On to Saigon

Made it in to Saigon! There are even more motorbikes here and much more development than in Hoi An. The view is from our hotel room, right at the center of a busy area, along the river. Today was international women's day, so when we went to dinner we were presented with small bouquets of flowers by the waitstaff. (It's kind of like Mother's Day but for all women instead.) Check out Matt in his dapper new plaid pants, courtesy of Hoi An's finest tailor!

We went to the central market today. It was amazing to see all of the fresh food. We wandered around, picked up a few trinkets. Bargaining is expected here, it's almost like a sport. My friend Tali grabbed a cup of Vietnamese coffee (served with condensed milk), people stopped by their tailors to pick up clothes that had been made, and then for dinner we grabbed a table for 13 people at Restaurant Cafe 96, right on the water. We took up half of the restaurant. For a huge dinner and drinks, it cost about $5 per person. The food is all made fresh and is definitely a delicious experience.

I'm totally falling in love with Hoi An

This town is amazing. The people are friendly and laid back, the food is amazing, and the sights are so much fun. People selling fresh foods on the street are typical and plenty. Stray dogs run around town. Families eat meals on the sidewalk sitting in plastic patio furniture.

This morning we took a cooking class with our chef, Ngoc. The entire meal and cooking class was something like $8, I think. The top photo is of the Japanese covered bridge in town, which is right on the waterfront of Hoi An.

Hoi An: still a pretty great place to hang out

Dinner at Brother's cafe was behind the restaurant in a nice room for our group-- a very relaxing night. The next morning, I had my first bowl of real pho ga, a vietnamese chicken noodle soup that is traditionally served at breakfast. It was hands down the best bowl I've ever had. Some people spent the morning relaxing-- Matt and Gavin even spent some time on their front porch reading... pre-assignments for next term. Way to go guys. 

2 days in Hoi An, Vietnam

We made it to Vietnam! We stayed in a tiny beach town called Hoi An, famous for its tailors and beach-vibe. The resort is right on the beach and I must say, this isn't a bad way to earn course credit. 

Most of the streets in the town look like the photo above, with motorbikes everywhere and tiny shops lining the sidewalks. We took a few hours this afternoon to relax and then headed in to town for some tailor hunting, shopping, sightseeing, and dinner.

Last night in Singapore

After getting home from Singapore's version of Duke, we ran over to the Bugis Market to check out some souvenirs. It was a huge indoor market packed with stalls and vendors and a million different trinkets. Karen, Hallie, and I treated ourselves to a steamed bun with lotus paste (70 cents, well worth it).

The plan for the evening was to check out the night safari. The tram takes visitors through the "jungle" at night, with animals out  in the fake moonlight at every turn. The "safer" animals actually wander around freely, and a tapir nearly ate Matt's pants. (They got very close to the tram, which had completely open sides.) We were caught in a huge downpour-- luckily under the cover of the tram. 

Dinner at the zoo was a Singaporean specialty: chili crab! Taichi, Matt, Faheem and I split one order of it. It was so delicious. Vermontians (Vermonters?) would have been proud, there was a Ben and Jerry's at the park too. It was placed next to the store where you could have little minnow fish bite the dead skin off of your feet. (No joke.)

This morning we enjoyed our last breakfast at the Intercontinental. (Trust me, it's very sad for us.) We took a trip to Fusionopolis, which is Singapore's hub for developing ideas to further the economic success of the country. We couldn't take photos but Kate and Matt Miner drove a video game simply by concentrating. It was pretty cool. This is a technology that is being developed to treat ADHD in children by training them to concentrate for brief periods of time so that they can develop these skills for the long-term.

We then headed off to the Duke-NUS med school. This is a new school started by the two entities to change the way medical school teaching is done. The process was pretty cool to hear about, and the campus (opening in April) is even more amazing. Photos included.

As we walked around getting the tour of the new building, a photographer tagged along and took pictures of us. We're pretty sure that we're going to end up in the medical school promotional materials, actually. 

Also for your viewing pleasure, meet my classmate Matt. He's an ice cream lover and I just thought this was a great shot from the Orchid Gardens.

A night out in Singapore

Singaporians frequently say that the national pastimes of the country are eating, shopping, and going out at night. Tonight we tackled two of those with a group dinner at the House of Sundanese and then a few drinks at Clarke Quay (my hopes of getting to bed early were definitely dashed, but hey, when in Rome). 

Photos, from top: Dinner was outdoors on a terrace that faced the water as the sun set. It was warm and beautiful-- we faced the ACM museum that we had previously toured. Highlights included a whole fried fish (surprisingly tasty) and of course, Tiger Beer. Tiger Beer is an Asian beer that can be found nearly everywhere, making it our group's beer of choice.

After dinner a group of us crossed over the river (of fear) to Clarke Quay and found a Singaporian Brewery (I got the impression that this is uncommon) called the Pumphouse. We ordered their IPA and some lighter beer, which arrived in meter-tall taps. (The beer was not bad, but it wasn't anything special either.) When we were finally good and tired, we tracked down a cab and made it back to the hotel. Singapore continues to amaze me by being such a clean, safe, and friendly city.

Singapore: US Embassy and quick spin through the Orchid gardens

After lunch, we headed to the US Embassy. (Shocker: no photos allowed.) The security was tight. We were asked to stand in a holding pen outside (95+ degree weather and we're all in business casual-- awesome) and finally were escorted in for security screenings one at a time. The guard even asked me to drink out of my water bottle to prove it wasn't some sort of hazardous liquid. Fair enough.

We had two people discuss the Singapore-U.S. relations with us in a tiny room inside the embassy. It was an interesting presentation where they talked about the country in the micro and macro economic climates.

Next, we had an hour before our visit to ASTAR to swing by the Singapore Botanic Gardens. We blew through the orchid garden in about 25 minutes-- they were beautiful though, and it made a nice break in the day. (Karen, I thought you'd like these photos especially!)

And next up for the evening: a company visit to ASTAR, a group dinner at the House of Sundanese at the Boat Quay, followed hopefully by an early night. We're all dragging now that the time change has finally caught up to us...

Singapore: Day 2 lunch

From top: 

After our visit to PSA, we stopped at one of Singapore's popular hawker centers for lunch. (Mike-- note the extremely awkward track that Hallie pointed out to me on the way over.) These centers are open air courtyards with dozens of food vendors selling Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian food. Most complete meals can be enjoyed for under US$3. We visited Newton Hawker Center and enjoyed a feast of chicken rice, which is a plate of rice served with a platter each of duck, chicken, and pork. We also had and plate of Indian fried noodles and prata, which was like a dough stir fried with eggs and squid. To drink, I had a coconut water and sugar cane juice with lemon-- which tasted like a light, sweet, lemonade (almost with a touch of ginger). Both were extremely refreshing!

Singapore: PSA

Today we visited PSA,  the Port Singapore Authority. [Side bar: on our way there, we drove past a golf course. Because land is so outrageously expensive in Singapore, I asked about whether golf was a big pastime or not. Apparently the standing joke is that it is cheaper to fly to Australia and golf there than it is to actually just golf in Singapore. So it remains a hobby of more wealthy people.] This port is either number one or number two in the world (depending on what stats you look at, it flips between the two) and sees nearly 1/5 of all global transaction volumes.  The port is build on reclaimed land (read: boatloads of sand are imported from Indonesia and dropped in the water to expand the size of Singapore) and it is hard to convey in pictures how big it was.

Our brief tour was prefaced with a quick presentation on the 40th floor of the PSA building. The weather was perfect and the views were amazing. In this first shot, we could actually see Indonesia.

Singapore: more from Day 1

From top:

This afternoon, we spent a bit of time in Thian Hock Keng in Chinatown. This temple was built in 1839-- the entire structure is wood, and doesn't have a single nail in it. It was in the middle of Chinatown but when it was built, it was right on the water-- sand importing has since added nearly 100 square km of land to Singapore, taking away the temple's waterfront view.

For dinner, we walked through the city to Muthu Curry in Little India. It was about a 30 minute walk, very pleasant (if a little humid). My close friend from high school, Billy, was a great sport and met us out at dinner, after cabbing there after work. The special at Muthu is "Fish Head Curry" which, sorry Hud, Dad, and Mike, is a spicy curry with, literally, a whole fish head in it. Surprisingly, it was delicious. The meat was extremely tender, and the curry was amazing.

After dinner, Billy took us to KBox karaoke, a local karaoke joint at CineLeisure on Orchard Street. You enter the place and choose a room based on the size of your party. Our room had couches lining the walls, with tables in the middle. There is a TV on the wall with songs listed, microphones, and clip footage is rolling during the song. This third photo is of some of the footage during the Queen song, Bohemian Rhapsody. Instead of using the real music video, the karaoke company has staged a scene of a young boy dealing with the strife of having melted his army toy in a toaster. ("Mamaaaa.... just killed a mannnn....")

And finally, a classic shot of me and Billy rocking out to Mariah Carey. Oh, high school memories.

(Sperry-- see the watch? Love it!)

Singapore: Day 1

After a DELICIOUS breakfast at the Continental, we hopped on our morning bus tour with our guide Rocky. He drove us around Chinatown and down to the iconic Merlion, which is the symbol of Singapore (half lion, half fish). The top photo is Singapore from across the water, and the spiky domed building is the city's answer to the Sydney opera house. Dad, you'll appreciate this-- Rocky had seen the Eagles in concert there, and said "they were beginning to look more like bald eagles, though."

On our way back to the bus, a man with a snake offered to let us take photos with his pet python. It must have been the jet lag, but I actually said yes. The group took a few photos, and some tourists we didn't even know jumped in and took pictures, too. (Random stranger photo tally: 2.)

International travel

Here are our before and after photos from our flight. Not bad, right? We just stayed hydrated and slept as much as we could. PS, food on the United flight was not too good. Note to self: bring more GORP next time. 

Made it in-- no problems!

After a 3:45 am cab pick-up (thanks Tali), a 5 hour layover in Chicago, a 16 (?) hour flight to Hong Kong, and a 3 hour flight to Singapore, we are finally here in the city! The Intercontinental is gorgeous (see picture), and the beds are incredibly comfortable. We made it to bed at around 3 after a quick trip to Cheers (like a 7/11) across the street for some bottled water and cough drops. This morning we had an amazing breakfast (westernized, but with some traditional asian foods) at the hotel. Probably some of the best coffee I've ever had!

How to read a blog

I won't name names, but there happen to be a few people in my family that might not know how to read a blog. So below, please find a tutorial for the beginner blog-reader.

Elements of the blog:

Title bar- that's the thing up above that says "Lauren, meet Asia." That's the name of my blog.

About me- that's the square to the right that says my name and has my picture. It won't change much.

Blog archive- that's right below my profile. It's basically like a table of contents for the posts that I've written. You can sort through them and find a specific one.

Blog posts- that's what this is. Each time I post, it's like a little journal entry. Each post has a date, time, and title. The "labels" at the bottom of the post are like topics. You can click on them and see all posts under that topic.

Blog posts are in reverse chronological order, meaning that the newest post is at the top.  Each time I post, it will show up at the top and push everything else down on the page. If you want to start from the beginning, scroll to the bottom of the page.

If you'd like to comment on something, just click "comment". You can leave me messages, poke fun at me, or make suggestions.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Small island, big promises!

A classmate of mine sent us this slideshow, 36 Hours in Singapore (NY Times), in honor of the fact that we're leaving in fewer than 36 hours. There is so much for us to do on such a small island.

Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo

Clarke Quay

East Coast Lagoon Food Village

KBox Karaoke (thanks Billy)

No Signboard Seafood

I can't wait to have 3 breakfasts a day so that I can try all of the street food.

So a group of MBA students walks in to a bar...

... and decides they wanted to go to Southeast Asia. The result? SE Asia GATE (Global Academic Travel Experience).

I'm traveling to Asia for 14 days and believe it or not, I get course credit for it. We're traveling to Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand. T-minus 27 hours...