(Almost) Home! July 2017

Back in the land of loud, angry, rushed people. Seriously. I can't decide if it's New York or the US so I'm going to hang on to that statement and see how it holds as I spend the next week traveling around here.

One bonus of being home? I know what cars look like when I call an Uber! Other than 95% of them are Priuses, I have a clue as to what a Toyota Corolla looks like. Or your average Hyundai. Pete and I routinely commented on having zero clue to what we were looking for when expecting a car. Perodua? Proton? Myvi? Axia? I got nothing! Kuala Lumpur can have the title of the rudest Uber drivers, by the way.

Another beautiful thing in the US: When looking at a menu you can reasonably expect the food listed to be available. If not, a waiter generally lets you know ahead of time that tonight chicken is not available. Cool. In Asia I have found that a Plan B is an absolute must,  Plan C goes a long way as well. Or sometimes you just have to walk out of the place a la Heather and I. When A, B and C failed we needed to get grub somewhere where they actually had some.

Food,  oh food, how I love thee. I'm scared to step on a scale when I get home but I haven't ended my eat-everything-in-sight tour yet. NYC with its delicious tacos, sushi, gelato, pastrami and lox did not disappoint. Being home will undoubtedly make my trainer work harder in September and that's just as well. Bring on the cooking, grandma!

Another thing in Michigan that awaits me is am 8 year old fella with whom I had the pleasure to videochat every day for the last 5 weeks. Sometimes Wi-Fi didn't cooperate but most days we got to see each other, no matter how pixilated. 

I'm very lucky that I get to spend almost every waking hour with my kiddo. Having 75% custody means I am "on" most of the time. My life is very unbalanced that way, I'm a single mom 10 days in a row with no family in sight (but amazing friends willing to help!) and 4 days of being an adult with zero kid responsibilities. I am also lucky that he loves his grandparents and great grandma and impatiently awaits his annual visit to speak Russian, go to Goldfish Swim School every day, eat way too much ice cream, do one week of camp (this year it was Harry Potter Lego camp, how cool is that?!) and take a break from me. Absence does make the heart go fonder! And not an ounce less important, I get to take an extended period of time for me. When I started my long trips in 2013 I was being judged left and right. He needs you! Don't you miss him? Wow, I could never do that! My kid would cry ALL. DAY. LONG. 

My kid does need me. I do miss him. But he also has an army of people who adore him and jump at every opportunity to be a part of his life and leave an impact. The pictures and videos I have gotten in the last month have reassured me that the last 5 summers have been perfect. For both of us.

One thing I was thinking about as I get ready to see him is that I haven't missed his horrid eating. I have not missed begging anyone to eat a vegetable or finish their meal. Just thinking about it really stressed me out! But that's the importance of being gone and getting myself out of the every day rut. I was able to step back and see what I need to focus on as we make new memories together in the next 5 weeks. Remi and mama tour starts today and I'm excited! 

We don't need no U.N. we have Justin Bieber! Penang/Langkawi July 2017

Last I wrote I was leaving my solo adventure behind and meeting bf to take over Malaysia and make my way back (towards) home. 

There is a difference between a trip and a vacation. Now I know I am not working hard but hear me out. 

Last year, as I was embarking on a 14 day trip to Ecuador with my students, one excitedly exclaimed "I can't wait till our vacation!!!" It stopped me dead in my tracks. "Vacation? You are not going on vacation! You are going to work so hard and be exhausted once you come back. This is will be a vacation after which you'll require a vacation!" Somehow I was puzzled that a kid thought we were going on vacation. Did they not know they'll be sleeping 4 hours a night? Writing journals? Negotiating shower schedules with their roommates? I noticed I was in some weird way offended by the word "vacation" and now was determined to tell them how hard it was going to be and not. any. fun. at. all. What the hell was wrong with me? 

Fast forward to this summer and between the epic Lombok bathrooms (you know you saw the evidence) and being stranded in various places and ordering who-knows-what and trying to figure out what holiday is being celebrated today, I was on a trip. Most definitely not a "vacation." Do I expect someone to say this wasn't fun? Feel pity? Oh no, one is by no means better than the other. Just totally different. 

So with that, my blogging stopped/slowed down when my "vacation" started. Who blogs about a nice hotel and blue waters? Everyone has seen them. With that being said, here are some thought on the last few days:

-I really like passion fruit.  Mojito, pie, ice cream, tea, passion fruit is sweet and tangy and perfectly refreshing.  Do we have passion fruit flavored stuff in the US? If yes, I want to eat all of it.  

Passion Fruit Mojito on the left

- I'm going to miss wearing flip flops 24/7. On most days, I didn't even wear those and went barefoot.  I can do beach life. 

-My favorite Pete quote for the week: "I can't think of a more scary thing than to sit on the back of your jetski." The man knows me well and good thing there are single jetskis available though we never ended up on any.

-It's no secret that my planning sucks and when Pete and I started to figure out which part of the trip he wanted to join, his one non negotiable was Penang. Having never heard of it and what it was about I didn't care either way. As we started talking to people everyone raved about the food. Penang is all about the food! The street food! The carts! Food food food! 

Penang has a lot of food, no doubt about that. Cluster of food stalls appear in every neighborhood and are called Hawker Centers. Please don't give me crap but... The food was good. Cheap. Accessible. But the best food I've ever had? Nah. Memorable? Maybe because we followed a blog and had to eat every single thing listed (we came pretty close) but the thing that made Penang special?  Street art.  Around every corner, a surprise awaits you. A mural of kids on a swing (with a real swing you can sit in), a picture of a kid grabbing a cup (real cup, of course), a child pulling his dinosaur closer (dinosaur NOT real). The murals invite you in and tourists are happy to oblige. The images are beautiful and seemingly never ending.  If it weren't for 2720 degrees and about 98% humidity, I could have spent countless hours walking around George Town photographing the images.  

-When I leave Southeast Asia I won't miss smoke. I know I have mentioned it before but the smoke, the fumes, more smoke and more fumes are tiring and I miss free air. I don't mean the beautiful air on the beach  

(even though that's sometimes fume-y too because of all the boats), I just mean regular air for breathing.  The one we take for granted. Thank you, whoever passed the "no smoking inside" law in CA and most of the US, because my goodness, I got used to that luxury at home. I also won't miss the constant bug bites and perpetual canckles but unfortunately no one has taken that on as their political agenda.  One last frustrating thing in these parts of the world is the incessant use of plastic and the ridiculous packaging. Would you like a plastic bag to wrap your plastic bag? Yes, it's that bad! Our breakfast this morning was wrapped in plastic, then a banana leaf, then newspaper then placed in a plastic bag. I made it a bit of a sport in the last month to grab the items and shove them in my bag before the plastic comes out. The waste...

Rice and anchovies and chilli paste wrapped in all the things listed above. Breakfast.

-This trip has been without a doubt the most religiously diverse I've ever had.  All the temples and mosques and even one cathedral.  Malaysia seems to be a hodgepodge of religions living under one roof. "Pork Free" signs are large and signage for "No alcohol" is everywhere. Yes, even on an island where a day without a piña colada seems incomplete. But then you turn the corner and find yourself in a Chinese area where crispy pork is on the menu and you are offered a cold Tiger to wash it down.

These differences can't be more obvious than on the beach. Muslim women in full outfits, several layers of clothing, and others in bikinis and one piece bathing suits.  For me the best thing has been to be in these situations as I am and others being as they are and everyone minding their own business. I don't know what people say under their breath but at no point have I felt judged or received a look I didn't appreciate.

-I already wrote about lack of Americans in Indonesia and that hasn't changed in Malaysia. I heard some Russian on several occasions but the only English here is either British or broken. Lots of tourists from Middle East and Asia. Come on, Americas, join, this place rocks for oh so many reasons!

-"No tipping" takes some getting used to. In Cambodia, tipping $1 was fine and expected, regardless of the amount spent. In Hong Kong, we had to talk the lady into accepting our $2 tip and she wasn't sure if she should keep it or give it to her boss. By the time we got to Malaysia, no one was tipping anyone and it was just fine. We are so conditioned in the US to reward good service and a smile, we can't just enjoy it for what it is. Speaking of money...

-During a cruise on an incredible handbuilt yacht I was lucky enough to draw attention to myself (?) via "Despacito." Let's back up... Pete and I set out on a yacht built by a German Polish Jew refugee from Heidelberg for a sunset cruise. The views were incredible, the history of the yacht just as impressive  (only yacht built old Malay style available for charter) but the people on board were the story. The Indian couple quickly making friends with the Saudi Arabian couple in their 20s. The Australians who help disabled children for a living offering us to use their towel, the gay New York couple currently living in London sharing their travel stories, the Koreans wanting to take a picture with us without even speaking one word beforehand. 

       My fishy taking a dip mid sunset cruise 

Back to the Saudi Arabian couple. When they got on the yacht the girl was wearing full garb, face covered included, with only eye slit for her to see. As we got on the boat, she took off the face cover and spent the majority of her time taking selfies. The guy, dressed in full on Western clothing, ran up to the DJ  (who knew there was one and he was taking requests?!) and asked for the Justin Bieber song.

"Despacito", I ask him?

"Yes!"

His face breaks out in a huge grin. The song plays and the entire boat is now in it. Young and old, bikini and burka, we are all jamming away. I make a quick video on my phone and out of nowhere a 15 yr old Lucy hops over to us. An English student from China is incredibly excited that I *too* know the words. OMG. Later on as the cruise progresses, Lucy and I reconnect and she almost loses her mind that I am from California and CAN GO TO JUSTIN BIEBER concerts. Her English is incredible and she shares the difficulty of learning it in China, no access to Facebook to Twitter or Snapchat. She repeatedly comments on her poor English while using bigger words than Pete and I do on regular basis. As she walks away, I know we made her night and I look forward to keeping in touch with Lucy. Pete comments how he sees the value of what I do. If my students  (maybe one or two a year, let's be honest) can come up to a stranger 2 decades their senior and talk in Spanish to them then holy crap, is my job done.  How does this tie into money? Lucy wants to be an interpreter. 

"That's awesome, interpreters make lots of money" I volunteer.

"It doesn't matter about money" she says, "it's what makes you happy"

BAM. 

Where to Travel? A Few Thoughts. July 2017

Every so often you go on a trip and on the last day you are ready to go home. You've had the tasty food, met the people, enjoyed the lovely weather, got the rest and you are ready to get back to real life. But then on a rare occasion a special place steals your heart. As I leave Ubud (I spent 7 days in Bali and never saw anything outside of it!), I'm feeling sad. I can list all the cool things I did here, which of course are well documented on the blog and Facebook but I can't explain the vibe. In fact, I won't even try.  I hope that through my jibber jabber over the last week something peaked your interest and you've been able to sense why Ubud is what it is. But this blog entry is not about that.

A few days ago I met a girl from Barcelona traveling solo. It's always amazing how much people open up to each other when they meet traveling. One night, we saw traditional Balinese dance (I wasn't a huge fan) and ate questionable gluten-free, dairy-free, taste-free crepes. Last night,  we had a phenomenal 3.5 hour dinner (as one does with a Spaniard!) over French food and cosmos. Of course, I got my Spanish practice so double bonus there. Tonight we had some gyros and made plans to hang out next time I'm in Barca. Done. 

On my sunrise trekking adventure, there were many couples and I. The French and Argentinians were super unfriendly but the Australians and Brits took me in. And the French smoked non-stop  (yes, while hiking a volcano) so the stereotype was well and alive there.  Some days you meet cool people, others not. All part of travel. 

Yestersay during my Balinese cooking lesson, there were people from Iceland, Canada, Philippines,  yours truly and a mother/son duo from Sacramento.  First of all, wow, Americans! Rarity here. Second of all, that mom is truly my goals. She doesn't do any organized tours, loves the planning aspect, her son who is going into his senior year was such a polite, well spoken guy who wanted to come to Bali because he saw a cooking show with Indonesian food. Mom is planning a trip to Uganda and the kid was trying to get permission to go solo to Eastern Europe. Seriously?! Who are these people?!?!?!? If Remi turns out quarter as cool as that kid, I am all in. 

Over the last few days there were people of different ages and backgrounds but we all had one thing in common. Choices of travel locations. Warning: Do not read further if you love Europe and are easily offended. I'm about to go to town. Also, I love Europe. But it's easy. So easy. So perfect.  So approachable.  There is something about traveling to more difficult places that pulls you in and facilitates the desire to do more. 

A driver left Heather and I in the middle of the night in the rain? We got a different ride and a great story from it. I ordered a mango and a coffee in Hanoi last year, they brought me a mango smoothie. Awesome, it was tasty. A driver dropped us off in the wrong city? Met some lovely people, made more memories and got home safely. Got the wrong sarong? Sweet, now I have a dress made from the material. I'm full of random anecdotes, the highlights never start out as planned.

I noticed something funny this past week. My most liked and discussed pictures have been of a nasty bathroom in Lombok, monkey porn in Ubud and bloody knees from Mt. Batur. It's curious how we tend to chase the beautiful rainforest or the turquoise water but at the end of the day, those are postcards.  They are rarely real life.  There is nothing to talk about when you see a pretty sunrise.  Sure it's beautiful but that's rarely *the* story. Biting it hard and walking around town trying to find Indonesian Neosporin for two days *that's* the adventure. 

Europe is a great starting point.  It's where you start to see new things in a safe travel environment. Very little can go wrong, the bathrooms will be clean (you may have to pay to use them), the food often familiar. Water is drinkable and you will probably not get run over by a car. The showers will be hot and you'll enjoy every second!  I am, of course, generalizing but the idea is there. Once you are a comfortable traveler there are so many places off most people's radar dying to be explored.

It's pretty neat to sit around the table with people listening to their stories of places I haven't even considered. Nobody talked about all inclusive resorts in Mexico or Hawaii nor Paris or London. Maybe some of us are misogynistic by nature and want the torture travel? My guess is that it's not it. You can have a cheap or a million dollar trip to Ubud. To Cape Town. To Siem Reap.  It's just that sometimes we lack creativity and tend to go places most traveled. I'm as guilty as the next guy and have made it a point in the last four years to get to those places before I die. My current wish list consists of regular easy locations and some creative ones but where will I go next? Not a clue. So next time you are traveling, I hope you too will look for an adventure off the beaten path. There are so many places that will take your breath away. 

Singapore July 2017

I had read that Singapore was a lovely Western-like reprieve after busy, unorganized and dusty Southeast Asia.  I had also read that it's really expensive. Neither of those things bode well for my travel destination choices and I carefully crafted my layovers to avoid Singapore.  Even though *I* made sure to avoid it someone has a layover in Singapore and I thought it would be nice to meet him before we headed off to Malaysia. Oh man, I was worried if he was cute enough to justify Singapore but he got lucky, this place is gorgeous.  Ok ok, he is definitely worth it regardless :)

I was in the country for mere minutes and a stranger paid my bus fare since the driver didn't have change. Very sweet! I even threw a xie xie her way.

Other highlights include:

The incredible not warm croissant at VXX Cooperative. 

Amazing classical music concert at the Singapore Botanical Gardens last night.  

Getting lost in the architecture of Duxton area, pics to come. Mix of old and new is quite impressive here.

Speaking of getting lost: Walking. I walked miles today from Chinatown to Telok Ayer to Downtown to Marina to you name it. The buildings are unique and the only way to take it all in is to be cheap, I mean walk.  

My delicious $3.40 lunch of masala dosa, methu vadai and chai at Tekka Food Center in the famous Little India. I haven't been to India but I imagine it just like that. It's probably louder and busier and that's a scary thought.

River Boat Cruise opened up my eyes to the beauty of this place and threw in tid bits of history. The waterfront is quite a sight and I took over 200 pictures during a 40 minute ride. Shocker.

Gardens by the Bay is an expansive area of vertical gardens made look like trees, Heritage Gardens representing the history of Singapore and anything you ever wanted to know about plants and flowers. It is free for the outside gardens and after spending three hours there I didn't touch on a quarter of the space. The inside gardens are a cloud forest and the world's biggest glass greenhouse. Since there was an extra charge for those, I stayed outside enjoying what I could before the dark settled in and the light show started.

The light show was set to Broadway music with the lights playing along accordingly.  It was really cool but my video can't do it justice. I'll be Googling one to share. 

After one light show on to another? I ended the eve a light and music show over the water, with the dramatic skyline in the background.  Beautiful way to end the day.

To be honest,  I started this blog in the morning and it was quite a negative piece of writing.  As the day went on, I started to enjoy Singapore more and more and by the eve I was loving it.

I won't ignore my original worries of this place and some of the things I was concerned about (cost!) were indeed true but I made the absolutely best of it and still have money to eat tomorrow.  
Bonus, right?

A 20ish year old guy came up to me and asked if I  spoke Spanish, Portuguese, English or Polish. Odd selection of languages and I told him what I speak. He proceeded to tell me how he and his friends are traveling from somewhere to Nepal and it's been an amazing adventure. Last year they traveled from Mexico to Brazil.

-Can I take a picture of you?

--Why?

-It's a Polaroid so I'll give you the image. It's how my friends and I fund our travels. Only $10.

 

Crap y'all, *that* is an entrepreneurial skill! I hope he found someone today because señora doesn't drop tens like that.  Maybe I should have? I almost instantly regretted denying him. Would you?

Some other random things during the day: 

Walked into a tea house. Chose a seat. They told me it's  $5 "room charge" for that area. I moved to a different area. Sat down. Tea $30. Walked out.

Salon wanted to charge $15 to remove nail polish before applying new one. That's a no. 

Ordered the aforementioned croissant at a super hipster place and the lady questioned why I would ever want it not warm. He entire exchange was odd and I think the encounter changed her life. 

I was excited to visit Baba House, a heritage house museum to get some historical info. I emailed ahead to make reservations. I took the bus there and the lady said they only take reservations that were booked two weeks ago. TWO WEEKS?! 

On my first eve I needed something to do since going to bed at 8 seemed like a bad use of time. The highly recommended Night Safari was fun but not spectacular. I forgot how loud children are, especially if you keep them up at 10:30 pm. I had this romantic idea of a quiet ride through the jungle but got an Oakland Zoo train ride for $45. The set up was beautiful but the children annoying (yes, I know I have one!) and I wonder how much the animals love having lights illuminating them late at night. 

But let's not end on a negative note. Singapore is beautiful and I'm glad I came. My mood throughout the day reminded me one more time to do as much as I can and not get discouraged by first impressions. If Heather and I conducted our week in Indonesia based on the first few minutes of scary men swarming us at the Lombok airport we would have had one crap of a time. Every single place (even Panama ;)) has something to see, do and eat, you just have to find something that is up your alley. Singapore has all those things and even though it's way too expensive for a long trip, I'd be happy to have it for my layover next time I'm Asia. Ya know, on my way going to places I actually love ;)

In a couple of hours my solo adventure comes to an end and my favorite package arrives. We are off to Malaysia tomorrow!