10/1/10 - 10/2/10 (singapore)

Singapore - Taipei

After our quick turnaround in Singapore we were on our way to Taiwan. Annie was excited to see her oldest sister and brother-in-law and visit her “mother country.” We woke up at 4 am to pack and catch a cab to the airport. When we arrived at 5:30 am the representative at JetStar informed us we needed an outbound ticket from Taiwan to board our flight. We then scrambled for the next hour to get internet access and reluctantly booked a ticket back to the United States. It took a stubborn ticket agent from a discount airline to finally get us to commit to return home. We then provided the proof with five minutes to spare and boarded our flight to Taiwan that went smoothly. 

We arrived in the early afternoon and did not need to provide proof of an outbound ticket. Grrr! We were greeted by hundreds of crazed teenage girls. Finally all of this blogging has paid off. Unfortunately, the warm welcome wasn’t for us. A Korean rock star arrived shortly after us and it was fun to watch as he entered into his limo sending the crowd into a frenzy. Grace and Arnold picked us up shortly after our arrival and we were on our way to their 9th story condo in Luzhou, a bustling suburb of Taipei. We settled in and relaxed for a few hours. Later that night we met with a business associate of Arnold's nicknamed the Bird Man to discuss some LED lighting technology business opportunities over dinner. I drew many curious looks being a lone long haired white man visiting a very Taiwanese area of Taipei. 

We got a late start on Saturday and eventually made our way to Yanmingshan National Park, a beautiful mountainous area outside of Taipei known for its hot springs. We made our way to the pinnacle of the mountain to capture some photographs and take in an epic sunset before settling into a very rustic hot springs bath. 

Later that night we met the cast of characters who would have a large influence on our Taiwan experience. I was given my first lesson on Taiwanese social and drinking culture. We visited Arnold’s friend nicknamed Diamond Boss where we also met Angel, Meow Meow, and Two Horse. The thing about drinking in Taiwan is that you can’t drink alone, the proper way to drink is to cheers someone. Being new to the group, each time I met someone I had to do a shot of beer. I proceeded to get as drunk as I have been in years as my Taiwanese friends took great delight in testing my alcohol limits teaching me new drinking games. Ugway Ugway Caio! By the time we left, my social calendar was filled up for the next week with dinner engagements with our new friends. Welcome to Taiwan! 

9/29/10 - 9/30/10 (ho chi minh)

Ho Chi Minh - Singapore

It was a world wind tour of Singapore. We arrived at noon and made our way to a hostel called the InnCrowd. As we boarded the train from the airport we admired the cleanliness of the streets. We heard rumors of how strict the country is in keeping its streets tidy and people are fined for not flushing the toilet or if they spit on the street. As we walked to our hostel we saw signs warning people not to spit. Oh…how the Vietnamese would hate that law.

After settling into our place we grabbed lunch at a nearby hawkers place where there were 50 food stalls lined up next to each other. We felt the need to go sightseeing since we had limited time but we were dragging our feet. We had a full day planned for the following day so we decided to head back and take a quick nap. Our hostel was located in Little India and at night the streets came alive with people blaring music from their shops to jewelry shops luring you with their gold merchandise. The restaurants’ turmeric and curry scents filled the streets. We grabbed dinner at a vegetarian Indian restaurant and met a friendly waitress who helped us order since nothing on the menu was familiar to us. Jon was insistent that we not go back to our hostel till 10pm so we walked around hoping to grab a beer at a bar. We were astonished at how expensive the beer was. We couldn’t bear to spend $9USD on a bottle of beer so instead we went to 7-Eleven, grabbed two big Tiger beer bottles for $12USD, and sat outside our hostel people watching. We didn’t realize we hadn’t changed the time on our phone so in actuality it was already 11pm. We were proud of ourselves for staying out late.

Jon had done a lot of research online about Singapore and planned an entire day hitting the highlights of the country. Since we were on limited time we decided to take taxis everywhere rather than buses. We started our day with a walk around the botanical garden. It was a beautiful park with people doing tai chi and yoga. There were all sorts of fascinating plants and flowers that we had never seen. We felt like we were at Golden Gate Park except mostly everyone here had black hair and it was cleaner than GGP. Our next stop was the Sacred Buddha Tooth and Relic Temple. Just as we hopped into the cab there was a huge downpour. This was going to put a damper on our plans as we were hoping to catch a nice sunset. The temple was intricately decorated. On the top level was a shrine honoring Buddha’s tooth. We are not sure if one of his teeth was actually displayed but either way the shrine was covered in gold. The third level was a museum chronicling Buddha’s life. It was one of the more elaborate temples we have seen. When we exited the temple it was still raining so we waited outside for an hour till it became a light sprinkle. Then we walked to the Chinatown Heritage Center, which had a multi-level display documenting the Chinese migration to Singapore. The center had replicas of shops and homes showcasing what life was like back then. Afterwards we headed to another hawkers stall hoping to find chili crab, which is a specialty in Singapore. Unfortunately we didn’t find any and ended up grabbing some other local dishes…porridge and spaghetti.

Our tour continued onward to the Ritz Carlton Hotel where we went on an ipod tour of the hotel's artwork. We really wanted to catch Dale Chihuly’s glass artwork in San Francisco but missed the exhibit and heard that some of his artwork was at the Ritz. We felt a little underdressed in our shorts and flip-flops at the Ritz but the staff was very friendly. They gave each of us a mini-ipod with a recording describing the artwork on display. We walked around the hotel admiring various artists. Before heading back to the hostel we made a quick pit stop at Raffles Hotel where I took a photo with the doorman. Jon read online it was one of the touristy things to do. The doorman was dressed in an old Arabian-style uniform.

For dinner we headed over an upscale hawkers stall on the waterfront near the Singapore Flyer. It was a beautiful evening with cool wind. We found a stall selling chili crab. I devoured two crabs by myself as Jon watched in amusement. We ended the night with a stroll along the riverfront.