Bintan, Indo

On Saturday I went to Bintan, Indonesia w/ some friends I've met here in Singapore: Beth, Jane and James. James has been living in Singapore for 14 years and is fluent in Bahasa which made it really easy for us to get around and have a really good time. (I had mistakenly though we were going to Batam. Both are islands just SE of Singapore and it takes only about an hour ferry ride to get to them). We went to the very far eastern side of the island near Trikora Beach and found some shacks right on the beach that James had been going to for years. James used to stay at this place run by Mr Lobo. If you want to reserve it, "just send an SMS"...Lobo says it's easier than calling him. We actually stayed at a place next door since Mr. Lobo's place was all full... probably because he started a website a few years ago. James was really floored that there was a website and you could make reservations since he had been going to this same place for like 10 years...long before they were on the net. The room out at the end over the water was were I stayed.

It was such a relaxing trip and we just laid around the beach most of the time and got tan. It was funny to think that just one week before I was snowboarding in a blizzard in Tahoe, California. Then at this beach, the water was almost too warm to cool you off after being in the sun! It really is such a small world now.

This is the beach with our shacks

Some beach huts on Trikora Beach

For 'dinner' the host went out with a few others to catch some crab and fish right off the beach when the tide was low. We didn't actually eat these ones but I think he did for dinner that night

Some dog hanging out at the beach with us

Some wild school kids. Some of these kids really go wild when you talk a picture of them then show it to them on the LCD display. They really like it since I guess no one every bothers to take a picture of them.

We ended up staying an extra day since all the ferries were filled w/ people returning to Singapore after Chinese New Year and we hadn't reserved seats. The last night we stayed in Tanjung Pinang which turned out to be pretty good thing. We had a lot of good Indonesian food, took a tour of the harbor by boat, and a tour of the city by motor scooter. For not really knowing what I was getting in to when this vacation started, it turned out to be one of the best trips I've been on. It was nice to really relax and forget about everything for a few days and it also made me want to go back to other parts of Indonesia. I'll have to actually do some reserach and plan another trip. Once I get my other pictures from the trip in order I'll post a link to them as well.

Return to Singapore

I got in to Singapore this morning after a very long trip. In all the total time from leaving San Diego to arriving in Singapore was over 24 hours and the way the time zones and international dates lines worked this week really did fly by since I missed all of Wednesday and Thursday. Back in the States I was in Oregon at work for most of the trip. I did get to have some fun though. I made a quick stop at the Edgefield Distillery which is something I'd wanted to do for a while. Last summer my friend Dave had taken a road trip w/ his family north into Oregon and Washington and they brought some of the whiskey back. It was really good... being that it was from a micro-still and all. I found out that they have also been making a gin, different brandies, now a coffee-liquor, and at one point they made a grappa but discontinued it since it didn't do much for the discerning Oregonian tastes... In addition to the micro still, the McMenamin brothers have a winery, a brewery, a hotel, concert venue and golf course on the Edgefield site. They have different bars, restaurants and theaters throughout the Northwest.

Then last Friday I flew down to Sacramento to stay w/ my brother and his wife. My other little brother was there as well since he’s now studying law at UC Davis and my cousin w/ her boyfriend flew in from Vegas to join us. Tahoe had been having a very bad year for snow but I had faith a big storm would blow in to give some fresh snow. And that’s exactly what happened. For whatever reason it seems every time I go to Tahoe a big storm comes in and it usually makes for bad snowboarding conditions. There were some conflicting reports about how much snow there was but it was at least a couple feet and it was a lot of fun.. On Sunday we went to Amador County for wine tasting which is always an adventure… especially since I had to fly to San Diego that night. I’ve found that wine tasting then flying usually makes for seemingly short flight times and this was no exception.
The time in San Diego went fast. Surprisingly I didn’t have any Mexican food which is strange because I’ve really wanted a carne asada or California burrito since I arrived here in Singapore.

Now that I’m back, Lunar New Year celebrations are just starting. This will start the year of the boar. I won't celebrate it here in Singapore though since I'm planning on leaving tomorrow morning for Batam, Indonesia. After all the cold rain and snow I had in Oregon and California I'm going to relax on a nice warm beach.

Back in the US

I'm back in the states now for almost 2 weeks. I'm in Oregon and it's freezing here. Everyone's has been going on about the warm weather since it's been in the high 40's this week! Yeah, I know it's pretty ridiculous but it's so easy to get used to the warm tropical weather in Singapore. I really miss the warm rain vs the cold, windy rain here in Oregon.

Over the weekend I stayed at my friend Kirvan's house and the plan was to go snowboarding on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I found out the snow was pretty bad and I was very jet-lagged so we skipped on boarding for Sunday. Instead I took a nap and watched the Super Bowl which I think was the first game I saw all season.

On Friday I'm flying down to Sacramento to Nathan's house and the plan is to try Tahoe for snowboarding on Saturday and then some wine tasting on Sunday. It's really a rough life.

Since I've been back, I've really taken the opportunity to have as much pizza as possible. It's almost impossible to get good western food, especially pizza, in Singapore. Actually I've been eating western junk food almost exclusively since I've been here....a lot of burgers and pizza. mmmmmm!

Catching Up

I'm getting very far behind on my postings as I'm still getting used to actually using this blog to keep track of what I'm doing and experiencing here in Singapore. I'll have to make a better effort to keep it up to date.

I’ve been in my new apartment for over a week now and I’m starting to get some furniture. I had a few things delivered today and most importantly I’m having a carpet delivered tomorrow so I’ll have something else besides hard tile to sit on until my couch arrives.

Last night I went to an art opening at the National University of Singapore Museum called Objects and Desire. It was from a program that sponsored 8 artists from different countries to come live for 3 weeks and make art based on their experiences w/ Peranakan culture (this was from the people called the Straights Chinese who were of Chinese ancestry but had adopted mostly Malay practices here on the island of Singapore). I had met a few of the artists a couple weeks back at Jane Cowie’s house (she is running the hot glass studio I’ve found here).

Sentosa Island
A few weeks back, my friend Jenny who I had met up with in Cambodia to see the Angkor temples near Siem Reap arrived in Singapore. She was about halfway though her month long trip around SE Asia and she stayed here for a few days. This forced me to do some of the tourist things I’d never done here … one of those things was going to Sentosa Island. You can see the pictures on my Flickr site here. Sentosa turned out to be much better than I thought it would be. The aquarium was great and had an underwater tunnel you could walk though, the pink dolphin show was strange (no one else thought it was strange that the dolphins were pink), and the laser/fountain show at night was very impressive. Much better than the fountain show I’ve seen in Vegas. The show ended with fire balls and lasers coming out of the Merlion’s head. Quite a show.

The fountain show.

These are the Merlion's lasers.

new diggs

I was able to move in to my new apartment last Saturday morning and I received my shipment from San Diego. When I unpacked it I was surprised with what I found. It would have been very smart of me to have packed at least one thing I could at least sit on since I have no furniture now. I'm starting to look for furniture fast since having a completely empty place with such hard tile floors isn't as much fun as you'd think. The good thing is that I have a bed since the owner provided a new one as part of the lease agreement. I'll have to get some sheets for it soon, too.

After living in the new place for a few days I've found out that it really is in a good location. It's within about 5-10 min walk to all the subways lines. It's also very close to several of the art schools, museums, galleries, and the National Library. Being so close to Little India there is also a lot of good Indian food around. The construction has turned out to not be that bad since it's only going on during the days (so far). I have to put up w/ it on the weekends but by the time I get home during the week, it's usually finished.


Here's a link to some pictures

Moving out, again

It's been almost two weeks since I've had a chance to update this page but that doesn't mean nothing's been going on. The most important news is that I can finally move into my permanent housing... actually in about 30 minutes. My agent supplied by the relocation company is going to pick me up and take me over to get the keys for the new place. Let me tell you finding a place was not easy. While I was just re-packing all of my things I found the paper showing all the places I had viewed. This one that I'm taking was number 30! But it was worth the wait. It should be a great location and I'll be able to take the subway to work and back. Though, I have heard some stories that hill it's on is haunted by a female Malaysian vampire who floats around late at night. So the neighborhood has some character.

Little India scout

It was a sunny day again so I decided to go out and walk around Little India. I've been looking at a lot of apartments w/ my relocation agents since I arrived trying to find something that I can afford and also something that's decent and in a good location. I saw one yesterday that would be really good and it's pretty central to Little India, Orchard Road and the marina. I've walked through Little India before but I wanted to explore the area a little more to see what it would be like living there. I took a shuttle from my temp apt to Harborfront MRT (subway) station and then took the MRT to Little India since I would do the reverse trip for part of my commute to work on the subway. It wasn't bad; only 5 stops so it went pretty fast.

Little India is supposed to get packed on Sundays and it was pretty crowded for sure. It was also hot. It turns out the apt would be in a really good location and close to a lot of things to do, and the subway. The only downside to the apartment's location is a construction site across the street where they're building a shopping mall. It's pretty loud work they're doing but I figure it could only last a few months...plus that is why the apartment is affordable since otherwise it would definitely be shown for more money. I got some very delicious Indian food for late lunch then headed back. What an exhausting day!