Team Pavel Rocking Nepal

We get so caught up in our lives that we forget, our lives are more privileged, more comfortable, and more enjoyable than majority of the world. Publicity and media is always around the life of the rich and famous, but over 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. Last week, I have had one of the great opportunities to help one family out of that 80%. 

Our team of twelve moved made our way to Kavre, Nepal, a small sleepy town outside of the capital Kathmandu. Lives are dramatically different from this small area away from the tourist destinations. The views are unspoiled, electricity came on and off, hot water is not always available, and Diet Cokes are completely off the shelf (we tried, 5 different stores). Yet at this place, without the usual worldly comforts, we managed to have one of the most fulfilling and amazing five days of our lives. 

Sure, we absolutely admit we have no idea what we are doing. Digging trenches, building foundation, laying bricks, we have no idea. Many times, our Nepalese counterparty had to correct our work. Yes, our pride is sometimes wounded - I mean how could we lay stones down inappropriately? Yet our hard work was meaningful. The house was half-way built after three days. Every bit helps. 

In addition, to our three days of hard work, sweat, and sometimes (just a little) blood, we stopped in Kathmandu for one evening to catch our flight. Never been to India, this is what I imagine Nepal to be. On our drive down, a herd of cows were crossing the road, causing a major jam. The temples are pristine - and peaceful. The style of temples are unique, where these styles are only in existence around the Himalayan community of Nepal and Tibet. Peace and prosperity - that's what we brought and took away from ourselves. 

Burmese Days

Out of all the Southeast Asians I have been to, Myanmar takes home the prize. I read Burmese Days by George Orwell on the trip; many of the scenes he describe in the book, I have witnessed on my trip. As the country has been cut off from most modernization, its people holds a type of purity that cannot be found in the tourist-driven commercial centers in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. Our taxi driver in Yangon, the cosmopolitan center of Myanmar, told us that we should not ask him to wait for us - we would have to pay $5 extra where as the fare from the temple to the airport was only $8 bucks and there are plenty of taxis around. We told him we are happy to pay him to stay, for we had luggage we didn't want to bring with us to the temple. 

Travelling in Myanmar is not cheap, for most things are government-run and there is very little market competition. Cambodia and Thailand are much better for a dirt cheap vacation. But Myanmar holds a magical sway - for it is not overwhelmed with tourists, its people are pure and humble. Our boat rower prayed at every temple we went to, and I can tell he was sincere. The land is not ruined by the mass traffic of tourism - and its sites are truly amazing. The UNESCO heritage does not rank Myanmar sites as a heritage center - I have been plenty plenty that doesn't compare to the places I went to in Myanmar. 

Bagan is the spiritual highlight of Myanmar. Climb any pagoda and you can see hundreds as far as the eyes can reach. There are so many that you can just curl up and read a book inside a 13th century pagoda by yourself, without ever being bothered by another human being, let alone an annoying tourist. The temples sites are beyond what some of the best temples I've been to in SE Asia. I am investing in the next Angela Jolie movie in Myanmar to increase its awareness to western tourists. 

Sunset over Bagan.

Flying in Myanmar is easy - just book ahead with an agent - they airplanes run like bus stations - there is no security and tickets are written in ink. The stop in all major tourist destinations and pick up random tourists along the way. For example, if you fly from Yangon to Bagan, you'll probably stop by Inle Lake or Mandalay first because there's not enough passengers from Yangon to Bagan to fill up the plane that day. Everything is an hour away from each other so why not? 

Inle Lake is a beautiful natural lake that has floating villages, temples, and just natural beauty surrounding it. While I have been to better 山水 (scenes), it is beautiful and worth a visit. My favorite temple was an abandoned temple on the southern tip of the lake. 

Fishing on Inle Lake

My favorite abandoned temple

Lastly, one must go to Pidaya caves. It's a cavern filled with millions of buddhas. While some are quite new, it's amazing how many there are in that cave. It is a sight to see. 

To date, Myanmar is my favorite destination in SE Asia. Go, before the tourists descend upon the country. Already there are signs of overwhelming tourism - with commercialization, it will just become another Cambodia or Thailand experience. Go now so you can experience the real Myanmar before it fades into the oblivion of commercialization and globalization. 

Singapore Cabs make Singapore unbearable

For such a well greased machine of a city, Singapore has a terrible cab management system. It is probably the hardest "cosmopolitan" city I know to hail a cab. One would think on a Tuesday night, in the financial district, there would be lots of available cabs as people are getting off work, they are taking cabs home. Yes, the cabs might  have green lights that signal they are available, but they refuse to stop for you. Why? Because of the random "fees" that is associated with the cab system. The cabbies are not incentivized to take as many passengers as possible, they are incentivized to wait for certain times or certain plans or certain circumstances that maximize their take of the proceeds.

As you're trying to hail a cab, you see lots of available cabs parked on a side road. You walk up to them, they refuse to take you. Why? Because they are waiting to be "called", where they receive an additional $3.30 fee for calling. If you walk by a busy street, no cabs will stop. Why? Because if they simply pick up a passenger a few blocks down, they get an extra $3.00 CBD charge.

The additional fees and incentives make it so difficult to find a cab - not because of supply and demand, for there's lots of ppl waiting with lots of green cabs driving by, but because of the convoluted incentives that slightly modifications in behavior will trigger. 

¿Se puede hablar español

Food in Spain is awesome! I don't get their eating schedule - at 8PM, no restaurant is serving dinner, yet everything I ate there was amazing. You can't go wrong, even if you show up at a random whole-in-the-wall. Even take out at a random hotel is good. At Cartagena, I went to one of the nicest meals I have ever had (including the foodie city of New York I use to live in), Los Churrascos. The shrimp was the nicest the tasting seafood I have ever tasted. When I asked how it was cooked, it was just boiled with rock salt. Wow. It was so juicy and sweet. It was unbelievable. The chef said it was so fresh it was alive in the morning. 

I had the good fortune to be sent to Spain to check out refineries. Not me, the experts, but I was the note-taker. While the travel was crazy: 5 days - 2 days on the plane, 3 days in Spain where every night was spent at a different hotel. In the total of one hour of free time I had in Cartagena, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Museo Teatro Romano, one of the oldest remaining Roman ruins in Spain. The theater was perfectly preserved  and I can imagine a troop performing Oedipus Rex on stage with the Roman chorus. 

2012 Travel Review

What a year. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to live in Singapore and travel around the world. See the world in a whole new perspective and become wiser. Here's a quick recap of my adventures this year. 

January - Going home with my cousins for Chinese New Year. I can't believe it's been ten years since we've all been together. I miss all of them so much and I hope we will remain better in touch. 

February - Kuala Lumpur weekends can be so much fun with you have the right girls. Annie, Jo, Suhanna, and Ronnie, what a great girls weekend we had in KL! Party, food, shopping, the whole package. 

March - What a crew. Building houses for those less fortunate than us. Hammer time in Batam with our fearless leader Mike Julian and the crew of Mike, Jess, Cian, Shaad, Janelle, and Parissa. We worked hard. We sweated hard and it was such a rewarding experience. Habitat for Humanity. This will become a yearly tradition. 

Jogjakarta - the Angkor Wat of Indonesia. The largest Hindu temples of the region. Definitely worth a visit. The experience might be better than Angkor Wat given the largest temples in tact is not known with very few tourists. Fact: Jogja has more Indonesian tourists than Bali. The locals know what's up. 

May - DARN IT! I'm suppose to have the greatest mountain climbing adventure in southeast Asia with everyone I love but work popped up and I was delegated to go to Houston. It's not a fair comparison at all. The only thing that was slight positive was I can now boast to be on the world's longest flight from Singapore to New York (business class only plane). 

June - While I traveled to Jakarta for work, I must say I loved the experience. I saw how things really worked in SE Asia. 

July - Langkawi - it's where the Muslim people go to the beach in burqas. Really. I am always impressed by the peaceful co-existence of the ladies scantily-cladded vs. the ladies dressed in full black cover up. Yet, we all enjoy the same beach, same sun, and same locations. It's one of my favorite beach vacations. 

August - after months of planning, finally we are at Cambodia! Koh Rong is the world's most remote, peaceful, wonderful place I've ever been. Angkor Wat was speechless. The temples are magnificent with a combination of Hindu, Buddhism, and other influences. The kings of Cambodia past left a priceless treasure for its people. PP was what I expected: I saw, heard, and felt the fears from the death camps. I must implore the US to teach as much about the rule of Khmer Rouge as they do about the Holocaust and Rwanda. Cambodia is a resilient country for bouncing back. 

September - Congratulations Ye! First of our friends to get married. We came miles away to celebrate your wonderful day. Then Ye lead us on one of the most memorable trips around China. Reminds us of the wonderful times we all had in high school. We were all a bit younger during the trip. One of the best trips of my life. P.S. Boxing Cats united!

October - While HCMC was not my favorite place in SE Asia, I appreciated the war history museum, the Cuchi tunnels, and the GREAT FOOD. I love the food. Everything in Vietnam tastes amazing. Pho, Ba Minh, coffee, French food, or any random food stall you see. 

 November- Australia is an amazing spot. Vineyards are amazing, beaches are incredible, the cliffs, the most beautiful. I now know why Andrew refuse to return home. When money is not a problem, Australia is the best place on Earth.

 Hello Shanghai. It feels good to be able to use Chinese and navigate like a little expert with Tracey. First trip with roomie. Totally amazing. We also saw one of the greatest acrobatic shows in Shanghai. HIGH recommend. The RMB 180 gives you a great enough view. Tickets can be bought on the spot.

Don't we look so hipster? November was a busy month and it concluded with one of the best weekend trips I've ever had. It's such a free and artistic city with an amazing food selection. Add the book sessions between meals and it is the best weekend anyone can ask for. 

 December - Hello Bali. One never gets tired of Bali. The beach, the shows, the rides, the adventures. Trust me, just go. Nothing more, nothing else.

Last trip of the year: Dubai. Beautiful tea, beautiful buildings, and sand dunes galore. How did they build this city in the middle of the desert? 

Of Food and Books

Located on the northern tip of Malaysia, the first thing anyone talks about Penang is the food. In preparation for our trip, we compiled a list of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, late night and backup food possibilities with distance markers from our bed and breakfast. Food is really good here. We searched high and low, went into residential neighborhoods and hunted down stalls that cannot be found: Rojak King, Penang Laksa, BBQ Wings, Roti Prata, Kaya Toast, Prawn Char Kuay Taow, Beef Noodles, fried oyster omelette, and crazy Indian milk with curry and spice mixed in. While there were impostors that tried to fool us from our end goals, we always made our way to the real stuff thanks to GM's nose.  We followed the food blogs to a teeth and sought after the highly written stalls. They rarely disappointed. My favorite is a tie between the Roti Prata and Penang Laksa.

Before I knew about the food heaven and recruited expert GM to come with, I actually booked my tickets to Penang to attend the Georgetown Literary Festival 2012, where SE Asian authors attended to present in various seminars. The sessions were conveniently scheduled in the later morning and early afternoon so we could fit our food quest in between. Out of the few sessions I attend, my favorite was the Imaginary (Home)Lands. A panel of authors discussing what is it like to be away from home, how to write about a land and make it real, and what does home really mean. That really resonated me given that where home is has been something I've been grasping with since I was a child. It's very nice to know that the authors have same of the same thoughts I have had in my life and are dealing with the same issues. The festival is actually quite well organized and a fun little weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I high recommend to people who just want a quick, fun, relaxing weekend away. Will try to attend next year as well if I'm in the region.

#BackintheUSA

"Bud light? That's too classy. We need Natty Lite."

"Dunk your Cheetos in the cheese sauce. It's the American way. Embrace it"

"I'm deciding between General Tsao's or Sweet and Sour Chicken."

"Can I get a medium diet coke?" (handed a 44 oz cup)

"Try this (moonshine). You might go blind, but it's really popular these days."

Election Fever

Interesting thing about living abroad is that I get to see other ppl's reaction to the US elections. What is surprising is that almost everyone has an opinion! Everyone watches closely, has passionate arguments on it, and will lecture me on their thoughts. Sad thing is, I probably don't even have a clue who their leader is.

It's surprising how much the world cares - on average probably know more than average Americans on the issues. Whaaaa?

The one thing I do miss: election parties. Time difference makes it impossible to do so here.

War education in HCMC is intense. Going through the cu chi tunnels, you have to admire the Vietcong's tenacity. The tunnels are super narrow- I was super worried for this guy that was slightly on the big size. There were section I felt I would get stuck in. I had claustrophobia after the 180 meter crawl.  A worthwhile endeavor, I recommend everyone to go as their top choice. Every hotel has a half day tour for around 20 dollars, with additional money if you want to come back by boat. The bus tour drops you back by the war museum, which I must warn potential visitors. The images are graphic -pieces of bodies blown to bits, bloody shots, deformed bodies and faces, and other acts of cruelty that are stomach turning. There are stillborn fetuses on display. Agent Orange's side effects seems to linger generations after its use. The museum spawned in passionate anger towards the US left no gruesomeness censored. 

<-- chi="chi" cu="cu" div="div" small="small" tunnels="tunnels" were="were">

Air pollution from exhaust from motorbikes are uncontrollable. Huge headache from windows being down from airport taxi. 

Night market was so-so. Very small but a variety of selections. 

Vietnamese food is excellent. Ban Chu on the street stalls were soooo delicious, and for less than 2 USd. Cuc Guan Quan, an amazing Vietnamese restaurant hidden in the suburbs of HCMC was spectacular - food and drinks wise. 

The Mekong Delta cruise that was highly recommended by friends turned out somewhat disappointing. Our tour guide seemed new - he really didn't know what he was doing or going. He was also aggressively pushing us to buy everywhere, and "recommending" specialties. While we had some good stops and pictures, most of the trip seemed like an attempt at tourist traps everywhere: every stop had things to sell, "special" "famous" "delicacies" at every stop. Lunch was quite terrible bc they were trying to get everyone to buy the premium dishes. The bus ride to the delta was close to 3 hours as well. Overall, not terribly worthwhile unless you have nothing else to do in HCMC. 

MORE SEXY - Canto Style Wedding

As we are trying to walk down this bridge in Guangzhou attempting to do a segment of PSY gangnam style - the over-jealous Chinese photographers can utter a few words in English, yet they scream "MORE SEXY!" at Michelle and I. Michelle gives the photographer a disapproval look and we re-shoot. Only for Ye's wedding would we endure this.

Ye's wedding party. Looking good. 

All of us who were there for Ye's wedding knew each other since high school, college, and professional life. That's 12 years. He was roommates with at least 1/2 of the wedding party - we've all known each other - fought with each other - probably knew too much about each other. I am so happy to have had the chance to shared this adventure of some of my closest friends.

Hiking in our matching bar shirt. 

Yea... a little slow morning after KTV.

It's surprising how nothing has changed much. I think we all were a little older, but not more mature. We got excited about KTV when we realized the beers were only 4 RMB each. We still gossip about the same old people, did you hear about him, her, them? Having spent such an amazing time with them: from the games in the wedding, the matching Boxing Cat Brewery t-shirts we bought  to hike, the crazy train station in Hangzhou where I swore there was no air con, and to hotpots, dim sum, and McDonalds in China, I had such a great time - and realized how lucky I am to have grown up with such intelligent and kind people around me. On the train ride to the wedding, Michael told me "I didn't realize how rare our friends are until I left. There are really not many people like us in this world." Thanks Ye, Peter, Bryan, Cheng, and Michelle.

Singapore - hub of Asia

Singapore is truly one of the greatest place to live if you have the travel bug. Kicking off this weekend, I will kick off a crazy tour: Ho Chi Minh, HK or Sydney, Shanghai, Penang, Sibu, Bali, and Dubai. Here's the end of the year rush... of weekend travels. I hope I don't lose my passport along the way.

Zoom Zoom - F1 is here

F1 weekend in Singapore is the single best weekend of the year. #1 out of 52.

1. Paddock club suite tickets
2. Jay Chou, Maroon Five, Katy Perry
3. Swiss Hotel suite parties
4. Beautiful people and good friends in town
5. No one seems to be working

People actually want to party!!!!!!!!!

Zoom zoom. 

Unlimited champagne, Jean-Georges, and everything else you'd want at F1. 

Party drop 

Anyone got a temple they can spare?

If you wish for an all out temple experience, look no further than Siem Reap. The place is crawling with them - Angkor Wat is just one of the 100+ temples available for your pleasure in the complexes surrounding Siem Reap. Seems like the kings between the 6th Century to 14th Century Cambodia were busy upping each other on who can built the most temple. The King who built Angkor Thom, the Great City and one of the key tourist destinations, built over 20 temples in the area. 

You look at all the temples around the area and you wonder, did the people in those times do anything other than building these temples? The structures are huge even by modern standards. Stone had to be moved piece by piece from 70 km away. The temples are also so beautifully designed and decorated, with each border so delicatedly carved. What's surprising is that that 12th century carvings are done much more delicatedly and expertly than the 16th century carvings. It seems that time doesn't actually improve humanities skillsets, even with better technology. Can you see below which are done in the 12th century and which is done in the 16th century? (Hint: it's in the flowers)

Aside from the temple adventures, Siem Reap is cheap, clean, and very easy for tourists to get around. I recommend young tourists to stay around Pub Street at one of the hostels. We stayed at Golden Temple Villa  and they were clean and efficient. There's massage, restaurant, tour booking, and laundry all at one place. Prices are cheap - you can have a meal for US$3 no problem. Beers start at 0.50 per glass during happy hour. Pub street is where all the action is, with Temple Bar popping with ppl on a Sunday Night. My recommendation: go with friends, go have fun, and go enjoy one of the world's greatest sites in the world. Siem Reap is definitely my favorite SE Asia destination so far. 

I finally stood up on a wake-board...

Getting ready to go in. 

... for 5 seconds. But Maggie did manage to capture a nice picture. Excellent concentration given she probably only had a few seconds. So many things to remember! Keep still. Keep the tension of the rope. Don't move. Don't lean back. Don't lean forward. Don't stand up too fast. Keep tight. 

The sport of wakeboarding is fun to do - but extremely painful consequences. While I felt fine in the afternoon and evening after wakeboarding, the day after, I could not move. Every muscle in my body was sore. It turns out the whole concept of just keeping the body tight was physically tiring. All your muscles keeping tight is crazy. Even with all my clumsiness and the soreness, I loved it. Can't wait for the next time.   

Wakeboarding is very accessible in Singapore - you can rent a boat from any of the operators at Punggol Marina Club for SGD125/hour. The boat sits around 8 - 10 people. While we only had 1/2 hour each - it felt like a very long time. We definitely all sored like it was a really long time!

Enabler in Jakarta

Jakarta reminds me of a third-tier Chinese city. One street, there would be the Ritz-Carlton and a multitude of other 5 star hotels of the most extraordinary wealth. One street, there's nothing but poverty. Buses so old that they are crumbling, yet poor Indonesians squeezes into every open space. It reminds me of China 20 years ago, corruption runs rampant to get things done. However, it doesn't mean it doesn't have its perks. 

I got off my flight from Jakarta and to my surprise, the hotel driver, met us right at the exit gate. I never knew people can cross security to pick up guests. My driver told me, "we come to our guests, we don't let our guests come to us." It seems like the Dharmawangsa Jakarta, a local 5-star hotel with excellent rooms and facilities, have an exclusive agreement with the airport. In addition to being able to get into security, he seemed to have had all the connections in the airport. There was a long line at immigration after I finished purchase my visa on landing (in Indonesia, one can buy a 30 day visa for US$25 on landing), there was a long line at immigration. This man, Adun, the enabler, led me to the diplomatic line, where there was no line, asked me to hand him my passport, and told me to go ahead. At first, I was worried: "did I just leave a stranger I just met 5 minutes ago with my passport after blatantly breaking all immigration rules?" 2 minutes later, he came out, showed me the stamp, and said, "your car is right outside." Tips to ALL business travelers to Jakarta, just go stay at the Dharmawangsa Jakarta and get a hotel car, it's worth the 30-45 minutes you'll wait in line for the immigration. 

Full Moon Party in Singapore

I must say, after a weekend of party in HK, partying in Singapore really cannot compare. However, there is one party here in Singapore that rocks HK's socks off - the Full Moon Party at Tanjong Beach Club (TBC). Setting on the man-made beach of Sentosa, the Full Moon Party is a full day/full night event every full moon in Singapore. Against the beach, there are beautiful people, pool parties, cabana, flame throwers, pole dancers, firework. You start in the afternoon if you wish, to day drink. If you're a late one, roll up anytime between 7 - 10, party is alive and happening until 4AM. Dancing, drinking, partying, all with the feeling of sands underneath your toes.

While there's no drugs in Singapore (death penalty is scary here), the alcohol is free flowing, while not much more expensive than most other clubs, while giving you a refreshing way of partying beyond the usual clubs in Asia. LOVE! Also, it seems that all my friends went, given I think everyone I'm friends with seem to randomly show up there one day or another.

Megatron!!!!

Universal Studios in Singapore is FUN. Not the half-baked "reflections lake" at Disney World Fun. But as in some of the coolest rides I've ever been on fun.

Universal Studios in Singapore has one of the most crazy roller coasters I've been on: Battlestar Galaxia. It's two roller coasters in one with a human side and a cyborg side. Both roller coasters are crazy. Unlike the coasters I've ridden before, these are powered. So as you are riding them, it's not just inertia that keeps it going, it's powered so it will twist, turn, drop, and go completely crazy in the ways your body is not expecting because it's not following the rules of physics. It's so crazy that Mo lost his keys during the ride.

What really impressed me about the theme park, however, was the Mummy and Transformers ride. They are thematic roller coasters with some of the coolest effects ever. Mummy was traditional with the props, smoke, and voice overs. There are fake tombs and coffins around. The total darkness of the ride enhanced the absolute feeling of fear in the ride. For the Transformers, it's an awesome combination of 3D graphics, where we are literally driving the car through the battle field, with bumps, pulls, jerks, and lunges timed perfectly to the 3D movie sequence that is being showed.

The park is PACKED with people. The lines for Mummy and Transformers were all over an hour long - unless you go single rider style. Yup, you don't sit with friends but literally it's a 10-20 minutes wait in comparison. That's how you roll up Universal Studios style in Singapore.Thank you Yovan for dragging me there after a huge bender out!

Must go to Transformers Ride!

Wading through crowds in Egypt land

Partying in KL

One of the greatest advantages of living in Singapore is the ability to travel on the weekend easily and cheaply around Southeast Asia. KL is one of the easiest place to reach from Singapore. Only an hour flight, flights from most major budget airlines will fly. From AirAsia, there's a flight to/from Singapore every hour for less than SGD100 roundtrip.

I met a few of my female friends from HK in KL for the weekend. I took the last flight out on Friday out. Landed past midnight but randomly matched the HK girls' flights time (how convenient). We landed and went straight out, where we hung out with Annie's KL friends... one whom pulled out a bong right in the middle of the street while we were having drunk food at 4AM. Greasy pork noodles (where 2 of the ppl couldn't eat because it's not Halal) and drunk boys on weed....

Best Laksa ever.

Best snack ever - green dough
covered with sugar and coconut.

KL is all about food. For breakfast, lunch and dinner are so great for food. The entire town revolves around it. Cheap good food: best Nesi Lemak with our local friends, Steven's Corner where all the locals know (my AD in Singapore who is from KL knew exactly what I meant when I described the place), random stalls in Chinatown, snacks just from the street. Even coffee from the food trucks are amazing. I didn't have a single bad meal in KL. I wanted to eat everything and felt my stomache was not big enough for my eyes. I think the food might actually be better than Singapore's... that's pretty aggressive statement.

Round 1.

I don't recommend going to KL as a tourist - there really isn't much to see. We went to the Batu Caves, which was nice but not super impressive. But I do recommend going with lots of friends for eating, drinking, partying, and just general fun time out from the boring routines of your lives. Even if you do the same things there as you do home, it still feels like an adventure.

View from SkyBar

Be careful of....

Perverts on the Singapore MRT. No joke. I ride the Northeast line to work every day from my apartment (Farrer Park) to work (Dhoby Ghaut). Here's what I saw in my train compartment today. 

In English, the sign says "stay safe", but in Chinese, it says be careful of perverted wolves (perverts). Singaporeans are shy Asians. I feel like boys have trouble hitting on girls in bars, I just cannot imagine them having the courage to start molesting random girls in a packed train....