Singapore - Mah Jong Update

Mixed Results
I played Mah Jong a few times, starting off slowly and finishing stronger. I generally felt like I was more in control of what I was doing and knew what was going on. I was aware of the wind of the round and my own wind at all times. I made some mistakes but I knew what they were. I also made some big scores, the best of which was a $45 hand - the last hand of the last game I played. Unfortunately, with typical facetiousness, I lambasted the player to my left for being unfriendly - as in not feeding me any good tiles. I was joking. I ended up offending the poor lady, a family friend I'd just met. Later, when Dodo's mom complained to her about it I was once again reminded that my serious, fierce face doesn't lend itself to dry jokes with strangers...

Singapore - Fort Canning Park

Highest Point in Downtown
I wouldn't have believed I was surrounded by downtown's tall buildings if I hadn't left them ten minutes prior to clambering to the top of this tiny park. At 200 feet it's the highest point in the central business district and is thought to be the burial site of ancient Malay kings dating back 600 years. When the English arrived and started building a fort on top of the hill they couldn't convince the locals to help - it was then known as Bukit Larangan, which means "forbidden hill."

Singapore - the Towers, Final Chapter

Checking out the Roof Deck
I'm pretty excited about my roof deck so I take any chance I can to see one and get ideas. Granted, this one is 57 stories up, on top of the three towers I've been following for over a year, but I was still eager. We figured a week day afternoon would be less crowded and we were right. After a quick elevator ride we stepped out onto what felt like the top of the world.

Sydney - the Map

The Map
I made a map of the places I went. Navigate to the map by clicking on the link that says "Sydney", below.

View Sydney in a larger map

Sydney - Language

What I Call the "-ie" Phenomenon
Australians love to shorten words and add an "-ie" or "-y" to them. Excuse me, I mean "Aussies" love to....

Some examples:
brekkie - breakfast
bikkie - biscuit
brickie - bricklayer
greenie - environmentalist
hottie - hot water bottle (not a sexy woman)
kindie - kindergarten
middy - beer glass that measures 285 milliliters

Sydney - the Election

First Hung Parliament in 70 Years
Saturday night was the big night. They'd been building up for this moment for many months and the television and newspapers covered nothing else. Austalia was voting for a new prime minister and parliament. I had a hard time figuring out who the good guy was and who the bad guy was: it was the incumbent Julia Gillard against a Labor Party challenger named Tony Abbott. Apparently, noboby else could figure it out either. Neither won a majority. There are five independent seats out there for the grabbing which make all the difference in the outcome. Let the jockeying begin...

Sydney - Ferry

Direct to Manly Beach
We hopped on a ferry to Manly Beach, which is a thirty minute ride northeast, across the bay, on the Pacific Ocean. We got on the ferry at Circular Quay, home to one end of the Harbor Bridge and next door to the opera house.

Sydney - Getting Out to the Burbs

Everleigh Market
On Saturday morning I told the Dodo I was taking her out to the burbs. She didn't seem too excited to go - she kept asking me for the destination but I only said "a market." We hopped on a train for a few stops south to a neighborhood called Darlington. Our destination was the Everleigh market - a farmer's market that only takes place on Saturday.

Sydney - the Wharf

Staying With the Gentrification Theme
Just west of the harbor bridge is a large wharf which was the epicenter of the wool trade. It is now a renovated mix of stylish apartments and commercial space. Where wharfies once toiled endlessly for low pay, the upwardly mobile now sip lattes and fine wine. I'd be referring to myself if I weren't imminently downwardly mobile....

Sydney - Strange Bird Identified

Australian White Ibis
Relative of the African Ibis, the one venerated by the ancient Egyptians as symbol of the god Thoth. Sadly, the Aussie cousins seem to have fallen in the pecking order, fighting it out with pigeons for park scraps.

Sydney - Gentrification

Surry Hills
This old neighborhood dates back to the early 1800's and was named after Surrey Hills in Surrey, England. It's the usual story - close to downtown, folks abandoned it for the suburban dream and in the 1970's the entire neighborhood was derelict. Lately, it has made a big comeback.

Sydney - Transport

Jumping the Train
I woke up starving this morning and Dodo had already gone to work. I wanted to get out of the CBD (central business district) so I jumped a train/metro south a few stops.

Sydney - Eastern Suburbs

It's Obvious Why Downtown Clears Out Early
Puffin told me to pay attention to how quickly after work the downtown area shuts down and empties out. On a visit to the eastern suburbs it became clear to me why.

Sydney - the Opera House

More Interesting Close Up
I took a walk after breakfast on the inner harbor. I walked through the huge botanical gardens east of downtown unaware that they lead directly to the opera house. Up close, the angles are much more interesting, especially in direct sunlight.

Sydney - First Impressions

Let's Get the "Mother" Shots Out of the Way
Our hotel is a ten minute walk from the bay, home of the iconic Sydney opera house. This is a view looking east through a restaurant window.

Sydney - Jetlag

It Affects Different People Differently
We're here. I got a headache and feel like I've been hit by a bus. Dodo is by turns cracklicious, happy....

Next Up - Sydney Australia

Going Down Under
By the time you read this we'll be on a flight to Sydney. We leave at 9pm Singapore time and arrive 7 hrs later at 6am Sydney time. Sydney is 2 hrs ahead of Singapore, 8 hrs ahead of Paris and 14 hrs ahead of NY. I'm still officially working this week and trying to get the Parisians to believe I'm in NY. When I ask them to schedule meetings at 10am their time, which will be 6pm Sydney time, they have to be suspicious - that would be 4am NY time....

Nevertheless, trick them I shall. I only have three more work days until 10 days straight of vacation. The only issue? I didn't bring the appropriate clothes. It's spring down under - with the temps rising to mid-60s during the day and into the 40's at night. Going to have to make a quick stop at the mall when I arrive.

Penang - Final Word

Lots of Walking, Sightseeing and Eating
Puffin (aka Dodo) eating breakfast at the hotel. Or shall I say, first breakfast since we almost always followed up our hotel breakfast with a "street" breakfast.

Penang - Religion

It's a Toss Up
Like Singapore, there are many different races and religions. I think I've grown accustomed to it but with all the buildings of worship in Penang, it's more pronounced. There are mosques, Hindu temples, churches and Chinese temples. They're all intact in their original form - probably one of the reasons that Penang is a UNESCO world heritage site. This is the Acheen St mosque.

Penang - Khoo Kongsi

Keeping it in the Family
The literal translation for kongsi is "clan hall" but it's much more than that. They're found throughout the Chinese diaspora and serve as benevolent organizations that helped Chinese immigrants overcome economic challenges, racism and social ostracism. To get the benefits though, you have to come from the specific clan, in this case the Khoo clan.

Penang - Regular Hood

People's Court
This small neighborhood is just south of Campbell Street, we discovered it while looking for a bakery. It's old-world Malaysia. Small houses, smaller businesses, laundry hanging out to dry. It's called People's Court and the name seems apt.

Penang - Massage

Chinese Style -No Pain, No Gain
We ordered in 3 masseurs to the hotel. They're very cheap, you can get an hour massage for about $15 US. Since we'd already checked out of one room I got mine outside by the pool. The ladies got theirs in the room, two at a time. I cannot say I'm a fan of Chinese massage - it's so painful, they go after your pressure points and your tender nerve endings. It feels really great once they stop. I look relaxed in the photo but I was on edge, waiting for the next tender spot to be attacked.

Penang - Campbell St

Heart of Chinatown
This street used to be the red light district but turned into the main thoroughfare for the Chinese community. Personally, I find it strange since everyone is all mixed together and I couldn't tell what made this street more "Chinese" than any other. We walked it a few times.

Penang - Another One Rides the Bus

They All Go Back to the City, Right?
I planted a seed in Dodo's mind and it got transferred to the whole crew: we'd jump on the first bus that came by. After visiting Kek Lok Si temple and pigging out, we hopped on bus 201. It said "Jetty" on it so I figured it would go towards the NE side of the island, near the clan jetties.

Penang - Leaving Kek Lok Si

Feeding the Turtles
We walked down from Kek Lok Si through a maze of covered street vendor stalls. As you leave the temple you can feed the turtles. Dodo and Co. got some bread and tossed bite-sized chunks below.

Penang - Kek Lok Si Temple

The Largest Buddhist Temple in SE Asia
Kek Lok Si means "Temple of Supreme Bliss." It's located in the hills, inland, surrounded by thick, green jungle. We took a cab there in the morning and avoided the dreaded climb that those who take the bus must contend with.

Penang - Clan Jetties

The Chew Jetty
Google maps shows it best - the long, rickety piers on the NE side of Penang that are home to six clans. They're called the clan jetties and they've been around since the late 1800's.

Penang - Streetscapes

All Shapes and Sizes

Barbershop.

Penang - Flowers

From Our Hotel Grounds
Pops, can you name them all?

Penang - the Hotel

Schwanksville
Dodo secured us a spot at a small hotel west of the historical district. It's an old house converted into a hotel with only six rooms.

Penang - First Impressions

A Smaller Hong Kong?
It's a much larger island than I expected - about 5 miles by 10 miles. It looked to me like Hong Kong - a sharply mountainous, verdant piece of land with white skyscrapers dotting the shoreline. However, the comparison works only from far away. Once you're on the ground in Penang you're surrounded by shophouses and the buzz of scooters.

Next Up - Penang, Malaysia

Makan Trip with the Girlfriends
Makan means eat in Malaysian. In a few hours we're getting on a short flight with three of Dodo's girlfriends. They're a lot of fun. We'll be doing some sightseeing but I think the main attraction is food. I will try to keep up but I doubt I'll be able to. To set the stage, Penang is a small island off the the NW coast of Malaysia. In this map you can see it in the upper left hand corner. It's about 400 miles north of Singapore. Ipoh, the place famous for coffee in these parts is a few clicks south and you can see Kuala Lumpur near the bottom of the map. At the very bottom is Melaka, where I went on my last makan trip with Dodo's family last year.

Singapore - Happy Birthday

You're One Year Older
While we were away we missed the National Day. I was here for it last year as well. It's also time for the Hungry Ghost Festival. These two things fused in my mind when I saw this art installment downtown. The white bikes are supposed to suggest that Singapore is in its infancy as a country. They just looked like ghost tricycles to me.

Maldives - the Final Chapter

You Knew it was Coming, Right?
With all the foreshadowing of the last few posts, you knew I was destined to go ocean snorkeling, right? Dodo worked on me and I also worked on myself. I saw how well she floated with the life jacket and that gave me some comfort. We set off in the speedboat and were at the pavilion in 5 minutes. As I put on my equipment I noticed that the sea was not as rough as before, but there were some sizeable swells. I asked Dodo to get in first so I could take my time - she paddled away without looking back. I stepped down the first few steps and could feel the strength of the current. At the dive center the small Japanese lady who rented us the equipment told me to swim into the current and let it bring me back to the pavilion.

Maldives - Special Breakfast

But the Weather Wouldn't Cooperate
The staff set up a special breakfast table for us on a small jetty near the restaurant. They warned us that the weather was looking a bit off, but encouraged us to give it a try.

Maldives - Nighttime

Stargazing and Snacking
We usually didn't eat dinner at night. Rather, we'd visit the lounge and have a drink and some snacks on their deck. The star gazing was second to only Peru in my experience. It got deeply dark out in the middle of the ocean and the stars gleamed that much brighter as a result.

Maldives - Ocean Snorkeling

It's Official - I'm Dating a Crazy Girl
Nothing could dissuade her, not my logic, not the recent storm, not her snorkeling inexperience. She was going to go snorkel in the deep water - out at the "ocean pavilion."

Maldives - Fishing

Manly-Style: With a Hand Line
I learned to fish with a hand line in Bermuda. No pole, no special stuff, just the fishing line wound around a spool, a hook and bait. I was excited to learn they fish the same way in the Maldives. Dodo and I signed up for a twilight fishing trip in the ocean. We took a speedboat out to the Maldivian-style fishing boat. We were accompanied by our butler Khartik, a Japanese couple and a Chinese couple and their 3 year old daughter.

Maldives - Spa

More Water Views
Our hotel specialized in Indian-style massages and spa treatments. Not that I know a lot about this type of thing but when I looked at their menu that's the feeling I got. You could opt for various natural oil treatments where you are slathered with strongly-scented oil, sit in an old-fashioned steam box and then take a shower. You could also opt for a mud bath, where you are covered in mud and you lay on these warm tile beds, below.

Maldives - Lunch

By the Pool
On an island this small, having a poolside lunch rather than at the restaurant is considered variety. On the western side of the island close to the gym is a large outdoor pool near the ocean. We sat, ordered lunch and trolled through our photo shots.

Maldives - the Critters

The Fish are the Stars of the Show
However, if you don't have an underwater camera you have to focus elsewhere. One day we saw a grey heron drinking water on the lounge deck. He stood there so still that I wasn't sure he was real or part of the decoration.

Maldives - the Beach

A More Traditional Approach to the Water
On the western side of the island there is a beautiful white coral sand beach. Near the northern end of the island there is a small jetty with two deck chairs and an umbrella. You could sit out there, soak up some rays and sip a cool drink. See the small pavilion on the horizon, to the right of the umbrella? That's the "ocean pavilion." Crazy people take a boat out there to deep water snorkel.

Maldives - Ban on Electronics

So, We Kept it Analog
In an obvious strike back at me, Dodo banned television watching. I'd not let her bring along laptop or cellphone and this was retribution. I thought about arguing, but why bother? Matter of fact, when we arrived and learned there was a library that also had two computers with internet connection, I got worried. I told Khartik right away that Dodo was banned from those computers and I thought I'd have to keep my eye on her. To her credit, she never even tried. I, however, did watch a bit of television from time to time. Mostly, though, when we weren't swimming, eating or sleeping, we spent our time reading.

Maldives - Lagoon Snorkeling

Facing the Fear
On the morning of our second day with the low tide in my face, I couldn't hide any longer. I had to prove to myself that I wasn't a chump. Ok, the truth - I had to prove it to Dodo. Had she not been there, I could have comfortably chumped out - it's worked fine so far in my 44 years. I put on the flippers, spit into the mask, wiped it down (I remember that trick from Wild Kingdom), squeezed it over my head and bit down hard on the breathing tube. I waddled over to the ladder. Dodo gave me the thumbs up sign. If she only knew - I could barely breathe already. Once in, the water only came up to my navel. Still, these old fears are not rational. I bent over and put my face in the water. My pulse shot up. I was talking to myself. "Calm down, calm down. Breathe." Then, I did it - I pushed off and floated face first. The water closed over my ears and POW, I shot back up, standing straight, creating a huge splash.

Maldives - Yoga

Listen to the Sound of My Voiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice
I like Yoga. Rather, I like it after I do it - it really loosens me up good. Check out the yoga pavilion - out over the water with a view into the lagoon. So relaxing. Our instructor was a Indian guy whose name escapes me now. He was a doctor of yoga. I didn't know you could become a yoga doctor, but since it was on his nametag, I believed it. I was on vacation and ready to be gullible.

Maldives - Breakfast

..and Getting Used to Service

I didn't order a butler and it didn't appear that everyone there had a butler but for some reason, our villa came with a butler. His name was Khartik - he was from Chennai, India originally. He'd introduced himself the night before and walked us to our villa and I thought that would be it, but no, everywhere we turned, there he was freshening up our room, looking to offer help, giving us a ride in a golf cart or asking to book us some excursion. Neither of us was used to a butler - it really threw us in the beginning.

Maldives - the Plunge Pool

This Was More My Speed...
I'm not sure why it was called a "plunge" pool - maybe you're supposed to dip in and out quickly? I liked to lounge in it near one of the tall shutters that blocked the sun. I borrowed Dodo's hat and laid back, relaxed and sported my golfer's tan. Later I'd practice snorkeling - with flippers and all. I'm sure it looked pathetic - a grown man with a mask and fins splashing around in a 2-foot deep pool.

Maldives - Testing out the Lagoon

I Was the First One In, Sorta
You readers know that the kid doesn't necessarily like water. I like looking at it, cleaning with it, drinking it - I just don't like to swim in it. Sensing the low tide, however, I made my break. I'd been awake perhaps 20 minutes and wasn't thinking clearly. There were about 9 ladder rungs in total and 6 were showing. The water felt a bit cool so I just made a quick move in. It was very shallow, only to my waist, I had to kneel to get the water over my shoulders. I spent about 5 minutes in and then came back up.

Maldives - the Setup

Surrounded by Water
Our island was only about 700 yards long and perhaps 50 yards wide. It stretched north to south with a restaurant and bar on one end and a gym and spa on the other. There were a few small houses on the island near the beach but the majority stayed in thatched roof villas which were perched on stilts in the lagoon. The time zone is three hrs earlier than Singapore so we were wide awake by 6am. The tide was at its lowest - around 4 feet deep and the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. It was warm: 85 degrees with a nice breeze.

Maldives - the Approach

A Plane then a Speedboat
On the cab ride to the Singapore airport the Dodo was scratching her arms. "Babe, why can't I bring my iPhone?" She seemed a bit panicked. I'd banned all electronics - no laptop, no Blackberry, no iPhone. I don't think she'd ever been without electronics in her life. On the plane she was still poking me and complaining. However, once we landed at Male airport at the top of the map, below, the complaints had ceased - the adventure had begun. We were met at the airport by two hotel reps who walked us approximately 100 yards to a waiting speedboat. We hopped on and zipped along for 15 minutes to Embudhoo. It was around 10pm and totally dark.

We walked to our room and collapsed.

Mystery Trip Revealed....

South Male Atoll, the Maldives
Where? The Maldives are a series of 2,000 coral islands about 450 miles away from Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. They're a 4 hr flight from Singapore. The Dodo had no idea, not until we checked in. She thought she knew it all. As I told the cabbie what terminal to take us to, she confidently boasted "I know where we're going....to Bali!!" NOT.

Singapore - Condo Update

Eleven Floor and Counting
I stopped by and checked out the condo. They're up to the 11th floor, 6 more to go. They've already finished some ground floor apartments and put up the windows. After I snapped a photo, a gentleman walked up from behind and said "April of next year!" I figured he was talking about the hand-over date so I countered "Nope, Feb 2012." He waved me off "No, I work here, we're far ahead. Next year April or May." Everyone over here keeps telling me that Singaporean developers always deliver early. But 9 months early? I'm skeptical but open for a surprise.