rain and planes

It’s been a week in San Diego and so far it's a lot of rain. On my first day here last Saturday San Diego had the first measurable rain in 163 days, and today it's been pouring all day long. People in San Diego don't see much rain so when they do, they drive really crazy- I noticed the roads don't deal with the water, allowing it to drain off quickly, as well as the Singapore roads. The first rain days of the season see literally hundreds of car crashes on the roads throughout the county since the roads are at their most slick state when wetted after the long dry period.

Over the weekend I flew up to Sacramento for my brother's swearing in to the Bar Association. It's a quick flight up to Sacramento and was pretty routine until after we landed. After we reached the gate and the seatbelt sign was turned off things got very strange. Nobody got up to grab their bags, stand in the aisles and push to the front to get out first. This is so common and almost second nature to me after being on flights in Asia so long that I really had to fight the urge to keep seated and wait for the people to deplane in such an orderly manner. It's actually pretty nice, and doesn't take any longer to get off the plane.

In Sacramento we also had a turducken for dinner Saturday night. a turkey stuffed with a chicken that is stuffed with a duck which is stuffed with ... stuffing. First time having it and it was pretty good. Coined "The Trinity of the Fowl" by our grandfather. The turkey part exploded during the cooking splitting it in half It was a bit of a mess to cut and ended up as a huge plate of fowl and stuffing

Lombok, Indonesia

Finally I'm getting around to posting some pictures from my trip to Lombok, Indonesia I took back in May. The trip started off great but on the second day I came down with some kind of fever or flu and felt horrible until the last day of the trip so I spent most of the time in bed sleeping and with no appetite... After the 4 days I think I lost at least 10 pounds and looked pretty bad. Thankfully I've gained it all back and am once again my handsome self (in my own opinion)! Also, getting soaked in a rain shower and falling into a waterfall probably not only contributed to me falling ill but it also meant that my cell phone and camera weren't working for most of the trip- So most of these pictures are from the island of Lombok on the first day. We also took a boat out to Gili Tranwangan for two nights but didn't get to enjoy any of the snorkeling or scuba diving which I had hoped to. From the boat ride over or even looking out into the surf you could tell how clear the water was. Another of my friends just returned from Bali and the Gili Islands and told me the snorkeling was great and they even saw some groups of giant sea turtles - he grabbed on to one and rode it underwater so he claims. But anyway, the first day of the trip was awesome and we rented a car to drive around the island. Some of the roads on Lombok are not that great and many are really bad. There's also a lot of horse drawn carts on the roads... as well as other animals. On the Gili islands there are no cars at all so besides walking the options are either horse drawn cart or bicycle.


Once out of the city parts of the island, Lombok is full of rice fileds. Mountains rise up quickly from the sea moving towards the inner island and many of the fields are terraced on these slopes as well. In the middle of the island is Mt. Rinjani, at 12,000+ foot volcanic mountain- the second tallest in Indonesia however with the constant clouds surrounding the upper peaks of the island we never even got a good look at it.



While driving out around the island we got hungry and stopped in to what looked like a roadside cafe. We decided to eat outside on the raised eating platforms which are not the most comfortable things you'll ever sit on but the shade from the thatched roof and ventilation though the floor keeps you pretty cool.
looking over the menu we wern't really sure what to order. We saw chickens walking around the ground under us and we saw Ayam Sambal on the menu (should be chicken with sambal or spicy sauce) so that seems like a safe bet Well, we were kind of right, it was chicken but we weren't quite expecting what they brought out for us. One baby chicken for each of us, cleaned and deep fried intact and whole, claws included, and served on some raw vegetables... with VERY spicy sambal on the side. There really wasn't much meat on those little birds at all and we were still kind of hungy after eating them (the before and after pictures don't look so different really, so we tried to just fill up on the rice.

And then the rain started while we were hiking up to see a waterfall...and with no umbrella anything to keep the rain off is better than nothing- Fal tries to use a banana leaf- but in the end it was useless and we were soaked.


This is pretty much what I felt like the whole time on Gili Trawangan (and I swear it wasn't from that beer... )

You can see some other pictures of Lombok and Gili Trawangan from my friend Fal's site http://singbrewer.blogspot.com/2008/05/lombok-indonesia.html
and his flikr site : trawangan Lombok

rainy night

this is one of the rainy nights common to Singapore in monsoon season. thunder. lightning. downpours. this afternoon was even sunny which was a nice change from the norm lately of overcast skies but after dinner the rain began and continued for hours trapping us inside a bar (yeah okay, twist my arm to stay!). It's not the rainy season officially but it's not surprising since weather everywhere else in the world has been so strange this year. It's nice to see the distant flashes of lightning lighting up the sky once home safe and ready to sleep, and although the rain and lightning aren't at all surprising anymore it still feels like a nice change since it's so rare back in CA.

more rain

It really rained today. It rained yesterday and there was a thunder and lightning storm right in the city, too. I enjoy the lighting here since it's so rare back in San Diego. I don't know why I was surprised by the rain today. Actually, I really wasn't surprised at all which is more the point of this post.

I left the house this morning with sunglass because it was so bright, was in the office until after noon, took the lift down to the ground floor and only when I walked outside did I find it absolutely pouring outside. Like monsoon rain. yep. I remember thinking it strange that I wasn't surprised at all by it though, so I guess that means I've become acclimatized used to the weather. I remember the first month I was here I absolutely dreaded leaving the apartment if it was raining and now it's not a big deal at all...as long as I have an umbrella. I've bought 3 umbrellas since I've been here and I only remember ever buying two other my entire life (one in Tokyo and the other in Budapest...none in California). Getting used to all this rain is a big step because what it means is that when I eventually leave Singapore there's hope that I could survive somewhere other than San Diego where the weather is always perfect. I thought nine years of living in San Diego had made me soft but I've already gotten used to the heat again and now rain also can... I just don't know if I could deal with the cold somewhere though.


It also rained the first day back from the California trip at end of August. It wasn't that big of a surprise though.

sliding by

It rained on Saturday which is nothing special to say the least but I was out walking around and it reminded me of something that’s been on my mind for a while. I guess you could call this another rant.

In San Diego it rains so little that when it finally does it's a big deal and the last thing I want to do is go out and do anything in it. It's also usually cold when it rains there (relatively, of course) which makes for a general feeling of miserableness when you're out in it (although it’s nothing like cities that really get cold and rainy weather like in the Pacific NW for example).

In Singapore you HAVE to go out in the rain or you'll never be able to go anywhere or do anything. I realized this very quickly while still living in my temp apartment after moving here. I swear it rained for a week straight when I first got here too, and for some reason I always had my air con cranked up full blast in that place so I was always freezing. Looking out at the rain while I was freezing to death inside, somehow I created this connection in my mind that it was freezing cold, wet and miserable outside out there. Finally when I started to go out in the rain purely out of necessity (like for food, beer, fun) I realized it's actually kind of nice since it's not cold at all. Actually, a warm rain is nice. almost… tropical...

However, instead of the cold, there is something much worse here that when combined with rain makes my life miserable here in Singapore. So many sidewalks around here are tile, very smooth tile which becomes so slippery once it gets wet. I swear it's almost like walking on ice. I have no idea why this smooth polished tile is everywhere in a country where it rains so much because people are either slipping all over it or walking crazy slow to keep from slipping (this is my tactic which is hard because I usually walk really fast). It's just such a bad idea and I don't get why the government allows it since it's obviously dangerous. A plain cement sidewalk is much less slippery and it's always nice to find a short stretch where you can walk and not worry about breaking your neck. I had a theory that it’s put in place on purpose to keep people walking slower just to discourage recklessness.

While these slippery conditions would obviously create a dangerous situation anywhere, I think it’s especially disastrous here since Singapore is now home to the worlds fastest walkers (according to a study released this past May)! That's right, I can’t believe it either, but they really say it’s true. Now keep in mind that about 1 in 4 people here are expats and the study excluded people walking in groups, people talking on the phone or people texting on their phone while walking…oh and it must not have been raining of course. So like, it must have taken forever to find enough people who qualified for the study because everyone is either talking or texting on their phone wherever they go (well, not everyone but it is a lot). Plus, they were only walking like 4 miles per hour (measured over a 60 foot ‘speed trap’). I’m so much faster than that, ha!

Anyways, I just don’t get what the deal with all this slippery tile is, that’s all. I guess it does look nice at least.

Thunder and Lightning

...it isn't so frightening when you know every building in Singapore has lightning rods since it's so common. It is scary when your walking outside though since there are a few deaths every year from lightning strikes. The National Environment Agency of Singapore says it has one of the highest lightning activity rates in the world. It also says there are an average of 171 days per year where thunder is heard. Last week there was a big lightning storm and I tried to capture some of if from my apartment. Here are the better pictures I captured
A small bolt back in the distance.
This strike was much closer
No lightning bolts but the sky's lit up
This is the view of the constuction site across the stree from my place. I really wanted to see one of the giant cranes struck but instead I only got pictues like this one where you can see the sky lit up but no lightning bolts.


On a seperate topic I saw a gecko in my apartment today for the first time. I was shocked just because I've never seen one this high up in a building before (on the 7th floor). The other week when I was walking to the elevator from the street at my place one fell off the ceilking onto my head. I've been told it's good luck.

It never rains in southern California

Moving here direct from San Diego presents me w/ quite a contrast. People sometimes comment on how good the weather in San Diego is... and now I can really appreciate it. Growing up in California and then spending just over 9 years in San Diego has really caused me to lose any appreciation for actual changes in the weather...for example: rain. I knew I would be arriving in the 'rainy season' at the end of the year but I've never seen it rain like this before. The first few days were fine when it just rained in the afternoon but on Sunday it started raining and it's been pretty constant since then. It's strange because I usually associate rain w/ cold but it's warm out which really makes it much more tollerable. Apparently lightning is pretty common here, too. There are some small breaks between the pouring when the air is really crisp; otherwise it really looks like you're in a cloud.

Here's the view of the Singapore River from my temp apt while it was pouring....

...then a few mintues later when the rain let up the air looked cyrstal clear.

I just checked the weather report and it's expected rain until Thrusday...