooter pulling a trailer with seats. You could pretty much take a tuk-tuk to anywhere for $2 US.
The issue with the tuk-tuk is the drivers. You can’t come out of any restaurant, shop, bar, school, restroom, hotel, etc without having 10 different peoples ask you if you need a tuk-tuk.
It’s so bad that they actually have made tourist tee-shirts that say “No Tuk-Tuk.”
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Here's some tuk-tuk pictures. Ignore the man about to jump through the falming hoop with knives on it in the first picture :)
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5. Run Forest, run…
As I mentioned, we went to Siem Reap to run in a half marathon. To help keep me sane and also to try to not be as lazy, I’ve actually taken up running over here. It’s so hot and humid here that after running outside for an hour, you actually feel like you’ve accomplished something (and sweat off 10 pounds – or should I say 4.5 kilograms J).
This race in Cambodia was the first real race I ran. It was a pretty amazing experience to run the race through the temples as shown above. It was also amazing running through the back roads of Cambiodia and having hundreds of little kids cheering you on from the side of the road giving you high fives as you ran by.
What was not an amazing experience having to squeeze my tired legs into a tuk-tuk for the ride from the race back to the hotel J
Since this race, I’ve done 4 or 5 others – only one other half marathon (mostly 10Ks), but I do have two more coming up in the next three weeks. One is going to be in Beijing (hopefully I won't come back with a black lung from inhaling all the smog) running on the Great Wall in China…I’m looking forward to this one – it will definitely be a hard one with the inclines/stairs on the wall, but the experience of actually running a race on the Great Wall of China should be pretty cool…
6. Fish Reflexology
They have a bunch of these places in Singapore too, but they seemed even more abundant in Cambodia - at spas, they have these very large fish tanks that you sit on the edge of and put your feet in (up to your knees) – these little fish then come and eat away at the dead skin on your feet.
One word – gross. See my comments about feet from my last blog. They actuallt advertise this as a ‘relaxing experience.’ Just typing this makes me what to throw up.
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7. Margaret River…
With the two extra days off from work for Chinese New year, we went with a group of friends to western Australia. Margaret River is just south of Perth and it’s the equivalent to the US’s Napa/Sonoma region – lots of wine and great weather! Here’s some pictures from our trip. My personal favorite is the one with Lisa trying to save our wine from the surf...
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Also we’re not only getting an elephant when we come home, but I think we also now need a kangaroo. You can see in the picture below how much Lisa 'likes' them!
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8. Crapentine’s Day - Just another kick to the wallet (and the face) from Singapore…
Let me preface this by saying that I know I'm in the minority here...and let me also say that I'm really not as insesitive as this is going to sound...but....
I personally think greeting cards are a waste of money (I think I get this from you dad). My theory (and I'll reiterate what I said above that I know I’m in the minority here) is that paying people for words that you could write yourself is kind of a scam. Now don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of writing and sending personal notes, but Hallmark really bothers me. That being said and to try show that I’m really not a big jerk, I do understand why people like them - and I do like all the cards we get from my mom over here in Singapore J.
I personally think greeting cards are a waste of money (I think I get this from you dad). My theory (and I'll reiterate what I said above that I know I’m in the minority here) is that paying people for words that you could write yourself is kind of a scam. Now don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of writing and sending personal notes, but Hallmark really bothers me. That being said and to try show that I’m really not a big jerk, I do understand why people like them - and I do like all the cards we get from my mom over here in Singapore J.
Lisa and I have VERY dramatic differences in opinions when it comes to cards. She LOVES them – she’s the type of person who has to give someone 2-3 cards for the same holiday (since marrying her, I’ve bought stock in Hallmark). So even though I knew cards here were a complete rip-off, I of course got here a card for crapentine’s day (and no - I didn't just get her a card :))
Here’s the kicker – the card cost $12.90. This was ridiculous even for Singapore standards.
Not only does Singapore have me spend $12.90 on a card, but I have to buy one with underwear on the front – I had two to choose from – one with these items on the front or one with a picture of a parrot on the front (and I wasn’t even buying it the day of – I was there a full week ahead of time – it wasn’t as if they were all sold out – these were the only two available). Gotta love the differences in culture…
Happy Crapentine’s Day….
9. Tokyo…
I was in Tokyo for work a few weeks ago – I didn’t have much free time out of the office, but here’s a few interesting observations from the trip:
a) I would say that 1 in 10 people wear face masks in Tokyo…no exaggeration. Some say it’s to not get germs from others. Some say it’s so they don’t breathe in pollen. But most do it when they’re sick out of coutesy to others. Imagine people in the US being polite enough to wear face masks when they were sick so they don’t spread their germs…we’ll never see that day.
b) Suicide Forest – This is incredibly sad. Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world. They actually have this place which is referred to as the suicide forest where people go to commit suicide. The government is not able to keep up with the ‘clean-up’ so many bodies often remain there and are never removed.
c) Korean BBQ – Some colleagues took me out for Korean BBQ while in Tokyo (kind of an oxymoron, huh?). After this experience, I can now say I’ve eaten ox tongue and pork intestines – oh yum. My favorite part of the meal was that they gave you a stick of gum with the receipt! Now granted, the gum tasted like Peto Bismol, but the fact that you actually got gum – it’s the little things….I think I’ve been living in Singapore too long.
d) Lost in translation - We had a work issue come up while in Tokyo and it riled me up a bit. One of my colleagues found this to be amusing and looked at me and said: “Keep calm and have a cupcake!” I had no idea what this meant so of course I asked her – she said she saw it on a tee shirt the last time she was in the US and she thought it was a typical “American saying.” It definitely gave me a good laugh...and shows how literal people take t-shirt sayings!
e) Land of the toothpick – toothpicks are everywhere. It’s common practice that when you get your check, you also get a saucer placed on your table with toothpicks in it….and these aren’t the cheap fall apart in your mouth toothpicks like you get in the States. These things are legit. Their the Mercedes Benz’s of toothpicks – nice weight, mint flavored, and some even have added grooves for some purpose that is unbeknownst to me. Everyone loves to pick at their teeth over here…
10. The Tokyo Toilet Seat…
I was going to include this in Part 1 of this blog with all the interesting toilet pictures from our travels, but I felt that this needed it’s own special call out. The toilet seats in Tokyo (they also have these in Seoul, Korea) are quite the experience. I almost forgot about these bad boys from my past trips until I was back in Japan a couple of weeks ago. These seats are heated, have built in bidets and spray cleaners, have built in dryers, and also play music/sounds to drown out any other ‘noises’ that may be coming from the bathroom – it’s like a Disney World experience in the privacy of your own bathroom.
My first time in Tokyo, I went to lift up the seat before using the bathroom (my Mom taught me well), and the seat was warm. They only thing that came to mind, is who was just in my hotel room using my toilet. It kind of freaked me out. Come to find out, the maid had pushed the button for the seat warmer when she was cleaning the toilet. I would never have even thought to build in a seat warmer on a toilet…
Part 3 coming next week...Until then, hope everyone is doing well!
