See the world through Von and Jordan's eyes - through pictures of food, transport, tall buildings, good friends, unique experiences, and iconic or rare views of skylines.
Faced with some spare time and decent weather, Jordan decided it was worth the risk of me judging the Disney book by its Chinese cover and go to Hong Kong Disney. Turns out, we had a great time despite me having no childhood memories to draw nostalgia from.
The castle is apparently smaller than the others. The teacups brought us particular joy and nausea.
So turns out I like Disney! I would go to the real thing someday. They even had toy story!
The whole experience was actually pretty Chinese though. Lots of pushing and shoving. Lots of swarming. Still fun. The torrential downpour during the fireworks display was particularly Hong Kongy and special.
All in all, I was a happy camper. We managed to do everything in 4 hours. Even eat.
Singapore's skyline is oddly unimpressive, but I still enjoyed it. They have a cute marina area where you can watch boats and look at buildings and sweat your bum off. See above. They also are expanding the skyline and public space to have "iconic attractions," including this bizarre UFO building.
It does make the skyline a bit more unique among the glass box carbon copies.
While we were at the marina, they were practicing for their "Singapore day" celebrations. Yes, they have had about 4 rehearsals leading up to their Independence Day and will have several more prior to August 9. Gotta make sure it goes off without a hitch and is perfect. So anal, those Singaporeans. Their practice included an apache flyover and fighter jet tour de force. Overkill or thorough prep? You decide.
Our favorite thing about Singapore is that you can just relax. We did this between eating.
And then there is the food. Singapore is renowned for its dish called chili crab. Basically the largest crab you will ever see drenched in a tomato sauce with egg. It sounds questionable, but is simply divine, and I would pay large sums of money to eat it (and we did).
Yup, that's a crab. Of course, we needed bibs.
We actually over ordered. Didn't think that was possible.
After that, it is only logical that we would go out to the bars. Singapore actually has gay nightlife! Unlike our larger home away from home city. Here is the street where it is obvious that the gays abound, and are not scared of their government, which qualifies sodomy as a crime. (Taking a page out of the Vatican's book - Not illegal to be gay, but illegal to act on it.)
Lucky for us, one of my good friends from eons ago, Lynn, lives in Singapore! She and her girlfriend Xiu were gracious enough to chauffeur us around and show us the best that Singapore has to offer. They are such a cute couple! The trip simply would not have been the same without them, their hospitality, and their Singlish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish).
I resent that I like Singapore. It is the Los Angeles of SE Asia - just too pleasant (see Jordan's favorite part of our luxurious hotel room) and devoid of character. But that is its thing. It wants to be bland (to attract rich westerns, perhaps?). What a lovely weekend. The best part of the trip was my reunion with Lynn. The second best was geeves, whom I have renamed igor.
Oh, and trains.
Clearly trains inspire disparate levels of happiness in Jordan and I...
So for this trip Jordan and I cashed in some points to travel in style (except for the Tiger airways flight that charged for in-flight oxygen, basically). We booked the st Regis, which, in addition to the available Bentley transfers from the airport, comes with complementary personal butler service.
I have named ours geeves (duh)
The coffee was a little sloppy...
Our room is a sight to be had.
While not luxurious, the night before we stayed out until 4 catching up with my long lost friend Lynn! It was good to catch up and, of course, good to eat. This is street Indian food. Amazing. Apparently Singapore's thing is good cheap food. I must agree. (27 S$, or $20 USD)
We had never arrived through the new Beijing international arrivals hall and we were very impressed! They certainly put their best foot forward in greeting visitors for the Olympics. What a nice start to our short weekend in the capital.
Of course the first thing we did after arriving is eat (outdoor market style)
This family owned place on a nearby lake used their 8 year old daughter to translate into English for us. She was darling and we got what we wanted! Meat on a stick and peanuts in black vinegar.
(picture is to display the Thai language, which, I am sure makes sense to them)
Jordan and I joke that most of the foreigners (mainly the gweilos) that wander Thailand are injured. Injuries range from broken legs, sprained ankles, and arms in casts to large scrapes and bleeding wounds covered in bandages. There are many possible causes for this, but really I think it is explained as "holiday callousness." Europeans love to holiday in Thailand because of the weather and rampant shenanigans. What they don't expect is that no one holds your hand in Thailand - you have to watch out for that hole in the sidewalk! (or oncoming vehicle, or broken road, or rebar protruding from a building, or that wreck you were in because you decided to take a motorcycle taxi or rent a mo-ped even though you have never driven anything with less than three wheels). Yes, Thailand is pretty much anything goes, and you need to have what Jordan has termed "constant vigilance."
Going against our better judgement, we decided to tempt fate and ride a Tuk Tuk, an open-aired, three-wheel, death trap. Partly because it was convenient, but mostly because you HAVE to do it once in Thailand. Tuk Tuks have three wheels, so they are one notch safer than the motorcycle taxis as far as we are concerned. Here is evidence:
I think what people really go to Thailand for is CHEAP AMAZING FOOD. Well, cheap anything really. But as far as food goes we got spoiled by the end - if we paid more than $3 for anything we thought we were getting ripped off, and we were probably right. Take, for example, this coconut, which was 20 bat ($0.66). The boy behind the stand literally hacked off the top for Jordan in 4 swipes. I tried not to let it bother me that he could not possibly have been any older than 12.
Besides cheap food, Thailand also has cheap CRAP! Now, we are expert crap shoppers, having gallivanted through China last year. But this crap is different. It is cheaper, and surprisingly, it is NOT CRAP! Jordan and i went nuts at the world's largest outdoor market, Chatuchak Market. We walked out (both times) with shopping bags full of not-crap, not spending more than $20 per visit. Of course the place is swarmed and hot and miserable, but for some reason we were unphased.
Here is one of the "inside" corridors. When I say inside, i mean it loosely - i think the roof is made of tin sheets.
Here is one of the outside corridors. It is hard to appreciate the grandeur, but I assure you it is impressive.
And, of course, Thailand's REAL claim to fame is their Buddhist temples. We only went to one - Pho Wat, but it was a doozey! Perhaps best known for its giant lazy buddah on his side, Pho Wat is impressive!
These are for perspective. He is huge. If I had to guess, maybe 30 meters?
Thai temples are unique because of their tiered, pointy... steeples? idk what they are technically called, but here they are.
The buildings all had beautiful detail.
So grand, it inspired Jordan to meditate.
There were so many little steeples they create a skyline!
All good things come in threes - Thailand can be summed up by: temples, markets, and night life! We won't go into the latter in detail here, but let's just say that until 1 AM, pretty much anything goes in Thailand - and they are not shy about it. For us, it was refreshing to be in a place where the gay scene is completely different from the straight scene and hidden away in a dark corner. No, here, all scenes are hidden away in a dark corner. But everyone knows they are there and no one cares. This street was excellent for people watching, which we did... for a few hours.
Thailand - rich and poor in so many ways. The best part about it is that the people seem happy, and don't seem to be bothered by the millions of foreign tourists infesting their country in search of cheap meals, cheap goods, and cheap thrills. And, as one of them, I cannot blame them. Jordan and I decided we would welcome the opportunity to live in Thailand for a while, but we would surely live like kings and become completely spoiled. I dare you to spend more than $3 on any one dish at a restaurant!
Four thumbs up.
Obligatory picture of their "subway" or elevated railway called the BTS. It worked well enough. They have a fast airport train, too.
