...part 2

For our first real stop in Asia, Singapore is the place.  We really love it here.  While we may not want to live in Singapore, we want to live near enough that it would be easy to visit...mostly to see Tiffany and eat lots of good food.  Ooooh...the food...I crave it as we speak, uh, I mean, as I type.

Singapore

Stop 1...Singapore.  While I always think there's really not much to do here so we don't plan a ton of time here, I end up leaving wishing we had just one more day.  There is so much good food here!!  Since this was our second time to Singapore we knew a bit more about where to eat.  We stayed on Joo Chiat road again and went to the Joo Chiat hawker center a bunch of times.  I tried more of the drinks and since Greg and Kara are adventurous eaters, they tried a lot of different foods and fruits.  My favorite thing was probably the lime drink that I had over and over again as well as the pisang goreng (fried bananas...also known as heaven).

When we first got to Singapore we went through immigration and the officer was super nice.  At first, he looked like a gruff Chinese man, but he was very interested in all our travels and wished us well while calling us rich and lucky to do this before kids.  We collected our bags, had them scanned, and then made our way to the taxi stands.  Our driver was named Edward and it took a little bit for him to open up, but when he did, he told us about good food places and was really friendly.  The room we were assigned was as black and dark as you can get...perfect for sleeping.  We were starving, though, so we decided to see what we could get to eat before we slept.  There was a hawker center that made a noodle soup that was so good.  Greg and Kara ate from the same place but they had the fish ball soup and liked it too.  Now, finally, we could go to sleep.

We woke up at about 930 and went off to the Joo Chiat complex hawker center for breakfast and drinks before we set out to see the sights.  The list:  Nasi Lemak, 粽子 (zòngzi - sticky rice triangle with filling), 叉燒包 (chāshāobāo - steamed bun with meat filling), Lime Katsuri, Pisang Goreng, and a bunch of different fruit.  So good.

On our way back to the hotel to finish getting ready, I saw my friend Carlene in the lobby.  It was a surprise because we thought we weren't expecting her until the next day.  While in Utah we talked over the phone about having her and her friend take us on a tour of Singapore on the second day since we were flying in super, super early the first day and would most likely want to rest and take things easy on day one.  Well, I guess she got a little mixed up about that since quite a bit of time elapsed between the decision-making phone call and the actual event.  Whatever happened, there she was in our lobby writing us a note since we weren’t there when she arrived.  After a lot of back and forth as to why she was there early and why we hadn’t contacted the person we were going to visit with yet, we went upstairs to our room so we could give her all the stuff we brought over from the States for her.  From there we went out and wandered around Singapore with her.  She was surprised at how much more Jordan knew than her about a city she had worked in for so long.  Thanks to Jordan’s research for the trip this year, we were a bit more prepared than last time.  Last time was an accident…instead of Thailand, we ended up in Singapore and Malaysia to avoid all the riots going on in Bangkok and we’re so glad we did.  Singapore and Malaysia are some of our favorite places now!  Anyway, we ate lunch at Lau Pa Sat festival market where we had wonton noodle soup, baozi, and some shrimp and chive 餃子 (jiǎozi).  The juice stand in the middle of the hawker center was watery and a big disappointment, my suggestion is that you find somewhere else there to get a beverage.

By the end of the day, we were kind of wet, very tired, and decided to split from Seow until the next day.  She needed to go home and get warm from the rain and we needed a nap.  Since dinnertime is when Tiffany was able to meet with us, we had time for one.  We planned to meet with Seow in JB (Johor Bharu) the next day so she could take us around up there to a bunch of great food places.  The nap was awesome, but not long enough for me.  We got up and got ready for dinner with Tiffany.  She and her boyfriend took us to a restaurant down the street from where we were staying in his car…which had enough seating for all but one of us; Jordan squished himself in the trunk.  The restaurant was really, really good!  We had venison, pepper beef, baby squid, eggplant, greens, chicken fried with shrimp paste, fried shrimp rolls, and a fish and vegetable dish.  すごくすごくおいしかった!  The chrysanthemum tea was also really good!  Even though we were pretty full, they invited us to dessert down on one of the streets famous for all its desserts.  We were definitely up for it even if we were full.  It felt like a night market street in Taiwan with just how densely packed it was with people.  Shave ice in Taiwan and Hawaii are similar to one another, and the place we chose had shave ice also, but this was unique because it was shaved into flavored ribbons of ice that were so smooth it was almost like eating ice cream.  Tiffany had the black sesame flavor, which was really tasty, and I got the coconut mocha filled with mango chunks.  Mochi is probably my favorite dessert on the planet.

Around 10 we were all full and tired, so we decided to call it a night.  They took us home where we all showered and fell asleep.

I had trouble staying asleep from about 545am onward, so when Kara and Jordan got up around 7, I stopped trying to go back to sleep.  We walked over to Dunman hawker center, but it was too early for them to be open, so we walked back over to the little hawker center across from the Joo Chiat complex for noodles and pisang goreng, both disappointing since the noodles weren’t as tasty and the banana place wasn’t up and running yet.  Good thing the complex was operational like usual, so we ate there and then walked through the shopping center across the street since checkout wasn’t for another 2+hrs.  After packing up our stuff and checking out we tried to contact Seow since we were supposed to be meeting up with her, but even after calling both numbers for her and sending her e-mails for an hour, we couldn’t reach her.  We walked to the train station where we made our way to the border…3½ hrs later, we arrived in JB.

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…on to Malaysia…

Asia...take 2, part 1

Oh heavens...I've done it again.  Well, I suppose it's more accurately a case of "I haven't done it again."  Blog updating is hard for the forgetful people like me.  And when I know it's going to be a post of massive proportion, I'm even more likely to postpone it until...well, whenever I finally feel like getting around to it.  (By the way, I've started another blog...heaven forbid...and I'm thinking it'll turn out the same way as this one.  But maybe having two will force me to be a little more regular with the updating since the guilt is now doubled...)

So yeah, Asia.  7 weeks was by far easier than 5.  Probably because we had been there already so I knew the drill, could handle the weather, got used to being bored with what I was wearing, was okay with buying souvenirs, and felt generally more comfortable this time.  Also, having friends with us was nice.  I really enjoyed having them with us.  Our traveling styles are quite different and we had a few struggles along the way, since we follow a "rush and then relax" pattern going through the cities to get to the beaches, but, overall, I liked having other friends with us.  If only we could find more people who were serious about traveling.  They were the first to show genuine interest in going with us and then, even more surprising, they actually made plans and saved money to really go with us.

Back to the story...our itinerary was: Maui, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, and Taiwan.  Since this post will be the post of the century in length, I'll just post each country separately so it makes it easier on me and on my audience's eyes when reading.  So...for starters...

Hawaii + Flights

Well, this one actually starts with a layover and not part of Asia (even though a bunch of Asians live and visit there)...but it was overnight on our way over the Pacific, so I thought I should mention it.  We flew in and spent a little time with a friend from when I went to boarding school at Kamehameha.  She met us at the airport and we went to eat lunch together at BaLe (a banh mi place that we still crave even though we're on the mainland near a bunch of places we could get more sandwiches like it).  It was so nice to chat with her for a while and get back in touch with what was going on with her and her life.  Afterwards, my brother-in-law picked us up and brought us back to his house since my sister was going to let us crash on her couch for the night.  After making a couple stops on the way to their house, I was so car sick that I needed a nap...a long one.  So Jordan went off for a walk around Makawao.  He went to my old elementary school:

After his walk and after my nap, it was dinner time.  We ate as a family with my sister, brother-in-law, and one of my nephews and had a nice time.  Dinner, a movie on the couch ("The One" with Jet Li and Jason Statham...mmm...what a man), and then sleep...since our flight was the next morning.  Morning came with birds of my boarding school days ringing it in.  Soft coos from the doves and a couple other birds I could never name.  On our way to the airport we picked up our much-needed Cook Kwees.  Because we were so early for our flight, we had time to wander around a shop in the airport and I was in complete disgust about the prices of treats and trinkets.  cook Kwees were triple the price per package and anything from Mauna Loa was just plain robbery.  Needless to say, we moved along fairly quickly because my loud and verbal abhorrence of their prices were embarrassing Jordan immensely.  There were quite a few things I noticed around the gates that hadn't been there when I was flying back and forth between home and Kamehameha.  Vending machines were one of them.  A "deal" if you compared a $3 coke from the machine to the $4 one from the kiosk just outside the inter-island terminal.

Soon enough we were in the Honolulu airport and I wished that our 2hr layover was 4 days longer so we could eat City Cafe's shave ice and see our many friends that are there.  But our wish remains unfulfilled...for now.  We met up with Greg and Kara and got some Chinese buffet food before heading over to our gate.  The customs officers were very nice and Kara and I left the gate a couple of times for the bathroom, a water break, and to get change.  By the time we were leaving for the second time, the guards teased, "Again?"

We boarded 45mins before our flight and I wondered why, but was soon enlightened when we saw that very few of the Filipinos on our flight actually listen to directions and they try to smash bags that are too large and too heavy into the over-head compartments.  And they were stubborn too.  Throughout the course of the flight the movies started late, the food was so-so, and I thought I was going to go crazy.  The 10.5hrs to Manila felt longer than the 13hrs to Taiwan from Seattle last year.  maybe it was because there was no free, personal movie screen where you could watch movie after movie until you arrived at your destination...perhaps I'm the only one who felt that way.

Traffic in the Philippines...oh goodness.  I've been in some crazy traffic before but this one tops all so far.  Like Bali, lines don't really matter and neither do turn signals--but that's why you have a horn!  Whether you tap or lean on it, people get the idea and there were no accidents on our way to Terminal 3 in Manila.  More on the Philippines when I get to when we actually stopped there for visiting.  Until then, a minor mention of their mind-boggling traffic "rules" should suffice.

Terminal 3 is probably the nicest terminal in the airport and it was so empty!  Granted, it was night time and we were flying internationally, but still...it was surprising to us.  While wandering, we ran into another American named Petra.  She was in the Peace Corps stationed in the Philippines but had a break so she was on her way to Taiwan for about a week.  Well, consider the floodgates opened since Jordan lived there for two years and I am in love with the place.  We started sharing all of our favorite places with her so she'd have a better idea of what to do once she got there and met up with her friend from high school.  She found out that we were Mormons and asked questions about the organization and functions of being on a mission.  I could gather that she either had a negative new of Mormons or not very much exposure to us because she'd occasionally look uncomfortable any time we'd mention something a little "churchy."  Well, she is from Georgia and a lot of people in the South don't like us, so it's not unexpected, but at least she knows the four of us are normal people.  We weren't getting all preachy, just clearing up some misconceptions that go along with explaining how our church is organized.  She was a bit surprised to find out that Jordan and I were married since we are pretty young.

And back to the flight stuff...  After being delayed an hour and moved two gates away, we finally boarded the Cebu Pacific plane to Singapore.  It was past midnight in Asia and I was beyond exhausted...to the point of finding it difficult to be nice or act un-drunk.  I slept the whole way.  Deplaning was pretty quick because they opened both the front and rear doors for us to get down to the tarmac.  As we left the plane and walked along the tarmac, I wanted to take a picture of the plane from so close, which we were told to refrain from doing, and as I was about to pull out my camera, I saw a guy getting scolded about the same thing--thus ended that little wish of rebellion.

...on to Singapore...